                                 tandard


A   R E F O R M E D   S E M I - M O N T H L Y   MAGA%INE





 IN  THIS  ISSUE:


         Meditation -  Mount  Zion,  Our  Strong  City                      e

         Editorial  - "Should  I  Prepare  For  The  Ministry?"

         The  W..C.C.  -  And  Communism


         Romanism




                                                    Volume XLI/ Number 13 / April  1, 1965


290                                                                                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER

                                                                                                                                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                                                                 Semi-monthly, except monthly  during June, July and August
                                                                                                                                                                   Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association
                                                  C O N T E N T S                                                                                                                Editov  - Rev. Herman Hoeksema
                                                                                                                                                               Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
Meditation -                                                                                                                                                   Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, 1218 Griggs St., S.E., Grand Rapids,
       Mount Zion, Our Strong City . . . . . . . .._....................... 290                                                                                Michigan 49507. (Acting Editor) Contributions will belimited to
              Rev. M. Schipper                                                                                                                                 300 words and must be neatly written or typewritten. Copy
Editorial  -                                                                                                                                                   deadlines are the first and fifteenth of the month.
       "Should I Prepare For The Ministry?" (Conclusion) . . 292                                                                                               All church news items should be addressed to Mr. J. M. Faber,
              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                                                       1123 Cooper, S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan.49507
Contributions  -                                                                                                                                               Announcements and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee included must
              H. Vander Wal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 ..,..................... 294                                                         be mailed 8 days prior to  issue  date, to the address below;
From Holy Writ --
       Gog and Magog (Continued)                                                                                                                               All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed. to
                                                                         . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .       295                 Mr. James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S.E.
              Rev. G. C. Lubbers                                                                                                                                                  Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
Trying The Spirits  -
       Romanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                    297           Renewal: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
                                                                                                                                                               received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the sub-
              Rev. R. C. Harbach                                                                                                                               scription to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
The Lord Gave The Word --                                                                                                                                                       Subscription price: $5.00 per year
       Predestination And Gospel Preaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                                                 299
              Rev. C. Hanko                                                                                                                                             Second Class Postage paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
In His Fear --
       The Inner Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                              301                          ATTENTION TEACHERS
              Rev. J. A. Heys
A Cloud Of Witnesses --                                                                                                                                      The Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School will
       Ruth Finds Rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                           304     need several teachers to complete its staff for the
              Rev. B. Woudenberg                                                                                                                             1965-66 school year. Please send inquiries to:
Examining Ecumenicalism --                                                                                                                                                                 Don Lotterman
       The W.C.C. - And Communism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                                        306
              Rev. G. Van Baren                                                                                                                                                            1926 Porter St., SW
All  Around Us --                                                                                                                                                                          Wyoming, Michigan 49509
       How Many Loves Of God? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                              308
              Rev. H. Hanko
Book Reviews --                                                                                                                                                 The Free Christian School of  Edgerton  is in need
              Prof. H. C. Hoeksema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                         311     of one teacher for the Grades 1 through 4. For infor-
News From Our Churches  -                                                                                                                                    mation write or call
              Mr. John Faber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                             312                               Art Verhey, Secretary
                                                                                                                                                                                       Free Christian School
                                                                                                                                                                                       Edgerton, Minnesota 56128





                                                                                                     MOUNT ZION, OUR STRONG CITY

                                                                                                                                                  Rev.  M.  Schippev

                                                         "  ln that day  shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a
                                                        strong  city: salvation will God appoint  fov walls and bulwarks; Open ye
                                                        the gates, that the  righteous  nation which  keepeth  the  trmth  may  enter
                                                        in."                                                                                                                            Isaiah  26.-l,  2


        In that day!                                                                                                                                         speaks of the day of final judgment of God upon the
        It is the day of judgment!                                                                                                                           earth.       But inclusive in this are also the judgments of
        Evidently that is the day the prophet has in mind                                                                                                    God as they take place in historical progress. Typi-
when you consult the context. In chapter 24 he speaks                                                                                                        cally, no doubt, the prophet has in mind the fall of
of the doleful judgments of God which were to come                                                                                                           Babylon as a world kingdom.                But always it refers to
upon the earth.                                    And in the verses which follow our                                                                        all the kingdoms and cities of this world as they
text, we note again that the prophet speaks of divine                                                                                                        crumble into the dust under the judgments of God.
judgments.                        It must, therefore, be the day of judgment                                                                                     In that day shall this song be sung!
to which he refers in our text. Most particularly, he                                                                                                            We have a strong city!


