                   d&DMD
A Reformed
Semi-/Won thly
Magazine


                                                                                             -
                                  ~-~                    .

                                                    i
                        `At  a most  alarmin,g rate the great
                        `: historic cloctrinek of:th& Christian faith
                        <`which the church-has`beiieved" and
                        loved  for centuries  are being  contra-
                   : `,&ted kid denied. Evil practices that
                        :in  time past were'abhorred and se-
                                                              I(
                        tierely condemned.  are  noti being
                        -- openly practiced atid defended and
                        y $c&n&inies~ even'- &6moted  .by the
                         modern-day  -chu&h:,~
                                               .                      .:  .Alf of this is
                        -.  happe'ning `under  the  .pretense that
                                         .,
                        -. ,our age is one-of e$ightenment.
                                                                      .
                   L

                          see "Spiritual Perception and Discernment" - page 39:3.



Vol. 68, No. 17
June  1,1992


CONTENTS:                                                                                                                    June I, 1992                                STANDARD
Meditation - Rev. Jason L. Kortering                                                                                                                                             Bc4RER
      Constrained to Live unto Christ . . . ..~......,........,,~,,..,.........,............, 387
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                                                                     ISSN  0362-4692
      PRC Synod 1992 . . . . . . . . . . ..*..*......................................................**.....                                                389
Contribution - Mr. Henry Huisken                                                                                                                                        Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                                                                                        Published bythe Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
      Covenantal Instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390    4949 Ivanrest Ave., Grandville, MI 49419. Second Class
All Around Us - Prof. Robert D. Decker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.....s................. 391                                                       Postage Paid at Grandville, Michigan.
In His Fear - Rev. Arie denHatfog                                                                                                                                       Poatmartw:  Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
                                                                                                                                                                        P.O. Box 603, Grandvilla, MI 494660603.
      Spiritual Perception and Discernment . . . . . ..~........,,,.~...........~~........ 393
Decency and Order - Rev. Ronald L. Cammenga                                                                                                                             EDITORIAL  COMMllTEE
                                                                                                                                                                        Editor: Prof. David J. Engelsma
      The Right of Appeal . . . . . . . . . . . ..~*.~...*.......~..................`.**~...............*.*.                                               ,395         Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
A Word Fitly Spoken - Rev. Dale H, Kuiper                                                                                                                               Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezama
      Preaching . . ..*.............*............"......*..................................*.............                                                   398         DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                                                                                                        Rev. Ronald Cammenga. Prof. Robert Decker, Rev. Arte
The Day of Shadows - Rev.' John A. Heys                                                                                                                                 denHartog, Rev. Russell Dykstre, Rev. Carl Heak,  Mr. Fred'
     The Truth Proclaimed by Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399                      Hanko, Prof. Herman Henko. Rev. John Heys, Rev. Marvtn
                                                                                                                                                                        Kamps,  Rev. Steven Key, Rev. Kenneth Koole,  Rev. Jason
Search the Scriptures  - Rev. Car/J. Haak                                                                                                                               Kortering. Rev. Dale Kulper, Mr. James Lanttng,  Rev. George
      Malachi, lesson 9                                                                                                                                                 Lubbers, Mrs. MeryBethLubbers,  Rev. JamesSlopsema, Rev.
                                                                                                                                                                        Charles Terpstra. Rav. Ronald VanDverloop. Mr. Benjamin
      Behold the Day Cometh (Mal. 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.***......... 401                                       Wiggar, Rev. Bernard Woudenbarg.
From Holy Writ - Rev. George C. Lubbers                                                                                                                                 EDITORIAL OFFICE             CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
      Jehovah's Faithful Covenant with Noah ..*.**.....*...m....................... 402                                                                                 The Standard Bearer          Mr. Ben Wigger
                                                                                                                                                                        4649 lvanrest                6597 40th Ave.
Church and State - Mr. James Lanting                                                                                                                                    Grandville, MI 49416         Hudsonville, MI 49426
      Recent Federal Legislation on Church/State Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404                                                                     BUSINESS OFFICE              NEW ZEALAND OFFICE
                                                                                                                                                                        The Standard Bearer          The Standard Bearer
Book Review . . . . . ..~................................~.................................................                                                 406         Don Ddezama                  c/o Protestant Reformed
                                                                                                                                                                        P.O. Box 603                    Church
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406                                                        Grandjille,  MI              B. VanHerk
                                                                                                                                                                          494660603                  66 Fraser St.
                                                                                                                                                                        PH: (Sj 6) 536-l 776         Wainuiomata, New Zaetend
                                                                                                                                                                                 (616) 531-1490
                                                                                                                                                                        FAX:  (616) 631-3033

                                                                                                                                                                        EDlTOf,  !`OLlCY
In This Issue . . .                                                                                                                                                     Every ,drtor IS solely responsible for the contents of his own
                                                                                                                                                                        articlesi  Contributionsofgeneratinterastfromourreadersand
                                                                                                                                                                        questions for The Reader Asks department are welcome.
                                                                                                                                                                        Contributions will be iimited to approximately306 words and
       Summer is upon us. Catechism classes and most Societies have already therefore                                                                                   must       neatlywrittenortypewritten,andmustbesigned.  Copy
been concluded for the season. Even the  Standard Beat;er  comes out only once per                                                                                      daadli es are the first end fifteenth of the month. All
                                                                                                                                                                                 I..
month in June, July, and August.                                                                                                                                        commumcabons relabve to the contents should be sent to the
                                                                                                                                                                        editorijl office.
       Though "Constrained to Live unto Christ" says nothing about summertime, Rev.
Kortering's Meditation does seem particularly appropriate at this time of year, when                                                                                    REPRINT POLICY
                                                                                                                                                                        Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of articles in our
outdoor activities get into high gear, and time for meditation on and study of the Word                                                                                 magazine byotherpublications, provided: a) thatsuch reprinted
is allowed often to suffer for it. Spiritual strength, however, comes fromno  other source                                                                              articles ere reproduced in full; b) that proper acknowledgment
than from such fellowship with God. To neglect it therefore is to deny ourselves the                                                                                    Is made: c) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint
                                                                                                                                                                        appears is sent to our editorial office.
lthrill  of being a Christian."
       And that holds true not only for adults but also for children and young people.                                                                                  SUBSCRIPTION  POUCY
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Rev. denHartog points that out in his "Spiritual Perception and Discernment," in this                                                                                   elsewhere. Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
issue. We live, he says, in a day of great spiritual ignorance and carelessness  -                                                                                      received. it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the
resulting, as the cover-copy suggests, in wholesale abandonment of historic Christian                                                                                   subscdptiontocontlnua,endhewillbsbilledforrenewal.          lfyou
                                                                                                                                                                        haveachangeofaddrass, pleasenotifytheBusinaasDfficeas
doctrines. Only by a thorough,knowledge of God's Word can one avoid being himself                                                                                       early as possible in order to avoid the inconvenience of
caught up  m the apostasy of the day. And the foundation of such knowledge, writes                                                                                      interrupted delivery. Include your Zip or Postal Code.
Rev. denHartog,  comes in the way of instruction in one's youth.                                                                                                        ADVERTISING POLICY
       Are we, perhaps, too quick to conclude that our children are too yoloung to learn the                                                                            The StandardBearerdoes not accept commercial advertising
doctrines of the Word of God? Consider,in that connection, Jesus' childhood. At twelve                                                                                  of any kind. Announcements of church and school events,
                                                                                                                                                                        anniversaries, obituaries, and sympathy resolutions will be
years old He was in the Temple, not to admonish the rabbis, not to teach them, but to learn                                                                             placed for a 93.00 fee. These should be sent to the Business
from them. And the reason He was able to askand  answer hard questions was that, by                                                                                     Dffice and should be accompanied by the 93.OOfee. Deadline
that early age, He had already done a whole lot. of hard study. (Like us in all things, sin                                                                             for announcements is at least one month prior to publication
                                                                                                                                                                        date.
excepted.) He was in dead earnest about His "Father's business."
       "Nothing in this ungodly world can compare to the excellency of the things of                                                                                    BOUND VOLUMES
                                                                                                                                                                        The Business office will accept standing orders for bound
God," writes Rev.  denHartog. A resolution to demonstrate, with our children, our                                                                                       copiasofthe currentvolume. Such ordarsareftlledassoon  as
conviction of the truth of that, by our continued serious attention to the Word during                                                                                  possible after completion of a volume year.
the summer months, will help assure also the thrill of being a Christian.                                                                                               16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm and 105mm microfiche, and
                                                                                                                                                          D.D.          article copies are available through University Microfilms
                                                                                                                                                                        Intemetional.
386 /Standard Bearer /June 1,1992


                                               Constrained to Live
Meditation                                     unto Christ
Rev. Jason Korfering


        "For the love ofChrist constraineth    we are made, literally, a new creation.     separated. Manis one entityandfunlc-
us; because we thus judge, that ifone died     As in the beginning God formed man          tions that way.
for all, then were all dead: And that he       out of the dust of the earth and                 Hence, we say with Paul, I live,
died for all, that they which live should      breathedinto his nostrils the breath of     yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
riot henceforth live unto themselves, but      life, so now in the power of the gospel          The direction of this life must
unto him which died for them, and rose         Jesus fashions from that totally de-        not be unto ourselves, but it must be
again. "                                       praved material a saint after His own       Christ who died and rose again.
                  II Corinthians 5:14,15       image.                                           Plenty of people live unto them-
                                                    Such a work makes us alive.            selves. In the broad sense, this means
                                                    This life has its roots in the hu-     living for the good of humanity. Surely
        Living unto Christ!                    man heart. "Out of the heart are the        theChristianmustbeconcernedabout
        What a glorious outlook on life.       issues of life" (Prov. 4~23). Jesus also    his neighbor, about the basic needs of
        There is `far more to life than        said, "Let not your heart be troubled"      humanity, and about society in gen-
tears, groans, wounded spirits, sink-          (John 149). Within ourhearts we stand       eral. However, if a person lives unto
ing souls, and scars. These are real, to       closest to God, welove Godandknow           himself, then he attempts to do this
be sure, for we live in the midst of a         Him (John 17:3).                            without any thought of God, or any
continual death. But, there is more,                This spiritual life comes to ex-       desire to serve God, or to do it God's
much more. We have direction, we               pression within ourselves, in our soul      way. Thus the ungodly scientist la-
have purpose, we have energy, we               life. We have the ability to think, to      bors for the good of humanity. He
are alive, and that, in order to set as        reason, to memorize, to express our         may be a medical research scientist
ourgoaltomagnify Godinthel'erson               desires, to respond with joy or sor-        working feverishly to find the answer
of His dear Son.                               row, fear or confidence, hope or de-        to stopping deadly cancer, heart dis-
        The Holy Spirit said elsewhere,        spair. We do believe that there is          ease, or any such like. The ungodly
"For to me to live is Christ and to die        reality to the inner man. Many inter-       statesman or politician may use his
is gain" (Phil. 1:21).                         esting discussions are appearing in         talents in the area of international
        We are alive because, as Paul in       the public press raising the question       diplomacy and seek peace among the
the Spirit writes a few verses later,          whether the mind is an allusion, or         nations. All of this is "living unto
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he         only biology, made up of chemistry          himself."
is a new creature: old things are              and electrical impulses embedded in              In the narrower sense it applies
passed away; behold, all things are            flesh. The life which we have in Christ     to the person who is simply selfish
become new." It is not sufficient that         comes to expression within our soul,        and self-centered. Such a person is
we simply declare that we are crea-            an entity which is so real that it can      not interested in the needs of other
tures of God. In truth, God created            and will exist apart from the body.         human beings, much less in serving
Adam and Eve, and through our first                 As long as we are home here, our       God. The complexity of human na-
parents we have our naturallife. That          bodies interact intimately with our         ture explains the many ways this
is not sufficient, however, to live unto       inner being, our soul life. We have         comes to expression. All people do
Christ! For, "In Adam all die" (I Cor.         great difficulty dividing the mind from     not sin the same way. Hence, self
15:22). Thanks be unto God, in Jesus           the brain, the emotions from our physi-     seeking may come to expression in
                                               cal self. For this reason the Bible         the greedybusiness man who is out to
                                               speaks of our bowels as longing and         make his million no matter what. He
                                               of our kidneys as involved in serious       sells his soul to his business enter-
                                               trials. This is true because God has        prise. He is a "workaholic." He n.e-
Rev. Korteringis pastor of the Protestant      made us so wonderfully that the dis-        glects  his wife and children. He makes
Reformed Church of  Grandville, Michi-         tinctions we make as to our being           hard business decisions without con-
gan.                                           cannot for all practical purposes be        sidering how it affects the people who

