 -

                         THE

A Reformed



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                                              any control over
                               i i  ;; :: orsupervi.sion
                                                   orsupervi.sion
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                                                of   -our
                                                           -our   schools
                                                                   schools
                               _-_-                  to
                                                     to the federal
                                                           . the federal
                                                           .
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                                        .or   &ate
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                                               by 
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                                                           virtue of direct
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                                                                                  "k
                                                                                       
                                                                                       k page
                                                                                         page 228
                                                                                                  228


Vol. 68, No. 10     .
February 15,1992


CONTENTS:                                                                           February 15,. j992                     STANDARD
Meditation - Rev. James D. Slopsema                                                                                                BMER
      Never Condemned Before God ...................................................... 219
Editorial - Prof. David J. Enghma
      Church Unity, Reformed Synods, and Independency (2) ........ .:... 221                                              I S S N   0 3 6 2 - 4 6 9 2
Letters ......................................................................................................    223     Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July. and August.
All Around Us - Pro f Robert D. Decker .................................................                          224     Published bythe.Reformed  Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
                                                                                                                          4949 lvanrest Ave., Grandviile, MI 49416. Second Class
In His Fear - Rev. Arie denHartog                                                                                         Postage Pald at Grandvilla, Michigan.
      Our Father's Chastisement ............................................................ 225                          Postmarter: Send address changes to the Standard Bearer.
Church and State'- Mr. James Lanting                                                                                      P.O. Bow 603, Grandville. MI 49466-0603.
   Choice: Tuition Vouchers, Christian Schools,                                                                           EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
      and the 1st Amendment ................................................................. 228                         Editor: Prof. David J. Engelsma
                                                                                                                          Secretary: Prof. Robert  D. Decker
Go Ye Into All the World - Rev. Ronald J. VanOverloop                                                                     Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
      Approaching the Unbeliever .......................................................... 230                           DEPARTMENT EDITORS
Search the Scriptures - Rev. Carl J. Haak                                                                                 Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev. Arie
                                                                                                                          denHartog, Rev. Russell Dyksfra. Rev. Carl Haak,  Mr. Fred
      Malachi, Lesson 6                                                                                                   Hanko;Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. John Heys, Rev. Marvin
      The Coming of the Messenger of the Covenant ........................... 232                                         Kamps, Rev. Steven Key, Rev. Kenneth Koole,  Rev. Jason
                                                                                                                          Kortering, Rev. Dale Kuiper, Mr. James Laming,  Rev. George
A Word Fitly Spoken - Rev.' Dal6 H. Kuiper                                                                                Lubbers. Mrs.MaryBathLubbers,  Rev. JamesSlopsema,  Rev.
      Zeal .................................................................................................. 234         Charles Terpstra, Rev. Ronald VanOverloop, Mr. Benjamin
                                                                                                                          Wigger. Rev. Bernard Wouderiberg.
The Day of Shadows - Rev. John A. Heys
      Hated By, Yet Elevated Above ........ ..t ............................................. 235                         EDITORIAL OFFICE             CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                                                          The Standard Bearer          Mr. Ben Wigger
Book Reviews ................................. ..~ .....................................................          237     4949 Ivanrest                6597 40th Ave.
                                                                                                                          Grandville, MI 49410         Hudsonville. Ml 49436
News From Our Churches- Mr. Benjamin Wigger ................................. 238,                                        BUSINESS OFFICE              NEW ZEALAND OFFICE
Remember - Miss Sue Porte ................................................................                        240     The Standard Bearer          The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                          Don Doerema                  c/o Protestant Reformed
                                                                                                                          P.O. Box 603                    Church
                                                                                                                          Grandville. MI               B. VanHerk
                                                                                                                            49416                      66 Fraser St.
 In This issue M . .                                                                                                      PH: (616) 636.1776           Walnulomata. New Zealand
                                                                                                                                   (616) 531-1499
                                                                                                                          FAX:  (616) 531-3033

        Dr. J. GreshamMachen,  a contemporary of JohnDewey, once wrote that "the most                                     EDITORIAL POLICY
                                                                                                                          Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
important Christian educational institution is not the pulpit or the school, important as                                 articles. Contributions of general interest from our readers and
these institutions are; but it is the Christian family. And that institution has to a large                               questions for The Reader Asks department are welcome.
extent ceased to do its work."                                                                                            Contributions will be limited to approximately 300 words and
                                                                                                                          must be neatlywrltten ortypewritten, and must be signed. Copy
        If that was an accurate assessment of the state of affairs in the `3Os, how much                                  deadlines are the first and fifteenth of the month. All
more so today. For good reason, therefore, James Laming,  in."Church and State,"                                          communications relative to the contents should be sent to the
declares that the promotion of the voucher system, as another attempt to improve the                                      editorial offfce.
quality of public education, is actually the treating of a symptom, not of the disease.                                   REPRINT POLICY
        Mr. Lanting begins by noting that, after billions of dollars have been pumped into                                Permission is herebygrantedforthe reprinting of articles in our
                                                                                                                          megezinebyotherpublications,provided:  a)thatsuchreprinted
the public school system, to treat a variety of symptoms, the schools are on the verge of                                 articles are reproduced in full; b)that proper acknowledgment
bankruptcy - both financial and educational. After four generations of public                                             is made: c) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint
education in America, and after-two generations of Dewey's humanism, the products                                         appears is sent to our editorial office.
of America's publicschools are either functionally illiterate, or, at best, not able to                                   SUBSCRIPTION POLICY
"compete successfully in today's global, information-based economy."                                                      Subscription price: $12.00 par year in the U.S., 515.00
                                                                                                                          elsewhere. Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
        One cannot help but wonder whether the "bankruptcy" of public education in                                        received, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the
America, compared, say, to the  no,less  humanistic education in Japan, is the result of                                  subscriptiontocontinue,andhewill  be billedforrenewaf.  lfyou
the special judgment of God 0n.a nation whose schools began as institutions which                                         haveachangeof address, pleasenotifylhe  BusinessOfficeas
                                                                                                                          early es possible in order to avoid the inconvenience of
taught men to thinkCh.ristianly,  and have now become institutionswhich purposefully                                      interrupted delivery. Include your Zip or Postal Code.
teachmen  to think secularly- that is, without reference to God andHis Word. Today,                                       ADVERTtSlNG POLICY
many of those schools aren't even safe.                                                                                   The SfandardEearerdoes  not accept commercial advertising
        Whatever the case, the truth of the matter is that the current revival of the tuition                             of any kind. Announcements of church and school events,
voucher idea does not at all reflect a growing appreciation for                                                           anniversaries, obituaries, and sympathy resolutions will be
                                                                                                     Christian private    placed for a $3.00 fee. These should be sent to the Business
education. Mr. Lanting explains howit  constitutes instead an attempt to save the public                                  Office and should be accompanied by the $3.00 fee. Deadline
schools.                                                                                                                  for announcements is at least one month prior to publication
        Christianity's insistence that.it is  theonly  way of truth is anathema in American                               date.
society. The offense of Christian educationis precisely the same. Hence the antipathy                                     BOUND VOLUMES
of the world toward the Christian school. All of which gives point to Mr. Lanting's word                                  The Business Office will accept standing orders for bound
                                                                                                                          copiesofthe currentvolume. Such orders arefilledassoon as
of caution concerning potentialwindfalls from tuitionvouchers, at the conclusion of his                                   possible after completion of a volume year.
article on "Choice: Tuition Vouchers, Christian Schools, and the 1st Amendment."                                          16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm and 105mm  microfiche, and
                                                                                                                  D.D.    article  copies are available through University Microfilms
                                                                                                                          International.
218/Stan&rdf3earerlFebruaryl5,19!32


                                                                                                                                  -
                                              Never Condemned
 Meditation  '
 Rell: James Slopsema                         Before God

      He that believeth on him is not         lieved that the promised Savior would           And we all have sinned. We
 condemned: but $e that believeth not is      come to condemn the nations and            have sinned not just occasionally but
 condemned already, because he hath not       thus bring salvation to the Jews. Jesus    often. Daily we sin in thought, word,
 believed in the name of the only begotten    corrects this mistaken notion. God         and deed. Let us resist the temptation
 Son 0f Goa.                                  sent His Son into the world not to         of pride to deny or minimize this fact.
                               John 3:18      condemn the worldbut  that the world       Remember the inspired words of the
                                              through Him might be saved (vs. 17).       apostle John, "If we say that we have
      We are all sinners. Daily we sin             And now, in the words of Jesus        no sin, we deceive ourselves and the
 against God in thought, word, and            which we consider for this medita-         truth is not in us" (I John 1:8).
 deed.                                        tion (vs. 18), Jesus emphasizes the             So it is that we all stand to be
       And Godisnot pleased with our          place;and  importance of faith in sal-     condemned by God to an eternity of
 sins. Our sins anger God.                    vation. Jesus makes clear that not all     suffering under His wrath.
      On account of our sins we all           are saved. Many are and will be                 And many are condemned!
 deserve to be condemned by God to            condemned by God. However, those                Jesus indicates that this is the
 the deepest hell.                            that believe on the name of the Son of     case with all those who do not be-
      The truth is that many have al-         God shall never be condemned!              lieve. He that believeth not is con-
 ready been condemned for their sins.              These words of Jesus place us in      demned already, because he hath not
 Some await their eternal sentence of         God's courtroom.                           believed in the name of the only be-
 misery as they continue to struggle               God is the Judge before whom          gotten Son of God.
 through life; others have already de-        we appear daily. God is like no other           Notice that the unbeliever is con-
 parted this life and have begun to           judge before whom we will ever ap-         demned already!
., serve their sentence.                      pear. For God is all-knowing. He
      What a blessed thing to know            knows all that we have ever done.
 that whoever believes on the only            Every deed, every word, every                     . . . whoever believes
 begotten Son of God shall never be           thought, every motive is known to                     on the name of
 condemned.                                   him. There is nothing about us that
      This is the instruction of Jesus to     God does not know. Besides that,            the only begotten Son of Gold
 Nicodemus, who sought out Jesus in           God does not judge us according to                 is not condemned.
 the dead of night. Jesus speaks to           human law, but according to His di-
 Nicodemus of God's great love for            vine law as revealed in Scripture.
 the world. God so loved the world                 Now comes the sobering truth.              Condemnation does not wait for
 that He gaveHis  only begotten Son to             Should we in the judgment of          the unbeliever until some future date.
the death of the cross, that whosoever        God be guilty of so much as one            His condemnation is not reserved, for
 would believe on him would not per-          transgression of His divine law, He        example, for the final judgment. The
 ish but have everlasting life (vs. 16).      will condemn us to an eternity of          purpose of the final judgment in the
      Jesus continues to emphasize to         misery in hell.                            day of Christ is simply to make the
Nicodemus that His primary purpose                                                       judgments of God public, so that ,a11
is to save the world. The Jews be-                                                       questions of God's fairness are for-
                                                     "IIf we say that we                 ever put to rest.
                                                         have no sin,                         Rather, condemnation is a daily
                                                                                         reality for the unbeliever. Every day
                                                    we deceive ourselves                 of his life the unbeliever lives in the
Rev. Slopsema is pastor of Hope Protes-         and the truth is not in u.4'             realization that he is condemned be-
 tant Reformed Church in Walker,                          (I John 1:8).                  fore God on account of his sin. And
Michigan.                                                                                even in this life he begins to experi-

