                              The
                    Standard
A Reformed          Bearer
Semi-Monthly
Magazine


                                                     In This Issue:

                    Meditation -- Herman Hoeksema
                          The Faith of God ................................................................................. 50

                    Editorial -- Prof. David J. Engelsma
                          The Sad Case of Bert Zandstra ........................................................ 53

                    Letters.......................................................................................................... 55

                    All Around Us -- Rev. Gise J. VanBaren .................................................. 56

                    Cloud of Witnesses -- Prof. Herman C. Hanko
                          Herman Hoeksema:  Theologian and Reformer (2) ....................... 58

                    Search the Scriptures -- Rev. Mitchell C. Dick
                          The Raising of Lazarus ........................................................................ 60

                    Address at Annual RFPA Meeting -- Rev. Mitchell C. Dick
                          The RFPA and Religious Stew (1) .................................................... 62

                    Annual RFPA Meeting -- Mr. Bob Vermeer
                          Secretary's Report ............................................................................. 65

                    Taking Heed to the Doctrine -- Rev. Steven R. Key
                          Jesus, Jehovah-Salvation (2) ........................................................... 67

                    Go Ye Into All the World -- Rev. Allen J. Brummel
                          Animism ............................................................................................... 68

                    News From Our Churches -- Mr. Benjamin Wigger ................................. 71





Vol. 74, No. 3
November 1, 1997


   Meditation                                                                                                                                  Herman Hoeksema




                                                     The Faith of God


                                         For what if some did not believe?  shall their unbelief make the faith of God
                                  without effect?
                                         God forbid:  yea, let God be true, but every man a liar.       Romans 3:3, 4a

For what if some did not be- and blood?  What if it be some of be no difference between Jew and
          lieve?  This is a very real and                         your babes, which you brought up,                          Gentile, if there is no respect of per-
          extremely practical question.                           which  you  instructed  in  the  fear                      sons  with  God,  what  advantage
What if some do not believe?  Then                                and  admonition  of  the  Lord,  and                       then hath the Jew?"  If it makes no
what?    Then  what  will  you  say?                              for  whom  you  prayed,  pleading,                         difference  whether  you  belong  to
Then  what  will  your  answer  be?                               "Lord, save them"?  What if some                           the  church  or  to  the  world,  what
What if some do not believe?                                      of them do not believe?  What will                         advantage then is it to belong to the
       Of course, you do not feel how                             you say then?                                              church?
cutting and practical this question                                      This  is  precisely  the  question                           The apostle answers, "Much ev-
is as long as you stay strictly with                              which the apostle asks in the text.                        ery way."  But the advantage of the
the text and ask, "What if some of                                True, he is speaking of the Jew.  In                       Jew and the profit of circumcision
the Jews did not believe?"  But what                              the first part of the chapter he has                       must not be sought in anything that
if some of us do not believe?  Put-                               asked the question, "What advan-                           he is or does, but in the gift of God.
ting  the  question  in  this  form,  it                          tage then hath the Jew?  or what                           The advantage of the Jew is not in
becomes more real to you and me.                                  profit  is  there  of  circumcision?"                      his  religion,  is  not  in  his  being  a
What if some of the children of the                               This question arises in his mind be-                       Jew, is not in circumcision.  But the
covenant do not believe?  What if                                 cause he realizes that the Jews will                       advantage of the Jew is this, chiefly,
some  of  the  children  of  our  own                             ask this question of him, on account                       that he has the oracles of God, that
church do not believe?  Or if you                                 of what he had said.  "What," so                           he has God's Word.
want to feel it more intensely, what                              the  Jew  would  say,  "if  it  is  true                            But this raises another question.
if some of them be your own flesh                                 what you have written, if all are to                       If  the  Jew  has  the  Word  of  God,
                                                                  be judged according to their works,                        what then if some do not believe?
                                                                  the Jew first and also the Greek, if                       What then is your answer?  Do you
                                                                  circumcision  profiteth  nothing,  if                      then turn Arminian?  Do you then
Herman Hoeksema was the first edi-
                                                                  the Jew has no advantage, if there                         say, yes, but  through  his unbelief
tor of the Standard Bearer.


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50/Standard Bearer/November 1, 1997


man makes the faith of God of no            lieve cause God to break His cov-           will lift you up into glory.  This is
effect?  Do you then make God a             enant relation with His people, so          the advantage.
liar?                                       that He does not save them, does
    The apostle answers:  "God for-         not forgive their sins, does not de-        Questioned
bid:  yea, let God be true, but ev-         liver them from the power of death,             Now then, what if some do not
ery man a liar."  This is the reason        and does not give them eternal life         believe--some  who  had  those
why some do not believe.                    and glorify them?"                          oracles, some who were entrusted
                                                "Does the faith of God depend           with that Word of God's promise?
Revealed                                    upon  the  faith  of  man?"    This  is     What if some of them do not be-
    The apostle speaks of the faith         the question.                               lieve?  How do you explain that?
of God.  "Does their unbelief make              The faith of God has been re-               You  understand  that  the
the faith of God of no effect?"  You        vealed,  according  to  the  context.       apostle is speaking of an awful fact.
understand immediately that faith           The apostle says that the Jews had          The  apostle  asks,  "What  if  some
in this connection does not mean            the oracles of God. The oracles of          did not believe?"  The apostle has
"to believe."  It does not mean faith       God are the Word of God.  They              been  criticized  because  he  says
in  the  sense  of  believing,  as  the     are the Old Testament Scriptures.           "some."    Because  there  were  so
word  is  used  with  respect  to  us.      They  are  really  the  one  Word  of       many  who  did  not  believe,  the
But faith in the text has the signifi-      God.  That the apostle uses the plu-        apostle has been criticized for say-
cance of faithfulness.  The apostle         ral is due to the fact that he refers       ing "some."  But he says "some,"
is  asking,  "Does  the  unbelief  of       to the different times in which that        not because he did not know that
them who do not believe make the            one  Word  was  given.    God  gave         there would be many who did not
faithfulness of God of no effect?"          His  Word  to  Adam,  to  Enoch,  to        believe, but in comparison with the
Faith in this sense is constancy, is        Noah, to Abraham, to Israel.  This          glory  that  is  to  be  revealed  unto
really unchangeableness.  Faith in          one Word of God became oracles.             them who are to be saved.  But it
this sense is that in a certain rela-       Those  words,  the  apostle  says,          is an awful fact.
tion  one  remains  unchangeable.           were committed to the Jews.  Or as              Oh, there is a world of trouble
When anyone in a certain relation           the  Dutch  has  it,  they  were  en-       and sorrow in this question of the
always reveals himself as he is ex-         trusted to the Jews.                        apostle:  "What if some do not be-
pected to reveal himself in that re-            To have the Word of God is a            lieve?"  For the apostle is not think-
lation, this particular party in this       trust.  To have the Word of God is          ing of a few in his own day.  But
particular relation is faithful.  So,       a terrible thing for sinful man.  It        he is thinking of all them who did
God is faithful.                            is not just given to him, but it is         not believe throughout the history
    Reverently  speaking,  God              entrusted to him.  Now the apostle          of  the  Old  Testament  people  of
could not be anything but faithful.         says that the Jews were entrusted           God.    Ever  since  God  spoke
The  root  of  God's  faithfulness  is      with the Word of God, just as God           through Moses, there had been this
His  unchangeableness.    God  is           has entrusted that Word to us.  The         "some."    They  did  not  believe.
faithful.  He is, in the first place,       chief  content  of  that  Word  is  the     Thus,  they  made  God  a  liar.    It
faithful in Himself.  He is the faith-      promise.                                    made no difference how that Word
ful covenant God as the triune God.             What  is  the  advantage  of  the       came to them, they did not believe.
In the covenant relation of Father,         Jew?  Or what profit is there in cir-       When the oracles of God came to
Son, and Holy Ghost, every one of           cumcision?  Translating into New            them,  they  said  to  the  bearers  of
the three persons does that which           Testament language, we would say:           these oracles, "Get out of the way!"
is in harmony with that relation.           What  is  the  advantage  of  the           So they did in the desert, so they
    In the second place, the faith-         church, or what is the profit of bap-       did with the prophets, so they did
fulness  of  God  means  that  He  is       tism?                                       with  Christ.    The  essence  of  this
constant, that He is unchangeable,              Chiefly this, that to the church        attitude with respect to the Word
in His relation to His people.  Al-         the oracles of God have been en-            of  God  is  that  they  called  God  a
ways in respect to His people He            trusted.  The advantage of having           liar.  As it was in the old dispensa-
stands  in  a  relation  of  covenant       the Word of God is that the con-            tion, so it is in the new.  When God
friendship.  He gives them life, for-       tent of these oracles is the prom-          commits His oracles to His people,
giveness of sin, righteousness, and         ise:  I will establish My covenant          this "some" is always there.
eternal glory.                              with  you.    This  is  the  content  of        This is an awful thing.  It is so
    It  is  especially  to  this  latter    that one Word of God.  This is the          awful that those who brought these
faith of God that the text calls at-        content of the gospel.  God says:  I        oracles to the people of God in the
tention.  The phrase, therefore, may        will  establish  My  covenant  with         Old  Testament  and  those  who
be  paraphrased  thus:    "Does  the        you, I will redeem you from sin, I          bring  them  in  the  new  dispensa-
unbelief  of  some  who  do  not  be-       will deliver you from corruption, I         tion sometimes say, "Blot me out

                                                                                             November 1, 1997/Standard Bearer/51


of the book of life.  Rather than that      save my children because we have                when our sinful heart overwhelms
my brethren perish, blot me out of          the  covenant  promise,"  but  some             the  principle  of  new  life  and  we
Thy book."  This was the testimony          do not believe, what then?  What                read this word we say, "I do not
of Moses when he saw that some              if God does not hear our petition               want it."  This becomes evident.  It
did not believe.  This same apostle         (and He does not always)?  What                 becomes clearly evident.  This be-
Paul said:  "I could wish to be ac-         then is your answer?  Oh, we do                 comes  evident  in  the  heathen
cursed from Christ, for my breth-           not put it this way.  But I experi-             world.    But  it  becomes  far  more
ren according to the flesh."                ence this rebellion, this unbelief, in          evident if the oracles of God come.
    Is it not a grief when you have,        my  heart  which  says  that  God  is           This word, from which there is no
say, a half dozen children, who all         not faithful.  If faith is a gift of God        hiding, this word, which speaks to
receive these same oracles of God,          and is included in the promise, and             you and to me directly, this word
and  when  they  come  to  years  of        if  some  do  not  believe,  does  not          says to us, "Listen to me.  Listen to
discretion to see some of them go           then their unbelief prove that God              the word that can bring you near
astray?  Is it not a grief that no mat-     is unfaithful to His promise?  God              to God."  But unless God changes
ter how you plead with them, there          forbid!  God forbid that our unbe-              our lying heart, we will say, "I do
is  a  number  of  them  who  say  to       lief should make the faith of God               not  want  it."    This  is  why  they
these  oracles  of  God,  "God  is  a       impossible.    God  forbid  that  our           killed the prophets.  This becomes
liar"?  Is it not a grief if in the con-    unbelief should prove that God is               evident.  That some who do not be-
gregation,  after  having  labored          not faithful to His Word.                       lieve must have the oracles of God
with  all  your  might,  you  see  the                                                      is in order that it may become evi-
same effect?  Some do not believe,          Maintained                                      dent that sinful man is a liar who
and the consistory goes after them,             What does the apostle answer?               always lies about God.  This must
but they do not  believe and  they          He does not explain.  But he throws             become evident in the judgment.
say, "God is a liar."  This is such a       this accusation far from him.  This                   It  must  also  become  evident
grief that it is killing.                   is the explanation, and this is the             that God is true.  That is, although
    What if some do not believe?            purpose why some do not believe:                some  do  not  believe,  God  fulfills
What  will you  say  then?    This  is      That every man be a liar and that               His promise to everyone to whom
the question.  Shall we say that the        God be true.  That is, the purpose              He has promised it.  The perfected
faith of God is made of no effect?          why some do not believe is that it              church shall be an everlasting tes-
Shall we question the faith of God?         may become ever increasingly evi-               timony that God is true, just as the
This is possible in two ways.  The          dent that man is a liar, and that it            outer darkness shall be a testimony
first is this:  God brings His Word         may become ever increasingly evi-               that man is a liar.  If we really take
to  man.    He  brings  this  Word  to      dent that God is true.                          this  answer,  we  have  peace.    For
the Jews, to the church, promiscu-              Man  is a  liar.   We  always  lie          God doeth all things well.
ously.  When He does, He says to            about God, by nature.  This is so                     What shall we say then?  Shall
everyone:    I  promise  to  give  you      strong  that  if  we  examine  our              their unbelief make the faith of God
eternal  life.  I  promise  to  forgive     hearts as Christians and then read              of no effect?  No, but we will say
your sins, to deliver you from cor-         this word, we find in our heart this            this:  Let God ever increasingly be-
ruption, to glorify you.  This is the       testimony, that we do not want it.              come  true,  and  let  man  ever  in-
faith of God.  When some do not             Still  stronger,  this  is  so  true  that      creasingly become a liar.   u
believe,  their  unbelief  makes  the
faith  of  God  impossible.    Is  this                                        Blessed Thought
your explanation?  Is there a gen-                                                 (John 1:12)
eral offer which is brought to ev-           A child of God am I!
                                                                                          A child of God am I!
eryone, head for head, and if you                 God's love to me is sure!
                                                                                              And so I sing His praise!
do not believe, you make the faith           No storms of life can harm me;
                                                                                          My heart is filled with songs of joy;
of God of no effect?  God forbid!                 With Him I am secure.
                                                                                              I'll serve Him all my days.
Then  the  unbelief  of  man  would
make it impossible for God to save           A child of God am I!
                                                                                          A child of God am I!
him.                                              And thus I'm set apart;
                                                                                              I wonder just how long
    Or the question of the apostle           I now forsake the things of earth,
                                                                                          Till I shall see my Savior's face
may mean that the faithfulness of                 For Christ lives in my heart.
                                                                                              And sing the Victor's song.
God is not true.  Perhaps it means
that  God  is  not  faithful.    Do  not     A child of God am I!
                                                                                                                  Annetta Jansen
say  that  you  never  allege  this.              For I have been set free;
When we parents appear before the            Bought with the Savior's precious blood
throne  of  grace  and  say,  "Please             One day at Calvary.