                                                                                                  June 1,1992 I Standard Bearer I387


          workforhim. Everythingis "me." The            wilt thou have me do?" We use our            preaching. In the one case, the man
          same applies to the laborer who is            time, our talents, our possessions in        rejects that speech of God and fash-
          determined to climb the corporate             the service of the kingdom of heaven.        ions an idol for his worship (Eom. 1,
          ladder no matter what. This person            If need be, we also forfeit such things      2); and in the other, he turns from the
          may be a man or woman who will do             for the kingdom, we deny ourselves           gospel, refuses to accept it as truth,
          anything to get a higher position in          earthly gain if such gain would cause        and turns such knowledge into the
          the company. Greed oozes out of his           us to deny our Lord. We forfeit earthly      lie.
          eyes. His attitudes and conduct be-           advancement if such is required of us                No wonder, then, that a sinner
          tray a raw inner, self-seeking person.        to do the work which our Lord calls          deserves to perish. God punishes the
          These are the hardened sinners who            us to do. A mother will rise up late at      wicked by giving them a reprobate
          will forsake spouse and family for the        night to nurture her sick child, not         mind, a hardness in sin, to work out
          "pleasure" of another man or woman.           just to quiet that child or minister to      sin in their lives; and in the end He
          Their cold hearts are not even sensi-         its needs, but in the love of Jesus she      plunges them into the lake of fire.
          tive to the hurt and pain they cause          will do this. A pastor will leave the                ManwithoutGodlivesuntohim-
          their family.                                 comfort of his home to go out in the         self and makes a mess out of his life.
                All they have in common is to           middle of the night to meet the needs                The change takes place when the
          "live unto themselves."                       of his flock, not just because it is his     living Lord comes to dwell with us.
                What a difference it is to live         duty, but for Jesus' sake. In the Name       Already in His first coming, He died
          unto God, unto Christ.                        of Jesus he will care for His sheep.         for all; and if one died for all, then
                                                                Such includes both self denial       were all dead. This describes His
                                                        and joyful service.                          atonement for sinners. When Jesus
              We cannot live unto God                           The deep spiritualroots for such     died, He did not die on account of His
             without family worship.                    behavior sink into the very Person           ownsins,forHewasinnocent. Rather,
                                                        and work of Jesus Christ Himself. In         He died for all, as a substitute. In no
                                                        the language of this passage, "if one        way can this refer to every human
                That takes place only if we have        died for all, then were all dead (or         being, for He expressly said, "The
          apersonalrelationshipwithH.im.  God           then all died), and that he died for all,    good shepherd lays down his life for
          must mean much to us if we are to live        that they which live should not hence-       the sheep" (John 10:14,15). When He
          unto Him. He can only mean much to            forth live unto themselves, but unto         prayedunder the shadow of the cross,
          us if we take time to have fellowship         him which died for them, and rose            He said, "I pray not for the world, but
          with Him. This explains the impor-            again." The emphasis rests upon Jesus        for them which thou gavest me, for
          tance of daily fellowship with God in         who died and rose again. This is the         they are thine" (John 17:9). The "all" is
                                                        spiritual source of our living unto          used to remind the Corinthians that it
I         our quiet time - a time of prayer, a
          time of meditating and of reading the         Him.                                         includes Jews and Gentiles, bond and
          Word of God, a time of evaluating our                                                      free. When Jesus died, all those in
          lives, of contemplating our sins and                                                       Him died also. The account was
          the sweet assurance of forgiveness.                     Man without God                    settled.
          The same applies to our family rela-                    lives unto himself                         Now that He arose, He comes to
          tionships, if the Lord has given us                     and makes a mess                   dwell in us by His Word and Spirit.
          wife or husband, and children. We                                                          The Father approved His work, ac-
                                                                    out of his life.
          cannot live unto God without family                                                        counted the debt paid, and gave to
                                                                                                     Him the Holy Spirit, the breath of life
     I    worship. If we do this daily, we will
          also value highly the special moments                                                      for this new creation. This makes the
                                                                The need for such a personal
          we enjoy in public and corporate wor-                                                      difference in us. By the gosp'el,  He
                                                        bond of faith with Jesus is the fact that
          ship of Jehovah in His house on the                                                        opens the closed heart, He softens the
          Lord's Day and special occasions.             apart from Him we are spiritually            hard, and gives sight to the blind, and
                                                        dead. Inverse 17 the apostle speaks of
          How precious is the gathering, pres-                                                       enables the lame to walk.
                                                        "old things (which) arepassed away."
          ervation, and defense of the church.                                                               What motivated Christ to do
                                                        Such refers to our natural depravity.
               Deriving spiritual strength from                                                      this? Love. Pure, divine love.
                                                        We are born into this world with a
          such fellowship with God, we set the                                                               When Paul considers this, that
                                                        heart of stone, a heart that hates God
          course of our daily life not to live unto                                                  love which Christ has for us con-
                                                        and rejects every evidence of His pres-
          self, but to serve God. This is the thrill                                                 strains him to reason this way: If
                                                        ence. That is true of the unsaved
          ofbeinga Christian. We are partakers                                                       Jesus died and rose for me, I should
                                                        person whether God speaks to him in
          of the anointing of Jesus Christ to live                                                   not live unto myself, but unto Him.
                                                        the realm of creation, or whether He
          unto Him. We askfrom the beginning                                                                 Is that not beautiful reasoning?
                                                        places the written Word in his hand
          of the day to the close of day, "What                                                              May that reasoning enable each
                                                        and brings him under the gospel              of us to have meaningful lives. 0

          388 /Standard Bearer I June 1,1992


Editorial                                  PRC Synod 1992

     The annual synod of the Protes-       of the ministers in the classis. Video       ture labor in Ghana, and have deter-
tant Reformed Churches meets this          tapes of the Hudsonville services are        mined to work toward another visit
yearinSouthHolland,Illinois. Synod         being used in the meetings of the            in two years . . ..`I
convenes on June 9, the.Lord willing.      group in Northern Ireland in the ab-               The FMC has begun a radio
The council of the SouthHolland PRC        sence of a minister. The report of the       broadcast on Radio Africa. The sta-
has called the special, pre-synodical      Hudsonville Council notes that               tion covers a large part of western
worship service for the evening of                                                      Africa. Rev. Richard Moore is deliv-
June 8.                                      the saints of Northern Ireland have        ering messages on Ephesians.
     Our readers will be interested in       been discouraged at the repeated de-             The FMC is in contact with the
some of the main matters on synod's          clines. The consistory also is con-        Joint-Mission Committee of theEvan-
agenda. Knowledge of the work is             cerned about the question whether a        gelical Reformed Churches of
also stimulation of the saints unto          "field of labor" remains such a field
                                             indefinitely. The core families in         Singapore.
indispensable prayer for the wisdom          Northern Ireland remain wholly
of Christ in this major assembly of the      committed to the Reformed (Protes-         Committee for Contact with Other
churches.                                    tant Reformed) faith. Interest is still    Churches (CC)
                                             shown by those from outside of this              Under the auspices of the CC,
Mission Committee (MC)                       core group. Still, without the regular     Rev. Marvin Kamps attended the an-
     First Church of Grand Rapids            labors of a minister for an extended       nual meeting of the North American
continues to call a missionary and to        period of time, the work cannot            Presbyterian and Reformed Council
try to obtain a co-worker for the Ja-        progress properly.                         (NAPARC). At the instruction of the
maica field. The MC expresses its                                                       CC, Rev. Kamps discussed the possi-
conviction that fl the churches we are          The recommendation of the MC            bility of closer contact with the repre-
privileged still to serve in Jamaica       concerning the Venice, Florida field         sentatives of several Presbyterian
have demonstrated . . . that they are      will come to synod by a supplemental         churches.
attracted to the PRC in America be-        report that is not available at the time           In view of a recent invitation to
cause of their interest, not in Ameri-     of this writing. Earlier, the MC de-         the PRC by the Christian Reformed
can dollars, but in the truth of the       cided to recommend to the council of         Alliance (now, the Alliance of Re-
Scriptures as they have learned it from    the calling church, Kalamazoo, that          formed Churches) to send observers
us." Rev. Arie denHartog  and Rev.         the workinvenice  be discontinued as         to its meeting, the CC is asking synod
Barry Gritters led conferences with        soon as possible.                            for direction regarding possible invi-
the officebearers in the Jamaica                Synod will be asked to continue         tations in the future. This includes the
churches during the past year. Rev.        its support of the Reformed Witness          possibility of an invitation to senld
denHartog` reports that "there is a        Hour radio program on stations in            observers to a "Confessional Confer-
very great need for a missionary on        Kalamazoo, Michigan; Oskaloosa,              ence" scheduled for 1993.
the island of Jamaica." The report of      Iowa; Denver, Colorado; Ferndale,                  The CC was unable to fill the
Rev. Gritters and Elder Ed Gritters        Washington; and Edmonton, Alberta            request of the Evangelical Presbyte-
judges that "these conferences are         (Canada).                                    rian Church of Australia (EPCA) for
well worth their while."                                                                preaching-supply for the congrega-
     The Hudsonville PRC has been          Foreign Mission Committee (FMC)              tions in Burnie and in Launceston.
calling a missionary for the field in           The major part of the report of         No PR church was able to release its
Northern Ireland. Ten calls have been      this synodical committee concerns the        pastor for a period of six months or a
issued and declined by various min-        visit to Ghana, Africa in February,          year. The CC continues to attempt to
isters. Classis East is supplying the      1992 by two members of the commit-           find a man who can help the EPCA in
Covenant Reformed Fellowship in            tee, Elder Henry Bleyenburg and Rev.         this important way.
Northern Ireland with preaching by         Russell Dykstra. The FMC "are en-                  The Grandville, Michigan
means of three-week appointments           thusiastic about the possibility of fu-      church released Rev. Jay Kortering

                                                                                                 June 1,1992 / Standard Bearer I389


for six months to work in Singapore           lectures for the seminary this past                    also appeals against the above deci-
onbehalf  of theEvangelicalReformed           year. They were Mr. Theodore Letis,                    sion of Classis East regarding the
Churches of Singapore.                Rev.    who spoke on the Greek text of the                     transfer of membership.
Kortering has since accepted the call         NewTestament,andM&  JonHuisken,                                 A brother appeals against the
from Hope PRC in Grand Rapids to              who spoke on "The History of the                       decision of his consistory in a case
serve as minister-on-loan to the              PRC: Learning to Live with Carica-                     that the classis treated in closed ses-
Singapore churches.                           ture." Visitors were invited to these                  sion.
      The PRC of Wellington, New              afternoon sessions, and a goodlynum-
Zealand, sister church to the PRC in          ber attended.                                          Varia
America, has requested financial as-                                                                          Synod is informed that an index
sistance for the support of her pastor,       An Overture, A Protest, and Ap-                        to the Acts of the PR synods has been
Rev. Rodney Miersma, for five more            peals                                                  prepared and is ready for publical
years. The original five-year commit-              The Loveland, Colorado                            tion.
ment of the PRC has expired. The CC           consistory overtures synod toincrease                           Under the good hand of God
recommends that synod grant this              the minister and the elder delegates                   uponus,  the PRC continue their steady
request.                                      to synod from each classis from four                   numerical growth. The Churches now
                                              to six. Classis West has approved this                 number 1,417 families - an increase
Theological  School Committee                 overture.                                              of 32 families over the number in
WW                                                 A brother protests the decision                   1991.
      Six full-time students are pres-        of Synod, 1990 which rejected the
ently studying for the ministry in the        contention that the erection of a cross                The Involvement of Every Membei
seminary. All plan to return in the           on the chancel wall of a church build-                          Let every member of the PRC, as
fall. They include two men being              ing constitutes a violation of the sec-                well as everyone outside the denomi-
trained for the ministry in the EPCA.         ond commandment.                                       nation who has a care for these
Another young man from the PRC                     T h e   c o n s i s t o r y   o f   t h e         Churches for the sake of the Reformed
has applied for admission to the semi-        Norristown, Pennsylvania PRC ap-                       faith, pray for God's guidance of the
nary in the fall. The Evangelical Re-         peals against the decision of Classis                  synod by the Spirit of Christ. The
formed Churches of Singapore in-              East requiring Norristown's use of                     motivation of this prayer may well be
tend to send a man for training in the        the"approvedsongbookof thePRC,"                        the desire for the maintenance of God's
seminary in 1993.                             The Psalter, in worship.                               truth in these Churches. When the
      The TSC is proposing an addi-                The council of Southwest PRC                      synod has finished its work, let every
tion to the seminary building. This           appeals against the decision of Classis                member compare the decisions with
proposal "centers on the construction         East advising Southwest to transfer                    Scripture and the Reformed confes-
of library space." About $110,000 has         the membership of members of the                       sions, to assure himself that what was
already been donated for this expan-          Southwest congregation to other PR                     decided seemed good to the Holy
sion, $80,000 from persons outside            churches as these members have re-                     Spirit, as well as to the elders of the
the PRC. The estimated cost is about          quested.                                               churches.  0
$360,000.                                          The council of Grandville PRC                                                      - DJE
      Two guest speakers gave special
                                                                                                -

                                              Covenantal ,
Contribution
Henry Huisken                                 Instruction
                                                   Instructing God's covenant seed                   Where will they go to high school?
                                              as God has commanded us, and ful-                      Not all of our children have the privi-
                                              filling our promise to do so when we                   lege of attending Covenant Christian
                                              baptized our children is a question                    High School in Grand Rapids,
                                              many of our parents will be facing                              I have heard many discussions
Mr. Huislcen is a member of the Protes-       this summer. Graduation time is here                   and debates on this subject, and I am
tant Reformed Clzurc~~  of Edgerton, Min-     and many of our children will be                       sorry to say the main issue is not
nesota.                                       graduating from the 8th or 9th grade.                  mentioned. Most of the discussion is

390 /Standard Bearer I June 1,1992


around what subjects are offered at            there. This gives us an opportunity to       Christian Reformed Church, I found
thevarious schools available, whether          witness against the bad and for the          five different views of God's cov-
public, church affiliated (parochial),         good. God says in His Word, "Ye are          enant. We, the Protestant Reformed
or private. Other things discussed             my witnesses." We are reminded in            Churches, have but one view of the
are how nice some of these schools             Old Testament history of God's cov-          covenant: the covenant of friendship
are, and how friendly, and how they            enant with His people when the               of God and His people.
hug each other and tell each other             prophet Elijah took twelve stones,                This is the issue, covenant
how nice they are. Besides all this,           one for each tribe, to build an altar        people.
some of these schools cost much less.          upon the mountain top after it had                God does not give us a choice,
Also in the discussion are all the bad         not rained for three and a half years,       but a command - a command to
things that go on in some of these             and Ring Ahab had led the ten tribes         instruct our children to the best of our
schools, especially those schools              into the worship of Baal. God contin-        ability. And we promised to do this at
which are maintained by Christian              ued to send His prophets to the ten          the baptism of our children. We and
Reformed parents. The bad things               tribes even as they drifted farther and      the congregation promise this at ev-
may be true. These considerations              farther away from the truth. The             ery baptism. No one else bears thi.s
should and must not be the determin-           history of the ten tribes bears this out.    duty and obligation, only covenantal
ing factors as to where our children                We must teach our children to           people of God.
attend school. They are but mere               witness. They must know what we                   Let everyone have this goal in
excuses for not doing o'clr duty and           believe and why. We must teach               this life as we read in Hebrews 11:
obligation and fulfilling our promise          them in our homes, in our church, in         "And all these died having the assur-
we made at the baptism of our chil-            our schools. The older must teach the        ance that they pleased God." If we
dren. The promise is to instruct our           younger by word and example. They            have this, we have everything: peace,
children in the doctrine of this Chris-        must teach the younger to be watch-          joy, contentment, and happiness. We
tian church to the utmost of our power.        ers on the walls of Zion. They must          will have comfort onour sickor death
         When it is not possible to do this    teach the younger to identify the en-        bed. Let us all look forward to that
in our own schools, we must look for           emy. They must teach by example by           great day when all the saints will be
a school that comes as close as pos-           being active in the'study of the Word        gathered together to celebrate thevic-
sible to what we believe. Sometimes            of God and being current on the is-          tory of the Lamb, who has gained for
that takes us to schools that are main-        sues of the day.                             us the victory over sin and death, the
tained by other Reformed people in                  In the book, Perspectives of the        devil, and all the workers of iniquity.
spite of the bad things that may go on                                                                                             P


