       STANDARD
            BEARER
y- A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                         I





        .  .  . Could it be that the computer is the last
     technological breakthrough that Satan needs to
     create his "heaven-on-earth" for man and establish
     his antichristian kingdorn?
       Perhaps.

       But at least this  - it is one more step in that
     direction. And it is a reminder to us that the
     Antichrist is coming and  one, day, perhaps soon,
     will enthrone himself `as king of the earth. Let us
     beware. Let us not be deceived and drawn away by
     his enchantments. His salvation is false. His heaven
     leads to hell. Be faithful and watch unto prayer.

               See "The Computer Society" - page 471


c                                   Volume LIV, No. 20, September  1,1978  !-,
                                               ISSN-0362-4692


4 5 8                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



                             CONTENTS:                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                      Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
  Meditation  -                                                                            Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
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     God's Just Mercy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .458          Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
  Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 1        Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J.  Engelsma,
                                                                                  Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach,
  Editorial -                                                                     Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Mark H. Hoeksema, Rev. Meindert Joostens,
                                                                                  Rev, Jay Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma,
   A Surplus of Students for the Ministry? . . . . . -461                         Rev. Marlnus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,
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  MEDITATION


                                                 God's Just Mercy
                                                                      Rev. C. Hanko


                   Is not God then also merciful?
                   God is indeed merciful, but also just; therefore his justice requires, that  sin which is
               committed against the most high majesty of God, be also punished with extreme, that is,
               with everlasting punishment of body and soul.
                                                                         Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day IV, Question 11.

    Unduly harsh?                                                                 God's mercy, we find that our Catechism still speaks
                                                                                  almost only of God's justice. We ask, "Is not God
     The mercy of God now enters into the discussion;                             then also merciful?"; and the answer we receive is,
  mercy for the guilty and depraved sinner, lost in sin.                         Yes, but wait a moment, let us not forget God's
  One might expect that at this point the song of                                justice. Is not this unduly harsh?
  salvation would burst forth in all its rapture. Yet                                Imagine, one might argue, that the prodigal son
  when we read the answer to the question concerning                              leaves. the swine's trough and returns' to father's


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                459



house, repeating to himself over and over again the         with open arms. Would that be love? Would he be
confession, "Father, I have sinned. I am not worthy         showing mercy to her?
to be called thy son," only to be rebuffed by father's        Or think of a parent who allows his child to go
stern rebuke, "Hold on, before you cry on my                where he wills, come home when he pleases, eat and
shoulder, remember that you have squandered my              sleep when fancy dictates, use foul language, indulge
goods, disgraced my name, and have deeply offended          in every sort of, sin freely. Does that parent actually
me!" Or again, imagine that the Philippian jailer had       love his child? Is he kind, merciful to him? When that
come to Paul and Silas with the humble plea, "Sirs,         child gets himself into serious'trouble with the law or
what must I do to be saved?", and would receive the         finds himself unhappily' married, will he thank his
answer: "Do? You can do nothing. You must under-            parent for his indulgence? When parent and child
stand that God's justice must be satisfied. God has         meet in hell will the child still appreciate the kindness
the perfect right to cast you into hell for your sins!"     bestowed on him?
We ask, Did not the repentant  publican go home
justified after breathing the simple prayer for mercy         Does God look with approval upon the leniency of
at the temple door? We all agree, drawing from our          our courts of law? Is the judge who allows rapists,
own experience, that God never deals with us in that        arsonists, thieves, and murderers to roam our streets a
cold manner. Jesus, Who calls the weary and heavy           worthy minister of God, carrying out God's justice?
laden to seek their refuge in Him, has never yet            Do governors who parole dangerous characters show
turned away one seeking soul; not as much as held           mercy to the innocent?
him at arm's length.                                          All of this applies much more to God, Who is very
  We must understand that our Catechism is not              GOD. The churches of our day lay a strong emphasis
discussing God's dealings with the repentant sinner.        upon God's love. They teach that God loves all men,
This is a confession. You and I are being instructed        even though these men are sinners who hate God and
from the Scriptures in the wonder of our salvation.         violate every precept. God seems to ignore their
We are speaking out of the conviction of that in-           blasphemies, makes light of their sins, allows them to
struction concerning our only comfort as we live and        heap insult upon insult against Him. With a brush of
when we die. Already we have faced the bitter               the hand He says, as it were, "I love you anyway."
consequences of our fall in Adam, confessing that we          It has been said in times past that Arminians rode
are by nature dead in sin, capable only of sin.             into the churches on the wings of song. Such songs as
Humbly we bow under the burden of our guilt,                "Jesus is Tenderly Calling You Home," or  "T~hrow
acknowledging that God is just in demanding that we         out the Life Line" struck a strong appeal without
love Him, even though loving Him is contrary to our         much thought as to the contents. Today it can well
depraved nature. With penitent tears we confess that        be said that the denial of God's justice comes singing
God is just in punishing sin, both in this life and in      into the churches. Many hymns that are sung today
hell. We say with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I       lay a strong emphasis upon Jesus, at the expense of
trust in Him." Therefore we also approach the subject       God's holiness and righteousness. The impression is
of God's mercy with humble fear and reverence. We           left that Jesus is meek and gentle, but God is
are not belaboring the point of God's justice, but we       Someone awesome and fearful. In many circles chil-
need a proper perspective in understanding God's            dren are taught to pray to Jesus rather than to God;
mercy. God is merciful; yea, boundless in mercy, yet        yet we  find very few prayers in Scripture that are
never at the expense of His justice. That I know. That      addressed directly to Jesus..
I must learn ever. more fully every day. Perish the
thought that our Catechism should be unduly harsh             God's Mercy.
with God or with us at this point.                            Mercy is a magnificent virtue, especially when it
  A Necessary Reminder.                                     applies to God. God's mercy is rooted in His eternal
                                                            goodness. God's eternal goodness, in turn, is rooted in
  Mercy is always just! An unjust mercy is a contra-        His holiness. Let it be said with fear and adoration,
diction in terms. Injustice is always cruel, no matter      God is good. He is light, in Whom is no darkness
who is responsible for it. Justice belongs to the light;    whatever. God's holiness is His eternal devotion to
injustice belongs to darkness.                              Himself as the only Good, the infinite fulness of
  Think, for example, of a husband whose wife is            eternal perfections. This holiness radiates from  His
unfaithful to him. Imagine that this husband would          divine Being in a dazzling brightness that far surpasses
say out of the generosity of his heart, "I love my wife     the blinding light of the sun at noonday. God's
so much that I want her to enjoy herself." Imagine if       holiness radiates upon us in righteousness, justice,
this wife were to return to her husband, acting as if       knowledge, wisdom, truth, power, grace, love, mercy,
nothing had happened, and he were to receive her            long suffering, and endless compassion.


460                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


  Truly God is good to Israel. In sovereign good             our transgressions, bruised Him for our iniquities. The
pleasure God has chosen unto Himself a people in             chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His
Christ Jesus, to show forth the praises of His glorious      stripes we are healed. Truly Justice and Mercy kiss
Name. God predestinates this people unto heavenly            each other at the cross by the wonder of God's grace.
perfection in the new creation, to bear His image and        Stand in awe, and marvel!
likeness as sons and daughters, that they may live             As if that were a small thing, God's justice and
with Him in intimate fellowship of love forever. On          mercy still meet in the exalted Christ every day, as
the dark background of a history of sin, curse, and          long as the world continues. In .that familiar Song of
death for the workers of iniquity, God reveals the           Triumph in Romans 8, we join with the apostle to cry
glorious light of salvation for the objects of His love      out: "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
in Christ. Or, we can express it this way, all things are    elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that
rapidly working toward the final theodicy, the final         condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is
revelation of the justice of God in punishing the            risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
wicked with eternal damnation, and redeeming His             also maketh intercession for us." Our Mediator and
people unto heavenly glory. The eternal God de-              Advocate is now in the sanctuary interceding for us.
clares: "For I, Jehovah thy God, am a jealous God,           How would we ever dare to pray, ever dare to ask for
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children,      the smallest benefit of God, or ask for mercy, if it
unto the third and fourth generation of them that            were not for the confidence that we have access to
hate me, and. showing mercy unto thousands of them           the throne of mercy through our merciful Highpriest,
that love me, and keep my commandments."                     Jesus Christ, the Righteous, Who pleads that we be
  Mercy is God's love to the wretched, the miserable.        heard on the basis of His merit? He prays the Father
Mercy implies need for help in distress, need to be          to bless us out of heaven, and He is heard. It is His
delivered from that distress and to be brought into          intercession that brings streams of blessings, like a
covenant fellowship with the living God. God sent His        mighty river, bestowing upon us far more than we can
Son into the world to save sinners. The Son of man           ask or think.
came to seek and to save that which was lost. He is            We need only consider our personal experience. No
the good Shepherd Who committed Himself to tor-              sinner has ever been saved by the unscriptural, decep-
ments of hell, that out of the depths of hell He might       tive lie: God loves all men. God loves you as a sinner.
raise the cry, "Behold, I have found My sheep." He           The sweet singer of old speaks from his own ex-
enters the desert waste of this world by His Spirit to       perience in the oft-repeated Psalm 116, as also in
draw His sheep to Himself, gathers them in His arms,         Psalm 130, "Out of the depths have I cried unto thee.,
and. carries them to the sheepfold above. Mercy is,          0 Lord. Lord, `hear my voice. . . . If thou, Lord,
therefore, that attribute of God's goodness, whereby         shouldest mark iniquities, 0 Lord, who shall stand?
He delivers the guilty, lost sinner from sin and death,      But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest
and brings him into covenant fellowship with Himself         be feared. . . . Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with
in His glory! `That is God's mercy, full and free!           the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous
  A Just Mercy.                                              redemption."
  Our Book of Instruction teaches us, that "God's
justice requires, that sin against the most high majesty       One might ask: Why does this world continue to
of God, be also punished with extreme, that is, with         exist year after year, even while wickedness abounds?
everlasting punishment of body and soul."                    The answer is, that God is long-suffering toward His
                                                             people. Not one ,of them must perish. The end comes
  If this were not the case, the cross of our Lord           when the last elect is prepared for glory.
Jesus Christ would be a horrible travesty. My God
informs me, that Zion must be redeemed with justice.           Therefore we  .have this confidence, that we must
My sin, your sin, even the smallest sin is committed         all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that
against our God. We dishonor His glorious name, we           every one may receive the things done in the body,
squander His gifts, we transgress the very precepts          according to that he hath done, whether good or bad.
that are for our life. Sin is sin against the most high      (II Corinthians 5: 10). All human works will be
majesty of our God. Each sin of each one of us, even         burned like straw and stubble, but Christ, the righ-
a countless number of sins had to be punished with           teous Judge, will see His own work in His people, and
the extreme penalty of God's eternal "Depart from            reward each one of them accordingly, in strictest
Me, thou worker of iniquity." Christ bore that               justice and wondrous mercy.
penalty on the cross under the righteous wrath of the          "Of mercy and of justice my thankful song shall
Holy One. He bore it, and bore it away, forever. God              be:
gave His Son. God's Son, the Good Shepherd, laid               0 Lord, in joyful praises my song shall rise to
down His life for His sheep. God wounded Him for                  Thee."


