                      STANDARD
 A Reformed                I
Semi-Month/y
Magazine ,            1





vu/.  04, /vu.  LV
September 7, 7988


 Contents                                                               September ?,I 988
Meditation  -  lames D. Slopsema
Strive To Enter In At The Strait Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-. . . . . . . . .458
Editorials  -                                                                                             ISSN 0362-4692
Editor'sNotes.............................................461                                             Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
                                                                                                          and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
As To The Christian Heritage Party Of Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .462                       lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
                                                                                                         at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
The Creation Record Literal (3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .464          EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
                                                                                                         Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
Guided Into All Truth  - Thomas C. Miersma                                                               DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                                         Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog,
The Separation Of Faith And Reason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .465                 Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. Barry Critters, Rev.
Decency And Order  - Ronald L. Cammenga                                                                  Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev.
                                                                                                         Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A.  Heys,  Rev.  J.  Korter-
AFixedCharge............................................468ing, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C.
                                                                                                         Miersma, Rev. James Slopsema; Rev. Cise  J. Van
Walking  In The Light  - Herman C. Hanko                                                                 Baren,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
                                                                                                         EDITORIAL OFFICE
Drunkenness(4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...470    Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                         4975  lvanrest  Ave.,  S.W.
In Memoriam  - George C. Lubbers                                                                         Crandville.  Michigan 49418           .
                                                                                                         CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
In Loving Memory of the Rev. Clinton Elliott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .472                    Mr. Ben Wigger
                                                                                                         6597  - 40th Ave.
The Day Of Shadows  -  lohn A. Heys                                                                      Hudsonville,  Michigan 49426
God's Mercy Casts Its Shadow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .474            EDITORIAL POLICY
                                                                                                         Every editor is solely responsible for the contents
Directory, Protestan't Reformed Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .477                    of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
                                                                                                         terest from our readers and questions for the
BookReview..............................................478 Question Box Department are welcome. Contribu-
                                                                                                         tions will be limited to approximately 300 words
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .478          and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
                                                                                                         must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first and
                                                                                                         the fifteenth of the month. All communications
                                                                                                         relative to the contents should be sent to the
                                                                                                         editorial office.
                                                                                                         REPRINT POLICY
                                                                                                         Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of
 Meditation                                              Then said one unto him,                         articles in our magazine by other publications,
                                                                                                         provided: a) that such reprinted articles are
                                                     Lord, are there few that be                         reproduced in full;  b) that proper acknowledge-
lames D. Slopsema                                    saved? And he said unto them,                       ment is made;  c) that a copy of the periodical in
                                                                                                         which such reprint appears is sent to our editorial
                                                         Strive to enter in at the                       office.
 Strive To                                                                                               BUSINESS OFFICE
                                                     strait gate: for many, I say un-                    The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                         Mr. H.  Vander  Wal, Bus.  Mgr.
                                                     to you, will seek to enter in,                      P.O. Box 6064
                                                     and shall not be able.                              Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516
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 Enter In                                                When once the master of                         NEW ZEALAND BUSINESS OFFICE
                                                                                                         The Standard Bearer
                                                     the house is risen up, and hath                     c/o Protestant Reformed Church
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 Strait Gate                                                                                             renewal order, and he will be billed for renewal. If
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James D. Slopsema is pastor of Hope                                                                      Office.
Protestant Reformed Church, Walker,                                                                      lbmm  microfilm, 35mm microfilm and 105mm
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Michigan.                                                                                                through University Microfilms International.


458  / The Standard Bearer


shall see Abraham, and Isaac,          Nevertheless, the kingdom is not        This is done by faith alone.
and Jticob, and all the proph-         yet complete. Its completion            Faith is the gift of God which
ets, in the kingdom of God,            awaits the second coming of           leads a man to a godly sorrow
and you yourselves thrust out.         Christ from heaven and the crea-      over his sins. Faith also leads him
                    Luke 13:23-28      tion of a new heaven and earth.       to confess all his sins before God
                                         This kingdom is one of              and to seek forgiveness with God
                                       fabulous wealth and splendor.         solely on the merits of Jesus'
  One from the multitude asked         For to this kingdom belong all        sacrifice on the cross. To put it a
Jesus, "Lord, are there few that       the blessings of salvation Christ     little differently, faith is God's
be saved?"                             has earned on the cross. These        work in the hearts and lives of
  From Jesus' answer that              blessings are fellowship and com-     His people, in which God leads
follows it becomes apparent that       munion with the ever blessed          them to the cross, to cling to the
this questioner was of the opin-       God.                                  righteousness of Jesus Christ.
ion that only a few would be             According to the figure Jesus         In the way of that faith, the
saved and that he was looking          uses, there is only one door or       believer finds the righteousness
for Jesus to confirm his opinion.      gate to this kingdom by which         of Christ, enters daily into the
It would also appear that this         we gain access to this kingdom        kingdom, and enjoys all its bless-
man was of the opinion that he         and its blessed salvation.            ings and glory.
was numbered among the select.           This door is the righteousness      * * * * * * *  * * *
few to be saved.                       of Jesus Christ. In His great Ser-
  In response, Jesus does not                                                  It is only with great effort that
                                       mon on the Mount Jesus taught
even comment on whether there                                                the believer enters the kingdom.
                                       that, to enter into the kingdom,
are only few that are saved.           our righteousness must exceed           This is suggested by Jesus
Rather, Jesus. informs this man        the righteousness of the Scribes      when He calls the gate to the
and the multitude that only a few      and the Pharisees (Matt. 5:20).       kingdom a strait or narrow gate.
of them would be saved, even           This implies that the only way in-    This is also suggested by the ex-
though they were of the opinion                                              hortation to strive to enter at the
                                       to the kingdom is to possess a
that, belonging to the nation of                                             strait gate. The word here is our
                                       true righteousness. Now the
Israel, they were numbered                                                   word "agony". It is only with
                                       righteousness which gains us en-
among the saved.                       trance into the kingdom can not       great agony that we by faith
  Hence, they must strive to           be our own righteousness or obe-      enter in at the strait gate.
enter in at the strait gate.           dience. That is the false righ-         The difficulty of entering into
  Also today there are those           teousness of the Scribes and          the kingdom is, first of all, the
who consider themselves to be          Pharisees. The righteousness we       difficulty of turning away from all
numbered among the saved on            need to enter the kingdom is the      self-reliance. How proud we are
false grounds. They too will           perfect righteousness of Jesus        by nature. In pride we are all in-
perish in the day of our Lord                                                clined to rely upon our own
Jesus Christ, unless they heed the     Christ, which He accomplished at
                                       the cross. For at the cross Jesus     works and worth before God. But
call of Christ.                        not only paid the price for sin       to enter into the kingdom re-
  It is well then that we hear the     but walked in perfect obedience       quires that we come before God,
call of the Lord Jesus: "Strive to     to the divine law.                    acknowledging our own unworth-
enter in at the strait gate."                                                iness. It requires that we put
                                       * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *  * *                                                         away all our own works and cling
                                         Now Jesus exhorts us to enter       to the righteousness of Christ
  When Jesus speaks here of the        into the kingdom at this gate.        alone. How humiliating this is!
strait gate, He is referring to the      This is an exhortation to lay       How painful! For the natural man
gate of the kingdom of God.            hold of the righteousness of          it is completely impossible. For
  The kingdom of God, also             Christ, that we may enter in and      the born again Christian who has
called the kingdom of Christ and       enjoy the blessings of the            the gift of faith it is a daily strug-
the kingdom of heaven, is the          kingdom.                              gle.
kingdom Jesus founded at His             This is not something we are          The difficulty of entering the
ascension into heaven. Ever since      to do at the end of the world         kingdom is also the sacrifice and
the ascension, therefore, the          when the kingdom is perfected.        persecution which the life of faith
kingdom has existed in heaven.         This is something we are to do in     brings to the believer.
                                       this life. In fact, Jesus calls us      The faith which lays hold of
                                       here to a daily entering into the     the righteousness of Christ and
                                       kingdom.                              gains us entrance into the

                                                                                                The Standard  Bearer  I459


kingdom is a faith that also leads          And Jesus informs the multi-          which is the life of godliness and
the believer to live a life of god-       tudes that when He one day shall        service to God. And they have
liness. The fruit of all true faith is    rise up and shut the door of the        not lived that life of the kingdom
good works in the service of              kingdom, many of them listening         because they have not lived by
God. We may properly call this            to Him shall find themselves out-       the faith that clings to the righ-
life resulting from faith the life of     side the kingdom. The door will         teousness of the cross. No, Jesus
the kingdom.                              be shut, and they will find them-       will declare that He knows not
   But that life also brings suffer-      selves outside. And so they shall       whence they are. And so they
ing. The life of the kingdom              begin to knock, saying, "Lord,          must depart. There is no place
brings hatred and persecution             Lord, open to us."                      for them in the kingdom.
from those who oppose the king-             But Jesus informs them that He           Hence,,says Jesus to the
dom of God. Besides, the life of          will not let them into the              crowds, there shall be weeping
the kingdom requires a great              kingdom. He will answer them, "I        and gnashing of teeth, when you
deal of sacrifice. To live the life       know not whence you are." In            shall see Abraham, and Isaac,
of the kingdom in faith requires          other words, I do not know to           and Jacob, and all the prophets
that you sacrifice the pleasures of       which house or kingdom you              in the kingdom of God, but you
sin, as well as many other earth-         belong; but as the master of            yourselves thrust out.
ly pleasures that are available to        God's house, I know you have no           What a devastating blow this
the ungodly.                              place here in God's kingdom.            must have been to the crowds
  For this reason many have no            You are strangers who have no           who had convinced themselves
interest in entering the kingdom.         place here.                             that theirs was the kingdom ex-
The sacrifice is too great for              But this same multitude, says         actly because they belonged to
them'. This is certainly true of the      Jesus, will respond that Jesus          the chosen nation of Israel.
natural man. But even the born            does indeed know them. Didn't             And how urgent then became
again believer sometimes wavers           they eat and drink in Jesus'            the call of Christ: "Strive to enter
as he faces the agony of entering         presence? And didn't Jesus teach        in at the strait gate."
into the kingdom.                         them in their streets? This is real-      So also is this same calling
  Hence, we need to hear the              ly an appeal to the fact that they      very urgent to those workers of
exhortation of Christ: "Strive to         were part of the nation of Israel,      iniquity today who have con-
enter in at the strait gate."             the chosen nation of God. For           vinced themselves that theirs is
*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *              Jesus had come as the Savior of         the kingdom because they are
                                          Israel. And being part of the na-       members of some church, attend
  The urgency of this call is             tion of Israel, the multitude had       church regularly, assent to the
found in the fact that many will          eaten and drunk in Jesus'               doctrines of Scripture, have their
seek one day to enter into the            presence, and Jesus did teach           children baptized . . . .
kingdom and shall not be able.            them in their streets.                    Strive to enter in at the strait
  This is further explained by              It becomes apparent here that         gate.
Jesus.                                    their membership in the nation of         For soon the master of the
  One day Jesus, the master of            Israel was the one thing the            house shall rise up and shut the
the house of God, will rise up            multitude trusted to gain them a        door. 0
and shut the door of the                  Ilace in the great kingdom of
kingdom. This Jesus will do at            sod. Rather than cling to the
His second coming. In a real              righteousness God provides in
sense, Jesus shuts the door of the        Jesus Christ, the multitudes relied     The Standard
kingdom also at death. For when           lpon their place in the nation of
the door of the kingdom is shut,          srael to secure them a place in         Bearer makes a
those who have not entered by             :he kingdom.
faith can no longer enter. This             And so Jesus informs this same
present life is the time of enter-                                                thoughtful gift
                                          :rowd that in the day of His
ing in and securing a place in the        -eturn He will tell them, "I know
kingdom.                                                                          for the sick &
                                          Y'OU not. Depart from me ye
                                          workers of iniquity." Being
                                          workers of iniquity, they demon-        shut-in.
                                          strate that they do not belong to
                                          the kingdom. They have not
                                          lived the life of the kingdom,