All Around Us
Prof. Robert Decker

I Schlissel Suspended                          any of the "duties of his office," in-       lit statements, "whose tone and ap-
         On April 2,1992 the Rev. Steve        cluding preaching or the administer-         proach to correctionin the body of the
Schlissel, pastor of Messiah's Congre-         ing of the sacraments. Schlissel may         Lord are scripturally unacceptable."
gation Christian Reformed Church               not preach in any CRC church, in-            Classis urged Schlissel to temper this
(CRC) in Brooklyn, New York, was               CludingMessiah's, during his suspen-         approach in September 1991, but said
suspended from the office of the min-          sion. If he does so, Classis Hudson          Schlissel "persisted in making state-
istry of the Word and Sacraments by            may have to consider. disciplinary           ments characterized by abrasive and
Classis Hudson of the CRC.                     action against Messiah's council.            accusatory language that in sweeping
         According to Article 90 of the             Schlissel has been given until          generalizations questions the Chris-
Church Order (CRC edition), a sus-             May 13 to repent. If he chooses not to       tian integrity of fellow officebearers
pended minister may not engage in              repent, Classis will meet to consider        in the CRC." Schlissel called profes-
                                               his deposition, which means losing           sors at Calvin Theological Seminary
                                               his ministerial credentials in the CRC.      "whores" and"stinkingheretics." He
                                                    Classis Hudson based its deci-          labeled people who disagreed with
                                               sion to suspend Schlissel on four            him "blasphemous bums," "feminist
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical The-    grounds. Ground one is Schlissel's           maniacs,N  fl schizophrenics," "worms,
ology in the Protestant Reformed Semi-         refusal to heed the admonition of            vermin, and dogs."
nary.                                          classis regarding his written and pub-            Further, Schlisselrefusedto  sub-

                                                                                                   June 1,1992 / Standard Bearer I391


mit to classis' discipline. Accordingto        the Church Order.)  Classis said            indeed true, his method of address-
classis' minutes, Schlissel's speech at        Schlissel's public and written state-       ing those issues is all wrong.
the January meeting was "marked by             ments "give ample evidence that he                                    Thte Banner
refusal to submit to the chairman and          has not worked for the upbuilding  of                         Christian Renewal
by abrasive and disrespectful lan-             the CRC, has not followed the proce-
guage." During discussion about the            dures for recourse built into our           n News of the Dutch
April 2 meeting, Schlissel announced           Church Order, and has not been open         Churches
he would be out of town frequently,            to the counsel and admonition of fel-            The synod of the Gereformeerde
"making trouble," and that it would            low ministers and elders."                  Kerken in Nederland (The Rfeformed
be difficult to find a good meeting                 Rev. Schlissel, in an interview        Churches in The Netherlands, hereaf-
date.                                          after the April 2 meeting of classis,       ter GKN) decided that a new confes-
         As a matter of fact, Schlissel did    refuted the grounds classis used to         sion of faith was not necessary at this
not attend the April 2 meeting of              suspend him. Concerning the quotes          time. They did think that a pastoral
classis.  WheninformedonMarch3of               classis cited as evidence of his refusal    handbook on the confessions was
the special classis meeting scheduled          to heed classis' admonition, Schlissel      necessary.
for April 2, Schlissel told classis that       said, "I stand by every one of them. If          This was in response to requests
he had a speaking engagement on                that's what they want to depose me          from three classes to look into the
that date. (Classis  noted that                for, I consider it an honor."               matter. One wanted a clarification;
Schlissel's speech, at a noon meeting               In response to the charge of en-       another observed that candidates for
inLancaster,Pennsylvania,tookabout             couraging divisiveness, Schlissel said,     the ministry in the GKN had diffi-
12 minutes, and it would have taken            "I am not the enemy; I am not the           culty signing the formula for preach-
him less than four hours to drive to           threat. There are people in the de-         ers. A third classis thought the GKN
the evening meeting of  classis in             nomination who have introduced new          was losing sight of its confaessional
Wyckoff, NJ.)                                  ideas to our church that are contrary       character.
         The second ground for suspen-         to our confessions and divisive. This            The advisory committee sug-
sion charges Schlissel with conduct            is a case of shooting the messenger         gested to synod that it might be im-
unbecoming a minister of the gospel.           because you don't like the message."        possible in this time to find formulas
According to  classis Schlissel re-                 Schlissel said the charge that he      which they could oblige one another
sponded with innuendoes, sarcasm,              and his church broke their covenant         to accept.
and attacks on the integrity of people         with the CRC is "the most ludicrous               The GKN is also involved in a
who questioned him regarding accu-             charge of all." He said that he did not     process of unionwithtwo otherDutch
sations he made against them.                  sign the document, so it can not pos-       denominations: De Herevormde Kerk
Schlissel "publicly slanders. our de-          sibly be used against him.                  (the State church) and the Evangelical
nomination and its leaders on a num-                Schlissel called the action of         Lutheran Churchof The Netherlands.
ber of occasions without first address-        classis against him a "lynching" and        This process is called "Snmen op Weg"
ing them personally and through their          blamedindividuals for its decision to       ("together on the way," RDD). Fol-
consistory, classis, or synod," classis        suspend him. U JimDeJong (Dr. James         lowing a difficult year in 1991, the
stated.                                        R. DeJongis president of CalvinTheo-        three churches appear to be making
         Third, classis suspended Rev.         logical Seminary, RDD) pulled the           progress toward union. This is the
Schlissel for lack of integrity in pro-        strings, Don Wisse (stated clerk of         opinion of the moderator of the GKN,
moting division in the denomination.           Classis Hudson) set up the hoops,           Rev. P.  Boomsma.   Boomsma  said
Classis noted that Schlissel was urg-          and classis jumped."                        that at a joint synodical  gathering in
ing others to leave the CRC while                    ClassisHudsonhasanaltogether          February there was basic agreement
remaining in it himself.                       different view of Schlissel's suspen-       about the organization of the church.
         Fourth,  classis charged Rev.         sion., "The action was taken after a        Therefore thepossibilityis strong that
Schlissel and his church, Messiah's            long series of events involving Rev.        the basic articles of a church order can
Congregation CRC in Brooklyn, with             Schlissel," it says. "These events fo-      soon be formulated.
breaking the covenant the church               cused on the manner and approach                  Meanwhile the GKN suffered
made with the CRC in November                  taken by Schlissel in his relationship      the largest decline in membership in
 1986 "to be faithful to the gospel as         to others within the CRC as a whole.        its history in 1991. Membership fell
 expressedinourcommonconfessions               Classis took its action reluctantly."       by 1.34%. With a net loss of 10,531
and to work for the upbuilding of the                Rev. Schlissel has appealed his       members the GKN had a member-
 CRC in Brooklyn, in Classis Hudson,            suspension to the Synod of 1992.            ship of 773,992 at the beginning of
 and throughout the denomination."                   Just one comment on all this.          1992. This is the latest in a series of
 (Schlissel was admitted to the minis-         Rev. Schlissel may be ever so right on       declines going back to 1987. In that
 try of the CRC under the provisions of        the issues troubling the CRC, but if         year the GKN had 820,268 members.
 Article 7 [Article 8, PRC edition] of          the charges of Classis Hudson are

 392 /Standard Bearer /June 1,1992


Thus in the last five years the GKN         bership loss.                              mending that the Assembly declare
has lost 5.6% of its members. The area                        REC News Exchange        there are insufficient grounds to ter-
with the largest decline was in the                                                    minate GKNmembership  in the REC.
province of North Holland, which            .m The Reformed                            Several smaller denominations (Or-
lost 13.4% over the last five years.        Ecumenical Council                         thodox Presbyterian Church among
Most of this decline occurred in the                                                   them) have withdrawn from the REC
churches in the city of Amsterdam.          Meets in May                               because of the liberalism rampant in
      The GKN is shot through with                  "Following Christ Today" is the    the GKN, especially in the area of
heresies. It tolerates gay preachers,       theme for worship and celebration at       hermeneutics (Scripture interpreta-
among many other departures from            the May 25-June 5 gathering of the.        tion). Objectionshavealsobeenraised
the truth of Scripture and from bibli-      ReformedEcumenical  Council (REC).         against the GKN's membershipin the
cal ethics. We believe there is a con-      After aninvestigation of the GKN, the      World Council of Churches. 0
nectionbetweenliberalismandmem-             REC's Interim Committee is recom-                           REC News Exchantge


                                            Spiritual Perception
In His Fear                                 and Discernment
Rev: Arie denHattog


      My interest in this subject was       precise meaning of this word can be        prayer of Paul in Philippians, this is a
stirred recently in `connection with        understood in light of this whole pas-     virtue of greatest importance for
preparing a sermon on Philippians           sage. Paul speaks of judgment in this      Christians. Ours is not an age of great
1:9, 10. In this passage the inspired       verse as a spiritual gift of God for       spiritualperceptionanddiscernment.
apostle of our Lord earnestly prays         which he prays. It is a gift only God      Rather ours is a day of great spiritual
for the beloved church of Philippi.         can give to His church and her mem-        ignorance and carelessness. The
His prayer is an emphatic one, as is        bers. It is related to knowledge of        prophecyofHoseaisbeingfulfilledin
indicated by the opening words of           God - knowledge of God Himself             our day: "My people are destroyed
these verses: "And this I pruy, that        and of His Son Jesus Christ; knowl-        for lack of knowledge: because thou
your love may abound yet more and           edge of His grace and truth and of His     hast rejected knowledge, I will also
more in knowledge and in all judg-          salvation; andknowledge of His com-        reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest
ment; that ye may approve things            mandments for our life. The true           unto me: seeing thou hast forgotten
that are, excellent; that ye may be         knowledge of God enables the mem-          the law of thy God, I will also forget
sincere and without offence till the        bers of the church to make necessary       thy children" (Hosea 4:6). Because of
day of Christ."                             spiritual judgments. The love of God       the ignorance and darkness of our
      The concept on which we want          must motivate us to make such judg-        times, there is a fearful inability to
especially to focus is the one trans-       ments, an ever abounding love for          makecarefuljudgment. God'speople
lated in the KJV as "judgment." It has      God.                                       themselves have little spiritual dis-
various synonyms in the Scriptures,                 TheChristianwhopossessesthe        cernment. And what is even worse,
the equivalents of such,words  in the       gift of spiritual perception and dis-      those who are appointed to watch
English as discernment, perception,         cernmentwillbe able to approve those       over the church and guard her against
and knowledge. This word is used            things that are excellent, those things    the inroads of false teaching and evil
only here in the New Testament. Lit-        that are excellent in God's sight and      practices, especially the elders and
erally it means careful perception,         worthy objects of pursuit in the Chris-    spiritual leaders of the church, are
thorough understanding, spiritual           tian life. This in turn will enable him    grievously lacking in spiritual per-
discernment, moral judgment. The            by the grace of God to live a life that    ception and discernment.
                                            is sincere and without offense as he            The consequence of this is that
                                            eagerly looks for the coming of the        the devil is in large measure succeled-
                                            day of Christ Jesus.                       ing in his evil purpose to destroy the
                                                    We want especially, in this ar-    church by false doctrine and wicked
Rev. denHartog  is pastor ofHope Protes-    ticle, to focus on the great and neces-    worldly philosophies of life. At a
tant Reformed Church in Redlands, Cali-     saryvirtue of spiritualperceptionand       most alarming rate the great historic
fornia.                                     discernment. As is clear from the          doctrines of the Christian faith which
                                                                                              June 1,1992 I Standard Bearer I393