52/Standard Bearer/November 1, 1997


  Editorial



    The Sad Case of Bert Zandstra

                                            second  wife  appeared  at  the             the  original  Mrs.  Zandstra,  now
                                            consistory meeting asking to be ad-         alone, and three children growing
Bert  Zandstra is  a 30-year old
    adulterer.                              mitted  to  the  church  as  members        up  without  a  father.    It  could  be
    Married  with  three  little  chil-     in good standing.                           wished  that  this  were  different.
dren, he fell in love with a younger            Now  the  sad  case  of  Bert           But that is the way  life is:  there
woman.    He  then  abandoned  his          Zandstra becomes tragic.                    are  hardships.    And  life  must  go
wife and children, to live with his             The Reformed church accepted            on.
lover.  Within a year, he divorced          Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bert  Zandstra  as                  Nevertheless, the case of Bert
his wife and married the object of          members.    It  worked  with  them          Zandstra is a sad case.  Nor is this
his lust.  Whether she too had been         first,  especially  Bert.    It  charged    merely  a  personal  opinion.    It  is
married and had children, so that           him with sin and required confes-           the judgment of God upon this case
Bert Zandstra destroyed two fami-           sion.  It looked for evidence of sor-       and all who are involved, with the
lies in his passion, is not clear.  It      row in Bert's  attitude.   Bert even        exception of the original, and true,
makes no difference to the story.           came to cry some tears over what            Mrs.  Zandstra  and  her  children.
    Bert Zandstra's is a sad case.          he had done a year or two earlier.          This is the judgment of God in His
    What makes his case still sad-          The  church  forgave  him  in  the          Word, which will stand regardless
der  is  that  Bert  Zandstra  sinned       name of Jesus.  The consistory had          of  the  contrary  words  of  Bert
against better knowledge.  He was           him write a letter to his first wife,       Zandstra  and  of  the  Reformed
a church member.  He was mem-               expressing that he was sorry that           churches that are conniving at his
ber  of  a  Reformed  church.    The        he had sinned against her and ask-          sin.
church  is  conservative.    It  claims     ing for her forgiveness.  In a post-                Bert Zandstra is an adulterer,
to be a true church of Jesus Christ,        script,  the  letter  added  that  one      an impenitent adulterer, according
based solidly on the "Three Forms           day, when the children had grown            to God's Word:  "Whosoever shall
of  Unity,"  if  not  the  only  true       up,  Bert  would  also  confess  to         put away his wife, and marry an-
church.    When  Bert  Zandstra  left       them.  On a certain Sunday morn-            other, committeth adultery against
his family, to take up with his par-        ing, the minister read an announce-         her" (Mark 10:11).  So also is his
amour, the consistory admonished            ment to the congregation, inform-           new  wife:    ".  .  .  and  whosoever
him.    He  quickly  left  the  church,     ing them of Bert's repentance and           shall marry her (or him) that is di-
asking for his membership papers.           of  the  admission  of  him  and  his       vorced committeth adultery" (Matt.
    Zandstra  moved  to  a  town            new wife to the fellowship of the           5:32b).  No adulterer or adulteress
some 60 miles from his old home             church.                                     will inherit the kingdom of God (I
and church.  There within a year                Why,  then,  some  will  ask,  is       Cor. 6:9; Gal. 5: 19-21).
he  married  his  new  wife  and  set       this a sad case?                                    The Reformed church that has
about making a  new start in  life.             Bert  and  the  second  Mrs.            admitted him and his new wife to
This included church life.  Bert and        Zandstra are happy, are they not?           the fellowship of the congregation
the  new  Mrs.  Zandstra  began  at-        They are now good church mem-               has admitted a man and a woman
tending  regularly  the  Reformed           bers, are they not?  There is already       to  the  Lord's  Table  who  by  their
church in town.  It is a congrega-          talk that Bert may be deacon, even          life "declare themselves unbeliev-
tion in the same denomination as            elder,  someday.    Has  not  the           ing and ungodly," to use the lan-
the church that Bert left a year ear-       church earnestly worked for repen-          guage of Q.  82 of the Heidelberg
lier.  It is a sister church in the fed-    tance?  Did not Bert show sorrow            Catechism.  The consistory has pro-
eration  with  the  church  60  miles       to the point of tears?  Who dares           faned the covenant and brought the
away  of  which  the  original  Mrs.        to speak of a sad case?                     wrath  of  God  down  upon  the
Zandstra is a member with her, and              Yes,  there  are,  unfortunately,       whole congregation (Heid. Cat., Q.
Bert's, children.  Soon Bert and his

                                                                                                November 1, 1997/Standard Bearer/53


82).  The denomination that toler-          ingly, as Christ teaches in Matthew        row over one's sin against God that
ates and approves such wicked be-           5:32.  For now it is likely that she       turns  in  abhorrence  from  that  sin.
havior on the part of a member and          will remarry, "and whosoever shall         The penitent sinner turns from his
on the part of a local church shares        marry  her  that  is  divorced             sin to God, not only as one seeking
in  the  guilt  and  exposes  itself  to    committeth adultery."  He himself          forgiveness but also as one fleeing
the divine judgment.  One certain,          tramples  upon  that  ordinance  of        his  sin,  resolved  to  live  now  ac-
dreadful aspect of the divine judg-         God that is fundamental both to so-        cording to the will of God (Heid.
ment  will  be  that  the  number  of       ciety  and  to  the  church  and  that     Cat., LD 33).
Bert Zandstras in the church will           has the glorious significance that it          The repentance of a man who
increase and multiply (I Cor. 5:6).         symbolizes  the  covenant  of  God         says, "I am sorry," while living de-
    Bert Zandstra is fictitious.  He        with His people in Christ (Ezek. 16;       liberately and contentedly in his sin
represents real men (and women),            Eph.  5:22ff.).    He  dishonors  God,     is  hypocrisy.    It  is  disgusting  to
as his case represents real cases, in       and he hates his nearest neighbors,        God.  It meets with no forgiveness
the  Reformed  Churches  in  the            his own wife and children.                 from  Him,  regardless  what  a
Netherlands ("liberated").  But he              It is a sad case, second, because      church may say.
is  imaginary.    The  editor  of  the      of the faulty handling of the case,            Let  Bert  Zandstra  bring  forth
church paper of this denomination,          church  politically.    Bert  Zandstra     works worthy of repentance.  These
De Reformatie, invented him so that         is allowed to seek readmission to          works are not that he  lives faith-
the editor could write about such           the denomination in another con-           fully  with  his  new  wife.    These
real cases in his churches in a con-        gregation  (hypothetically,  Bos-          works are that he stop committing
crete, vivid way.  In three articles        huizen) than the congregation that         adultery with a woman who is not
in  De Reformatie, under the rubric,        he  left  (hypothetically,  Hoog-          his lawful wife in the sight of God.
"Church  Life,"  Prof.  Dr.  M.  te         bergen).  This is permitted by the         The church must not brush this off
Velde  urged  the  readmittance  of         church, even though he lives only          by  saying  that  once  the  man  has
such as Bert Zandstra into the Re-          60  miles  from  the  church  that  he     remarried "the way of return to the
formed  Churches  in  the  Nether-          left.  But there in Hoogbergen are         first  marriage  has  been  cut  off."
lands ("liberated") in the way out-         the elders who knew his case well          Perhaps this is so.  But the way of
lined above (see De Ref., 18 Mei; 25        and  who  worked  with  him when           breaking with his adulterous mar-
Mei; and 1 Juni 1996).                      he fell into sin.  There is the body       riage  has  not  been  cut  off.    The
    We recognize that the editor of         of Christ that he offended and then        church faithful to the Word of Jesus
De Reformatie is concerned lest re-         forsook.  The autonomy of the lo-          Christ  will  say  to  Bert  Zandstra,
admittance  of  the  Bert  Zandstras        cal church and, with this, the Dordt       "Are you truly repentant?  Do you
become too easy.  He fears that the         church order's prohibition against         now indeed know your despicable
churches are, in fact, accepting the        one  church's  lording  it  over  an-      sin  against  God,  your  wife,  your
Bert Zandstras without confession           other church demand that a peni-           children, and the woman to whom
of sin and reconciliation.  He has          tent Zandstra betake himself to the        you are now married?  Then you
good and important things to say            church  which  he  left,  when  he         will no longer live with your new
about the need today for ministers          seeks readmission.                         wife.    This is part  of  genuine  re-
to preach sharply against divorce.              It is a sad case, third, because       pentance, and the proof of the re-
He calls on the members of the con-         the  gospel-grace  of  repentance  is      ality of it."
gregation  to  pray  for  and  talk  to     corrupted  both  by  Bert  Zandstra            The gospel is at stake here:  the
married persons whose marriages             and by the Reformed Churches in            free  grace  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ
are  troubled.    But  in  the  end,  he    the Netherlands ("liberated").  Re-        that forgives sins and reconciles the
and  his  churches  take  Bert              pentance is not mere acknowledg-           sinner to God and the church is a
Zandstra back, remarried.                   ment, under pressure, that one has         grace bestowed and received only
    This is a sad case.                     sinned, not even when the confes-          in the way of repentance.  And re-
    It is a  sad  case, first, because      sion is made public.  Nor is repen-        pentance is such a sorrow over sin
of the nature of the sin.  Divorcing        tance a mere feeling of sorrow, not        as breaks with the sin.  Therefore,
his wife and abandoning his chil-           even when this feeling produces a          salvation is also at stake here.  Bert
dren, the adulterer broke the vow           few  tears.    (After  all,  even  Bert    Zandstra goes to hell, as does his
that  he  made  to  God  at  his  mar-      Zandstra,  before  he  falls  pleasur-     new wife.  Only now he goes mer-
riage and the vow, thrice repeated,         ably off to sleep in the arms of his       rily  to  hell,  supposing  that  all  is
that  he  made  to  God  at  the  bap-      young  wife,  must  have  a  fleeting      well with his soul.  The Reformed
tism of his children.  Divorcing his        thought of the real Mrs. Zandstra,         church is responsible.
wife, he not only cruelly injures her       crying alone in her bed, as well as            How  frivolous  Zandstra's  re-
but also likely causes her to com-          of three little children without a fa-     pentance really is comes out in his
mit adultery, and perish everlast-          ther.)  Repentance is heartfelt sor-       behavior toward his real wife and

54/Standard Bearer/November 1, 1997


children.  The church permits him           God's continuing His covenant in            sounder  Reformed  and  Presbyte-
to write his wife a letter confess-         the line of the generations of His          rian  churches  have  restricted  the
ing  his  sin  against  her.    From  60    chosen  people.    Marriage  is  the        right of divorce and remarriage to
miles away, he writes her a letter!         earthly symbol of God's covenant            the  "innocent  party,"  that  is,  the
One imagines the letter:                    with His people in Christ.  The ar-         husband or wife whose mate has
                                            ticles in  De Reformatie make clear         committed adultery.  The churches
  Dear Mrs. Bert Zandstra,                  that the occasion for procedures to         have  forbidden  remarriage  to  the
       This is to inform you that I am      accept the Bert Zandstras and their         guilty  party.    They  have  not  al-
  sorry  that  I  sinned  against  you.     new wives is an "epidemic" of di-           lowed the Bert Zandstras member-
  Please forgive me.  Tell the chil-        vorces  and  remarriages  in  the           ship in their fellowship.
  dren that I am sorry.                     churches.    The  churches  become              Now the churches approve the
                     Yours faithfully,
                                  Bert      worldly.    They  cannot  withstand         remarriage  of  the  guilty  party.
                                            the pressure of the godless, adul-          Church  membership  is  open  to
Were such a man sorry, truly sorry          terous, faithless world.  It is not so      them.    Men  and  women  may  di-
by the grace worked by the Spirit           much  that  wicked  members  di-            vorce and remarry for any reason
of  Christ,  he  would  crawl  from         vorce and remarry as it is that the         and  be  received  as  members  in
Boshuizen  to  Hoogbergen  on  his          churches make their peace with the          good standing in the congregations.
hands and knees.  He would con-             sin.  They permit Bert Zandstra and         This is actually what is going on in
fess  to  his  wife  and  children  to      his  new  wife  to  sit  at  the  Lord's    many, if not most, of the churches
their faces in tears.  He would as-         Table.  This is shame to the church.        that loudly proclaim their conser-
sure them that he now finds it ab-          This is scandal to the saints.  This        vatism.  Many in  our country do
solutely impossible to live with the        is dishonor to God and His Christ.          not write this for the public.  They
other  woman,  as  impossible  as               If this is happening in the Re-         are not honest, as is the editor of
Christ finds it to live with another        formed  Churches  in  the  Nether-          De Reformatie.  In their public ut-
than  His  church.    And  he  would        lands ("liberated"), it is happening        terances, they insist that only the
plead  with  his  wife  to  have  him       also in most of the other Reformed          "innocent"  or  "deserted"  party
back, if she possibly could.                churches in the Netherlands.                may remarry.  In the life of their
    If  the  man  sends  a  letter,  his        It is happening in the conser-          churches,  guilty  parties--the  Bert
wife should throw it in the waste-          vative Reformed and Presbyterian            Zandstras--are received with their
basket unopened.                            churches  in  the  United  States  as       new mates.  In this country too, it
    It is a sad case, fourth, because       well.                                       is now an epidemic.
it  shows  that  the  Reformed                  For the case of Bert Zandstra is            This is what it comes to, when
Churches in the Netherlands ("lib-          sad, fifth, in that it shows the bit-       the  church  does  not  confess  and
erated")  have  caved  in  to  the          ter fruit of the erroneous concep-          practice  the  lifelong,  unbreakable
world.  They have caved in to the           tion of marriage that has prevailed         bond of marriage.
world, not in some incidental mat-          generally  in  the  Reformed                    The sad case of Bert Zandstra.
ter but in the fundamental matter           churches.  This is the view of mar-                                               u
of marriage.  Marriage is basic to          riage as a contract that sin and sin-                                         --DJE
                                            ners  can  break.    Until  recently,

  Letters

s Sound Works                                   In  passing,  I  do  not  want  to      amillennial view of the end include
on Amillennialism                           sound overly critical, but Andrew           the  relevant  section  in  Herman
                                            Fuller is not one about whom you            Hoeksema's  Reformed  Dogmatics
    I am a Primitive Baptist minis-
                                            should be saying very much in a             and his commentary on Revelation,
ter from Memphis, TN and a long-
                                            favorable light.  If you would read         Behold, He Cometh! (both are pub-
time  subscriber  to  the  Standard
                                            some of the things that he has writ-        lished by the RFPA in Grandville);
Bearer.    I  appreciated  very  much
                                            ten,  you  would  realize  that  you        Anthony  Hoekema's  essay  in  The
your  series  of  articles  on  "A  De-
                                            have much more in common with               Meaning of the Millennium, Robert
fense  of  (Reformed)  Amillen-
                                            John Gill than you do with Fuller.          G. Clouse, ed. (InterVarsity, 1977);
nialism."    Can  you  recommend
                                                                    Zack M. Guess       and Herman Bavinck's penetrating
other  works  which  are  sound  on
                                                                    Memphis, TN         treatment  in the recent  book,  The
this subject?  I have some friends
                                                                                        Last Things:  Hope for This World and
who are historic premillennialists,
                                            Response:                                   the  Next,  John  Bolt,  ed.  (Baker,
and I am trying to convince them
                                                Recommended  works  on  the             1996).                    --Ed.
of their error.