460  I  The Standard Bearer


                                     Editor's Notes
                                     As To The Christian Heritage
                                          Party Of Canada
Editoria Is                          The Creation Record literal (3)

Editor's Notes                          Clarification. There seems to      year for preparation, but even
                                     be some misunderstanding              after that can break into his new
  Thanks! On Thursday evening,       abroad with respect to my retire-     tasks more gradually. This is the
June 16, the Board of the Re-        ment. I am indeed about to retire     plan which was put into effect at
formed Free Publishing Associa-      as Editor of our magazine. I am       this year's synod, with Rev.
tion and the Theological School                                            David J. Engelsma called to be
Committee jointly sponsored an       not  retiring as professor at our
                                     seminary. With respect to the lat-    professor in the departments of
appreciation dinner in connection    ter the facts are these: 1) A few     Dogmatics and Old Testament,
with my retiring as Editor-in-       years ago there was a change          and Rev. Charles Terpstra chosen
Chief of The Standard Bearer and     made in the Constitution of our       as alternate. (Before this went to
my completion of 29 years at our     Theological School with respect       the typesetter, we received the
Protestant Reformed Seminary.        to the retirement and replace-        good tidings that the Rev.
At the dinner many kind words        ment of professors. This change       Engelsma has accepted Synod's
were spoken, and a remem-            was made in order to avoid the        appointment.)
brance (an inscribed pewter          crisis situation which we had in      * * * * * * * * * *
plate, a pewter cup, and a pewter    the past, when a professor had to
lamp) was given me. This was         be called, consider the call, move      Off To Australia. Through our
followed by an open house at our     to Grand Rapids, and prepare for      Committee for Contact With
Hudsonville Church, which many       his new work - all in the space       Other Churches, the Evangelical
friends attended. Besides, I         of less than 3 months. 2) As the      Presbyterian Church of Australia
received many cards and notes        rules now stand, when a pro-          (centered in the more northerly
from those who were unable to        fessor reaches the age of 65,         province of Queensland and in
attend. To all concerned I ex-       synod begins to make provision        the island province of Tasmania,
press my hearty thanks and ap-       for his eventual replacement.         to the far south) asked our
preciation for your kindness.        This replacement, if he accepts       churches at synod for help in the
                                     the call, is given a full year to     form of a pastor to serve in the
                                     prepare for his new work. 3)          congregation of Burnie, Tasmania
                                     Meanwhile the retiring professor,     for the period of a year. They
                                     if he is able, continues to work      also asked for a delegation of our
                                     until he reaches the age of 70,       churches at their Synod, which
                                     when retirement becomes man-          meets in September. Synod
                                     datory; and the Theological           heeded these requests. The result
                                     School Committee is mandated to       is that I was granted a leave of
                                     inquire each year whether the         absence from my seminary duties
                                     professor can continue to carry       for the coming year, and my wife
                                     his load. 4) At the same time, the    and I will leave, D.V., on August
                                     new professor not only has a          16 to serve there until August of

                                                                                            The Standard Bearer  / 461


 1989. Prof. Hanko was appointed         As To The Christian                    box. In fact, my correspondent
as co-delegate to the synod of the                                              writes in one of his letters to me:
E.P.C. He and Mrs. Hanko plan to        Heritage Party Of                       "We now have in Canada federal-
leave on the same date; and,            Canada                                  ly a situation where the three ex-
after a visit to the Protestant Re-        Some months ago I received a         isting parties, Liberal, Conserva-
formed Church of New Zealand            request from a long-time reader         tive, and N.D.P. (socialist) are
and a visit to the Brisbane,            in British Columbia, Canada to          percentage wise very close;
Queensland sector of the E.P.C.,        evaluate a new political party          therefore the balance of power
he will join me in Tasmania             which has been formed there, the        could be held by the C.H.P." In
when the E.P.C. Synod meets in          Christian Heritage Party of             this same connection he writes:
Launceston in the first week of         Canada. Due to the press of other "None of the existing parties can
September. These are significant        matters and also due to the fact        be supported by a Christian, as
developments in our relationship        that I needed more information,         they are all Anti-Christian. It may
with these churches, with whom          as well as time for study of the        be that it pleases God Almighty
we have long had contact and            matter, I could not keep my prom-       to bless our feeble efforts to His
unofficial ties. Our hope and           ise to write about this subject         honor and to the blessing of
prayer is that we may indeed be         until now. And I did indeed want        Canada in returning us to the
of help to this mall and struggling     to keep my promise before I lay         Christian values that Canada
denomination, and that the ties         down the editorial reins of our         possessed at its start as a coun-
between them and us may be              magazine at the end of this             try." In the third place, it is well
strengthened. I have promised           volume-year.                            known that in the Netherlands
the Staff of The Standard Bearer          Most of our readers are prob-         the Reformed people in many in-
to report from Tasmania after we        ably like me: they do not know          stances formed their own
are settled there.                      much about our neighbor to the          political parties and to some ex-
* *  * * * * * *  * *                   north, Canada, and probably pay         tent still have them. I am re-
  Our new address in Australia          little attention to it, unless they     minded in this connection
will be:                                happen to visit there or unless         especially of Abraham Kuyper's
      Prof. & Mrs. H.C. Hoeksema        occasionally Canada gets into the       Anti-Revolutionary Party and of
      59 Bird St.                       news in its relation to the United      the influence it once had in the
      Montello, Burnie                  States. Probably they know even         Netherlands. I have an idea that
     Tasmania 7320                      less about the political system         at least to some extent the for-
     Australia                          and the political situation in          mation of a Christian political
  If you have thoughts or plans         Canada. I may mention a few             party in Canada is to be traced
of visiting "down under" (as I          items in this connection which          back to the Dutch heritage of
know some already do have),             also stand related more or less to      some of the immigrants to
you will have a warm welcome            the subject we are discussing. In       Canada. In the U.S. no attempt at
from the brothers and sisters of        the first place, in distinction from    formation of a viable Christian
the E.P.C. I know this from past        the political system which we           political party, as far as I know,
experience. 0                    HCH    know in the U.S., Canada has            has ever succeeded.
                                        what is called a parliamentary            So much by way of introduc-
                                        system, both on a national level        tion.
                                        and in its several provinces. In          My correspondent asks me to
                                        the second place, while I have no       evaluate the Christian Heritage
                                        statistics at hand, Canada's popu-      Party of Canada. He gives these
                                        lation is far smaller than that of      reasons for his request: "1) I am
                                        the United States. At the same          one of the members of the riding
                                        time, there was a very large            [district? HCI-I) executive of
                                        Dutch post-war immigration into         Fraser Valley East of this party,
                                        Canada, with the result that pro-       because I see it as my duty to
                                        portionally, while the percentage       support the Christian witness in
                                        of Dutch Canadians is still             government. However, other
                                        relatively small, it is undoubtedly     Christians disagree with me on
                                        considerably larger than in the         this point and argue that all
                                        U.S., and in some areas even            governments and politics are
                                        able to be influential at the ballot    necessarily evil. Therefore a
                                                                                Christian is to stay clear of them.

462  I  The Standard Bearer


I like to know your valued opin-        another, equally long, booklet. I       not like to vote for a man with
ion. 2) This party is, as all Chris-    will confine my critique,               strong socialist tendencies or for
tian actions here on earth, far         therefore, to a few main points.        a man who is a big friend of
from perfect. It is still in its          First of all, and in general, I do    worldly unions. Besides, if you
beginning, and the membership           not agree with my correspon-            act politically according to Re-
has the right to introduce              dent's critics, who argue that all      formed principles (speaking now
changes and amendments to the           governments and politics are            of group action), you must not
existing policies. Therefore your       necessarily evil, and that there-       expect to gain power and in-
opinion based on Scripture would        fore a Christian is to stay clear of    fluence. You must expect to be
be a great asset to us. 3) And          them. This, it seems to me,             small and of no account. The
could you in good faith support         smacks of Anabaptism, of world-         place of God's people in the
such a party, and would you             flight rather than world-fight.         midst of the world is small and
recommend it to your Canadian           And that is not Reformed. The           narrow; and as we move toward
friends?"                               Christian certainly may, whether        the end of all things, we must ex-
  A couple more items of infor-         through an organized group or as        pect that place to become smaller
mation were furnished me in a           an individual, express himself in       and narrower, until finally there
second letter. My Canadian cor-         the area of government and              will be no standing room left for
respondent writes that "our party       politics. He may vote. He may           the child of God.
membership in Christian Re-             express his opinion to his con-            In the third place, and in con-
formed circles is not great; we         gressman or senator or member           nection with the above, I believe
are only attracting the more con-       of parliament or county or city         that the basis of the Christian
servative Christian Reformed            commissioner, etc. And if he so         Heritage Party is too broad. The
people. The same can be said for        desires, he may also organize           "Party Principles" appear in Arti-
the Canadian Reformed Churches.         politically; and he may run for of-     cle I of the Constitution, and it is
These two churches as a whole           fice. These things are not in           required that every member sup-
are not with us, contrary to the        themselves wrong.                       ports these principles. Here they
Netherlands Reformed Churches             In the second place, the impor-       are:
and the Free Reformed Churches,         tant point to remember is that it         Party principles are based on these
where most of our Reformed sup-         is the calling of the child of God      Biblical ethics and are unalterable:
port comes from." No member-            to act Christianly, also in the area    a) We believe there is one Creator God,
ship figures were furnished me,         of politics and citizenship. And        eternally existent in three Persons,
                                                                                Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe
and no mention was made of              for the Reformed Christian, this        in the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
non-Reformed membership.                implies certainly that he must act      b) We believe the Holy Bible to be the in-
  As far as study materials are         on the basis of and in harmony          spired, inerrant written Word of God and
concerned, I received two               with  Reformed  principles. He          the final authority above all man's laws
booklets published by the Chris-        must not simply be pragmatic            and government.
                                                                                c) We believe civil government to be
tian Heritage Party; and these          and utilitarian, but must live and      under the authority of God.
together furnish a rather com-          act out of principle. That is not       d) We believe the purpose of civil
plete picture. The first is a           easy and simple in the complex          government is to ensure freedom and
56-page booklet containing the          world in which we live, but very        justice for a nation's citizens by up-
Constitution of the CHP. On its         difficult and problematical. As a       holding law and order in accordance
                                                                                with Biblical principles.
cover is the text of Psalm 33:12,       practical matter, when it comes         e) We believe that decision-making pro-
"Blessed is the nation whose God        to voting, for example, it often        cesses by civil government must not in
is the Lord." The second is a           means that he must choose who-          any way contravene these Biblical ethics.
booklet of 74 pages and is en-          ever is the lesser of two evils and        Now I have questions even
titled,  Policy And Program, with       must make his choice on the             about these statements. Why, for
the sub-title, "A Blueprint For         basis of the question which man         example, does point "a" speak of
Restoration" and with the same          (or men) will be best as far as         the "Lordship" of Jesus Christ,
text quoted. I studied both rather      toleration of the church and of         not of His "Kingship"? Is this
carefully, made notations, and          God's people in their life and          possibly to accommodate possible
found numerous points at which I        walk in the midst of the world          members who deny that Christ is
either disagreed or had serious         are concerned. For example, I do        King, except over the Jews?
questions which would require                                                   Secondly, what is the Biblical
clarification. If, however, I would                                             basis of the mention of
offer critique on all these points,                                             "freedom" in point "d"? Scripture
I would probably end with