the church has believed and loved for       Christian is one who has a good un-          nothing else than the old lie of the
centuries are being contradicted and        derstanding of this system of doc-           devil dressed up in different garb.
denied. Evil practices that in time         trine. This gives him a built-in sense       God's truth is unchanging, from age
past were abhorred and severely con-        of what is right and wrong, and what         to age the same. The true church has
demned are now being openly prac-           is false and what is true. He has a          known and loved and confessed this
ticed and defended and sometimes            "Reformed sensitivity" according to          truth for centuries. It is true that God
even promoted by the modern-day             which he can accurately discern              continues to lead and guide His church
church. All of this is happening un-        preaching and teaching that he hears         into an ever richer understanding of
der the pretense that our age is one of     and know whether it is according to          the truth. There is always something
enlightenment. The historic faith of        the truth of God's Word or not.              ti new" to learn from the Word of God.
the saints, the godliness which they             Our children will grow up to be         At the same time, we can be sure that,
seriously and earnestly practiced in        able to discern the true and the godly       in these last days in which we are
the past, is mocked and ridiculed as        way-of life if they in their youth re-       living, there is not going to be a dis-
having been unnecessarily rigid and         ceive thoroughcatechisminstruction.          covery of an entirely new doctrine
far too serious. In our age we know         Let us never as a church minimize the        which the church has never before
better. We are free to do things once       great importance of this. What a             known, or of a truth which the church
condemned because we are enlight-           heritage is ours in our creeds, and          has for centuries misunderstood.
ened, we understand things better.          especially in the Heidelberg Cat-            Spiritual perception and discernment
We do not have the hang-ups of the          echism as an instrument of instruc-          is possible only for the Christian who
past. But every earnest and sincere         tion for our children! What a beauti-        knows the historic and true doctrine
child of God needs to ask, "Is it really    fulpresentationof the system of Chris-       of the Word of God which the saints
                                            tian doctrine is contained in the cat-       of God have always believed.
                                            echism! When our children are thor-
      Spiritual perception                  oughly instructed in the catechism,
         and discernment                    when parents see to it that they learn                The devil . . . likes
   comes only by a thorough                 their lessons well from week to week,           to convince God's people
                                            year after year, then when they come
        knowledge of God                    to adulthood they will possess a sys-          that old and tried doctrines
         and of his Word.                   tem of doctrine that will give them a               are boring and dull
                                            good foundation for their life. They           and irrelevant for the times
                                            will be equipped for careful spiritual               in which we live.
so?" That question can be answered          discernnient and judgment in their
only by anunderstandingof the Word          life and as members of the church.
of God and a careful discernment and             Spiritualperceptionanddiscern-               We as individual Christians and
perception of the times in which we         ment involves stopping to consider           together as a church of Jesus Christ
live. We need to pray to God for the        carefully and judge every new doc-           need spiritual perception and discern-
church that He may give her mem-            trine and every new philosophy of life       ment so that we are not led astray by
bers knowledge and judgment.                that arises in the church. The devil         the apostasy of our age. We need to
     Spiritualperceptionanddiscern-         likes to excite by that which is new         judge and condemn false doctrine.
ment comes only by a thoroughknowl-         and different. He likes to convince          This may be unpleasant to have to do
edge of God and of His Word. God            God's people that old and tried doc-         because it offends people and often
gives this to His church through faith-     trines are boring and dull and irrel-        divides even friends and families, but
fulpreachingof theWordofGod.  We            evant for the times in which we live.        it is absolutely necessary in order to
must be sure to belong to a church          Our faith must be changing with the          preserve the truth which is the foun-
where there is such preaching. And          age and the time in which we live. Be        dation of the church. Careful percep-
we must be in constant prayer for the       careful, ever so careful, of all such        tion and discernment prevents the
ministers of the Word and see to it         talk! The apostle Paul tells us that the     Christian from simply going along
that they spend much time in their          Athenians were notorious for con-            with the majority. How easy it'is to
studies to prepare sermons.                 stantly pursuing new doctrines. "For         believe something just because some-
     The knowledge necessary for            all the Athenians and strangers which        one else says it. How easy it is to go
spiritual perception and discernment        were there spent their time in nothing       along with those who claim to be
includes doctrinal knowledge. It in-        else, but either to tell, or to hear some    leaders and men of great learning and
volves knowing the system of doc-           new thing" (Acts 17:21).  But thhese         understanding. History has proven
trine of God's Word. We believe that        heathens were "ever learning and             again and again that often the major-
the Reformed faith is based on a true       never coming to the knowledge of the         ity has been wrong and often men of
and consistently biblical system of         truth."                                      greatest learning have been wrong
Christian doctrine. A truly Reformed             How often "new" teaching is

394 /Standard Bearer > June 1,1992


I',~ >,
~
  1 and have led the church very seri-                     world as so exciting; so satisfying,         Nothing in this ungodly world can
!          ously astray. Every Christian needs             and so glamorous. He does that in            compare to the excellency of the things
           spiritualdiscernment inorder  to judge          our day especially through the mass          of God. So great is the glory and
           carefully between the truth and the             media. The teachers and leaders of           blessedness of the things of God that
1  i
I  ; lie. According to the passage from                    the world want to present the most           we who know this ought always to be
           Philippians quoted above, we are                evil life-styles imaginable as accept-       ready to-make the largest sacrifices
           looking for the coming of Christ Jesus          able and honorable. Christians are           and endure the greatest hardships to
           in the last day. God's Word proph-              greatly in need of spiritual perception      obtain the knowledge and salvation
           esies that the last days will be days of        `and discernment to maintain clearly         ofourGodandofHisSonJesusChrist.
           great deception and apostasy, when              the absolute antithesis between our          We ought to be ready to forsake this
           many shall be deceived. Our Lord                life and that of this ungodly world.         ungodly world and all things in it for
           warned that the devil will attempt if                There is a positive reason for          the sake of the excellency of our Lord
           possible to deceive even the very elect         careful spiritual perception and dis-        Jesus Christ.
           of God in the last days. To stand in            cernment. Paul speaks in Philippians              Lovefor Godmustmoveusunto
           these last days there is urgent need            of approving the things that are excel-      the serious exercise of spiritual dis-
           for spiritual discernment.                      lent. These are the things of God.           cernment. Our love for God must
                 We need spiritual perception              Through spiritual perception and dis-        constrain us to know and confess and
           and discernment for practical and               cernment we understand how exceed-           maintain the truthof God's Wordand
           daily godly and holy living. That is            ingly glorious and excellent our God         to condemn and oppose the lie of the
           the focus of Paul's prayer in                   is. HowblessedandwonderfulisHis              devil. Our love for God must con-
           Philippians. He prays that the church           salvation! How precious are the truths       strain us to avoid all offenses  and to
           of Philippi might grow in knowledge             of His Word! How wise and good               live lives that are holy and sincere and
           and in all judgment so that she might           and righteous are all His judgments!         that bring glory unto His name. Let
           be sincere and without offense until            How great is the reward of those who         us pray for ourselves and for our
           the day of Christ. We live in an                live every day by His commandments!          churches that the love of God might
           increasingly evil world. The devil              How glorious is the hope of eternal          moreandmoreaboundinusinknowl-
           loves to present the life-style of the          lifethatGodhasrevealedinHisWord!             edge and in all judgment. 0




                                                     The Right of
           Decency and Order                               Appeal
           Rev. Ronald Cammenga


                 Ifanyone complain that he has been        A Sacred Rieht                                    The right of appeal belongs to
           wrongedby thedecisionofaminorassem-                  The right of appeal is a sacred         the essence of church membership.
           bly, he shall have the right to appeal to a     rightpossessedbyeverychurchmem-              To be a member of the church is to
           major ecclesiastical assembly, and what-        ber. It is a sacred right; not because it    have the right of appeal. The right of
           ever may be agreed upon by a majority           is a right granted by the Church Or-         appeal stems from the office of all
           vote shall be considered settled and bind-      der, but because it is a rightfvom  God.     believers, the office occupied by ev-
           ing, unless it be proved toconflict with the    As much as the Reformed system of            ery church member.
           Word of God or with the articles of the         church government is the will of God              Not only does every church
           Church Order, as long as they are not           for the life of the church, so within        member possess the  right  of appeal;
           changed by a general synod.                     Reformed church government the               every church member has the respon-
                          Church Order,  Article 31        right of appeal is the God-given right       sibility of appeal. When the church
                                                           of every church member. Article 31           member is convinced that God's truth
           Rev. Canrmenga  is pastor of the Protes-        does not create the right of appeal; it      hasbeen denied or God's law set aside
           tant Reformed Church of Lovelaud,               merely asserts this most sacred of eccle-    by a decision of a minor assembly, he
           Colorado.                                       siastical privileges.                        has not only the right, but also the

                                                                                                               June 1,1992 I Standard Bearer J 395


 duty before God to appeal to the             `he Appeal Process                         any decision of an ecclesiastical body
 broader assemblies. His motivation                 Appeals should be as brief an        must be made upon the immediately
 is not winning his own case or pro+          vell-documented as possible. Lengt         following meeting of the body to
 ing his own point. His motivation is         s not important; clarity is.               which appeal is directed, at the same
 the glory of God and the well-being of            The following structure  shoul        time giving notification to  thle secre-
 the church, which glory and well-            le followed in the composition of a        tary of the body by whose decision he
 being are threatened by doctrinal de-        p p e a l :                                is aggrieved.         Of every judgment
 parture or unholiness.                                                                  rendered in the case, those concerned
         To deny church members the                1) The name of the appellant.         shall receive a notification."
 right of appeal is hierarchy. For a               2) The name of the body against                 This decision requires notifica-
 Reformed church to do so is to dis-           which the appeal is being made.           tion of appeal to the body against
 dain her heritage, to despise her own             3) The specific decision which is     whom appeal is being made. This
 Church Order,  to countenance pop-           beingappealed,quotedexactlyifpos-          includes not merely serving notice of
 ery.                                         sible.                                     appeal, but furnishing that body with
         The right of appeal arises out of         4)The reason(s) why the appel-
                                              lant is convinced that the appealed        a copy of the appeal. In this way the
 the fact that the church is not infal-       decision is wrong, citing proof from       body is provided with the opportu-
 lible. In her deliberations and deci-        Scripture, the Confessions, Church         nity to respond to the appeal and
 sions it is possible for the church to       Order, previous decisions by the as-       prepare, if necessary, a defense. The
 err. History proves this beyond a            semblies.                                  assembly against which appeal is be-
 shadow of doubt. Reformed churches                5) All background information         ing -made must also upon request
 reject the presumption of the Roman          and necessary documentation that           furnish the appellant with the deci-
 Catholic Church that the decisions of        will enable the assembly to arrive at      sions and material pertinent to his
 church councils are infallible. Rome's       a proper decision.                         a p p e a l .
 teaching robs the members of any                  6)A statement defining clearly
                                              what action the appellant desires the               This decision also places a time
right of appeal. This is one reason           assembly to take.                          limitation on appeals. Appeals are to
 why there is no possibility of refor-                                                   be made to the next meeting of the
 mationintheRomanCatholicChurch.                   It ought always to be remem           body to whom appeal is made. Such
                                              sred that the burden of proof restl        a rule reduces unnecessary delays, an
                                              ,ith the appellant. The responsibil        inordinate amount of time passing
          The right of appeal                 y is not so much with the assembly         between the decision taken and the
     belongs to the essence of                I defend its action or decision. Bu        making of an appeal against it. Some
          church membership.                  le responsibility is with the appel        leeway ought to be given in the appli-
                                              nt to demonstrate that  the                cation of this rule, circumstances
                                              sembly's decision is in error: N . ..un    sometimes being a factor. For-ex-
         One has the right of appealwhen      ss it be proved (i.e., by the appel        ample, a man may become sick and
he is convinced ti. ..that he has been        nt) to conflict with the Word of GoC       thus be unable to complete his appeal
wronged by the decision of a minor            = with the articles of the  Church         in time for the next meeting of the
assembly...." This does not imply             rder.... `I                                assembly to which he is appealing.
that every decision of an ecclesiastical          Article 31 states clearly that the              The use of an assistant in the
assembly is just cause for appeal to a        soper course of appeal is from the         preparation of an appeal has always
major assembly. Decisions that con-           inor to the major assemblies. That         JeenpermittedinReformedchurches.
cern no principle or doctrinal issue          eans that decisions of consistories        3ne may have difficulty expressing
are not properly the subject of appeal.       e appealed to classis; decisions of        nimself, difficulty with the language,
Decisions that merely go against one's        lsses are appealed to the synod.           )r be unfamiliar with the appeal pro-
personal preference ought not to be           us opposes the practice of Congre-         :ess. In that case he may enlist the
made the subject of appeal. Those             .tional and Independent churches.          lelp of a trusted assistant, who may
who make appeals over these kinds of           these churches decisions of the           lot necessarily agree with him but is
issues, whomake  ecclesiasticalmoun-          ling body of the local congregation        ,villing to help him formulate his ap-
tains out of ecclesiastical mole-hills,       ay be challenged and brought for           Jeal. This assistantwas referred toby
unduly trouble the broader assem-             judicationbefore the congregation.         he Dutch as een mond, that is, "a
blies. One is "wronged" by the deci-          Le Reformed system of church gov-          nouth," a spokesperson. This assis-
sion of an ecclesiastical assembly when       nment knows of no appeal to the            ant shouldbe a member of the church
he is convinced in his own conscience         ngregation.                                md should be designated in the ap-
that a decision conflicts with the Word          Uur churches have appended              )eal.
of God, theReformed  Confessions, or          z following decision to Article 31:
the  Church Order.                            ,ppeal  to a major gathering against       Iecisions  Settled and Binding
                                                                                                  Article 31 states that the deci-
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sions of the assemblies "...shall be         The Disputed Exception                        like this: "unless one is personally
considered settled and binding . . . . n           Article 31 allows for one excep-        convinced that the decision taken con-
"Settled" means that once a decision         tion: ". ..unless it be proved to conflict    flicts with the Word of God, the Con-
has been made further discussion on          with the Word of God or with the              fessions, or the Church Order. N
the floor of the assembly is suspended.      articles of the Church Order . . . . n             Thirdly, to impose this interpre-
"Binding" means that the decision is               Over the years there has been           tation on Article 31 is to introduce
to be honored and submitted to by all        difference of opinion regarding the           anarchy into the church. If this inter-
parties involved.                            interpretation of this exception clause.      pretation wins the day in Reformed
     Decisions are considered settled        To whom must it be proved that the            churches, every man will be doing
and binding that are arrived at by           decision of an assembly is in conflict        what is right in his own eyes, as will
majority vote: fl . ..agreed  upon by a      with the Word of God or the articles          every consistory. And so long as this
majority vote...." As desirable as it is,    of the Church Order? Must this be             thinking persists, there will be no
a unanimous vote is not required.            proved to the ecclesiastical assem-           judge that God will be able to raise up
Decisions of the assemblies are made         blies? Or must this be proved merely          strong enough to `deliver us from our-
by a simple majority, half plus one.         to the satisfaction of the person him-        selves.
     Because decisions are settled and       self who is making the appeal, so that             The exception clause applies to
binding, even though an appellant            if it is his sincere conviction that for      the ecclesiastical assemblies. It must
does not agree with a decision, he           conscience sake he cannot agree with          be proved to the ecclesiastical assem-
must acquiesce even during the ap-           a certain decision, he need not con-          blies that a decision or action is in
peal process. He does not have to            sider it settled and binding?                 error. Until that is done and the
agree with it; the church may bind no              There are those who have ex-            decision either amended or revoked,
man's conscience. But he must sub-           plained the exception clause as refer-        it remains settled and binding in the
mit. This means that he regards the          ring to the individual or consistory          churches.
decision as legally in force. He does        that has been wronged by a decision                What recourse have individuals
not agitate or spread propaganda             of the assemblies. Because in their           or consistories whose appeals are ul-
against it. The sacred right of appeal       judgment the decision is a wrong              timatelyrejected after they have gone
is NOT the right to militate against         decision, they need not consider it           the full course of the appeal process?
the decisions of the broader assem-          settled and binding, not during the           If possible, they should acquiesce to
blies. This principle is expressed in        appeal process nor after final adjudi-        the decision made and remain in the
the "Formula of Subscription":               cation by the synod.                          fellowship of the churches. If, how-
                                                   But this explanation is not cor-        ever, they cannot in good conscience
  . ..reserving  for ourselves, however,     rect and cannot be defended. In the           do this, they have no choice but to
  the right of an appeal, whenever we        first place, such an interpretation puts      leave the denomination. In this case
  shall believe ourselves aggrieved by       the burden of proof on the broader            it must be their absolute conviction
  the sentence of the consistory, the
  Classis  or the Synod, and until a         assemblies rather than'on the appel-          that the church has departed from the
  decision is made upon such an ap-          lant, in contradiction to Article 31          truth of the Word of God, and there-
  peal, we will acquiesce in the deter-      itself. Not the assemblies must prove         fore has abandoned the marks of the
  mination and judgment already              to the satisfaction of the appellant,         true church of Jesus Christ in the
  p a s s e d .                              but the appellant must prove to the           world. In the way of separation, they
                                             satisfactionof thebroaderassemblies.          must institute the church anew, or
     Although decisions taken by                   In the second place, the word           join an existing federation where the
majority vote are settled andbinding,        "prove" itself rules out such an inter-       truth of the Word of God is main-
it maybe advisable for an assembly to        pretation. An appellant does not              tained.
postpone the execution of a decision         prove something to himself. He is                  The sacred right of appeal obli-
that is under appeal. This is not            already convinced in his own mind.            gates every church member to church
always possible and there is no rule in      That is the very reason he is appeal-         reformation. If that reformation can-
our churches requiring that matters          ing. It is the appellant who must             not be achieved from within, by way
under appeal remain in sfafus quo.           prove to the broader assemblies that          of the appeal process, it must be
Each case must be judged on its own          a certain decision is in conflict with        achieved by separation - but then
merits, the well-being of the appel-         the Word of God, the Confessions, or          separation only after the appeal pro-
lant as well as the church as a whole        the Church Order. If the intention of         cess has been exhausted. 0
being taken into consideration. In-          Article 31 had been to assert that
variably this shouldbe the case, how-        decisions of the broader assemblies
ever, in matters involving the exer-         are settled and binding only in so far
cise of Christian discipline.                as members or consistories are con-
                                             vinced of their rightness, the excep-
                                             tion clause would read something

