                                                              In This Issue:
                    Meditation  - Rev. Richard  G. Moore
                          The Blessed Reformation Doctrine of Total Depravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
                    Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma
                          The Compromised Theology of Charles Hoclge . . . . . ..*.................... 52
                    Marking Zion's Bulwarks  - Prof. Herman C. Hanko
                          Arius and the Council of  Nicea (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*........ 55
                    Special Article  - Mr. Marvin  Kamps
                          The Son of God Eternally our Mediator (cont.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
                    Decency and Order - Rev. Ronald  L. Cammenga
                          Heidelberg Catechism Preaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
                    All Around Us  - Rev. Gise VanBaren ,...................,....,............,.........,..,,..  62
                    Contribution  - Mr. Pete Miedema
                          The High Cost of Building New Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
                    RFPA Address  -  Rev, Steven  fi. Key
                          Reading, Writing, and Heretics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
                    Annual Report - Mr. Henry Kamps  ..-.,.,.,..... s . . . . . . . . ~ ..,...,........... ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
                    Report of Classis East  - Mr. Jon J. Huisken . . ..~.~..................~,....~.-......... 70
                    News From Our Churches  - Mr. Benjamin Wigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70





Vol. 75, No. 3
November 1, 1998


              The Blessed Reformation Doctrine
                                                           of Total Depravity
0 ne of the doctrines of where there is a lack of instruction uniquely and entirely in the hand
              Scripture that became very                         concerning the  gatural state of                          of God. In the  16OOs, as is also true
              important to the fathers of                        man, there is also a lack of assur-                       today in so much of the church
the Reformation was the doctrine                                 ance of salvation. Further, only                          world, it was taught that man can
that man was totally depraved.                                   where and when the total deprav-                          merit before God, that salvation is
This was a doctrine that  was not                                ity of man is confessed and where                         dependent upon the choice of man
very popular in the days of our                                  man lives his life in the light of this                   for salvation, and that God's will
Reformation fathers, and it is cer-                              confession shall God be magnified                         to save is conditioned by man's
tainly not popular in our day. And                               as He by sovereign grace saves us.                        will. The Scriptures do not so in-
yet this doctrine we must maintain                                      The doctrine of man's deprav-                      struct us, but rather teach that
as essential to our assurance of sal-                            ity was preserved for our churches                        God's will is always sovereign. For
vation as the children of God. Be-                               in the Canons of Dordt as they                            instance, we read in Acts  15:18,
sides, one cannot maintain the                                   were formulated in 1618-19 over                           "Known unto God are all his works
glory of God's name if he does not                               against the heresy of Arminianism.                        from the beginning of the world."
also understand this doctrine. If                                In the Canons we find a defense of                        Andy the psalmist teaches us, "But
we are to glorify God as we ought                                the faith over against those that                         our God is in the heavens:  IJe hath
as the children of God, and if we                                would deny the natural depravity                          done whatsoever He hath pleased"
are to have any assurance of salva-                              of man. The Canons rightly main-                          (Ps.  115:3). We therefore believe
tion, we must maintain the Scrip-                                tained that man is totally depraved                       that God is sovereign and omnipo-
ture's truth of total depravity.                                 and that this has been the teaching                       tent, He accomplishes with perfec-
       Today there is less and less                              of Christ in the church of the ages.                      tion all that He purposes. Now be-
preaching that concerns itself with                              Any qualifications set upon this                          cause God is not man, but is the
the devastating nature of our sin,                               doctrine to weaken its teaching are                       infinitely perfect God, we must con-
and more and more emphasis                                       shown to be merely a human in-                            fess that there are no mistakes in
placed upon the welfare of man.                                  vention. Scripture maintains that                         God's will or His purpose, and that
The needs of man are emphasized,                                 man in himself is dead in sin and                         He accomplishes all that He pur-
while the glory of God takes a back                              utterly dependent upon God's                              poses.
seat. This ought not to be; for                                  grace for salvation.                                               This certainly is true of God's
                                                                        The church, on the basis of                        will concerning the moral rational
                                                                 Scripture, has always maintained                          creature, whether man or angel.
Rev. Moore is pastor of the Protestant Re-                       that God's will is sovereign, and                         God teaches us, "I will have mercy
formed Church of  Hull, Iowa.                                    likewise that man's salvation is                          on whom I will have mercy, and I

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50/3andard  Bearer/November 1, 1998


will have compassion on whom I            that many rebel against this truth        did this by teaching that man is not
will have compassion" (Rom.  9:15).       and often do so. by denying our           totally depraved  `as a fruit of the
And further, in the 18'h verse of this    own depravity. Natural man de-            fall, that man is not dead in sin,
same chapter, the Spirit teaches,         spises the doctrine of double pre-        but merely sick. Man could still
"Therefore hath he mercy on whom          destination, he cannot tolerate the       by an exercise of his own will seek
he will have mercy, and whom he           God who instructs, "Go, and tell          the balm of healing grace and be
will he hardeneth." We are given          this people, Hear ye indeed, but          instrumental in his own salvation.
to understand therefore that it is        understand not; and see ye indeed,        They taught that God had prepared
God, ultimately, that determines          but perceive not. Make the heart          salvation for all men, and offers
the salvation of His elect and the        of this people fat, and make their        that salvation to all men, and now
damnation of the wicked, and does         ears heavy, and shut their eyes;`lest     it is up to man what he will do.
so according to His sovereign good        they see with their eyes, and hear        This same error was brought to the
pleasure. But to understand fully         with their ears, and understand           foreground         a g a i n   b y     the
how this can be we must under-            with their heart, and convert, and        Arminians, and is prevalent in the
stand that by nature we are all wor-      be healed" (Is. 6:9-10). This hatred      church world today, as salvation is
thy of damnation, for there is no         for the doctrine of the sovereignty       repeatedly conditioned upon the
good in us, apart from His work of        of God causes man to deny his de-         will of man. However, this is and
salvation. If we were to maintain         pendence upon God for salvation           always has been the attempt of Sa-
that man is not totally depraved,         and to deny his own natural and           tan to destroy the glory of God and
that there is some good in natural        total depravity. He thus exalts           to bring to destruction all of man-
man whereby he can seek God in            himself and explains that he must         kind.
his own strength, so that in part         decide whether to be saved or not,            Over against this lie of dark-
our salvation is dependent upon           he must make the move before              ness, the Scriptures teach that man
our work, we must then deny               Christ's sacrifice can have effect. If    by his own sin is become totally
God's sovereignty and take some           we follow this path we will take          depraved. This is the point that
of God's glory to ourselves. To           from God His glory and will lose          Paul makes when he teaches us
deny the total depravity of man           all assurance of salvation. How           that before we were quickened we
will lead to a denial of the abso-        necessary for us that we jealously        were dead in trespasses and sin
lute sovereignty of God, and will         guard the truth of the total deprav-      (Eph.  2:l). The fruit of the fall is
in the end rob Him of all glory.          ity of man.                               that man died spiritually and be-
    Yet today, when God is pro-               As churches we maintain the           came totally corrupt, so that the
claimed to be sovereign in the work       truth of the total depravity of man       imaginations of his thoughts were
of salvation in Christ Jesus, this        over against errors with respect to       only evil continually (Gen.  6:5).
preaching is despised by the unre-        the doctrine of man. This has re-         Thus we may read that legaliy
generate. As Christ is preached to        ally been the case from the begin-        death passed upon all men with the
be the only ground of our salva-          ning of time. The lie concerning          fall of Adam (Ram. 5:12), and spiri-
tion by the will of the living God,       man's natural ability became the          tually we are conceived and born
there is come to pass the saying of       occasion for the fall. Satan tempted      in sin and iniquity  (Ps.  51:5).
Peter. It is said of Christ in I Peter    Adam and Eve, saying that they                Thus we must have nothing to
2:8 that He is become "a stone of         could be as God. Satan taught that        do with the distinction sometimes
stumbling, and a rock of offense,         they could determine what was             made between total and absolute
even to them which stumble at the         good and evil, and Adam and Eve           depravity, which is an attempt to
word, being disobedient; where-           fell. From that moment on, natu-          deny this doctrine. That we are
unto also they were appointed."           ral man denied the fruit of the fall,     depraved means that we are dead,
Understand that natural man de-           that he died. Again and again man         and as Scripture so clearly points
spises this doctrine, because it          exalted himself above God, mak-           out, this means that by nature we
means that our wills are completely       ing images of God, serving gods of        are dead and can bring forth no
bound to Satan and death as the           his own imagination. The Phari-           good thing. Romans 3:  lo-12 char-
fruit of the fall. It means that we       sees taught that they had the abil-       acterizes fallen man as follows: "As
are so depraved that we cannot ob-        ity to save themselves by their own       it is written, There is none righ-
tain salvation apart from God's           works' righteousness, and denied          teous, no, not one: There is none
work in Christ.                           their own natural depravity.              that understandeth, there is none
    Man naturally hates the doc-              The Pelagians continued this          that seeketh after God. They are all
trine of God's sovereignty. He            evil denial of the judgment of God        gone out of the way, they are to-
finds that it leaves him no room          upon the sinner and denied that           gether become unprofitable; there
for boasting, it denies all worthi-       man was so depraved that he could         is none that doeth good, no, not
ness on man's part. The fruit is          bring forth no good work.       They      one."

                                                                                         November I,  1998/Standard   Bearer/51


    So we should be reminded of             hard is exactly a doctrine that is       short of the glory of God. Deny
two things. First, God's Word               God glorifying and gives to us           total depravity, and we must teach
clearly teaches that man is totally         peace. Let us explain. If one de-        that we are subject to the falling
depraved, and we must not come              nies man's depravity, then he must       away from grace. Then all com-
to understand man's natural state           teach that man`s salvation is con-       fort is removed and we have no
by what we feel is just or right, but       ditioned upon man's response, and        peace.
by what God  declares  to be true.          election is conditioned upon that           On the other hand, to hold fast
God says that man is dead in sin,           response of man, it is determined        the teaching of Scripture concern-
and with the prophet we exclaim,            by a foreknowing by God of what          ing man's natural depravity as-
"The heart is deceitful above all           man would do. Therefore it is man        sures that God shall receive all
things and desperately wicked,              that in the end determines whether       glory in our salvation and we shall
who can know it?" (Jer.  17~9).             he is saved or not. Deny man's           have the exceeding great comfort
    Secondly, we must then see ap-          total depravity, and one must teach      of our confession that we are saved
parently good deeds on the part of          that atonement is universal, and         by grace alone. For when this doc-
natural man as just that, "appar-           that all men have the ability and        trine is proclaimed we come to
ently" good deeds, one kind of lust         the opportunity to take hold of a        know ourselves to be undone sin-
suppressing another, for "there is          salvation that is offered to all.        ners, there is no room for any pride
none righteous, no, not one."               Thus atonement is questionable,          in ourselves, all boasting is made
"There is none that doeth good, no,         and dependent again upon man.            impossible. This is the work of
not one."      When man uses all            Deny total depravity, and the grace      God by His Word and Spirit in us
things in the service of man and in         of God and the work of the Spirit        whereby we are led in all humility
the service of sin, his works can-          are taught to be resistible by man.      to trust alone in God for our salva-
not be considered good in the eyes          Man can therefore destroy the work       tion-a salvation that is to be found
of God. The world of natural man             of God or prevent the work of God       only in the obedient death of Jesus
stands in enmity against God and            from running its course.                 our Savior on the cross.
hates His cause and uses all things             Understand, then, there is ab-           We then are filled with rejoic-
to advance the cause of darkness             solutely no comfort for God's chil-     ing as the righteousness of Christ
and his own sinful desires.                  dren if salvation is dependent even     is declared to be our righteousness,
    To maintain this truth serves           in the smallest part upon us. Man        and we are assured of salvation,
the glory of God's name and gives           may then boast, but that boast will      for it is of God's grace alone.
assurance to God's children of the           not stand in the day of judgment.       Hence, when God's children enjoy
salvation that is certainly theirs.          For we all have sinned and come         the blessings of salvation, all the
This doctrine that many find so                                                      glory is rendered unto God. Q




               The Compromised Theology of
                                            Charles Hedge

P                                                Professor Gross' use of Charles     has in the main left out the pas-
       resbyterian and Reformed              Hodge's Systematic  Theology  in        sages that demand "scholarly ex-
       Publishing Company has re-            teaching and his love of the theol-     egetical analysis of the reader"; the
       cently published an abridged          ogy that it contains have helped        sections of historical theology;
edition of Presbyterian theologian           him skillfully to abridge the origi-    much of the polemics; and all the
Charles Hodge's three-volume Sys-            nal three volumes in one thick          quotations in foreign languages.
tematic Theology: Systematic Theol-          book. The abridged edition retains      Sections of the original that are
ogy (Abridged Edition),  ed. Edward          the essence of Hodge's theology,        omitted are indicated by referring
N. Gross (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R              from introduction to eschatology.       to them in the appropriate place in
Publishing,  1997),  5 8 5   p a g e s ,     In addition to shortening the expo-     the text within brackets. The num-
$22.99 (paper).                              sition that is retained, the editor     bering of parts, chapters, and  sec-