                                                                                             February 15,1992 I Standard Bearer I21 9


ence the sentence of God's wrathupon         himself. Consequently, the name of          basis of the perfect work of Jesus
him in the form of temporal sorrows.         the only begotten Son is Jesus as He        Christ alone. -
        However, Jesus also indicates        has revealed Himself to us, and re-              Whoever sobelieves on the name
that whoever believes on the name of         vealed Himself to us specifically as        of the only begotten Son of God is not
the only begotten Son of God is not          the only begotten of the Father.            condemned - not now, not in the
condemned. This is true even though                  Jesus revealed Himself to be the    final day of judgment, not ever.
he sins against God every day of his         Son of God through the many mighty               The reason for this is quite
life and appears in the courtroom of         miracles He performed. No one ever          simple.
God with all his sins. In spite of these     performed miracles as did Jesus.                 The only way we can escape the
facts, he is not condemned. He is not                Jesus revealed Himself to be the    condemnation of God is through the
condemned now in this life. He will          Son of `God through His teachings.          full payment of sin. If your sins are
not be condemned in the day of final         Thepeoplemarveled that Jesus spoke          not paid for, you are condemned by
judgment. Even though he deserves            with authority and not as their own         God. If somehow there is payment
to be condemned as much as anyone            leaders, the Scribes and Pharisees.         for your sins, you escape the condem-
else, there is no condemnation for                   But most of all Jesus revealed      nation of your misdeeds.
him.                                         Himself to be the Son of God through             And what will pay for our sin?
        What a great blessing that is!       His great works of salvation -L His              The price of sin is not paid with
        What is it to believe on the name    atoning deatlion the cross, His resur-      silver or gold. Neither is the price of
of the only begotten Son of God?             rection into glory, His sitting at the      sin paid through human tears or good
        The only begotten Son of God is      right hand of God, His coming again         intentions for the future.
Jesus. He is the second person of the        in judgment.                                     Theonlythingthatpaystheprice
Trinity, the only and eternally begot-               To believe on the name of the       of sin is the atoning death of (God's
"ten Son of the Father. Through the          only begotten Son is to place your          Son on the cross. For at the cross Jesus
virgin birth He has also come into our       complete trust in that name. It means       tookourplace  andbore  the fullweight
flesh.                                       that you do not rely upon yourself.         of God's wrath against our sin.
        Jesus speaks specifically of the     You do not rely on others. You rely              This perfect payment of the cross
name of the only begotten Son of God.        only upon Jesus Christ and His mighty       God accounts as ours through faith
                                             works that show Him to be God's             alone. As we cling to the blood of
                                             Son.                                        Christ in faith, God reckons the pay-
        To believe on the name                       In the context of our sins, to      ment of the cross as payment of our
    of the only begotten Son                 believe on the name of the Son of God       sins so that there is no condemnation.
               is to place                   means that you do not come to God                May God lead us to believe on
                                             on the basis of your own supposed           the name of His only begotten Son!
          your complete trust                goodness, worth, or works to escape              Pray that God may lead us in
           in that name.                     the condemnation you deserve.               faith daily to the precious blood of the
                                             Rather you come to God acknowl-             cross to find payment for our sin!
                                             edging your own unworthiness and                 That we may escape the con-
        In the Bible the name of someone     inability. And you seek to escape the       demnation of our sins and find the
refers to that person as he reveals          condemnation of your sins on the            eternal joys of God's friendship! 0


                                              Augustine, on Rebuke
            Far rather would I be censured by any one whatsoever, than be praised by
    either the erring or the flatterer. For the lover of truth need fear no one's
     censure. For he that censures, must needs be either enemy or friend. And if
    an enemyreviles, he must be borne with: but a friend, if he errs, must be taught;
    if he teaches, listened to. But if one'who errs praises you, he confirms your
    error; if one who flatters, he seduces you into error. "Let the righteous,"
    therefore, "smite me, it shall be a kindness; and let him reprove me; but the oil
     of the sinner shall not anoint my head."
                                                                           - On the Trinity, II, I, Preface


220/SfandarciBearer/Februaryi5,1992


                                                           Church Unity,
                                                Reformed Synods,
                                                and Independency
Editorial                                                                              (2)

     Inaletter publishedin the previ-        their purpose was the unity of the          or Councils" (31.1). The Christian
ous issue of this magazine, a corre-         church:                                          Reformed authorities on Reformed
spondentinLiverpool,Englandasked               . ..fortheestablishingandpreserving            church order, Idzerd VanDellen  and
for clarification of an earlier editorial      of consensus in doctrine, ceremo-              Martin Monsma, faithfully transmit
on "The Binding Decisions of a Re-             nies, and church discipline, and for           the Dutch Reformed tradition when,
formed Synod" (cf. the  Standard               common actions and mutual  consul-        in support of authoritative synods,
                                               tation in matters of importance re-
Bearer, June 1,199l). Aware of the                                                            they appeal first of all to the Jerusa-
attack on synods (or general assem-            garding common interests.
                                             Likewise, the purpose of the original       lem assembly of Acts 15.
blies) in Reformed circles in our day,                                                          Is the exercise of ecclesiastical au-
                                             organization of the Dutch Reformed
he was really asking for a further                                                              thority  as provided for in Article 36
                                             churches in a synodat Emden in 1571
defenseofchurchesbandingtogether                                                                (of the church order of Dordt-DJE)
                                             was "in order to institute the unity of
in synodical union.                                                                             based onBiblical  example? Yes. We
                                             the churches in outward form."                     read in Acts 15 . . . . This meeting at
     Reformed and Presbyterian                    The biblical basis for denomina-              Jerusalem . . . clearly partakes of the
churches have always grounded syn-           tional union in a synod, therefore, is             character of major assemblies. It
odical union in the unity of the church      not only one passage in the New Tes-               may be regarded as a forerunner of
of Christ. The spiritual unity of the        tament, namely, Acts 15. The impor-                what became well-organized and
body of Christ must come to visible,         tance of this one passage for the de-              regular later on (2%~ Church Order
institutional manifestation. This is         nominational connection, however,                  Commentary,  Zondervan, 1954,  p.
not exhausted in the local congrega-                                                            161).
tion, even as the local congregation                                                               It will not do for the Rev. Eric
does not exhaust the reality of the                                                           Alexander, writing in the  Evangeli-
church. Congregations that share the            By this synodical union,                      cal Times of England (January 1992),
Spirit of Christ, as evidenced and                      the congregations                     to dismiss this appeal to Acts 15 in
expressed by oneness in the truth of                    show .the oneness                     support of synods on the ground that
the Word of God, unite in the assem-                      of the church                       there is "only one passage of Scrip-
blies known as classis (or presbytery)                                                        ture" that mentions synods or coun-
                                                        before the world
and synod (or general assembly). By                                                           cils. The Holy Spirit does not have to
this synodical union, the congrega-                 to the greater glo y                      repeat a truth a dozen times in order
tions show the oneness of the church               of Christ their Head.                      for it to be binding doctrine in the
before the world to the greater glory                                                         church. It is enough that He clearly
of Christ their Head. They them-                                                              teach something once.
selves enjoy and benefit from this           must not be minimized. Every Re-                      InActs15, theHolySpiritteaches
unity in fellowship and mutual help.         formed and Presbyterian defense of               that a doctrinal dispute in a local
They cooperate in the Lord's work,           the broader, or major, assemblies ap-            congregationwasreferredtoabroader
doing together what they could not           peals to this passage. This is the               assembly for judgment. This broader
do alone, or doing better what no one        passage adducedby the Westminster                assembly did not consist only of the
church could do as well on its own. In       Confession of Faith in support of its            apostles. But it consisted of the
unity there is strength.                     statement that "for the better govern-           apostles and elders (vss. 2,4,6,22,23).      ;
     When the Reformed churches of           ment, and further edification of the             Nor was the authority of this assem-
The Netherlands meeting at Wesel in          church, there ought to be such assem-            bly only that of the apostles. The
1568advisedtheformingoftheclassis,           blies as are commonly called Synods              decision takenwas authoritative, and

                                                                                                  February15,1992/StandardBearer/221


     its authority was that of the Holy           nized by a lordly pastor. Or, congrei        fessed the truths of the Trinity and of
     Spirit work&g through the apostles           gation and minister fall into the hands      the Person and natures of Christ
     and elders. Verse 4 of Acts 16 speaks        of dictatorial elders. If the church         againstperniciousheresies. Suchwas
     of "the decrees . . . that were ordained     escapes these disasters, she is liable to    the Synod of Dordt. I myself have
     of the apostles and elders which were        be torn apart by internal strife, since      seen broader assemblies rescue be-
     at Jerusalem." In addition, the deci-        there is no remedy for local troubles        leaguered pastors;  fl save" sorely
     sion of the Jerusalem assembly was           in appeal to broader assemblies. The         troubled congregations; deliver
     binding upon all the churches (cf.           independent church deprives herself          wronged and oppressed saints; up-
     Acts 15:28,29; 16:4). This was an as-        of the safety of the multitude of coun-      hold faithful consistories that were
     sembly broader than the. consistory          sellors (cf. Prov. 11:14).  Often, when      attackedbymistakenorwickedmem-
     (or session) of the local church that        the dominant minister retires or dies,       bers of the congregation; and restore,
     ordained decrees for all the churches        the church is at a loss where to find a      or maintain, peace in the denomina-
     to keep. This was also a broader             good, well-trained pastor. It is com-        tion by wise, biblical judgments on
     assembly that was recognized and             mon that the independent church is           issues of controversy.
     accepted by all the churches `as Acts        so dependent  upona particular, gifted                To be sure, synod is subject to
     16:5 implies. For it was an assembly         preacher that the church virtually           the evil of hierarchy. But this is the
     that expressed the unity of the              passes away with him. There is, be-          abuse of the synod, not its necessary
     churches.                                    sides, the danger that the church turns      quality. The consistory of the local
           Acts 15 is only one very clear         in upon herself, concentrating all her       church is also liable to become hierar-
     and concrete aspect of the biblical          attention and energies upon herself,         chical, as is the individual pastor or
     ground for the denominational union.         as though the kingdom of Christ were         elder. But no Reformed man for this
     The biblical basis for the denomina-         no broader than this one congrega-           reason repudiates consistories or pas-
     tional bond is the massive testimony         tion.                                        tors or elders.
     in Scripture to the unity of Christ's                                                              Another curious notion that
     church. The denominationis implied                                                        gains currency is that synods become
     in Jesus' prayer for the unity of His                The independent church               apostate overnight apart from the
     church in John 17:2Off.;  for the in-                    deprives herself                 apostasy of the churches in the de-
     ward,spiritualunityofbelieversmust                                                        nomination. Thus, suddenly, the
     be manifested and expressed out-             of the safety of the multitude               "good" congregations are confronted
     wardly and institutionally as the Lord                    of counsellors.                 by the "evil" synod that has material-
     indicates when He says, "that the                                                         ized out of nowhere. This is pure
     world may know that thou hast sent                                                        myth. Synods that set aside the au-
     me and hast loved them . . . . II Denomi-             Butistherenottheequallygreat,       thority of Scripture and the Reformed
     national union is demanded by the            or even greater, danger of the hierar-       confessions, adopt false doctrines, and
     apostolic concern that all the churches      chyandapostasyofsynod?  Anddoes              approve unrighteous behavior only
     teach the same doctrines, practice the       thisnotspelltheruinofallthechurches          show that the churches of these de-
     same order, and cooperate in the             in the denomination? Our English             nominations have been falling away
     properworkofthechurches (cf.ICor.            correspondent raises this question,          from Christ for a long time. After all,
     7:17; 11:16; 14:33;  Rom. 15:25-33).         notsomuchbecauseofhisownfearof               where do the ministers and elders
           It is not the case, therefore, that    synod (for he confesses that he is           that make up the erring synods come
     membership in a denomination is              "strongly persuaded that only                from? From the local congregations.
     purely a voluntary matter for a con-         connectionalism leading to synod is          And all the congregations share re-
     gregation. It is true that the congrega-     Scriptural") as because of the anti-         sponsibilityfor the falling away of the
     tion freely joins herself to the denomi-     synodical sentiment that is afoot to-        denomination from the truth. At the
     nation of like-minded churches. But          day.                                         very least, they tolerated the depar-
     it is also true that she does this by                 There are curious misconcep-        ture.
     virtue of the Spirit's working within        tions about the Reformed synod in
     her to obey His command to seek the          our day. One is that synod is inher-
     unity of the church. Membership in a         ently an evil or the threat of evil. On               No synod of the PRC
     denomination is a duty and a neces-          the contrary, the rule is that the synod     is going to become apostate,...
     sity for the local church, as member-        is a good thing. Such was the Jerusa-           apart from a long history
     ship in a local church is a duty and         lem synod. The effect of the Jerusa-
,    necessity for the individual believer.       lem assembly upon the churches was               of gradually increasing
          Refusal by a congregation is vis-       beneficial: "And so were the churches                     unfaithfulness
     ited by God with judgments. These            established in the faith, and increased                   on the part of
     are the "perils of independency." The        in number daily" (Acts 16:5). Such           the congregations themselves.
     independent congregation is tyran-           were the ecumenical synods that con-
     222/StandardBearerlFebruary15,1992