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               461


                                        Editor's Notes
  We trust that our readers know the difference             byterian Church in America.
between a meditation and a lecture,. and that they
understood that Prof. Hanko's lecture was mistakenly
printed under the caption "Meditation" in the' August         Were you wondering about the outcome of the
1 issue. The error is not to be charged to the staff,       drive for RFPA Book Club members? Our Business
but to the printer. Another error appeared in my            Manager reports that we fell far short of the goal of
book review of Promise and Deliverance. The words           400 members. Only 257 have signed up. Our thanks
"a big extravagant" - lest any misunderstood - were         to those 257!
not intended to be  "a.big extravagance," but "a bit                              *  *  *  *  2:
extravagant."                                                 As most of our readers are aware, four of our
                        * *  1 *  *                         ministers have retired over the course of the past
  An interesting Special Report appears in this issue;      year. Synod of 1978 wished to take cognizance of
be sure to read it. We thank Pastor Eugene C. Case, of      this and commissioned Prof. Decker to write an
the Presbyterian Church of Woodville, Mississippi, for      article of appreciation and commemoration in this
his report on the General Assembly of the  Pres-            connection. This article appears in the current issue.

EDITORIAL


        A Surplus of Students for the Ministry?

                                               Pro5 H. C. Hoeksema


  Recently one of the better known-religious maga-          Theological School. If there is a surplus of students
zines dealt with the question which forms the title of      for the ministry, this might prove to be somewhat of
this editorial. I do not have the article at hand as I      a problem, even a somewhat embarrassing problem.
write this, but I recall that it made the point that        But then that problem will have to be faced. Perhaps
some denominations are troubled by such a surplus           a surplus is not a bad problem to face; in some cases,
and that in some cases there is even a glut of potential    at least, a surplus is a rather nice problem to have,
ministers. Statistical projections were made which          much nicer "than a shortage. But it is a matter to be
pointed to the possibility in one of the major              faced. If, ,on the other hand, the supply is normal or
denominations that in process of time there might be        nearly so, that is, if there is a rather close balance
a minister for every five or six people if present          between supply and demand, the churches should be
trends continue.                                            aware of this, too. Then the task is, if possible, to
  It is not my purpose, however, to discuss this            maintain that balance. And if there is a potential
question with respect to other denominations. Nor do        shortage, then this problem must be faced by the
I purpose to analyze possible reasons why other             churches also, so that if possible it may be remedied.
denominations may or may not have a surplus of                First of all, a little background information is
potential ministers.                                        necessary. Not many years ago, there was a rather
  My concern is with our own Protestant Reformed            severe shortage. It was not at all unusual, when I first
Churches.                                                   took up my labors at our school, that we had a
                                                            student body of one or two students, so that our
  Do we have a surplus of potential ministers?              seminary had a faculty larger than the student body.
  I raise this question for more than one reason. In        There were churches without pastors. There was need
the first place, I have heard the suggestion made from      for mission work; but because of the shortage of
time to time that we have such a surplus. The               ministers there was undoubtedly a reluctance to leave
question has been raised: what are we going to do           the congregational ministry for the home mission
with all those students in the seminary and in the          field. Besides, what hope could we give to any newly
pre-seminary department? In the second place, the           organized congregation when we suffered from a
churches ought to be aware of the situation in their        shortage of ministers? In addition, ,looming  large on


462                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


the horizon was the fact that in the not too distant        had part or all of their pre-seminary work elsewhere
future some of our older ministers would be retiring.       and who apply, for seminary entrance during the
At that time our churches were much in prayer that          coming years. But taking the above figures, we con-
the Lord would raise up young men to be prepared            clude that between now and 1985 there is a pos-
for the gospel ministry, and pastors and elders coun-       sibility of 10 graduates to become candidates for the
selled more than one young man to consider seriously        ministry in our churches. While we also note that the
whether the Lord called him to the ministry. And the        present picture is of a rather sporadic supply rather
Lord heard our prayers. He gave us several young            than a steady stream, let us notice that this is an
men. The shortage was so severe, however, that in the       average of far less than 2 graduates per year. Study of
late  196Os, about the time when our pre-seminary           past years will also show that such an average supply
program was revived, we even instituted a speed-up          is less than adequate to meet the needs of our
program for several of our present ministers, so that       churches.
they might graduate a year earlier than normally.              On the basis of the above statistics, I propose:
  About that time our pre-seminary program was
approved and given permanent status in our school.          1) That our churches certainly should not cease to
Then our seminary building program was begun and            pray that the Lord raise up young men for the
was completed in early 1974. Through all of these           ministry of the Word among us. On the contrary,
circumstances and by the Lord's gracious guidance           they should continue to pray for this.
our student body grew in number to a level which it         2) That parents, pastors, and elders should by all
had not known since our early years as churches. And        means not  discourage  potential students for the
our churches rejoiced at this. Once again the Lord          ministry in our congregations. On the contrary, they
,had provided and made all things well with us. This        should  encourage  them. They should certainly not
year it appears that when our three candidates              say things like, "Why do you want to study for the
eventually have a place; there will be one vacant           ministry? We already have too many students, and
congregation. And while no one wishes that a con-           there won't be a place for you." But they should tell
gregation be without a pastor, the situation is rather      them: "If you believe that the Lord wants you to
normal and healthy as far as supply and demand are          study for the ministry, by all means go ahead. Our
concerned.                                                  churches will need ministers. Besides, if the Lord calls
                                                            you to prepare for the ministry, He will also provide a
  In the second place, what is the present status of        place of labor for you."
our student body in both the seminary and  pre-
seminary departments? In my Rector's Report to the            And may I add  - especially for the sake of any
1978, Synod I furnished a brief survey of this; but this    young men who are considering the ministry - that I
report usually receives but brief attention at Synod        speak from personal experience? When I graduated
and then gets lost in the dust of the archives. The         from our seminary in 1947, I was one of three
following is the situation as reported to Synod:            graduates; but there was only one pastorless congrega-
1) In our seminary department:                              tion, and it was a time of brewing strife in our
                                                            churches. If I recall correctly, that was the only time
  a) There are 5 potential graduates for 1979.              in our history that such a situation of "surplus"
  b) There is no,class  of 1980 in the seminary.            prevailed. Furthermore, the one pastorless congrega-,
  c) There are at present 2 students in the class of        tion did not call me. Yet the Lord provided me a
1981. Hence, for the next three years, the Lord             place in His time and manner, and today by His grace
willing, there is a possible total of 7 graduates.          I have a place while the other two graduates have
                                                            since forsaken us.
2) In our pre-seminary department (a four-year pro-
m @ :                                                         But I hear someone suggest that I am not facing
                                                            the reality that we have a potential surplus in 1979,
  a) There is no class of 1979, and therefore no            when possibly there will be five candidates. Now far
potential seminary graduates in 1982.                       be it from me to try to lift the veil on the future. And
  b) There are three students in the class of 1980,         anyone who knows me also knows that I am by no
and therefore three potential seminary graduates in         means a mystic. But I have always maintained - and
1983.                                                       maintain today  1 that the Lord did not give us all
  c) There is no class of 198 1, and therefore no           these students for naught: He had a reason and a
potential seminary graduates in 1984.                       purpose in giving them to us. On this subject also I
                                                            have some thoughts: for apart from the matter of
  d) There is no class of 1982, and therefore no            averages and average supply and demand, I am not
potential seminary class of 1985.                           convinced that we have a real surplus - surely, not a
  Now admittedly this picture could change some-            surplus that can be wasted or cast aside. But on this
what. For example, there may be applicants who have         subject I will submit some thoughts at a future date.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        463

QUESTION BOX                                            . .

                          About Covenant Breakers
                                                       in the
                                    New. Dispensation

                                                ProJ: ,H. C. Hoeksema



  From the same West Coast reader who has asked                are two crucial questions. The first is: what do you
questions about the subject of covenant breakers a             understand by the covenant of grace? As I stated in
couple of times before, I received some further                my reply three years ago, "If you define the cove-
questions. He writes: "In Old Testament times the              nant, as we do, as the eternal relationship of friend-
Word of God speaks about covenant breakers. Can we             ship between God and His elect people in Christ
also speak in the new dispensation about covenant              Jesus, then it certainly follows, too, that that cove-
breakers in the same sense of the word, with respect           nant cannot be broken. It is eternal, and it is an
to those born of believing parents but who have                everlasting covenant. And it lies in the very nature of
turned their back on the church or who live an unruly          the case, therefore, that an eternal and an everlasting
and irregular church life? My question is not about            covenant is unbreakable." If, however, you under-
the term itself, but rather about the idea of this             stand the covenant as consisting in some kind of
expression. In my opinion it sounds like a contradic-          contract or agreement or in a general, conditional
tion of the true meaning of God's covenant. Who can            promise, then you also open the door to the pos-
break God's covenant? It seems to me that if we use            sibility that such a covenant can be broken. In fact,
the term covenant-breaker, then the subjective view            you open the door to the certainty that such a
overrules the objective covenant idea."                        covenant will be broken. But as I pointed out in my
                                                               earlier answer, both Scripture and our Baptism Form
                                                               emphasize that  .God's covenant is eternal and un-
Reply                                                          breakable. In fact, the Baptism Form makes plain
  Evidently my correspondent has been having a                 that this very truth is of tremendous significance for
rather extended discussion about questions related to          our faith and for the assurance of faith - if you want
covenant-breaking. I first answered some questions             to talk about the subjective aspect. "And if we
about this subject some three years ago (cf. Vol. 51,          sometimes through weakness fall into sin, we  mu&
pp. 368,369). Then I answered some questions about             not therefore despair of God's mercy, nor continue in
the Old Testament use of the expression "to break              sin, since baptism is a seal and undoubted testimony,
God's covenant" in Vol. 52, p. 847. And apparently             that we have an eternal covenant of grace with God."
the discussion is not yet ended. I cannot fault my             That, by the way, is one of the most beautiful and
correspondent for this, because I frequently say,              comforti.ng  expressions in our liturgical literature.
"Call again" at the conclusion of my answers. Hence,             The second crucial question is this: who do you
I will try again to shed some light on the subject.            understand as being included in God's covenant?
  First of all, I am not sure what my correspondent            Does God's covenant embrace only the elect, that is,
means when he suggests that if we use the term                 believers and their seed? Then again you cannot very
covenant-breaker, "then the subjective view overrules          well speak of that covenant being broken in the sense
the objective covenant idea." However, if he means to          that the relation of friendship is severed. If, however,
suggest that then man's action overrules the objective         you include  all children of believers, head for head
surety of God's covenant, then I agree that there is a         and soul for soul, you also necessarily open the door
very real danger of this. That leads me to say that in         to the idea of that covenant being broken through the
this entire discussion about. covenant breaking there          unbelief and impenitence of the reprobate children,