52ptandard   Bearer/November 1, 7998


tions correspond to the three-vol-            cision have not yet been duly au-                      is his teaching, in radical contra-
ume original so that the reader can           thenticated" (emphasis added).                         diction of predestination, that God
readily check the abridgment                       Hodge feels the pressure ex-                      is gracious to all in the preaching
against the original.                         erted by the geologists against the                    of the gospel. Hodge speaks of this
        This work will be helpful to the      biblical revelation of creation. The                   as the offer of the gospel. This nec-
pastor, as well as to the reading             only way to accommodate Scrip-                         essarily leads Hodge to affirm that
layman, both in familiarizing him-            ture to these scientists is to give                    in an important respect the death
self with the enormously influen-             up the days of Genesis 1. Hodge                        of Christ was for every human
tial theology of Charles Hodge                is forced to recognize that "taking                    without exception. In the chapter
(and  19th century Princeton Semi-            this account  (Gen.  l-DJE) by it-                     entitled, "For Whom Did Christ
nary) and in instructing himself in           self, it would be most natural to                      Die?" Hodge maintains that "the
the fundamentals of the Reformed              understand the word (`day'-DJE)                        death of Christ had a relation to
faith.                                        in its ordinary sense." Then he                        the whole human family as well.
        The book includes a subject in-       adds:                                                  It is the ground on which salva-
dex, a Scripture index, and study                                                                    tion is offered to every creature un-
questions for each chapter.                     but if that sense brings the Mo-                     der heaven who hears the gospel.. . .
        It is painfully evident that the        saic account into conflict with                      There is a sense, therefore, in which
theology of Charles Hodge is a                  facts, and another sense avoids                      He died for all, and there is a sense
compromised theology.                           such  conflict,  then it is obligatory               in which He died for the elect
        Hodge's theology contains two           on us to adopt that other. Now it
                                                is urged that if the word day be                     alone" (pp. 388,389).
heresies that are fatal to Reformed             taken in the sense of an indefinite                      According to Hodge, Presbyte-
Christianity. They have already                 period of time, a sense which it                     rians (called "Augustinians" by
destroyed the Presbyterian Church               undoubtedly has in other parts of                    Hedge)
in which Hodge was a professor of               Scripture, there is not only no dis-
theology. One is the accommoda-                 crepancy between the Mosaic ac-                        do not deny that Christ died for
tion of Scripture to the attack by              count of the creation and the as-                      all men. What they deny is that
evolutionary science on the bibli-              sumed facts of geology, but there                      He died equally and with the
cal doctrine of creation. Occurring             is a most marvelous coincidence                       -same design for all men. He died
ominously in a passage in which                 between them.                                          for all that He might arrest the im-
Hodge extols the place and power                                                                       mediate execution of the penalty
                                                                                                       of the law upon the whole of our
of reason in religion is a warning                 Hodge's conclusion is a mar-                        apostate race; that He might se-
to the theologians that "it is un-            vel of desperate boldness and                            cure for men the innumerable
wise . . . to array themselves need-          hopeless naivete:                                        blessings attending their state on
lessly against the teachings of sci-                                                                   earth, which, in one important
ence." Hodge continues: "let sci-               If it should be proved that the cre-
                                                ation was  a' process continued                        sense,  is1a  state of probation; and
ence take its course, assured that              through countless ages and that                        that He might lay the foundation
the Scriptures will accommodate                 the Bible alone of all the books of                    for the offer of pardon and recon-
themselves to all well-authenti-                antiquity recognizes that fact (by                     ciliation with God on condition of
cated scientific facts in time to               Hodge's changing its "days" into                       faith and repentance.... This is
                                                                                                       what is meant when it is said, or
come, as they have in the past" (p.             geologic periods and by Hodge's                        implied in Scripture, that Christ
59).                                            correcting its testimony that each                     gave Himself as a propitiation not
        What Hodge has in mind be-              creature was called into existence                     for our sins only, but for the sins
comes clear in the chapter on cre-              "after his kind"-DJE), then the                        of the whole world (pp. 392,393).
ation.      Admitting that belief of            idea of its being of human origin
                                                would be utterly refuted (pp. 205-
God's creation of the world in six              211).                                                    In keeping with this doctrine
days is "the more obvious interpre-                                                                  of universal grace grounded in the
tation of the first chapter of Gen-                Charles Hodge delivered up                        death of Christ as propitiation for
esis" and that this has been "the             the biblical doctrine of creation to                   the sins of every human, Hodge
common belief of Christians,"                 the tender mercies of evolutionary                     teaches that "the covenant of grace
Hodge, nevertheless, allows for the           science. The result is the idea of                     is made (by God) with all men,"
possibility of what today is called           the utterly human origin of the                        although it has "special reference
theistic evolution over billions of           B i b l e   i n   m a n y   P r e s b y t e r i a n    to the elect." Just as is the case
years: "This interpretation, how-             churches.                                              with Hodge's doctrine of univer-
ever, must be controlled not only                  The other false doctrine that                     sal atonement, the basis of the
by the laws of language, but by               bedevils Hodge's theology to the                       teaching that God makes His cov-
facts.  This is at present  an  open ques-    destruction of the Reformed faith                      enant of grace with every human
tion.  The facts necessary for its de-                                                               being is Hodge's notion that God

                                                                                                          November 1,  1998/Standard  Bearer/53


     is gracious to all in the preaching          pel universal and indiscriminate?"                           robate. The  explan-ation  does not
     of the gospel, that is, "the offer."         His explanation is:                                          contradict and thus overturn pre-
                                                                                                               destination. It is evident from this
       Salvation  is offered to all men on          (1) The most obvious answer is                             sound explanation that it is pos-
       the condition of faith in Christ. . . .     found in the nature of the call it-                         sible to preach the gospel to all and
       In this sense, the covenant of grace        self. The call of the gospel is sim-                        to call all to repentance and faith
       is formed with all mankind....              ply (a) the command of God to                               without supposing, or proclaiming,
       Salvation is offered to all men on           men to repent and believe on the
       the condition of faith in Christ. To         Lord Jesus Christ together with (b)                        that God loves and desires to save
       that extent the covenant of grace            the promise that those who believe                         all.
       is made with all men. Another               shall be saved. It is the revelation                                Most of the reputedly conser-
       crucial fact is that those who, hav-         o f   a   d u t y   b i n d i n g   u p o n   a l l        vative Presbyterian and Reformed
       ing heard the gospel, refuse to ac-          men. . ..(2) The general call of the                       churches of the present day will
       cept that covenant place them-               gospel is the means ordained by                            condemn  this  Hodge-the Hodge
       selves without its pale  (p. 342).           God to gather in His chosen                                who accounts for promiscuous
                                                    people.... That only these particu-                        preaching without referring to a
         Three things are undeniably               lar people are made willing to per-                         grace for all in the preaching-as a
     true about this theology. First, its           form the duty binding upon all                             hyper-Calvinist.               T h e   o t h e r
     universal grace is the grace of sal-           men does not in any way conflict                           Hodge-the Hodge of universal,
     vation, not some non-saving grace,             with the propriety of the univer-
                                                    sal proclamation. (3) This general                         ineffectual grace in the gospel,
     for it is the grace expressed in the           call of the gospel with the prom-                          cross, and covenant-they enthu-
     gospel; the grace that desires the             ise that whoever believes shall be                         siastically embrace.
     salvation of all; the grace that has           saved  serves to show the unrea-                                   Such is always the result in the
     its source in the death of Christ;             sonable wickedness and perverse-                           churches of a compromised theol-
     and the grace that belongs to the              ness of those who deliberately re-                         ogy*  Q
     covenant of grace. Second, this               ject it. The justice of their con-                                                                 - D J E
     grace of salvation is resistible,  non-        demnation is thus rendered the
     efficacious, ineffectual, and frus-            more obvious... (p. 425).                                                  Correction
     trated.    Third, the entire theory                                                                                The reference to Henry Stob
     rests on a view of the preaching of               This is the confessional Re-                              in the editorial of the September
     the gospel as grace to all  who hear.        formed explanation of the external                             15'h  issue of the  Standard Bearer
         This doctrine of universal, in-          call of the gospel to the many who                             should have been  Summoning Up
     effectual grace in the preaching of          are not chosen  (Matt.  22:14). There                          Remembrance,  Eerdmans, 1995.
     the gospel, necessarily grounded in          is no mention of grace to the rep-
     a death of Christ for all without
     exception, destroyed the Presbyte-
     rian Church in which Hodge taught
     this heresy to thousands of pastors            Could there be a greater blessing
                                                    Ever given mortal man
     and missionaries. It first opened              Than to know he has a calling,
     the church up to open, avowed                  One that's even higher than
     Arminianism.          This happened            That of angels, who attend him,
     while Hodge was still living. The                                                                            Called To Be Saints
                                                    (Though they heav'nly creatures be),
     end of the process was the falling             They protect sons of the  Father-
     away of the church to sheer mod-               Sons and daughers-you and me.
     ernism.
         Happily, if surprisingly, when                Oh, how great a love has bought us
     Hodge is accounting for the pro-                  While in filth, depraved, we stood.
     miscuous preaching of the gospel                  He has cleansed us through the life-blood
                                                       Of His Son, the only good.
     and its indiscriminate (external)                 What a glorious, holy calling:                      If we truly seek to serve Him
     call in light of predestination, he               To be saints, who sinners are:                      We will turn from sinful ways,
     does not have recourse to any such                Let us strive to walk each moment And the words we speak will ever
     notion of universal grace in the                  Consciously within His care.                        Echo our Redeemer's praise.
     preaching. Hodge asks the ques-                                                                       Every wicked thought dispelling,
     tion, "Inasmuch as some men are                                                                       Let's proclaim His grace abroad,
     not saved, the question arises, Why                                                                   For we have a high  vocation-
     should the call be addressed to ev-                                                                   Called to be the saints of God.
     ery one? Or, What is the design of                                                                                              Thelma Westra
     God in making the call of the  gos-

     54btandard  Bearer/November 1, 1998



L


             Ariws and the Council of Nicea (1)
                                                   of controversy. So it was also in        Arius. He was a man to whom the
Introduction                                       the latter part of the third and the     orthodox and the heretics appealed
                                                   first part of the fourth centuries.      - and with justification. The or-
     "I believe . . . in one Lord Jesus            And the controversy, lasting over        thodox appealed to him because he
  Christ . . . begotten of the Father              50 years, was fierce and bitter.
  before all worlds, Light of Light,                                                        taught the absolute divinity of
                                                       There were many complicating
  very God of very God, begotten,                                                           Jesus Christ and insisted that
  not made, being of one substance                 factors.                                 Christ was very God. But the her-
  with the Father...."                                 For one thing, the church had        etics, including Arius, appealed to
S                                                  no agreed-upon vocabulary to ex-         him because he said that Christ's
          o read the lofty cadences of             press the truth, and Scripture itself    generation by the Father, though
          the very first creed adopted             does not give us such a vocabu-          eternal, was an act of God's will.
          by the church of our Lord                lary. This lack of a vocabulary con-     This was a serious error because,
Jesus Christ: the Nicene Creed. It                 fused and complicated the prob-          obviously, this made Christ less
sounds so familiar to us; yet it was               lems, especially because sometimes       than the Father. If Christ was be-
born out of fierce and bitter                      heretics would confiscate terms          gotten by an act of the Father's will,
struggle which nearly tore the                     which the orthodox could other-          then Christ's will, according to His
church to pieces.                                  wise have used and which they in         divine nature, could not be the
     Our readers will recall that in               fact wanted to use.                      same will as the Father's. And so
an earlier issue we talked about an                    For another thing, heretics at-      God had at least two wills, some-
error in the church promoted by                    tempting to solve the problem of         thing which is a flat denial of the
Sabellius. It was an error concern-                Christ's divinity were everywhere        unity of God. Although Origen
ing the divinity of our Lord Jesus                 spouting their views and gaining a       was the first to speak of eternal
Christ. Sabellius taught that Jesus                following.                               generation, he remained the occa-
Christ was only one way, among                         But one of the most influential      sion for a heresy that denied the
three different ways, in which the                 heretics was a man by the name of        divinity of Christ.
Father revealed Himself. The                       Origen.  He- was a strange man.              Another factor in the troubles
church did not consider itself ready               When he was still a boy his mother       which plagued the church, though
to formulate a precise statement                   had to hide his clothes because,         not directly related to the doctri-
concerning the doctrine of  Christ-                when his father was taken away to        nal aspect of the controversy, was
although from the beginning of the                 be killed for his faith, Origen          jealousy and competition between
history of the church, the church                  wanted to be a part of this martyr-      the two major seminaries in the
confessed without reservation that                 dom and could be kept in the house       Eastern part of the church. In the
Christ was divine. And so, in ef-                  only because he was too modest to        course of the years, two seminar-
fect, t h e   c h u r c h   s a i d   a b o u t    appear naked in the streets. When        ies had dominated in the  Greek-
Sabellius: "We are not sure how to                 he became a young adult he muti-         speaking church: one in Alexan-
express the truth correctly and ac-                lated himself, thinking that in this     dria, and the other in Antioch. Al-
cording to Scripture; so we are not                way he would be obedient to Christ       exandria was in Egypt; Antioch
going to say anything at this time                 and would become a eunuch for            was in Syria, and was the city from
about it. But you are wrong; of                    the kingdom's sake.                      which Paul and Barnabas had been
that we are sure." And they con-                       He was an extremely brilliant        sent in their first missionary jour-
demned him.                                        man who, in his theology, was far        ney. Both were prestigious schools,
     God always leads His church                   ahead of his times. But though           Alexandria because of its important
to a knowledge of the truth by way                 brilliant, he was also erratic, and      position in the empire; and Antioch
                                                   many of the heresies which ap-           because of the prestige of the city
                                                   peared in later years in the church      in which it was founded.
Prof.                                              could be traced back to Origen.
          Hanko  is professor of Church His-                                                    I t   m a y   a p p e a r   s o m e w h a t
tory and New Testament in the Protes-                  He had a direct role to play in      strange, but Alexandria was prob-
tant Reformed  Seminary.                           the controversy which surrounded         ably the most orthodox. This was