                                                                                                    The Standard Bearer  I463


 speaks of submission and subiec-      the theocratic kingdom; and in              By the framework-hypothesis I mean
 tion  and obedience to kings and      the New Testament it can be ap-          the following. In Genesis I the inspired
 governors and to the higher           plied only to the kingdom of             author offers us a story of creation. It is
 powers. And I know, of course,        heaven and to the people of God.         not his intent, however, to present an ex-
 that "freedom" is the watchword                                                act report of what happened at creation.
                                          These are just a few of my            By speaking of the eightfold work of God
 of democracy. But what is meant       thoughts on this subject.                he impresses the reader with the fact that
 by this "freedom," and what is its       Perhaps my correspondent will         all that exists has been created by God,
 Biblical basis? Is there a sugges-    be disappointed because of my            This eightfold work he places in a frame-
 tion here that democracy is the       comments. But he asked for my            work; he distributes it over six days, to
 Biblically endorsed form of                                                    which he adds a seventh day as the day
                                       evaluation, and he stated that he        of rest. In this manner he gives expres-
 government in distinction, say,       valued my opinion. And I have            sion to the fact that the work of creation
from absolute monarchy?                given it frankly.                        is complete; also that at the conclusion of
   But put aside the above ques-          My concluding advice is: if you       His work God can rest, take delight in
tions.                                 want to form a Christian political       the result; and also (cf pp. 40-42) that in
                                                                                celebrating the Sabbath man must be
   It is plain to me that there is     party, make it uncompromisingly          Gods imitator. The manner in which the
nothing distinctively Reformed         Reformed. But then do not ex-            works of creation have been distributed
about these principles. They are       pect it to be popular. 0          HCH    over six days is not arbitrary (cf. pp.
at best a bare-bones Biblical                                                   32-35).
basis, acceptable to any true          The Creation Record                         As I indicated, Howard Van
fundamentalist or evangelical.         Literal (3)                              Till adopts this theory, page 84,.
There is no reference to Re-                                                    and fits it into his corrupt view of
formed principles. There is no           At the conclusion of my                Scripture: "The chronology of the
reference, for example, to Article     previous editorial on this subject,      narrative is not the chronology of
36 of the Belgic Confession of         I referred to the fact that there        creation but rather the packaging
Faith. I fear that these principles    are those who have rejected the          in which the message is wrapped.
are deliberately broad, though         period theory because of its ob-         The particular acts depicted in
Biblical, in order to attract party    vious exegetical flaws and               the Story of the Creator are not
members on a broadly evangel-          because it does not really help          the events of creative action
ical basis. And this is, of course,    them in getting rid of Scripture's       reported with photographic
for the sake of numbers. A             very definite and specific time-         realism but rather imaginative il-
political party, in order to have      frame in connection with God's           lustrations of the way in which
power, must have numbers.              creative work. They prefer to get        God and the Creation are
Politics in democratic systems,        rid of any kind of literal time-         related." (pp. 84, 85)
after all, is a matter of the half-    frame whatsoever, and at the                In so doing he also gets rid of
plus-one, the majority. And I          same time, of course, to get rid         the questions of the time and
have no objection to numbers as        of the successive order of the           manner of creation and con-
such. My objection is to numbers       creative works described in              sciously rejects both the concor-
at the expense of principles.          Genesis 1. In order to accomplish        distic and literalistic (his term,
  I could go on. I do not believe      this purpose they have turned to         HCH) views, p. 92:
that Canada was once a Christian       what is called the "framework              In place of the fundamental question
nation (except, perhaps, in a          hypothesis." As we have seen             of the covenantal prologue - "Who is
                                                                                the God of Abraham and Moses?" -
nominal sense), as is suggested in     earlier, Howard Van Till adopts          both the concordistic and literalistic inter-
CHP's literature. I do not believe     this hypothesis in his book, The         pretations substitute the semiscientific
that Canada has a "Christian heri-     Fourth Day.                              question, "`By what mechanism and in
tage" as a nation. I do not              What is the "framework hypo-           what time frame did God create the
believe that "economic prosperity      thesis?"                                 world?" Both of these chronological inter-
                                                                                oretations treat the seven-day structure of
is a blessing of the Lord" as such;      We shall let one of its pro-           the Genesis 1 narrative as if it were a
blessing is not in things. I do not    moters describe it. Dr. Nice H.          Femporal specification rather than a
believe that Psalm 33:12 can           Ridderbos, in his book, Is There         literary framework, and in so doing, they
validly be applied to the nations      A Conflict Between Genesis I And         Fail to distinguish between the content
of the world today. In the Old         Natural Science? (Eerdmans,              md packaging of Scripture, between the
                                                                                itory elements and the message being
Testament it was true of Israel,       1957) writes, p. 45:                     :onveyed by the story.
                                                                                  Notice concerning this theory:
                                                                                   1) That it rids Genesis 1 of its
                                                                                historical character completely.
                                                                                411 that is left is a vague, unde-

464  / The Standard Bearer


fined message that God is the            would guess that Scripture is            2) Matthew 1 makes no claim
Creator, and that He created.            employing such a so-called             to be a complete genealogy of
   2) That Genesis 1 is called "a        literary device. The framework         Jesus Christ. And while it skips
story of creation," riot an ac-          hypothesis is a cunningly devised      various generations, it is never-
count, and that it is blatantly          fable.                                 theless a progressive genealogical
claimed that it is not the author's         What an altogether strange im-      line from Abraham to Christ.
intent "to present an exact report       pression the infallible and              3) According to its own testi-
of what happened at creation."           perspicuous Word of God in             mony (vs. 17) Matthew 1 pur-
For this we have the word of             Genesis 1 must make on the un-         posely presents a schematic
Ridderbos and Van Till over              suspecting reader if the frame-        arrangement of the generations
against the author, the Holy             work hypothesis is true! How im-       of Jesus Christ in three groups of
Spirit!                                  possible it becomes for the or-        fourteen generations.
  3) That the knotty problem of          dinary child of God to read any          4) We have the evidence of
the "days" is not solved, but flip-      historical account and to grasp its    Scripture itself in the Old Testa-
pantly disposed of. There were           fundamental meaning and                ment concerning the generations
no days, except in a purely              message if this is the way Scrip-      omitted in Matthew 1.
literary sense; and the whole            ture must be read! One would             Hence, the conclusion is clear
question of the exact historical         always have need of an expert          that in Matthew 1 you do not
event of creation and the time of        theologian and exegete if the          find an instance of Scripture
creation and the duration of the         Scriptures were to be read in this     fraudulently foisting a story
creative work is left wide open          fashion. One would always have         which is not exact upon an un-
for theistic evolution. The frame-       to be suspicious that Scripture        suspecting reader, as is the case
work hypothesis solves all the           does not mean what it plainly          with the framework hypothesis in
troublesome problems of the              seems to say.                          Genesis 1.
theistic evolutionist, in effect, by       Sometimes an appeal is made            The conclusion of the matter,
getting rid of the problems.             to "the book of the generation of      therefore, is that if we hold to
  Now submit this theory to the          Jesus Christ" in Matthew 1 in an       the fundamental rule that Scrip-
test of Scripture.                       attempt to find Scriptural support     ture is its own interpreter, none
  Put away your tinted evolu-            for the possibility of such a          of these errant theories concern-
tionary eye-glasses; put out of          framework interpretation. How-         ing the meaning of Genesis 1 can
your mind so-called scientific           ever:                                  stand. El                         HCH
evidences. Simply read Scripture,           1) There is no literary frame-
and let Scripture speak. Then the        work in Matthew 1. Matthew 1 is
framework hypothesis simply              precisely what it purports to be:
does not fit the text of Genesis.        the book of the generation of
No one in his wildest imagination        Jesus Christ.





Guided Into                              The Separation Of Faith
All Truth
Thomas C. Miersma                        And Reason

                                           We have been considering the         of the doctrine of Scripture. That
                                         development of modern philo-           view, as we saw in connection
Thomas C. Miersma is pastor of First     sophy in its relationship to the       with Immanuel Kant, funda-
Protestant Reformed Church, Edmonton,    development of the modern view         mentally denies the possibility of
Alberta, Canada.

                                                                                                The Standard Bearer / 465


revelation; it sets human reason        As these experiences were per-         transcendent being, god, cannot
above Scripture and subjects            sonally illuminating and power-        be fully expressed in human
Scripture to the mind of man.           ful, they were the means to            language; and the authors
The result is a fundamental             renew their minds and under-           therefore must resort to poetic
divorce between reason and              standing and to inspire them to        flights of language and
faith. The only place which Kant        think in new and holy ways.            mythological narrative construc-
could find for religion was a cer-      Thus revelation becomes merely         tions to tell the story of their ex-
tain feeling or sense of obligation     man's experience of God.               perience of god and his work.
and duty, of moral necessity. This         The effect of this upon the doc-    Moreover the authors, as men
sense or feeling had no basis in        trine of Scripture and inspiration     found in a certain place and
objective factual reality, the          is far-reaching. Schleiermacher's      time, are men shaped by their
realm of pure reason and scien-         approach substantially reduces in-     culture and limited world view,
tific inquiry, but belonged to the      spiration to the elevation of          which also affects their writings.
practical experience of human           man's mind and spirit by his           The Bible becomes a book which
life and man's relationship with        religious experiences. It is fun-      is to be treated psychologically
the world. Kant had found a             damentally no different than the       and as a literary document.
place for morality, in the feeling      inspiration which motivates and          Schleiermacher himself did not
of right and wrong, in the human        guides a poet, artist, or com-         go as far as we have indicated in
conscience. As this basis for           poser, though it is a religious ex-    the above description. In fact he
morality does not lie in an objec-      perience. Scripture is no more         was attempting to battle with the
tive revealed standard of right         God's Word of truth but a word         philosophy of his day. But he did
and wrong, good and evil, but in        of man religiously elevated by his     so upon rationalist grounds and
man's own sense of right and            experience of God, an experience       erred in doing so, with the result
wrong. It is inherently relative. If    which we may also receive from         that he became the father of
man's sense or feeling changes or       it. The Bible contains God's word,     modernism. At the root of this
differs from generation to gener-       but one cannot say of it that it is    approach to Scripture is a funda-
ation, right and wrong also             God's word. Moreover that word         mentally different conception of
change. Morality becomes purely         is relative. It depends upon our       faith in its relationship to Scrip-
relative.                               subjective experience of it. The       ture from that which we hold as
   Kant's approach, however,            doctrine of inspiration is             the Reformed view.
while it had a certain regard for       changed. The principle is rejected       We maintain with the
virtue and good order in society,       that "holy men of God spake as         Heidelberg Catechism, LD VII,
really had no place for religion        they were moved by the Holy            Question and Answer 2 1, that
or the worship of God. It be-           Ghost" (II Peter 1:21), so that        faith is a certain knowledge and
longed to the theologian Schleier-      what was spoken and written            hearty confidence. By the
macher, a contemporary of Kant          was God's Word, spoken by His          knowledge of faith is meant first
to find a place for religion.           Spirit, and not the word of man,       of all that faith is rooted in the
Schleiermacher did not depart           though given through holy men.         objective revelation of God's
from the basic philosophical prin-      Instead, the principle of inspira-     Word set forth in Scripture. Scrip-
ciple of rationalism: that man's        tion becomes that men being            ture is word for word the Word
reason is the standard of objec-        moved personally by the Spirit         of God. The truth is set before us
tive truth; and like those before       also spoke of their experience         in it. The direct, plain teaching
him he denied, for example, the         and insight. Scripture becomes a       and instruction of Scripture is the
reality of the miracles, but he         record of man's subjective             only rule of faith and life (Belgic
found a place for religion in           religious experience, which            Confession of Faith, Article VII)
man's experience of dependence          though in itself the word of man,      with divine authority. The plain
upon God. Religious experience          contains God's word.                   teaching and directive of Scrip-
and feeling become the substance          The result of this approach to       ture in its unity is truth, proposi-
of religion and of a faith which is     Scripture is to separate faith and     tional truth. The history set forth
wholly subjective. The Bible, par-      reason, Scripture and revelation.      in it is sacred, revelatory history,
ticularly the gospels, becomes the      Scripture as a book, the Bible, is     but it is so as history. Jesus Christ
fruit of the disciples' experiences     a human document, filled with          as He is set forth in the types and
of Jesus set down and recorded.         human errors, expressing human         shadows of the Old Testament
                                        experiences in imperfect               and upon the pages of the
                                        language. The religious ex-            gospels is revealed to us in exact-
                                        perience it communicates of a          ly what is said concerning Him.