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    A .Word Fitly Spoken
    Rev. Dale Kuiper
                                      Pwaching
           As the holy gospel is the true treasure of the church, so preaching of that gospel is the primary task of the
    church and her ministers. Recently a local church expressed the hope that their next minister would not be a
    scholarly preacher but rather a friendly, sociable pastor. This ignorance of what a preacher is according to the
    Word of God does not bode well for that congregation's future. The Hebrew word for preaching means to be
    fresh, then cheerful, then to tell good tidings. According to classical Greek, this person was a herald, a public
    crier, a messenger vested with authority who conveyed the official message of kings, magistrates, princes, and
    military commanders. In his lexicon, Thayer adds that the manner of a herald was "always with a suggestion
    of formality, gravity, and an authority which must be listened to and obeyed." This is the word the New
    Testament writers were inspired to use for preachers and the activity of preaching. A preacher.is God's
    ambassador, or official messenger, who conveys the Word of God to others. This is most beautifully and clearly
    stated in II Corinthians 5:20: "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us:
    we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."
          Preaching is the chief means of grace, for by it the Holy Ghost works faith (L.D. 25). Preaching is one of
    the keys of the kingdom, for according to the testimony of the gospel God will judge (L.D. 31). Preaching is one
    of the marks by which the true church may be easily distinguished.from  the false (Belgic Confession, Art. 29).
    Preaching, with very few exceptions, is necessary unto salvation! We want to see, first, that this is so, and
    secondly, why this is so. Reading or discussing the Bible is not the means that God has ordained for the salvation
    of the elect, but the preaching of the Word is that means. This is shown in Romans 10 where salvation is in the
    line of calling upon God, faith, hearing, preaching, the sending of the preacher (vs. 14), and by the simple
    conclusion "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (vs. 17). Those that object to the
    wedding between preaching and salvation are silenced by Paul in I Corinthians 1:17-25 .where the preaching of
    the cross is said to be the power of God unto salvation, no matter how foolish such prealching  appears to some.
    For this reason the apostle is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to
    every one that believes (Rom. 1:16).
          The question is, How is preaching able to save a man? What is its power? The Scriptures set forth the
    amazingtruththatwhenevertheWordofGodispreachedbyamancalledandsentbyC~istthroughHischurclh,
    then Christ Himself speaks through that preaching! The ascended Christ, from the right hand of the Majesty
    on high, is able to make His saving voice heard amidst the noise and babble of this world. Truly this is a mirade!
    For the church to be gathered, people must not merely hear about Christ; they must hear Christ. This is the correct
    translation of Romans  10:14: "And how shall they believe in Him Whom they have not heard?"; this is Jesus'
    emphasis in John 10:27: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me"; this is the sense of
    Paul's words to the Ephesians many years after Jesus ascended: "If so be that ye have heard Him, and have been
    taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus" (4:21); this is why Jesus can say as He sends out the seventy disciples,
    "He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me" (Luke 10:16);  this is why a famine
    "of hearing the words of the Lord" (Amos 8:ll) is so dreadful, for then Christ does not speak through the prophet
    or preacher.
          But if the glorified Lord is to gather His church through the means of human preaching, that preaching must
    be the proclamation of His own Word, the inspired Scriptures. He cannot and will not use the word of man.
    Therefore, we insist in our circles that preaching be biblical (exegetical, expository), confessional, doctrinal,
    authoritative, antithetical, edifying, and logically clear.
          In all true preaching, Christ is central. Christ speaks. Christ is the contents of the message, as faith in Him.
    crucified and raised is commanded. Christ, by His Spirit, makes the preaching effectual so that those ordained
    to eternal life believe. And Christ is the boast of all those that bow the knee before Him in faith.
          Do you have faithful preaching of the Word of God each Sunday? What a blessing! Be thankful to the Head
    of the church who has given such a gift to men (Eph. 49-13). "Howbeautiful upon the mountains are the feet...."
    Young men, are you reading this? Are you considering this? 0

    Rev. Kuiper is pastor of SoufheasfProfestant  Reformed Church in Grad  Rapids, Michigan.

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I                                                                                                                                      -

                                                    The Truth
      The Day of.                                   Proclaimed by
     Shadows
     Rev. John Heys                                 F a i t h
          Do you want salvation?                    churches today - and we ourselves           may serve Him in love. The curse is
          Do you need to be saved from              can easily fall into that sin - is to       removed because the love of sin has
     the wrong idea of salvation?              .    preach and present salvation merely         been taken from us, and we have been
          There is a world of difference            as deliverance from the punishment          made capable and willing to walk in
     between what some mean by salva-               of sin. The sad fact is that, when we       love toward God.
     tion, and what its basic meaning is.           do that, we present a salvation that             Bearing all this in mind let us go
     The awesome fact is that the first lie         even Satan and all the fallen angels        back to that sharp and awesome dif-
     presented to mankind was the devil-            want! But our God did not begin that        ference between Jacob and Esau. Let
     ish presentation of salvation.                 way when He presented the blessed           us take hold of that amazing and very
          Unto righteous Adam and Eve               truth of our salvation. Salvation is        significant fact that Jacob had hold on
     Satan came with the lie that there was         that work of God's grace whereby He         Esau's heel when he and Esau were
     a way for man to be saved from the lie         makes His elect hate sin. And Satan,        born. Why does God present this fact
     which God gave him. Although he                who led us into sin, and all his ser-       to us, namely, that Jacob has a hold on
     did not present it that way literally,         vants, do not want that kind of salva-      Esau's heel? Well, in the first place,
     Satan through a serpent did tell Eve           tion. But our God, first of all andvery     Esau, the reprobate, unbelieving son
     that God-had lied to her husband,              significantly, promises His elect that      of Isaac who was the first to be born to
     Adam, namely, by telling Adam that             Hewillput enmity-thatis  hatred-            Isaac and Rebekah, reveals what is
     they would die if they ate of the fruit        against sin in the hearts of those whom     always first to those who beget chil-
     of a particular tree in the Garden of          He saves. In effect, He said that He        dren. Having lost their spiritual life,
     Eden. When Satan said to Eve, "Thou            will instill in them love for Himself,      Adam and Eve could not bring forth
     shalt not die," he said that God had           and undo that workof Satan whereby          the first child to be born to them as a
     lied to her husband, and that her              the devil got that love out of their        believing child of God. The birth of
     husband had presented a lie to her             hearts.                                     ungodly, wicked Cain reveals that
     when he informed her that to eat of                 And that will take away the pain       man always brings forth a child that is
     the fruit of that one tree would bring         and death (which Satan and his seed         spiritually dead, until it pleases God
     death to her.                                  bring upon those in whom the love of        to put spiritual life in him. God puts
          For our comfort and enjoyment             God is restored) for evermore, and in      spiritual life in His elect through the
     of salvation it is very important for us       its place there will be an everlasting      Spirit of Christ, not through the par-
     to hold on to the truth which God              life of blessedness as members of the       ents who bring them forth as their
     gave to fallen Adam and Eve. He said           body of Christ. Our God does not            seed. Very beautifully we sing that
     to Satan - in Adam and Eve's hear-             cause us to be returned to love of Him      from Psalter number 383, the first
     ing - that He would put enmity                 because we were already delivered           stanza, which is based on Psalm
     against him in the hearts of the mem-          from the punishment of sin. He deliv-       139:14-17,  namely,
     bers of His church, and that all the           ers us from the punishment of sin               AII that I am I owe to Thee,
     devilish citizens of Satan's kingdom           because He, in Christ and by His                Thywisdom, Lord, hathfashioned
     would have their heads crushed!                Spirit, caused us to love Him with a               me:
          The tragic thing in many                  new spiritual life. He causes us to             I give my Maker thankful  praise,
                                                    love Him, and then causes us to reach           Whose wondrous works my soul
                                                                                                       amaze.
                                                    a heavenly life where we may, with-              Yes, so very true, those won-
                                                    out those hindrances of pain and rnis-      drous works are God's works in us
                                                    ery, serve Him moment by moment             apart from our parents, and by His
     Rev. Hey is a minister emeritus in ihe         everlastingly. We are given a resur-        Spirit. We are given earthly, physical
     Protestant Reformed Churches.                  rection of our bodies in order that we      life through our parents. But parents
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 cannot give us spiritual life. They can       father called for everlasting punish-       on that unbeliever. But God's grace is
 and do teach us spiritual truths. But,        ment rather than for covenant bless-        everlasting. All His virtues are ever-
 after Adam and Eve died, man lost             ings, even as Adam and Eve's believ-        lasting! Man does not, and Satan
 his spiritual life; and that life is given    inginSatan'sliecalledforthei.rdeath.        cannot, change and stop God's vir-
 to the elect for Christ's sake, and by            We might then find it difficult to      tues. And the I AM never changes His
 His Spirit.                                   explain and understand what we find         virtues.
       Theveryfirstchildbornnamely,            in Hebrews 11:20,  namely, "By faith                Hebrews  11:20  does not mean
I Cain, had no spiritual life given him        Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau con-           that God through Isaac blessed Esau.
 through his parents. But their next           cerning things to come." Is God's           The Greek word "blessed" in this
 son, Abel, had spiritual life that God        grace presented here as falling upon        verse has, two elements. The first is
 gave him apart from his parents. So           Esau as well as on Jacob? Did our God       one that means "good"; and the sec-
 very, very often that spiritual life          through Isaac deal with both Jacob          ond means "word." Isaac spoke a
 comes weeks and months and even               and Esau in His grace? Was there            good wolrd  to Esau. That this word
 years after physical birth. Think of          here a manifestation of God's "com-         "blessed" doesnotmeanmakeblessed
 the apostle Paul, who was at Christ's         mon grace" upon Esau?                       is plain from what we read in Psalm
 cross plainly revealing his hatred of              No, that which Isaac predicted         103:1,  namely, "Bless the Lord, 0 my
 God and His Son in our flesh. Yet,            would come upon Esau was by no              soul." SurelyDavidisnotheretelling
 later on, he was born again as a believ-      means something which God would             his soul to make God blessed\. We
 ing child of God. Get that! Salvation         send upon Esau in His grace. Note           cannot add anything to God. But by
 comes in the way of being born ugairz,        first of all that Hebrews 11:20  pre-       His grace we can speak well about
 and not by and through our first birth.       sents what Isaac did, not what God          Him, praise Him, and call Him our
       Did not our God tell Satan that         does. Isaac's faith, which is here          God.
 He would put enmity in some of the            mentioned, did not speak of what                    Now, if we lookat Genesis 27:39,
 human race? Did not David write in            God in His grace does for those He          40, we find Isaac saying to Esau, "Be-
 Psalm 51:5, "Behold, I was shapen in          did not elect eternally in Christ.          hold, thy `dwelling shall be the f'atness
 iniquity, and in sin did my mother.                That word "blessing," presented        of the earth, and of the dew of heaven
 conceive me"? Likewise, in Ephesians          in this verse, does not tell us what        from above; And by thy sword shalt
 2:5 Paul wrote, "Even when we were            God does in His grace to those not          thou live, and shalt serve thy brother;
 dead in sins, hath quickened us to-           chosen in Christ. The word "bless-          and it shall come to pass when thou
 gether with Christ, by grace ye are           ing" used here does not teach that          shalt have the dominion, that thou
 saved." And in Psalm 58:3 we read             what God does to the world of unbe-         shalt breakhis  yoke from off thy neck."
 this very clearly, for there we read,         lievers is a work of His "common            To that verse our God refers whenHe
 "The wicked are estranged from the            grace." The awesome truth here in           through the human author writes in
 womb; they go astray as soon as they          Hebrews  11:20  is that Isaac did a         Hebrews 11:20 thatIsaacblessec1  Jacob
 be born, speaking lies."                      work of faith. By faith he performed        and Esau. .And it is important to note
       Once again, Adam and Eve first          spiritually good deeds upon his two         that not our God but Isaac here blessed
 brought forth a totally depraved son.         sons. He was rightly concerned with         Esau.
 And Isaac and Rebekah had the first           the physical and spiritual well-being               What is meant here in Hebrews
 of twin sons come forth with a wholly         of his son Esau. And because God            11:20,  then, is that Isaac blessed Jacob
 corrupt and sinful nature. And this,          had given Isaac faith and desire to         in the sense of speaking good words
 if you please, was not months or years        keep His law, he rightly had concern        to him, which in this case were words
 before Jacob the believer came forth          for Esau's physical and spiritual well-     of God's covenant promise. And, if
 into this world. It was the one and           being. By faith he knew that Esau was       we look carefully at what he said to
 same conception and birth; but spiri-         an enemy of God. But he also knew           Esau, we will see that he did indeed
 tually they were two completely dif-          his calling to instruct his son in the      speak good words in the sense that he
 ferent sons.                                  truth which God had revealed to him.        gives. a warning to Esau. He warns
      Take note of the fact that Jacob              Consider the awesome truth that        him about what he sinfully wants to
 did not speak the truth. He lied to his       the more earthly things that the unbe-      do, namely, according to Genesis
 father, declaring, "I amEsau,  thyfirst-      liever gets, the deeper is his punish-      27~41, slay his brother Jacob and get
 born." What is more, Jacob was look-          ment in hell! For he has sinned more        back that land promised to him.
 ing for material things, not for spiri-       fully than if he had not been given                 In thlat sense Isaac blessed both
 tual blessings. He was seeking some           these things. If God would in His           Jacob and Esau. To the one, namely
 carnal things which his totally de-           grace give to the non-elected unbe-         Jacob, he spoke good words of a com-
 praved brother was expecting. And             lievers things their flesh enjoyed, then    ingblessing. To Esau he spoke of sins
: this event is revealed to us to show us      that grace of God ceases when that          he intends to perform. And to warn
I that we are saved by grace and not by        unbeliever is cast into hell. And God's     sinners in. that sense is a blessing, for
 our works. Jacob's sin of lying to his        grace is temporary. It stops its falling    it is speaking good words to them. It