                                                                                                November I, I99t?/standard  Bearer/55


not true when it came to biblical       for Lucian's teachings, Arius would                    ship services and religious assem-
interpretation. Alexandria used         never have thought of his heresies.                    blies.
the allegorical method of biblical           Whatever may be the truth of                          This conduct could not be tol-
interpretation, which gives direct      this, Arius was himself not a pro-                     erated either, and so, in keeping
spiritual  meaningto  every single      found thinker. He was a tall and                       with practices in those days, he was
part of Scripture and treats Scrip-     very thin man with a look of deep                      driven from Alexandria, while a
ture as if it were composed of          asceticism about him; he was                           circular letter was sent to all the
countless allegories. Antioch, on       learned and eloquent, charismatic                      bishops in the empire warning all
the other hand, was much more so-       in speech and personal relation-                       the bishops to beware of the teach-
ber, and, in fact, the method of in-    ships; but he was also proud and                       ings of this heretic.
terpretation which we still use to-     artful, restless and disputatious,                         In spite of these warnings,
day and teach in our seminary was       not above devious dealings to at-                      Arius moved to Palestine and
developed early in Antioch's semi-      tain his ends.                                         Nicomedia, where he taught his
nary.                                        But his more distasteful char-                    views widely and gained a consid-
     But, whatever the case may be      acteristics were not widely known                      erable following-even among
on this matter of biblical interpre-    when he was ordained a deacon in                       some of the most influential bish-
tation, when it came to the doctrine    about 311 and when he rose to the                      ops in that part of the world. He
of Christ, Alexandria  was  much        position of presbyter (elder) in 313.                  even incorporated his views into a
nearer Scripture than Antioch.               His views came to the light of                    sort of prose-poem called "The
This was partly because the out-        day when he was attending a class                      Banquet," parts of which are still
standing theologian of Antioch,         of presbyters, other bishops, dea-                     extant in the writings of others who
Lucian by name, was a believer in       cons, and interested laity which                       quoted him.
a form of Sabellianism (the heresy      was conducted by Alexander.                                All of this turned the church,
which we described in our last ar-      Alexander was speaking at length                       especially in the East, into an eccle-
ticle).                                 on and emphasizing as strongly as                      siastical battlefield. Bishops were
     This jealousy not only played      possible the divinity of our Lord                      set against bishops, churches
an important role in the contro-        Jesus Christ. Suddenly, in the                         against churches, people against
versy which swirled about the per-      midst of the discourse, Arius in-                      people. And in the middle of it all
son of Arius, but it was a jealousy     terrupted his-bishop and began to                      stood the proud Arius, oblivious to
which was to affect the church and      charge him with heresy.  In sup-                       the horror of a divided church.' in-
play a role in her struggles for an-    port of this challenge, Arius stated                   tent on having his own way.
other 200 years.                        his own views. With an obvious                             His errors became increasingly
     Against all this confusion the     reference to Origen, Arius said that                   clear as he wrote in defense of his
Arian controversy began, and in         because Christ was Son, He was                         position. He did not as such deny
the very center of it was the man       begotten. Because He was begot-                        the divinity of Christ, and was pre-
for whom this heresy is named:          ten, He had a Father. Because a                        pared to admit that Christ was in-
Arius.                                  begetting Father is before a begot-                    deed divine. But he also insisted
                                        ten Son, so God was before Christ.                     that Christ was not eternal, that He
The Life of Arius                       Because God was before Christ,                         was,  in fact, created, and that,
     The birthplace of Arius is not     Christ could not possibly be equal                     therefore, there was a time when
known, although it is thought to        with God the Father.                  Because          Christ was not. Arius was pre-
be the province of Libya in North       Christ was not equal with God the                      pared to say many nice things
Africa and bordering on Egypt.          Father He was less than the Father.                    about Christ: He was higher than
Arius first appears on the stage of          This sort of heresy could not                     all creatures; He was before time
history in Alexandria, and as a         p o s s i b l y   b e   t o l e r a t e d ,   a n d    and existed long before the worlds
member of the church there. The         Alexander called a synod of                            were created; He was divine in a
bishop of the church of Alexandria      Alexandrian and Libyan bishops to                      way in which no other creature was
was a man named Alexander, a            consider the matter and deal with                      divine, the greatest of all under
firm and unwavering defender of         it. One hundred bishops came to-                       God. But He was not God; He was
the doctrine  of  the divinity of       gether and, in 321, condemned                          a creature. He was less than the
Christ.                                 Arius' teaching, deposed him from                      Father and subordinate to Him.
     Even though Arius appears          office, and excommunicated him.                        Arius was a dreadful heretic.
first in Egypt and in the church of          As is so often the case with her-                     Into all this stepped the em-
Alexander, there is much evidence       etics, Arms paid no attention to this                  peror Constantine.
to suggest that he was under the        discipline by the church, but con-                         Constantine had come to the
influence of Lucian from Antioch-       tinued to meet with his followers                      throne of the empire at the begin-
so much so that, if it had not been     and supporters and to teach at wor-                    ning of the fourth century. He was

56/Standard  Bearer/November 1, 1998


supposed to have seen a sign of the      tianity his approval, but also pro-      ciety. His last hope was fading.
cross in the sky just before the cru-    moted it in various ways.                What to do: that was the question.
cial battle which gave him the               Constantine touches on our               Constantine showed his failure
emperor's throne in the West. The        narrative because the colossal con-      to understand Christianity by at-
cross was supposed to have had in-       troversy launched by Arius was a         tempting to heal the rift by diplo-
scribed on it the words: In hoc signo    bitter disappointment to Constan-        macy.     If he had known about
vinces   ("In this sign conquer").       tine. There is reason to believe that    ecclesiastical affairs, he would have
Constantine interpreted that sign as     his adoption of Christianity was for     known that church controversies
an indication of the fact that Chris-    political purposes, one of which         are not settled by diplomacy or po-
tianity would conquer and that he        was to bring unity and some moral        litical involvement-that, in fact,
would do well to become a Chris-         energy to a divided, morally bank-       such interference would only make
tian. This he did-although most          rupt, and decadent empire. Rely-         matters worse.
probably in name only, for even af-      ing heavily upon Christianity as a           When finally he realized the
ter his "conversion" he committed        political and unifying force in the      hopelessness of treating church
some atrocious crimes.                   empire, he now discovered to his         matters as if they were matters of
    But we are not writing about         astonishment and dismay that even        state, he decided to call a general
Constantine. Whether the man was         the Christians could not get along,      council. And that he did.
a Christian or not, he brought per-      but were fighting fiercely and               It was the great Council of
secution to an end, formally ac-         locked in controversies which            Nicea.
cepted the Christian religion, and       threatened to tear the church apart,         But we shall have to talk about
proceeded not only to give Chris-        and with it, the whole fabric of so-     that in our next article. Cl



                                    The Son of God
               Eternally our Mediator (cont.)
Dr. Abraham Kuyper now tiently endure His just chastise- before, and did all that was pos-
        turns to the matter of           ments, "But if ye be without chas-       sible to make the child's entrance
        Christ's foreordination and      tisement, whereof all are partakers,     into the relationship one of health
the blessed reality of the  mystical     then are ye bastards and not sons";      and unspeakable joy. This is but a
union  of Christ and His people, in      and to the weary in well doing,          faint picture of God's loving care
order to disprove the notion of          "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard,        of His own chosen in Christ from
Christus  pro omnibus.  The truth and    neither have entered into the heart      before the foundation of the world.
reality of the mystical union of         of man, the things which God hath        Let us now follow Dr. Kuyper's de-
Christ and His people rests upon         prepared for them that love him."        fense of  particular  grace.
the truth that specific persons were     Dr. Kuyper asks the question:                In the second place, after hav-
eternally known to God in love and       When does this mystical union be-        ing demonstrated that the doctrine
given to Christ as His responsibil-      gin? After faith, or long before         "Christ for all" is an attack on the
ity for their redemption, sanctifi-      faith? We might understand his           being of God, Dr. Kuyper next
cation, and preservation. This mys-      point if we ask ourselves, when          turns to the subject of the person
tical union may be expressed as the      does the bond begin between              the Mediator. He shows that the
"sweet whisperings" of the Spirit        mother and daughter? Only after          person of the Mediator is impov-
of Christ to His own. The Spirit         birth and after the child has devel-     erished and the matter of Christ's
testifies to the repentant sinner,       oped self consciousness? Or did          foreordination  is neglected by those
and to him alone, "There is there-       the mother have a bond with this         who promote the notion of general
fore now no condemnation in              child before birth and before the        grace. Dr. A. Kuyper writes:
Christ Jesus"; to those who  pa-         child's self consciousness? Every
                                         mother knows the answer: The                 As often as we seek in quiet rev-
                                                                                    erence to understand the  person of
Mr.  Kamps  is a member of Southwest     mother took responsibility for the
                                                                                    the Redeemer in the depths of His
Protestant Reformed Church.              child long before, loved her long

                                                                                       November 1, 1999/standard Bearer/57


   being, we have to deal, naturally,                              ment that he enters into faith,                              This mystical union, this com-
   not only with His divine and hu-                                whether he is and that he is a re-                         munion, this togetherness, and
   man nature, but also with His fore-                             deemed person. Until that moment,                          this belonging to one another of
   ordination.                                                     it could just as well have hap-                            Jesus and the redeemed must be
       People understand by that                                   pened that he never would have                             acknowledged, professed, con-
   "foreordination" of the Christ, the                             come to faith and, therefore, never                        fessed, and firmly maintained, or
   firm and unshakable stipulations                                would have been "one redeemed                              your Christianity is gone.
   which from all eternity have been                               in Jesus...."                                                But what is this mystical union?
   made in God's counsel, concern-                                    Meanwhile, we know from the                             A handful of undifferentiated
   ing the calling which the Christ                                m o s t   e x p l i c i t   s t a t e m e n t s   o f      straps and ties and cords that
   would have to accomplish, the                                   prophet and apostle, and also                              Jesus displays, so that you can
   task which He would have to ful-                                from what is caught from Jesus'                            grasp this one, and I that strap or
   fill, and the place which He would                              own lips, that the redeemed "are                           tie or cord according to our own
   have to take in history.                                        given him by the Father" and that                          choosing, in order to attach to
       . ..But both crib, and cross, and                           only such "can come" to him!                               Jesus for an anchor?
   crown were directly the conse-                                     Clearly and forthrightly it is                            No, that is not the idea.
   quences and the working out of a                                said, that the bond of love, the re-                         But everyone has his own tie,
   devised plan, of a previously es-                               lationship between Christ and His                          wherewith he is bound unto his
   tablished decree of the will, of a                              members, lies grounded in the                              Jesus. You would have nothing to
   foreordaining God.                                              eternal and is rooted in the de-                           the strap that I grasp, to the tie
       .  ..we do not for a moment hesi-                           cree from before the foundation of                         which surrounds  me,  to the cord
   tate, on the basis of the Sacred                                the world.                                                 that binds  me,  and I would not be
   Scriptures, to express very firmly,                                So that by this already we can                          able to gain anything from the tie
   and very explicitly, that to present                            come to no other conclusion, than                          which binds  yoln to Jesus.
   a Redeemer who only  accidentally                               that the  person  of the Mediator is                         Everything in the work of re-
   would be suited to His work of                                  foreordained and prepared for                              demption is personal, individual,
   redemption is a thoroughly false,                               these specific persons, who one                            and prepared for each man. Ev-
   ungodly, and absurd idea; and                                   day would appear as His re-                                erything has its own address and
   that no Christian who lives up-                                 deemed people  (p. 63).                                    name and title. It is not a retail
   rightly can or may confess any dif-                                                                                        store, where things are sold, and
   ferently than, that the Mediator's                                 Dr. Kuyper goes on then to ex-                          therefore everyone takes accord-
   person and the Mediator's work in-                            plain that Christ is the Head of His                         ing to his own choosing, but a pal-
   separably belong together; from                                                                                            ace wherein gifts are distributed
   all eternity are foreordained for                             body the church. And that Christ                             and the gift is designated there-
   each other in the "decree"; and                               Jesus was prepared for certain spe-                          fore for each one for whom it is
   from the beginning in connection                              cific persons, with specific names,                          given.
   with the execution of this "decree"                           who together constitute the body                               The bond of the mystical union
   were prepared for one another                                 of which He is the Head. Kuyper                              with Jesus has to  be personal, also
   (pp. 61,621.                                                  rejects with all his soul the idea                           for this reason, that this bond in
                                                                 that the Mediator was prepared for                           regard to us penetrates to the
      Dr. Kuyper, having reminded                                a certain number of persons un-                              depths of our life, of our charac-
his readers of this foreordination                               named. He writes: "The person of                             ter, and of our existence.
of the Son of God to be the Christ,                              the Mediator becomes a phantom,                                And just because this bond of
t h e n   a s s e r t s   " t h a t   g r a c e   c a n   b e    an imaginary image, an abstract                              the mystical union with Christ is
nothing other than particular" (p.                                                                                            so completely personal, so also
                                                                 conception without reality, if you                           there must be in Jesus' person, in
6 3 ) .   H e   a d v a n c e s   h i s   a r g u m e n t        make Him a Redeemer of N.N.,                                 the person of the Mediator,  one's
with the question:                                               and He cannot come to His right-                             own, special point  of  contact  for each
                                                                 ful position unless you frankly con-                         redeemed person. That means
      Does the Mediator walk with                                fess that He is the Mediator, Guar-                          there must be something in that
   the redeemed in communion just                                antor, and Redeemer of A, B, C,                              person for me, that only I can find
   now at exactly the moment that                                etc."  (p.  64). Kuyper then proceeds                        in Him, and so also for you an
   their faith breaks through to real-                                                                                        attracting power, which again
   ity; or does there exist between the                          to tell us why this is so important:                         draws not  me,  but which draws
   Redeemer and His redeemed a                                                                                                you only (p. 64).
   link even before they were born,                                  People fail to appreciate, very
   taking its origin in God's eternal                              recklessly, the tenderness and                               After having established the
   decree?                                                         depth of the Christian faith, if they                    fact of Jesus' foreordination of spe-
      If one pleads for a general grace,                          remove from our confession, in a
   then, of course, only the first can                            supernaturalistic manner, the                             cific elect persons, with specific
   be true.  f-Then  it is first decided                          mystical union with Christ, i.e.,                         names and needs, Kuyper contrasts
   and        t established                through                 "the soul's communion and fel-                           this biblical fact with the superfici-
   someone!s,own  faith, in the  mo-                              lowship of life of the redeemed                           ality and unbiblical character of a
                                                                  with their Lord."
58/StandaFd  Bearer/November 1, 1998