466  / The Standard Bearer


This truth is the content of faith.     are subject to the bar of human         hysteria arising out of a refusal to
And while the knowledge of faith        judgment. On this plane the Bible       accept Jesus' death. The historici-
is more than a mere academic            is a human book. "Faith," how-          ty of any part of the Bible is
apprehension of this truth, it is       ever, finds it a medium of              practically denied unless proven
rooted in its objective character.      mystical revelation, a source of        by the science of archaeology.
The knowledge of faith, the cer-        religious experience and feeling.         At the same time the irrational
tain, assured knowledge of faith,       The Scriptures then are not God's       line of faith continues to find in
is a believing knowledge, which         Word, but contain it, and become        the experience of Jesus and of
is not only acquainted with the         God's Word to us only when we           God set forth in the Bible new in-
contents of the Scriptures but          experience them. The result is          spiration for modern religious
which receives them by the work         two separate and distinct lines:        life. Jesus becomes an idea, not a
of the Holy Spirit with the sure        reason and faith (feeling and ex-       person, a political revolutionary
and certain conviction that they        perience), which have nothing to        which inspires us to social and
are God's Word, the truth, and          do with one another. The Bible          political revolution, a personal
therefore also the truth for me.        may be a tissue of lies,                metaphor of human experience
Jesus set forth in the Scriptures is    mythology, or what have you,            as one who suffered. Faith has
what the Scriptures say He is. He       and it fundamentally makes no           been reduced to mystical ex-
is my Savior. This bears the fruit      difference. What matters is the         perience, in itself irrational, a
of a hearty confidence in the           leading of the spirit, so-called,       matter of mere feeling, a leap in
love of God. Faith is therefore         and our experience that God is          the dark. Scripture, like any
knowledge and confidence. It is         speaking to us. This mystical con-      other literature, becomes a
not a mere feeling, but has an          ception of Scripture is the funda-`     source of inspiration, quickening
objective foundation. Its contents      mental fruit of the separation of       the spirit of man to higher
are known with the mind; it is a        faith and reason. The result is         thoughts beyond himself.
reasonable faith whose truth can        that in the history of the doctrine       Between the Reformed view
be studied, systematically              of Scripture, following the ra-         and that of the modernist there is
developed and set forth, both as        tionalistic aspect of this              no common ground. We believe
far as doctrine is concerned and        philosophy put into practice, we        and confess the God of the Scrip-
also as the rule of life. It is not     find the Bible subjected to all the     tures Who has revealed Himself
relative. The objective foundation      speculative ingenuity of human          in His Word. The god of modern-
and the inward subjective appro-        reason exercised in unbelief. The       ism, of the new hermeneutics, is
priation, truth and experience,         Bible is reduced to a compilation       an idol. The Jesus of man's im-
are in perfect harmony.                 of sources repeatedly edited by         agination, of modern religion, has
  The modernist definition of           different men. It is treated in the     nothing to do with Jesus Christ
faith arising out of Kant and           Old Testament as a combination          our Lord. For the same reason,
Schleiermacher is quite different.      of various pagan influences. The        the battle lines which are
Faith is not knowledge and confi-       worship of Israel is reduced to a       presently drawn within the Re-
dence but revelatory experience         variation of the cultic practices of    formed churches over Scripture
and confident feeling. It is in-        the Canaanites. The prophets are        are fundamentally a matter of
herently non-rational. Knowl-           explained as merely religious           faith and unbelief and of the wor-
edge, if it has any meaning in          zealots or fanatics, and their          ship of God and the worship of
connection with faith is the            writings are explained in               idols under the guise of Christian
knowledge of experiential il-           sociological-political terms. The       terminology. q
lumination, on the order of an          New Testament becomes a collec-
Oriental mysticism like that            tion of documents fabricated by
found in Hinduism. Faith is the         the early Christian church out of
subjective emotional response to        remembrances. Paul and Peter
this revelation. Objective truth as     belong to different and antithet-
a standard outside of man, hav-         ical schools of theology. The
ing authority over him, does not        disciples' belief in the resurrec-
exist. Faith and reason are             tion of Christ is regarded as the
separated from one another and          result of a kind of group or mass
really have nothing to do with
one another. Reason and knowl-
edge, objective truth, belong to
the realm of human science and

                                                                                                  The   Standard Bearer  I467


  Decency And
  Order
 Ronald L. Cammenga                        A Fixed Charge

    "No one shall be called to the         BACKGROUND TO ARTICLE 7                    The Synod of Dordt, 1574, was
ministry of the Word, without his             This article was occasioned by       one of the first to introduce
being stationed in a particular            the fact that in the early history      restrictions. It ruled that
place, except he be sent to do             of the Reformed churches there          preachers without fixed charges
church extension work." Church             was a considerable number of            should submit themselves to a
Order, Article 7.                          itinerant preachers. These men          classis for examination. If they
   Article 7 stands closely con-           were self-appointed, refused to be      successfully sustained the exami-
nected to the preceding articles.          affiliated with any particular local    nation, they could be declared
Article 2 specifies the number             congregation, and traveled from         eligible for a call. And if they
and nature of the special offices          place to place according to their       received a call, they could be
in the church. Article 3 requires          own whims.                              properly installed into office in a
that those who preach the gospel              At the time of the Reformation       particular congregation.
must be lawfully called to this of-        there were innumerable itinerant           In spite of the decision of the
fice. Articles 4 and 5 stipulate           priests in the Roman Catholic           Synod of 1574, abuses continued.
that this calling to the ministry is       Church who offered their services       In light of this, the Synod of
to proceed from the local church,          for sale to hunters, sailors, mer-      Dordt, 1578, reaffirmed the deci-
under the supervision of the con-          chants, and travelers. These            sion of 1574 and warned those
sistory. Article 6 adds that this          itinerant priests were called           who were still engaged in
lawful calling shall also apply to         "walking Levites." They were            itinerant preaching and those
those who minister in institutions         also employed on the Crusades in        congregations who continued to
of mercy or some other special             order to administer the                 make use of their services.
field of labor. Article 7, now, lays       sacraments to the crusaders.               The Synod of Middelburg,
down the rule that the call to the           At the beginning of the Re-           1581, was a bit more lenient. The
ministry is the call to a definite         formation this same practice            original Article 7 was really form-
place of labor in a particular con-        found a place in the Reformed           ulated by this Synod:
gregation.                                 churches. Appeal was made to              No one shall be called to the Ministry
                                           the example of the apostles and         of the Word, except he be stationed in a
                                           evangelists of the early New Test-      church which he shall serve.
                                           ament who went from one place           This same Synod, however, ruled
                                           to another. What was forgotten          that if exceptions to the rule
                                           was that the offices of apostle         were necessary, they ought to be
                                           and evangelist were special and         approved by the classis and
                                           temporary offices in the New            synod.
                                           Testament church. Even the                The Synod of `s Gravenhage,
                                           apostles were sent out by the           1586, approved two specific ex-
                                           local church, `Acts 13: 1-4.            ceptions to the rule adopted by
                                             Early Reformed synods ruled           Middelburg, 1581. The first ex-
                                           against the practice of the             ception concerned those who
                                           itinerant preachers and adopted         labored among churches dis-
Ronald L. Cammenga is pastor of the                                                persed -through persecution. In
Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland,    decisions on which our present
Colorado.                                  Article 7 is based.