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    291

   d indeed, a song it is which the prophet here             for walls and bulwarks! Besides, there are spiritual
teaches the people of God to sing. A song which must         qualifications necessary for entrance!             That nation
and will be sung when all that which surrounds us in         must be righteous that entereth in at the gates! Yea,
the present comes tumbling down, falling in ruins all        other Scriptures even describe the gates of the city as
about us! Typically a song of consolation and victory        gates of righteousness !
for the church of the Old Dispensation; for it is sung           This ideal city, which is filled by a righteous nation,
in the land of Judah! Of Judah that was about to go          is the whole church of God!            The church as to her
into captivity, whose land was to be made desolate,          essential nature! The church as to her own polity!
whose earthly hopes were in despair. More particu-               Our strong city!
larly, a song of consolation and victory for the church          Strong it is because it is indestructible!
of the New Dispensation! The church of today, and the            The prophet views the city in comparison with the
church as she shall endure to the end of time!               cities of the  .world.       The latter all fall. There is
   As the children of Israel on the banks of the Red         nothing abiding in them. The very nature of them is
Sea could and did sing: "The horse and his rider are         corrupt.     Strong and powerful as the builders of them
fallen in a dead sleep! Jehovah of Hosts is our De-          intend them to be; though they are founded with the
liverer  !"      As the inhabitants of Judah, viewing the    firm intention that they shall stand for aye; time and
destruction of Moab and Assyria could say: "Fallen           change blow upon them until they melt into the earth!
are the enemies of God's people! We have a strong            When all of them shall fall, only one is left.
city!     A mighty fortress is Jerusalem!" So we should          We have this strong city!
learn to sing this song! As all the world's institutions         That is the expression of faith of the church! That
and `cities crumble and fall, we have a strong city!         is the confident confession of the Christian! Like the
Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks!           lad who was with Elisha, whose eyes were opened that
Still more particularly is this prophetic of the church      he could see the Lord's host, to whom the man of God
at the end of the age! When all earth's institutions         said: "Fear not, for they that be with us are more
shall be completely dissolved, and the city of God, the      than they that be with them." So we see the Christ of
New Jerusalem, shall descend from God out of heaven!         God!     So we lay hold on the promises of God! So we
Then shall the redeemed of the Lord exclaim in spirit-       see the city!
ual ecstasy: Indeed, we have a strong city! Open ye              A strong city it is, also because its defenses are
the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the       sure!
truth may enter in!                                              The earthly city is as strong as its defenses. And
    Instinctively we are reminded of the fulfillment of      those defenses are not only the external fortifications
prophetic Psalm 24. It was the day of the ascension          that guard against the siege from without, but they in-
of our Lord into the glories of His heavenly kingdom!        clude also the internal will of the citizens within to
On that day this song was sung: "Lift up your heads,         stand in the siege. That city cannot long endure, no
0 ye gates, and the King of Glory shall come in!"            matter how strong the walls may be that surround it,
This was Jesus, the righteous  I<ing, Who entered in         if there is no internal stamina, that mental and spirit-
state!     So it shall be sung when He has finished the      ual fortitude of the citizens within to defend.
city! Then it shall be sung: "Open ye the gates, that            Salvation will God appoint for. walls and bulwarks!
the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter           Such are the defenses of our city!
in!"                                                             God saves His people !
    The city!                                                    Invincible bulwarks !
    Undoubtedly an ideal city does the prophet have in           Our God is the God of salvation! A mighty fortress!
mind here!                                                               God is our refuge and our strength,
    Of this ideal city literal and earthly Jerusalem, in                      A helper ever near us;
the land of Judah, was but a faint picture. That Jeru-                   We will not fear tho' earth be moved,
salem which one time was inhabited by the children of                         For God is nigh to cheer us.
Jebus. (I Chron.  11:4ff).      The stronghold which was                 Although the mountains quake
captured by David, and which ever since was called                            And earth's foundations shake,
Mount Zion, the city of David. Jerusalem, in the midst                   Tho' angry billows roar
of the land of Judah, in which later was constructed in                       And break against the shore,
the very midst of it, on the temple hill, the house of                   Our mighty God will hear us.
God, in which the God of Israel dwelt in the very midst          Our city is God's city! And He is the God of our
of His people. Jerusalem, that was still later restored      salvation, Who works salvation for us. This He did
in the face of the destruction of Babylon. Typical,          through His Son, our Lord, Who broke down all the
earthly Jerusalem, which, though it pointed to some-         power of darkness, destroyed all the power of the
thing higher and greater, but which, because it was          devil, paid the penalty of our guilt, brought atonement
only type, must needs like earthly Babylon disintegrate      for our sins, merited righteousness for us wherewith
and crumble into the dust, was but a picture of the          we could appear before God without fear. So He pre-
ideal city.                                                  pared for us a city!
    That it is an ideal city, the text makes very plain.         But He is not only the God of salvation for us ! Not
It is not constructed like the cities of the world. Its      only does He make salvation possible for us !
bulwarks are spiritual! Salvation has God appointed              He also works that salvation in us ! He applies