                                                                                             November 1, 1997/Standard Bearer/55


s      Again, the "All" of                   buke any others who held my view,               of taking "all" in I Timothy 2:4 as
I Timothy 2:4                                as  well  as  preventing  others  to            "every human without exception"
       I do see my faults, and I admit       lapse into this error.                          was indeed that others also might
that I had erred in my letter to you                 "Salvation is of the Lord" and          learn.  Incredibly, these views are
concerning the "all" of I Timothy            totally undeserved.  We are all sin-            rampant  among  confessedly  Re-
2:4  (Standard Bearer, Sept. 15, 1997,       ners and without hope except for                formed  people  in  our  oddest  of
pp. 488, 489).  In the light of John         the gracious sovereign will of God.             ages.  The teaching of universal, in-
6:37, "All that the Father giveth me                 May  God  bless  you  and  give         effectual  grace  is  Calvinist ortho-
shall come to me," as well as many           you added  strength in upholding                doxy;  the  doctrine  of  sovereign,
other  supportive  verses,  it  is  im-      the great doctrines of the faith.               particular grace is "hyper-Calvin-
possible that I Timothy 2:4  could                                      Charles B. Gross     ist" heresy.
refer to every human without ex-                                             Trenton, NJ         Holding and publicly defend-
ception.    Rather,  it  refers  "to  the                                                    ing the doctrine that "`salvation is
divine sovereignty in disposing to           Response:                                       of  the  Lord'  and  totally  unde-
salvation" (Schrenk TDNT III:47).                    It is a joy to receive your let-        served," with the clear implication
       I  thank  you  for  setting  me       ter.                                            that grace is particular and sover-
straight, although at first I resented               The purpose of my public criti-         eign,  you  show  yourself  a  friend
that you did so publicly.  Perhaps           cism of the earlier (public) defense            of  the  great  doctrines  of  election
it was best that you did so to re-                                                           and predestination.         --Ed.

 All Around Us                                                                                         Rev. Gise VanBaren

s Strange Bed-fellows!                         is involved in the annual conven-               widow of the slain Muslim leader,
Rev. Robert Schuller has a way tion of the Muslim American So-                                 Malcolm X.
       of  getting  his  name  regularly       ciety.                                            From that point until her death
                                                     "I  think  it's  a  major  event  in
in  the  press.    Recently  there  has                                                        last month, Shabazz and Schuller
                                               American religion, because of the               were friends.  "That is why he was
been reported an altercation which             fact that you're seeing one of the              invited  by  the  family  to  the  fu-
took place on a plane.  But his as-            leaders of a major school in Chris-             neral," Nason said.
sociation with people of every reli-           tianity  reaching  out  to  Muslim
gion seems the more newsworthy--                leaders."                                         What  does  Scripture  declare?
particularly because he is a minis-                  ...Schuller, a graduate of West-          "Be  ye  not  unequally  yoked  to-
ter  in  the  Reformed  Church  in             ern Theological Seminary in Hol-              gether with unbelievers: for what
America.  His statements made in               land,  also  wields  influence                fellowship hath righteousness with
connection with unusual visits are             through  his  weekly  "Hour  of
                                               Power"  TV  program,  which                   unrighteousness?  And what com-
appalling.  One wonders how any                reaches  20  million  viewers  from           munion hath light with darkness?
"Reformed" man could place him-                his  Crystal  Cathedral  in  Garden           And what concord hath Christ with
self in such a position.  The  Grand           Grove, Calif.                                 Belial?  Or what part hath he that
Rapids Press, September 1, 1997, re-                 The  cathedral  houses  an  orga-       believeth with an infidel?" (II Cor.
ported:                                        nization  called  Christians  and             6:14-15).    He  would  not  even  be
                                               Muslims  for  Peace,  whose                   disturbed if his grandchildren be-
       One of the most visible Ameri-          founder, Bill Baker, helped set up            came Muslims?  But Schuller evi-
     can "televangelists," the Rev. Rob-       a meeting at the cathedral between            dently places himself above Scrip-
     ert Schuller, made a broad appeal         Schuller and Mohammed last year.              ture.  Nor could he support or en-
     for Christian-Muslim understand-                "They  spent  two  hours  to-
     ing Sunday, delivering a keynote          gether,"  said  Michael  Nason,  a            courage mission work among Jews
     address  before  a  large  gathering      Schuller  spokesman.    "That  was            or  Muslims.    One  wonders  what
     of American Muslims at the Mead-          when he extended the invitation."             the Reformed Church in  America
     owlands.                                  On  that  visit  Schuller  told               thinks of all of this--or does it not
       "What  we  really  are  trying  to      Mohammed that if he came back                 care?
     do  is  to  show  that  America  can      in 100 years and found his descen-                Schuller was to be found also
     accommodate the three Abrahamic           dants Muslim, it wouldn't bother              at the funeral of Mother Teresa in
     religions,"  said  Imam  Alfred           him--so long as they weren't athe-             India.    He  had  her  speak  on  his
     Mohammed, of Elizabeth, NJ, who           ists.
                                                     About two years earlier Schuller        "Hour of Power" some years ago
                                               had  attended  a  conference  in              and claimed to be a great admirerer
Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Prot-           Gabon,  in  west  central  Africa,            of her too.  Darrell Maurina of the
estant Reformed  Church  of  Loveland,         where he encountered many Mus-                United Reformed Press Service re-
                                               lims, including Betty Shabazz, the
Colorado.                                                                                    ports:

56/Standard Bearer/November 1, 1997


    This  morning,  Schuller  partici-      first to pick up two baseball bats        posed."    The  report  is  appalling
  pated in Mother Teresa's own fu-          and  then  to  sneak  into  a  certain    and the conclusion correct.
  neral as a member of the official         white house with blue trim at the
  United  States  delegation  to  the       edge of town--a haven for strays               The biggest cover-up in the last
  event in Calcutta, India. Schuller,       founded  by  a  couple  who  had            quarter-century has nothing to do
  a  graduate  of  Hope  College  and       moved to central Iowa from Los              with Richard  Nixon, Bill Clinton
  Western  Theological  Seminary            Angeles.                                    or even politics.  It has been the
  who pastors the largest congrega-           The next morning, the shelter's           cover-up about the impact divorce
  tion  in  the  313,000-member  Re-        driveway resembled a triage site,           has  had  on  a generation  of  chil-
  formed  Church  in  America,  is  a       an animal M.A.S.H.  Veterinarians           dren.  Now, that cover has been
  personal  friend  of  First  Lady         sorted  through  the  bashed  and           blown by the release of a lengthy
  Hillary  Rodham  Clinton  who             bloodied, deciding which to treat           study  of  middle-  and  upper-
  headed the United States delega-          on the spot and which to rush off           middle-class families from Marin
  tion.                                     for the hour's drive to care at Iowa        County,  Calif.,  by  psychologist
    Schuller,  whose  "Hour  of             State University.                           and divorce research expert Judith
  Power" television program counts            ...As  a  November  trial  looms,           Wallerstein and Julia Lewis, a psy-
  over  20  million  viewers  world-        Morrissey's office has filed thou-          chology professor at San Francisco
  wide, first met Mother Teresa in          sands  of  letters  and  printouts  of      State University.
  Mexico in 1989. The Roman Catho-          e-mail from all over the globe into           The  folks  who  gave  us  "no-
  lic  nun,  known  worldwide  as           a cache of cardboard boxes.                 fault"  divorce  and  tried  to  per-
  founder and head of the Mission-            Nearly  every  missive  clamors           suade us that it mattered not how
  aries of Charity order devoted to         for  prison  for  Lamansky  and             we lived, only that we be "happy,"
  poverty relief among the "poorest         Myers,  who  have  pleaded  not             have inflicted profound unhappi-
  of the poor" in India and eighty          guilty.  The writers quote the Bible        ness  on  countless  children  aban-
  other  countries,  gave  Schuller  a      and  Gandhi,  and  refer  darkly  to        doned by their parents.
  prayer at that time that still hangs      serial killers Ted Bundy and Jef-             The  report,  the  result  of  a  25-
  in his office.                            frey Dahmer.                                year  study,  traces  the  effect  di-
    "Be  all  and  only  for  Jesus,"         Send a message, they urge, that           vorce has had on 60 families, in-
  reads the prayer. "Let him use you        beating animals to death is a seri-         cluding 26 very young lives--chil-
  without him having to consult you         ous  crime.    "I  hope  some  judge        dren aged 2 to 5 when their par-
  first."                                   doesn't order community service,"           ents  broke  up.    Wallerstein  and
    In  a  statement  issued  by            wrote Rita... of Cleveland.  "I pray          Lewis show that far from just the
  Schuller's  press  office,  Schuller      they get the max!"                          initial impact on children, which
  said Mother Teresa was the "first                                                     fades with time, divorce is a cu-
  lady of the twentieth century."             It  is,  of  course,  a  horrible         mulative experience that produces
    Mother  Teresa  "taught  us  that     crime--and  another  indication  of            stark emotional scars and shapes
  God has given us a responsibility       the "moral meltdown" in our soci-             the  attitudes,  behavior  and  rela-
  to our brothers and sisters to look     ety today.  But is it any wonder?             tionships  of  the  children  of  di-
  after  and  care  for  them,"  said                                                   vorce unto adulthood.
  Schuller.                               When unborn babes can be ripped
                                          from their mothers' wombs, cruelly              Half of those studied became se-
                                                                                        riously  involved with drugs  and
    It appears that the Reformation       destroyed, a million and a half an-           alcohol.  Many of the children, es-
also has no real importance in the        nually  in  our  country,  is  it  any        pecially the girls, became sexually
eyes of Schuller.  Whether Roman          wonder that children grow up plac-            active  early  in  adolescence.
Catholic, Jew, or Muslim--all ap-          ing little or no value on life--of ani-        Though many fathers held degrees
pear to have equal standing in the        mal or of man?  One wonders, too,             in professions that allowed them
eyes of Schuller.  Is he a preacher       if those raising a hue and cry for a          to make a good living, not one fa-
of  the  cross--or  a  deceiver  of        good  prison  sentence  for  these            ther  provided  full  financial  sup-
                                                                                        port for his child's college educa-
many?                                     young  people,  cry  equally  insis-
                                          tently  for  the  punishment  of  the         tion and one-fourth stopped send-
                                          abortionist?    Terrible  though  the         ing  any  financial  help  after  the
                                                                                        children turned 18.
s Which Killing is Worse?                 crime of these high school students             ...The major media and various
The Denver Post, September 13, was, it is hardly equal to the kill- interest  groups were telling  us
    1997, reports on a bizarre inci-      ing of the unborn!                            that  divorce  is  normal  and  that
dent--but one  which gives pause                                                         few  are  profoundly  affected  for
for serious thought.  The account         s Great Divorce Cover-up                      lengthy  periods  when  their  par-
                                                                                        ents split.  If ever there was a case
is  of  three  high  school  students     Exposed                                       of denial, this was it.  Many who
who cruelly killed  many cats and             In  a  striking  article,  Cal  Tho-      wanted us to be "sensitive" about
injured others.                           mas, syndicated columnist for the             the feelings of other categories of
                                          Los  Angeles  Times,  writes  of  the         humanity  (and  the  animal  and
    They are accused of driving off,      "great divorce cover-up finally ex-           plant kingdom) were far less con-

                                                                                           November 1, 1997/Standard Bearer/57


  cerned about the impact of the "di-         of the glue that held our society          breach of contract by their parents.
  vorce  culture"....    Children  in           together.  Some still deny divorce
  single-parent families are six times        is a catastrophe because many can-               Amen!!    But  above  all,  God's
  as  likely  to  be  poor,  she  notes.      not stand to face the reality and        Word forbids divorce.  To break up
  And children of divorce are two             consequences  of  what  they've          what God designed to be a picture
  to three times as likely as those in        done to themselves, their children       of the relationship between Christ
  two-parent  homes  to  have  emo-           and their nation.
  tional  and  behavioral  problems.            If the report by Wallerstein and       and  His  church  will  bring  conse-
  But  who  cares  in  a  culture  that       Lewis  had  been  about  business        quences not only upon the parents,
  promotes  personal  and  instant            rather than family, the children of      but  upon  their  children  and
  "happiness" as the only goal wor-           divorce  would  have  the  right  to     children's children.  Those conse-
  thy of pursuit?                             file  a  class-action  suit--citing       quences we see on every hand in
    That attitude has melted much                                                      our society today.     u

  Cloud of Witnesses                                                                            Prof. Herman Hanko

                           Herman Hoeksema:
       Theologian and Reformer (2)

                                            its leaders were strongly Reformed,        were present in the church, and the
Controversy In His First Charge             weaknesses  in  doctrine  also  ran        struggle for control of the church
                                            through the movement, and not all          was long and sometimes bitter.
                                            the leaders were equally Reformed.                 Hoeksema, an heir to the piety
From the day Hoeksema en-
      tered the ministry in 14th St.
      Christian  Reformed  Church           These  strengths  and  weaknesses          of the people of the Afscheiding and
in Holland, Michigan to the day he          were also present in the Christian         to the doctrines of sovereign and
died, his life can be characterized         Reformed  Church.    It  was  not  as      particular grace in the Kuyper fol-
as one of controversy.                      Reformed as it should have been.           lowers, had early come to the con-
    It has been alleged that his con-       Especially strains of Arminianism          clusion  that  the  battle  for  the  fu-
troversy-filled life was due to his         were  present  in  some  parts  of  it.    ture  of  the  church  was  to  be
own  constant  efforts  to  "pick  a        Doctrines  such  as  the  well-meant       fought--as it had been throughout
fight."  He was, so it has been said,       offer of the gospel, a universal love      the ages--in defense of sovereign
willing "to go to the mat" for any-         of  God,  and  salvation  dependent        and  particular  grace  over  against
thing  and  everything.    This  is  a      on the free will of man were openly        Arminianism and Pelagianism.  But
grievous  slander  and  one  which          taught.  In some places there was          he saw, early in his ministry, that
will not stand the scrutiny of unbi-        strong opposition to Christian edu-        the  truths  of  sovereign  grace  ap-
ased men.                                   cation, and in other places the urge       plied  not  only  to  the  sovereignty
    One must understand a bit the           to  "Americanize"  the  church  led        of  God  in  the  work  of  salvation,
background  in  the  church  in             the church into unholy unions with         but  equally  strongly  to  the  anti-
America of which he was a part.             un-Reformed organizations.                 thetical  walk  of  God's  covenant
    The members of the Christian                At about and shortly after the         people in the world.  The common
Reformed Church in the first half-          turn  of  the  century,  immigrants        grace of the well-meant offer was
century of its existence were almost        from  the  movement  of  Dr.               a  threat  to  the  former;  Kuyper's
exclusively  from  the   Afscheiding.       Abraham Kuyper joined the Chris-           common grace a threat to the lat-
While indeed this movement in the           tian Reformed Church.  They were           ter.
Netherlands was a true reformation          a different kind of folk.  Many of                 Into  the  ministry  in  this  de-
of the church, and while several of         them held to Kuyper's rejection of         nomination Hoeksema entered, and
                                            the well-meant offer of the gospel,        through  the  maze  of  conflicting
                                            but  others  had  been  taken  in  by      ideas  he  had  to  find  his  way,
                                            Kuyper's  common  grace,  a  com-          which, he was determined, would
Prof.  Hanko  is  professor  of  Church     mon grace which was quite differ-          be the way of the historic Reformed
History  and  New  Testament  in  the       ent  in  emphasis  from  that  of  the     faith.  This brought him into con-
Protestant Reformed Seminary.               earlier  immigrants.    Both  groups       troversy.