468  I The Standard Bearer


this situation it was often impossi-    Methodistic or Episcopal sense of         The change in the language of
ble for a group of believers to be      the word. The language here is         Article 7 to "church extension
officially organized as a congre-       unfortunate. The article is to be      work' applies the exception
gation and call a minister. The         understood to teach that no            specifically to missions. In the
Synod spoke of "gemeenten               minister shall be called to the        nature of the case, the labors of
onder het kruis," that is,              ministry of the Word without his       the missionary are not fixed to a
"churches under the cross."             "taking up labor" in a particular      particular local congregation. He
These were especially persecuted        place. Just as one cannot be an        is laboring for the establishment
believers in lands where Roman          elder or deacon unless he is an        of congregations. His field of
Catholicism still held sway. The        elder or deacon in a local church,     labor is broader than a specific
other exception was applied to          so one cannot be a minister of         congregation, and he may be re-
those who were engaged in mis-          the gospel without being a             quired to go from place to place.
sion work, where it was                 minister in a local congregation.         Even then, this exception
necessary to move from place to           In close connection with this,       must not be misunderstood and'
place.                                  the third principle underlying Ar-     mis-applied. It does not allow
PRINCIPLES IMPLIED IN                   ticle 7 is that the call by a local    mission work to be carried on
ARTICLE 7                               congregation always implies a          without the lawful call. Article 7
   The first principle implied in       definite connection to that con-       stands in the context of Articles
Article 7 is that the call to the       gregation and its consistory. Or-      3-5. Missionaries, too, must be
ministry proceeds from the local        dinarily this means that the           lawfully called and ordained to
congregation. This was explicitly       minister's sphere of labor is con-     the ministry of the gospel. This
taught in Articles 4 and 5, and         fined to that congregation. Even       principle is overlooked or
clearly underlies the stipulation       when the minister is not laboring      deliberately set aside in much
of Article 7. No man may set            directly in that congregation, he      mission work today.
himself up in the office of the         is connected with it and is under        Neither does the article permit
ministry of the gospel. Hebrews         the supervision and discipline of      the calling and ordaining of mis-
5:4, "And no man taketh this            its consistory. This applies when      sionaries by a classis or synod.
honor unto himself, but he that is      a minister is laboring in another      This is often done today. Al-
called of God, as was Aaron."           congregation on a classical ap-        though the synod regulates the
Romans 10:15, "And how shall            pointment. This applies in the         denominational mission work (Cf.
they preach, except they be             case of a minister-on-loan. This       Article 51 of the Church Order,
sent?"                                  nlso applies to missionaries.          as well as the constitutions of the
  The second principle is that          Vever is a minister free to labor      Domestic Mission Committee and
the office of the minister of the       Nherever he pleases, under no          the Foreign Mission Committee),
gospel resides in the local con-        lirect supervision of a specific       synod does not call and ordain
gregation which has called him.         :onsistory.                            missionaries. This is always done
Condemned is the practice of the        THE EXCEPTION PROVIDED                 by a local congregation on behalf
Roman Catholic Church of or-            FOR IN ARTICLE 7                       of the other churches of the
daining men in general, without           The exception made is that of        denomination.
uniting them to a local congrega-       1 minister who is called to do           The article does not either
tion. Condemned is also the or-         church extension work. Original-       deny the principle that the mis-
dination of ministers by a classis      y the article read: ". . . except      sionary stands in a direct and
or synod. This was done for a           re be sent to gather churches          very definite relationship to the
time by some Reformed churches,         rere and there."                       local congregation which calls
and in certain instances is still         This exception was applied to        him. This is a misunderstanding
done today. Early in the history        :wo situations. First, it was ap-      of the article. The missionary is
of the Reformed churches in the         Ilied to ministers of refugee          an officebearer in the congrega-
Netherlands this was the practice       :hurches. These were churches          tion that has called him and or-
in some of the provinces.               nade up of groups of believers         dained him. He is subject to the
  In this connection, we ought          ,vho had fled their native land        supervision and discipline of that
not misunderstand the language          lecause of persecution. Secondly,      consistory. 0
of our present Article 7, when it       t was applied to those who
speaks of ministers "being sta-         abored for the formation of new
tioned' in a particular place. This     :hurches in regions still under
is not to be understood in a            he sway of Rome.


                                                                                                The  Standard  Bearer  I469


 Walking In
 The Light
Herman C. Hank0                             Drunkenness (4)

   But in connection with the sin           only he is now a non-drinking                       your drinking? Are you annoyed at
of drunkenness there is a certain           drunk: "Some people would                      .    criticism about drinking? Have you ever
anomaly. On the one hand, ex-               rather be crazy than be called a                    taken a drink as an eye-opener in the
perience proves that confession             drunk. It's still something that                    morning? A yes to any of these indicates
                                                                                                a problem . . . .
and repentance alone do not                 people are ashamed of. There's a                       What about quantity of liquor drunk
necessarily free one from the sin;          terrible stigma involved in say-                    as a guide to problem drinking? Many
and on the other hand, it is possi-         ing: `I am a drunk. That's what I                   ask me this. It's difficult to quantify.
ble, through the work of Alco-              am. I'm a successful, charming,                        Four beers a day can spell trouble.
holics Anonymous, e.g., to be               effective drunk that's sober, and                   Each lbounce bottle is equivalent in
                                                                                                alcohol to six ounces of wine or 1.5 shots
freed from drinking without ac-             I'm one drink away from a                           of 80 proof whiskey. Some can tolerate
tually being saved. That is, one            drunk" (U.S. News & World                           more than others, and women tolerate
can be freed from his "drinking             Report, Nov. 30, 1987, p. 63).                      less than men before getting into liver
problem" without confessing his                 In a certain sense of the word,                 trouble, for example . , , .
sin and seeking forgiveness in the          therefore, the question is: what is                    The person quoted above, a sober
                                                                                                drunk, says this:
cross. And in addition to this, it is       the line between addiction and                         The best question to ask yourself or
also often true that the one who            non-addiction? This is the ques-                    ask about someone you love: Is drinking
has escaped from the sin of                 tion which is repeatedly faced by                   distorting any part of my life - my
drunkenness can never touch a               those who deal every day with                       working life, my social life, my family
drop of liquor again, for if he             this problem. Alcoholics                            life? If it is, then you've got problems.
                                                                                                Also, if you are secretly worried about
does he will be back immediately            Anonymous has, e.g., drawn up a                     your drinking, chances are you have
in his old sins. As one person put          rather elaborate testing pro-                       reason to be worried. All alcoholics are,
it, he remains a drunk all his life,        cedure on the basis of which                        in their own souls, worried about their
                                            they determine whether a person                     drinking. They may deny it; it is a disease
                                            is indeed addicted or not. I have                   of denial . . . .
                                                                                                   The Bible speaks of the fact
                                            had occasion to be involved in                      that the sinner is a slave of sin.
                                            this sort of thing. AA sets up cer-                 This is immediately evident in
                                            tain criteria to determine                          some sins, perhaps not so com-
                                            whether addiction is indeed pres-                   pletely evident in others. While it
                                            ent in a person, regardless of his                  is a fact that the depraved sinner,
                                            own protestations.                                  apart from grace, is a slave to sin
                                                In a recent issue of the Grand                  in a very fundamental sense of
                                            Rapids Press, Dr. Donahue ad-                       the word, any given sin can also
                                            dressed this problem and listed                     become such a master in a per-
                                            current thinking on it. He writes:                  son's life that he becomes a slave
                                               I'll tell it like it is, For you (he was         to that very sin.
                                            answering a question sent in by a reader,
                                            H.H.) and a lot of others in your age                  The depraved sinner is a slave
                                            group who, studies reveal, are having               to sin because his nature is cor-
                                            alcohol problems.                                   rupt and even his will is bound in
                                               Here are some questions to ask your-             sin so that he cannot even so
Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church      seli?                                               much as will the good. This is the
History and New Testament in the Protes-       Have you tried to cut down on drink-             fundamental slavery of sin with
tant Reformed Seminary.                     ing and failed? Do you feel quilty about

470  f The Standard Bearer


which the whole human race is             Drug use leads to severe addic-      wonderful gift of God. So corn-
infected. But individual sins can       tion, even of a physical kind, so      plete is the atoning sacrifice of
also become our masters. Life is        that the drug addict who desires       our Savior that no sin known to
full of evidences of this.              to escape from drugs suffers terri-    man (other than the sin of im-
  If a person gives himself over        ble withdrawal symptoms, and,          penitence) is so great that it can-
to the sin of lying, he can             like the drunk, can never touch        not be covered by the blood that
become slave to that sin. The           drugs again without reverting          flows from Calvary. To the sin-
world speaks of compulsive liars        back to his old ways.                  ner, chained in the seemingly un-
or congenital liars; but the point        It seems as if this terrible         breakable shackles of sin, there is
is that lying becomes so domi-          slavery of an individual sin can       hope, blessed hope, in that cross
nant in his life that it becomes a      be true of any sin. If a person        of Calvary. There is forgiveness
way of life so that he lies even        gives himself over to hate, hate       and pardon. There is escape
when there is no reason to lie. I       can come to dominate his life so       from sin and a power to break
once knew a man of this sort. He        completely that it becomes an all-     sin's chains. For one who flees t.o
lied in everything he said. He          controlling principle determining      that cross there must not be a
lied because he seemed incapable        everything he does.                    moment's doubt but that the
of telling the difference between         Yet some sins have such              blood of atonement has secured
the truth and the lie. He lied          severe physical and psychological      both pardon and deliverance.
when there was no apparent              consequences that the one who            But God has so ordained our
sense to it.                            commits such sins becomes a            lives that the humbled and repen-
  The same thing is true of forni-      slave to the sins physically and       tant sinner may need help to
cation. A man may give himself          psychologically as well as             escape from his sin. He may need
over so completely to fornication       spiritually. Drunkenness is one of     the help which only his pastor,
that he becomes a slave to this         them. It is not a disease. It is a     the elders of the church, and his
sin. A man who had walked in            sin. But it is the kind of sin that    fellow saints can provide. He
the way of fornication once said        leads to great slavery, spiritual      may need their constant support
to me (and it was a cry that rose       slavery, physical slavery,             and assistance. He may have
from the very depths of his soul):      psychological slavery.                 been so harmed by his sin that
"Reverend, I'd give my right arm          What are the psychological           the rest of his earthly life he
to be free from this sin, but I can-    and physical reasons for this          stands on the brink of commit-
not escape its clutches."               would make an interesting study        ting the same sins over again, and
  The world speaks of klepto-           in its own right, a study for          needs constant assistance to walk
maniacs, i.e., people who are           which I lack the competence. But       the path of obedience. The world
compulsive thieves. But surely          it is clear that some sins bring       has its organizations to assist
one can practice theft so often         with them physical and                 drunks to stay sober. But the
that the sin `gains a certain           psychological consequences             world knows nothing of the
dominance in his life so that he        which are grave and serious.           power of CaIvary,and the great
steals even when there is no            These physical and psychological       blessedness of the work of Christ
point to it. Theft has control of       consequences, the harm done to         through the church and through
his conduct, and he steals for no       the body and soul by these sins        the communion of the saints.
apparent reason and steals things       are of such a kind that other help     They help drunks, but never lead
which he does not want or need.         is needed for a person to escape       them to escape hell. There is no
  Gambling is such a sin. The           from them.                             reason why the church cannot
world has even set up organiza-           None of this means that there        bring the message of pardon in
tions, some called Gamblers             is no hope for the drunkard, no        `:he cross to penitent sinners not
Anonymous, to try to help people        hope for the drug addict, no           mly, but also to give them the
who gamble constantly to the            hope for the fornicator - even if      nelp and support they need to
point where they bring economic         he should do irreparable harm to       walk the pathway of life that
ruin on themselves and their            his body and soul by his great         .eads to heaven. Cl
families.                               sins, There is always hope in the
                                        cross of Jesus Christ. The blood
                                        of atonement was shed for the
                                        greatest of all sinners, and the
                                        price of Christ's suffering was so
                                        great that no sin is left unpaid
                                        for. The cross is an amazing and

                                                                                                The   Standard Bearer  I471


                                            In Loving Memory of
 I n   Memoriam  -
 Gorge  C. Lubbers                          the Rev. Clinton Elhott