      The truth of this is illustrated in    local churches need not, indeed must         ever she can. This is forbidden by
the issue that now threatens to split        not, accept such decisions. That turns       Article 31 of the church order of the
the Christian Reformed Church                your local churches into indepen-            PRC, the venerable church order of
(CRC), the ordination of women as            dents, does it not?"                         Dordt. It is revolution in the.sphere  of
ministers and elders. Conservatives               No synod of the PRC is going to         the church.
excoriate the synod of 1990 as an evil       become apostate, so that it decrees               Certainly the faithful peoile of
synod for approving the ordination           unrighteous decrees, apart from a            God will never accept decisions that
of women to the offices of minister          long history of gradually increasing         contradict the Holy Scriptures and
and elder. But already 35 years ago          unfaithfulness on the part of the con-       that approve wickedness, even
the CRC approved women voting at             gregations themselves. Against this,         though these decisions are adopted
the congregational meeting. This is          every congregation, every pastor,            by synod. Their sole recourse is to
rule in the church by women and a            every consistory member, and every           protest the evil decision to synod.
concession to the spirit of feminism in      church member is called by Christ to         And if synod onbehalf of the denomi-
the world. In 1978 the CRC approved          fight daily, in every lawful way. God        nation upholds the evil decision, the
the ordination of women to the office        grant that we are doing this!                faithful congregations must sever
of deacon. This too is rule in the                If a synod of the PRC should            their connection with the PRC.
church by women. The decision to             make a decision that corrupts the                 This does not turn them into
ordain women as ministers and el-            gospel or transgresses the law, there        independents. For as soon as pos-
ders is the inevitable end of a long         are certain actions that the faithful        sible, they will either establish a new
process. All the congregations have          congregation may not take. She may           denominationon thebasis  of the Word
been well aware of this process and          not form a "little church within the         of God and the Reformed confessions
were involved in it. All are respon-         church" with other faithful congrega-        or they will unite with an existing
sible for it.                                tions. Then she stays in the now             denomination of faithful Reformed
      This leads to the interestingques-     apostate denomination, but tries to          churches.
tion with which our correspondent in         live her own separate life within the             They must.
England closes: "Just suppose that           organization of the denomination.                 They cannot do otherwise.
the synod of the Protestant Reformed         This makes a mockery of the denomi-               For it is Reformed to seek the
Churches became corrupt and handed           national bond, that is, of the unity of      unity of the church. 0
down a decision contrary to the Word         Christ's church. Nor may she pub-                                           - D J E
of God. I assume that you are going          licly agitate against the decision, stir-
to tell me that local presbyteries and       ring up opposition against it wher-



Letters

                                             able. Having to establish a home,            are taught there powerfully, uncom-
0 Aussie Appreciation                        virtually from scratch, was made so          promisingly, and vibrantly. Already,
      In response to your editorial,         much easier with the help and sup-           I firmly believe, it has been worth-
"Promoting the Reformed Faith in             port of newly found friends. Encour-         while coming over to your country,
Australia" (StundaudBearev,  January         aging words, genuine interest, and           though we have really only just be-
15,1992), I wish to express my heart-        the formation of friendships have            gun our studies!
felt appreciation and thanks. More-          made settling into a new country far              For all of these things, and many
over, I am sure- that our church in          less traumatic for us.                       more which are not possible to list in
Australia rejoices with me and adds               Our spiritual home, while we            this letter, I wish to thankthe  PRC and
her collective voice of thankfulness.        are here, is Hope Protestant Reformed        her members. These are practical
     The spirit in which the editorial       Church. Here we have been made to            consequences of the fellowship of the
was written and the thoughts that            feel very welcome, so that we can            saints which my wife, my children,
were expressedinit are characteristic        truly call it "our home."                    and I will never forget, and which we
of the love and concern we have re-               Studies at the Seminary have            will always cherish and hold dear. 0
ceived since arriving in America last        been demanding, but such a great                                         David Higgs,
September. The care and hospitality          blessing. The truths of the Word,                                      Wyoming, MI
we have received have been remark-           which we all hold to be so precious,

                                                                                              February 15,1992  / Standard Bearer 1223


 All Around Us
  Prof. Robert Decker

 0 "HOLY ROLLERS":                                      The AG, whose beliefs include          this. Prayer brings them high paying
                                                                                               jobs at good companies, new cars,
 Bigger, Richer Than Ever                          faith healing and glossolalia (speak-       and healing from all kinds of sick-
           I am indebted to Kenneth Vink,          ing or praying in unknown tongues,          n e s s .
 Corporate Systems Supervisor at                   as evidences of being "baptized with              While some of these excesses are
. Spartan Stores, Inc. and an elder in             the Holy Spirit" ), is emerging with        denouncedby officials at the  AG head-
 our Grandville, MI Church, for the                bigger ambitions than its television        quarters inspringfield, MO, the head-
 source of this article. Mr. Vink sent             preachers ever had. The AG have             quarters itself is big business. Their
 me a copy of an in-depth study of the             opened over400 churches nationwide          printing presses, e.g., turn out 25 tons
 Assemblies of God denomination                    since 1987. Their total membership          of books and pamphlets per day! Their
 which appeared in The  Wall Street                exceeds four million. The AG has set        video production center produces
 Journal.                                          a goal of adding 5,000 churches in the      hours of sermons which are aired by
           Eluding the hellfire and- smoke         decade of the 1990s. They already
    surrounding his pulpit, the Rev.               have some 1,600 missionaries work-          most of the nation's 200 religious TV
   Tommy Barnett waves good-bye.                   ing in 121 countries. They operate 18       stations.
   With a hearty `Hallelujah,' he soars            colleges with a total enrollment of               Reading all this, we are re-
    straight toward heaven and out of              10,000. In these schools alcoholuse is      minded of Scripture's warning against
    s i g h t .                                    grounds for dismissal and dancing           the false teachers in the church who
           The abrupt flight of this Pente-        and movies arenot allowed.                  "...throughcovetousnesswithfeigned
    costal Peter Pan in a gray suit brings              Many new AG churches are               words make merchandise of you . .."
    gaspsfrommanyofthe6,500faithful                                                            (II Pet. 2:3).
    at Phoenix First Assembly. Joining             "supersanctuaries" that seat up to                            The Wall Street Journal
    in the extravaganza are a $500,000             10,000, with stages instead of altars,
    special-effects system, 200-member             giant overhead TV screens making
    choir and 25-piece orchestra. It's a           p-astors  larger than life, and laser-      0       New  Law on Religion
    finale fit for the mecca where one of          lights effecting New Age tableaus.          Passed in Singapore
    Mr. Barnett's assistant pastors stud-          Church stores offer all kinds of para-            The government of Singapore
    ies how to make such miracles hap-             phernalia: fortune cookies with Scrip-      has forbidden anyone to escalate in-
    pen: Sally's casino in Las Vegas.              ture inside, miniature $100 bills prais-
           Indeed, Assemblies of God                                                           ter-religious tension. It also forbids
                                                   ing Jesus on the back, and T-shirts
  churches (AG) are flying higher than                                                         anyone to incite others to defy, chal-
                                                   advising "Kick Satan's Butt."
  ever these days. Just four years ago                                                         lenge, or oppose government poli-
                                                        The AG's problem of putting
  theywere  miredin the sex scandals of                                                        cies, or promote subversion in the
                                                   religioninperspectivewiththeirpros-
  their most famous ministers, the now                                                         name of religion. Violations carry a
                                                   perity is evident at Phoenix First As-
  defrocked Jim Bakker and Jimmy                                                               fine of $10,000 and up to two years in
                                                   sembly. The church building is a
  Swaggert. On the one hand, the AG,                                                           prison.
                                                   grand circular edifice located on 72
  the so-called "holy rollers" of                                                                    Churches in Singapore have
                                                   acres. The sandstone entrance near
  Christendom, were humiliated. But                                                            given the new law mixed reviews.
                                                   the fountain and waterfall has the
  on the other hand the scandals gave                                                          The National Council of Churches
                                                   elegant look of the neighborhood's
  themwide  exposure. "Overnight, we                                                           and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese
                                                   golf resorts. The building cost $9
  went from relative obscurity to the                                                          have objected to the broad and am-
                                                   million. PastorTommyBarnettclaims
  world asking how our pastors got so                                                          biguous wording of the law.
                                                   hisis the fastest growingchurchin the
  out of control," says Juleen Turnage,                                                        Singapore Baptists have approved the
                                                   nation. It has an average weekly
  the  AG's secretary of information.                                                          law. The latter suggest that only
                                                   attendance of 9,600. Similarly,             Muslim extremists and very zealous
                                                   Carpenter's Home Church, the 10,000         Christian groups might stir up dis-
                                                   seat AG church in Lakeland, FL, cost        sension. Just how the new law willbe
                                                   $12 million. Calvary Temple in              implemented is not clear.
                                                   Naperville, IL is growing so fast that            What effects might this law have
                                                   it's planning to build a 3,500 seat         on our sister churches, the Rvangeli-
  Prof. Decker is professor  of  Practical The-    sanctuary that will cost $15 million.       cal Reformed Churches in Singapore?
  ology in the Protestant Reformed Semi-                AG members claim to have be-           Perhaps one of thebrothers from these
  nary.                                            come  millionaires after praying for        churches can tell us. Does the law
  224/SfandardBearer/Februaryl5,1992


mean, e.g., that should the ERCS evan-       the authority of God's Word, the            member.
gelize among Buddhists she would             power of God's Spirit, church plant-             Acornmitteehasbeenappointed
be guilty of "escalatinginter-religious      ing, missions, and cultural transfor-       to work out details relative to the
tension"? Already in recent months,          mation."                                    decision, such as site, timetable of the
door-to-door and street evangelism                From this it appears that the          move, and financing.
have been criticized. Rapid growth of        Reconstructionists, or at least some of          Said Board President Richard
churchesin the past months has raised        them, are going charismatic. Re-            Blauw of Southern California, "We
apprehensions among some  Singa-             formed and charismatic is a contra-         thank everyone in this region for their
poreans. If Christians are seen as too       diction in terms. No confessionally         faithful support in the past and we
aggressive, the government may de-           Reformed church or person (in the           trust God that we will continue to
cide they are "escalating tension."          sense of the Three Forms of Unity and       enjoy that support during the time of
                                  Pulse      the Westminster Standards) can pos-         transition and after the actual move."
                 REC News Exchange           sibly be charismatic. The Reformed               Mid-America Reformed Semi-
                                             Truthrepudiatesnotonlycharismatic           nary is a school serving existing and
0 Charismatic Reformed?                      excesses, but also its basic teachings.     emerging Presbyterian andReformed
      Early last year the directors of                         Christian Obsemer         churches through the training of pas-
the recently formed Association of                                                       tors. Its Board contains representa-
Reformed and Charismatic Churches            0 M.A.R.S. Decides to                       tives of many such churches and from
met in Florida to approve their State-       Relocate                                    all across North America. The Semi-
ment of Faith. Joseph R. McAuliffe of             At its Board Meeting on January        nary is financially supported by the
Tampa, a staff writer for R. J.              22-23, the Trustees of Mid-America          free-will gifts of Reformed believers
Rushdoony's ChaZced&z Report,  said          Reformed Seminary adopted a sig-            in many states and nations.
"the purpose of the Association is to        nificant resolution concerning the fu-
provide Christian leaders who are            ture of the school. The Board decided       0 A Thought Worth
committed to the principal tenets of         to relocate the seminary to the             Pondering
Reformation theology and to present          Chicagoland area, in order better to             Here is a statement which all of
manifestations of the Holy Spirit a          fulfillits goal to serve abroad range of    us who own TV sets ought to ponder.
settingforfellowship, accountability,        Reformed and Presbyterian churches          The quote is taken from an article
and mutual edification." McAuliffe           in an increasingly urban world.             which appeared in a recent issue of
also reports that #the Association is in          This decision was taken with           theBannerofTuuth,editedbyMaurice
a very embryonic stage and our goal          grateful acknowledgment of the sup-         Roberts. Here it is:
for this year is to complete our State-      port of local constituents, butwith the       The television . . . is certainly a great
ment of Faith and write our Constitu-        conviction that such a move is com-           time-waster and will give little help
tion. We hope to hold our first confer-      pelled by the seminary's vision for           to anyone who has his sights on get-
ence in April 1992 and invite all inter-     broader service. "It is clearly a deci-       ting to the Celestial City. 0
ested parties who share our vision for       sion taken in faith," said one board



                                             Our Father's
In His Fear                                  Chastisement
Rev. Arie denHartog

      It is of greatest importance that      we do not understand this there is a        that failure to understand Gods way
we understand the way that the Lord          great danger that the evil one will         of chastisement has led them far from
deals with us when He chastens us. If        lead us to discouragement and de-           the Lord for a time in their lives, and
                                             spair. Particularly at times in our life    caused them to become bitter with
                                             when we are experiencing great diffi-       the Lords ways until God in His
                                             culty and trials, he will tempt us to       great mercy brought them back., I
Rev. denHartog  is pastor ofHope  Protes-    deny the truth of God's Word and to         have seen this as a pastor.
tant Reformed Church in Redlands, Cali-      forsake the Lord. It has even hap-               It is of great interest and spiri-
fornia.                                      pened in the lives of Gods people           tual profit for all of us to examine
                                                                                             February15,1992/StandardBearer/225


                                                                                                           .