464                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


who fail to fulfill the conditions of that covenant.        to speak in this connection of covenant breaking; it is
But then again you come face to face with the               only confusing.
problem of what becomes of the Scriptural idea of an          Finally, let me point out that in the New Testa-
eternal covenant of grace.                                  ment the expression is not found. I pointed out
  In the second place, as I also pointed out earlier,       earlier that the Old Testament usage of this terminol-
Reformed people have sometimes spoken rather                ogy stands connected undoubtedly with the fact that
loosely and inaccurately, in connection with the sins       at Sinai the law was imposed upon the promise. But
of those who are born and brought up and live in the        in the new dispensation we are not under the law, but
historical sphere of God's covenant, of  covenant-          under grace. Only once is the expression "covenant
breakers. This language is not accurate and precise.        breakers" found in the New Testament, in Romans
We must certainly not forget that in the sphere of the      1: 3 1. But there the expression has nothing to do with
covenant all sin - whether of elect or reprobate - is       the covenant of .grace between God and His people,
more emphatically sinful. Moreover, the sin of the          but rather with man-to-man relationships.
unbelieving and impenitent in the sphere of the               I hope the above comments will help my ques-
covenant is aggravated; and they shall be beaten with       tioner.
double stripes in the judgment. These truths must be
emphasized, too. But it is neither necessary nor helpful


SPECIAL REPORT



          Report of the Sixth General Assembly:
                  Presbyterian Church in America

                                                 Pastor E. C. Case



  By the time this report is printed in the pages of        went North, as  ,a group, was probably in July of
the STANDARD BEARER many of the readers will                1863, when General Lee's Army invaded Pennsyl-
have no doubt heard something of the grand and gala         vania. That excursion wound up with the confusion
assembly of the  NAPaRC (North American  Pres-              of Gettysburg. This latest invasion ended with the
by t eri an and Reformed Council) denominations             confusion of Grand Rapids, or what one com-
which took place on the campus of Calvin College            missioner referred to as the Presbyterian "Circus" in
during the third week of June. Among those de-              America. If that seems a rather undignified way of
nominations was, of course, the Presbyterian Church         describing a court of the Church, it is nevertheless,
in America, the second largest of the NAPaRC group          one which, at times, seemed appropriate. The
in membership, but the one having the greatest              Assembly was more than ordinarily plagued this year
number of commissioners in its Assembly  - some-            with parliamentary wrangles, so that we often spent
thing over 500  - which was, nonetheless, several           more time talking about how we were going to debate
fewer than are ordinarily present when the PCA              something than we did in actual debate. There was
Assembly meets closer to the demographic center of          also a recurring, problem of applause sometimes
its constituency which would mean meeting some-             breaking out on the floor - an indecorous business to
where in the Southeastern United States rather than         say the least. To sum up the problems of the
in Grand Rapids where there is not even a single PCA        Assembly, it would probably be best to say that we
congregation. The last time so many Southerners             had come too far to do too much in too little time.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 465



  As far as this observer was concerned, the gloom            the PCA position on abortion; something else which
set in early with the election of Dr. G. Aiken Taylor         this observer regards as highly objectionable.
to the post of Moderator. Dr. Taylor is the editor of
the PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL who has, in recent                     The question of the number of  ,offices in the
years, guided that periodical to a position which             Church  - a matter which has been before the PCA
stands, more and more, over against the pure                  since the Second Assembly, which met in 1974, and
Reformed truth, and on the side of such aberrations           which will also be before the Seventh Assembly  -
of the truth as the charismatic movement. If his              came nearer to resolution this time than ever before.
election is any indication of the feeling of the              The Assembly at least went so far as to adopt the
Assembly for the positions Dr. Taylor has taken, then         view which holds that there are two ordinary and
it must be said that the PCA is in even worse shape           perpetual offices-in the Church - elder and deacon -
than the most pessimistic among us had thought. Of            with a distinction in function in the office ,of elder so
course, Dr. Taylor was also a moving force behind the         that there are those elders who both rule and teach
business of meeting in Grand Rapids. It will be               and those whose principal function is to rule only. At
interesting to see how Dr. Taylor conducts himself in         bottom, this is the view which has been historically
the office of Moderator between meetings of the               held by the Presbyterian Church in the South. It
Assembly. The retiring Moderator, Mr. John Clark, a           involves no major change from the present situation.
ruling elder from Macon, Ga., was very careful not to         As we say, the matter is still not completely resolved.
abuse his office in any way. Dr. Taylor, on the other         It will be before the next Assembly, too. But the
hand, during the Assembly, conducted business in a            overwhelming sentiment in the Church seems to
most arrogant manner, attempting to intimidate cer-           favour this modified two-office view and it is unlikely
tain commissioners, while allowing others to speak            that the next Assembly, in (hopefully) completing
almost at will, and trying to push through votes on           action on this question, will make any substantial
questions while commissioners were trying to get the          changes. With this action of the Assembly, this
floor to speak. One hopes that this is not an indica-         observer was much pleased.
tion that Dr. Taylor intends to be an. "activist"               Amidst much debate, the Assembly voted to enter
Moderator after the fashion of some that we have              into an arrangement with Covenant College, Lookout
seen in other churches in recent years, who assume to         Mountain, Tn., which will increase PCA representa-
themselves the prerogative of speaking for the whole          tion on Covenant's board as there is corresponding
church;                                                       increase in support of the college from the PCA.
                                                              There was some rather strong opposition to the
 Among the major items of business handled by the             Assembly getting formally involved in sponsorship of
Assembly was a report on the matter of abortion.              a college, but this opposition, which has prevailed in
After considerable debate, a statement was adopted            past years, was finally overcome, whether for better
which condemned as a "clear" violation of the sixth           or for worse.
commandment "the intentional killing of an unborn
child between conception and birth, for any reason at           A report was adopted which basically concluded
any time." This represented the sentiments of a               that union among brethren is biblically mandated, to
majority of the Assembly, but' there was also a               the point, even, of organic union. As far as im-
significant minority who did not see the matter as            plementation of this was concerned, however, the
being quite so "clear." Some evidently felt that there        Assembly moved very cautiously (thankfully), agree-
should have been some allowance for abortion in               ing only to talk about the possibility of merger with
extreme circumstances where the life of the mother is         the Orthodox Presbyterians and the Reformed
in immediate danger. Their arguments were based on            Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod, understand-
the concept of self-defense. It should be pointed out         ing, in all of this, that these talks in no way imply
that probably no one in the PCA Assembly believes             commitment. to ultimate merger. Even this cautious
that .abortion  should be carried on as it is presently in    move was opposed by some, though, (including this
the United States. But there was enough opposition            writer) for a variety of reasons, ranging all  .the way
to the absolutist statement which was adopted, to             from fear of merger in general to fear of merger with
make it a bit  hollow-sounding4  The whole con-               one, or the other, or both of the above mentioned
troversy points up the problems of bringing up such           groups.
matters "out of the blue," so to speak. There was no            The reports of the committees on Mission to the
case of discipline involving abortion before the              World and Mission to the United States were relative-
Assembly. This was strictly the product of those in           ly non-controversial this year, in spite of extreme
the Assembly who feel the need to speak out on                financial difficulties experienced over the past year
social issues. The adopted. report also included a            by the latter. Since a review of the MTW Missions
-provision for informing the governing authorities of         Manual comes next year, that report should generate


466                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


some excitement.                                             - Agreed to meet closer to home next year  -
                                                           Charlotte, N.C.
  In other action, the Assembly:                             - Divided Carolina Presbytery into two, Eastern
  - Declared dispensationalism incompatible with           Carolina and Central Carolina, and incorporated into
Reformed Theology and directed the Christian Edu-          the boundaries of Pacific Presbytery the states of
cation committee to prepare and make available a           Arizona, Hawaii,' New Mexico, Oregon, Washington,
study of modern dispensationalism in the light of our      and all of California not presently included.
standards.                                                   One of the purposes of meeting in Grand Rapids,
  - Directed the C.E. committee to  define                 and concurrently with the Synods of the other
"theonomy" and make recommendations concerning             NAPaRC churches was in order to promote inter-
this matter. This is a hot issue in certain quarters of    denominational fellowship. In the opinion of this
the Church owing to the influence of R.J.  Rush-           writer, it was a farce, We didn't have time to be
dooney and other of his post-millennial disciples,         worrying about ecumenical relations; there was too
especially at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jack-       much other business needing our attention. Yet, on
son, Ms.                                                   Monday night, the first day of our Assembly, when
  -Decided to set up a chaplains commission in             we could have been tending to business, we were
cooperation with the OPC and RPCES in order to get         listening to Dr. Joel Nederhood exhort us to social
PCA chaplains out of the present arrangement with          activism, (if his speech becomes the program of the
the National Association of Evangelicals.                  PCA, then this writer will not any more be in the
                                                           PCA) and, on Wednesday night, when we should have
  - Adopted a resolution condemning Communism,             been tending to  ,business, we were out on the lawn
thereby making the PCA every bit as distinctive as the     attending an ice cream social.
John Birch Society, the Ku Klux Klan, the United
States Congress, the Republican Party, and any of            Lest any think that our trip to Grand Rapids was a
several hundred other political organizations who          total failure, however, let it be known that this writer
don't like Communists and Communism either.                did, at least, enjoy the fellowship he had with some
                                                           of the Protestant. Reformed folks, including a visit
  - Adopted, in the face of information that the           with Prof. Hanko and his family and Sunday worship
PCA has not fully subscribed any budget in any year        in the morning at First Church and in the evening at
of its existence, a budget of over $4 million - just a     Southeast. We also enjoyed seeing those brethren of
bit larger than last year.                                 our own and other denominations whom we get to
  - Defeated the perennial attempt to allow men to         see only infrequently. And, we enjoyed visiting with
immediately succeed themselves on permanent                some other personal friends in the Grand Rapids area.
committees of the Assembly.                                So, on that positive note, let this report be ended.