"general grace doctrine."                              With this notion not only all          who have been misled by general
                                                     foreordaining is lost, but likewise      grace preachers and who have been
    In this way is conclusively                      the reality, the fullness, the glory     inclined to disregard the counsel
  proven, that the doctrine of gen-                  of the person of the Mediator, and       of God, the decree of election, and
  eral grace can in no way be rec-                   people produce a representation of       the foreordination of the Christ to
  onciled with the true reality of the               the Savior so offensive, annoying,
  person of the Mediator.                            and scandalous, that it is for us        be the Mediator of specific persons
    Upon that untenable position,                    truly comforting to be able to add,      with specific needs, and asks:
  the redeemed exist first by a                      that not even one Universalist ever
  choice of the will in the moment                   has dared to present this blasphe-           But if the Bible shows you a
  that he comes to faith; there first                mous image of the Mediator, and            more excellent way and history
  begins to be born a relationship                   all, to the very last one, have re-        says to you, that your own fathers
  from that moment on between him                    mained superficial and illogical,          have walked that excellent path,
  and Jesus; there is neither in him                 rather than to cause the image of          why, why, I pray you, is that
  anything that previously was pre-                  their Mediator to appear to be so          much more glorious way always
  pared for him as to the Mediator                   empty and shallow... (pp. 65, 66).         brought into discredit as an errant
  nor anything in the Mediator per-                                                             path of abomination and avoided?
  sonally and specifically prepared                    Then Kuyper turns with great             (p. 67). Cl
  for him....                                      urgency to his reading audience




              Heidelberg Catechism Preaching

                         The ministersshall on Sunday explain briefly the sum of Christian doc-
                         trine comprehended in the Heidelberg Catechism so that as much as pos-
                         sible the explanation shall be annually completed, according to the divi-
                         sion of the Catechism itself for that purpose.
                                                                                      Church Order, Article 68
Heidelberg Catechism merely compliance with Article 68. he was not alone in this practice,
          p r e a c h i n g - a   time-horn:       Pulpit and pew alike must under-           but one of several Dutch Reformed
          ored  t r a d i t i o n   i n   R e -    stand the basis for Heidelberg Cat-        ministers who preached to their
formed churches.                                   echism preaching.                          congregations regularly from the
    Over the years sermons on the                      Only then will there continue          Heidelberg Catechism.
Heidelberg Catechism have been a                   to be appreciation for sermons that            It was also in 1566 that the Cat-
regular part of the spiritual diet of              expound the Catechism.                     echism was published for the first
Reformed Christians around the                         Only then will there continue          time with the questions and an-
world. Generations of men and                      to be regard for the outstanding           swers numbered and divided into
women have lived out their 70 or                   benefits derived from this method          fifty-two "Lord's Days." It was
80 years listening to forty or more                of preaching.                              precisely the purpose of this orga-
Catechism sermons each year.                                                                  nization to facilitate the Cat-
Nearly half of all the preaching                   History of the Homiletical Use             echism's use in preaching.
done by Reformed  preachers-                       of the Catechism                               The practice of preaching from
preachers still faithful to the                        Nearly from the time of its first      a catechism did not originate with
Church Order, that is-is Cat-                      publication in 1563, the Heidelberg        the  Heidelberg Catechism. A l -
echism preaching.                                  Catechism was preached. Besides            ready before the publication of the
    But if Catechism preaching is                  serving as a confession and an in-         Heidelberg Catechism, other exist-
going to survive into the future, it               structional tool for the youth, it         ing catechisms were used in
must be more than merely a "tra-                   also became early on the text of ser-      preaching. Among Lutheran min-
dition" among us, more than                        mons.                                      isters sermons were often made on
                                                       The first documented use of the        the basis of Luther's Catechism.
Rev. Cammenga is pastor of Southwest               Catechism for preaching was by             And after the Heidelberg Cat-
Protestant       Reformed       Church in          Peter  Gabriel, minister in Amster-        echism made its first appearance,
Grandville, Michigan.                              dam, in 1566. It is apparent that          some ministers still preferred to

                                                                                                  November 1,  199&Standard  Bearer/59


use other catechisms in their               having been examined by the              question is put to the consistory:
preaching, as, for example, the Cat-        Classis of Brabant and Walloon,          "Is the Heidelberg Catechism regu-
echism of Geneva. Gradually,                shall be distributed.                    larly explained in the services for
however, the Heidelberg Cat-                                                         divine worship, so that no doctrine
echism won out over these other               It was the synod of The Hague,         is left untreated?"
catechisms, largely because of its         1586, that was the first Dutch Re-            A difficulty sometimes arises
superior suitability for preaching.        formed synod to make Heidelberg           when a congregation is vacant. It
    Several synods of the Reformed         Catechism preaching mandatory.            is not always possible to have regu-
churches in the Netherlands en-                                                      lar Catechism preaching when a
couraged the Catechism's use in             Ministers shall on each Lord's           congregation is led in worship by
preaching before the synod of the           Day, generally, in the afternoon
                                            sermons, briefly explain the sum         different ministers each Lord's
Hague, in 1586, made preaching of           of Christian doctrine contained in       Day. But even when a congrega-
the Heidelberg Catechism manda-             the Catechism, which at present          tion is vacant, it is advisable that
tory. Already a question was put            is accepted in the Netherlands           the elders make arrangements to
to the synod of Dordrecht, 1574, re-        churches, in such a way that it          have Catechism preaching as regu-
garding the advisability of Cat-            may be finished annually, follow-        larly as possible.
echism preaching. The synod de-             ing the division of the Catechism            A question sometimes arises
cided:                                      itself, made for that purpose.           about the advisability of Heidel-
                                                                                     berg Catechism preaching on the
  The answer to the question of               The Synod of Dordrecht,  1618-         mission field. It must be granted
  Walcheren whether it would be            `19, after carefully examining the        that Article 68 applies to the
  good that good homilies based on         Heidelberg Catechism, opposed             preaching in established congrega-
  the Catechism be made is as fol-         any changes in the Catechism,             tions. Nevertheless, the Heidelberg
  lows: This shall be left as it is        changes for which the Remon-
  [that is, optional, RC], but it would                                              Catechism is eminently suited for
                                           strants had been agitating. In its
  be good if the ministers in an or-                                                 use on the mission field. It was
                                           148th Session, May 1, 1619, the
  derly manner take turns in the                                                     designed as an instructional tool
  classical meeting to explain in          Great Synod passed a resolution af-       for the young and for recent con-
  summary form a question or two           firming that the Heidelberg Cat-          verts. The fifty-two Lord's Days
  from the Catechism and in this           echism                                    cover all the fundamental doctrines
  way teach and sensitize each other                                                 of Holy Scripture. Our missionar-
  and also learn to explain the Cat-         . . . formed altogether a most accu-    ies ought to be encouraged to
  echism thoroughly to the congre-          rate  compend  of the orthodox           preach the Catechism on the mis-
  gation in an orderly and edifying         Christian faith; being, with singu-
  manner.                                   lar skill, not only adapted to the       sion field.
                                            understanding of the young, but
    The synod of Dordrecht, 1578,           suited also for the advantageous         Heidelberg Catechism Preaching
encouraged the preaching of a ser-          instruction of older persons; so         as the Preaching of the
mon based on the Heidelberg Cat-            that it could continue to be taught      Word of God
echism in the afternoon service af-         with great edification in the Bel-           Over the years numerous ob-
ter the administration of the Lord's         gic  churches, and ought by all         jections have been raised against
Supper.                                     means to be retained.                    Heidelberg Catechism preaching.
    The synod of Middelburg,                                                         We are not going to take the time
1581, was asked to produce an ex-          Out of this conviction, the Synod         to answer all of these objections.
position of the Heidelberg Cat-            of Dordrecht reaffirmed the deci-         There is, however, one objection
echism that might aid the minis-           sion of the synod of The Hague re-        that we ought to face. That is the
ters in preparing Catechism ser-           quiring weekly Heidelberg Cat-            accusation that Heidelberg Cat-
mons.                                      echism sermons.                           echism preaching is not preaching
                                               From the beginning of their ex-
  Question: Whether it would be                                                      of the Word of God.
                                           istence the Protestant Reformed
  good to make some explanations                                                         This is the most serious of all
  of the Catechism in the form of          Churches have been committed to           the objections. If it is true, the Re-
  homilies or something similar for        regular Heidelberg Catechism              formed churches have been guilty
  beginners?                               preaching. It is the requirement of       of the most heinous sin a church
  Answer: Jeremias Bastingius and          our Church Order. It is the prac-         can be guilty of-not preaching the
  the  Classis of Walloon are consid-      tice in our churches. It is the un-
  ering                                                                              Word of God. And they have been
            this and, working on the       questioned duty of our ministers.
  Catechism of our churches, shall                                                   guilty of this sin for over 400 years!
                                               The churches are serious about
  bring together and shall produce                                                       The charge that Heidelberg
                                           safeguarding the practice. At ev-
  not homilies but exegesis which,                                                   Catechism preaching is not the
                                           ery annual church visitation the          preaching of the Word of God is

6O/standard  t$arer/November  1, I998


fallacious. The accusation can                   lar Lord's Day or part of a Lord's           are indeed but reproductions of
quickly be put to rest.                          Day is the "text" of the sermon. In          God's own Word  (The  Church  Or-
     Heidelberg Catechism preach-                his sermon the minister-must deal            der Commentary,  p. 277).
ing is the preaching of the Word of              with the words,-  phrases, sentences,
God inasmuch as its contents stand               and thoughts expressed in the Cat-              Always the Catechism must be
in full agreement with the Word of               echism.                                   preached in the light of Scripture.
God-as every Reformed minister                       The method that is to be re-          E a c h   ~time-  t h e   C a t e c h i s m   i s
avows who signs the "Formula of                  jected is that of preaching on a text     preached, it must be shown that its
Subscription." The Catechism is it-              of Scripture and only referring to        contents are based upon and de-
self a faithful explanation of the               the Catechism. Or, what is worse,         rived from Scripture. Ultimately
Word of God. This makes preach-                  using the Catechism as a  jumping-        the faith of God's people must be
ing on the Catechism preaching the               off point for the sermon, to which        made to rest in Jesus Christ  as He
Word of God.                                     point the preacher never really re-       is revealed in Scripture.
     The fact is that much of the                turns in the course of his sermon.              This may be done, as has been
Catechism is taken directly from                 This is to pay mere lip-service to        suggested, by reference at the be-
the Bible: the Ten Commandments,                 the requirement of Article 68 of the      ginning of the sermon to various
and the Lord's Prayer are ex-                    Church Order.                             Scripture passages on which the
amples. There are over 650 Scrip-                    Although the Catechism itself         teaching of a particular Lord's Day
ture references throughout the 120               must be preached, this does not           rests. Often ministers conclude the
questions and answers of the Cat-                prohibit the judicious use of a text      reading of these references with the
echism. Copious Scripture refer-                 or passage of Scripture in connec-        formula, "On these and similar
ences line the outside margins of                tion with the exposition of the Cat-      passages of Holy Writ is based the
every page. All of Scripture has                 echism. This certainly may and            teaching of Lord's Day.. . ."
been consulted, and its teaching on              ought to be done. Concerning this,              Another approach is to make
every fundamental truth has been                 the late Prof. H.C. Hoeksema              use of the passage or part of the
incorporated into the Lord's Days.               writes:                                   p a s s a g e   u s e d   f o r   t h e   S c r i p t u r e
There really can be no doubt that                                                          reading in the course of the ser-
faithful Heidelberg Catechism                      The minister must not forget to         mon. The passage, then, underlies
preaching is preaching of the Word                 leave the impression with the con-      the main truth set forth in the
of God.                                            gregation  that even in Catechism       Lord's Day or an important aspect
     This is the testimony, too, of                preaching he administers the            of that truth.
Reformed believers who live under                 Word of God . . . we make the                  Some freedom must be granted
Heidelberg Catechism preaching.                   point that this ought to be explicit     here, each minister doing what he
                                                  in the preaching. It is a good cus-
They hear this preaching as the                                                            is most comfortable with and what,
                                                   tom, therefore, that at the begin-
Word of God. Christ's voice, the                  ning of the sermon the minister          in his judgment, is most edifying
voice of the Good Shepherd, is                    quotes a few pertinent texts and         for the congregation.
heard in the Catechism sermons.                   points the congregation to them
They experience the good use of                   as the basis of the instruction con-     Preaching Through the Catechism
this preaching by the power of the                tained in the particular Lord's Day      in One Year
Holy Spirit in their lives and in the             on which he is preaching. And                  Article 68 of the Church Order
lives of their children.                          while it is not always equally pos-      stipulates that the preaching of the
                                                  sible to be explicit on this in (the)    Catechism shall  "... as much as
                                                  course of one's sermon, the min-
How the Catechism                                                                          possible . . .
                                                  ister should certainly let his ser-                         be annually completed,
Is to be Preached                                 mon as much as possible be con-          according to the division of the
     An important question is,                    trolled by the Scriptures. We may        Catechism itself, for that purpose."
"How is the Catechism to be                       remark, too, that frequently it is             The fact of the matter is that it
preached? What method ought to                    appropriate as well as enriching         is impossible to complete the Cat-
be followed in preaching the Cat-                 to make room in the sermon for a         echism in a year's time.
echism?"                                          brief explanation of this or that re-          One reason for this is that there
     The Church Order answers this                lated passage of Scripture  (p. 43).     are often "special" services at
question: "The ministers shall on                                                          w h i c h   t h e   C a t e c h i s m   i s   n o t
Sunday explain briefly . . . the                 VanDellen  and Monsma state:              preached: baptism services, Lord's
H e i d e l b e r g   Catechism,..~.."  T h e                                              Supper, and various Christian holi-
Catechism is to be preached. The                  It may be said in this connection        days, like Easter and Pentecost;
                                                  that Catechism sermons should be
Catechism is to be explained. The                 so constructed that the Congrega-        Often a minister is  forced&o,  be ab-
language of the Catechism is to be                tion sees very clearly that the          sent from his  hulpit   due,$o,classi-
exegeted. Very really, the particu-               truths embodied in the Catechism         cal appointments, vacation,  atten-
                                                                                                                                    .I _
                                                                                                  November 1,  1998/Standard   k~er,&