what the Bible has to say on this           Greek for children. It is a word that is     in the covenant of marriage and leaves
subject. Even a cursory study of the        used to describe the whole of the            us alone in the world. The Lord may
Scriptures willindicate how often the       training, instruction, and upbringing        sometimes chastenus with a sickness
subject of divine chastisement is dealt     of a child. It includes the admonition,      that we have to live with for a long
with. Both the Old and the New              correction, and discipline of children.      time and that is so awful that no
Testaments speak of it repeatedly.          The word used here can be applied to         doctor on earth can cure us. He may
The most extensive treatment of this        all that is done for a child to bring him    chasten us so severely that we finally
subject is found in Hebrews chapter         to maturity.                                 die from such a disease. The Lord
12. God has preserved in the Scrip-              Implied in the word as it is used       may chasten us by sending trouble
tures great examples of His saints          in the Scriptures therefore is the great     and disappointmentinourlife. Maybe
who endured the Lord's chastening           truth that we are the children of God.       He will lead us in the way of failing in
hand in their lives, and of the great       Not all in the world are children of         our attempt to attain to some great
spiritual benefit and blessing they         God. It is the unique and high privi-        goal that we had set for ourselves.
received from the Lord.                     lege of God's people to be called the        Sometimes the,Lord chastens us by
     This is in a sense a very solemn       children of God. By nature we are the        financial hardship and loss, so that
and serious subject. Few in our su-         children of wrath. We are children of        we have really to struggle to make
perficial age, when it is imagined that     God through the action of Gods great         ends meet, and maybe even have to
the Christianlife is to be only ease and    love and grace in His Son Jesus Christ.      go hungry sometimes.
luxury and joy and pleasure, ever           We are children of God by the won-
contemplate the teaching of the Lord        der of adoption through the blood of
about chastisement. Some will dis-          Jesus Christ. God made us spiritually                   God loves us
miss the whole subject as too serious       His children through the work of re-               with the tender love
andunnecessary to consider at length.       generation in our hearts. The Lord                        bf a Father
But we dare to say that this subject is     molds and forms us as His children
going to become very important to           through the process of sanctification.            and is compassionate
every child of God at some time in his      When God chastens us He deals with            to us in all of our aflicta'ons
life. We want to spend some time            us as His dear children. Chastise-                        and trials.
writing on this subject in the next         ment is an important aspect of God's
couple of articles in this rubric of the    work of sanctification. All those who
Sfandard Bearer.                            truly believe are the children of God.            For many of us, that might be
                                            God gives His children the faith to          hard to imagine, but there are always
                                            believe in Him. He tries the faith of        saints of God on the earth somewhere
             . . . if we are                His children often through chastise-         who are chastened in such a manner.
     without chastisement,                  ment. When Job understood this in            The Lord sometimes chastens His
                                            his life he had the hope that he would
          then we are not                                                                saints through the persecution and
                                            come forth from the chastening pro-
        sons of                                                                          hatred of the world. The Hebrew
                    God at .a11             cess as gold tried by fire to the praise     Christians whom the inspired writer
            but bastards                    and glory of God.                            of the, epistle to the Hebrews ad-
                                                 When the word chastisement is           dressed were experiencing such chas-
                                            used in Scripture it usually refers es-      tisement. The Lord can sometimes
     The Bible clearly teaches that         pecially to the difficulties and trials      use even the devil to trouble us, and
every child of God will at times in his     through which the Lord leads us dur-         by that same affliction He chastises
life be chastened of the Lord. In fact      ing our life on earth. It describes the      us. The classic example of that is of
the Word of God states very strongly        dealing of the Lord with us during           course the whole story of Job. The
that if we are without chastisement,        fiery trials and stormy troubles. He         Lord dealt also with David in such a
then we are not sons'of God at allbut       may chasten us by suddenly taking            manner in connection with the num-
bastards (Heb. 1233). Every true child      away from us something very dear             bering of Israel. And we are told that
of Godneeds  at times to be chastened.      and precious. He may chasten us by           Paul's thorn in the flesh was a "mes-
When we rightly understand the chas-        sending us a prolonged grievous ill-         senger of Satan to buffet him." Chas-
tening of the Lord in our lives, then       ness. God chastened Job. In one day          tisement can sometimes be so severe
we are truly the children of God.           He took away all his riches and all his      that we groan in agony. The chastise-
     Let us begin by saying some-           children. God may sometimes chas-            ment of the Lord can even last the
thing about the meaning of the word         ten us by taking one of our dear chil-       whole of our life on earth. In many
"chastisement." Literally this word         dren from our bosoms. Maybe He               cases the Lord chastises elderly saints
means to deal with as children. The         chastens us by taking out of this life a     more severely than He does youthful
Greek word used here comes from             dear, godly husband or wife with             ones. He sometimes sends one afflic-
the same root as the word used in the       whom we have lived for many years            tion after the other and gives sorrow

226/StandardBearer/February15,1992


upon sorrow. Sometimes the Lord            what He sends us in life and will             teous at the cross of Jesus Christ. God
chastens by withdrawing the con-           begin to murmur and complain                  chastens Hischildren in love and al-
sciousness of His. favor and               against Him. This all comes from a            ways for their good and salvation. If
lovingkindness so that the Christian       wrong understanding of the chasten-           we understand this rightly we will
gropes in darkness and despair and         ing of the Lord. The Lord chastens            not carelessly go to the Lord in prayer
cries out to God. Sometimes in our         only in His great and tender love and         and insist that He always remove
Christian life we are afflicted by         affection. His love for us in Christ          every trial and hardship from the
doubtsandfearsthatarepartofGod's           Jesus is absolutely sovereign and un-         pathway of our life. Rather we will
chastisement.                              changeable. It will never fail. Noth-         pray that the Lord will give us grace
     It is impossible to understand        ingin this life or in the life to come can    that we might be able to endure His
God's way of chastisement unless we        ever separate us from the love of God.        chastening hand and that every chas-
know andbelieve the greatest truth of      We must steadfastly believe this by           tisement He sends us will be for our
all the Bible, the truth of God's abso-    faith in order to endure the chasten-         good and salvation, (But who prays
lute sovereignty. God rules over           ing of the Lord.                              such a prayer today?) The Lord has
heaven and earth in His goodness                                                         prepared a particular place in glory
and.wisdom. He rules not only over                                                       for each of His saints in Christ Jesus.
the mighty events of history but also            Through chastisement                    Through chastisement He prepares
over all the circumstances of our per-      He prepares us for that place                us for that place which is reserved in
sonal life. He blesses us with health                                                    heaven for us.
and strength, with the vigor and                    which is reserved                         There are two more things we
beauty of youth, and also rules over               in heaven for us.                     want to consider in our next article.
the days of our decline and all the                                                      We want to examine carefully God's
infirmities that come along with this.                                                   purpose in chastisement. And finally
He often uses the circumstances of               There is a very great difference        we want to say something about how
our life, which are all completely un-     between the punishment and the chas-          we as the children of God must en-
der His control, to chasten us.            tisement of the Lord. The Lord in             dure the chastisement of the Lord.
     Chastisement.is  an act of Gods       holy wrath punishes the wicked. The                                                   cl
love for His children. When He chas-       Bible says that He is angry with the
tens His children He never does so         wicked every day. He curses them in
out of cruelty or vindictiveness on        all their doings. WhenHe sends them
account of their sins. God loves.us        affliction it is in His wrath and dis-
with the tender love of a Father and is    pleasure against their sins. Evenwhen
compassionate to us in all of our af-      the Lord sends prosperity to the
flictions and trials. He knows what is     wicked He sets them upon slippery
necessary for our salvation. He does       places to cast them down to destruc-
not afflict us without a cause or be-      tion (P.s. 73). God punishes thewicked          REMEMBER:
cause- He delights in seeing His be-       in order finally to destroy them in
loved children suffering. He always        hell. Our Lord Jesus Christ, however,            Introductorv
seeks the end of our salvation for the     has borne away all the punishment of                                             d
glory of His own name. He deals with       the sins of His people through His
us only in perfect love and wisdom.        death'on the cross. God will not                 subsctiiptions
     There is a constant refrain found     punish us a second time for our sins.
throughout Scripture. In at least five     We must never imagine that when the                       to the
books of the Bible the same phrase         Lord is chastening us He is actually
appears: "Whom the Lord loveth he          punishing,us  for our sins. If we do               Standard
chasteneth, and scourgeth  every son       that, we deny the cross of Christ.
whom he receiveth." It is very impor-      Truly there is no condemnation to
tant that we fully understand and          them that are in Christ Jesus. God                      Beaker
                                                                                                           I
believe this. For if we do not under-      does not chasten us to punish us for
stand this we will inevitably become       our sins.                                         are  still
discouraged under the chastening                The Lord may chasten us in con-
hand of the Lord, and in times of          nection with certain specific sins in
severe chastisement become bitter          our life, as we shall consider later, but.     Jne-half price!
against the Lord. If we do not fully       He will not punish us for those sins.
understand this, we will imagine that      The difference is very important to
God is cruel and harsh with us. We         understand. God chastens His chil-
will imagine that we do not deserve        dren who are first of all made righ-

                                                                                            February 15,1992 / StandardBearer  1227


                                              Choice: _ Tuition
                                             Vouchers, Christiam
Church and                                    Schools, and the
State                                         list Amendment
Mr. James Larding



     It's time parents werefiee to choose the schools that their children attend. This approach will create the competitive climate
  that stimulates excellence in our private and parochial schools as well.
                                                                                                   President Bush, April, 1991
     The Bush Administration is sparing no expense to embrace a far-reaching definition of choice - including aid to parochial
  schools, if that will pass the hurdleof  the 1st Amendment. Education  Secreta y Lamar Alexander has calledgovernment support
  of parochial school students "as American as apple pie. "Alexander  hopes  eventually to  erode  the ironclad distinction between
  public and private education.
                                                                                                            Time,. Sept. 16,1991


Collapse of Public Education                       .Although  the state public school      The Radical Alternative - Pearental
     For almost a decade now, the            system has often been criticized in the       Choice
collapse of our nation's public school       past for its shortcomings, the funda-               The proponents of Choice are
system seemed inevitable. Each fall,         mental concept of "state" education           suggesting that "free-market" prin-
attempting to stem the tide of sharply       has escaped widespread scrutiny.              ciples of competition should be intro-
rising deficits, teachers strikes, stu-      More recently, however, the very               duced into the educational arena to
dent violence, and high school illit-        notion of a "state" school system is          challenge the stagnant and unpro-
eracy, federal and state governments.        under attack - why should the gov-             dqctivemonopolypublicschools  have
continued frantically to pour billions       ernment own and operate &r nation's           too long enjoyed. To do this, Choice
of dollars into the "black hole" of           schools?                                      adherents propose that government
public education. The results have                 ThispastApriltheBushAdmin-               should in some way subsidize the
been a grim disappoinfment. The              istration launched an unprecedented            tuition of all students, who would
nation's public school systems are:           assault against the "monopoly" of             then have the choice as to which school
now on the verge of financial and            public schools. And what President            they would attend. These tuition
educational bankruptcy.                      Bush and his Education Secretary               "vouchers" (as they were firsit called
     In the past decadeseveral inten-         Alexander are now suggesting could           by the free market economist Milton
sive studies of the public schools (e.g.,     eventually be a total dismemberment           Friedman in the 195Os), would pre-
A Nafion at Risk)  have conclusively          of the public educational system as           sumably be used by students to enroll
demonstrated that the system is woe-         we know it today. Armed with a                anywhere,  including all private and
fully inadequate, perhaps even a com-         recent study from the Brookings In-           parochial schools.
plete failure, in educating its chil-         stitution  (Politics, -Markers, and                The contention is that such uni-
dren.                                        America's  SchooZs   by John Chubb            versal "choice" of schools would force
                                              and Terry Moe), the Btish Adminis-            public schools to be competitive or
                                              tration is proposing a new "remedy"           face extinction when students aban-
                                              for the ills of the public school system.     donaninferior state school for a supe-
Mr. Lanting, a member of South Holland        And this radical option has been clev-        rior learning alternative elsewhere.
Protestant Reformed Church, is a prac-        erly given a politically correct label:            Although proposals for tuition
ticing attorney.                              "parental choice."                            vouchers have been around for sev-