SPECIAL ARTICLE




                                      Soli  Dee. Gloria

                                             Prof Robert D. Decker




  Yes I8. To God Alone The Glory! That is our              That these men: have become emeritus evokes a
response as we review the ministries'of our recently       feeling of sadness among us of the Protestant
retired ministers: the Revs. Cornelius Hanko, George       Reformed Churches. The lives of almost every one of
C. Lubbers, Marinus Schipper, and Herman Veldman.          our members have been touched either directly or


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              467


indirectly by these men through their preaching,            .Home Missionary. The fruit upon these labors as
teaching, and writing. Now they are retiring from the       missionary was the organization of Loveland, Colo-
active ministry of the Gospel. Careers of over forty        rado and Forbes and Isabel, South Dakota into
years each in the ministry of the Word of God and           Protestant Reformed congregations. During the years
Sacraments are ending. Four faithful ministers will no      1970-1974 Rev. Lubbers served as Missionary to the
longer be active among us. We are going to miss that,       Island of Jamaica. His last pastorate was at Pella,
and it will seem strange. There's something very sad        Iowa.
about all that.                                              Rev. Schipper was born at Holland, Michigan. His
  Yet it is a time for rejoicing, rejoicing in the Lord;    first contact with Rev. Herman Hoeksema came when
a time for praise and thanks! It is not a time for          as a boy he was a member of the Fourteenth Street
praising men. The emeriti ministers must not be             Christian Reformed Church of which Hoeksema was
praised. We must never praise men. The emeriti              pastor. Rev. Schipper was ordained in January of
ministers would not want that either. And certainly         1937 and during the forty-one years of his ministry
God does not want us to do that. It is a time to praise     he served five congregations: Grand Haven, Michigan;
and thank God. It is a time to say: Soli Deo Gloria!        Second (now Southwest), Grand Rapids; South Hol-
There are many reasons for this. God raised up these        land, Illinois; Southwest, Wyoming, Michigan; and
four men; God called them to the ministry; and God          Southeast, Grand Rapids. His longest pastorate, some
equipped them to serve in the ministry. God gave            sixteen years, was his last at Southeast.
them to our Churches and for over forty years God             Rev. Veldman was born on Chicago's West side and
used them for the preaching of the Word. God                was ordained in September of 1932. During a forty-
worked His own work among us through these ser-             six year career in the ministry Rev. Veldman diligent-
vants. Thus we have abundant reason for rejoicing           ly served nine congregations: Pella, Iowa;  Creston,
upon the occasion of the retirement of these servants       Grand Rapids; Kalamazoo, Michigan; Hamilton,
of God and of His Christ. We may and indeed `ought          Ontario, Canada; Edgerton, Minnesota; Redlands,
to rejoice in the work which God accomplished               California; Hope, Walker, Michigan; Hudsonville,
through them the past forty years or so.                    Michigan; and Southwest, Wyoming. While pastoring
  All four of these men were young men at the time          Hamilton, Canada Rev. Veldman was ousted from
of the formation of our churches in 1924. All four          office because that congregation refused to be a
received their pre-seminary and seminary instruction        Protestant Reformed Church. He taught Bible at
at the feet of Herman Hoeksema and George Ophoff.           Adams Street Protestant Reformed Christian School
They belong to the first generation of Protestant           until the Lord called him to labor in Edger-ton,
Reformed ministers and the last generation to have          Minnesota.
had personal contact with 1924. These men were in
the prime of their ministerial careers during the             These four by the grace of God, sometimes at
difficult years surrounding  the. tragic split in our       personal sacrifice, performed a good work among the
churches in 1953. Along with Hoeksema and Ophoff            Protestant Reformed Churches. Truly it may be said
and others they stood in the vanguard of the battle         they were good and faithful servants of their Lord.
for the defense of the truth of the Covenant of grace       That good work includes primarily the thousands of
and the unconditional promise. They were the leaders        sermons they preached in the churches and on the
of the minority which remained faithful to the              mission fields. How many saints were brought to
Protestant Reformed truth.                                  repentance by that preaching? No one can count
                                                            them! How many people of God were instructed and
  Rev. Hanko was born in Grand Rapids and or-               built up in the faith and love and knowledge of God?
dained in September of 1929. In a career spanning           Are you and I able to count how many were en-
some forty-eight years he faithfully served six con-        couraged along. their earthly pilgrimages by their
gregations: Hull, Iowa; Oaklawn, Illinois; Manhatten,       preaching? A significant part of that good work is the
Montana; First, Grand Rapids; Redlands, California;         countless catechism classes they were privileged to
and Hudsonville, Michigan. Rev. Hanko served the            teach. Again,. how many children of God's covenant
longest (sixteen years) at First Grand Rapids. For the      were nourished in God's fear by that teaching? How
first five of those sixteen years (1948-1953) First         many children of the covenant were led to the
numbered approximately five hundred families.               consciousness of their faith and confessed their faith
  Rev. Lubbers was born in Beaver Dam, Michigan             under that instruction? These men by God's grace
and ordained in September of 1934. His career               performed a good work as pastors of God's flock.
numbers some forty-four years during which time he          They edified countless families on Family Visitation.
served six congregations by the grace of God. Twice         They encouraged the saints in their afflictions and
during his ministry Rev. Lubbers served as a mis-           troubles and sicknesses from the Word of God. They
sionary. For ten years (19541964) he served as              brought the comfort of the hope of the resurrection


468                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


to the dying and sorrowing among God's children.               these servants of God shall not be in vain because
That good work includes the labors they performed              God shall surely establish it. And God shall establish
for the Churches in common. They gave good and                 it because it is His own work through them.
wise guidance at many classes. They provided strong              Therefore, while we are saddened because the work
and faithful leadership at `many Synods especially             of these spiritual leaders has come to an end in our
during the difficult years preceding and following             churches, we may look back over the years of their
1953. Untiring efforts were put forth by them on               ministries with joy and thanksgiving. `Through that
Synodical Committees, especially the Mission and               work, God's work in and through them, the Church
Theological School Committees. For many years they             of our Lord Jesus Christ has been gathered, built up
faithfully submitted articles for the Standard Bearer,         in the faith  and'love of God, preserved against the
instructing our people on a variety of subjects. That is       winds of false doctrine, and blessed with the blessings
the good work which they performed by the grace of             of salvation. It is a work that shall stand into eternity.
God: the preaching and teaching, the leading of                It is and it shall forever be established because it is
Bible-study Societies, caring for the flock of Christ.         God's work of grace. The labor of these men is not in
      Reviewing the ministries of these men of God we          vain in the Lord.
and they may well pray with the Psalmist: "Let thy               Beloved brethren: Revs. Hanko, Lubbers, Schipper,
work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto              and Veldman; rejoice in that! May God bless you
their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our             richly in your retirement years. When those years are
God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our             over you may by His mercy look forward to glory
hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish            when you shall hear from the Savior Himself: "Well
thou it." (Psalm 90: 16, 17) Establish that work,              done, Good and Faithful Servant, enter thou into the
Lord, is our prayer. Confirm and maintain it. Let it           joy of thy Lord."
not have been in vain! We may be sure that God hears
and answers that prayer. The work of the ministry of             Soli Deo Gloria!

FROM HOLY WRIT




                         Exposition of Galations 4dS-11

                                                    Rev. G. Lubbers





THE BEGGARLY PRINCIPLES OF LAW (Gal. 4:9b)
      Paul has really finished the great argument for          them that returning to "weak and beggarly prin-
salvation by true faith apart from law-works of mere           ciples" is not standing unmoved in the hope of the
man. The keystone of the argument we saw in the                Gospel of liberty in Christ's blood.
foregoing verses: we are now sons, and not at all
servants. If sons, heirs through God we are! (Gal. 4:6,          Let us attempt to see this together.
7)                                                               To what does Paul refer when he speaks of "weak"
      Paul is now in a position td capitalize on this basic    and "beggarly" principles, "elements"?
argument which he has given and to make an appeal                The term "elements" in the Greek means in non-
to the Galatians to come to their spiritual senses, and        Bible Greek: a little step. Figuratively this means: an
to stand in the liberty wherewith Christ has made              element, elementary sound, a letter in the alphabet.
them free! (Gal. 5: 1) He will do so by pointing out to        And thus it is used by philosophers of first principles


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                469


from which we can learn more and greater things                poor sinner rich. It cannot give tried gold in the fire,
concerning the entire field of learning. In Biblical           white raiment to clothe the shame of our nakedness
Greek the term has a variety of usages. It is used in II       and eye-salve so that we may receive our sight. The
Peter 3: 10 of the elements of the world, the smallest         law can not cleanse the lepers and grant forgiveness to
elements of being in nature, the component parts of            the poor and needy, and cannot open the doors of
the physical world. That is the application of the             the prison of our spiritual captivity.
term in the view of physics. The term is also em-                 The law is poor and beggarly!
ployed in the first a-b-c of the instruction in the
church: the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of             And now the Galatians return from riches to rags.
hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of             Yes, that is what they were doing in very deed. Their
eternal judgment. (Hebrews 6:2) Here the KJV trans-            riches was that they were sons of God, the Father.
lates: first p#zciples.                                        They were sons by adoption in Christ's coming in this
                                                               world, made from a woman and made under law.
  In this passage of Paul in Gal. 4:9b the term refers         What a riches and honor! They are heirs of God, heirs
to the basic elements which form the teaching of all           of the world in Christ. They are heirs of God and
work-religions, whether this be outright Paganism or           joint-heirs with Christ. Abraham is heir of the world
Jewish legalism. All teach and live by the rule: the           in Christ by `promise; and as sons of Abraham,
man that doeth the law (whether the law as under-              belonging to Christ, we too are heirs through God's
stood `by the Pagans or by the Jews), ,shall live by it.       marvelous wonder of grace. (Rom. 4: 13) The Gala-
That is the blessed life which gives peace to the              tians have the right to sit at the table of the Lord and
conscience. That is the "elements" here referred to            to have a place in the Father's house with its many
by. Paul. This is clear from the entire context here in        mansions. Yes, they have the right to all the spiritual
Galatians. He is speaking here of the rudiments of the         blessings in heavenly places, even as they were elected
world! A comparison with what Paul writes in Colos-            in him from before the foundation of the world.
sians  2:20 will bear this out. The term "rudiments"
(elements=principles) has reference to the teaching               From such riches they now are enticed to return to
and the instruction of the world apart from Christ,            rags by evil and corrupt preachers!
His revelation, His Cross and resurrection. (Col.                What a riches to have the Spirit of Christ crying in
2: 10-l 5) It is a denial and a letting go of Christ as the    their hearts: Abba, Father! No, they have not re-
head of the church and of all things. Yes, it dealt with       ceived the spirit of bondage again to fear. They are
the great question of what is good for man: what               now not filled with dread of God's avenging wrath;
constitutes blessedness, happiness, salvation. And it          nay, now we have the courage, the joyful certainty of
consisted in works: touch not, taste not, handle not.          the- full assurance of faith, that we have a high priest
Salvation lies in escape from the world of reality. The        in heaven, Who ever lives to intercede for us. (Heb.
physical world is evil. This too `is the "principles" of       7:27; Rom. 8:34) And now nothing can separate us
this world. It is not Christianity but moralism,               from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord!
asceticism! In Colossians, we are told that we have               Yes, it was a turning from riches to rags. It was a
tied unto this principle, this rudiment of the world!          turning to that which Paul accounts to be but loss
  Now all these world-rudiments stand on the rock              and dung for the excellency of the knowledge of
of impotence!                                                  Christ Jesus, his Lord. (Phil. 3:7, 8)
  Paul calls them "weak" and  "poor=beggarly."
Indeed they are weak. They are not able to help us,            THE  HORRIBLE  INCON SISTENCY  OF   em
lift us up, make us alive. They are such that Paul says        GALATIANS (Galatians 4:9a)
"if there had be-en a law given which could make us               There is such a thing as the "logic" of folly. We see
alive, verily righteousness would have been by law."           this in the conduct of these Galatians, who seem
(Gal. 3:21) This is true of every Levitical ordinance,         verily to have been bewitched. Their return from
every civil law in Israel. It is also true of the several      riches to rags, from the glory and riches of the grace
commandments of the Decalogue. As "law" they are               in.Christ Jesus, defies all wisdom and understanding.
weak. Why? Because of sin! (Rom. 8 :3) In our flesh            And we should notice that Paul speaks of their
dwells no good thing. And so the law cannot make               "turning again=back" (palin)   to weak and beggarly
the unwilling sinner willing. The law, in the church,          principles of Jewry. This might seem to be an error.
makes- the willing people of God walk  in healthy              How could these Gentile Christians, who have never
piety. But that is because we are "under grace" and            been in the Jews' religion as had been a Paul and
not "under law." (Rom. 6: l-23) It is the gift of God          Peter (Gal. 2:  15), turn back to these Jewish prin-
which is eternal life. But, all that is not within this        ciples? The solution is easy, as Calvin would say. Paul
gift, is weak and beggarly. Yes, it is not only weak,          is not speaking of the particular ritual of the Jews and
but it is also beggarly. It is poor. It cannot make the        of the Pagans which they had in common, but .he is