 400 /Standard Bearer I June 1,1992


is good for us to warn the world of its           In Luke 11:42-44 Jesus said three      good and correct warning of the sins
devilishness and coming sins. By             times: "Woe unto you Pharisees."            which he would commit. By faith
faith we can and must proclaim to the        Those were good words, even though          Isaac proclaimed the truth to both
world the coming of Christ, and our          they did not promise good to these          Jacob and Esau. That truth to Esau
hope for the full salvation that He has      sinners. AndIsaacblessed  Jacob with        was hard for the flesh; but by God's
earned for us.                               good words of a promise; and he             grace Isaac could by faith tell his, sons
                                             blessed Esau in the presentation of a       that which is true. 0



                                                                               Malachi

                                                                                Lesson 9
                                                        Behold the Day
Search the                                                             Cometh
Scriptures
Rev. Carl Haak                                                                (Malachi 4)


        Chapter 4 of Malachi's proph-        sober conclusion to both Malachi's          turn in judgment), Elijah shall come.
ecyflows naturally from the thoughts         prophecy and the OldTestament.  The         His work will be to "turn the hearts"
of the last part of chapter 3. Chapter       certainty of Christ's coming is an-         of God's people. Specifically, there
3:17,18  spoke of that day when God          nounced, the warning of final judg-         will be a renewal of the family and of
would at last make up His church in          ment, the announcement of the ar-           the covenant, as the heart of fathers
which the remnant of Malachi's day           rivalofElijahtoprepareGod'speople           shall be turned to their children and
would be included. We were also              for that day, and the encouragement         the hearts of children to their fathers.
told that'that  day would be the day of      on account of the great good that shall     God's people will be prepared and
vindication of God's righteous judg-         belongtoGod'speople-alltheseare             made ready for that day by the min-
ments, when the difference between           found in this chapter.                      istry of Elijah, which will result in a'
the righteous and wicked would be                 Dividing the thoughts of the           people made ready for Christ's re-
clearly shown. Now the prophet de-           chapter, we see that the day Malachi        turn. Thus the prophet calls us to
clares the certainty of that day (Be-        foretells as surely coming will be a        remember the "law of Moses my ser-
hold, the day cometh!) and unfolds           day of:                                     vant" (vs. 4).
the events of that day: a day of judg-           LJudgment.  T h e   p r o p h e t            3. Salvation. Once again we see
ment for all who do wickedly and             speaks of the day as "the great and         the truth that that which brings judg-
salvation for all who fear God's name.       dreadful day of the Lord" (vs. 5).          ment to the wicked world, at the same
        It should impress us that this is    Further, it is the day of destruction       time brings salvation to those who
avery significant chapter. Not only is       and fiery indignation of God against        fear the Lord. Indeed, the purpose for
it the conclusion of Malachi's proph-        the wicked, which shall leave them          the day is the glory of God seen in the
ecy, it is the end of the entire Old         nothing (vs. 1). And finally, it will be    salvation of His church. That salva-
Testament. The next Word from God            the day when Jehovah shall smite the        tion is beautifully described. Christ
would be when the angel Gabriel is           earthwithacurse. Plainly,theprophet         will come as the Sun of Righteousness
sent to Zacharias in the temple. We          sees to the last day ushered in by the      to give light and healing. We shall
could not think of a more fitting and        appearing of Christ, resulting in the       share in His victory and tread down
                                             final judgment and damnation of the         the wicked. (See I Cor. 6:2 and Hei-
                                             wicked.                                     delbergCatechism,L.D. 12, Q&A32.)
                                                  2.Renewal.  Before that day            Matthew Henry says it so well: "The
Rev. Hnak is pastor of fhe Protestlrnf       comes (and remember that Malachi            great and terrible day of the Lord, like
Reformed Church of Lynden, Washing-          sees the day of the Lord as one whole,      the pillar of cloud and fire, shall have
ton.                                         including Christ's birth and His re-        a dark side turned towards the Egyp-

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  tians that fight against God, and a             the earthandwickedbeingburned  up?            the home and parent-child relation-
  bright side towards the faithful Isra-          Will they be annihilated?                     ship. We may call it a covenant re-
  elites that follow him."                                  d. This judgment comes upon         newal. `Give some of the traits of a
       We are taught to look forward to           "the proud and all that do wickedly."         home where the hearts of parents are
  that day, to keep ourselves unspotted           From this prophecy explain who is             turned to their children, and children
  from the world as we wait, and to be            meant by "proud" and by those who             to their parents. How is this culti-
  faithful in our own homes until He              "do wickedly." Also, put this in              vated or nurtured?
  appears in power and great glory (II            today's terms.                                       3. The Day of the Lord: Salva-
  Thess. 1:7-10).                                     2. The Day of the Lord: Renewal           t i o n
                                                            a. Verse 5 tells us that before               a. Verse 2 is one of the great
  Memory  Work                                    the day of the Lord comes, Elijah will        Old Testament prophecies of our Lord
               Malachi 4:2,5,6                    be sent.                                      and the salvation He brings. Explain
          But unto you that fear my name                       1) Who is Elijah? See Mat-       what it means that:
  shall the Sun of righteousness arise with       thew 11:13,14;  17:10-13;  Luke 16:16;                      1) He is the Sun of Righ-
  healingin  hiswings;andyeshallgoforth,          Mark 9:12,13;  Luke 1:15-17.                  teousness.
  and grow up as calves of the stall.                          2) What are the similari-                      2) He has healing in His
          Behold; I will send you Elijah the      ties between Elijah and John? Give            wings.
  prophet before thecomingof thegreat and         illustrations from their lives.                         b. The effect of His coming
  dreadful day of the Lord:                                    3) Is the ministry of Elijah     uponusis said tobe this, that "ye shall
       And he shall turn the heart of the         (John the Baptist) finished or is it still    go forth, and grow up as calves of the
 fathers to thechildren, and the heart  of the    present, and, if so, where? Explain           stall." A very expressive and beauti-
  children to their fathers, lest I come and      and give proof from the Bible.                ful figure is used of releasing to the
  smite the earth zoith-a curse.                            b. The result of the sending of     field calves which have been tied up
                                                  Elijah the prophet (vs. 6).                   all winter. Explain what this mleans.
  Questions for Study                                          1) When Gabriel quotes           What spiritual emotions are worked
      1. The Day of the Lord: Judg-               this passage to Zacharias he changes          in us at the coming of Christ?
  ment                                            part of it (see Luke 1:17 and Malachi                   c. Verse 3 shows that we will
            a. From verses 1, 5, 6 write          4:6). What is changed? What is the            share in the victory of Christ over the
  down what Malachi says about the                significance of this change? '                wicked (see I Cor. 6:1,2). Why is this
  Day of the Lord. Then answer this                            2) What does it mean that        important and an encouragement to
  question: What will be the overall              the hearts of fathers are turned to           us?
  impression left upon the wicked?                their children (see Isaiah  38:19;                      d. Malachi sees the day of the
           b. Look up the following pas-          Ephesians 6:4; Colossians 3:21)?  What        Lord as one, including His birth and
  sages and state what they teach about           does it mean for the hearts of children       return. What does this teach us?
  the Day of the Lord: Isaiah 34:1-10;            to be turned to their fathers (see Luke                 e. What will characterize the
  Revelation 6:12-17; II Thessalonians            2:51; Ephesians  6:1-3; Colossians            church (us) aswe await the coming of
  1:7-10;  II Peter 3:7-14. Any others?           3:20)?                                        Christ? (See verse 4.)
            c. What will happen to this                        3) The result of the faithful           4. Can you write from memory
  physicalcreation? What is the idea of           ministry performed in the spirit of           thosebeautifulandexpressiveverses,
  "fire" in Scripture? What is implied in         Elijah is found first and primarily in        Malachi  4:2,5,6?  Cl


                                                  Jehovah's Faithful
                                                  Covenant With
  From Holy Writ
  Rev. George Lubbers                             Noah
                                                        But Noah found grace in the eyes  of the Lord.... But with thee will Iestablish my,
                                                  covenant; and thou shall come into the ark, fhou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy
  Rev. Lubbers is a minister emeritus in the      sons' zoives zuith thee.
Protestant Reformed Churches.                                                                                             Genesis 6:8,18