era1 decades now (see, e.g., Society,                                                   corporal punishment, teacher certifi-
State  &Schools by McCarthy,  et. al.),        Governmental sponsorship                 cation, and other such criteria as a
the concept has gained political vi-                 and financial aid                  prerequisite for acceptance of gov-
ability recently when minorities be-                                                    ernment funds.
gan advocating Choice as an escape                    have invariably                        Moreover, it would appear that
frominner-city schools. Apilotschool              been accompanied by                   the proponents of Choice are superfi-
$2,500 voucher program involving                  the twin monster head                 ciallyignoringthefundamentalprob-
eight private, non-sectarian schools            of governmental coritrol.               lem with state schools. The cause of
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (ironically                                                     the meltdown in public education is
conceived by Polly Williams, a black-                                                   not the lack of parental choice of
separatist state representative from         Vouchers and Christian Schools             schools, but rather the destruction of
Milwaukee) has gained nationwide                  Although the Christian school         the traditional family structure. Mal-
attention and appyoval.  Although an         movement may initially experience          nourished and psychologically
innovative $2,500 tuition tax credit         some euphoria over such apromising,        troubled children from dysfunctional
was recently defeated in an Oregon           financial windfall of tuition grants or    homes with a single, working parent
referendum, Choice in one form or            tax credits, it would seem prudent to      or no parents at all are ill-equipped to
another is rapidly becoming a real           be very cautious and realistic about       leamandmatureinanyschool. Choice
political possibility in many states         these radical developments in the past     may be treating only the symptom
and perhaps nationally, if Congress          few months. Governmental sponsor-          and not the disease.
adopts Bush's "America 2000" edu-            ship and financial aid have invariably          But our parental, Christian day-
cational program.                            been accompanied by the twin mon-          school movement should nonethe-
                                             ster head of governmental control. It      less closely follow with great interest
Constitutional and Other Problems            seems inevitable that if and when          this current debate about Choice in
     Choice is not without its detrac-       Congress and the states adopt these        education. And although the out-
tors, however. The American Fed-             proposed tuition voucher or tax credit     come may be some form of welcome
eration of Teachers (AFT), the Na-           schemes, there will be the usual ac-       financial relief for Christian school
tional Education Association (NEA),          companying conditions and restric-         parents (who, because of local real
and Americans United for Separation          tions upon the use and acceptance of       estate taxes, are now unfairly paying
of Church and State bifterly  oppose         such governmental aid. Indeed, it is       "twice" for education), we should be
the plan, arguing that the demise of         not unlikely that the schools receiv-      very cautious and wary about relin-
the traditional public school system         ing such aid will be forced to comply      quishing any control over or supervi-
will cause a plethora of other prob-         with current governmental regula-          sion of our schools to the federal or
lems, includingrenewed segregation,          tions regarding specific curriculum        state government arguably ea:rning
exclusion of difficult and handicapped       content, affirmative action and mi-        that prerogative by virtue of dir(ect or
children, and unprecedented chaos            nority quotas, sexual discrimination,      indirect financial aid.  0
during any transition period.
     Another formidable hurdle for a
"free market" in education is the 1st                                   The stiepherd
Amendment prohibition of govern-
mental "establishment of religion."
The Supreme Court has historically
struck down any direct governmen-                Nihougli  the roadYe rough and-steep,
tal aid .to "sectarian" schools as viola-
tive of the anti-establishment clause                  Igo to the desert to findmy  sheep.
which mandates that "Congress shall            But none of the  ransomedever   i@new  1.
make no law respecting an establish-
ment of religion...."                                  How deep Were the Waters crossed,
     ButtheBushAdministrationand
some constitutional scholars are now             Nor how dar@ms  the n&ht that t& Lord
arguing that such tuition vouchers
will vault the "wall of separationN                passed through
between church and state because
such vouchers or tax credits would                     Ere He found the sheep that was Cost.
merely constitute permissible "indi-                                                        -Anonymous
rect" aid to sectarian schools and pri-
marily serve the legitimate secular
purpose of education.


                                                                                                                            1

~0 ye mm -Approaching the
The World                                    Unbeliever
Rev. Ronald VanOverloop


     What do we say to those who             diately evident or will be evident in       the fact that they know "the judgment
give no evidence of being saved?             the day when "God shall judge the           of God that they which commit such
     There is no pat answer. It is not       secrets of men" and will "render to         things are worthy of death" (Rom.
as simple as reciting four spiritual         every man according to his deeds"           1:32). They know no shame.
laws.                                        (Rom. 2:16,6). The wrath of God is                 Although these unbelievers may
         There are certain truths which      upon them because of their sins and         not have a Bible and may not know of
must be presented, although there is         miseries. They are unrighteous.             Jesus the Savior, they are not without
not just one way to present them. Of                    X-X-*****                        the knowledge of God. God makes
course, every unbeliever needs to                 The first group of unrighteous         sure that all men, even those in coun-
know the Savior. The knowledge of            aredescribedbyPaulinl:l&32. They            tries where the gospel has not yet
Christ is the essential truth they must      are without the Bible and the knowl-        been preached, know that He is. God
be taught. However, in order to know         edge of Jesus Christ. They have "pros-      Himself showed it to them (Rom.
and enjoy the only comfort of belong-        pered" in their sin, committing the         1:19). These unbelievers know of God
ing to the Savior, which enables one to      worst kinds of sins. And, to make it        from the realm of creation, but that
live and die happily, it is necessary        worse, they take great pleasure in          knowledge is also manifest  "in  them"
that they be first taught how great          their gross sins.                           (vs. 19). The deity and power of God
their sins and miseries are (cf. Heidel-          In this first group of unbelievers     are "clearly seen, being understood"
berg Catechism, Lord's Day 1). The           are those in the "backward" countries       (vs. 21). This knowledge that God
first Scriptural truth which must be         of the world. The gospel  ne'ver            exists is always accompanied by the
presented (in one way or another) is         reached their country or village. They      knowledge that God must be glori-
the truth of the unrighteousness and         died in their sins, never having seen a     fied. However, these unrighteous
depravity of man.                            Bible or having heard of Jesus, the         sinners, increasing their guilt, hold
         The Holy Spirit inspired the        Savior.                                     down the truth (vs. X3), and change
apostle Paul to declare the truth of                                                     the truth of God into a lie (vs. 25).
man's great need for a Savior, in the                                                            The missionary and evangelism
first two chapters of his epistle to the                This knowledge                   committee which want to speak to
church in Rome. The apostle ad-                         that God exists                  this kind of sinner must be aware of
dressed himself to those who were                                                        what the Bible says of them. That
unrighte0us.i.n three different situa-           is always accompanied                   which is to be told them is something
tions. In this article we will consider           by the knowledge that                  which they are constantly denying to
theinspiredwriter's approach to these             God must be glorified.                 themselves. Theirproblemisnotthat
three kinds of unbelievers.                                                              they do not know God, but rather that
         Paul seeks to show the saints in                                                they refuse to glorify and to thank
Rome that what the unrighteous in all             Also in this first group of            God.
three situations have in common is           unrighteous are those in "civilized"                The missionary and witnessing
the wrath of God, whether it is imme-        countries who have given themselves         Christian are going to point out that
                                             over to the worst kinds of sins: ho-        the sinner stands in danger of lthe
                                             mosexuality and  "filled  with  all         judgment of God. They should show
                                             unrighteousness" (Rom.  1:26-31).           that God's wrath is already
                                             Thesesupposedlycivilizedpeoplenot           "revealed...against  all ungodliness
                                             only willingly commit every kind of         andunrighteousness of men" (vs. 18).
Rev. VanOverloop  is pastor of Befhel        sin, but take pleasure in those who                 How is this wrath of God mani-
Profesfanf Reformed Church in ElkGrove       commit such sins with them. What            fested? What does this wrath of God
Village, Illinois.'                          makes this delight in sin so terrible is    do?


      In His wrath God delivers men           of these sinners and shows that they       goodness. They treat the many good
unto sin. The natural law of conse-           are just as inexcusable because they       things which God gives them as worth-
quence operates on sin, so that sin           did the same things (2:l). It could be     less. The ignoring of the responsibil-
intensifies as, in the wrath of God, it is    that this group of unbelievers do not      ity which comes with the good things
punished with more sin. The path of           violate the commands as obviously          that Godgives them is a despising of
unbelief is sin, then wrath, then more        and as seriously, but they do violate      God's goodness.
sin, then more wrath, still more sin,         them. Maybe they did not kill, but              Fourthly, although God's wrath
andstillmorewrath, etc. Theresultis           they hated. Maybe they did not com-        may not be openly manifest upon
that man reaps for himself a corre-           mit any acts of homosexuality, but         them (as it is with the gross sinners
spondingly greater toll of divine ven-        they did wrongly desirein their hearts.    describedin chapter 1), such does not
geance.                                       And "the judgment of God is,against        mean that they have escaped God's
      The power that pulls man down           themwhichcommitsuchthings"  (2:2).         wrath altogether.
is the unchangeable operation of the                                                          Fifthly, their refusal to repent
wrath of God. Romans 1 teaches                                                           `and their despising of God's good-
clearlythatsin'sseeminglyunchecked                  . . . the presence of the            ness results in their actively treasur-
growth is, in reality, God's judicial                 many good things                   ing up unto themselves wrath in the
abandonment of manunto sin. God's                                                        day of wrath (2:5). All the while .they
wrath corresponds to the organic                   which God  is pleased                 thought they were free from God's
growth of sin. God brings man as low              to give mankind carries                wrath, in reality they were treasuring
as possible, in order that man might                   a responsibility                  up wrath against the judgment day.
see the consequences of his sin. Man                  for the recipients,                Not God, but man himself, is actually
fallsbelowthebeast,makingacalfhis                     namely to repent.                  the one who is piling up divine wrath
god. And man does things sexually                                                        for himself.
that an animal would never do.                                                                 The Reformed missionary and
      The Reformed missionary and                  The hypocriticalattitude of these     the Reformed believer have the call-
the Reformed believer are not left            equally inexcusable sinners arose be-      ing to warn those who appear tlo be
silent in the face of gross sin. Nor          cause of possibly two erroneous con-       living quietly with the bounties of
does such gross sin mean that all             ceptions. First, they might have con-      God's goodness. They must be
evangelistic effort on our part is fu-        ceived that they would escape the          warned that if these good things do
tile. While the wrath of God is re-           judgment of God (2:3). Or, secondly,       not lead them to a life of conversion,
vealedfrom heavenupon such societ-            they might conclude that they are the      they are despising God's good gifts
ies corporately, there may be indi-           objects of God's goodness because          and treasuring up for themselves di-
viduals within who are the elect of           they do not see themselves under the       vine wrath. Therefore, while it may
God. Do not forget that God sent              wrath of God; They identify the ap-        appear that they are not the objects of
Jonah to Nineveh. God can have His            parent absence of God's wrathful           God's wrath, God in His forbearance
own even in societies which are char-         judgments as God's goodness. They          is waiting to manifest His wrath in
acterized by the manifestation of the         concluded that they were better and        "the day of-wrath and revelation of
wrath of God in this present time.            that they did not have to fear God's       the righteous judgment of God" (2:5).
      Wickedness is great but not             wrath at all.                                   In addition, our not being
greater thanthepower of God's grace                Paulis usedby God to alert these      ashamedoftheGospelofChristmeans
to rescue. The gospel of Christ is the        unrighteous sinners to several truths.     that we have an answer. We witness
power of God unto salvation! It is the             First, the presence of the many       of the righteousness of God in Christ,
power that lifts individuals up and           good things which God is pleased to        which is revealed in the gospel. This
out of harm's way.                                                                       we must do unashamedly, for it is the
           *******                            give mankind carries a responsibility
                                              for the recipients, namely to repent       power of God unto salvation to ev-
      The unrighteous sinners in the          (2:4). Just as these good things de-       eryone that.believeth.
second case are those who appear to                                                                *******
                                              mand of them that they glorify and
be free from the wrath of God in this         thank God (1:20), so they call the              The third group of unrighteous
life (Rom. 2:1-l@. This is what they          recipients to be converted.                sinners to whom Paul gives warning
believe to be true. In fact, they look             Secondly, the apparent absence        are those Jews who thought that they
upon the unrighteous sinners in the           of God's wrath does not add up to          were certainly going to escape the
"first case and see a marked difference       God's love. God's goodness is not          wrath of God because they were cl-t&
between themselves and those who              equivalent to His love and grace.          dren of Abraham, because they were
are obviously the objects of divine                Thirdly, their refusal to repent      "called a Jew" (2:17). They felt pro-
wrath already in this lifetime.               and to thank God is to be viewed           tected from God's wrath by theirreli-
     The Holy Spirit, through Paul,           properly as a "despising" of God's         gion, by their circumcision, by their
speaksimmediatelyagainst the pride                                                       having been catechized in the law, by

                                                                                             February15,1992/StandardBearerJ231


their ability to judge and reject all       into the kingdom of heaven on the           nothing. Myrighteousnessesarefilthy
worldly philosophies, by their being        basis of casting out devils in Jesus'       rags.
teachers pf babes and guides of the         name (Matt. 7:21-23),  then certainly                If this be understood and ac-
blind.                                      his instruction in and knowledge of         knowledged, thenwe have room, and
     .                                      the law and his participation in the        the right place, for the gospel.
                                            sacraments will also not gain for him-               Then, in the day when God will
 Away with all our religion                 self entrance into the kingdom.             judge the secrets of all men, we will
          and piety as the basis                    Away with all our religion and      claim emptiness (not our righteous-
                                                                                        ness). Thenwewillplead  God'srigh-
            of righteousness.               piety as the basis of righteousness.
                                            Not one can or may use religion in          teousness given in Christ.
                                            order to stand before the living, holy               Then God will speak: Your sins
                                            God.                                        are forgiven. Then the impossible
      Totheseunbelieversl'aulcomes                  A real Jew and real circumcision    will happen: the unrighteous will be
with the instruction that in the judg-      are not outward, but inward. The            declared by God to be righteous.
ment day they will not be able to use       only basis for anyone to stand before                    *******
their religion as the ticket which gains    God with boldness in the judgment                    Theknowledge of thisrighteous-
them entrance into heaven. Their            day is a circumcised heart - such a         ness, which is the power of God unto
religion, circumcision, and instruc-        heart which lays hold only on the           salvation to everyone that believeth,
tion in the law are privileges; they are    righteousness graciously earned by          is what makes us unashamed of the
not the basis of personal righteous-        Jesus Christ and freely bestowed by         gospel of Christ when we face any of
ness before God. In the day when            the Holy Spirit.                            these three kinds of unbelief. This is
God shall judge the secrets of men no               There is nothing left in man (in    themessageoftheReformedbeliever,
one will be able to use as a defense his    us) of which to boast. We are nothing       evangelism committee, and mission-
religion or his doctrine or his denomi-     but poor, miserable sinners. I am
nation. If he cannot claim entrance                                                     ary. 0
                                            rrothingandmyreligionandpiety  are