58/Standard Bearer/November 1, 1997


    It started early.  In his very first    the teachings of Dr. Ralph Janssen         solute subscription to the doctrine
charge  he  faced  opposition  over         in the seminary.  This professor of        of common grace or to face suspen-
two matters: his strong support of          Old Testament denied the infallible        sion from the office of the minis-
Christian schools, and the empha-           inspiration  of  Scripture  and            try.
sis  in  his  preaching  on  sovereign      brought into his instruction higher                Upon Hoeksema's refusal, the
grace rooted in double predestina-          critical  methods.    His  four  col-      classis suspended him and set his
tion.  His steady hand on the tiller        leagues in the seminary objected to        consistory  and  the  congregation
of  the  congregation,  however,            his teachings, but could not secure        outside the denomination.
steered the people of God through           a condemnation of his views by the                 Thus, January 1925 marks the
many dangerous shoals: those who            churches  in  their  broader  assem-       beginning  of  the  Protestant  Re-
were  not  persuaded  left  for  else-      blies.    Hoeksema  was  finally           formed Churches in America.
where,  while  many  learned  to  be        brought  into  the  battle,  even                  Two  other  ministers,  from  a
thankful for a man who would di-            though Dr. Janssen was a member            different classis, were deposed as
rect them in a way consistently Re-         of  his  congregation.    Hoeksema's       well for the same reasons: Revs. H.
formed.                                     careful and thorough work as part          Danhof and G. M. Ophoff.  Their
    The years were those of World           of a study committee, presented to         congregations were also expelled.
War I.  Patriotism became all but           the  Synod  of  1922,  was  the  basis             These  were  busy  years.
an  idol,  and  blind  patriotism  the      for Janssen's condemnation.                Herman Hoeksema was the pastor
order  of  the  day.    Churches,  in           The irony of it was, however,          of a congregation numbering more
bursts of patriotic fervor, put the         that  Dr.  Janssen  used  Kuyperian        than 500  families; he  taught  dog-
flag of our country on the pulpit.          common grace to justify his higher         matics and all New Testament sub-
Hoeksema refused--not because he             critical methods, knowing full well        jects  in  the  seminary  which  was
was not aware of his calling to be          that Hoeksema, already then, repu-         formed immediately after 1925 to
in subjection to the magistracy, but        diated the doctrine.  Although the         train the denomination's own min-
because the church's business was           issue  of  common  grace  was  not         isters; he wrote extensively for the
conducted in the sanctuary of the           faced by the Synod of 1922, it be-         Standard Bearer, a semi-monthly Re-
church, and that  church is catho-          came the occasion for Hoeksema's           formed  periodical,  and  served  as
lic,  not  bound  to  one  country.         expulsion  from  the  Christian  Re-       its editor; he traveled around the
Threatened by zealots in the com-           formed Church.                             country,  speaking  in  the  many
munity, he was forced for a while               This brief biography is not the        places  to  which  he  had  been  in-
to carry a pistol in self-defense.          place  either  to  discuss  the  issues    vited; he was full-time radio pas-
    One great doctrinal controversy         or to trace in detail the history.  We     tor from 1940 to 1963; he wrote a
in the Christian Reformed Church            can only briefly describe what hap-        number  of  books,  most  of  which
at  large  involved  Hoeksema  dur-         pened.                                     are in print today.
ing this time.  It was a controversy            Faced  with  several  protests                 The enormous amount of work
over  dispensational  premillen-            against Hoeksema's denial of com-          which he performed took its toll,
nialism.  Hoeksema took a leading           mon  grace  and  various  overtures        and in June of 1947 he suffered a
role in pointing out to the church          asking for a statement on common           massive stroke in Sioux Falls, South
the  fact  that  such  a  position  was     grace,  the  synod  of  the  Christian     Dakota, on his way to Manhattan,
contrary  to  the  Reformed  confes-        Reformed  Church  meeting  in              Montana,  where  my  father  was
sions because it denied that Christ         Kalamazoo,  Michigan,  adopted  a          pastor and I lived with my family.
is the King of the church, and his          doctrinal statement that combined                  The  Lord  gave  him  recovery
efforts  were  instrumental  in  pro-       the well-meant offer of the gospel         from the stroke--not complete, but
tecting the church from a danger-           and Kuyperian common grace into            sufficient that he could take up his
ous heresy.                                 one decision.  Although informed           work once more in his church and
                                            by Hoeksema that he would never            in the churches.
Continuing Controversy                      subscribe to such an unbiblical and
    Hoeksema's second charge was            anti-confessional  statement,  the         The Last Battle
in  Eastern  Avenue  Christian  Re-         synod  refused  to  discipline  him                It  was  evident  that  the  Lord
formed  Church  in  Grand  Rapids,          and, in fact, pronounced him fun-          gave  him  recovery  because  one
Michigan.    This  was  the  church         damentally  Reformed--although              more battle in defense of sovereign
where  my  father  and  paternal            with  a  tendency  towards  one-           grace  had  to  be  fought.    It  hap-
grandparents were members.                  sidedness.                                 pened in the early '50s.  The battle
    Here, too, Hoeksema's life was              Hoeksema's  critics  were  not         was over the question whether sal-
filled with controversy.                    satisfied, and they finally prevailed      vation is conditional--a clear and
    The first controversy was in no         upon  the  classis  of  which              forceful attack against the doctrine
respect of his making.  It involved         Hoeksema was a part to require ab-         of sovereign grace.

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    Dr. Klaas Schilder in the Neth-       Protestant Reformed Churches be-             still  what  had  to  be  defended,  if
erlands had suffered at the hands         gan to teach and preach Schilder's           the  churches  of  which  he  was  a
of  the  Reformed  churches  in  his      views, until the church was rocked           part would survive faithful to their
own country.  He had been unjustly        with controversy.  In 1953 the con-          heritage.
deposed  from  office  in  the  same      troversy was settled only through                God  gave  the  Protestant  Re-
way as Hoeksema.  The year of his         a difficult split, which took nearly         formed Churches the victory.  It is
deposition  was  1944.    Twice,  in      two-thirds  of  the  ministers  and          true  that  the  numbers  of  the  de-
1939 and in 1947, he had come to          members out of the Protestant Re-            nomination  were  severely  dimin-
this country.  Hoeksema had struck        formed  Churches.    Another  de-            ished.  It is also true that the con-
up a friendship with Schilder and         nomination  was  formed  which               troversy  was  bitter  and  difficult.
had been influential in seeing to it      eventually  returned  to  the  Chris-        But God preserved the cause of the
that  the  pulpits  of  our  churches     tian Reformed Church.                        Protestant Reformed Churches, that
were open to him.  But, although              In that controversy Hoeksema             there  might  be  a  denomination
Schilder and Hoeksema had much            played a major role--in his preach-           which  uncompromisingly  contin-
in common, they differed radically        ing, his writing, and his defense of         ued to teach the same truths which
on  the  doctrine  of  the  covenant.     the faith on the floor of the assem-         the  whole  church  of  Christ
Hoeksema insisted that a unilateral       blies.  He understood that the con-          throughout the ages has loved.
and  unconditional  covenant  was         ditional  theology  of  Schilder  and            But it was indeed the last battle
taught in Scripture and the confes-       his followers constituted a serious          for an old and weary warrior.
sions;  Schilder  taught  a  bilateral    threat to the doctrines of sovereign             Although Hoeksema lived for
and      conditional       covenant.      grace and that the very right of ex-         another twelve years and took part
Hoeksema  insisted  that  only  the       istence for the Protestant Reformed          in rebuilding a shattered denomi-
elect children of believers were in-      Churches demanded that they hold             nation, God ended his work before
cluded in that covenant.  Schilder        unswervingly  to  the  truth  of  un-        He ended his life.  He died in Sep-
insisted that all the children of be-     conditional salvation.  It was what          tember  of  1965  and  went  to  his
lievers had some place in it.             Hoeksema  had  fought  for  in  his          eternal resting place.
    Many  of  the  ministers  in  the     battle against common grace; it was                         ... to be continued.   u


  Search the Scriptures                                                                             Rev. Mitchell Dick


        "The Raising of Lazarus" (1)
                                                    (John 11)


                                              The  most  significant  fact  of         for Jesus is not evident, of course,
                                          Lazarus  is  that  he  was  loved  of        in John 11.  But in John 12 we read
                                          Jesus.    Pointed  reference  is  made       of Lazarus and his sisters showing
The history recorded in John
        11  is  about  Jesus'  raising
        from the dead one Lazarus.        to  this  fact  in  the  narrative.    In    hospitality to Jesus in their house.
    We  do  not  know  much  of           verse three we are told that the sis-        Lazarus is sitting at the table with
Lazarus.    He  was  of  the  town  of    ters sent unto Jesus saying, "Lord,          Jesus (12:2).  There is no doubt in
Bethany,  nigh  unto  Jerusalem,          behold,  he  whom  thou  lovest  is          my mind that Lazarus' main course
about fifteen furlongs (two miles)        sick."    Verse  five  tells  us:  "Now      at this meal was Jesus' words!
off (11:18).  His sisters were the de-    Jesus loved Martha, and her sister,              Lazarus  also  became  a
vout  and  devoted  Mary  and             and  Lazarus."    When  Jesus  wept          preacher.  He is a strange preacher!
Martha.                                   (v.35), the Jews exclaimed, "Behold          He  is  one  of  the  only,  if  not  the
                                          how he loved him!" (v. 36).                  only,  "silent  preacher"  in  the
                                              In response to the love of Jesus,        Bible--we never read of him ever
                                          Lazarus  loved  Jesus.    He  whom           having said a word.  But we note
Rev. Dick is pastor of Grace Protes-      Jesus  loves  will  always   be  con-        that  in  chapter  12,  verses  10  and
tant  Reformed  Church  in  Standale,     strained, willingly, to love back (cf.       11,  the  chief  priests  counseled  to
Michigan.                                 2 Cor. 5:14)!  This love of Lazarus          put Lazarus to death because that

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"by reason of him many of the Jews          however,  not  on  Lazarus,  nor  on           primarily,  about  the  death  of
went away, and believed on Jesus"           Mary, nor Martha, nor the wicked               Lazarus.  It is about the death of
(v. 11).  His being alive was a ser-        Pharisees.    Nor  is  it  even  on  the       Jesus!    Nor  is  John  11  primarily
mon!  No need for him to talk, just         miracle of the raising of Lazarus.             about the raising of Lazarus.  It is
live!  Just live after you have died,       Rather, it is on Jesus Himself.  The           about the raising of Jesus!  The Son
and you are a sermon!  But there is         express purpose of the sickness and            of God!  For His glory!  The resur-
no doubt that, if he had a mouth            miraculous raising of Lazarus was,             rection and the life!
to  speak,  Lazarus  declared  Jesus,       after all, "for the glory of God, that             One  result  of  this  extremely
"the resurrection and the life"!            the Son of God might be glorified              significant miracle of our Lord was
    The  narrative  of  John  11  is        thereby" (11:4).  The Lord, at this            that many Jews believed on Jesus
about the sickness, death, and res-         time, declares His Messianic iden-             (v. 45).  Indeed, in a certain sense,
urrection of Lazarus from the dead.         tity  as  "the  resurrection  and  the         the result of this miracle was that
We learn also something of the per-         life."  Martha declares her faith that         the world went after Jesus (12:19)!
sonalities  and  faith  of  Mary  and       Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of God,              Another result of the gospel of
Martha.  Then, too, there is the ne-        that should come into the world"               the  resurrection  of  Lazarus  was
farious  plotting  of  the  Jews  who,      (v. 27).  And even the wicked high             that others plotted, now officially,
at  this  miracle  of  Jesus,  rather       priest  Caiaphas,  though  wresting            the death of Jesus (vv. 46-53).
panic, thinking that if Jesus is al-        the scriptures to his own destruc-                 And  what,  my  friends,  is  the
lowed  to  continue  to  do  such           tion, and though hardly aware of               result of this miracle in you?
miracles "all men  will believe on          what he was saying, prophesies of                  Believest thou this ... this res-
him,  and  the  Romans  shall  come         the necessity of the atoning death             urrecting Jesus?  This the resurrec-
and take away both our place and            of Jesus--for the Jews and Gentiles             tion and the life?
nation" (vv. 47, 48).                       (11:49-52)!                                        Believest thou this ... as thou
    The  focus  of  the  passage  is,           Yes!  Indeed!  John 11 is not,             dost search the Scriptures?