   It was with mingled sorrow                 On the other hand we rejoice         faithful friends. Those whom he
and joy that we received the                in silent thanksgiving, that at        loved he loved fervently.
tidings that Rev. Clinton Elliott,          long last the Lord has taken his         It was a pleasure for Mrs. Lub-
the oldest minister in our                  weary servant to his reward of         bers and me to hear him ap-
Jamaican church, had been taken             grace in glory. We feel confident      proaching. Often on Monday
home to glory. He must have                 that he received his desire to be      evenings, he would appear hot
been alone at home and walking              with his Lord, his "personal           and weary from the long
in his backyard, when the angels            Savior", Who he knew was faith-        "journey". He came partly afoot
came to carry him home to glory             ful to the end!                        up the long slopes, and as much
in their chariot.                             When he was still a young            as possible by Minibus and Omni-
   We sorrow that a friend, a               man, a fisherman in the Carib-         bus, and in a pinch by taxi. At
dear brother and affectionate col-          bean Sea, and while on a certain       our humble, yet peaceful home
league, was taken from our                  day he was far from land upon          he would find also a spiritual
presence here on earth. He even             the deep sea, his boat capsized        oasis. There he would find a
addressed me in his letters with            into the stormy sea, and he was        clean bed and water on tap in
the familiar "dear brother                  in great fear that he would            what had been the "maid's-
George." Now he will no longer              perish. The Lord rescued him. He       room". It was his little prophet's
need to write his endearing Iet-            never ceased to give thanks to         room, with bed and table. He
ters, in which he often poured              God. It was then that he vowed         also loved Mrs. Lubbers' cooking.
out his deep concerns for the               that henceforth his life would be        As a preacher, Rev. Elliott
churches in Jamaica. In his in-             in special service to Christ in the    never excelled in being able to
imitable Jamaican lingo he would            preaching of the gospel. Since he      teach the Reformed faith
describe both his physical and              was a man of some native ability       systematically. Yet withal, his
spiritual needs. He knew that he            and with great tenacity of faith,      principle in his preaching had to
was speaking to an understand-              he applied himself hungrily to         be against the teaching of Ar-
ing heart. Often I pondered the             the study of the Scriptures, as his    minian freewillism. He always
possibility for me to fly to                bread of life. Yes, by the mercies     spoke with great appreciation
Jamaica, if only to have a face to          of God he fulfilled his vow to the     that brother John Heys had
face conversation with this dear            end!                                   taught him, and that he had
brother in Christ. It was not so to           Rev. Elliott was a very per-         honorably finished the course. In-
be!                                         sonable man, even sometimes in         cidentally, this course was
                                            rash forthrightness calling a          basically the instruction which
                                            spade a spade. Not everybody           Rev. Heys had given on "Church
                                            was his friend. It was especially      Hill" in Lucy, Hanover, Jamaica.
                                            when he had to deal with               It was complemented by a cer-
                                            domineering "church-mothers"           tain correspondence course
                                            that tactfulness was somewhat          which Rev. Heys developed and
George C. Lubbers is a minister emeritus    thrown to the wind. Yet withal,        sent to Rev. Elliott and other
in the Protestant Reformed Churches.        Rev. Elliott had undying and           students, which they returned for

472  /  The Standard Bearer


correction. This course was veri-         Rev. Elliott had been married         Cave P.O.                     3-3-88
fied to be correct by the approval     to a woman when a young man.                "The Rev. and Mrs. Lubbers and all
of a subcommittee of the mission       Much later in life, after many           Family and Friends,
committee!                             years of separation by legal                "Greetings in the Name of Jesus our
                                                                                soon-coming King we soon shall see;
  Rev. Elliott loved to sing our       divorce, he ever spoke of "Mar-          every eye shall see not (before) very long,
Presbyterian Psalter. How his          tha". Yes, he had seen her once          as Peter writes: all things must come to
soul reveled in Psalter numbers 1      or twice since her second "hus-          pass as it is written, then comes the end.
and 53, as well as others. How-        band' had died. Martha was not           Our eyes have seen many, many. . . .
ever, he never ceased to pour          happy with her life. She had               Dear brother and sister Lubbers: oh, I
                                                                                would it could be possible that you
out his soul in such hymns as          refused to live with Rev. Elliott        would visit us again. So many things I
"Amazing Grace" or "Sweet Hour         and to put up with his life as an        could say. But the time is short.
Of Prayer". I can still hear his       itinerant preacher. Subsequently            "Thanks for the tape. The word cheer
sonorous voice singing acapella.       the loneliness and the ever-             me on in my old age; ever as Christians,
My soul felt very akin to these        present temptations of the               in the Old Testament hope of their
                                                                                journey to the Celestial City. They were
humble saints, and we joined to        Jamaican mores had evidently in-         pilgrims. We have no abiding city here,
magnify the Lord with them.            duced her to seek another man. I         but one out of sight. The builder and
However, it was especially when        always observed in Rev. Elliott a        maker is God.
the Jamaican saints lifted up the,     man who lived a chaste and god-             `<Dear brother George, I am still sick.
lofty strains of "Holy, Holy, Holy,    ly life.                                 But the head not yet on pillow. (*) I have
                                                                                to be going to the doctor for medication
Lord God Almighty," that we felt          Rev. Elliott moved in 1984            injections monthly. Sometimes the rest at
this kinship. Suddenly the,            from Islington to Cave, Jamaica.         night is good; it goes and comes. The
shallow choruses were forgotten,       Here too he plied his know-how           nerves the same. I have to be thankful to
when our hearts were lifted up to      in the culture of fruit trees and        God for whatever way he chooses.
truly celestial heights.               vegetables in his very little back-        "Thanks for the gift.
                                                                                  "I hope I can on the tape to Rev.
  Jamaica is a warm and often          yard "acreage". He loved to              Bruinsma and Rev. Williams.
very humid climate, as "a little       befriend the little children with a        "Dear brother George: brother Myron
island in the sea". Daytime study      little gift, such as a piece of sugar    Moody and his family always writing me
is really not possible about mid-      cane.                                    and sending me a little gift. It encourages
day. Brother Elliott lived in a           It was here at Cave where he          me to be faithful to the end.
                                                                                  `May we as children of God and saints
humble house, a structure which        lived in the proximity of Rev.           be ready for the great election day above,
we would not be willing to live        Wilbur Bruinsma and family, and          when Jesus shall call all the nations to
in, but it was his retreat amidst      also near to the few remaining           receive our reward (I Peter 12 f f).
the grapefruit, banana, and            churches which he too had                       (was signed) Yours faithfully,
coconut trees. Here, too, he kept      served, and who had remained                              Clinton Elliott"
a few chickens. It was here that       faithful. He lived a lonesome life.         It is a good and sincere
he would rise shortly after mid-       It was here that at the age of 84        farewell! The angels heard this
night; he would sit at his table       his strong body had to succumb           good confession often and re-
and with lamplight pore over his       to the power of sickness and             joiced over a poor sinner who
Bible, study his text with the aid     finally death. He died alone with        repented in grace.
of a few books, among which the        God. His body was found in the              Here we let it rest till Jesus
chief was Young's Analytical           backyard of this little house. No        comes. 0
Concordance. He would prepare          doubt, the angels came and car-          (*) The Jamaican quaint and picturesque
his sermons, and take off early        ried the poor man in Abraham's              metaphor for dying.
Saturday morning for an all-day        bosom. No man heard his                               -Upon request of First Church
journey from Islington to the          farewell. It was not necessary.                                 Jamaican Committee
Southwest part of his beloved          The Lord himself delivered him
Jamaica to preach and "break           from body of this death. Just
bread", and sometimes to baptize       recently Rev. Elliott wrote his
in the Caribbean Sea.                  farewell words. It was his last
  Yes, we see the spiritual            and most touchingly beautiful let-
pilgrimage of an itinerant             ter. The letter here follows:
preacher.





                                                                                                     The Standard  Bearer  / 473


  The Day                                 God's Mercy Casts
  Of Shadows
 John A. Heys                             Its Shadow

    A shadow can present us with          and yet it was a shadow of the         went to hide in the darkest place
 a warning, and even of a warn-           gross wickedness in the world to-      that they could find in that
 ing that is very serious. The            day, which will reach its climax       beautiful garden of Eden. The
 shadow cast when the sun is              in the day of the antichrist. There    shadow of impending doom
 sinking behind the western               is plenty of violence and of           which they deserved was there.
 horizon can warn us that it will         breaking the entire second table       A shadow of the day when all
 soon be dark on this earth, and          of the law today. But those who        men shall appear before the judg-
 that the work we are performing          break the first table as well are      ment seat of Christ hung over
 will have to be finished very            developing in sin, and the             that garden. Adam and Eve had
 soon. Walking alone on a dimly           shadow of what is coming is            every reason to be terrified.
 lit street, where robbery has            becoming more ominous.                    But what a beautiful shadow,
 taken place repeatedly, and see-           However, there are also              what an encouraging shadow it
 ing a shadow approaching from            shadows that make one's heart          is for us, when we see how God
 behind may fill one with great           leap for joy. When waiting for a       came to fallen man! What a
 fear. Thus also when Adam and            son, who has been on a fierce          shadow we see there of what He
 Eve heard God coming in the              battlefield for many days, and is      will do, and how He will ap-
 cool of the day wherein they had         now coming home, his shadow,           proach us in the day when Christ
 eaten of the forbidden fruit, it         as he approaches the front door        returns upon the clouds of
filled them with great fear and           of your home, will make your           heaven and sends every man and
 made them try to hide under the          heart beat with joy. And for us        ,angel to his everlasting destina-
trees of the garden of Eden. And          today, seeing that shadow of           tion!
 remember that, as we saw last            Christ and His cross, that shadow        They had shown contempt,
time, the sin of Adam and Eve             of God in His sovereign grace ap-      denied Him, took the position
 did not seem such an evil deed;          proaching fallen Adam and Eve,         that He is not God, and that not
                                          brings comfort and gladness to         He but Satan spoke the truth.
                                          the child of God. Not only did         They had revealed hearts that
                                          God come with the blood of             had no love at all for God, but
                                          animals - most likely sheep -          hated Him for telling them not to
                                          but also with those skins to           do what would have benefitted
                                          clothe them and cover their            them so much that, as Satan said
                                          nakedness; but His very approach       through the serpent, they would
                                          to them was such a blessed             be gods and would not have to
                                          shadow of His mercy, His kind          listen to Him. We ought not to
                                          compassion upon those who              any degree try to minimize the
                                          turned not only away from Him          awfulness of that sin of Adam
                                          but against Him.                       and Eve. Had God Himself not
                                            Yes, there was a shadow that         said that it would bring death?
                                          fell upon Adam and Eve before
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in    God came in the cool of the day.
the Protestant Reformed Churches.         They put on fig leaf aprons and