                                                                               Malachi

                                                                                Lesson 6
                                               The Coming of the
              .-                                                 Messenger
Search  t h e                                          of the Covenant
SCriptuEs
Rev.. Cd Haak                                                              (Malachi 3:1-6)


          In these verses of Malachi's      and warning to those who walk in            they ask in chapter 2:17. A class of
prophecy the prophet speaks words           wickedness. We have noted that the          rich had arisen whose wealth' was
of consolation andjoy to true believ-       days in which Malachi prophesied            gained from their oppression of the
ers and words. of severe judgment           weretimesoftroublefor God'speople           poor. For the true believer it was a
                                            whohadretmnedfromtheBabyIonian              dark day, a day in which wickedness I
                                            captivity. It was a time of apostasy,       seemed triumphant.
                                            coldindifference, and treachery. Even                In answer  comes  the mighty
Rev. Haak is pastor of the Protestant       on the part of God's true peoplezhere       promise of God's sure judgment on
Reformed Church of Lynden, Washing-         was despondency and secret despair.         the wicked and His salvation of the
t o n .                                     "Where .is the God of judgment?"            righteous. "Behold .,. the messenger

232/StandardBearer/Februaryl5,1992


 of the covenant will suddenly come to         but by His unchangeable love to them,                      Ephesians 2:20-22
 his temple!" Unto the wicked He               andby His eternal purpose andprom-                         Zechariah 6:12-15
 shall appear as a fire to consume and         ise in Christ Jesus.                                       II Corinthians 6:16
 to execute swift judgment against all                                                                    II Thessalonians 2:4
 who practice wickedness andfearnot            Memory  Work                                               Jeremiah 7:4
 God. For those who seek and delight                         (Malachi 3:1-3, 6)                           Revelation 3:12
 in Him, He comes to purify them and                    Behold,  I will send my messenger,            d. What doesit mean that Christ
 present thembefore Godinrighteous-            and he shall prepare the way before me:         shall "suddenly come to his temple"?
 ness. And this is certain, for it is the      and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall.sud-          2.     The purpose of Christ's coming:
 word of the Lord, the one who changes         denly come to his temple, even the mes-         judgment. and salvation.
 not. Therefore the sons of Jacob, the         senger of the covenant, whom ye delight                a. What is the significance of the
 elect of God, would be preserved              in: behold, he shall come, saifh the Lord       fact that Malachi sees the advent of
 even in the darkest of times.                 of hosts.                                       Christ in Bethlehem and His final
        Malachi very plainly speaks of                  But who may abide the day of his       return as basically one coming?
 the coming of Jesus Christ. This pas-         coming? and who shall sfand when he                    b. From the following passages
 sage is, in part, very similar to Isaiah      appearefh? for he is like a refiner's fire,     tell what the coming of Christ is to the
 40:3. Isaiah's prophecy must have             and like fullers' soap.                         wicked and unbeliever.
 been well known to the Old Testa-                   And he shall sit as a refiner and                    II Thessalonians 1:7-10, with
 ment believers. Malachi refers then           purifier of silver: and he shall purij$  the    Hebrews 12:24
 to the promise of John the Baptist, the       sons of Levi, and purge fhem as gold and                   Revelation 6:13-17
forerunner (see John 1:23, Matt. 3:3,          silver, that they may offer unto fhe Lord                  Luke 2:34
 Mark1:3, Luke 1:76, Luke 3:4-6, Matt.         an ofiering  in righteousness.                         c. Christ comes to "purify" and
 11:lO).                                             For I am the Lord, I change not;          "purge" the sinsof Levi. Explain how
        Concerning the coming of the           therefore ye sons of Jacob are not con-         the purifying of silver by fire is an
 promised Savior, the hope and salva-          sumed.                                          example of Christ's workin believers
 tion of all the church, Malachi has                                                           (see I Pet. 1:7, Prov. 123).
 much to teach us.                             Questions for Study                                        1) Who are meant by "the
        1. It will be preceded by "my          1.       Verse one is a beautiful proph-        sons of Levi"?
 messenger," whose workwould be to             ecy of the coming and identity of                          2) Compare verse 4 with I
 prepare the way before Him.                   Jesus Christ. We will want to exam-             Peter 29 and Ephesians 5:26,27.  Then
        2. The promised Messiah is the         ine it carefully to see its power and           explain what verse 4 is saying.
 "messenger of the covenant" who is            beauty.                                                d. Make a list of the sins men-
 the delight as well as the object of faith             a. Show from the New Testa-            tioned in verse 5, finding other scrip-
 of all God's people.                          ment Scriptures that the messenger              tures which mention the same evil
        3. The promised Christ is God,         who is to prepare the way for Christ            and what the sin actually is.
 equal to and the same as God, one             is John the Baptist.                                   e. How are all these sins
 being with Jehovah. Note verse 1: "I                       1) What doesit mean that John      summed under "and fear not me"?
 will send my messenger . . . and the          was "to prepare the way before me"?             3.     The preservation of saints is
 Lord whom ye seek . . . saith the Lord of     (Is there any correlation to today as           founded on the very being of God.
 hosts."                                       we await the final return of Christ?)                  a. Explain what the following
        4. The coming of Christ in both                     2) How did John prepare the        passages say about God's immutabil-
 His birth and return in judgment is           way for Christ? Why was this neces-             ity (unchangeableness)
 viewed as one coming. Clearly-                sary?                                                      Psalm 102:26,  27 (quoted in
 Malachi speaks of His advent as well                b. The identity of the promised           Hebrews l:ll, 12)
 as His second coming in judgment.             Messiah.                                                   James 1:17
        5. This coming serves a dual                        1) Show from verse one that               Numbers  23:19
 purpose. He appears as aflame of fire         Jesus Christ is God. Compare this                          II Timothy 2:13
to take vengeance on the wicked (vs.           with Romans 9:5, I Timothy 3:16.                       b. What then is God's immuta-
 5). And He comes to purify by fire the                     2) Look up Jeremiah 31:31,         bility?
 sons of Levi that they may offer to           Hebrew 12:24, and Hebrews 9:15 and                     c. Why is this the reason for the
 God sacrifices of righteousness (vs.          then explain what is meant by the fact          preservation of saints?
 3).                                           that Christ is the messenger of the                    d. Why does this produce com-
        Finally, our passage teaches us        covenanf. What is the' relationship             fort and carefulness in the saints, and
 the certain preservation of the true          between Christ and the covenant?                not carelessness?
 children of God (vs. 6). The persever-              c. What do the following verses           4.     Can you write from memory that
 ance of the saints is guaranteed, not         teach concerning the identity of the            familiar and beautiful passage,
 by their unchangeable love to God,            "temple"?                                       Malachi  3:1-3,  6?  Q

                                                                                                     February 15,1992/StandardBearer/233


   \-                                                                                                                        /


         A Word Fitly Spoken
          Rev. Dale Kuiper                                                                                                   I
                                                        Zeal
                It is striking thatboth the Hebrew and the Greek words from which our KJV derives the words zeal,
         zealous, and zealot are words which have the basic meaning of heat. The Hebrew root means to boil with
         heat, to be hot. Metaphorically the word indicates excitement of mind, ardor, fervor of spirit, zeal in
         embracing, pursuing, or defending anything. The Greek word means to become very red, to be excited
         so that the face is red. Thus, this word also means to be zealous towards a person or thing, to burn with
         zeal. It should be noted that both these words can also mean jealousy or envy, and both words can have
         a negative or sinful implication; a bad, misplaced zeal in some contexts.
                Men can be flushed in the face and burn with zeal in respect to that which is impure and sinful. The
         Jews had a zeal of God but not according to knowledge, so that they went about establishing their own
         righteousness (Rom. 10:2,3).  With great zeal Paul persecuted the church of God (Phil. 36). The false
         teachers among the Galatian converts were zealous but not correct (Gal. 4:17). These biblical examples
         of false zeal serve as a warning to us. In religious circles today the watchword is sincerity. It is not thought
         important what a person believes or how he lives as long as he is sincere. Notice how sincere he is! Well,
         the Jews were sincere in their works righteousness. In fact there was a sect of the Jews, called the Zealots
         who `were rigorous in their adherence to Mosaic law, using force to get others to agree with them.
          (Perhaps Simon Zelotes, one`of the twelve, was so named because he belonged to this sect before his
         conversion.) Today, the Roman Catholics, and members of various cults, are also sincere. So much for
          sincerity if it does not burn with holy fire! God's jealousy (self-zeal) burns against all those not in
         harmony with the Holy Scriptures.
                The greatest example of holy zealis that of Jesus Christ, whose zeal for the house where God's honor
          dwelleth consumed Him at all times! See Him cleansing the temple at the beginning of His earthly
         ministry, driving out the merchandisers and their animals with a whip, upsetting their money tables,
         proclaiming the truth of His Father's house. Remember another man after Gods own heart who was
         eaten up with an identical zeal (Ps. 69:9). Yes, the Jesus who is portrayed today as so harmless that He
         would never hurt a fly was red in the face, was incited to slash right and left with a scourge, spoke hard
         words, because there burned in His heart such a love for God, such a desire for His glory, such a longing
         for the perfection of His cause, that with utter self-forgetfulness He never considered His own name and
          standing. For these things He prayed more than any man; for these things He labored so arduously that
         He often forgot to eat. It was His meat to do the will of God who sent Him and to finish the work given
         Him to do (John 434). In all His workHe  was driven, filled with fire, consumed, until He gave Himself
         to be consumed on the cross.
                Are there men, women, and children filled with that same zeal today? Yes, there are. For not only
          did Christ give Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity, but He also "purifies unto
         Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:14). Every member of the body of Christ
         partakes of His anointing and partakes of His fire and zeal. Every child of God is concerned to bring
         forth good works which will be to the praise of His Father in heaven. A lukewarm Christian is a
         contradiction in terms (Rev. 3:15,16).
                May the zeal of Christ consume you and me! May that be our meat and drink all our days. 0




         Rev. Kuiper is pastor ofImmanue1  Protestant Reformed Church in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada.

  /                                                                                                                          `\

234/StandardSearer/Februaryl5,1992


 The Day of                                Hated By, Yet
Shadows                                    Elevated Above
Rev. John Heys  "