                For Study,  Meditation, & Discussion

1.  History.                                for the glory of God, that the Son             glory  of  God?    What  does  Jesus
    Lazarus was taken ill.  It was a        of  God  might  be  glorified                  mean  when  He  says  in  the  next
fatal illness.  Jesus was sent for by       thereby...."                                     breath that this sickness will be for
Lazarus' sisters, Mary and Martha.              The glory of God!  God  is glo-            the glory of God that (in order that)
No doubt they hoped Jesus would             rious.  His glory is His own holi-             the  Son of God might  be glorified
come and heal Lazarus (proof for            ness  and  majesty.    It  is  that  re-       thereby (by the sickness)?  Discuss
this is found in that both sisters re-      vealed.  It is the scintillating qual-         this  in  light  of  the  fact  that  God
call  Lazarus  to  Jesus  as  "the  one     ity of the divine perfection.  It is           says that He will not give His glory
Jesus loves"--Martha, in verse 21,           God declaring Himself to be God in             unto another (Is. 48:11).
and Mary in verse 32).  Be able to          all the works of His hands (Ps. 19;                Note all that Jesus  does, when
explain  the  history:    What  took        Is.  6:3).    It  is  God  shining  in  His    He first hears of Lazarus' sickness,
place  after  Jesus  is  sent  for,  and    perfection in His Son incarnate, full          in order that the glory of God be
while Jesus delays (vv. 3-16); His          of grace and truth (John 1:14, 18).            promoted.    When  He  hears  of
conversations  with  Martha  and                Now this sickness was said of              Lazarus' sickness He waits (v. 6);
Mary  (vv.  17-32);  the  raising  of       Jesus to be "for" the glory of God--            then  He  goes  into  Judea,  despite
Lazarus (vv. 33-44); and the events         "for,"  or "on  behalf  of,"  the  pro-        the danger, and the warning of the
which occurred immediately after            motion of the glory of God.  That              disciples (vv. 7, 8).
(vv. 45ff.).                                is: it was so that God's glory would               It is significant that Jesus does
                                            be further revealed.                           these  things,  and  many  other
2. For the glory of God (v. 4).                 How,  precisely,  will  Lazarus'           things, for the glory of  God.  He
    Jesus'  statement  in  verse  4         sickness, which is "not unto death,"           knows that the sickness of Lazarus
gives the purpose of the  sickness          be for God's glory (Hint: what vir-            is unto the glory of God.  But this
of Lazarus, and, by implication, of         tues  of  God  in  Christ  will  be  re-       knowledge,  and  His  knowledge
the  miracle  of  Jesus'  resurrecting      vealed?)?   How does Jesus  know               that  all is ultimately for the glory
Lazarus: "It is not unto death, but         that  this  sickness  will  be  for  the       of God, do not diminish one iota

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the Savior's ardent striving for the          Him!                                      of God.  How do we show this con-
promotion of the glory of God.  He                Find, meditate upon, and dis-         cern?  Discuss this proposition: All
who knows God's sovereignty most              cuss  other  passages  where  Jesus       is  for  the  glory  of  God,  so  let  us
knows most His responsibility with            shows a great concern for the glory       live that our lives  might be for the
respect  to  Father's  claims  upon                                                     glory of God.   u

  Address at Annual RFPA Meeting                                                                   Rev. Mitchell Dick




The RFPA and Religious Stew (1)

T                                             behind it as "an unexamined faith         true religion, religious stew.
       hank you for the opportunity           not worth believing."                         Pluralism is the view that there
       to  address  you  tonight  at              My goal tonight is to tell you        is in the practice of most religions
       this,  the  annual  meeting  of        of  the  RFPA  about  this  religious     a (common) salvation.  For plural-
the Reformed Free Publishing As-              stew.                                     ism  sees  in  many  religions  this
sociation.                                        I would have the RFPA and her         same good thing which it defines
    Thank you, and may God, Al-               writers duly warned: this religious       as salvation:  "The transformation
lah,  Buddha,  Yahweh,  Jehovah,              stew has become very popular, but         of  human  existence  from  self-
Cosmic  Consciousness,  and  "all             it  is  very  poisonous!    Religious     centeredness  to  Reality  centered-
that is," bless you!                          stew is the latest of fast and easy       ness"  (D.  A.  Carson,  The  Gagging
    Before  I  am tarred and feath-           theological  food  --  approved,           of God, Zondervan, 1996).
ered, or worse--my brethren, lend              maybe,  by  the  FDA,  certainly  by          Pluralism.  Salvation in many
me your ears!                                 all of society, but not, indeed em-       religions.    Different  religions,  all
    This bizarre pronouncement of             phatically not, by God!  We must          leading to God.  Many spokes on
blessing from many gods is not, of            be  warned,  therefore,  also  in  our    the same wheel, the hub of which
course,  mine.    It  was  that  of  a        Christian publishing ventures, not        is God.
woman who offered it as a conclu-             to bite into this stew!                       Why the stir?  What are some
sion  to  a letter  to  the  editor  of  a        I speak also tonight to encour-       of the reasons why this new reli-
certain paper, in which letter she            age  the  RFPA  and  her  writers  to     gion, this religious stew, has been
had  passionately  promoted  reli-            continue  to  publish  against  such      made,  and  why  religious  stew  is
gious tolerance.  She sought to con-          stew  and  to  publish  instead  the      such a popular item on the ecclesi-
vince the public that the religions           Manna, the gospel of the truth as         astical menu today?                               
of  the world are, and ought to be,           it is in Jesus and in Jesus alone.            D.A.  Carson,  in the  book  just
all one.                                                                                cited,  notes  several  reasons.
    One Gregory Koukle, in an ar-             What Is Religious Stew?                   Among  the  main  reasons  for  this
ticle  of  the  Spring,  1997  issue  of          Religious stew is what is called      stew, this religious pluralism, and
the Christian Research Journal about          today "pluralism," religious plural-      its popularity today are, Carson be-
this view of the tolerance of many            ism.                                      lieves, other kinds of pluralism.
religions, calls the phenomenon of                What is "pluralism"?  What is             There is, for example, empirical
religious  tolerance  religious  stew.        pluralism in the religious realm?         pluralism.  By this, Carson refers to
He criticizes the stew and the view               Religious  pluralism  is  the  be-    the great diversity of culture, race,
                                              lief that all the mainline religions      value  systems,  etc.  in  our  nation
                                              mixed  together  are  the  true  reli-    and in the world generally today.
                                              gion.  No one religion is the true        This in itself has provided a great
                                              religion.    But  mix  Buddhism,          impetus for the pursuit and accep-
Rev. Dick is pastor of Grace Protes-          Mohammedanism,  Shintoism,  Ju-           tance also of religious pluralism.
tant  Reformed  Church  in  Standale,         daism,  and  Christianity  together,          There is also what Carson calls
Michigan.                                     and  voila!--there you have it, the        cherished pluralism.  There is today

62/Standard Bearer/November 1, 1997


the  desire for pluralism.  It is such     stew  served  only  in  the  greasy           name of Buddhist or Moslem are,
a desire that pluralism, the accep-        spoons  of  the  (religious)  ghetto?         in the practice of their religion, re-
tance of many different religions,         Sound as if only hungry apostates             ally  "anonymous  Christians,"  to
and many different whatever, has           would bite?  Sound as if we who               use  the  phrase  of  Karl  Rahner.
become a  value in itself.  "Choice"       are  orthodox  and  we  who  eat  at          Though they have not the privilege
has become a value in itself, a pri-       Russ'  would  certainly  not  be              of  instruction  in  the  gospel,  God
ority of our time.  As Carson notes:       tempted?                                      does not hold it against them, but
"To be modern is to be addicted to             Let us not be so naïve!  There            saves  them  for  the  good  practice
choice and change...."  Ours is the          is, in fact, evidence that pluralism          of their religions, even and includ-
era of "tolerance," and therefore of       is  the  main  issue  confronting  and        ing  their  bowing  down  to  idols,
pluralism.                                 corrupting  the  church  today,  and          which are, after all, and ultimately,
    Then  there  is  philosophical  or     that it is making inroads, into the           only  so  many  expressions  of  the
hermeneutical  pluralism.    This,  ac-    Reformed camp as well.                        one God.
cording to Carson, is the idea that            I could cite the fact that a re-              Inclusivism  is  the  view,  in
all interpretations of everything are      cent survey of the next generation            other words, that though Christ is
equally valid; it is the view that no      of Christians at several evangelical          necessary for salvation, conscious
religion  may  claim  superiority;  it     colleges  revealed  that  only  two-          faith in Him is not: He died for all,
is the view that there is no objec-        thirds  believed  Christ  to  be  the         atonement was necessary, but some
tive truth.   Truth is "relativized,       only way to salvation.  Or we could           will  become  Christians  only  after
democratized,  trivialized."    The        deduce from the fact that the 1990s           the  judgment  day,  who  uncon-
only  dirty  word,  the  only  heresy      is the only decade since the 1940s            sciously  were  Christians  in  their
among the pluralists, is calling any-      to show a decline in the number of            practicing of religion according to
thing heretical.  Basically, such plu-     missionaries sent out that it is reli-        the light given them.
ralism  is  the  strident  attempt  to     gious pluralism, the belief that all              Evidence of "mush" abounds.
"gag  God"--to  silence  the  voice         religions are equally valid, which                I cite only the following:
that  there  is  only  one  truth,  and    has  dampened  the  spirit  of  the               First,  I  see  as  evidence  of
that it is to be heard and honored.        church to disciple the nations for            Christianity's own brand of plural-
    Other causes for religious plu-        Christ only.                                  istic mush a kind of "ethic of civil-
ralism could be noted.  I cite just            But there is another, more dis-           ity,"  as  someone  has  called  it,
one  more  which,  I  believe,  is  a      turbing  fact,  something  which              among  Christians  and  other  reli-
great force behind the stew.  It is        ought to alarm us, warn us, rouse             gious  folk.    Nothing  wrong  with
this:  the  sheer  pragmatism  of  our     us.  There is another evidence that           being civil!  But there is a kind of
day.  If it works, do it!  And since       much  of  Christendom  is  opening            civility today in which Christians
"doing  it"  requires  unity  on  all      its collective mouth to swallow the           are  seeking  to  "dialogue"  with
fronts, then let's unite religiously!      religious  stew  of  pluralism.   It  is      those of other religions, and that is
There  is  a  great  need  for  social     this: many so-called Christians and           all.  There is no attempt to preach
equality and justice for all.  Let us      Christian  churches  today,  though           and to evangelize, but only to re-
unite the religions of the world to        not  buying  outright  the  religious         spect and glean from those of other
promote  this  equality  and  justice      stew, have nevertheless concocted             religions.  Noteworthy in this re-
for  all!    There  are  many  poor        their own brand of mush.                      gard is the ongoing dialogue with
among us.  Let the church people                                                         the Jews which Christian churches
and the temple people and all the          Mush                                          are having.  In these dialogues it is
religious people forget their differ-          What is this mush?  By "mush"             assumed that Jews and Christians
ences, roll up their sleeves, pool re-     I refer to contemporary Christian-            worship  the  same  God.    There  is
sources, and feed the poor!  There         ity's inclusivism.                            talk of a common Judeo-Christian
are the needs of world peace; sav-             What is inclusivism?                      ethic and heritage.  There is unity
ing the world from ecological di-              Inclusivism  is  the  teaching  of        and  focus  on  the  preservation  of
saster; preserving the family.  So,        various Christian leaders, and the            the  family  and  advancing  social
religions of the world, unite!  Tol-       stance of various Christian denomi-           causes.  There are shared worship
erate.  Honor.  Join hands.  Learn         nations, that though Christianity is          services, as a recent celebration of
from  each  other.    Do  not  judge.      the final and best and ultimate re-           the Passover in a local fundamen-
Stew.    Good  stew.    For  a  good       ligion,  yet  it  is  not  the  only  true    talist church attests.
cause!  Come and get it!                   religion.    The  Bible,  hearing  it             Then there are these evidences
                                           preached,  and  believing  its  con-          in  the  Protestant  camp:  an  RCA
       333    333    333                   tents are not, therefore, necessary           minister  declares  faith  that  there
                                           to a saving knowledge of the truth.           are more ways to heaven than faith
    Sound  far  out?    Sound  like  a     Other people who may go by the                in Jesus; a Lutheran leader speaks