470                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



speaking of their common beggarly principles, which                                        nought at Calvary.
is such when viewed in the light of the Gospel. Jew                                          Now the walk and confession of these Galatians
and Greek both have a, bankrupt religion. They both                                        was very understandable when aforetime they "did
operate under the principle of "law," if you will,                                         not know God." They were walking in the blindness
under law-principle.                                                                       of Heathendom, where God had left them walk in their
  There is a meeting point of  thq law-principle of the                                    own ways. (Acts  14:15, 16; Rom.  1:21-23) Thus
Jewish and  of the  Pagan religion. Writes Lightfoot on                                    were these Galatians once as were all we of the
this interesting question:                                                                 Gentiles who were brought to the faith. Then  th'ey
       "                                                                                   were under the law principle and that because they
        . . . The Mosaic dispensation was a foreshadowing, a                               had never heard of the Gospel of salvation through
       germ of the Gospel; and thus, when Christ came, its                                 Jesus Christ, God's Son. But now, all is different! He
       spiritual element was  o,f necessity extinguished or
       absorbed by its successor. Deprived of this it was a                                that knoweth to believe and believeth not, to him it is
       mere mass of lifeless ordinances, differing only in                                 sin. (James 4: 17) Such shall be beaten with many
       degree, not in kind, from any other ritualistic                                     stripes. The unenlightened Pagan unbeliever shall be
       system."                                                                            beaten with fewer stripes than the informed and
            "Thus the ritualistic                                                          instructed unbeliever. (Luke 12:47,48)
                                           element alone remains to be
       considered, and here is the meeting point of Judaism                                  Riches for rags! Yes, and that after having heard
       and Heathenism. In Judaism this was as much lower                                   the One who called them unto faith and life. Look at
       as its spiritual element, as in Heathenism it was                                   their ritualistic form of religion. They have become
       higher. Hence the two systems approach within such                                  faddists in days, months, years, and times. Very
       a distance to each other that they can under certain                                scrupulously they keep these days now. The term
       limitations be classed together. They have at least so                              ` `parateereisthe" i means to watch very narrowly.
       much in common that a lapse into Judaism can be
       regarded as a relapse to the position of unconverted                                These Judaizers  here very "narrow" in their own
       Heathenism. Judaism was a system of bondage like                                    way, without walking in the straight and narrow way
       Heathenism. Heathenism had been a disciplinary                                      that leads to life. Interesting it is to note that the verb
       training like Judaism.                                                              here is also used  `of the scrutiny whereby the Jews
            "It is a fair inference, I think, from St. Paul's lan-                         watched Jesus in his words and- work. (Mark  3:2)
       guage here, that he does place Heathenism in the                                    They watched him closely whether he would heal a
       same category with Judaism in this last respect. . .  ."                            man on the Sabbath. (Luke  14:l) And so these
       (Lightfoot, Page 172-173)                                                           Galatians very measurely and very minutely and
                                                                                           exactly went back to  .the observance of the Old
  A p a r t   f r o m   t h e   v i e w   o f   L i g h t f o o t   c o n c e r n i n g    Testament Levitical days. .Each Weekly was closely
Heathenism being "disciplinary training like Juda-                                         and minutely observe-d. They had to keep totally the
ism," we believe that what he writes is very helpful
and enlightening. If we take "Judaism" in its most                                         "day." The monthly new moon sabbaths too were
                                                                                           again kept. The special times were observed such as
technical sense, it could only gender to bondage of
Phariseeism, and that was equally true of the                                              the Passover feasts, the feast of the first fruits of the
                                                                                           full harvest, and the sacred years, such as the year of
moralism of the Heathen religions and philosophies.                                        Jubilee. And there was a just reward that in so doing
Plato and Gamaliel are on the same line !. Neither one                                     they would have an added advantage toward being
brings us to the Cross.                                                                    just before God. It was a basis for salvation. And it
  And so, when these Galatians now turn to Judaism                                         was  a tacit denial that Jesus had died as the great
and once more are "under law," they return to their                                        Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.
old and forsaken position of the Pagan and Heathen                                         It  was  once more willing to be  tinder  law. Resurrec-
religion. Both are enemies of the Cross of Christ and                                      tion Sunday was really denied as the fulfilment of all
they are the wisdom of men which  .God puts to                                             the promises of God, which He made to the fathers.





                     Know the standard and follow it.
                 Read THE STANDARD BEARER:


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           471

SIGNS OF THE TIMES


                              The Computer Society
                                                   Rev. J. Slopsema

   Revelation 13 speaks of two beasts: one out of the         quote:
sea and another out of the earth. The first beast out                   "It is  7:30 a.m. As the  alarm clock burrs, the
of the sea represents the Antichrist from the point of           bedroom curtains swing silently apart, the Venetian
view of his political power. In the last days the                blinds snap up and the thermostat boosts the heat to
Antichrist will establish a world-wide kingdom em-               a cozy 70 degrees. The percolator in the kitchen
bracing all the nations and peoples of the earth. The            starts burbling; the back door opens to let out the
second beast out of the earth also represents the                dog. The TV set blinks on with the day's first
Antichrist but from a little different point of view.            newscast: not your Today  show humph-humph, but a
This beast represents the power of persuasion that the           selective rundown (ordered up the night before) of all
Antichrist will exert over mankind. The Antichrist               the latest worldwide events affecting the economy  -
                                                                 legislative, political, monetary. After the news on TV
will not establish his world-wide empire through main            comes the morning mail, from correspondents who
force or through marching  armies that subject an                have dictated their messages into the computer net-
unwilling populace to his rule. He will rather persuade          work. The latter-day Aladdin, still snugly abed, then
the nations to give their allegiance to him. He will             presses a button on a bedside `box and issues a string
charm and enchant them so that they willingly                    of business and personal memos, which appear in-
submit to his rule.                                              stantly on the genie screen. After his shower, which
   In general we may say that the Antichrist will gain           has turned itself on at exactly the right temperature
                                                                 at the right minute, Mr. A. is alerted by a buzzer and
the loyalty and support of the nations by his ability            a blue light on  the screen. His boss, the company
to create a utopia for man  - a virtual heaven on                president, is on his way to the office. A. dresses and
earth. Revelation 13 speaks of the great wonders and             saunters out to the car. The engine, of course, is
miracles that the second beast will perform. These               nlnning. . . .
undoubtedly refer to advancements in science and                        "After her husband has kissed her goodbye, Alice
technology that will enable the Antichrist to harness            A. concentrates on the screen for a read-out of
the various powers of God's creation and press them              comparative prices at the local merchants' and mar-
into the service of man. Through scientific advance-             kets. Following eyeball-to-eyeball consultations with
ment the Antichrist will possess the means virtually             the butcher and the baker and the grocer on the tube,
to eradicate sickness and disease, hunger and famine,            she hits a button to commandeer supplies for to-
poverty and ,want. Through technology he will solve              night's dinner party. Pressing a couple of keys on the
many of the problems that have plagued mankind                   kitchen terminal, she orders from the memory bank
since the fall. He will fill man's life with luxury, ease,       here favorite recipes for oysters Rockefeller, boeuf a
prosperity, and comfort. And the result will be that             la  bourguignonne and chocolate souffle, tells the
all kindreds, tongues, and nations shall herald him as           machine to compute the ingredients for six servings,
their savior. They shall willingly bow before his rule           and directs the ovens to reach the correct tempera-
                                                                 ture for each dish according to the recipe, starting at
and authority, that they may benefit from his                    7:15 p.m. Alice then joins a televised discussion of
"miracles." And they shall worship him as their god.             Byzantine art (which she has studied by computer).
                                                                 Later she wanders into the computer room where Al
   Such is the picture that tie receive of Antichrist in         (`Laddy') Jr. has just learned from his headset that his
Revelation 13.                                                   drill in Latin verb conjugation was `groovy'."
   In the February 20,  1978 issue of  Time magazine            Quite different from our present day life, even
there appears a special section entitled "The Com-            with all the modern conveniences! But this reportedly
puter Society" b which several articles are devoted to        is what we may expect in the future with the
the impact that computers are having on our life and          tremendous advancements that have been made in
that they will continue to have in the future. Upon           computer technology. In fact, the basic technology
reading these articles one can not help but think of          for everything mentioned here is already in existence.
the "miracles" that the beast. of Revelation 13 will            Since 1946, when the first computer was
p e r f o r m .                                               assembled, computer technolo,v  has grown by leaps
   Imagine once living in this type of world. We              and bounds. Computers have become smaller, more