  402 /Standard Bearer I June 1,1992


Some Introductory Observations               faithful few of His elect (Noah and his     one of His words falls to the ground?
     It was a critical time in the church    family) from the hellish intent of          (See, for the concept of God'sremem-
of God. It was some 120 years before         Satan's hordes, who would drag them         bering:  Gen. 9:15,16; 19:29;  30:32; Ex.
the Flood. We read here of the dire          withthemtodestruction(Gen.4326b).           2124;   6:5; Lev. 26:42, 45.) Here is a
predicament of the holy Seed. It was                                                     remembering on the part of God of
the Seed promised to Eve. It was the                                                     divine faithfulness that has no equal.
Seed that would utterly crush the            Jehovah's Faithful Covenant                 From this vantage-point we can see
head of the Serpent's seed (Gen. 3:15).      Unfolded to Noah and to His Sons            the implication of the Hebrew form of
When God promised to "establish"                  The first solid evidence of            the verb Chum in theHiphi1 degree. It
His covenant with Noah, it was 120           Jehovah's covenant to Noah was that         is causative. God causes His cov-
years before the flood (Gen.  6:3). It       GodinHisunfathomable  "grace" gave          enant to come into existence, to con-
was a perilous time for the "sons of         to him the gift of "faith." This was the    tinue, and to be eternally realized.           .
God." Hordes of these sons of God            same faith which God gave to the                 Pause here just a bit and reflect.
went and joined the daughters of men,        fathers before him. This was the faith      That was no little rainstorm w'hich
left the true God andjoined the daugh-       by which the just live andare  justified    this Ark had to endure. For forty days
ters of Cain, and went and dwelt in          (Heb. ll:l-10). Thus Noah did not           and forty nights the fountains of the
the Cain city which had not founda-          draw back as did the hordes in whom         great deep were broken up, and the
tions. Great would be the fall of that       God's soul had no pleasure; rather          windows of heaven were opened. The
city and of her inmates. But it was a        Noah was such that he "believed to          waters above the firmament verily
time when Noah rose up as the                the saving of his soul" (Heb. 10:33,        came tumbling out of the infinite
"preacher of righteousness bringing          38). It was the faith by which only he      heights. And the waters beneath the
the flood upon the world of the un-          could possibly please God. He came          earth and of the very ocean broke
godly" (II Pet. 2:5).                        to God; he believed that God is, and        forth. This little Ark had only one
     It was also the hour when "Noah         that He is a rewarder of those who          great power to resist this horrible
found grace in the eyes of Jehovah."         diligentlyseekI-Iim(Heb.  11:6). Thus       onslaught. It was what is so crypti-
This grace Jehovah manifested in the         Noah belonged to the cloud of wit-          cally stated, "The LORD (Jehovah)
"establishingof His covenant" of grace       nesses, who with Jesus looked to Je-        shut him in." Yes, that was Jehovah
with Noah and his family in their            hovah and ran the race with patience.       causing Noah and his sons and their
generations. These generations would              In this faith Noah and his sons        wives to be safe. Andin faith they did
develop once more along the lines of         had the sure evidence that the good         not say with Peter and the disciples of
"sin" and "grace" after the flood in         work which God had begun in him             Jesus' day, "Lord, we perish." Here
the so-called new world, the world           would surely be fulfilled unto the          was faith tested, triedin this Ark. The
that now is, from the days of Noah till      time when the "earth would no longer        faith that built it was the same faith
the final return of the Lord. Then           exist" (Gen. 9:22). Such is the testi-      which felt safe with a good conscience
none of the elect shall perish but all       mony which Noah received and                in it! Hallelujah, what a mighty Jeho-
shall have come to repentance (II Pet.       which is recorded of him. This great        vah God!
3:9). Then shall the Lord have ful-          faith and grace was manifested in the            God remembered, remembered
filled His promise to Noah and his           120 years when Noah prepared the            His covenant. He gave the victory
seed. Thus the LORD establishedHis           Ark to the saving of his house (Heb.        that overcomes the world, even our
covenant with Noah and with his              11:7). Did he thus in faith not con-        faith (I John 5:4).
sons!!                                       demn that evil world and become the
     The God, in whose eyes Noah             heir of the righteousness which is by
has found "grace," is the God whose          faith?                                      Noah's Reward is Certain:
name is JEHOVAH. This Name He                     The second solid evidence of           It is the Reward of Grace
used when He assured Eve that her            Gods actually establishing His cov-              When we read Hebrews 11:7
Seed shall surely crush the head of the      enant with Noah and with his sons           carefully we notice that Noah had
Serpent's seed. This is the name used        was in the obedient act of faith on the     faith which overcame the world.
when God is said to be the Creator of        part of Noah in actually entering into      Noah was a powerful man of God. It
Adam and Eve (Gen. 2:7-9,15,16,19-           this Ark, and patiently waiting to be       was the power of Gods establishing
21) and when God comes to Adam               "remembered" by the LORD. It is no          His sure covenant with Noah and
and Eve with the first Gospel, the           trite saying when Moses writes in           with his generations. Jehovah saved
Protevangel (Gen. 3:8,9,13-15). It is        Genesis  8:1, "And God  remembered          His church from the wrath of the seed
also the Name of God when He, in His         Noah." Is Gods remembering merely           of the Serpent. Of this there canbe no
contemplatedmercy, sends Adam and            a mental activity, or is it a holy, sov-    doubt, can there?
Eve from Paradise with the flaming           ereignactuatingofwhatHehadprom-                  There are three great things as-
sword of the Cherubims (Gen.  3:24).         ised, that He would establishHis  cov-      cribed to Noah:
This is the LORD who rescues the             enant, and bring it to pass, so that not         1. He built an Ark to the saving

                                                                                                June 1,19!32 / Standard Bearer / 403


     of his house. He did this in obedience       and Canaan shallbe his servant" (Gen.          in headiness  for the great ingathering
     to God's word of warning to him, did         9:27).                                         of Japhethinto the tents of Shem. Are
     he not?                                           We shouldnotice that Shemshall            not the sons of Japheth "theisles of the
          2. Inhis saving of his house, Noah      receive a great pre-eminence at first.         Gentiles"? Are these not repeatedly
     condemned the world to perishin the          It is quite evident that "Shem" here           spoken of in the Psalms and in the
     Flood.                                       refers to all his posterity, who live          prophetic Scriptures (Ps. 72:lO; 97:l;
          3. He became the heir of the righ-      under the blessing of Jehovah in               Is. 49:l; 51:5; 60:9; 66:19)? And then
     teousness which is by faith.                 Shem's tents. Isit not remarkable that         listen to the prophecy of Luke 2:2,8-32!
          Thus Noah is listed with the "el-       the plural, "tents," is employed? The               Surely Jehovah's covenant with
     ders who obtained a good report."            tents are many. These are the tents of         bothNoahand  Abraham are the same
     He is part of those worthy men and           Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These are           covenant of grace in Jesus Christ, are
     women of whom the world is not               men who lived in tents while they              they not? True, they are dated at
     worthy (Heb. 11:38).  This Noah has a        looked for a city(Heb. 11:8,9).  And           different times. The covenant of Noah
     reward. It is called "righteousness          these tents are made very "wide" in            is given before the Flood and desig-
     which is by faith."                          the Israel of God. It was in tents that        nates that the very Flood and the Ark
          HeisreallyaforerunnerofAbra-            Israel dwelt for forty years in the            are the demonstrationof God's mercy.
     ham, Isaac, and Jacob, of whom God           wilderness. These were the tents of            This covenant is the basis for the later
     is not ashamed to be called their God.       the twelve tribes as they surrounded           datedcovenant with Abraham, Isaac,
     For Noah, also, God has prepared the         the Tabernaclein the wilderness. Did           and Jacob. Noah's covenant reaches
     city which has foundations. He never         not Balaam see these tents and ex-             across the ages until times shall be no
     entered into the City of Cain. The           claim, "How goodly are thy tents, 0            more. It includes the covenant with
     latterperishedin the flood. It is of this    Jacob, and thy tabernacles, 0 Israel"          Abraham recorded in Genesis 15 and
     reward that all the law and the proph-       (Num. 24:5)?                                   17. The latter gives us details of how
~    ets testify (Rom. 3:21).                               From one of these tents Christ is    Japheth shall dwell in the tents of
          The last words which we have of         born. Did not God cause Isaac to be            Shem. It shows us how the Scripture,
     Noah are covenant words. They are            born in Sarah's tent? The very tent            foreseeing that God would justify the
     propheticalwordswhichspeakofthe              into which Isaac later brought Re-             heathen (Japheth) through faith,
     great covenant God, who is most              becca, and where both Esau and Jacob           preachedbefore the gospelunto Abra-
     blessed forever. "And he (Moses)             were born? From these tents came               ham, saying, in thee shall all nations
     said, Blessed be the LORD (Jehovah)          forth the three times fourteen genera-         be blessed (Gen. 12:3 and Gal. 3:8,9).
     God of Shem; and Canaan shallbe his          tions of the line from Abraham, David,              Acts 15:18 "Known unto God
     servant. God shall enlarge Japheth,          the kings of the post-captivity period         are all his works from the beginning
     he shall dwell in the tents of Shem;         till the birth of Christ. And all is made      of the world." a




                                                  Recent Federal
                                                  Legislation on
                                                  Church/State
     Church and State
     Mr. James Lanting                            I s s u e s

                                                  Inter-religious Coalition Promotes a           groups have formed a rare coalition
                                                  Religious Freedom Restoration Act.             to support and sponsor a new fesderal
     Mr. Lanting, a member of South Holland                 In an unusual showing of soli-       statute calculated to enhance religious
     Protestant Reformed Church, is a prac-       darity, a large and diverse group of           freedom in this country. Angered by
     ticing attorney.                             liberal and conservative religious             the U.S. Supreme Court's decisionlast .

     404 /Standard Bearer I June 1,1992


year in the notorious case of Employ-         Exercise of Religion have been with-           dent of the National Abortion Rights
ment Division v. Smith,  the coalition        drawing their support for the RFRA             Action League, was recently quoted:
has convinced 104 U.S. Representa-            bill because of concern that the lan-          "No member of Congress now `can
tives to co-sponsor a new bill in Con-        guage of the bill may backfire in the          dance or dodge away and around this
gress dubbed the Religious Freedom            areas of abortion, taxation, and               issue.- Each of them is going to be
Restoration Act (`?&ERA").                    parochiaid. For example, some sup-             accountable."
     The RFRA was drafted to act as           porters of the originalbillsuspect that                Some Constitutionalscholars are
a legislative antidote to the Court's         some feminists may argue that their            dubious, however, whether Congress
First Amendment decision in Smith,            right to an unrestricted abortion is a         can create a right that the Supreme
which alarmed religious leaders na-           "religious belief" which the state may         Court may rule is not found in the
tionwide. The  Smith  case involved           not regulate.                                  Constitution. In any event, the
two Indians who were fired from                     Similar bills are being prepared         progress of this bill in Congress mer-
their counseling jobs after it was dis-       for Senate sponsors and within a few           its careful observation by those con-
covered theyhadusedpeyote, a stimu-           months there maybe a showdown on               cerned about abortion in this country.
lant drug derived from cactus plants.         Capital Hill over a final version of a
They were then also denied unem-              RFRA. This important piece of fed-             InterestingFederalStatisticsonN~on-
ployment compensationbecause their            eral litigation deserves special atten-        Public Schools.
unemployment resulted from the use            tion from those concerned about                        The 1991 edition of "Statistical
of an illegal drug. They appealed to          church/state relationships and reli-           Abstract of the United States," pub-
the Supreme Court, arguing that their         gious liberties in the 90s.                    lishedby the federal government, was
use of peyote was a religious practice                                                       recently released. It contains some
and sanctioned as a "sacrament" by            Abortion Activists SponsorFreedom              interesting data regarding non-pub-
their Native American Church.                 of Choice Act.                                 lic schools. Some examples that may
     The Court rejected their argu-                 Abortionists are concerned that          be interesting to parents and teach-
ment that the termination of their            the Supreme Court willjettisonRoev.            ers:
employment and state's subsequent             Wade  this summer, again allowing                      *Thereare25,616privateschools
denial of unemployment benefits vio-          states to establish their own guide-           (elementary and secondary) in the
lated the Free Exercise Clause of the         lines and restrictions on abortion.            U.S., half of which are Protestant.
FirstAmendment(Congressshallpass                    Accordingly, the forces that sup-                *45% of the Protestant schools
no law . . . prohibiting the free exercise    port a woman's right to abort her              have been in operation for only ten
[of Religion] . ...) Arguably overturn-       child have recently placed before              years or less. Only 29% of Protestant
ing 30 years of established precedent,        Congress a bill that will essentially          schools have been in existence for 25
the Court surprisingly held that the          codify the Roe v. Wade decision. The           years or more.
Free Exercise Clause does not exempt          proponents of this pro-abortion fed-                   *Average number of students:
anyone from a "facially-neutral" law          eral law have named it the Freedom             Catholic schools  - 363; Protestant
evenifit directlyinterferes withone's         of Choice Act ("FCA").                         schools-142.  Totalnumberofteach-
religiouspractice(suchaspeyoteuse).                 Among other things, the pro-             ers: Catholic schools-185,000; Prot-
Previously, a religious objector could        posed FCA states that "a state may             estant schools  - 142,000. Average
obtain an exemption unless the state          not restrict the right of a woman to           annual salary for teachers: Catholic
could show that its law was the "least        choose to terminate a pregnancy . . .          schools-$15,10O;Protestantschools
restrictive means? to serve a "com-           before fetal viability . . . . II The spon-    - $14,800.
pelling government interest."                 sors desire to have this bill ready for
     The loss of this "strict scrutiny"       afloorvoteintheHouseassoonas  the              *Annual
standard for carving out religious            Supreme Court announces its ruling             Tuition
exceptions to laws that intrude upon          in the Pennsylvania abortion case this         Rates               Protestant Catholic
religious activities alarmedmany. The         summer.                                        less that $500             6%         15%
RFRAwasdraftedtorestorethe"strict                   President Bush recently told an          $500  - $1,000            31%         37%
scrutiny" standard: government can-           evangelical audience in Illinois that          $1,001  - $1,500          31%         26%
not infringe on a person's free exer-         he will veto the measure if it is passed       $1,501- $2,500            20%          7%
cise of religion unless it can demon-         by Congress. The U.S. Attorney Gen-            Greater than $2,500 12%                4%
strate (1) that the government has a          eral Flanigan is also advising that the                                                 cl
"compellinginterest" in doingso,  and         bill be rejected.
(2) that it is taking the "least restric-           Abortionists, however, are con-
tive means" possible to further that          fident that an unpopular Supreme
compelling interest.                          Court decision in an election year will
     Most recently, however, some             galvanize Congress to pass such a
members of the Coalition for the Free         measure. Kate Michelmann,  presi-

                                                                                                      June 1,1992 I Standard Bearer I&l5


Book Review

The Chosen People: A Corporate View            tion is surely by no stretch of the                   Klein's plea for a corporate view
Of Election, by William W. Klein;              imagination a new insight into bibli-        of election turns out to be a plea for a
Zondervan Publishing House, 1990;              cal teachings.                               conditional view of election in which
314pp., $15.95. [Reviewed by Prof.                  But the author's troubles are not       foreknowledge becomes prescience,
Herman Hanko.]                                 over. He uses his erroneous analysis         andGod's determinationto save or to
                                               of Calvinism to launch a fierce attack       damn is based upon man's faith or
         This discussion of election is        against the biblical and Reformed            unbelief. And so, after all, the author
presented to the reader as new light           doctrine of predestination. This is          presents a view of election (and rep:
shed on a difficult doctrine. The au-          done, interestingly enough, by way of        robation) which was taught some 375
thor is of the opinion that neither            an analysis of all the texts both in the     years ago and which has been consis-
Arminianism nor Calvinism has suc-             Old andNew  Testaments which could           tently condemned by all Reformed
ceededin solving the problem of elec-          in any way be quoted in favor of the         and Presbyterian churches which have
tion, and that a new look at the doc-          doctrine of election and reprobation.        remained faithful to their creedcaI  heri-
trine will demonstrate that both are           He does not miss one passage of im-          tage.
wrong. This "new look" results in the          portance. But when the analysis of                    Aninterestingquestion, though,
author's idea that election is corpo-          these passages emerges from the              is: How does the author square his
rate.                                          writer's hands, they are completely          conditionalpredestinationwithacor-
         This is a strange thesis to pursue    twisted so as to teach exactly the           porate view of election? This is an
and quite contrary to the facts in the         opposite of what they clearly teach, or      interesting question because the
case. He accuses both Arminianism              they are dismissed with remarks like         simple fact of the matter is that this
and Calvinism of being individualis-           this: An interpretation which teaches        cannot be done. His effort to do so is
tic. While this serious accusation is          the historic doctrine of election is         found in different places in the book,
brought against Arminianism with               impossible because that "would be            but especially on pp. 266, 267. It is
considerable justification, anyone who         totally out of character . . . for Jesus'    stressed that election is for service
knows anything about Reformed and              ministry" (p. 150). Hisrejectionof the       (which a man may refuse to do and
Presbyterian theology (especially as           Reformed  view is explicit when he           thereby fail to become elect) or for
it came to expressionin the Canons of          rejects Dr. W. Hendriksen's interpre-        suffering. But it is never for privilege
Dordt and in the Westminster Con-              tation of such key passages as Mat-          of any kind. So it all comes down to
fessions) knows too that, from the             thew  18:14, although, interestingly,        the fact that a corporation is the object
beginning of the Reformation, a cor-           he puts a finger on a weakness in Dr.        of election, into which corporation
porate view of election was taught in          Hendriksen's position when he takes          one enters by a choice of his own will
the church.                                    Henriksen to task for his "two-will          and a decision which he makes to
         And this is exactly why the           theory" of the will of God.                  believe.  0
author's insistence on corporate elec-