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of "the gospel of Jesus as not de-          diligently seek him."  Just faith in       Christ  whom  God  has  sent  (John
stroying  but  fulfilling  other  reli-     God, not in Jesus, is necessary.           17:3).
gions."                                         Inclusivists have their way of             John  14:6?    If  Jesus  is  saying
    Just one more evidence.  This           getting around John 14:6 and Jesus'        here  that  He  is  "the  way"  to  the
time  Roman  mush.    The  Roman            words:  "I  am  the  way,  the  truth,     Father  just  for  those  who  like  to
Catholic Church in many ways has            and the life: no man cometh unto           think  He  is  the  only  way--well
led  the  way  in  the  promotion  of       the Father, but  by me."  The  Ro-         then  we  have  lost  our  Bible,  and
mush.    Mush  is  in  fact  Roman          man Catholic inclusivist Paul Knit-        we  have  lost  our  ability  to  inter-
Catholic doctrine.  For Vatican II,         ter interprets Jesus' words as ap-         pret  it.    There  is  no  hint  here  of
in  section  16  of  Lumen  Gentium,        plying to Christians only.  That is:       Jesus  maintaining  He  is  only  "a
states:    "Those  also  can  attain  to    only for Christians is Jesus the only      way"  for  some,  but  not  for  all.
everlasting salvation who through           way to the Father.  John's language,       There is no hint here that John 14:6
no fault of their own do not know           according  to  Knitter,  is  not  abso-    is  only  John's  interpretation  of
the gospel of Christ or His Church,         lute,  applying  to  all  everywhere,      Jesus' words, and not Jesus' words
yet sincerely seek God and, moved           but rather is the language of one          themselves.  Jesus is the way  abso-
by grace, strive by their deeds to          who  knows  of  Christ  and  loves         lutely, as He says He is!
do His will as it is known to them,         Him, and boasts of Him as a hus-               The inclusivist's interpretation
through the dictates of conscience.         band  would of  His wife, describ-         of Acts 10:34,35 must also be jetti-
Nor does divine Providence deny             ing  her  as  the  most  beautiful         soned.  Peter is not saying, in flat
the help necessary for salvation to         woman in the world.  In fact, the          contradiction to the rest of Scrip-
those who, without blame on their           woman may not be the most beau-            ture,  that Cornelius or anyone else
part, have not yet arrived at an ex-        tiful  woman  in  the  world,  but  to     is accepted of God because of  his
plicit knowledge of God, but who            the husband she is; in fact,  Christ       own righteousness, or before faith
strive to live a good life, thanks to       is not the only way to the Father, but     in Christ.  The teaching is simply
His grace" (quoted in an article en-        to those who know Him He is!   John        that God has His people in every
titled "Why Christianity of All Re-         14:6 is love language, not absolute        nation, not just in Israel,  whom He
ligions," by Klaas Runia, in the No-        language.                                  will  bring  to  faith  in  Christ.    Thus
vember,  1996  issue  of  REC  Theo-            Acts 10:34,35 is a favorite text       this man of the Italian band (!) was
logical Forum).   Rome also speaks          of inclusivists.  There, with regard       brought  out  of  darkness  into  the
of  God  "smiling"  upon  the  Mos-         to Cornelius, Peter declares: "Of a        light and salvation of God in Christ
lems who, with Rome, share ado-             truth I perceive that God is no re-        to receive remission of sins through
ration of Mary (cf. the book  Mary          specter of persons: but in every na-       Christ's name and through faith in
of the Koran: A Meeting Point between       tion  he  that  feareth  him,  and         that name (Acts 10:43).
Christianity  and  Islam,  by  a  Rev.      worketh righteousness, is accepted             Much more could be offered in
Nilo Geagea).                               with  him."    Thus,  according  to        critique of the inclusivist position.
                                            inclusivists,  Cornelius  and  others      There is, for example, its open de-
Brief Critique of Inclusivism               may be accepted of God before they         nial  of  the  sinfulness  of  sin.
    Christian  inclusivists  attempt        are  converted  to  Christianity,  or      Inclusivism imagines people seek-
to justify their position from Scrip-       apart  from  their  ever  being  con-      ing God apart from Christ; denies
ture.  But, at every point, there is a      verted.  As they practice their reli-      the  imputed  guilt  and  inherited
perverting  and  twisting  of  that         gion righteously, even apart from          corruption  of  Adam;  does  not
which  God  calls  us  rightly  to  di-     knowledge of the gospel, they are          reckon with the wrath of God upon
vide.                                       "anonymous  Christians,"  God's            sin.    With  Anselm  we  say  to  the
    There  is  talk,  for  example,  of     people,  doing  the  best  with  the       inclusivists: "Ye have not weighed
the "faith principle" which all men,        knowledge given.                           the seriousness of sin!"
even  non-Christians,  can  have  in            What do we say to all this?                There is a perversion also of the
God.  This is a faith in God, even              In the first place, with regard        doctrine of God.
though  it  may  not  be  faith  in         to this "faith principle" thing, it is         Denying that Christ is the only
Christ.  It is a faith, nevertheless,       absolutely  unbiblical.    Faith  in       way and that faith in Christ is the
acceptable  to  God.    This  "faith        Scripture is ever faith in Christ--         only way to the Father, inclusivists
principle,"  this  "theocentric  reli-      faith  in  God  revealed  in  Christ.      compromise the holiness and jus-
gion"  which  need  not  be                 "He that believeth on the Son hath         tice of God.  God who is holy and
"Christocentric," is taught, say the        everlasting  life:  and  he  that          just  demands  satisfaction  for  sin.
inclusivists, in a text such as He-         believeth not the Son shall not see        Christ alone did this on the cross.
brews  11:6:    "He  that  cometh  to       life; but the wrath of God abideth         Faith alone is the only way Christ's
God  must  believe  that  he  is,  and      on him" (John 3:36).  Eternal life is      merits are applied to God's people.
that he is a rewarder of them that          knowing  God  and  knowing  Jesus          To say that one does not need faith

64/Standard Bearer/November 1, 1997


in Christ to be saved is to say that       son, His universal love, that salva-         to  the  truth  of  God's  revelation.
Christ  and  the  imputation  of  His      tion  is  made  possible  apart  from        Inclusivists say that there is a gen-
righteousness  to  us  do  not  really     Christ.  God is  so loving, say the          eral revelation, a light in nature, a
matter--to God or to people!  The           inclusivists, that surely He would           natural law by the light of which
cross was not really necessary!  Sin       not let the mass of men perish sim-          sinners,  even  apart  from  the
is not really so bad!   God is not         ply because they heard not the gos-          preaching  of  the  gospel,  can  be
really so God!                             pel!    But  this  idea  of  a  universal    saved.  But Scripture teaches that
    There is latent in the inclusivist     love  is  foreign  to  the  Scriptures.      all that is revealed from God in na-
doctrine also a wrong view of the          God loves His own.  But the repro-           ture to the wicked is God's wrath
love  of  God.    Crucial  to  the         bate wicked His soul hates (Psalm            (Romans 1:18ff.), and that, to leave
inclusivist doctrine of the possibil-      5:5; 11:5).  One expression of God's         the sinner without excuse!  Salva-
ity  of  salvation  through  other         wrath is His  not bringing the gos-          tion is not through the light of na-
means  than  conscious  faith  in          pel to all men, but leaving many in          ture,  but  of  the  gospel,  and  the
Christ  is  the  teaching  that  God       darkness!                                    preaching of it: Romans 10:14ff.
loves everyone.  It is for this rea-           Further,  there  is,  behind  the                       ... to be continued   u
                                           inclusivist mush, error with regard

  Annual RFPA Meeting                                                                              Mr. Bob Vermeer



                           Secretary's Report

                                           United  States, second only  to the          book publication.  We continue to
                                           Banner.  We are now mailing more             fine-tune our operations to assure
                                           than 2,500 copies per issue of the           more  timely  completion  of  our
According to the Constitution
        of the Reformed Free Pub-
        lishing  Association,  the         SB, 45% of which go to non-Prot-             book publication projects.
purpose of the RFPA is to witness          estant Reformed subscribers.  We                 We have been graciously pro-
to the truth contained in the Word         have 339 subscribers in 30 differ-           vided accommodations in the semi-
of  God  as  expressed  in  the  three     ent foreign countries.  Among the            nary  basement  for  our  operation
forms of unity and to reveal false         countries to which we send the SB            and continue to enjoy a good work-
and  deceptive  views  repugnant           are the following:  the Philippines,         ing relationship with the Theologi-
thereto.  In order to effectuate this      Indonesia,  Romania,  Hungary,               cal School Committee.  We thank
purpose, the Association publishes         Switzerland, India, and the Neth-            them for their willingness to allow
and distributes the Standard Bearer,       erlands.    Added  in  the  past  year       us to operate in their facility.
and also publishes in book form the        were  Latvia,  Korea,  Denmark,                  To assist us in the publication
writings  of  our  Protestant  Re-         Hong  Kong,  Myanmar,  Malta,                process,  we  have  hired  a  manu-
formed  professors, ministers, and         Greece, Peru, and Brazil.                    script editor.    Having  a  qualified
educators,  as  well  as  good  mate-          Gifts  and  collections  have            person take on this responsibility
rial in the Reformed tradition.            reached  an  all-time  high;  from           will help to insure that the books
    God has enabled us to publish          $17,000 in 1985 to $45,000 in 1997.          we publish are of high quality, er-
the  SB  for  the  past  73  years  and    This is a remarkable increase and            ror-free, and with a reading style
has richly blessed our labors.  We         reason for special word of thanks            that complements the subject mat-
have been told recently that we are        to all who remember this worthy              ter.  This in turn will help to in-
one of the oldest religious periodi-       cause with their gifts.  These gifts         sure that our books are marketable
cals  currently  published  in  the        and collections cover over half the          and  that  our  organization  main-
                                           cost of publishing the SB.                   tains  a  reputation  for  producing
                                               Ever since the RFPA board took           only well-written materials.  Gary
                                           on  the  book  publishing  responsi-         VanDer  Schaaf  has  been  hired  as
                                           bility two years ago, a large pro-           our manuscript editor.  Besides ed-
Mr. Vermeer is the retiring secretary      portion of our work has involved             iting manuscripts, Gary is working
of the RFPA.

                                                                                             November 1, 1997/Standard Bearer/65


with  our  SB  Business  Manager,            widely  distributed  this  year,  giv-    world in North America about the
Don  Doezema,  to  develop  an               ing our literature a lot of new ex-       SB, its origins, and its purposes.
editor's  protocol  to  standardize          posure.  Our sales from books in-             We  give  Prof.  Engelsma  our
grammar, usage, and punctuation              creased over 50% this past year, as       heartfelt thanks for his devotion as
for all RFPA publications, includ-           we have sent our books around the         Editor-in-Chief  to  the  publication
ing the  SB.  This will shorten time         world, adding 400 new customers           of the  SB.  We also extend a sin-
spent editing and promote consis-            and a dozen new bookstores.               cere  word  of  appreciation  to  the
tency.  We take this opportunity to              We  have  purchased  a  mobile        department editors and guest writ-
thank Gary for his assistance and            display  rack  for  displaying  and       ers of the SB, as well as to our book
expertise in the past year.                  selling RFPA literature at lectures,      authors.    We  thank  our  God  for
    Although  we  have  not  had  a          conferences,  ecclesiastical  gather-     giving  us  the  truth  of  His  Word
new book to offer in the past year,          ings,  evangelism  events,  etc.    Be    and  servants  who  faithfully  pro-
we have been busy preparing new              sure to let the board know of such        claim that truth.
books and reprinting existing titles.        events so that we can have the dis-           Our SB Business Manager, Don
It looks quite certain that we will          play rack available.  We would also       Doezema,  and  our  Book  Publica-
have one or two books out by the             like  to  encourage  some  of  our        tions Manager, Ev Langerak, have
end of this calendar year.  Besides          churches or evangelism committees         worked hard over the last year to
the  three  revisions/reprints  and          to start their own display rack of        see that the work of publishing the
four new book projects mentioned             RFPA  literature.    We  offer  book      SB  and  our  books  is  completed.
in  last  year's  annual  report,  we        discounts for such endeavors.             Their efforts are gratefully appre-
have two other projects which are                We have also begun taking ad-         ciated, as are the efforts of several
worthy of note.  One project is an           vantage of the Internet as a pow-         capable assistants:  Judi Doezema,
updated SB Index which will soon             erful means to witness to the truth       who typesets each issue of the  SB
come out on CD ROM.  The other               and advertise our publications.  We       and  many  of  our  books;  Dirk
project  is  placing  all  SB  volumes       gave Rev. VanBaren permission to          Westra who helps in proofreading
on one CD, including an index and            include  the  SB   on  Loveland's         book  manuscripts;  and  Brenda
search capability.                           homepage, and we put the RFPA             Brands  who  provides  general  as-
    We have expended a lot of ef-            catalog  on  the  homepage  of  the       sistance, especially in the prepara-
fort  this  past  year  promoting  the       Mission Committee.  We have also          tion  of  the  cumulative  SB  Index.
SB and our book publications.  A             enlisted the service and  expertise       We offer a special thanks to John
subscription drive for the  SB and           of Tim Hanko to design the RFPA's         and Hermie Veldman for faithfully
the Book Club was conducted via              own homepage.                             assisting in the mailing of every is-
an  insert  card  in  the  SB.    At  its        The board has recently begun          sue of the SB.
completion, we had gained 80 new             trying to obtain persons in the PRC           We  thank  our  retiring  board
subscribers for the SB from 386 trial        outside the Grand Rapids area who         members,  Ed  Hoekstra,  Harv
subscriptions and 157 gift subscrip-         are willing to promote RFPA books         Holstege, John Kalsbeek, and Bob
tions.  Since most of these trial sub-       to  Christian  bookstores  in  their      Vermeer, for their labors in the past
scriptions  and  gift  subscriptions         community, giving four books free         three years.  Such labor is without
were  suggested  or  given  by  our          of charge for each store as starters.     material  reward,  but  we  work  in
regular  subscribers,  this  demon-          In this way a more personal touch         the knowledge that our cause is to
strates a commendable willingness            can be added to our attempt to pro-       distribute our literature for the pur-
on  the  part  of  our  subscribers  to      mote  our  literature  in  Reformed       pose of giving God all the praise,
promote the SB among acquaintan-             communities.                              honor, and glory.  We ask that you
ces.  These efforts do pay off.  We              Prof.  Engelsma  had  two  live,      continue to pray for us in our la-
also  added  125  new  Book  Club            hour-long  radio  interviews  on  a       bors as your board.
members,  bringing  our  total  to           Richmond, VA station.  The inter-             As  we  begin  the  74th  volume
about  540.    We  encourage  those          views were on his book  Marriage:         year,  we  are  encouraged  by  the
who appreciate good Reformed lit-            The Mystery of Christ and the Church.     words of the apostle Paul recorded
erature to join our Book Club.  For          This is an indication that our books      in I Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore,
you, there is a 35% discount on all          are circulated and accepted in ar-        my  beloved  brethren,  be  ye
of our books.  For the RFPA, there           eas  other  than  our  PR  communi-       stedfast,  unmovable,  always
is a guaranteed outlet for our new           ties.                                     abounding in the work of the Lord,
publications, allowing us to recover             Recently,  Prof.  Engelsma  was       forasmuch  as  ye  know  that  your
immediately much of our publica-             interviewed as the editor of the SB       labour is not in vain in the Lord."
tion costs in order to begin work            by Christian Renewal.  Through this                   Respectfully submitted,
on new titles.                               means, Prof. Engelsma was able to                 Bob Vermeer, Secretary   u
    Our RFPA Books Catalog was               inform the conservative Reformed

66/Standard Bearer/November 1, 1997


  Taking Heed to the Doctrine                                                                           Rev. Steven Key


            Jesus, Jehovah-Salvation (2)

Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for            merely bring about some form of            He preserves us as His people, so
he shall save his people from their sins.      reformation  in  state  government         that all the powers of darkness are
                           Matthew 1:21        and in federal government and on           only servants in the building, for
                                               the local level, so that eventually        the strengthening of His church.
                                               this world becomes a nice place in
That is the gospel, the precious
          gospel, spoken by the angel                                                         And then--as if all those things
          of the Lord to Joseph and re-        which to live.  He does not merely         were not glorious enough--He pre-
corded in Matthew.                             bring about social reformation, so         pares for us a place in heaven.  And
        In  our  consideration  of  the        that earthly poverty is eliminated         when  He  has  finished  His  work
name Jesus, we have seen that His              and injustice is a thing of the past.      with us in this world, He will come
divinely  appointed  name  reveals             He  does  not  merely  bring  about        and  take  us  unto  Himself,  that
Him to us as Jehovah-salvation, our            victory over diseases, such as can-        where He is, there we may be also.
Savior.    He  is  a  complete  Savior.        cer, so that we can live a long life       That is the wonderful gospel pro-
Not only did He accomplish salva-              on the earth.                              claimed in the name JESUS.  Jeho-
tion for a people, but He also works               Those things, nice as they may         vah saves!
that  salvation  in  those  whom  He           be,  could  not  begin  to  touch  the
saves, not leaving it up to them to            surface of the glory which He re-          A Particular Savior
complete that salvation.                       veals  as the  wonder  work  of  His           But make no mistake--He does
        When we confess Jesus as the           grace!    He  is  not  a  Savior  who      not  save  all  men.    He  does  not.
complete  Savior,  we  confess  that           merely  patches  things  up,  makes        That was not His intention.  That
He saves us in such a way that all             some outward improvements, and             was not His desire.  That was not
our life is affected.  Indeed, by His          helps His people to feel good about        His work.
wonder work of grace we are given              their state.                                   Jesus is a particular Savior.  He
life!  The Almighty God of our sal-                Oh, no.  Far better!  He is Jesus,     will not save all.
vation comes to us with His pow-               Savior, the mighty God of our sal-             On  the  one  hand,  there  are
erful,  efficacious  Word  of  grace           vation,  who  comes  with  His  al-        those who openly oppose Him and
and breaks our stubborn wills.  He             mighty Word to you and to me and           manifest their hatred against Him,
softens our hard hearts, making us             makes us new creatures in an old           who are simply given over to their
sincerely willing and ready to live            world!                                     sins, to darkness and death.  This
unto Him.                                          In fact, He makes us pilgrims          also is according to the sovereign
        Jesus  does  that.    He  gives  us    and strangers, citizens of the heav-       counsel and decree of God.
spiritual life, a life which finds its         enly kingdom, who enjoy a relation-            On  the  other  hand,  there  are
focus in fellowship with our heav-             ship  of  love  and  fellowship  with      those who are outwardly religious,
enly Father, a life which knows that           God our Father that the world can-         who  even  profess  to  believe  in
there is one only comfort, and that            not even begin to comprehend.  He          Him;  but  who  do  not   believe  in
is to belong with body and soul, in            saves us in such a way that we live        Him as the Jesus revealed in Holy
life and death, to our faithful Sav-           in the midst of this world of dark-        Scripture.  Jesus Himself spoke of
ior Jesus Christ.                              ness,  and  yet  are  children  of  the    them in His sermon on the mount,
        What a great salvation is ours         light.                                     when He said, "Not every one that
in Christ Jesus!                                   He  does  not  merely  seek  ad-       saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall en-
        We  have  something  far  more         mittance into our hearts; He makes         ter into the kingdom of heaven; but
than  the  world  could  even  hope            room.  He dethrones sin, and en-           he that doeth the will of my Father
for!                                           thrones Himself.  He lives in us by        which is in heaven.  Many will say
        Jesus  our  Savior  does  not          His Holy Spirit, sanctifying us, pu-       to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have
                                               rifying us, causing us to turn from        we  not  prophesied  in  thy  name?
                                               sin unto the living God.  He awak-         and in thy name have cast out dev-
Rev. Key is pastor  of the  Protestant         ens  within  us  a  longing  for  God      ils?  and  in  thy  name  done  many
Reformed Church of Randolph, Wis-              and  His  fellowship,  and  nurtures       wonderful works?  And then will I
consin.                                        that longing in us, so that it grows.      profess  unto  them,  I  never  knew

                                                                                              November 1, 1997/Standard Bearer/67


you: depart from me, ye that work                  In  many  Reformed circles the              according to the words of the same
iniquity" (Matt. 7:21-23).                 lie of Arminianism is wholeheart-                   Jesus (John 10), who hear His voice
    All men are not saved.                 edly embraced.  And the same poi-                   and know Him, and follow Him.
    So  Scripture  teaches  through-       soned  gospel  that  embraced  the                      That is a believer, according to
out,  giving  its  warning  even  to       Romish church prior to the Refor-                   the Word of God.
those within the church institute.         mation now embraces many of the                         Jesus is the Savior whose very
    But His name is  Jesus, for He         churches  whose  roots  are  in  that               name demands faith.
shall save His people from their sins.     Reformation.                                            What  terrible  desolation  and
So says Scripture in Matthew 1:21.                 Oh, yes, we may say this:  Jesus            unrest is found in the hearts and
So teaches Scripture throughout.           saves believers.                                    lives of those who reject Jesus the
    His  people  are  the  elect  who              Do you believe?                             Savior,  who  will have  nothing  to
have  been  given  Him  by  His  Fa-               The  call  of  the  gospel  is  this:       do with Him.
ther from before the foundation of         Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,                  Some  of  you  know  only  too
the world.  Jesus died for them.  He       and you shall be saved.                             well  that  unrest  of  living  apart
died for them only.                                But let us ask:  Who are believ-            from Christ.  All of us have expe-
    Jesus died for a definite num-         ers?                                                rienced  that  there  is  no  peace  in
ber  of  people.    And  that  definite            Scripture identifies them.  They            the  way  of  sin  and  unrighteous-
number is not determined by the            are those who belong to the elect                   ness.  There is no peace in living
people, but by the living God.             organism of the world, those who                    apart from Jesus.
    Jesus taught that clearly when         have been born again by the Spirit                      True faith finds the only com-
He  said  in  John  10,  "I  lay  down     of Christ, and who have been given                  fort  there  is  and  the  peace  that
my  life  for  the  sheep,"  and  then     to  see  therefore  the  things  of  the            passes  all  understanding  in  Him
identified  those  sheep  as  those        kingdom of God.                                     alone who is our righteousness and
which the Father gave Him.  That                   They are those who know that                our salvation.  His name is Jesus.
is the truth set forth throughout the      they are lost.  They know the dev-                  He  saves  His  people  from  their
whole of the Bible.  And this truth        astating  nature  of  their  sin.    But            sins.
is fundamental.                            they  hear  the  Word  of  God  that                    His name demands faith.  But
    I realize that this particular as-     says (Luke 19:10), "The Son of man                  that  faith  He  also  works  in  our
pect of the gospel is generally de-        is  come  to  seek  and  to  save  that             hearts by His Spirit.  He works that
nied today.  Sadly, it is denied now       which was lost."                                    faith which cries out, "God, be mer-
even in many so-called Reformed                    They are those who are weary                ciful to me, a sinner."  He works
circles.  Today a Jesus is preached        and heavy laden under the burden                    that faith which lays hold of Jesus.
who, although He does not save all         of  their  own  sin  and  guilt  and                    Do you believe?
men,  nevertheless  desires  to  save      shame.   But they hear the  call of                     Then  you  know  what  the
all.    Today  they  say  that  He  did    Jesus, "Come unto me, all ye that                   apostle meant when he said (Acts
not die in order to save a chosen          labour and are heavy laden, and I                   3:26), "God, having raised up his
few,  but  He  died  to  save  every-      will give you rest."  They are those,               Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in
body, if only men will give them-                                                              turning  away  every  one  of  you
selves to Him.                                                                                 from his iniquities."   u

  Go Ye Into All the World                                                                              Rev. Allen Brummel

                                              Animism

                                                   I  intend  to  write  a  series  of  ar-    fied  to  those  who  are  in  bondage  to
                                           ticles which introduce the major false              these lies.
                                           religions of the world.  My desire is
                                           that these articles will equip the reader           What is Animism?
                                           both to be on his guard against the lie
                                           and to speak the truth in opposition
Rev. Brummel is pastor of the Protes-                                                          In simple terms, Animism is
                                                                                                   used to describe a form of reli-
                                           to it.  May God increasingly use us                     gion which worships spirits, as
tant  Reformed  Church  in  Edgerton,      and  our  churches  to  bring  the  com-            distinguished from the worship of
Minnesota.                                 forting  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  cruci-          God or gods.  The influence of ani-

68/Standard Bearer/November 1, 1997


mism is worldwide, underlying vir-       who die violent deaths are thought          Americans there are many super-
tually all of the major religions of     to remain on earth in order to bring        stitions regarding a dead person's
the world.  Animism is especially        misfortune to their neighbors.              soul.  Many believe that the soul
evident  among  primitive  groups            One method of appeasing the             will be angry and perhaps  retali-
such as the American Indians, the        souls is by offering sacrifices and         ate with evil if the departed one is
Aborigines of Australia, the Eski-       worshiping the departed ancestors.          not spoken kindly of and eulogized
mos, and most of the tribes of Af-       This worship is not performed out           at the time of burial, if the grave is
rica and South America.  In fact, of     of  respect  and  reverence  for  the       not  visited  frequently,  if  his  pos-
late, the term "Animism" is being        dead, as is true among some reli-           sessions  are  not  treated  with  re-
replaced by the term "Primal Reli-       gions  and  peoples.    Animistic           spect, etc.
gion," which is thought to be more       people  perform  ancestor  worship
broad  and  descriptive.    But  the     out  of  tragic  fear  of  the  possible    Special Powers
term  "Primal  Religion"  seems  to      threat which the souls of the dead              The worship of souls involves
imply that the only people holding       pose.                                       more than simply worship of the
this form of religion are primitive          The animist will take every op-         dead.  It assumes not only the sur-
peoples, when in reality even the        portunity  to  honor  the  dead.            vival of the souls of human beings
sophisticated are among its adher-       Harvey Hoekstra relates an expe-            after death, but also the existence
ents.                                    rience  among  the  Anuaks  in  the         of supernatural powers or "magic."
    Animism  is  present  in  the        Sudan, Africa:                                  Where a belief in supernatural
United States, although it is often                                                  powers  exists,  utmost  caution  is
more subconscious than is the de-                 One morning an Anuak man           taken to protect oneself from invis-
liberate  spirit-worship  found  in        from the village and I were hik-          ible attacks by the spirits and souls.
more  primitive  societies.    Ameri-      ing  together  to  a  distant village.    This gives rise to the many taboos
cans  reveal  their  preoccupation         We were visiting and conversing           which govern every aspect of the
with  spirits  and  the  supernatural      together as we walked.  I was in          life  of  an  animist.    One  example
                                           front and he was close behind me.
in the books they read, the movies         I'd been  talking, but when  I got        from African culture has to do with
they attend, and the superstitions         no reply, I turned around to look         taboos  which  are  associated  with
which they believe affect how their        and  establish  eye  contact.    The      pregnant women and newborn in-
day may proceed.1                          man was no longer there.  I turned        fants.    Harvey  Hoekstra  relates
    Animism in its narrowest sense         back  and  soon  found  him  about        some of these taboos which he saw
is preoccupied with the concept of         30 feet off the path.  He was on          among the Anuak tribe in Sudan,
the soul.  All men seem to be aware        his knees talking out loud to no          Africa:
of a soul as distinct from the body.       one visible.  He was in front of a
The common belief is that the soul         dilapidated  abandoned  Anuak                   Anuaks believed that a preg-
                                           hut.    I  waited  a  moment  before
is as a little man inside the body,                                                    nant woman cast an evil shadow
                                           speaking, somewhat surprised to
who indicates his presence by the                                                      on certain things and events.  The
                                           hear him talking to someone who
movements of that body.  When the                                                      influence  of  a  pregnant  woman
                                           obviously wasn't there.  With no
body  dies,  the  soul  will  escape                                                   had  to  be  counteracted.    She
                                           further explanation, my compan-             mustn't  be  around  the  cattle  or
from the body.  Concerning those           ion said, " I just stopped for a mo-        there  might  be  miscarriages  of
souls that escape, many questions          ment to greet our chief who once            calves.  Cows would give less milk
arise:  Where have they gone?  Are         lived here before he died."                 when  a  pregnant  woman  was
they  capable  of  exercising  power              I  understood  better  what  it      around them.
and influence over the living?  If         meant  for  Africans  to  honor  the            The  belief  that  a  pregnant
                                           "living dead."  It was important
they do pose a threat, what mea-                                                       woman  could  actually  cause  a
                                           for my friend to keep on the right
sures can be taken to minimize that                                                    newborn baby's umbilical cord to
                                           side  of  this  dead  person  whose
threat?    What  measures  can  be                                                     pop out and not heal properly was
                                           memory  was  vivid  enough  to
taken to insure that the souls are                                                     very  strong.    Every  Anuak  be-
                                           cause his spirit to respond appro-          lieved this to be so.   They called
removed as far as possible from the        priately if he wasn't properly re-          this influence "theri.". . .
living?                                    spected. 2
    The driving concern of the ani-
mist is the security of the living in    One need not go to Africa to find
relation to the souls of those who       this  honoring  and  worshiping  of         1 Gailyn Van Rheenen,  Communi-
have departed.  Souls which have         the  dead.    Ancestor  worship  is         cating Christ in Animistic Contexts,
departed from men and women are          common among immigrants to this             (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991), p. 27.
viewed as unfriendly and prone to        country and even many Americans.            2  Harvey  Hoekstra,  Honey,  We're
do harm to those who remain on           Although it is not openly viewed            Going  to  Africa,  (Mukilteo:  Wine
earth.  Especially the souls of those    as  "ancestor  worship,"  among             Press, Publishing, 1995), p. 102.