474  I The Standard Bearer


He spelled it out very clearly to       which He did send later, after         people from a spiritual point of
Adam. He would not simply be            giving His elect such a rich and       view. Some will love God and
driven away from the tree of life,      precious mother promise. They          hate Satan. Some will be left in
but would die. He would die             heard Him walking in the garden        their sad, spiritual state so that
spiritually that day; and physical-     in the cool of the day; and then       they will hate, God and love all
ly begin to go into death with his      they heard Him call to them:           that the devil led man into seek-
body; and his guilty soul would         "Where art thou?" And after            ing.
be cast into the lake of fire.          more questioning, although He            Satan is going to be punished.
  Certainly we can and must say         knew all that they did, and did        His head is going to be crushed.
that Satan deceived Adam                not need information in order to       That is a better translation. It is
through Eve and the serpent. But        decide what to do to them, He          not going to be a mere bruising
that does not deny the fact that        came with that rich promise of         that in time will be healed. And
Adam was not forced to perform          His grace. He came to them with        it is a crushing of the head,
an act of hatred towards God,           Christ. That He did by words that      which means death! Christ's heel
and made to go contrary to God's        assured them that The Seed of          is going to be crushed. The idea
will. He knew very we11 that to         the Woman would deliver them           is that His walk of life on this
disobey God was to turn his             completely from the devil's hand;      earth will be ended, and was
heart from Him, rather than have.       but that He did also later on,         ended by His cross. But it also
his heart go out with thanks-           when as we read, He gave them          means that al1 the seed of the
giving and love to the God Who          those coats of skins, obtained         woman are going to have their
made Him and gave Him so                through the shedding of blood.         heels crushed so that they cannot
much blessedness.                         What He did here the day man         walk anymore in sin! 0, yes, in
  But bring before your mind            sinned was a beautiful.shadow of       this mother promise we do have
what God did some years later in        what He did when He sent His           a shadow of what we will have
the days of Noah. He came with          own Son into our flesh, and shed       in the new Jerusalem. What
an awful flood that killed all on       His blood so that we might be          comes first in our salvation is
this earth, except eight souls who      clothed with the robes of              having our hearts delivered from
at His bidding built the ark and        righteousness which He prepared        the love of sin and filled with
believed Him, when He con-              in Christ. And there is something      love toward God. Without that
demned all the deviltry that            here that ought to be emphasized       there can never be given us by
Satan had already achieved on           and not minimized. Look at that        God deliverance from the curse,
this earth. Recall what He did to       promise that He gave to all the        that is, from the punishment of
Sodom and Gomorrah and to               seed of the woman, that is, to all     the sin, which we deserve. A
Uzzah, who touched the ark              the elect. Those words were ad-        thief may, after his punishment in
when David was trying to bring          dressed to the devil, although to      prison has ended, go right back
it back to Jerusalem. And even          him it was not a promise but an        to his evil and be imprisoned
long before this, consider what         awesome prediction. To the seed        once again. The authorities simp-
He did to Korah, Dathan, and            of the woman it was the promise        ly failed to stop that wickedness.
Abiram in the wilderness; and to        of a complete spiritual victory.       God never fails in anything He
Pharaoh and his host, when they         Not only would there be com-           sets out to do. And He tells
tried to follow the Israelites, ,who    plete deliverance from the curse,      Adam and Eve here that He is
were crossing the Red Sea on dry        but also - and that is stated          going to realize a complete vic-
land.                                   literally and not by implication -     tory for them. The crushing of
  What tender mercy it was              that they would be given victory       Satan's head will stop him from
when God came to fallen Adam            in the spiritual sense, meaning        working in our hearts. Our sinful
and Eve! What compassion did            that they would again love God         heel will cause us in this life to
He show to these enemies who            and hate the devil. This truth is      cripple in sin, and be sorry when
had opposed Him in His holy             often overlooked and/or pushed         we have walked in hatred
law! He came with a question            far into the background. But           towards God. There will be a dif-
and not with a flash of lightning,      what God promises here is that         ferent walk of life for us. And
an earthquake, or tornado. He           there will be enmity in the hearts     when we get new, resurrected
came Himself and not through an         of His elect against the devil and     bodies like that of Christ, we will
angel with a flaming sword;             all his deviltry. That is mentioned    walk only in love toward God.
                                        first; and that is of utmost impor-
                                        tance. The human race is going
                                        to be divided into two kinds of

                                                                                                The Standard Bearer  / 475


   Let/us  take hold of that truth.         addressed to the devil, that He          We can, foolishly and sinfully,
Let us see that shadow of God's             would make them fear Him in            call all this fiction rather than
mercy that has compassion upon              the sense that they would believe      fact. We can be atheistically
us and saves us from SIN and not            in Him, and no longer believe          evolutionistic and distort what
simply from the punishment of               the devil's lies. So often in the      God moved Moses to write in
sin. His mercy does not simply              Old Testament the word fear is         Genesis 1 - 11. But God Himself
deliver us from what we brought             used for faith. And that we            had written for us a fact that
upon ourselves by our sin, but              believe in God and in His Christ       comforts us in our sins and
also from that which makes us               not only assures us that His mer-      fleshly opposition to Him. Here
perform these deeds that demand             cy is upon us, but also that this      in this shadow of His mercy after
punishment. Of- course, this is an          fear came to us in His mercy.          man's first sin, we see how mer-
act of His everlasting, unchange-             And let us also appreciate the       ciful He is. And merciful means
able love and grace. But God's              fact that it is in His mercy that      full of mercy. How full that mer-
mercy, that is, His compassion,             God causes us to know our sins.        cy is we will never know fully.
His pity upon His elect seed of             He has every right to consume us       For it stretches out infinitely into
the woman, is so evident in the             in His wrath the moment that we        the everlasting life that is com-
way He deals with us, and in                have a sinful thought in our           ing. But we can and ought to
what He promises us. And did                minds. He need not wait until we       take with us this rich and
not Jesus teach us this in His              put that sinful thought into a sin-    wonderful manifestation of it the
parable and in what the publican            ful act of the body. He had every      day when we first turned against
prayed? He cried out: "God be               right to destroy both Adam and         Him.
merciful to me the sinner." Yes,            Eve the minute that they reached         Yes, the day sin began on this
that is the Greek word. It is not           out to pick that fruit. He did not     earth God showed us what He
simply a confession that he is a            need to wait until they took the       would do in His Son and in His
sinner; but he cries out in the             first bite. He could have cast         mercy. His Son's blood would be
realization that, because he                them at once into the lake of fire,    shed, and His righteousness and
knows only what is in his own               and created a new man and              holiness would clothe us and
heart and mind he is The sinner,            woman to populate His earth.           bring us into a richer covenant
the biggest sinner he knows. And            But no, having eternally chosen        fellowship than Adam and Eve
he cries for mercy, which implies           them in Christ, seeing them as         knew before they fell into sin. Cl
of course, also for God's love and          purchased by the blood of Christ,
grace.                                      because He wanted them to be
   What an important and                    with Him in covenant fellowship
beautiful shadow we have then in            in the new creation He eternally
the way God approached those                planned, He dealt with them in
who manifested their hatred                 the most wonderful mercy, as
towards Him. The psalmist in           .    well as love and grace, that we
Psalm 103:17 declares: "But the             could ever invent or plan to have
mercy of the Lord is from ever-             upon this earth.
lasting to everlasting upon them
that fear Him, and His righteous-.
ness unto children's children."
That is true; but what is also
true, and was shown us in what              The Standard Bearer makes a
happened there in the garden of
Eden, is that God's mercy makes             thoughtful gift for members of your
us fear Him. And in His mercy
here God told Adam and Eve, by              family, friends, and neighbors. Give
implication, for these words were
                                            a gift of the Standard Bearer.



476  /  The Standard Bearer


Directory, Protestant Reformed Churches
Covenant Prot. Ref. Church           First Prot. Ref. Church               Southeast Prot. Ref. Church
454 Pulis Ave.                       2800 Michigan St., NE                 1536 Cambridge, SE
Franklin Lakes, N.J.                 (l/2 Mi. SW of 196/M44  inter-        Grand Rapids, MI
(Meeting in United Meth. Church)       change)                             Services: 9:30 & 5:00
Services: 11:30 & 7:00               Grand Rapids, MI                      Phone: (6 16) 452-7047
Phone: (201) 790-4732                Services: 9:30 & 6:00
                                     Phone: (616) 247-0638, 245-4339       Grandville Prot. Ref. Church
Byron Center Prot. Ref. Church                                             Wilson Ave., SW
8840 Byron Center Ave.               Southwest Prot. Ref. Church           Grandville, MI
Byron Center, Ml                     4875 Ivanrest Ave., SW                (Meeting in Grandville High
(Meeting in Byron Center Chr. Jr.    Grandville, MI                          School)
  High School)                       Services: 9:30 & 7:00                 Services: 9:30 & 7:00
Services: 9:30 & 5:00                Phone: (616) 532-6876, 532-4846       Phone: (616) 538-2575
Phone: (616) 878-3255, 534-1927
                                     Faith Prot. Ref. Church               Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Church
Hope Prot. Ref. Church               7194 20th Ave.                        5101 Beechtree Ave.
1580 Ferndale, SW                    Jenison, MI                           (1 Blk. East of Public High
(Corner of Riverbend & Ferndale)     Services: 9:30 & 7:00                   School, 32nd Ave.)
Walker, Ml                           Phone: (6 16) 457-5848                Hudsonville, MI
Services: 9:30 & 7:00                                                      Services: 9:30 & 7:00
Phone: (616) 453-3253, 453-2524      First Prot. Ref. Church               Phone: (616) 669-0755
                                     290 E. 18th St.
Kalamazoo Prot. Ref. Church          Holland, MI                           South Holland Prot. Ref. Church
4515 Green Acre Dr.                  Services: 9:30 & 6:30                 165 11 South Park Ave.
Kalamazoo, MI                        Phone: (6 16) 396-8303                South Holland, IL
Services: 9:30 & 6:00                                                      Services: 9:30 & 6:00
Phone: (616) 381-3385, 349-4420      Pella Prot. Ref. Church               Phone: (312) 333-1314, 596-3113
                                     410 Franklin St.                      Trinity Prot. Ref. Church
Randolph Prot. Ref. Church           Pella, IA                             2 14 Barker-Clodine Rd.
229 Hammond St.                      Services: 9:30 & 7:00                 Houston, TX
Randolph, WI                         Phone: (515) 628-4747                 Services: 9:30 & 6:00
Services: 9:30 & 2:00                                                      Phone: (7 13) 492-0844
Phone: (414) 326-5642                Doon Prot. Ref. Church
                                     6th Ave. & N. 2nd St.                 Edgerton Prot. Ref. Church
Hull Prot. Ref. Church               Doon, IA                              3rd & Maple St.
1204 Third St.                       Services: 9:30 & 2:00                 Edgerton, MN
Hull, IA                             Phone: (712) 726-3382                 Services: 9:30 & 7:30 (March to
Services: 9:30 & 7:00 (May to                                                Nov.) 9:30 & 2:00 (Dec. to Feb.)
  Sept.) 9:30 & 1:30 (Oct. to        Loveland Prot. Ref. Church            Phone: (507) 442-4441
  April)                             709 E. 57th St.
Phone: (712) 439-1326, 439-1283      Loveland, CO                          First Prot. Ref. Church
                                     Services: 9:30 & 6:00 (Oct. to        11533 135th St.
Hope Prot. Ref. Church                 May) 9:30 & 7:00 (June to Sept.)    (Mt. Zion Lutheran Church)
Isabel, SD                           Phone: (303) 667-1347                 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Services: 9:30 & 2:00                                                      Services: 11:15 & 3:00
Phone: (605) 466-2450                Lynden Prot. Ref. Church              Phone: (403) 455-9803
                                     108 Beernink Lane
Hope Prot. Ref. Church               Lynden, WA                            Immanuel Prot. Ref. Church
1307 E. Brockton Ave.                Services: 10:00 & 8:00 (summer)       C & E Trail and 50th Ave.
Redlands, CA                           10:00 & 2:00 (winter)               (St. Cyprian's Anglican Church)
Services: 1O:OO & 7:00               Phone: (206) 354-4337                 Lacombe, Alberta, Canada
Phone: (714) 792-0307, 792-4923                                            Services: 12:00 & 4:00
                                                                           Phone: (403) 782-4089