dance at synod, and so forth.                         It is good, therefore, that there      of Catechism preaching, and the
     Besides, it simply is not often              is a certain amount of flexibility in      Classes are urged to give proper
possible to cover all of the mate-                Article 68:  `I... as much as pos-         attention to this matter, that the
rial in a given Lord's Day in one                 sible.. . ." The minister ought to         regular consideration of the Cat-
sermon. A hasty treatment of the                  take proper advantage of that flex-        echism may be observed.
Catechism does not do justice to                  ibility.
the Catechism. Many of the Lord's                     But this flexibility must never          Here elders and church visitors
Days contain an abundance of ma-                  become an excuse for a minister to       have a responsibility. Elders must
terial. Although a minister need                  become irregular and negligent in        see to it that their minister is faith-
not attempt to exhaust each Lord's                preaching Catechism sermons. The         ful in carrying out the duty of Cat-
Day every time through the Cat-                   minister may not weary of Cat-           echism preaching. They must see
echism, often more than one ser-                  echism preaching and so begin to         to it that he preaches the Catechism
mon is necessary before he is ready               ignore his duty. Usually this be-        and that he preaches the Catechism
to move on to the next Lord's Day.                gins gradually The minister does         regularly. Church visitors must not
     We ought to understand the ra-               not preach a Catechism sermon ev-        fail to inquire into this at the an-
tionale for the requirement of Ar-                ery Sunday he could or should.           nual church visitation, admonish-
ticle 68 that as much as possible                 This laxity has crept into several       ing those who may be negligent,
the preaching through the Cat-                    denominations today where once           and reporting such negligence to
echism be completed annually.                     Catechism preaching was a recog-         the classis.
The intent was not so much to as-                 nized institution. Already in 1902           May Catechism preaching not
sure that within one year all the                 the synod of the Christian Re-           only survive, but thrive in our
fifty-two Lord's Days of the Cat-                 formed Church was cognizant of           churches. May God give to our
echism would be preached, as to                   this laxity and issued the follow-       preachers the ability to make good
insure that there would be regu-                  ing exhortation to the churches:         Catechism sermons. And may He
lar, uninterrupted preaching on the                                                        use Catechism preaching for the in-
Catechism. If the ministers were                    With a view to dangers from with-      struction, growth, and comfort of
required to preach through the Cat-                 out that threaten sound doctrine,      His people, young and old alike.
echism in a year's time, they would                 and in consideration of the great          T h u s   t h e   c h u r c h   w i l l   b e
be forced to "stick with it" and not                need of, and the very meager in-       saved-preaching's great goal.
preach on the Catechism only spo-                   terest in the regular development          And thus God's name will be
                                                    of dogmatical truths, Synod em-
radically.                                                                                 glorified-preaching's still greater
                                                    phasizes the time-honored custom       goal.  0




Our Readers Contribute                            ways suitable to the purpose this        larly after its translation from many
0 nething particularly enjoyable writer has in mind.                                       sorts of manuscripts. He writes of
      in preparing this rubric for al-                This time I do want to share         hearing a television program one
most each issue is that you, the                  several articles recently sent to me.    Sunday:
reader, often send in articles which              And thank you all for sending
can be used-and often are. Some                   them.                                        One featured a conservative
of these articles are of religious sig-                                                      evangelical       minister who de-
nificance (or concern); others are                H "Powerful, Imperfect                     scribed "how a perfect God used
informative; some can be rather hu-                                                          imperfect people to write a per-
                                                  Bible"                                     fect book."       He said that God
morous. I can assure those who                                                               through the Holy Spirit enabled
send in articles, that these are read             The first article I present is from
                                                      The Church Herald,  July-August        the writers of Scripture to write a
with interest. If every article is                1998. The magazine is of the Re-           perfect book without error or mis-
not used, it is not because it is un-             formed Church in America. The              take. He spoke firmly about "the
important. I often have more ma-                  author is the Rev.  J.  S a m u e l        inspired, inerrant  Word of God."
terial than I can use in the articles.            Hofman, RCA missionary in                    He clarified that this infallibil-
Some articles, though interesting                 Chiapas, Mexico. Though the au-            ity and inerrancy applies only to
and thought-provoking, are not al-                                                           the original manuscripts. Then he
                                                  thor makes some valid points con-          affirmed that although we have
            /  :                                  cerning difficulties in translating        only copies of copies of copies of
                                                  the Bible, at the same time his pre-       those  manuscripts, God preserved
Rev.  Va.qBb:en  is pastor  of  the Protestant    sentation appears to belittle the          the reliability of the Scriptures
Reformed   "i3hurch   of  Loveland, Colo-         idea of an infallible Bible-particu-       throughout the centuries.
rado.  "  `4'                                                                                                               I
62/Standardl~arer/November   1, 1998
        ..,c     1


   This brought back memories to              Two things stand out. The au-              "WWJD? New Testament" . . . be-
 me of the theological debates on          thor admits forsaking the convic-             cause the modern translation will
 the subject of the inspiration of the     tions which were his in his early             be easy for people to understand,
 Scriptures when I was in seminary         training. Secondly, the presenta-             especially the kids. They'll also
 forty years ago. The conservatives                                                      probably enjoy the analysis of
 insisted that God had verbally dic-       tion of the author serves to create           Jesus' words and deeds in the
 tated the thoughts of the writers,        doubt and question in the mind of             "What Would Jesus Do?" sections.
 but added that the words were             the reader. What are we to believe              For example, authors Bruce
 definitely theirs, pointing out that      now with respect to the Bible? May            Bickel  and Stan Jantz expand on
 the personalities and cultural            we only say that it is "authorita-            Jesus  Christ's teaching. Writing
 backgrounds of the various au-            tive and trustworthy in what it               about good conduct, they say:
 thors are reflected in what they          teaches?" But if it is not infallible         "Doing what Jesus would do may
 wrote. On the other extreme, the          and inspired, how can we believe              make you different. You may end
 liberal theologians referred to the       in its trustworthiness? What the              up doing the opposite of every-
 Bible only as "great religious lit-                                                     one else. Jesus wants you to do
 erature."                                 author says of "copies of copies of           the right thing-even if your
   For years there has been strife         copies" is true. What he declares             friends are offended."
 over just how and how much of             about the difficulties of accurate              That's all well and good. But
 the Bible is inspired. Forty years        translating is undoubtedly true.              I'm getting weary of Bibles that
 ago I would have sided with the           But does he not minimize or ignore            offer advice, analysis, and revised
 conservatives in asserting that the       the guidance of the Spirit not only           wording. Often, these Bibles are
 Bible in its original manuscripts         in "inbreathing" the writers of               written in up-to-date language
 is infallible and inerrant. But it is     Scripture, but also in guiding trans-         that differs from Bibles of 30 years
 no longer an issue for me now,            lators (whose resolve is to main-             a g o .
 due to our working on the revi-                                                           Whatever happened to the  old-
 sion of the Bible in the Tzeltal In-      tain as literally as possible the pre-        fashioned King James version, like
 dian language. This translation           sentation of the manuscripts                  the one I received as a gift in the
 experience has shown me how ir-           judged closest to the original writ-          1960s from the chapel in Minne-
 relevant is the claim of infallibil-      ings into a new language)?                    sota where I attended Sunday
 ity and inerrancy.                                It is very foolish to present the     school?
    The author goes on to explain          Bible other than infallible and in-             To this day, it's my favorite
that in translating, and comparing         spired. Scripture claims this for it-         Bible.
also various other translations, he        self. The doubt created ultimately              . ..The "WWJD? New Testament"
repeatedly encounters footnotes as,        results in disbelief of any of the            will serve youth well. But to adult
                                                                                         Bible readers, I recommend tack-
"The Hebrew is unclear." He                Word.                                         ling the analysis-free King James
noted also how translations differ                                                       version. Decide for yourself what
and the explanation is appended,           H Bring Back the Original                     the Bible means.
"Some manuscripts say this and                rom Southern California, out of
other manuscripts say that."               Fthe San Bernardino County Sun,                 It is interesting that a religion
Therefore the author concludes:            August 1, 1998, comes the follow-            writer in a secular newspaper ad-
                                           ing:                                         mits to a preference for the King
    All of which tells me that  Chris-                                                  James version of the Bible. The
  tians have wasted a lot of energy                A slickly designed  black-and-       writer points out its beautiful and
  and words arguing about whether            yellow press packet appeared on
  the original manuscripts of the                                                       poetic way of expressing God's
                                             my desk the other day trumpet-
  Bible were infallibly and verbally                                                    Word. But more important still is
                                             ing a new Bible.
  inspired by God. The fact is that                                                     the fact that the translators were
                                                   "It's here!" the words on the
  those manuscripts no longer ex-                                                       concerned about accuracy in trans-
                                             folder seemed to short.
  ist. The copies of copies of copies              What's where? The "WWJD?             lation. Even the "old-fashioned"
  that we have are not without er-           New Testament." In bookstores              "thees" and "thous" conform to
  ror. And our translations, no mat-         now.                                       that. So, yes, give me too the most
  ter how well they are done, are                  The "WWJD?" or "What Would           accurate as well as poetic King
  not perfect either.                        Jesus Do?" movement continues              James.
    So instead of holding up a Bible         to, well, move into new markets.
  and proclaiming that it is infallible            First came "WWJD?" bracelets
  and inerrant, perhaps we need to                                                      n  Study Links Religion,
                                             and necklaces. The slogan began
  be a bit more realistic and say that       to spread to T-shirts, key chains,         Obesity
  it is authoritative and trustworthy        hats and pens. It was only a mat-
  in what it teaches. And we can                                                        A slim young lady submitted an
                                             ter of time before a "WWJD?"                    article which borders, on the
  affirm that whoever believes its           Bible appeared.                            humorous. It is a study  of'& re-
  message will find eternal fellow-                Many Christians will praise the
  ship with God.                                                                        lationship between religion and
                                                                                                                       : ti,..r.h 1
                                                                                            November  1,  1998/Stamdard   Bearer/6$


obesity. It could not have been a             Ferraro analyzed data involving                   He found that Southern Baptists
study sponsored by the govern-              3,615 Americans and found a `*sur-                in the South are most likely to be
ment, I presume, since religion is          prising" tendency that the most                   obese, followed by fundamental-
involved. Of course, the govern-            faithful, regardless of denomina-                 ist Protestants and mainline Prot-
ment would separate itself from all         tion, are obese. The study gauged                 estant groups, such as Methodists
                                            religiosity by asking questions                   and Baptists outside the South.
religion-though it does sponsor             about attendance at services and                  Thinnest are Buddhists, Hindus,
other nonsensical studies of divers         reading of religious material.                    Muslims and Jews. People who
sorts.                                        One reason for the correlation,                 said they had no religious affilia-
    The article, appearing in a pa-         he says, is in a society that wor-                 tion or belief ranked near the
per called Spotlight, stated:               ships thinness, "overweight                       middle.
                                            people find comfort in religious                     .  ..Although  religion reduces
    People who are firmly religious        settings."                                         deadly stress, that may be offset
  are much more likely to be flabby           He found the percentage of obe-                 by the health risks of obesity,
  than those who are soft on God,           sity highest in states where reli-                Ferraro warns.
  according to a study.                     gious affiliation was most preva-
    "Overeating may be one sin that         lent, such as Michigan, Mississippi                 Well!! The next time my wife
  pastors and priests regularly over-       and Indiana, and lowest in states                complains about my overeating....
  look," concludes Kenneth Ferraro,         with the least religious popula-                    And thanks, readers, for your
  a Purdue University sociology             tions-Massachusetts, Hawaii and                  contributions.  0
  professor who is author of the            Colorado. Ferraro also compared
  study.                                    denominations.