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         Whenever  the  navel  of  a          The Life of an Animist                        the  true  reason  why  the  animist
  newly  born  baby  failed  to  heal                  The animist lives a life of fear,    does  not  worship  God.    It  is  not
  properly and infection set in, the          devoid  of  comfort.    Four  charac-         merely because God is not feared,
  immediate, burning question was,            teristics summarize the life of the           but  it  is  because  the  true  knowl-
  "What  pregnant  woman  caused              animist.  1) The prevalence of fear,          edge  of  Him  is  held  under  in
  `theri?'  Who did it?"  And, if the
  baby died, it became a matter of            2) the absence of anything  in the            unrighteousness.    Animists  see
  life  and  death  for  the  suspected       nature of religious comfort, 3) no            God's  revelation  in  creation,  but
  person.3                                    differentiation  between  good  and           they  reject  it  and  worship  spirits
                                              evil, and 4) a fatalistic outlook on          instead.
    American  culture  is  saturated          life.
with taboos.  The superstitious na-                    Fear  is  the  outstanding  and          For the invisible things of him
ture  of  Americans  is  seen  in  the        most  noticeable  characteristic  of            from the creation of the world are
popularity  of  astrological  charts          Animism. "Never any waking mo-                  clearly seen, being understood by
and horoscopes in the daily papers.           ment of day or night is the animist             the things that are made, even his
Insignificant actions, such as open-          parted from consciousness that he               eternal  power  and  Godhead;  so
                                                                                              that they are without excuse: Be-
ing an umbrella indoors, can cre-             is surrounded by a host of evil spir-           cause that when they knew God,
ate  significant  offense  and  even          its who may ruin his crops, or in-              they glorified him not as God, nei-
fear.                                         flict  other  misfortunes,  unless  he          ther  were  thankful;  but  became
    The  animist  lives  in  constant         walks warily and observes the nec-              vain  in  their  imaginations,  and
awareness  of  the  powers  of  evil          essary taboos."6                                their foolish heart was darkened.
and is constantly attempting to ap-                    Selfishness also reigns  among         (Romans 1:20, 21)
pease them.  On one occasion mis-             animistic people, exposing a com-
sionary  Hoekstra  stumbled  on  a            plete absence of love.   The entire           The  animist  is guilty  of  precisely
group of village leaders who were             religion is man-centered.  While it           the sin described in verse 25: "Who
discussing what to do with a little           may  seem  as  though  the  animist           changed the truth of God into a lie,
baby boy.                                     upholds morals, upon closer exami-            and  worshipped  and  served  the
                                              nation one finds that the seemingly           creature  more  than  the  Creator,
    A person suspected of being a             moral behavior is motivated by ta-            who is blessed for ever."
  "shi-jwok" (one who would have              boos and is not a sign of true spiri-
  the  ability  to  cast  evil  spells  on    tuality at all.  There is no concern          Exposing the Error of the Animist
  people, villages, and events) was           about what is morally good or evil.               The  Bible  clearly  exposes  the
  greatly feared and people were al-          Religious morals and love are en-             sin of animistic religion.  We read
  ways on the lookout for someone                                                           in  Leviticus  19:31:  "Regard  not
  who  might  be  a  "shi-jwok"  and          tirely absent.  Sin occurs when one           them that have familiar spirits, nei-
  have caused a misfortune.  They             goes  against  the  understood  cus-          ther  seek  after  wizards  to  be  de-
  were discussing the fate of a little,       toms or taboos.
  newborn baby whose testicle had                      The  animist  finds  himself  a      filed by them: I am the LORD your
  not  come  down.    A  child  born          slave to fear and self-love because           God."  We must see this to include
  with that abnormality among the             he has turned aside from the wor-             horoscopes, palm readers, and any
  Anuaks was cursed and had to be             ship  of  the  one  true  God.    This        other attempt  to know the future
  killed.    If  allowed  to  grow  to        drives him to seek help from me-              through  wicked  men.    I  Samuel
  adulthood,  this  person  would             diums,  witch  doctors, palm  read-           28:6,7 relates the tragic incident of
  have  the  ability  to  curse  people                                                     Saul seeking an answer to his di-
  and cause great harm.4                      ers, star gazers, astrologers, horo-
                                              scopes, etc.   By forsaking the rev-          lemma  from  an  evil  spirit.    Al-
                                                                                            though the truth is revealed to Saul
Hoekstra convinced the men to go              elation  of  God  in  creation  and           through this means, the truth con-
to bed and wait until morning to              through His Word, the animist has             demns Saul and informs him of his
make a decision, hoping that they             launched himself into the darkness            certain  destruction  due  to  his  re-
would then be more sober and save             of despair (Rom. 1:18-32).                    bellion against God.
the life of the child.  But later he                   The most commonly given rea-             The  prophet  Isaiah  warns
heard that the baby had been killed           son as to why animists do not wor-            Babylon of her sinful, futile attempt
the next morning.  Writes Hoekstra:           ship the true God is that they are            to trust in sorceries and enchant-
"My presence had delayed the in-              not afraid of the Creator God.  Pri-          ments.  Isaiah 47:11-14a:
evitable, but had not prevented it.           mal religions view God as benevo-
I was reminded again that without             lent and loving.  The devil and evil              Therefore shall evil come upon
Jesus  there  is  darkness,  fear  and        spirits, on the other hand, are seen            thee;  thou  shalt  not  know  from
superstition which brings death."5            as evil and fearful, so they are wor-           whence  it  ariseth:  and  mischief
                                              shiped.    The  apostle Paul,  in  Ro-          shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not
                                              mans  1:18-25,  enlightens  us  as  to          be able to put it off; and desola-

70/Standard Bearer/November 1, 1997


  tion  shall  come  upon  thee  sud-     the fear of Animism and replace it              The gospel of Christ crucified
  denly, which thou shalt not know.       with true peace.  Indeed, there is          must  be  brought  to  the  animist,
  Stand  now  with  thine  enchant-       a spiritual battle between the forces       both through personal witness by
  ments, and with the multitude of        of  evil  and  good,  but  Christ,  the     individual Christians and through
  thy  sorceries,  wherein  thou  hast    triumphant Lord, has defeated all           the official preaching of the Word.
  laboured from thy youth; if so be
  thou shalt be able to profit, if so     principalities  and  powers.    "And        Personally we must witness of the
  be thou mayest prevail.  Thou art       having  spoiled  principalities  and        joy, peace, and freedom which we
  wearied  in  the  multitude  of  thy    powers, he made a shew of them              have in Jesus Christ.  Never may
  counsels.  Let now the astrologers,     openly,  triumphing  over  them  in         we take that peace and freedom for
  the stargazers, the monthly prog-       it" (Col. 2:15).  In Christ Jesus we        granted!  We will invite our super-
  nosticators,  stand  up,  and  save     have  been  delivered  from  all  the       stitious, fearful  neighbor  to come
  thee from these things that shall       bondage of the devil and evil spir-         with us to church to hear the won-
  come  upon  thee.    Behold,  they      its.    When  God  works  the  assur-       der  of  Christ  crucified.    We pray
  shall be as stubble; the fire shall     ance of Christ's victory in the heart       that God will use the power of the
  burn them; they shall not deliver
  themselves from the power of the        of His child, all animistic practices       preaching,  both  in  our  congrega-
  flame.                                  must be put aside.  As difficult as         tions and on the mission field, to
                                          it  is  to  discard  all  the  emotional    convict  and  expose  the  man-cen-
Our society is filled with fear.  In      and  psychological  baggage  of  a          tered, hopeless religion of the ani-
order to overcome that fear many,         false religion, it is possible by the       mist and replace it with the joy of
including some of our presidents,         power  of  the  regenerating  Spirit.       salvation through Jesus Christ.
have tried to determine the future        Our desire is to witness of God's               Our next article will focus on
through horoscopes and palm read-         wonderful  work  through  Jesus             Hinduism, the Lord willing.   u
ers.    Men  and  women  look  for        Christ to all those who cling to this
something  to  do  in  order  to  ap-     comfortless religion, whether they
pease Jehovah God, but peace and          be  here  in  America,  or  in  other       3 Ibid. p. 107,8.
comfort  will  not  come  through         countries  throughout  the  world.          4 Ibid. 112, 113.
spirit worship, maintaining super-        The  power  of  God  can  and  will         5 Ibid. p. 113.
stitions, or reading the stars.           bring all of His sheep out of their         6  J.N.D.  Anderson,  Editor  The
    The gospel of Jesus Christ is the     fearful, rebellious walk and bring          World's  Religions,  (Grand  Rapids:
only power which is able to break         them to know the joy of salvation.          Eerdmans, 1968), p. 18.

  News From Our Churches                                                                   Mr. Benjamin Wigger

Evangelism Activities                     was  scheduled  to  speak  on  the          But for the present,  at least, they
The month of September saw the topic "Amillennialism," followed will meet at Pine Creek Elementary
    congregation of the Bethel PRC        by "The Signs of Christ's Coming,"          School,  located,  for  those  of  you
in Itasca, IL sponsor two classes for     and "The Last Days."                        who might have an occasion to go
their  community.    These  classes           Rev.  Mahtani,  pastor  of  the         there, at 1184  136th Ave., north of
were held at the Elk Grove Library        Trinity PRC in Houston, TX, was             West Ottawa High School, between
on September 18 and 25.  The top-         asked  to  present  the  Reformed           Riley and Quincy Streets.  We say
ics  considered  were,  "The  Bible:      view of predestination to two of the        temporary  church  home  because
Absolute Truth," based on II Peter        high school classes at Texas Chris-         we have also learned that work has
1, and "What is the Life of a Chris-      tian School in mid-September.  Evi-         already begun on their new church
tian?" as found in Romans 6.              dently he was well received, since          building.  As of September 25 the
    The Evangelism Committee of           he was invited back for a follow-           footings were in, and best estimates
the Kalamazoo, MI PRC planned a           up question and answer session.             called for completion of Holland's
fall  seminar,  entitled  "Behold,  I                                                 new building by June of next year.
Come Quickly," to run three con-          Congregational Activities                       The     Immanuel        PRC      in
secutive Thursdays in October.  Be-       In a follow-up to our October 1 Lacombe, Alberta, Canada reports
ginning  on  October  9,  Rev.  W.          "News," we can now report that            that they were able to worship in
Bruinsma,  pastor  at  Kalamazoo,         the sale of the church building of          their beautiful new church build-
                                          the First PRC in Holland, MI has            ing  for  the  first  time  on  Sunday,
                                          been finalized.  The sale was closed        September 21.  Their contractor will
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protes-     on September 26.  This means that           now begin building a new parson-
tant Reformed  Church  of  Hudson-        our Holland congregation is tem-            age near the church.  Finances for
ville, Michigan.                          porarily  without  a  church  home.         the  new  parsonage  are  coming

                                                                                           November 1, 1997/Standard Bearer/71


    The
Standard
 Bearer                                                                                                                     PERIODICAL
                                                                                                                            Postage Paid at
   P.O. Box 603                                                                                                             Grandville,
  Grandville, MI  49468-0603                                                                                                Michigan


from the sale of the old parsonage.         mon  entitled,  "Our  God's  Urgent                     1:23,  24  and  entitled,  "Preaching
    Progress  also  continues  to  be       Word of Comfort," based on Isaiah                       Christ Crucified."  We rejoice that
made on the 6.2 acres of property           40:1, 2.  Plans called for a welcome                    God  has  continued  graciously  to
which will eventually become the            program for the Lanings on Octo-                        provide men for the ministry of the
home  of  the  Georgetown  PRC  in          ber 17.                                                 Word in our churches.  Let us all
Hudsonville, MI.  The occupants of                  Two days later, on the 21st of                  remember  the  exhortation  of
that property moved out, and the            September,  pastor-elect  Martin                        Ephesians 6:19 and pray for those
Georgetown  Fire  Department                VanderWal  was  installed  as  the                      two men, and for all our ministers,
planned to use the recently demol-          fourth pastor of the Covenant PRC                       that utterance may be given them
ished barn as a practice site on Oc-        in Wyckoff, NJ.  Rev. K. Koole led                      that  they  may  open  their  mouths
tober 2.  They planned on the same          the  installation  service.    The  ser-                boldly,  to  make  known  the  mys-
for  the  garage  in  six  weeks,  and      vice  was  followed  by  a  welcome                     tery of the gospel.
the house will follow in February,          luncheon for the VanderWal fam-
after  many  practice  sessions  in         ily.    The  following  Sunday  Rev.                    Food for Thought
"search  and  rescue"  in  a  smoke-        VanderWal preached his inaugural                        "God chooses us, not because we
filled home.                                sermon,  based  on  II  Corinthians                     believe, but that we may believe."
    As  far  as  plans  for  a  new                                                                                            --Augustine   u
church building go, it has been de-
termined that first a general sketch
has to be adopted, with a general                                           ANNOUNCEMENTS
idea of the cost.  To this end, slow
progress is being made.                               WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                               NOTICE!
    In  a  follow-up  to  our  July  1st            On November 4,
issue  of  the  "News,"  we  are  also                                                                     In much gratitude to God the
                                             GEORGE and DOROTHY ENGELSMA                                      REV. WAYNE BEKKERING
happy  to  report  that  the  "In  My       will celebrate their 50th wedding anniver-              is recognized for his 25 years of faithful ser-
Heart" memory project, the memo-            sary, the Lord willing.                                 vice in the ministry of God's Word and sacra-
rization  of  the  book  of  James  by              We are grateful to our heavenly Fa-             ments.
members  of  the  Hudsonville,  MI          ther  for  their  faithfulness  to  each  other                Faithfully and diligently he has labored
PRC, is now completed.  On Sun-             and to the church these many years, as                  in  four  pastorates  within  the  denomination.
day  evening,  September  21,               well as for their membership in our family.             Previously  he  labored  in  God's  service  in
Hudsonville's congregation was in-                  May the faithful God of the everlast-           Randolph PRC in Randolph, WI for five years;
vited to stay after the service for a       ing covenant continue to uphold and bless               in Trinity PRC in Houston, TX for seven years;
short  ceremony  for  distributing          them the rest of the way of their pilgrim-              and then in Faith PRC in Jenison, MI for five
Bibles for those who participated.                                                                  years.  And for the past seven years he has
                                            age.                                                    been the pastor of Pella PRC in Pella, IA.
Over  100  originally  signed  on  to               "The eternal God is thy refuge, and                    May the God of the harvest richly bless
memorize either a part or all of that       underneath  are  the  everlasting  arms"                the brother and his faithful helpmeet.
book, and just under 100 finished           (Deuteronomy 33:27a).                                          "I will give you pastors according to mine
the project, with 32 of those com-                                  The Engelsma family             heart,  which  shall  feed  you  with  knowledge
mitting to memory the entire 108                                          Grand Rapids, Michigan    and understanding" (Jeremiah 3:15).
verses of James in just ten weeks.
    A special worship service was                         TEACHER NEEDED                                            New Webpage!
held  on  Friday,  September  19,  at               The  Northwest  Iowa  Protestant  Re-                  In connection with the celebration of
the  Hope  PRC  in  Walker,  MI  for        formed School will need a teacher for the               their 10th anniversary, Covenant Evangeli-
the  ordination  and  installation  of      lower  grades  for  the  1998-1999  school              cal Reformed Churches in Singapore has
pastor-elect  James  Laning.    Prof.       year.    Interested  parties  can  contact              set  up  a  webpage,  as  a  means  of  out-
Engelsma led the service and Prof.          Chester Hunter (home phone:  712-726-                   reach and a source of information for on-
Hanko read the installation form.           3381,  school  phone:    712-726-3200)  or              going events in the ERCS.  The address
The  following  Lord's  Day  Rev.           write the school at P.O. Box 67, Doon, IA               is:
Laning preached his inaugural ser-          51235.                                                         http://home.pacific.net.sg/~cerc/

72/Standard Bearer/November 1, 1997