       In Genesis 25:19-26  we find an     they died spiritually that day. Yet in      look, or look away from, the spiritual
amazing and very revealing act of our      His grace God revealed that He was          difference that is presented to us in
God in His sovereign grace.                going to cause some of their descen-        what we read concerning them.
       Esau and Jacob were born to         dants to be a&people  that would be              Esau was born first, but our God
Isaac and Rebekah. And therein we          born again, and would love God and          had caused Jacob to have a firm hold
are given a picture that reveals to us     hate Satan. Salvation was promised          on Esau's heel. Esau did not have
an extremely important truth, and a        as coming to some of the seed of            hold of Jacob. Before they were born
shadow of what we have in God's            Adam and Eve, as a free gift of God's       there was a remarkable struggle that
grace, and shall enjoy when Christ         grace.                                      caused Rebekah to ask God why she
returns to bring His church to ever-            Now, as pointed out before, the        was thus. And God pointed out to her
lasting glory.                             Hebrew word used in Genesis 3:15,           the fact that each son represented and
       It is true that God had promised    andisin theKingJamesVersiontrans-           would bring forth a different nation,
Abraham that he would have seed            lated as bruise, means crush. God           and that one would be stronger than
like the sand on the seashore, and like    promised the crushing of the head of        the other. The idea is not simply that
the stars of heaveninnumber. Of that       Satan and his seed, and the crushing        Esau will be stronger than Jacob. The
we read in Genesis 18:18  and 22:17.       of the heel of the elect seed chosen in     two nations will differ in their power
He was promised more descendants           Christ. In the deepest sense, of course,    and life. The one son, Esau, will have
than he could count. And Abraham           this means that Satan would get men         descendants who will have the power
believed that. He even saw the begin-      to crucify Christ, and that His people      to crucify Christ, who is the seed of
ning of the fulfillment of that prom-      would be tormented and persecuted           Jacob, and of the Christian people
ise. Likewise Isaac and Rebekah held       by the devil and the citizens of his        whose King He is. And that son,
on to that promise, even though for a      kingdom of darkness. An awesome             Esau, will have descendants who are
time God gave them no fulfillment of       future is here predicted, but also a        antichristian and who will be very
it.                                        most blessed bliss and glory for those      strong physically, but will serve the
       When in His providence and          who belong to Christ by God's sover-        Christian seed of Isaac. Do not over-
graceourGodgaveIsaacandRebekah             eign predestination.                        lookthefact thatbycrucifying Christ,
sons, we have a manifestation of the            Now in the twin sons of Isaac          who is the Seed of the woman, Esau's
fulfillment of that which is called the    and Rebekah we have a very awe-             spiritual seed was unconsciously and
Mother Promise, or Protevangel, and        some and revealing fulfillment of that      unwillingly serving all the spiritual
is presented in Genesis 3:15. Bear in      promise which God gave His church           seed of Jacob, namely, the elect. That
mind that Adam and Eve fell into the       the day that Adam and Eve fell into         blessed Seed of Abraham, Isaac, and
hands of Satan, and took his position      sin. And as we consider the lives of        Jacob, who was slain as our Head,
that God had not only lied to them,        these two sons of Isaac, and grand-         triumphantlycriedout,"Itisfinished!"
but also hated them. For, according        sons of Abraham, we see so clearly          The work of making us righteous was
to Satan, God had deceived them            the spiritual separation that exists in     finished. ALL of our sins were paid
about the value and power of the fruit     the human race. Indeed, what a tre-         for in full. Our Savior now could cry
of one tree in the garden of Eden. And     mendous difference is presented to          out with a loud voice, "Father, into
                                           us between these twin sons of Isaac!        Thy hands I commend my spirit." For
                                           True, they were born of the same            He had suffered fully all the hellish
                                           parents and on the same day, because        agony our sins called for andHe came
                                           they were conceived the same day.           to take away. All our guilt was re-
                                           But, even in their physical strength        moved. The work of removing it was
Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in the    and appearance they were so very,           finished. And He could now com-
Protesfant Reformed Churches.              very different. And let us not over-        mend His spirit into God's hands.

                                                                                           February15,1992/StandardBearer/235


      There at His cross we have .the              Looked or denied, but held tightly.          serve the younger? What truth is
 answer to Rebekah's question as to                For there are two basic truths which         manifested in this incident? Of what
why she was troubled by two sons                   we should take hold of and keep in           is it a shadow?
 st.ruggling  withinher.  The one son              mind, no matter what Satan says about
 pictured Satan's spiritual seed that              salvation through men who are his
 would reveal hatred against Christ                tools. What God says is what counts!                Every  c h i l d
 and His church. The other son pic-                     That enmity between Esau and                 comes into this world
 tured the members of that church of               Jacob, even before they were born,                   spiritually dead,
 Christ, that is, the members of His               reveals a truth that, sad to say, is
 body, being attacked and struggling               denied on many pulpits today. The                    until God causes
 within her. Let us take hold of that              truth presented herein Genesis25:19-                  that child to be
 truthin the Mother Promise, that God              25 must be maintained and pro-               born again by Christ's Spirit.
 would put enmity between the two                  claimed, namely, that absolutely ALL
 seeds that were in Rebekah, which                 of our salvation is God's gift to His
 enmity is a picture of that constant              elect.                                            To Rebekah God did reveal the
 struggle between the church and the                         Our God did not tell Satan, and    truth that she would bring forth two
 world. But the word of Godis that, by             let Adam and Eve hear Him say to             opposingnations, and that every child
 all means, victory for God's church is            Satan, that He was going to offer            born to believers is not going to be a
certain.                                           salvation to a fallen human race, and        believer. In fact, gobackto Adam and
       A single-letter word can `often             invitemen to let Him give salvation to       Eve. Their firstborn son, the firstborn
mean very, very much. To Satan our                 them. God clearly and emphatically           son to be born to mankind, was a
 God said, ti I will put enmity . . ..`I I, the    in that Mother Promise says, "I will."       reprobate who committed that ter-
 one and only true God, the almighty               He does not say, "I would like to see        rible crime of murder! Isaac and
 Jehovah, will put enmity between the              you be saved. Accept My' offer, so           Rebekah could not, any more than
 seed of the woman and the seed of the             that I can begin to realize it in you."      could Adam and Eve, bring forth a
 serpent! Satan worked enmity in the               Hold on then to that powerful state-         believer. Every child comes into this
 heart of mankind and got man to                   ment, "I WILL put enmity . . . . II That     world spiritually dead, until God
 become spiritually dead. For man it               He declares, not only because He is          causes that child to be born again by
 all became hopeless! And Adam and                 God and not dependent upon man's             Christ's Spirit.
 Eve did not run to God in sorrow for              will, but because, as He told Adam,               But hold on to that comforting
 their sin. They ran away from Him                 one sin would make him die spiritu-          truth that the unbelievers shall and
 with their bodies, because Satan had              ally that day. And dead men cannot           do serve the believers. Did not the
 gotten them to run from Him with                  give life to their children. Adam and        unbelieving Israelites crucify  Christ?
 thei; souls. But, ingi&ace,  God will             Eve lost all power to hand down to           They did not do so because they were
 and does put enmity in the hearts of              anyone in the human race the desire          seeking our good. But at the cross the
 His elect against Satan and his host of           to be sons of God who love Him.              elder was indeed serving the younger.
 unbelievers. And that is why there is                       When Rebekah cries out, "Why       For in God's mind and heart the way
 this enmity manifested, even before               am I thus?" she clearly revealed that        of salvation was planned, and needed
 they are born,  betweeh Esau and                  she had no power to change the na-           that cross of Christ.
 Jacob. Our gracious and almighty                  tures of the children inside of her. In           And we ought not to ask, pretty
 God saves us first of all from our lack           fact it is quite possible that twins were    soon, why we are in the woes which
 of interest in the salvation He pre-              never born before, and that she did          the Antichrist heaps upon us. That
 pared in Christ. iis He told Satan, He            not then even know that she had two          Antichrist, unconsciously and unwill-
 will put enmity in the hearts of some             sons in her. Nowhere in Scripture do         ingly, willbe fulfilling God's counsel.
 against Satan and his spiritual seed.             you find the word twins before this          God will be using him td usher in the
                                                   painful situation in Rebekah. And            day when Christ will return to bring
                                                   surelynot eventodaycantwinswithin            His church to glory. Indeed, that
            . . . absolutgly  A L L                a woman have their natures changed           elder antichrist shall serve the younger
             of our s$va tion                      by man. It is God who assures us that        elect for whom Christ died. And the
     is                                            HE will put the enmity in whom. it
            God's gift to His elect,                                                            awesome struggle between Esau `and
                                                   pleases Him.                                 Jacob, before they were born, pictures
                                                     However, there are questions               how the world and the false church
                                                   we might ask, such as, Why did all           unwittingly and unwillingly, yet very
       In the awesome struggle that                this happen? Why did God'cause               really, are servingthe church of Christ
 afflicted Rebekah so greatly, we have             such completely different twin sons          by doing that which is necessary be-
 the shadow of a wonderful, comfort-               tobeborntoIsaacandRebekah?  Why              fore Christ returns. All they do is in
 ing event that should not be over-                was Rebekah told that the elder would         God's plan for our good. And how

 236/StandardBearer/Februaty15,1992


 wonderfulitwillbe when the shadow            wonderful, comforting truth that "all       to use them for the fulfillment of His
 is gone -because Christ, the Sun of          things work together for good to them       covenant promises to us. We are
 Righteousness, has come - and we             that love God." And although by the         hated by Satan and the world of unbe-
 see and enjoy all the blessedness of         world, namely, the E&us, we, the            lievers; but God uses them so that we
 the salvation which He realizes for us.      Jacobs, are hated, we willbe  elevated      will be elevated above them in the
      Through the apostle Paul, in            highly above them. For it pleases God       glory of Christ's kingdom. Q
 Romans 8:28, our God sets forth that



 Book Reviews

 Reading Scripture in Public: A               about all this, and theywould do well        Christ, who in the last times became
 Guide for Preachers and Lay Read-           to read this book. Others who are              man among men, in order to join the
ers,byThomasEdwardMcCo&key.                   called upon to read the Bible in public       end to the beginning, that is, man to
 Grand Rapids: Baker Book House,             - ruling elders, Christian school              God (p. 43).
1991.  196pp., $7.95 (paper): [Re-           teachers, and Sunday School teachers              The introduction by Roman
viewed by Prof. R. Decker.]                  -will also benefit from a reading of        Catholic theologian von BaIthasar is
                                             this book.                                  helpful, especially for grasping the
      The reading of Holy Scripture is             The author, Thomas E.  Mc-            heresy of Gnosticism. The Protestant
a very important element in the wor-         Comi,skey,  is acting director of the       reader will have to be on guard, how-
ship service. It is much more than a         Ph.D. program at Trinity Evangelical        ever, against von Balthasar's  Roman
"preliminary." It should be done, in         Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.     Catholic interpretation of Irenaeus.
the opinion of this reviewer, very           He has aPh.D.  fromBrandeis  Univer-              The bookis a good introduction
earlyin the worship service, just after      sity.  #                                    to Irenaeus and to the earliest treat-
the first Psalm of Praise is sung. All of                                                ment of the doctrine of the Incarna-
the singing, the congregational prayer,      The Scandal of the Incarnation:             tion in the post-apostolic church. n
the giving and receiving of the offer-       Irenaeus against the Heresies. Se-
ing, and the preachingfind theirmean-        lected and introduced by Hans Urs           The Plan of Salvation, by Benjamin
ing and significance in the Word of          von Balthasar. Tr. John Saward. San         B. Warfield. Boonton,  New Jersey:
God. Inbrief, worship is the believer's      Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1990. 111        Simpson Publishing Company, 1989.
hearing God's Word and his faith-            pages, $10.95 (paper). [Reviewed by         113 pages, $11.95 (hardcover). [Re-
response to that Holy Word. Hence            the Editor.]                                viewed by the Editor.]
the importance of the public reading
of Scripture.                                     The church father Irenaeus is                This is a reprint of the great
     Part I of this book (the first five     regarded as the first great Christian       Presbyterian's classic work contrast-
chapters) deals with this all-impor-         theologian. Born about A.D. 130, he         ing the Calvinisticview of God's plan
tant element in the liturgy. The au-         knew Polycarp, disciple of the apostle      of salvation with the various forms of
thor believes we must find and com-          John, by personal acquaintance. The         the only alternative. The alternative
municate the meaning of the particu-         main work of Irenaeus that has come         in all  its. forms, whether sheer
lar passage in our reading of Scrip-         down to us is his Against the Her-          Pelagianism, Roman Catholicism,
ture. He offers helpful suggestions to       esies.  It defends and explains the         Lutheranism, or Arminianism, makes
do just that. Especially in this section     Incarnation against the Gnostic op-         God's will to save dependent upon
of the book will the preacher find           position to the material world. The         the wilI of the sinner. Thus, whereas
helpful the exercises at the end of each     original title was Five Books on the        Calvinism teaches that God saves, the
chapter.                                     Unmasking and Refutation of  the            anti-Calvinistic religions teach that
     In Part II (the last five chapters)     Falsely Named Gnosis.  God the Son,         the sinner saves himself, God only
the author applies the principles of         Irenaeus contends, became flesh to          making salvation possible. "There
reading Scripture in public. Of par-         redeem human flesh from its sinful-         are fundamentally-only two doctrines
ticular value are chapters 8 and 9 in        ness, not from its fleshliness.             of salvation: that salvation is from
which the author writes of using one's            Tke Scandal of the Incarnation         God, and that salvation is from'our-
voice effectively in public reading of       is'a selection of outstanding passages      selves" (h. 27).
the Bible.                                   from this great work of Irenaeus.                With profound insight into the
     Preachers ought to be concerned           This is His Word, our Lord Jesus          truth of God's sovereignty in saving
                                                                                         sinners, as well as into the truth of the
                                                                                             Februaty15,1992/Standaid/3earer1237


     deadness of the sinners who are to be        for all sinners and crying out God's          21; cf. also pp. 90ff.). To be faulted is
     saved, Warfield  insists that "particu-      desire to save everyone to whom the           not his embrace of infralapsarianism,
     larism is the mark of Calvinism" (p.         gospel comes is the most recent form,         for the Reformed creeds allow hint
     89). Sovereign particular&m  charac-         to use Warfield's pungent expression,         this, but his condemnation of
     terizes the plan of salvation (elec-         of the "useless . . . talk of salvation       supralapsarianism as error, indeed,
     tion), the redemption of the cross,          being for `whosoever will' in a world         error that is as serious as universal-
     and the actual saving of the sinner by       of universal `won't'" (p. 43).                ism. The Reformed creeds and
     the Holy Spirit. The universalism                 Warfield  boldly presses the             churches have never condemned
     that consists of a will of God that          claims of Calvinism: "Calvinism, with         supralapsarianism, but have rather
     elects all, a redemption intended for        its doctrines of election and irresist-       permitted it as a legitimate way of
     all, and saving operations directed to       ible grace, is the only system which          holding the eternal counsel of God.
     all.isradicaldeviationfrom,andbasic          can make credible the salvation of            The Synod of Dordt deliberately re-
     opposition to, Calvinism.                    any sinner" (p. 72). His exposure of          fused to reject it.
             How professing Calvinists to-        the doctrine opposed to Calvinism is               The second area of difference is
     day can harmonize their teaching of a        devastating: "The denial of particu-          Warfield's       postmillennialism.
     love of God for alIand a sincere desire      larism . . . islogicallythe totalrejection    Warfield  proposes that, "when Christ
     of God to save all in the preaching of       of Christianity" (pp. 89, 90). Such           comes, it will be to (my emphasis-
     the gospel with Warfield's insistence        defense of the faithis sorelyneededin         DJE) a fully saved world . .." (p. 104).
     on Calvin&tic particularism is a mys-        our compromising, cowardly age.                    This short work deserves the
     tery. In fact, of course; Calvinistic             The Reformed reader may de-              widest distribution. It is grand read-
     particularism and the "well-meant            mur from Warfield  in two areas. First,       ing. Since this work has not been
     offer" cannot be harmonized. The             advocating the infralapsarian concep-         included in the published editions of
     latter is just the latest apostasy from      tion of the decrees of God, Warfield          Warfield's writings and since it has
     Calvinism, that is, the biblical gospel      charges that "supralapsarianism errs          long been out of print, Simpson Pub-
     of salvation by sovereign grace. A           therefore as seriously on the one side        lishing Company has done good ser-
     gospel revealing God's love in Christ        asuniversalism does on the other" (p.         vice in making it again available. 0
I