                                          The High Cost
                       of Building New Churches

H                                         leave the mother church to form                    forming the new congregation, the
            earing of the high cost of    new congregations if the new                       obligation of these other churches
            building the new churches     group is expected to fund the ma-                  (from which these people have
            in Holland and in George-     jority of the cost by themselves. If               come) to contribute is sometimes
town leads me to believe that as          you take the amount which the                      forgotten. Perhaps it is mistakenly
churches we must look at different        new  group receives when they                      believed that this is the obligation
ways to fund church expansion. I          leave as compared to the value of                  solely of the mother church. A
am told that it will cost around 1.7      the facilities, it appears that those              more equitable method of distribu-
million dollars for Georgetown's          who form the new church are left                   tion and assistance is necessary.
building. Holland's building, with-       saddled with a very great debt.                        Because the entire denomina-
out the auditorium, cost approxi-         This is not said to point fingers in               tion benefits when a new congre-
mately $950,000. A like sum will          any way at those who stay, but it                  gation is formed, I suggest that the
still be needed to complete their         appears to be a fact of life. When                 entire denomination participate in
sanctuary. This is an astronomical        one divides the total worth of the                 the funding. There is the increased
amount. With the escalating costs         present facility by the total num-                 enthusiasm that is generated by the
of construction, the day will come        ber of members to determine the                    new congregation which is a joy to
when no one will be willing to            value per member, the amount                       behold. It is contagious, and this
                                          which is given to the members who                  enthusiasm manifests itself in the
                                          leave to start the new church is                   active participation of the mem-
                                          something less than 50% of the ac-                 bers. Look at the large number
Mr. Miedema is an elder in the            tual value per member.
Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church                                                       who take part in the work and the
in Hudsonville, MI. He has served as a        W h e n   p e o p l e   f r o m   o t h e r    number who attend the societies
delegate to synod.                        churches join in with the group                    when they are formed. There is a

64/Standard  Bearer/November 1, 1998


feeling of unity and purpose by            seen in the mega-churches around               A line item for this purpose by
those members which draws them             us. Society life suffers, and super-       all our churches would have a tre-
closer together.                           vision by the elders is not as good.       mendous impact because a "little
    Providing additional pulpits is        It becomes impossible for the pas-         help" from each church adds up to
another benefit.       At present, we      tor to teach all the catechism             a substantial amount. And, since
do not have any vacancies, which           classes.                                   each congregation participates on
in itself is not a healthy situation           The financial benefits for our         its own, its autonomy is not af-
for the denomination. When new             churches in having a  special line         fected, as it would control the dis-
congregations are formed, they             item  on their annual budget for fu-       position of its funds. Many cre-
provide pulpits for our seminary           ture new church expansion are eas-         ative methods of funding are avail-
students, which is another positive.       ily recognized. When a mortgage            able, and our churches could use
    Anyone who has been to the             is taken out by the new church for         them for projects such as these.
mission field in Northern Ireland          a period of 30 years, every gift               When less money has to be bor-
knows firsthand the need of our            which is given to help that church         rowed, it makes more funds avail-
brothers and sisters there for dif-        multiplies around threefold.  A gift       able for our schools, benevolence,
ferent facilities. We hear of needs        of $75,000 to that church, which has       and missions. There are many,
in Singapore, Myanmar, and other           a mortgage at  8%, would have a            many worthwhile causes which
places. What a wonderful thing to          realized benefit of  around $250,000,      cannot always be funded because
be able to assist these fellow saints      since this is the amount which the         these causes sometimes compete
also.                                      church would have to pay when              against each other for the same dol-
    Making our existing buildings          the interest is included for 30 years.     lars. By implementing a program
larger is not the answer. Congre-          This gift eliminates those dollars         such as this, their needs can also
gations of more than 120 families          which would have to be borrowed            be met.  This is good stewardship.
place too great a burden on the pas-       for the entire 30 years and, of even           May God continue to bless the
tor and the consistory. The "close-        greater impact, the  interest  on those    efforts of our people to form new
ness" which is experienced within          monies.                                    congregations and give us the
a smaller group is lost, as can be                                                    means to do so.  0





                Reading, Writing, and Heretics

B                                          der of my theme, and treating, first       times  - not with respect to the
         rothers and sisters in Christ,    of all, the urgency with which we          world,  for nothing is shocking there;
         friends of the Reformed Free      must approach the work, as we do           but shocking with respect to the
         Publishing Association,           spiritual battle with the forces of        church  and what finds acceptance
    It is indeed a privilege to be         darkness; secondly, the specific           in the church of our day.
here tonight and to address this as-       place of writing in the battle that            I speak of this departure from
sembly.                                    we face; and finally, the importance       God's Word as  heresy.  Allow me
    It is my purpose in the next few       of promoting, also among our own           to make some remarks about that
minutes to remind you what an im-          people, the reading of the  faith-         term.
portant place the RFPA occupies in         building literature which the RFPA             In the first place, we must
the spiritual warfare that must            publishes.                                 make a distinction between heresy
mark the church in these last days.                                                   and an imperfect understanding of
I will do that by reversing the  or-       Departure from the Truth                   the truth, which characterizes all
                                               That we live in a time charac-         of us to some degree, and much of
                                           terized by departure from God's            the church to a significant degree.
Rev. Key is pastor  of  the Protestant     Word is clear. In fact, that depar-            We all need to grow in our un-
Reformed Church  of  Randolph, Wis-        ture from the truth has advanced           derstanding of the truth.
consin.                                    to the point of being shocking at              We believe, and have no doubt,

                                                                                          November 1,  1998/Standard  Bearer/65


that God has given us as Protes-         derstand, is to destroy the true           those who are promoters of the
tant Reformed Churches precious          church. The truth, after all, is the       devil's lies. But if you examine all
riches of His truth. We believe that     foundation of the church.  Satan           the motives, you will find that they
the Spirit has led our churches, as      knows that if he can get those in          are all rooted in pride. That is why
children of the church of all ages,      the church to chisel away at the           we have constantly to guard
into the clearest understanding of       truth, he can bring about the down-        against the sin of pride, and pray
the truth of Scripture.                  fall of the church as an institute.        for grace to root all pride out of
    We say that without boast, but       For if she loses her foundation, it        our life. I speak especially with
with deepest humility, knowing           is only a matter of time and she           reference to those of us who hold
that it was not of us, nor of our        crumbles and falls. That is her end.       such positions of influence. Pride
ability, nor of our goodness, but        And many denominations, we are             will lead us into conflict with the
entirely of God's sovereign grace        well aware, have gone exactly that         Scriptures. Pride breeds heretics.
and mercy that we were led by His        way.                                       And  let-us  understand, heretics run
Holy Spirit into those spiritual             But although heresy has its ori-       rampant in the church world of our
riches  - riches, I might add, which     gin with the devil, the father of lies,    day.
greatly add to our accountability        the fact remains that-it is  men  (and      .~ Concerning the broad  depar-
before God for what we do with           women) who are the promoters of            ture from God's truth that is evi-
those riches.                            heresy in the church. We must un-          dent in our day, we ought to bear
    But we need to continue to           derstand that  their  motives are of-      several things in mind.
grow spiritually, knowing that no        ten not so easily understood.                     In the first place, the apostasy
matter how long God gives us on              We may say that heresy always          and the broad influence of heresy
this earth, we will never begin to       arises out of the refusal to bow be-       that we observe is not surprising
reach the depths of the riches of        fore the sole authority of the Scrip-      at all, when we examine the situa-
His revelation in Holy Scripture.        tures. But then again, so does our         tion more carefully. All we have
    To that end, the publications of     own sin.                                   to ask is, "Where is the place of
the RFPA are spiritual helps to us.          Heresy also comes oftentimes           God's truth in the church world to-
The  Standard Bearer  and the books      when men want to impose their              day?" The truth of God's authori-
that you produce are vitamins, as        own ideas upon Scripture. They             tative Word, the very foundation
it were, for our spiritual health.       come under teaching of the truth,          of doctrine and life, has been eradi-
Still more, those writings are used      but they don't want to be learners;        cated from the church in our day,
by God to strengthen the under-          they want rather to teach. So they         as  if the truth itself is some kind of
standing and increase the faith of       would become wiser than God. For           detestable weed.
many outside of our churches who         example, God reveals to us that His               We ought to face it, the truth
had once embraced certain errors         grace is particular. His grace is be-      of Scripture does not find wide ac-
because of their imperfect under-        stowed through  Christ,  and only          ceptance  - either with respect to
standing of biblical truth.              through Christ. It is grace, there-        doctrine or with respect to the
    But when I speak about heresy,       fore, only for those who are  in           practice of godliness. (And, you
I'm not talking about errors that ex-    Christ. But there are those who            will understand, those two cannot
ist in the church because of an im-      would embrace heresy, insisting            be separated.)
perfect understanding. Heresy is         that God is gracious to  all  men.                We do well to remember that
a deliberate corruption of the truth     They want a God who embraces               in our labors for the advancement
of Scripture, an  insistence  upon       everybody. They would be wiser             of that truth. We may expect that
holding to something contrary to         than God.                                  our books and our  Standard Bearer
Scripture. Heresy has its origin             Then there is heresy which             will not find wide acceptance. The
with the devil, "the father of the       arises out of a desire to be popular       only way we would find wide ac-
lie." That is exactly why our Re-        with the people. No one likes op-          ceptance would be to depart from
formed fathers, in the Canons of         position. No one likes criticism.          everything that we stand for pres-
Dordt, did not hesitate to refer to      And even our flesh would rather            ently as the  Reformed  Free Publish-
Arminianism as bringing again out        be praised by men. But if we al-           ing Association.        If we should
of hell the old Pelagian error. That     low our teaching to be influenced          change our whole approach, and
was not a wild statement of some         by the "faces of men" and give to          depart from our doctrinal founda-
contentious radicals in the church.      "itching ears" what  they  want to         tion, and belittle the truth of God,
That was a recognition of the fact       hear, rather than what  God  will          and speak that which people would
that heresy has its root in the very     have them hear, we become her-             like to hear,  then  we would gain
lie of Satan, the adversary of God's     etics.                                     acceptance. May God forbid that
truth.                                       There may be other motivating          such should ever be the case with
    And Satan's motive, let us  un-      factors as well when it comes to           us.

66fitandard Bearer/November 1,  1998


      In the second place, we should                       we wage must not be a battle of           is something attractive about her-
remember that the rise of false doc-                       mere rational thought or of human         esy, something that draws. Else it
trines and an ungodly walk on the                          opinion, but a battle of faith. And       would not be such a threat to the
part of certain church members is                          a battle it is indeed!                    church. And what is usually at-
neither new, nor unanticipated.                                                                      tractive about it, no matter what
Many times in the New Testament                            Called to Contend for the Faith           the point of departure, is that it is
we are told to beware of these                                 That we must stand nose to            more  broad  than the narrow and
things. The Judaizing controversy                          nose with heresy, and boldly enter        concise definitions of truth.
which began at Antioch soon after                          into battle, is evident also from              If you study the history of Is-
Pentecost and which plagued Paul                           what Jude wrote in the third verse        rael in the Old Testament, you will
throughout his ministry was a fore-                        of his brief epistle. That little         find that through all their apostasy
runner of many other errors that                           epistle written by Jude under the         the Israelites showed themselves
have existed in the church ever                            inspiration of the Holy Spirit has        very "broad-minded." Jehovah
since. When Paul gave his fare-                            some things to teach us in this re-       was God to them; but the gods of
w e l l   s p e e c h   t o   t h e   e l d e r s   a t    gard. He exhorted the beloved             the other nations were also to be
Ephesus, as we read in Acts 20, he                         Christians to whom he wrote that          respected and served. They would
warned them that after his depar-                          they "should earnestly contend for        worship Jehovah; but just let them
ture grievous wolves would enter                           the faith which was once delivered        be like the nations around them,
in, not sparing the flock; and from                        unto the saints."                         where many other gods and phi-
among their own number men                                     He wrote that while pointing          losophies were also recognized.
would arise, speaking perverse                             at a conflict that was evident at that    The Israelites took the attitude that
things, to draw away the disciples                         very moment. "For there are cer-          t h e y   m u s t   n o t   b e   s o  narrow-
after them. In Paul's pastoral let-                        tain men crept in unawares" - no-         minded as were their fathers. They
ters to Timothy and Titus he em-                           tice that; not "will attempt to creep     accused their ancestors of being
phasized the importance of doctri-                         in," but  have crept in. Ungodly          "out of touch" with the world.
nal correctness and adherence to                           men! Men ordained to condemna-            They were "too conservative"!
the Scriptures, and announced that                         tion, whom God purposes to de-                 How much of the same spirit
there would be those who would                             stroy in the way of their own un-         don't we see today? How much of
fall away from the faith, listening                        godliness! Men who are turning            the same spirit do we see among
to seducing spirits and doctrines of                       the grace of God into lascivious-         ourselves        a n d   i n our own
devils (I Tim.  4:l).  Furthermore,                        ness, and who are denying the only        churches?  Thaf,  after all, ought to
he prophesied that the churches                            Lord God, and our Lord Jesus              be our focus.
themselves would degenerate to                             Christ! Those are the kind against             The departure from God's truth
the point where they would not en-                         which we do battle!                       in the church world around us is
dure sound doctrine but, having                                I'm not going to use precious         very evident to the discerning Re-
itching ears, would follow their                           time developing the identity of           formed believer. I trust it is evi-
own lusts and fables of their own                          those heretics to whom Jude re-           dent to you. It is evident in the
imagination, turning away their                            ferred in that historical setting.        writings that are found in many so-
ears from the truth.                                       Evidently those wicked ones were          called Christian bookstores today,
      That trend which became ap-                          "libertines," those who corrupted         as well as in magazines that are
parent in the first century is open                        the idea of Christian liberty into a      published in a wide variety of
and obvious today to anyone with                           self-serving denial of God's pre-         circles. It is heard on the radio and
a spiritual sensitivity for the truth                      cepts. They turned the grace of           seen by many on television. That
and for God's holiness. God fore-                          God, that spiritual virtue of beauty,     departure is perhaps even more
warned us of these things. And                             into the hideous monster of iniq-         evident by the plethora of hereti-
He also gave us instruction.                               uity. But they came with nothing          cal teachings that can be found on
      We must not be disheartened                          new. Their attack upon the faith          the internet. And all of these seeds
at the rise of heresy and opposi-                          once delivered to the saints was the      of the devil find a ready entrance
tion and worldliness. Nor must we                          same attack waged by the enemy            into our homes and the homes of
be afraid of controversy over scrip-                       thousands of years before! The            our church members.
tural truth. In fact, we must enter                        point I would make here is that                Still more, there is the dread-
into battle.           In that battle, our                 those same heretics take on many          ful heresy ushered in by what is
weapon is the Bible, God's  Word-                          different forms, teach many differ-       denoted as  posfmodern thought.
which means to us that the materi-                         ent doctrines, have many follow-          While the modernist, thrilled with
als that we produce must be dis-                           ers, and affect multitudes in dif-        the theories of science and the ad-
tinctly, evidently, and unapolo-                           ferent ways.                              vancing -knowledge of man, re-
getically biblical. The battle that                            And we must recognize, there          jected the authority and sufficiency