472                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


convenient to use, less expensive to produce, yet            most advanced computers are able to learn by ex-
more versatile and powerful. The latest development          perience, to follow an argument, to write poetry and
has been the "computer on a chip" such as is found           music, and to carry on conversations with humans.
in the pocket calculators that have become so popular        Computer technologists like to speak of computer
today. We are told that a single silicon chip, no more       "generations." Each "generation" is marked by a
than a quarter of an inch square, has the same               major break-through in computer technology. There
calculating capabilities of a room-size computer of 25       have been four such "generations" since 1946. It is
years ago. Amazing!                                          predicted that in two more computer generations,
  And as computer technology advances, so also do            which would bring us into the 1990's, computers will
computers play a more important role in our life.            begin to match the human brain in reasoning power
Computers have become essential, for example, to             and ability. After that, computers will emerge as a
modern communications. It is estimated that it would         higher form of life. It is only the "carbon-chemistry
require the entire US female population between the          chauvinist" who assumes that the new species of the
ages of 18 and 25 to run the nation's telephone              evolutionary process will be flesh-and-blood
system if it were not computerized. Computers are            descendant of man. And concerning man's relation-
also playing an important role in business and in-           ship with this new form of life, Robert Jastrow,
dustry, in commerce, in medicine, in scientific re-          director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space
search, and `in education, to mention but a few. A           Studies, writes:
certain Professor Joseph Weizenbaum of  M.I.T.`s                    "The computer . . . will be taken care of by its
Laboratory for Computer Science is even quoted as                human partners, who will minister to its  bodily  needs
saying that human dependence on computers has                    with electricity and spare parts. Man will also provide
already become irreversible. Computers, in other                 for computer reproduction, as  be does today. In
words, have become a way of life for America.                    ret&n,  the computer will minister to our social and
                                                                 economid needs.  Child  of man's brain rather  thanhis
  And computers have also. raised our standard of                loins, it will become his salvation in a world of
living considerably. Computers, for example, have                crushing complexity."
enabled business and industry to operate more effi-            This, of course, is nothing but the foolishness and
ciently, with the result that products can be produced       nonsense of the godless. It is only the fool that
with less expense and the consumer has more for less.        believes evolution; and he is twice the fool if he
Computers are also a factor in the invention of many         believes this.
new products and gadgets that not only save time and
energy but also add to the convenience of life. In             But, nevertheless, we are able to see in this the
addition to this, computers are responsible for better       coming of the Antichrist. There can be no question
medical care, better communications, better trans-           that computers will revolutionize our life. If we are
portation, better police protection, etc. In short,          left breathless `at the tremendous changes that have
computer technology has provided us with many                taken, place in the past  7Cl or 80 years, we will be
goods and services that were unheard of only a few           stunned by the change that awaits us in the future.
years ago.                                                   And computers will undoubtedly play a significant
                                                             role in this. Without any stretch of the imagination
  And this is only a beginning. There seems to be no         one can easily see that the amazing feats that will be
end in,sight.  It is estimated that with the introduction    performed by future computer technology could very
of the computer chip (also called rather significantly       well be the "miracles" of the second beast of Revela-
the "miracle chip") there are at least 25,000 applica-       tion 13. Even now the "computer on a chip" is being
tions of the computer that await discovery. Com-             heralded as the "miracle chip." Computers are ex-
puters are expected to be as common a household              pected to be man's "salvation in a world of crushing
item as our present day radio and television. And this       complexity." Could it be that the computer is the last
will revolutionize our life. Computers will shoulder         technological breakthrough that Satan needs to create
many of the tedious, routine chores of life and              his "heaven-on-earth" for man and establish his anti-
perform them with astonishing speed and efficiency.          Christian kingdom?
They will provide us with  .more leisure time (as
though we do not already have enough) and  .many               Perhaps.
.physical comforts. Writes  Time  magazine, "The               But at least this  - it is one more step in that
microelectronic revolution promises to ease, enhance         direction. And it is a reminder to us that the Anti-
and simplify life in ways undreamed of even by the           christ is coming and one day, perhaps soon, will
utopians."                                                   enthrone himself as king of- the earth. Let us beware.
  In the vision of some, the computer is even                Let us not be deceived and' drawn away by his
destined to become the next major development in             enchantments. His salvation is false. His heaven leads
the so-called evolutionary process. Even now the             to hell. Be faithful and watch unto prayer.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              473

 STUDIES IN ISAIAH



                             The Sign of Isaiah's Son
                                               Rev. Robert C. Harbach



Isaiah  8:1-6
   In this section of Isaiah's prophecy extending              The prophecy of Isaiah is the Book of Immanuel.
down to chapter twelve, we have discourse concern-          All things point to Him, even the judgments. He and
ing the Messiah:                                            His preached word have a two-fold effect on men. His
                                                            proclamations of judgment are despised by some,
   A. Foretelling Destruction of Confederated Syria         heeded by others. He was set for the fall and rising of
and Israel by Assyria (8: l-4).                             many in Israel. To those who refuse the divine
   1.  The  Cotimand  to Write this Prophecy.  "Then        warnings, He is a stone of stumbling and rock of
Jehovah said unto me, `Take to thee a great tablet          offence. To the remnant of Israel, who prepare to
(one with plenty of room for writing large letters),        meet their God, He is a glory and a  defence; His
and write upon it with .a style of a man: To                gospel is a savor of death unto death, as well as a
Mahershalalhashbaz.' " The private prophecy of the          savor of life unto life, both in the congregation and
defeat of Syria and Israel in  7:8-9 is now publicly        on the mission field. The reprobation of foreordained
confirmed and demonstrated by the divine bestowal           wrath, as well as the election of grace, are always
of a symbolical name. For the writing on the tablet is      working out, and working through the generations of
what became the longest name in the Bible. Its              men. This separating process has continued, does and
meaning is, Speed to Spoil! Haste to Prey! This is          will continue, until God's eternal good pleasure for
God's command to the Assyrians to hasten to the             reprobate and elect has been completely fulfilled.
spoil of Damascus (Syria) and Samaria (Israel). It was      Reading the name Maher, the chosen will be moved
to be written with a man's pen, not written with the        from the path of the destroyer by the drawing power
finger of God, nor in the tongues of angels, nor with       of Immanuel. (John  6:44). Others, sovereignly
any other miracle handwriting, as that on the wall,         blinded and hardened, wilfully and wickedly stop
pronouncing Belshazzar's doom. It would not be              their ears against His voice to become the spoil of the
esoteric or cryptic writing, but would be a Hebrew          spoiler.
vulga`te, published in a popular edition, so that it          2. The Care Taken to Attest the Prophetic Record.
might be read easily `by the most inexperienced             "And I will take as a witness for Me faithful wit-
reader. The Bible is not written in the technical           nesses, namely Urijah the priest, and Zechariah, the
language of scholars, but in the language of the            son of Jeberechiah." (v. 2). The Lord says He will do
people.                                                     this in order to ensure the validity of true prophecy
  The prophecy informs that a Maher-shalal-hash-baz         as genuinely made before the event, and to uphold
is to be looked for, and when he- appears the               His own honor. With the fulfilment of the prophecy,
prophecy shall have been fulfilled. There are but four      these witnesses could then come forward and testify
words. They will imbed in the memory of those               that Isaiah had already predicted it. That neither this
concerned their wrathful import that God is speeding        Urijah, nor this Zechariah can be conclusively iden-
in judgment against them. They will be as moved by          tified matters little. They were well-known, reputable
this writing and symbolical figure as if it were written    men, and sworn witnesses are needed when you have
with the finger of God. They are frightening words,         such unbelievers as Ahaz in the kingdom. But then,
and need only be flashed before them to remind them         the Word of God always comes well attested (Acts
of impending destruction. But the comfort to the            14: 17). That divine attestation will leave some men
elect remnant in all this is that the destroyer shall be    sovereignly hardened, as the prophet was informed
destroyed. Do not fear him. He shall pass away. He          (6:9-10). The outside world and the reprobate in the
can destroy, but cannot save. Look at the higher            church reject the witness of God. They prefer their
prophetic sign, Immanuel. He will save!                     own thoughts and opinions, their own schemes for


  474                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


 peace, their own alliances as far more workable and          They try to persuade themselves they never will
 pleasant. But God's own Shearjashubs (a remnant              happen.- They not only deny there is a coming
 shall return) prize His witness, tremble at His warn-        judgment, but they laugh in the face of judgment.
 ings, and preserve His holy doctrine. They see the           Ours is a mocking age which would have but mock
 divine seal of truth upon the gospel. They set it to         punishment; a cursing age, damning everything in
 their seal that God is true. They receive the religion       sight and out of sight, but would have no damnation,
 of Jehovah and the gospel of Immanuel as the very            and with hell on the tip of the tongue it would have
 truth.                                                       no hell. Many ministers of the gospel flinch from
    3. The Prophecy Titled with the Symbolical Name           their duty to declare the day of wrath, not wanting to
 of His Child. "And I came near to the prophetess, and        be criticized or labelled  as preachers of hell-fire and
she became pregnant, and bore a son. Then Jehovah             brimstone. Many pulpits weakly spout little spurts of
 said to me, Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz." (v. 3).       "love, love, love," as though God not only intends to,
 The symbolic name is now given the prophet's new             but will save everybody. Rarely is reprobation
 born son, making him a living reminder of the                preached, or the doom of the wicked.
 prophecy. For prophetic names given three children
 of another prophet, see chapter one of  Hosea. The
 prophetess is not ha-almah of 7: 14, but Isaiah's wife.        B. Revealing Desolations Made by Assyria in Israel
 She may herself have prophesied as did Philip the            and Judah (5-8).
 evangelist's daughters. Certainly her whole family              1. The Sin of Distrust and Misplaced Trust on the
 prophesied publicly just by appearing in public. Their       Part of Judah (5-6). "Also Jehovah added to speak to
 very names were sermons. Isaiah and his sons in their        me again, saying, `Because this people rejected the
 own persons were, visibly and bodily, walking                waters of Shiloah, the ones going, flowing gently, and
 sermons. They were audio-video displays of the im-           rejoice (exult) in (the retreat of) Rezin and the
 pending ruin of some, and of the gracious deliverance        son. of Remaliah' " because the people had distrusted
 of others in complete salvation. As they went along          God's protection and had relied on the success of
 the streets, they were a gazingstock, like men from          their application for help from their (and everyone's)
 Mars, like the filth of the world, the offscouring of all    enemies, then, behold, (and here read v. 7), a flood of
 things. Probably they provided ridicule and banter for       God's judgment would come upon them. "And
 profane scoffers. But leaving them without excuse,           Jehovah added to speak to me." Jehovah here is
 they were friends and beacons to the righteous.              distinguished from Immanuel (v. 8). In the Godhead,
                                                              one person is distinguished from the others. "This
   4. The Prophecy an Exposition of the Name. "For
 before the boy shall know to cry, `My father!' and           people" is the same "this people" of 6:9f, referring to
 `My mother!`,                                                Judah. That they had rejected the waters of Shiloah
                  the strength (riches) of Damascus           means that they despised the land of Judah, their
 (Syria) and the spoil of Samaria (Israel) shall be lifted
 up before the king of Assyria" (for him to take away,        own country, and especially the Davidic monarchy,
                                                              representing the protection of God and the royal
 v. 4). The time of the prophecy's fulfilment shall be
 when the child is old enough to say                          promise. They despised the still  smaLl voice in the
                                         papa and mama,       prophets. So they then really despised Jehovah. They
 that is, in infancy. Since the prophecy concerning           rejoiced in respect to Rezin and Remaliah's son, that
 Isaiah's son would be actually witnessed by the              is, they exulted in the taking off of the pressure of
 people and by official, well accredited witnesses, it        these two kings, of Syria and Israel.
 would be a pledge also of the prophecy concerning
 the virgin's Son. The contemporary prophecy sanc-              These waters of Shiloah are said to issue forth from
 tions the future prophecy of Immanuel. Ahaz will             between Mts. Moriah and Zion. They are then a
 refuse this sign, of Isaiah's son, to his everlasting        fitting symbol of the decree or word issuing from
 embarrassment. In fact, this prophecy heaps divine           God's temple and kingdom in Zion, as over against
 scorn upon his faithless fear of man. For two years          the kingdom of this world represented by the over-
 from the making of it  T&lath-pileser  plundered             flowing Euphrates. Israel was the least of the nations
 Damascus, and twelve years later  Samaria fell. But          (Dt. 7:7), Bethlehem the least of the cities of Judah,
 then, the spoiler must always expect to be spoiled           David the least in his family, the coming Messiah to
 (Isa. 33: 1). Also deniers and mockers of eternal            be a root out of `a dry ground, despised and rejected
 judgment must expect to be judged. They have had             of men because He Was a Man of sorrows, meek and
 prophecies and warnings substantiated by faithful            lowly in heart. They despised all these things; they
 witnesses. It is all'left standing on sure record. Many      despised the day of small things. They claimed they
 judgments and overthrows have already come to pass,          had no king but Caesar. They wanted to be a
 and soon enough. God's counsels in their fulfilment          reckoned with world-power along with all the other
 do not tarry. They speed to full realization. Men like       nations. Now see what they come to.
 Ahaz wish the divine judgments would never come.               It is no different with our own nation. Our country


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 475


is guilty of alliance and dalliance with our enemies        surrender to them. For we hear that soon upon us
who spy on our embassies,  spy'on us through the            will be, on our part, the last of navy yards, the last of
United Nations facility and subversively and  sub-          nuclear bomb testing, the last of the arms race, as we
mersibly invade our seas. We support their communist        become more and more akin to our enemies,
regimes with our capitalistic wealth. We allow  our-        philosophically and politically. As for the church
selves to be "contained" by their policies and              world, it has almost entirely already defected to the
strength. We are embarrassedly silent as to their           enemy.
short-wave radio propaganda attacks. With our tech-            All the more reason why we, as Christians and
niques we further their technological advance. We           churches, must be different, must hold fast that
seem more pleased with their success than we are            which we have (and we have so much of pure gospel
concerned with solution to our own moral and                preaching and glorious Reformed truth); for to him
economic problems. We are the scorners of our               that hath shall be given, but to him that  bath not
friends and the sycophants of our enemies. In the           shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to
interest of international peace, we are all but ready to    have!