     News From Our Churches
     ML Benjamin Wigger

             Let's start this edition of the      R. VanOverloop,  presently serving as         gone the month of February.
     "News" with a quicklookat calls that         pastor of the Bethel PRC in Elk Grove               Ourreadersmayrememberthat
     have been extended to our churches'          Village, IL, declined the call he had         it was reported here previously that
     pastors.                                     been considering to serve as mission-         these conferences will deal with the
             First, since Prof. Hanko declined    ary pastor to themembers of the Cov-          six loci of Dogmatics. These sessions
     the call to serveas  pastor of the South-    enant ReformedFellowship  of Larne,           will be taught about three times a
     east PRC in Grand Rapids, MI,                Northern Ireland.                             week, with the remaining time given
     Southeast's Council presented a new                                                        to establishing the leadership in the
     trio to their congregation consisting        Mission Activities                            localchurches. Rev. Gritterswillteach
     of the Revs. D. Kuiper (Lacombe, BC),              First PRC of Grand Rapids, MI,          the theology, while Ed Gritters will
     C. Terpstra (South Holland, IL), and         the calling church for the mission            busy himself with the practical as-
     G. VanBaren  (HudsonvilIe, MI). On           wo~rk  in Jamaica, has asked Rev. B.          pects.
     the evening of January 19 they ex-           Gritters, pastor of the Byron Center,
     tended a call to Rev. D. Kuiper to           MI PRC, to lead the next scheduled            Evangelism Activities
     come over and help them.                     conference in Jamaica. This confer-                 The Evangelism Society of the
             We can also report here that Rev.    ence involves four weeks of teaching          Southeast PRC in Grand Rapids, MI
                                                  the officebearers from the seven              sponsored a Dutch Psalm Sing on
                                                  churches on the island. Current plans         January 20 at Raybrook  Manor, a re-
                                                  call for' Rev. Gritters to be accompa-        tirement home in Grand Rapids,
     Mr. Wiggerisamemberoftke  Protestant         nied by his father, Ed Gritters, an           whose residents, if you havent al-
     Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Micki-       elder from the Hope PRC of Redlands,          ready guessed, are to a large degree
     gun.                                         CA. The Lord willing, they will be            Dutch.                 .

     238/StandardBearer/February15,1992


           The PRC of Byron Center, MI                  Standard  Bearer, then you no doubt         unrelated matter, it was also decided
  invited their community to three com-                 read Rev. R. Moore's two-part guest         to re-shingle their parsonage roof.
e munity-wide Bible Study Classes                       article entitled, "Unbelief's Attempt             The congregation of-the Hull, IA
  dealing with questions about the                      to Dismiss Sin" (Dec. 1, Jan. 1 issues).    PRC approved a financial plan which
  church, or Biblical Directions for a                  Well, when  R,ev. Moore was in              involves both a pledged amount and
  Faithful Church.                                      Lacombe, BC for church visitation           a  .monthly budgeted amount to fi-
           Some of the questions these                  with the Immanuel PRC there, he also        nance their proposed new church
  classes hoped to answer were: 0 What                  presented a public lecture on behalf        sanctuary. The pledge-drive part of
  is the Church? Where can you find it?                 of Immanuells evangelism commit-            this plan was to take place after the
  DoesGodcommandbelieverstomake                         tee. The lecture was entitled,              first of this year. A successful drive
  sure that they are members of some                    "Unbelief's Attempt to Dismiss Sin."        willmeanthatHullcouldbeginbuild-
  church? And, What Church should I                                                                 ing this spring.
  join?"                                                Congregational Highlights                        You may remember that the
           These are important questions,                     Before takingleave ofImmanue1         Bethel PRC in Elk Grove Village has
  and it was Byron's intent to discuss                  PRC, let us also add here that this         moved from their past meeting place,
  these questions and see what God's                    church in Lacombe took a big step           the Ascension Lutheran Church, to a
  Word had to say in answering them.                    toward the goal of establishing their       new location at the Children VVorld
  The classes met on three successive                   own church home, when they ap-              Learning Center. As an expression of
  Thursdays; January 16,23,  and 30, at                 proved at a congregational meeting          their appreciation for the support
  the Byron Center Public Library. Each                 in December a,proposal  to purchase         given them financially the past four
  class consisted of a short lesson fol-                four acres of land. However, this           years by Bethel, the Lutheran Church
  lowed by refreshments and a ques-                     purchase will not be made until ap-         donated sixty folding chairs and a
  tion and discussion period.                           proximately60%  of thepurchaseprice         lectern.  0
           If you are a regular reader of the           has been raised by pledges. In an


                                                           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                              The Martha Society of the Hull
      WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                               Protestant Reformed Church ex-                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
           On February 8, 1992 our par-                 presses its Christian sympathy to a              January 25, 1992 marked the
  ents,                                                 fellow member, Mrs. Frank Vogel, in         35th wedding anniversary of
           MR. and MRS. BERNARD                         the death of her brother,                   REV. and MRS. GISE VANBAREN.
                   MEELKER,                                   MR. ARVIN BOMGAARS.                        We are thankful to our covenant
  celebrated their 35th wedding anni-                         "The Lord will give strength unto     God that He has blessed our palrents
  versary. It is with deep gratitude and                his people; the Lord will bless h'is        and grandparents with these 35 years
  humility that we thank our God for                    people with peace" (Psalm 29:i 1).          of marriage. It is our prayer that our
  faithful parents who have instructed                        Rev. Richard Moore, President         God will continue to bless them in the
  us in the covenant of grace. We are                       Mrs. Ken Hoksbergen, Secretary          years to come.
  mindful of the words of Psalm 1151:                                                                    "Wherefore it shall come to pass,
           "Not unto us, 0 Lord, not unto us,.                         NOTICE!!!                    if ye hearken to these judgments, and
  but unto thy name give glory, for thy                       Classis West of the Protestant        keep, and do them, that the Lord thy
  mercy, and for thy truth's sake.                      Reformed Churcheswill meetin Doon,          God shall keep unto thee the cov-
  e Tom and Gretine Bodbyl                              IA, on Wednesday, March 4,1992, at          enant and the mercy which he sware
           Maria, Larissa, Joel, Nate, Eric             8:30 AM, the Lord willing. All material     unto thy fathers: and he will love thee,
  $+ Berend and Janine Meelker                          for the Agenda is to be in the hands of     and bless thee, and multiply thee"
           Chad, Brent, Deanna, Andrew                  the Stated Clerk, 30 days before            (Deut.  7:i 2, 13a).
  Q Henry and Karen Meelker                             Classis convenes. All delegates in          * John and Valerie VanBaren
           Casey, Kevin, Clint, Nick                    need of lodging or transportation from           Jennifer, Jordan, Jill, Jared
  % Rog and Hilda Gritters                              the airport should notify the Clerk of      336 Bob and Carolyn Prins
           Sharon, Gerrit, Kaylynn, Jordan              Doon's Consistory using the forms                Kyle, Eric, Kristen, Briana
  # Dan and Anna Mae Bodbyl                             provided for that purpose. -                % Gerry and Heidi VanBaren
           Amanda,  Tina, Rosanne, Seth                                          Rev. R. Hanko,     $+ Mike and Mary VanOverloop
  9 Gerrit and Bonnie Meelker                                                       Stated Clerk         Derik, Keith
           Brandon,  Breanna                            (Note: Because of an unexpected delay       * Kevin and Denise Haan
  Q Bert                                                in the postal service's handling of the          Mitchel
                                                                                                    +% Daniel, Philip, and RachelVanBaren
                                Redlands, California    letter from Rev. Hanko, the above an-
                                                        nouncement could not appear in the Feb-                               Hudsonvllle, Michigan
                                                        ruary  1  issue as intended.)
                                                                                                        February 15,1992 / Standard Bearor 1239


                       .z*.





 &D!D
    BEARER                                                                                          SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                    Postage Paid at
                                                                                                    Grandville, Michigan
    P. 0. Box 603
   Grandville, MI 49466-0603





 Remember thy Creator all thy days,                      Climbing ever higher on evolution's ladder,
 For this doth lead to wisdom's ways.                    Did it produce a man that was better?
 Bless His Name! His praises laud,                       Ah, no! Whoever goes to such a school,
 For in the beginning, God!                              Now and forever remains a fool.
 In six days brought forth                               Oh, foolish man, do you have a rod
 All the heavens and the earth.                          Wherewith to measure the works of God?
                                                         Nay! Man was placed within the confines of a week,
 With mighty power He called forth light,                With one blessed day, the light of God's face to seek.
 And separated the day from night.
i The firmament and all its starry frame                 Remember thy Creator all the days of thy youth,
 Proclaims aloud His glorious Name.                      Guided unto the wisdom of truth.
 The seas and all that in them is,
 The earth, seed-bearing trees and herbs are His.        Now listen to the universe as it sings
 Sun, moon, and stars, He made them all,                 Of seas and rivers and many things.
 Birds, creeping things, and animals great and small.    The mountains skip like rams
                                                         And the little hills like lambs.
 And then upon the sixth day of the week        -        Listen to the waves as they dash upon the shore,
 The Triune God within Himself did speak,                The lightning flash and the thunder crash,
 Let us make man, out of the dust,                       Little birds chirping in branches of trees,
 In Our own Image, righteous and just.                    And the sighing of a gentle breeze.
 And when before His finished work He stood,
 God saw that it was very good.                           Sweet, melodious tones floating on the  air,
                                                         Proclaiming aloud God's tender love and care.
 Then God rested on the seventh day                       Seven tones of music of God's covenant of grace,
 From all the works that He had made.                    Wherein He draws His people in loving embrace.
 He sanctified this holy day,          '                 Four tones of action, three of repose,
 And His blessing on it laid.                            To bring sweet melodies to an harmonic close.
                                                          Each tone a magnet, with special drawing power
 Remember thy Creator all thy days,                      Disturbing its course, will make the music sour.
 For this doth lead to wisdom's ways.                     Wandering about on action tones alone,
                                                          Shunning the magnet of a sweet repose tone,
 But, says the fool within his heart,                     Can only produce an unfinished symphony.
 That is not how it all did start.                       Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
 There was a big bang and a shout,
 That's how it all came about.                           Ye who are weary, heavy laden and oppressed,
 It's a Jewish myth; it's fraud -                         Come unto me and I will give you rest.
 There is no God.                                         I am the bread of life, I am the vine.
                                                          Eat of this bread, Drink of this wine.
 Then after a million years or so
 A little fish from the sea. on land did go.             Remember me.
 Instead of water surging.through  his gill,                                                                Sue Porte*
 He developed lungs that with fresh air did fill.
 And after many millions of years more,                        *Miss Porte, an 89-year old member of the congrega-
 The fish developed into a monkey on the shore.           tion of'Redlands,  CA, not only wrote this poem, but also
 And from the ape came Neanderthal man,                   read it at last year's graduation program of Redlands
 Who lived in a cave for a span.                          Protestant Reformed School.

 24O/StandardSearerlFebruaryl5,19%?