                                                                                              The Standard Bearer  / 477


                                            Book Review

SOLVINiYi MARRIAGE PROB-                    fornia. The book is intended for      the Holy Spirit Who enables us to
LEMS, by Jay E. Adams; Zon-                 pastors and other Christian           live in obedience to God's will in
dervan Publishing House, 1986;              counselors, but may be profitably     marriage. Adams deals with some
122 pp., (paper) $6.95. (Reviewed           read by any Christian. One does       of the more common causes of
by Prof. R.D. Decker)                       not always agree with Adams'          marriage problems: communica-
   This Zondervan publication               views, especially his view of         tion breakdown, mishandled
was first published by Presby-              divorce and the remarriage of         anger, self-centeredness, et. al.
terian and Reformed Publishing              divorced persons. Nonetheless,        Other subjects discussed in the
Co. in 1983. We reviewed that               Adams' approach is Biblical and       book are: The Counselor's Own
edition in the September. 1985              he insists that marriage problems     Marriage, What Causes Marriage
issue of The Standard Bearer. Jay           are caused by sinful living pat-      Problems, Unbiblical Concepts in
Adams is Director of Advanced               terns which can be changed and        Marriage, Particular Sinful Living
Studies at Westminster Theolog-             ought to be replaced by Biblical      Patterns, How to Discover Mar-
ical Seminary in Escondido, Cali-           living patterns. Gods Word is our     riage Problems. Recommended
                                            guide in dealing with these sin       for pastors and elders especial-
                                            problems in marriage and it is        ly. 0




                                            News From
Ben Wigger                                  Our Churches

                                                            September 1, 1988     that threesome Rev. S. Houck
                                              The consistory of the First         was extended a. call to come over
                                            P.R.C. in Holland, Michigan           and help the group in Isabel.
                                            presented a trio of the Revs. B.        We also extend our congratu-
                                            Gritters, C. Haak, and M. Kamps       lations to Rev. and Mrs. Wilbur
                                            to their congregation.' On July       Bruinsma, our missionary to the
                                            25th Rev. C. Haak was chosen          island of Jamaica, in the birth of
                                            and a call was extended to him        a baby girl, Megan Dael, born
                                            to become Holland's next under-       June 12.
                                            shepherd.                               Rev. Bruinsma was scheduled
                                              The congregation of the Hope        to preach in First P.R.C. in Grand
                                            P.R.C., in Isabel S.D., formed the    Rapids, Michigan, on July 3, at
Ben Wigger is an elder in the Protestant
Reformed Church of Hudsonviile,             following trio: Revs. R. Hanko, S.    which time he expected to bap-
Michigan.                                   Houck, and J. Kortering. From         tize their new daughter.

478  / The Standard Bearer


  As many of you may know by              The members of the Covenant          grounds, but they are all united.
now, in response to a request           P.R.C. in Wyckoff, New Jersey          in their love and enthusiasm for
from the Evangelical Presby-            set aside one week day per             the truth of the Word of God as it
terian Church of Australia to help      month during the summer                is preached by Pastor Ken
them in their shortage of               months to discuss the tapes of         Hanko. Because some members
ministers, Prof. H.C. Hoeksema          the Conference on the Family,          come from as far as 100 miles
will be sent to their Burnie,           held in South Holland.                 away, everyone takes his lunch
Tasmania congregation for one             The last payment has been            at the hall where the worship
year. Prof. Hoeksema and his            made on the property and par-          services are held."
wife planned their departure for        sonage of the Grandville P.R.C. in       Randolph's organ committee
August 16, the Lord willing.            Grandville, Michigan. As you           has also found what seems to be
  The consistory of the Pella,          might imagine, attention is now        the best organ for their church. It
P.R.C. in Pella, Iowa decided to        being focused on making plans          is an Allen Computer Organ,
purchase some books and pam-            for their new church building.         model 221.
phlets from the Reformed Free             Once again the Evangelism              The Board of Covenant Chris-
Publishing Association for resale       Committee of the South Holland         tian High School in Walker,
on a consignment basis at               P.R.C. in South Holland, Ill. has a    Michigan, is going ahead with
Gosselink's Christian Bookstore in      "new" pamphlet you might be in-        Phase 1 of a three-phase building
Pella. The consistory felt that this    terested in writing for: "God So       project that is tentatively
was one way in which the con-           Loved the World", an explana-          scheduled to be completed by the
gregation in Pella could be a           tion of John 3:16, by Prof. H.C.       year 2000. Phase 1, when com-
witness of the Reformed faith in        Hoeksema. It is a reprint of an        pleted, is to consist of new con-
the community.                          earlier pamphlet. Changes in the       struction on the west side of the
  The congregation of the Love-         new pamphlet include a new             school building, and some much
land P.R.C. in Loveland, Colo. en-      cover; a new title; and addition       needed remodeling.
joyed the preaching of the Rev.         of an appendix by Rev. D.                This three-phase building proj-
J. Heys, pastor emeritus of the         Engelsma. The color of the cover       ect is the direct result of a study
P.R. churches, while their pastor       ("blood-red") was chosen deliber-      which relates to the rapidly ex-
and family enjoyed a camping            ately in keeping with the text of      panding student body, projected
vacation. While in Loveland, Rev.       John 3:16. Want a copy? Just           from current enrollments in the
Heys also presented a slide pro-        drop a note to the Evangelism          elementary schools which feed
gram on New Zealand, featuring          Committee, 165 11 South Park           students into Covenant. Enroll-
especially our sister church in         Ave., South Holland, Illinois          ment projects show an increase
Wellington.                             60473.                                 from 121 students this fall to ap
  Loveland is also busily working         Rev. A. den Hartog, pastor of        proximately 300 by the year
on completing the kitchen in the        the Randolph P.R.C. in Randolph,       2000.
basement of their new church.           Wisconsin wrote in a recent              With school begun, or about to
  The Southwest P.R.C. in Grand-        bulletin about the Norristown          begin soon, a final thought from
ville, Michigan has set September       Mission. He says: "The Nor-            the bulletin of South Holland, Ill:
9 as the date of the dedication of      ristown Mission is an exciting         "Learning may be usefully
their organ and new sanctuary.          one. Those who attend the mis-         employed; but if learning ever
More about this event later.            sion are from diverse back-            forgets that it must sit at the feet
                                                                               of Jesus, it will be a curse instead
                                                                               of a blessing." Robert Haldane 0



                                                  Notice!!!
     The Southwest Protestant Reformed Church of Crandville, Michigan, is in need of  $100,000.00
   to finance the construction of their sanctuary building project.
     Those interested in loaning  $l,OOO.OO or more for periods of five, ten or fifteen years at an in-
   terest rate of  7X % are requested to contact Mr. Phil Lotterman, 871 Rushmore St., jenison, MI
   49428 for particulars. (Phone (616) 457-0005.)




                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  / 479


  THE
STANDARD                                                                                                   SECOND CLASS
fE4RER                                                                                                     Postage Paid at
                                                                                                           Grand Rapids, Michigan

RO. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, MI 49506



LEAGUE MEETING NOTICE!!!                    RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   The Eastern League of Men's  &             The Consistory of the Lynden Prot-            We rejoice with our dear parents,
Ladies' Societies will begin the Fall       estant Reformed Church extends its            HENRY AND LORNA VANDER  VEN-
Season, the Lord willing, Tuesday,          sympathy to Mrs. Orta den Hartog and          NEN, as they celebrate their 35th wed-
September 13, 1988, 8:00 P.M. at the        her family in the death of her husband        ding anniversary on September 4, 1988.
Holland Protestant Reformed Church.         JOHN DEN HARTOG on Tuesday, July                We are grateful to our Heavenly
Rev. M. Joostens will speak regarding       19,1988. We commit the bereaved of            Father for providing us with  Cod-
"Temptations in our affluent society."      heart to our faithful God and Father          fearing parents, and pray that He will
All members and others interested in        who hath sworn through the mouth of           be near to them and bless them
this topic are urged to attend.             his prophets  - "The Lord redeemeth           throughout life's journey.
         Ruth H. Bylsma, Secretary          the soul of his servants, and none of           "For the Lord is good, His mercy is
         Eastern League of Men's  &         them that trust in him shall be               everlasting, and His truth endureth to
           Ladies' Societies                desolate." (Psalm  34:22)                     all generations." (Psalm  100:5)
                                                   Rev. C. Haak, Pres.                           John and Linda Van Uffelen
WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                Mel Yonkman, Clerk                               Dan, Lora, Jeff, Sarah
   On September 7, 1988, the  Lord.will-                                                         Daryl and Sharon Kuiper
ing, our parents, MR. AND MRS. BEN          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                  Kristin, Katie, Jonathan
BOSMAN will celebrate their 40th wed-         The Consistory and Diaconate of the                Todd and Cindy Miedema
ding anniversary.                           Lynden Protestant Reformed Church ex-                   Melissa, Leanne
  We thank God for these years they         tend their sympathy to our fellow of-                Jeff and Kathy Terpstra
have had together and rejoice with          fice bearer, Mr. Jim den Hartog in the
them for being so blessed.                  death of his father, JOHN DEN  HAR-           ANNUAL MEETING
  We pray that God will continue to         TOG. May the sorrows of death be                September 15 is the night! Plan now
bless them in the years to come.            swallowed up in the victory which is          to attend the Annual Meeting of The
         Richard and Nancy Bosman           ours through Jesus Christ our Lord. (I        Reformed Free Publishing Association.
         John and Libby Bosman              Cor. 15:57)                                   8:00 P.M. is the time! Three board
           and 6 grandchildren                     Rev. C. Haak, Pres.                    members will be elected from the
                                                   Mel Yonkman, Clerk                     following nomination: Rod Brunsting,
WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                       Vern Casm'ier, Leon Carvelink, Arnold
  On August  17,1988, our parents and       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                        Haveman, Peter Koole and Neal
grandparents, MR. AND MRS. COR-               The Adult Bible Society of the              Pastoor. Rev. M. Kamps will speak.
NELIUS KAMPS celebrated 40 years of         Lynden Protestant Reformed Church             Plan to be at The Southwest Protestant
marriage, We give thanks to our             convey their Christian love and sym-          Reformed Church September  15!
Heavenly Father for the love, guidance      pathy to our sister, Mrs. Orta den  Har-             Secretary of The R.F.P.A.
and instruction they have given us.         tog in the death of her husband, MR.
May God continue to bless and keep          JOHN DEN HARTOC.                              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
them in the coming years.                     As John's confession was that he              The Consistory of the Randolph Prot-
  "Yea thou shalt see thy children's        belonged, in life and death, to his faith-    estant Reformed Church expresses its
children, and peace upon Israel."           ful Savior, so may our sister experience      sympathy to Pastor A. den Hartog and
(Psalm  128:6)                              the peace passing understanding as we         family in the passing of his father, MR.
         Carey and Lois Kamps               confess with the Psalmist  - "As for          J. DEN HARTOG on July  19,1988.
         David and  Karla Kamps             me, I will behold thy face in righteous-        "And I heard a voice from heaven
         Terry and  LaVonne  Kooienga       ness:  I will be satisfied, when  I awake,    saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the
         Jim and Sandra  Westing            with thy likeness." (Psalm  17:15)            dead which die in the Lord from hence-
         Dave and Ruth Cunnink                                                            forth: yea saith the Spirit, that they
         Larry and Lynn Van  Overloop       CONGRATULATIONS                               may rest from their  labours,  and their
         J onathon                            Congratulations to Professors R.D.          works do follow them." (Rev.  14:13)
           and  21 grandchildren            Decker and H. Hanko in the attainment
                                            of their Th.M. Degree from Calvin
                                            Seminary. May the Lord bless the fur-
                                            ther education of the professors as they
                                            teach young men to be undershepherds
                                            in our churches.
                                                   Rev. M. Joostens, Stated Clerk


480  I The Standard Bearer