                                                                                                          November 1, 1998/Standard  Bearer/67


of biblical revelation and claimed        We speak of the faith of our fathers         pel, or let that faith be taken away,
that truth is that which is demon-        that continues to be the faith of the        and you remove all hope of salva-
strated by science to the satisfac-       church.                                      tion for future generations.
tion of human thought,  post-                 Faith is the truth of the Scrip-             Furthermore, Jude uses the
modernism is the world-view that          tures, the truth as it lives in the          term faith here because he speaks
tries to do without truth altogether.     hearts of those who are sanctified           of that which is the only worthy
For postmodernism, truth is merely        by God the Father, and preserved             object of our faith, and that in
a choice of the individual, a "con-       in Jesus Christ, and called.                 which we lay hold of Christ Jesus
struct" of the human mind. What               One might ask, "Why does not             our Lord. It is so important, be-
is true for me may not be true for        Jude use the word  doctrine  or              cause the name of Him who is holy
you. Truth is relative. Logical con-      truth?"  He refers to the same, but          and true is bound up within it!
tradictions are okay. The meaning         there is particular emphasis here                In other words, you cannot at-
of words is not fixed, but can be         on the importance of that doctrine,          tack that faith without attacking
"reinvented" to fit the situation.        on the importance of the  contents           Him who is the Author of it! He is
    Our church members may not            of our Christian faith, to our life.         the true and faithful witness in
know what postmodernism is, but               Do you think that the truth of           Jesus Christ, God Himself who can-
their minds are assaulted by that         Scripture is not so important? Do            not lie.
kind of thinking daily. The lie           you say of even the most basic doc-              By that gospel God's heart is
reigns  in our society.                   trines of Scripture (as I have heard         opened to us. The secrets of Jeho-
    Over against the specific her-        others say before), "Leave that              vah are revealed to you and to me,
esies which were seen in the early        stuff to the preachers and the semi-         and we are brought into the fel-
church, and which are seen today;         nary professors"? You are dead               lowship of His covenant. The doc-
over against  all  opposition to God's    wrong!                                       trines of the Scriptures are given
truth, Jude 3 calls us to contend for         Far from being unimportant,              us by God as the light which shines
the faith which was once delivered        that doctrine is something worth             unto salvation, which reveals to us
to the saints.                            contending for. Far from being               the Lord's justice and mercy. We
    You may notice that Jude              worthless, as it is considered to be         would never have known our mis-
speaks of contending for the  faith.      in many circles today, Jude writes           ery, nor the redemption that is in
The faith referred to here is faith       that that doctrine, the faith, is wor-       Christ Jesus, had God not delivered
as to its substance, its content. It      thy of a diligent defense.                   unto us His Word of truth, this doc-
is the heavenly doctrine which God            That holy doctrine found in the          trine and rule of faith. We would
has delivered to the saints through       Scriptures, that doctrine which is           never have known how to worship
the prophets and apostles. Jude           the gospel, is called  faith  because it     God, nor how to enjoy His fellow-
speaks of faith in the same sense         is the very instrument used by God           ship, had it not been for His sover-
Paul referred to it when he wrote         to work the activity of faith in us.         eign work of grace whereby He
to the Galatians  (1:23), that he now     The faith of which Jude writes here          gave to us the faith.
preaches the faith which once he          is the very gospel which Paul                    And shall we let it lightly slip
destroyed. We use the word in the         called the power of God unto sal-            away?!
same way sometimes. We speak              vation to every one that believeth               He says unto us, "Keep that
of the Christian faith, occasionally      (Rom  1:16). Take away that gos-             which is committed to thy trust."
of the Protestant Reformed faith.                                                                    . . . to be continued.  0



Dear RFPA Members and Friends,            formed  indicates what we desire as          ~ness to the Reformed faith in dis-
    The Reformed Free Publishing          to the contents of our publications.         tinction from the official preaching
Association has as its express aim        Free means that we are under no              and missionary task of the insti-
and purpose to publish the truth          institutional supervision or control.        tuted church. The witness of the
of God as  specifically  maintained       That  we  are a  Publishing Associa-         RFPA is free and not institutional.
and developed within the Protes-          tion  reveals that our purpose and           That the RFPA is a free witness
tant Reformed Churches. Our as-           intention is to make propaganda as           means that it can never come un-
sociation, organized almost three         a body of Reformed Christians,               der the power or be used in the
quarters of a century ago, still ex-      particularly as witnesses to the             influence of a corrupted institution.
ists today by the grace of God for        truth of God.                                Consequently, the RFPA is the
the same purpose. Our name em-                The RFPA labors, therefore, as           believer's witness over against all
phasizes that purpose and aim.  Re-       an  association  of  believers  who  wit-    corruption and unfaithfulness. It

68/Standard  Bearer/November 1, 1998


is free. The individual believer,         panded, hardcover index to the                  to process credit cares via the
therefore, through his interest and       Standard Bearer  volumes l-73. Our              internet. This has greatly enhanced
involvement in the RFPA, has a            goals for the coming year include               our ability to market and sell our
most beautiful opportunity to ex-         several more book projects. The                 publications, especially in foreign
ercise the office of believer.            republishing of our flagship vol-               countries.
    In this connection, it is impor-      ume,  Reformed Dogmatics,  is already                Books offered in the RFPA cata-
tant that we gain new members to          underway. In preparation for this               log number 50 titles. A new, up-
join our association. One priority        project, input was solicited from               dated catalog is currently being
of the board is actively to promote       our professors and ministers, and               planned and is scheduled to be out
the RFPA for this purpose. To help        to our delight we received many                 next spring for your review. Our
accomplish this goal we have              valuable suggestions for improve-               books are literally going to the ends
planned a semi-annual newsletter          ments that will be made to this vol-            of the earth. Orders come from all
called the  RFPA Update, 4,000  Cop-      ume. New books scheduled to be                  across Canada, in the British Isles,
ies of the first issue  having~been       published are: the Romans series                Africa, Peru, Japan, Denmark, Ko-
recently completed and mailed.            of 96 sermons of H. Hoeksema, the               rea, Brazil, Australia, and many
The purpose of our newsletter will        translating and publishing of  That             other places throughout Europe
be to inform our readership regard-       Grace Is Particular  by Abraham                 and Asia. Book sales have been
ing the RFPA itself, our activities       Kuyper, the first volume of OZd  Tes-           robust again this past year. No
and plans, and to promote mem-            tament History  by H.C. Hoeksema,               fewer than 8,000 volumes have
bership in the association.               the Commemorative  75th Anniver-                been sold and shipped. Our Book
    The  Standard Bearer  magazine        sary History of the PRC by Prof.                C l u b   M e m b e r s h i p   P r o g r a m ,
continues a healthy subscription          Hanko, a n d   s e v e r a l   r e p r i n t    through which new titles are
base and prospers under the ca-           projects, including  Genesis  by Rev.           launched and our initial publish-
pable editorship of Prof. Engelsma.       Harbach,  Come Ye Children  -by                 ing investment recovered, has in-
Currently we mail 2,481 copies of         Gertrude Hoeksema, and  Reformed                creased 25% again this past year
each issue, of which 56 percent are       Education  by Prof. Engelsma.                   and now includes 700 club mem-
Protestant Reformed subscribers.              We have made significant im-                bers. This is an increase of over
Gifts for the  Standard Bearer  this      provements in our facilities and                300 new members in just two years!
past year totaled $52,000, reaching       equipment this past year for the                     We express our sincere thanks
an all-time high. We take this op-        purpose of increasing efficiency in             to Prof. Engelsma for his devotion
portunity to give our heartfelt           our operations, and with a goal to              as Editor-in-Chief and for the ex-
thanks to our many subscribers and        making publishing of books faster               cellent work done on behalf of our
friends for their generous. gifts and     and easier. We remodeled and en-                Standard Bearer.  We realize the tre-
support again this past year. Cor-        larged our office and our packag-               mendous effort it takes to write
respondence from our readership           ing-mailing-storage areas, with                 worthwhile articles for our maga-
indicates that our magazine contin-       four modern workstations pur-                   zine. We therefore express our
ues to be a great blessing to many,       chased and installed for our staff              thanks and appreciation also to the
and obviously there is much appre-        personnel. A Macintosh G3 Com-                  regular department editors and
ciation for its distinctive character.    puter system was purchased and                  contributors for the many fine ar-
More and more it is evident too           has been installed, enabling us to              ticles and contributions again this
that our  Standard Bearer  is unique      perform typesetting, page layout,               past year that make our magazine
among the religious press as a            and book design of publishing                   worthy of its name.
faithful testimony to the  creedal        projects in-house. We also pur-                      We also thank our  Standard
Reformed faith. We are greatly en-        chased new copying equipment,                   Bearer  Business Manager Don
couraged by the interest in and           upgraded our PC workstation com-                Doezema and our Book Publica-
hunger for the pure word of truth.        puters, and installed our own                   tions Manager Evelyn Langerak for
    Book planning and publishing          phone system, fax machine, and  e-              their hard work and persevering
have a large role in our activities       mail address. In addition, we have              spirit again this past year. Truly
and require much effort for the           designed our own Web Site, where                they are a tremendous asset in
board and staff members. Accom-           our books and  Standard Bearer                  making the many decisions day-to-
plishments this past year include         magazine are attractively displayed             day in order to carry out the de-
one new book entitled  Ready To           for transmission worldwide. Or-                 tails involved in bringing our  Stan-
Give An Answer,  the reprinting of        dering of books has now been                    dard Bearer  and books to print. We
two books,  Believers and Their Seed,     made much simpler and faster for                also thank our capable assistants
and  Marriage, the Mystery  of  Christ    customers because of our installa-              and staff members: Judi Doezema,
and the Church. Also completed            tion of Electronic Ordering via IC              fbr her work in keeping financial
was the publishing of a new, ex-          Verify Software, which allows us                records and-typesetting each  Stan-

                                                                                                November 1,  199&Standard  Bearer/69


dard Bearer,  and Natalie Jefferson,         that is occasion for thanksgiving.               A reader recently wrote to tell
who provides book editing/proof-             As we think of it, we are amazed          us of his thrill with our  Stayzdard
reading, general assistance, and the         that God has privileged us to con-        Bearer  and reminding us of what
copy for our newsletter. We give             tinue abiding in the faith of our fa-     our posture must be: "Man-cen-
special thanks to Mr. Tim Hanko,             thers these many years. We give           tered religion is false and deadly.
who has given many hours design-             God praise and thanksgiving for           Salvation is of the Lord! To Him
ing our Web Page, and who con-               His grace and faithfulness. Our           be the glory!" Let that be our con-
tinues to perform the work of                prayer is that He will give us the        viction and the theme of all our
maintaining and  ripgrading this             will and grace to persevere in be-        work as we continue to go forward
site regularly.                              ing an effective  witness~  to our Re-    together in the work of the RFPA.
        We look forward to beginning         formed heritage in this age of in-                            In Christ's service,
our  75th year, marking a milestone          difference and apostasy.                                 Henry Kamps, Secretary




        Classis East met in regular ses-         In routine business,  classis         taken at the May 13, 1998 session
sion on Wednesday, September 9,              heard the reports of the stated clerk     of classis.
1998 at the new location and new             and of its Classical Committee.                  Expenses for this session
church building of the First PRC                 Most of the business of this ses-     amounted to  $1,128.89.  Classis will
of Holland, Michigan.           All the      sion was done in closed session. A        meet next on January 13, 1999 at
churches were represented by two             discipline case was considered, as        the Byron Center PRC.
delegates; Rev. M. Dick was the              were protests against a decision                         Respectfully submitted,
chairman for this session.                                                                       Jon J. Huisken, Stated Clerk