News From Our Churches
Mr. Benjamin Wigger

Denomination Highlights
         TheProtestantReformedChurch           IA PRC, was the featured speaker at          bers on the principles of church gov-
in Byron Center, MI was the site of            the Ladies' Spring League meeting            ernment. Just recently they asked
this year's Mr. and Mrs. Adult Bible           held on April 2 in our Hull Church.          Prof. Hanko, of our seminary, to lead
Society LeagueMassMeeting.  Onthe              Rev. Moore addressed the ladies from         the class permanently. Because of
evening of April 28 society members            our Doon, IA, Edgerton, MN, and              good interest in and outside of their
from the west Michigan PRCs met                Hull congregations on the topic "The         congregation they have now decided
together to hear Rev. Bruinsma speak           New Age Movement."                           to extend invitations to all area PR
on the topic, "Signs of the Times in           Congregational Highlights  '                 churches to join them. This class
Light of Current Ecclesiastical                     For about a year now the congre-        meets each third Thursday evening of
Events."                                       gation of Byron Center, MI PRC has           the month at 230 PM. Prof. Hanko
         Rev. R. Moore, pastor of the Hull,    conducted a class for its own mem-           has begun discussion on the offices of

406 /Standard Bearer I June 1,1992


the church. And it was anticipated                  dealt with the theme, "The Lord is                 to speak on the subject, "The Battle
that such subjects as election ofbffic-             Risen Indeed." The concert music                   for the Bible."
ers, the formula of subscription, etc.              was also pre-recorded in stereo, and                     The Evangelism Committee of
would be-covered.                                   tapes were available.                              the First PRC in Grand Rapids, MI
      The Adult Bible Society of the                      ThismightbeafirstforourPella,                sponsored a lecture on April 30, (de-
South Holland, IL PRC invited the                   IA PRC. Their pastor, Rev. Bekkeri&                livered by their pastor, Rev.  h$.
Bible Society from the Peace PRC to                 planned on taking one week of vaca-                Joostens, on the topic, "The Office of
meet with them for a special program                tion to go to aTheological  Conference             all Believers (The Power and Respon-
on April 28. Rev. B. Woudenberg,                    in Pennsylvania. In his absence the                sibilities of the Pew)."
pastor of the Kalamazoo, MI PRC was                 Consistory planned to use a video                        And one item of school news: In
there to show the group some slides                 tape for the sermons instead of an                 conjunction with Education Week at
and discuss his recent visif with the               audio tape. This tape wa's  Provided               Covenant Christian High in Grand
Reformed Churches of Hungary and                    by our Hudsonville, MI PRC. This                   Rapids, Professor Robert Decker gave
Romania.                                            marks the first time that I have ever              a special speech on April 18 in .the
      The last issue of the "News"                  seen it mentioned that one of these                school gym. The title of his speech-
mentioned a couple of church choir                  tapes was actually used by one of our              "Needed: Able and Faithful Men for
concerts. Before any more issues slip               congregations for this purpose.                    the Ministry."
away, let me add d few more.                        Evangelism Activities                              Ministerial Calls
      The Choir of the Hope PRC in                        The Church Extension Commit-                       R&v. A.  denHartog,  pastor of
Redlands, CA presented their annual                 tee of the Loveland, CO PRC .re-                   our Hope, Redlands, CA congrega-
Easter program after the evening ser-               ported to their congregation that they             tion, has d&lined the call to become
vice on April 19. The Choir of the                  havebegunplacingissuesoftheStan-                   missionary to the island of Jamaica.
Loveland, CO PRC also invited their                 dard Bearer in different public loca-                    Although Rev. J. Kortering con-
congregation to join them in celebrat-              tions in their area. They also reported            cludedhis pastorate in the Grandville,
ing the resurrectiori of our Lord and               that on April 20 Rev. Cammenga and                 MI PRC on May 3, he and his wife
Savior when they presented a pro-                   deacon Marvin Schwarz traveled to                  plan to worship there until they de-
gram on Sunday, April 19. The Cho-                  -Alamosa to visit with contacts that               part for Singapore on July 1.
ral Society of the Peace PRC in                     they had received in that area, espe-              Grandville's Council also set Wednes-
Lynwood, IL presented a program                     cially with one family. This contact               day, June 10, as an evening for a
entitled "Hallelujah What a Savior,"                came to them from the Evangelism                   farewell social for the Korterings.
on the evening of April 12. And,                    Committee in our South Holland, IL                       And finally, at its meeting on
finally, the Hope PRC of Walker, MI                 church.                                            May 7, the Council of the Hudsonville,
had their choir program on April 26.                      The Evangelism Committee of                  MI PRC formed a new trio from
      Tuesday, May 5, Mrs. Fran Lub-                thePeacePRCinLynwood,ILplanned                     which one was to be called to serve as
bers presented her Second Annual                    a lecture for May 8 in the auditorium              missionary to Larne, Northern Ire-
Organ Concert in the auditorium of                  of the Illiana Christian High School.              land. This trio included the Revs.
the Grandville, MI PRC. Her concert                 The Lord willing, Prof. H. Hanko was               Bruinsma, Gritters, and Koole. 81
on the Digital Computer Allen organ

      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
      The Ladies' Society, Ruth, of the Hope              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rap-                  The Council of Faith Protestant Re-                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
ids, MI expresses their Christian love and          formed Church (Jenison, Ml) expresses its                The Council of Southwest Protestant.
sympathytofellowmembers, Mrs. JosieKoole,           Christian  sympathy  to Rev. Kenneth Koole         Reformed Church wishes to express their
Mrs. Dena Engelsma, Mrs. Thelma Orme,               and Elder Lawrence Koole and their families        sincere sympathy to our brother elder, Peter
Mrs. Jean&e  DeVries,  Miss Geriie Lanting,         in the death of their father and grandfather,      Feenstra and his family in the sudden death of
and Mrs. Alice Knott in the sudden  death of                   MR. PETER KOOLE,                        his father,
their husband, brother, and brother-in-law,         on April 23,1992  at the age of 69. "0 death,              MR. CHARLES FEENSTRA.
            MR. PETER KOOLE.                        where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy          Our prayer is that they may take comfort in the
      May they continue to experience the           victory? The sting of death is sin, and the        knowledge that "Precious in the sight of ,the
Lord's sustaining grace and the comfort of His      strength of sin is the law. But thanks  be to      LORD is the death of his saints" (Psalm
word:  "That the trial of your faith, being much    God, which giveth us the victory through our       116:15).
more precious than of gold that perisheth,          Lord Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 1X%-57).         Council of Southwest PRC
though it betried with fire, might be found unto                Gerald Feenstra, Vice-president                         Rev. Marvin Kamps, Presidient
praise and honor and glory at the appearing of                               Arie Griffipen,  Clerk                              Phil Lotterman, Clerk
Jesus Christ" (I Peter 1:7).
           Rev. James Slopsema, President
               .' Mrs. Thea  Buiter, Secretary
                                                                                                                   June 1,1992/ Standard Bearer I507


Sipi!iD~D                                                                                                                                   SfCONtJ CLASS
   BHER                                                                                                                                        Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                                               Grandville, Michigan
   P. 0. Box 603
   Grandville, MI 49468-0603


           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                      WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                               willing, on Tuesday, June 9,1992,  at 9:00 AM
         The Lord willing, June 11 marks the                      On May 27, 1992, our dear parents,                  in the South Holland Protestant Reformed
35th anniversary of our special parents and                                                                           Church, 16511 South Park Ave., South Hol-
                                                                  CHARLES and LOIS KREGEL,
grandparents,                                               celebrated their forty-fifth wedding anniver-             land, IL 60473 (Phone:  [708]  596-3'113).
  REV. and  MRS. JASON KORTERING.                           sary. We are grateful to God and to them for                       The Pre-Synodical worship service will
         The Lord has been gracious to us in                their caring, covenant upbringing, and we are             be held in the South Holland Church on Mon-
giving parents who continue to be an example                confident that God will continue to be with               day evening, June 8, at 7:30 PM. Rev. Jason
to us of godliness. The love and faithfulness               them in the future as He has been in the past.            Kortering,  president of the 1991 Synod, will
of our heavenly Father is shown to us through                     Psalm  103:17,18,  "Butthemercyofthe                preach the sermon. Synodical  delegates are
them.                                                       Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon              requested to meet with the Consistory before
         "How blest the man who fears the Lord              them that fear him, and his righteousness                 the service.
and greatly loves God's holy will, his children             unto children's children.                                                                  Consistory of the
share his great reward, and blessings all their                   "To such as keep his covenant, and to                                          South Holland PRC,
days shall fill" (Psalm 112 - Psalter #305)                 those that remember his commandments to                                             George Vroom, Clerk
         Rev. Barry and Lori Gritters                       do them."
           Curt, Kevin, Eric, Dan, Brad, Lisa                     Their children and grandchildren:                              WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
         Dennis and Sharon Griess                           0     Ken and Mary Velthouse                                       On May 12,1992,  our dear parents and
           Cory,Tara,  Justin, Seth, Derek, Joshua                 Mike, Kris, Matt, Marc                             grandparents,
         Bruce and Joann Klamer                             @ Joel and Ellen Bruinooge                                         MR. and MRS. JOHN EKEMA,
          Alyssa, Jaycen                                           Heather, Derek, Kyle                               celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary.
         Leon and Ellen Kamps                               $     Charles Kregel, Jr.                                          We thank God that He has given them
           Nicholas, Caleb, Gina                            0     David and Mary Kregel                               to us for these many years. It is our prayer that
         Rick and Carol Bos                                        Lisa, Brent, Jason, Ryan, Emily                    our heavenly Father will continue to guide
                                         Grandvilla,  MI    0     Andrew and Laura Nickle                             them in their remaining years together.
                                                                                                                               "For this God is our God for ever and
                                                                                             Grand Rapids, Miiigan
         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                                       ever: he will be our guide even unto death"
         The Martha Society of the Doon Protes-                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                              (Psalm 48:14).
tant Reformed Church would like to express                        The men of the Doon Men's Society                   aeP      John and Tina  Ekema
their sympathy' to Minnie VanDenTop and                     express Christian sympathy to our brother                 0        Bob and Kathy Ekema
family in the death of her son,                             members, Elmer, John, Pete, and Minard                    QD       Jim VanOverloop  and Linda whlo  is now
             WILLIAM VANDENTOP.                             VanDenTop and Ed VanGinkel,  in the loss of               with her heavenly Father in glory
May the family find comfort in the words of                 their brother and brother-in-law,                         a%,      Jim and Sally Koll
Psalm 48:14, "For this God is our God for ever                     MR. WILLIAM VANDENTOP.                                       1 4   g r a n d c h i l d r e n
and ever; he will be our guide even unto                          "Blessed be God, even the Father of our                       2 great grandchildren
death."                                                     Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and                        2 grandchildren in glory
                     Rev. R. Dykstra, President                                                                                                                 Radhda, CA
                                                            the God of all comfort" (II Corinthians 1:3).
                            Gert Burgers, Vice-all                          Henry Bleyenburg, President                        RESOLUTION OF  SYMPAiHY
                                                                               David Wiersma, Secretary                      The Senior Mr. and Mrs.  So'ciety  of
         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
         The Men's Society of the Hope Protes-                                                                        Faith Protestant Reformed Church expresses
                                                                         CALL TO SYNOD
tant Reformed Church expresses its sincere                                                                            its deepest sympathy to its members Mr. and
                                                                  Synod 1991 appointed South Holland
Christian sympathy to Mrs. Josie Koole and                                                                            Mrs. Larry Kooleand Rev. and Mrs. Ken Koole
                                                            Protestant Reformed Church of South Hol-
family, at the sudden death of her husband,                                                                           on the death of their father,
                                                            land; Illinois, the calling church for Synod
               MR. PETER KOOLE.                                                                                                        PETER KOOLE.
                                                            1992 of the Protestant Reformed Churches in
Our prayer for you is that God will continue to                                                                       We take comfort together from the assurance
                                                            America.
sustain you, even as He has promised, "For he                                                                         that God's Word gives us in Psalm 73:24,
                                                                  South Holland's Consistory hereby no-
shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep                                                                       `Thou shalt guide me by thy counsel, and
                                                            tifies our churches, sister-churches, and all
thee in all thy ways" (Psalm 91:ll).                                                                                  afterward receive me to glory."
                                                            interested Reformed churches and believers
                       Peter Petroelje, President                                                                               Peter VanDer  Schaaf, Vice-president
                                                            that the 1992 Synod will convene, the Lord
                      Leon Garvelink, Secretary                                                                                          Mary Brummel, Secretary
408 /Standard Bearer I June 1,1992