GUEST ARTICLE



                            The Pilgrim and Politics

                                               Rev. Wayne Bekkering





  The proper attitude toward politics has always            could rule over the creation so as to direct all things
been a concern for God's people in the midst of the         to the glory of the Creator. Man was created a king.
world, but more so as we see the day approaching.           Not a king supreme but a king servant. That is the
The "day," of course, refers to the coming again of         original principle of government and politics. Man,
our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the King of kings and         however, by the instigation of the devil rebelled
the Lord of lords. We must not overlook the fact that       against his position as king servant and sought to be
connected with that day is politics.                        king supreme. Ever since the fall, natural man used
  The Word of God always pictures a conflict be-            his ruling office and ability to establish his own
tween the kings of the earth and the Lord and His           kingdom and achieve his own glory. This does not
Christ. The kings of the earth set themselves against       mean now that all government and politics are so
God and rage. They take counsel together saying,            hopelessly corrupt and perverted that the child of
"Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their       God must reject them as inherently anti-God and
cords from us." (Ps. 2:3) The fury of the earth's kings     anti-Christ. But this does mean that the child of God
is not satiated; and finally they rage out their own        must carefully analyze the principles, purposes, and
destruction when they compass the camp of the               the methods of the existing government and politics
saints, and the fire of God comes down from heaven          to determine what his attitude will be toward them
and devours them. They believe that finally they            and how he will glorify God in the political aspect of
stand before victory when actually the Lord has them        his life.
in derision.                                                   To glorify God is the calling of the pilgrim saint.
  The Scripture shows us that government and                He must do that in all his life, also with respect to
politics are not in and of themselves evil and corrupt,     government and politics. The pilgrim has a political
but they become so when wicked and rebellious men           calling. We must make no mistake about that. We can
pervert them from their proper purpose. The proper          not hide behind the supposition that we are political-
purpose of government and politics is, of course, the       ly neutral. There is no such thing as neutrality. Christ
glory of God. God created man in such a way that he         teaches that whoever is not for Him is against Him.


476                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


  This makes the matter of government and politics          word? To do so would be foolish and irresponsible!
important for the pilgrim. Often we find the pilgrim        The pilgrim ought to use every good means at his
simply ignoring the whole matter, rather than trying        disposal to influence legislation to the end that
to pick out of the whole maze a God-honoring                God-honoring laws prevail and that the Word of God
course.                                                     have free course.
   To help us find the pilgrim way in politics, let us        To be able to have a voice in political affairs and
consider the relation between government and                legislation is a privilege afforded to citizens of this
politics. We must distinguish between them. They are        land, and that privilege ought to be used to the glory
not identical. The one serves the other. Government         of God. The apostle Paul did not hesitate to appeal to
is an institution ordained by God for the fulfillment       privileges that were his as a citizen of Rome so that
of His purpose and the glory of His name.                   he be not hindered in the work of the gospel (Acts 16
  What is politics? The word politics comes from the        & 22).
Greek word, the root meaning of which is "city."              What can the pilgrim do? He can vote in the
Hence the word politics means, literally, that which        election of officials and on other matters referred to
pertains to the city, particularly with a view to the       the electorate for approval or disapproval. He can
government of the city. Politics is the practical           write to his legislators at the various levels of
science that concerns itself with the institution of        government. In writing to his legislators he must not
government. As the science of government it includes        simply add his opinion to the thousands of others,
within its scope: 1. Principles of government, with a       but he must give reasons out of the Word of God for
view to the internal affairs of the city, state, or         his conviction. Then the Word of God's righteousness
nation, and also all things that pertain to inter-          is made known and His name is glorified.
national affairs, i.e. the relation of one nation with
another. 2. Methods of government, e.g. specific              It is not always so easy for the pilgrim to see his
policy of managing public affairs. 3. The propagation       proper function, especially in the area where worldly
of principles, i.e., putting principles into effect         politics and God-ordained government practically
through the application of its methods in actual            merge. The Word of God, in Romans 13, calls us to
operation, appointment of officers, etc.                    be subject unto the higher powers. No distinction is
                                                            made, in this passage, between good and gentle rulers
  Although government and politics are not identi-          and wicked, forward tyrants who rule as dictators.
cal, they are however practically inseparable.              The .only conclusion that we can come to is that we
Especially is that true in a system of rule such as we      must obey both righteous rulers and wicked ones. We
have in the U.S. Politics determine the course of the       obey not for the sake of the man, whether he be evil
government, and not vice versa as it ought to be. Not       or good, but principally because God binds that duty
only is the fundamental order of things turned              upon our conscience.
around, but politics, for the most part, is dominated
by the ungodly principles and methods of the world            The pilgrim sees clearly the calling of the Word to
and worldly men. The pilgrim cannot simply embrace          submit to the higher powers. The problem comes in
the politics of the world, but rather finds himself         when he sees the higher powers following principles
diametrically opposed to it.                                and practices diametrically opposed to the Word of
                                                            God. The pilgrim must understand that submission
  The principle of the pilgrim's life is that all things    does not imply approval. It is possible and necessary
be done in obedience to the Word of God with the            often times to submit disapprovingly. Disapproval of
purpose that God be glorified. His methods will             the principles, purposes, and methods of government
always be in harmony with the Bible as the only             and politics does not necessarily constitute rebellion.
standard for his life.                                      How can the pilgrim let his light shine to the glory of
  The principle of the politics of the world involves       God except he speaks a word of righteousness over-
an attempt to throw off the yoke of God's righteous         against the wicked practices of ungodly rulers. The
requirements and follows as its sole purpose the ease,      statement of God's righteous requirements does not
welfare, and glory of man. Its methods will be              constitute rebellion. Such a testimony may not be
whatever accomplishes that end: lies, deceit, stealing,     favorably received by ungodly rulers. In fact, such a
and even murder.                                            testimony may bring persecution, suffering, or even
  Recognizing this to be true, what must the pilgrim        death, but we ought not think that some strange
do? Must he simply flee the whole business of politics      thing has happened to us, for all who will live godly
as being hopelessly corrupt and forget about it? Will       in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
he leave the making of laws, laws which become                We have an example in the Bible of such a
binding upon him and affect the course of his whole         testimony. According to Matthew 14  Herod had
life, to the ungodly politician with never so much as a     taken his brother Philip's wife as his own, and John


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               477


the Baptist said unto him, "It is not lawful for thee to    license to rebel. To disobey and still submit is to
have her." (vs. 4) For this reason Herod laid hold on       stand for God's sake and truth, and to be prepared to
John and bound him, and put him in prison. And              bear the consequence of such a course even if it
there John lost his head for the sake of God's              requires death as in John's case.
righteousness and truth. John was not rebellious. He          I do not believe that it is necessary for us to speak
was submissive even unto death.                             specific disapproval of every unrighteousness we
  There is a right and wrong way to disapprove the          behold in government and politics. I fear we would
wicked actions and demands of ungodly rulers. One           have time for little else and would even be remiss in
can begin a full scale public protest and raise discord     fulfilling our principal calling. But know that such a
and mutiny in the state, rebelliously seeking to throw      course is open when circumstances and/or conscience
off the yoke of such rulers. We have no calling to          demand.
disapprove in that way. John the Baptist did  not-            What will the pilgrim hope to accomplish in his
shout in the market place concerning Herod's  sinful        political activities? Will he expect to transform the
marriage but said it unto him. There are proper             whole system of worldly politics? That would be a
channels and ways to make our righteous disapproval         vain dream. On the other hand the pilgrim may not
known, if conscience requires.                              assume a defeatist attitude. He must confidently
  We must not be cowed by public opinion or by.the          stand in the service of the cause of the King of kings
wrath of rulers in standing for the truth of God.           and the Lord of lords. He must be sure that the cause
Sometimes I fear we `are afraid of being called             of Christ has the victory over the kings of the earth
unpatriotic or disloyal if we righteously disapprove of     with their corrupt politics. Even though now the
government and politics. There certainly is a matter        cause of the pilgrim may be condemned by many
of loyalty and patriotism involved. The question is,        judges and magistrates as heretical and impious, as the
"Ought we render loyalty and patriotism first of all        Belgic Confession article 37 points out, yet when
to God or man?" Our calling is not blindly to obey          Christ comes as the Judge from heaven he shall be
the higher powers but to obey them in all things            completely vindicated. His cause will then be known
lawful. But if they require of us things contrary to        to be the cause of the Son of God, whose glory he
the Scripture then we ought to obey God rather than         sought in all his life.
man. But understand that even this does not give us

TRIUMPH THROUGH TRIALS



                                                Doctors
                                                 Rev. J. Kortering





  There is something mystifying about the men in              The verdict is given in language that itself is scary
white.                                                      whether it is good or bad. If the good doctor wants to
                                                            do further testing, he kindly advises the hospital. And
  Step into their office, and the smell makes. you          that is something else. What a technology, equipment,
"heady" before you ever reach the inner sanctum.            lab work, diagnosis, and treatment!
  The paraphernalia for examination gives you goose            One is inclined just to give himself over to the
bumps just to look at, to say nothing of having them        doctor. It's way over our heads. If he doesn't know
attached or inserted. Before long the light waves flow,     what to do, who does? If he can't help, who will? We
the magical pen scratches strange lines, a soft hum         sigh and take the pricks, the. jabs, and softly say,
may be heard, a bell rings.                                 "Go to it, dot!"