Denomination Activities                      And a number of students from the
I                                                                                      peated the concert for the congre-
     n late August our seminary be-          Puritan Reformed Seminary of the          gation of the First PRC in Holland,
     gan another year of instruction.        Heritage Netherlands Reformed             MI.
We add our prayers to those of all           Church are taking courses as spe-
our churches, when we pray that              cial students.                            Evangelism Activities
the faculty and students might both              This year's Seminary Convoca-
receive strength from our Heavenly           tion was held at First PRC in Grand       The Evangelism Society of the
                                                                                              Bethel PRC in Itasca, IL spon-
Father for their work and that the           Rapids, MI on September 9. Prof.          sored a lecture on September 17 en-
fruit of this work might be seen in          D. Engelsma gave the-address en-          titled, "Withhold Not Correction:
godly, Reformed ministers preach-            -titled, "Our Seminary as Military        God's Word vs. Civil Govern-
ing in our churches for years to             Academy."                                 ment." Rev. S. Key, pastor of the
come. Three men are currently en-                The Mr.  & Mrs. Society of the        Randolph, WI PRC, spoke on  "Bib:
rolled in our seminary with a view           Southeast PRC in Grand Rapids,            lical Directives for the Discipline
to entering the ministry in our              MI served as this year's host soci-       of Children."        Attorney James
churches. Senior seminarian Gary             ety for the annual League Mass            Lanting, a member of the South
Eriks is on his internship in                Meeting. All Mr.  & Mrs. Societies        Holland, IL PRC, spoke on "Legal
Loveland, CO PRC for the first se-           in the west Michigan area were in-        Issues in the Discipline of Chil-
mester. Rodney  Kleyn and David              vited to hear Rev. W. Bruinsma,           dren." Bethel hoped that this lec-
Overway  are beginning their first           pastor of the Kalamazoo, MI PRC,          ture would give valuable instruc-
year of study. Korstiaan den                 speak on the subject, "Mission            tion and encouragement to parents,
Engelse, Angus Stewart, and Mark             Work in a Hostile Environment."           teachers, grandparents, teenagers,
Shand are beginning their second                 The Hope Heralds, an all male         and all who would follow the di-
year as non-licentiate students.             choir from the west Michigan              rectives of the Scriptures in this
                                             churches, were able to give two           crucial area of loving, consistent,
                                             concerts recently. August 30 they         effective child rearing.
                                             gave a concert at the Grandville,
Mr. Wigger  is an elder in the Profgsfanf                                                     Through the combined efforts
Reformed Church  of  Hudsonville, Michi-     MI PRC, and about three weeks             of the Evangelism Committee of
gan.                                         later, on September 20, they re-          the Grace PRC in Standale, MI and

7Optandard   Bearer/November 1, 1998


P.R. students attending Grand Val-          from October 12 to October 28.                      day, they were also able to-spend
ley State University, the organiza-         Please pray for this important and                  some time in various members'
tion known as, Christianity on Cam-         exciting work of our denomination.                  homes and do  soEe sight-seeing in
pus began a new season in  mid-                  This past Labor Day weekend,                   and around the area.
September. Young adults either at-          six young adults from different
tending or not attending GVSU               Michigan churches drove- down to
were invited to attend a  lecture-          Pittsburgh,PA to spend time with                                  j%d- For mou.tit
discussion about the need to bring          Missionary Mahtani and his  fam-                         "The assured Christian is more
their religion out of the closet  acd       ily and get better acquainted with                  motion than notion, more work
into the open. The topic for that           the group that our churches are                     than word, more life than lip, and
first week was, "Attic Religion:            working with there. Besides  at-                    more hand than tongue."
The Death of Evangelism."                   tending church services on  Sun-                                                - T .   B r o o k s   D
       The Reformed Witness Com-
mittee,  made up  6f men  from the
Dson, IA; Hull; IA; and Edgerton,
MN PR churches, once again is the                               NOTICE
driving force behind a Bible Study               The Committee for Contact With Other                       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
at Dordt College. Their meetings            Churches wishes to inform the readers of the             On~Qctober  8, 1998 our parents, grand-
began in mid-September as well,             Standard Bearer of the urgent need of our sis-      parents, and great-grandparents,
their first discussion dealing with         ter church, the Covenant Evangelical Reformed                   PETER and ALICE KNOTT,
the matter of Christian witnessing.         Church of Singapore. The CERC has been              celebrated their  50th  wedding anniversary. We,
       It is also interesting to note       notified by the Singapore government that its       as family, thank the Lord for the many happy
that, due to the large number of            temporary-use permit will not be renewed. The       years He has give them together. It is our
                                            congregation has one year to locate a new           prayer that God will continue to bless them in
young adults from our churches              place of worship and vacate their premises.         their life together. We thank them for their
who are attending Dordt College             This puts the CERC in a very difficult position.    godly example, Christian upbringing, and love
again this year, the members of our         Real  estate.to  meet their needs will be diffi-    they have given to us.
Do&, IA PRC are inviting  them to           cult to find and  exp-ensive  to purchase. But           "The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion;
stay after  `church  and enjoy Sun-         they are going forward in faith, believing that     and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all
day dinner along with good Chris-           the Lord will supply their needs. They are          the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy
tian fellowship, with different             interested both in securing low-cost loans and      children's children, and peace upon Israel"
families.                                   receiving love gifts. Anyone interested in ei-      (Psalm  128:5, 6).
       The R.W.C. also approved plac-       ther of these possibilities is urged to contact:    +    Andy and Mary Brummel
                                                           Mr. lshu Mahtani                     9    Don and Jackie Offringa
ing the  Standard   Bearer  in libraries                  21 Tessensohn Rd.                     9    Bob and Kathy Knott
in  Doon, Hull, and Rock Rapids,                          Singapore 217652                                 11 grandchildren (one in glory)
IA.                                                       Rep. of Singapore.                               5 great-grandchildren
       In conjunction with the Re-                                    Rev. Ron Cammenga,                                            Hudsonville,  Michigan
formed Free Publishing Associa-                                                    Secretary
tion, the Evangelism Committee of                        TAPES AVAILABLE
the Hope PRC in Redlands, CA is                  Tapes of Southwest's Summer Seminar,
also working at distributing free                                                                          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                            "Angels, Demons, the Devil, and the Occult,"
copies of the  Standard   Bearer.  Cop-                                                              The Men's Society of Hope Protestant
                                            are available. The four-tape set can be or-         Reformed Church (Walker) extends its sympa-
ies of each new issue are being             dered either as audio ($12.00) or video             thy to its members: Rich Bloem, in the death
placed in racks in various  area            ($24.00). Orders should be sent to:                 of his sister-in-law,
bookstores.                                    Southwest Protestant Reformed-Church                             JULIA KORHORN;
                                                        Evangelism Committee                    Al Rau, in the death of his sister-in-law,
Mission Activities                                       4875 lvanrest Avenue                                   THELMA DE WALD;
A                                                        Grandville, Ml 49418
        t our 1998 synod, a decision                                                            and Harry Rutgers, in the death of his mother,
        was made to send two delega-                YEARBOOK CORRECTIONS!                                         SUE RUTGERS.
tions to the Philippines to investi-             On page 216 of the 1998 Yearbook, Prof.             May they find comfort in the words of
gate further the possibility of our         Dykstra's telephone number should be:  791-         Christ, through whose resurrection is all our
                                                                                                hope: "And this is the will of him that sent
denomination beginning a mission            7250; and on page 217, Rev. Houck's number          me, that every one that seeth the Son, and
work there. Our churches' Foreign           should be:  895-7974.  Rev. Mahtani's study         believeth on him, may have everlasting life:
Mission Committee  will be send-            telephone number, reported incorrectly in the
                                            October 1 SB, is (412) 371-2299.                    and I will raise him up at the last day" (John
ing, D.V., Rev. A. den Hartog, pas-              Please note also that the bulletin clerk       6:40).
tor at Hope PRC, Redlands,  CA,-            for First PRC (GR)  js now Mrs. Linda Young,                                    John Buiter, President
and Rev. R. Smit, pastor in the             2017 Lafayette N.E., Grand Rapids, Ml 49505.                              Michael Lotterman, Secretary
Doon, IA PRC, to the Philippines            Telephone: (616) 364-0240.

                                                                                                          November I, 1998/Standard  Bearer/71


       B;earer                                                                                                                                           PERIODIML
                                                                                                                                                         Postage Paid at
        P.O. Box 603                                                                                                                                     Grandville,
       Grandville,  MI 49468-0603                                                                                                                        Michigan


                      NOTICE                                           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                            NEEDED
         With gratitude to God, the Theological                  On October IO, 1998, we celebrated the                                  Pictures and More Pictures
School Committee recognizes 25 years of dedi-              40ih wedding anniversary of our parents,                                  Pictures, slides, movies are needed for
cated service by Prof. Robert D. Decker in our                    MR. and MRS. GERALD DEVRIES.                                  the production of a booklet and a video for the
seminary. God has blessed his work over                    We thank our heavenly Father for the years                           75" year anniversary of our churches to be
these years both as professor and rector in                He has given them together and pray that He                          celebrated in the year 2000, the Lord willing.
the seminary. We pray that God will continue               will guide and bless them in their life together.                         If you have any old pictures relating to
to use him in the years to come as a faithful                    "For the Lord is good; his mercy is ever-                      the history of our churches, ministers, church
servant working diligently in the training of fu-          lasting; and his truth endureth to all genera-                       buildings, picnics, special events, schools, etc.,
ture pastors and missionaries.                             tions" (Psalm  100:5).                                               please send them to
                  Theological School Committee             Q      Daniel and Carol Monsma                                                         Mr. Ken Elzinga
                       Jon J. Huisken, Secretary                     Natalie, Andrea, Lydia                                                        4465 1 OOth St
                                                           +      David and Carol  DeVries                                                    Byron Center, Ml 49315.
                                                                     Kimberly, Matthew, Jamie                                        There are probably hundreds, maybe
                                                                                                    Grand Rapids, Michigan      even thousands, of these, stored away in
             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                                                musty old boxes and albums.
         On October 28, 1998,                                                                                                        These pictures should, if at all possible,
        MR. and MRS. MICHAEL VAN  BAREN                              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                     be sent by January 31, 1999. That gives you
celebrated their  50th wedding anniversary.                      The consistory of Hope PRC of Redlands,                        about three months.
         We thank our heavenly Father for the              CA expresses its sincere sympathy to mem-                                 Please include your name and address
Christian guidance and instruction and the                 b e r s   D o n a l d   F e e n s t r a ,   E v e r e t t   V a n    on the back of each picture so that everything
wonderful love and care He has enabled them                Voorthuysen, and Ron VanVoorthuysen in the                           can be returned to you promptly.
to give us.                                                passing of their mother and grandmother,                                  If it's not important that the pictures be
         We pray the Lord will continue to bless                          JEANETTEFEENSTRA.                                     returned to you, they will be given to our de-
them and, if it is His will, enable them to guide                 The congregation grieves this loss of one                     nominational archivist, Mr. Jon Huisken, to be
us for years to come.                                      of our charter members, who went to be with                          added to our permanent collection of archives.
         "Gather me the people together, and I             her Lord on September 17, 1998 at the age of
will make them hear my words, that they may                96. We express our Christian sympathy to
learn to fear me all the days that they shall              the Feenstra family.
live upon the earth, and that they may teach                      "For whether we live, we live unto the                                      Justification By Faith
their children" (Deuteronomy  4:lO).                       Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the
+        Bob and Jan Koontz                                Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we                                         Prof. David Engelsma
8        John and Alice Dykshorn                           are the Lord's" (Romans  14:8).                                                             Speaker
+Z+      Frank and Sharon VanBaren                                                                For the consistory,                             Prof. of Dogmatics
+        Mike and Char VanBaren                                                       Pastor A.  dentlartog,  Pres.                           and Old Testament Studies
Q Mark VanBaren                                                                                 Doug Pastoor, clerk                                     in the
           15 grandchildren                                                                                                              Protestant Reformed Seminary
           1 great-grandchild
                                        Crete. Illinois               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                    B.J.  Haan Auditorium
                                                                  The Lord, in His wisdom and grace, has                                      on Dordt College Campus
                                                           taken from this earth to Himself in glory                                             Sioux Center, Iowa
           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                        JEANNETTE FEENSTRA.                                                      November 6, 1998
         The members of the  Doon PRC Men's                       The Mary Martha Society of Hope Prot-                                               7:30  p.m.
Society express their deepest Christian sym-               estant Reformed Church in  Redlands  ex-
pathy to fellow member Perry  VanEgdom  and                presses their Christian sympathy and love to                                 Come and hear this Reformation
his family in the death of their stillborn daugh-          her daughter, Audrey VanVoorthuysen, her                                doctrine expounded, with special atten-
ter,                                                       daughters-in-law, Beverly Feenstra, Janice                              tion given to the Roman Catholic-Evan-
                   EMILY DAWN.                             Feenstra, and Shirley Feenstra, several grand-                          gelical Accord.
         May their comfort be from the Word of             daughters, and to their families. May they find                              We invite you to attend and bring a
God found in Psalm  29:ll: "The Lord will                  comfort in the words of I Thessalonians  4:14.                          friend!
give strength unto his people; the Lord will               "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose                                             Sponsored by the
bless his people with peace."                              again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus                                 Protestant Reformed Churches of
                         Rev. Richard Smit, Pres.          will God bring with him."                                                     Hull, Doon,  IA, and Edgerton, MN
                           David Wiersma, Sec'y.                                      Pastor A.  denl-lartog,  Pres.
                                                                                               JoAnn Pastoor. Sec.

7Z/Standard   Bearer/November  7, 1998