478                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


  In all of this it is' very easy to let the doctor "play    god either. Doctors are human, they have all the
god." There are many physicians who eagerly do this.         limitations of frail man. They have a vast amount of
They like to have people consider them so powerful           knowledge at their disposal, they have much tech-
that they possess the gifts of healing. One reads of         nology which they can use. Yet, it all .has limitations.
leaders in the medical profession determining life and       It is appointed unto man once to die and after that
death. They claim the medical knowledge to clone             the judgment. Disease will continue; man will always
and to abort. They are now putting this into practice.       get `sick; there will be need for medical attention; and
How "godlike" they appear! If they possess this              all this notwithstanding, we will die.
knowledge, surely they are able to perform the                 By referring to this instance, Jesus did not mean
healing. arts. Their equipment, their medicine, their        that doctors are no good. Remember, Jesus also said,
surgical technique give them that power. How easy it         "They that are whole need not a physician, but they
is for us just to place our life in their hands and trust    that are sick," Luke 5: 3 1. Notice, they that are sick
in mighty man!                                               need  a physician. We must seek medical help. The
  As children of God we are thankful for this                poor woman did not do wrong seeking help and
knowledge God has given to man. It is truly amazing.         spending all her money with doctors. Jesus only
The fact nevertheless remains, that no man can heal.         wanted to demonstrate that all this has limitations.
  One of the few references to doctors in the New              Jesus teaches us in this event that healing comes
Testament is given in Luke  8:43, "And a woman               from Himself. He is the Lord of life and death.
having an issue of blood twelve years, which had             Through faith, this poor woman turned to the "Great
spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be       Physician" and touched the border of his garment
healed of any, came behind him and touched the               and was healed.
border of his garment; and immediately her issue of            What must we learn from this?
blood stanched." Mark adds concerning this same
event, "And had suffered many things of many                   Doctors and patients must turn to the Lord for
physicians and had spent all that she had and was            healing. Jesus is not telling us that if we have faith we
nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,"Mark 5:26.          will have no disease or be cured by Him. Jesus does
                                                             not say ignore doctors, just come to me directly for
  By making reference to this instance, we do not            healing. The sick need physicians, but  physicians
intend to belittle the merciful labors of doctors,           cannot heal, healing is an act of God. He uses the
especially of Christian doctors. Rather in this refer-       means of doctors and medicine. Without that faith in
ence we see two things. First, Luke mentions this,           God, even the healing granted can avail nothing.
though he was himself a doctor. That's good. A
doctor must recognize his own limitations. Let every           With this knowledge we will not fall into the sin of
Christian doctor read this passage before entering his       idolatry when we deal with medicine.
office each morning: "And she suffered many things             We will recognize that God is the Healer of broken
of many physicians and had spent all that she had and        bodies and troubled hearts through Jesus Christ.
was nothing bettered,. but rather grew worse." People          In Christ, doctors are a great blessing.
often do suffer at the hands of doctors; that is,
doctors even contribute to their worse condition.              We need them.
Recognizing this, a Christian doctor won't try to play         God uses them.
god, nor project that image, but recognize his limita-         Give honor to God alone.
tion. Secondly, the patient will not expect him to be


                                           Book Review
Commentary on Romans,  Frederic Louis Godet;                   Godet's commentaries are numbered by many
Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids,  Mich.; 531 pp.,          among those that are considered "standard," and
$12.95 (hard cover). (Reviewed by Prof. H. C.                rightly so. Generally speaking, they are orthodox and
Hoeksema)                                                    conservative, though by no means consistently Re-
  This is another worthwhile volume in the Kregel            formed.
Reprint Library. This volume is very attractively and          This is also true of this exposition of the Epistle to,
neatly published, and, taking into consideration             the Romans. When one reviews a commentary, of
today's inflation, the, price is not exorbitant for a        course, he usually does not peruse the entire com-
book of this size.                                           mentary. Personally, I check it here and there to get a


                                                            THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                                       479


general impression of it; and then I make it a point to                      new edition states, "Even if the reader does not agree,
check it at some crucial passages. In this case, as you                      Godet will inspire him to dig out the truth which will
might expect, I especially checked up on Godet's                             lead to the bedrock of conviction." Surely, there are
commentary on Romans 9: 1 O-13, a good passage for                           many helpful comments in this volume, and many
testing purposes with respect to the truth of sovereign                      worthwhile insights. The size of the volume is in itself
predestination. Godet fails the test, as also the editor                     an indication that Godet was not superficial in his
of the first American edition, Talbot W. Chambers,                           work.
points out in his critical notes which are in this                              Often I am asked whether a commentary is suitable
edition printed at the conclusion of the book.                               for the general public. I think this volume qualifies.
   The fact that a commentary is not dependable and                          You will find some Greek in it; but this should not
correct throughout, however, does not totally negate                         bother, seeing that the English translation is consis-
its value. In that case, one would have very few com-                        tently furnished with the Greek. Recommended.
mentaries on his library shelf. As the editor of this




                                                                  SCHOOL OPENING
                                               The 1978-79 term of the Theological School of the
                                         Protestant Reformed Churches will begin, D.V., on
                                         Wednesday, September 6. All students should be
                                          present for registration at 9:00 A.M. We commend
                                          our school and its labors to the prayers of our
                                          churches and people.
                                                                       Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, Rector





             NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING                                                        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   The annual meeting of  the Reformed Free Publishing Association              On August 17, 1978, our beloved parents, MR. AND MRS.
will be held on Thursday evening at 8 P.M., September 21, 1978 at            CORNELIUS KAMPS, celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. We
Hope Protestant Reformed Church.                                             are grateful to our heavenly Father for keeping them for each other and
                                                                             for us, their children. We are thankful for the Christian love, guidance
   Nominees for this years board, out of which three are to be chosen,       and instruction they, with God's help, worked so diligently to provide
are John Cleveland, John N. Dykstra, Phil Dykstra, Robert Garvelink,         for us. We pray that the Lord will continue to bless and keep them in
George  Haveman and Neal Pastoor. Rev. G. Lubbers will speak to us on        His care.
the topic "Mighty Weapons of our Warfare." Mark your calendar now
and plan to attend this important meeting.                                      "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is
                                                                             in the Lord his God." (Psalm  146:5).
                                     Your Brethren in the Lord
                                     THE BOARD OF THE R.F.P.A.                                                 Their grateful children
                                     David M. Harbach, Secretary                                                      Mr. and Mrs. Carey Kamps
                                                                                                                         Matthew and Timothy
                                                                                                                      Mr. and Mrs. David Kamps
                               NOTICE                                                                                 Mr.  and  Mrs. Terry Kooienga
                                                                                                                         Jared
   Classis East will meet in regular session on Wednesday, September                                                  Sandra Kamps
13, 1978 at the Hope Protestant Reformed Church. Material for this                                                    Ruth Kamps
session must be in the hands of the Stated Clerk at least ten days prior                                              Lynn Kamps
to the convening of this meeting.                                                                                     Jonathon Kamps
                                        Jon J. Huisken
                                        Stated Clerk


                       ANNOUNCEMENT                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
   Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet at
Doon,  Iowa `on September 6 at  8:30 A.M., the Lord willing. Delegates
in need of lodging or transportation from the airport should inform the                       is a thoughtful gift
clerk of  Doon's  Consistory of their need.                                                      for a "Shut-in".
                                        Rev. David Engelsma,
                                        Stated Clerk


THE STANDARD BEARER
           P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





480                                          THE STANDARD BEARER
                                News From Our Churches
   Our three Seminary professors, the three June           were on vacation the Sundays of August 13, 20, and
graduates of our seminary who are now candidates           27. Attempts to secure pulpit supply from one of our
for the ministry, and the seminarians have had many        other ministers or professors were unsuccessful.
preaching assignments this summer. These men have             Rev. C. Hanko underwent surgery on his hip in
filled in for vacationing ministers and have filled the    July. At last report he has made a good recovery - so
pulpits of those of our churches which are vacant at       much so that he was able to lead a "Mini Course" for
this time. In the Grand Rapids area, Faith, Southeast,     Protestant Reformed school teachers on August
and Southwest Churches are without a pastor, while         10-12.
the congregation of Hope Church looks forward with
no little anticipation to the return of their pastor,         Another of our" "retired" ministers, Rev. H. Veld-
Rev. Van Overloop, on August 27. Rev. Van  Over-           man, has not exactly been sitting in his rocking chair
loop has been serving in Christchurch, New Zealand         of late. Rev. Veldman's reported travels and preach-
for the past nine months.                                  ing included stops in Minnesota, Iowa, Maine, and
                                                           Michigan.
   Rev. James Slopsema declined the call he received
from our Southeast congregation. Southeast Council            The deacons in our churches have been providing
has scheduled a congregational meeting for August 2 1      an opportunity for our congregations to contribute to
with the purpose of extending a call from the trio of      the newly formed Covenant Christian School in
Candidate Wilbur Bruinsma, Rev. Ronald Van Over-           Lynden, Washington. This newest Protestant
loop, and Professor Herman Hanko.                          Reformed Christian School plans to begin classes this
                                                           fall.
   Southwest Church expects to hear from Rev. David
Engelsma on August 20 as to whether he will accept            Many of our churches schedule church picnics on
their call to become their new pastor. The Southwest       the 4th of July holiday. Randolph met at the Ran-
trio also included Candidate Richard Flikkema and          dolph Park for a pot-luck. Doon, `Hull, and Edger-ton
Rev. Arie den Hartog.                                      held their annual combined church picnic in the East
                                                           Hull Park. Rev. Kamps was to speak at a short
   Rev. Engelsma recently declined a call from Faith       program. Loveland held theirs at the Fort Collins City
Church. The new trio from Faith includes Candidate         Park. The program included -games for children and
Wilbur Bruinsma, Rev. Arie den Hartog, and Professor       adults.
Herman Hanko. Faith `consistory has scheduled a
congregational meeting for August 15 with the                 The young people of our  Redlands congregation
purpose of choosing one of these brethren to receive       gave a breakfast for the senior members of the
a call.                                                    congregation on Saturday morning, June 24. They
                                                           have also sponsored a weekly volleyball get together
   Southwest Church has tentative plans to occupy          for fellowship and to raise funds for the 1979 Young
their new church building on August 27. These plans        People's Convention.
hinge on whether or not the parking lot is ready. The
men of the congregation have been busy in "work               The Young People's Society of Hull, Iowa, decided
bees" taking care of the many tasks necessary to           to schedule some summer activities in order to pre-
complete the building. The ladies are poised and           serve contact and maintain fellowship while society
ready with mop and cleanser to make the new                does not meet. Four committees were formed, each
building "spit and span." Several weeks ago the new        of which was responsible for an activity  - May
building was vandalized. Nearly all the windows on         through August.
the south and west sides of the auditorium were               The Federation Board planned an outing for Mich-
broken.                                                    igan area young people on August 12 at P. J.  Hoff-
Those of our churches which are separated by               master State Park on Lake Michigan. The 1978
many miles from other of our congregations must            Protestant Reformed Young People's Convention is
often have reading services in the absence of their        scheduled for South Holland, Illinois, and Lake
pastors. This was the case for our congregation in         Geneva, Wisconsin, August 2 l-25.
Redlands, California, when their pastor and his family                                                    K.G.V.