292                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER

unto us, the citizens of the heavenly city, His salva-                Keeping truths !
tion! Thus we know that we are saved with an ever-                    Not merely does the prophet have in mind that the
lasting salvation!            He regenerates us by His Spirit!     citizens of this strong city keep a certain creed, as
He implants the seed of immortality, of life, of  res-             the translation suggests. Rather, he conceives of the
ur.rection  life in us ! He causes to be imbedded in our           righteous as those who walk in their righteousness.
inmost heart a true and living faith, through which we             One who is keeping truths is faithful. He walks in the
consciously appropriate all the graces of salvation,               truth.      He guards the truth with a sanctified walk. He
including justification. He preserves us in that faith,            applies his righteousness in every step he takes, in
so that we persevere in hope.              And at last, He pre-    every word he speaks, in every relationship into which
sents  US  without spot or wrinkle in the assembly of              he enters. In one word, his keeping truths is a further
the elect in life eternal!                                         manifestation of his righteousness.
       Of this we are assured!                                        Thus in the city none shall dwell that love or make
  And so we sing:                                                  the lie. All deceit and wicked practices have com-
            God's city is forever blest                            pletely disappeared, and the righteous live and act
               With living waters welling;                         toward each other with sincerity and truth.
            Since God is there she stands unmoved                      Such, and such only, shall enter in and abide in the
               `Mid tumults round her swelling;                    city!
            God speaks and all is peace,                              Of the complement of this the seer of Patmos speaks
               From war the nations cease;                         when he writes, "Blessed are they that do his com-
           The Lord of Hosts is nigh,                              mandments, that they may have right to the tree of
               Our fathers' God Most High                          life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
           IS  our eternal dwelling.                               For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and  whore-
       Blessed citizens  !                                         mongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoso-
       They are all righteous!                                     ever loveth and maketh a lie."
       Righteous nation that keepeth truths !                          Sing, therefore, 0 ye righteous!
       Righteous these citizens are because they have                  Sing it aloud! All who have tasted the salvation of
been acquitted before the bar of God's justice. Right-             our God!
eous they are because they have been declared to be                   Indeed, we have a strong city!
in perfect harmony with the will of God, and that, too,                In it we find safety, while we observe all the cities
by God's own judgment of them. Righteous they are                  of the world crumbling into the dust! In that city we
because the righteousness of Christ has been imputed               walk by that faith whereby we lay hold on the righteous-
unto them. . They, therefore, stand before the face of             ness and live by that righteousness which hath been
God as though they had never committed one sin. They               imputed unto us by our blessed Redeemer!
have been clothed with garments of righteousness that
have been washed and cleansed in the blood of the                     And we shall enter in in the day when that city shall
Lamb.                                                              be revealed in all her heavenly beauty!





                                       "SHOULD I PREPARE FOR THE MINISTRY?"


                                                          (Conclusion)

                                                      Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema

Time To Consider                                                   uation-time will soon be upon the students at various
       This concluding article is motivated especially at          schools.      Eighth or ninth grade pupils will sooner or
this time by two considerations. In the first place,               later have to decide whether they will take a college
there is the fact that our Theological School Committee,           preparatory course in high school. High school gradu-
as has been repeatedly announced, will soon be meet-               ates are faced with the decision as to whether they will
ing for the last time before Synod. It is at this time             go on to college; and, if they go on to college, they
that aspirants to the ministry are interviewed. And                must make some decision as to what kind of course
if, therefore, any young men wish to be accepted for               they must take. If a graduate plans to be a business-
training at our seminary, they should apply at this                man, he will not take courses designed for teacher
meeting of the committee. In the second place, grad-               training.     If a young man is going into engineering, he


                                                    THESTANDARDBEARER                                                    293

 will not take a course in business administration. If           also.    Another such tool is Logic, a one-semester
 he intends to be an accountant, he will not take a pre-         requirement.       And among the background require-
 seminary course. And thus, if a young man aspires to            ments are one year each of Philosophy, Psychology,
 the ministry of the gospel, he should keep this in mind         General History, and Church History. These are all
 in his choice of courses, -- in college very definitely,        minimum  requirements.       Move  is not required, but
 but already in high school in a moregeneral way. This           recommended.       Personally, I would also recommend
 is important.    Failure to keep this in mind can lead to       that if a young man takes a four-year college course,
 a situation in which a young man, though he aspires to          he should not take the prescribed pre-seminary course
 the ministry, discovers that he is lacking  ins so many         of that college, but a general college course. This
 academic requirements for seminary entrance that it             gives him more latitude in choosing his subjects and
 is difficult, if not impossible, to catch up and to gain        concentrating on subjects that are especially useful to
 the  ,requisite  pre-seminary training. And he may find         him, such as languages, philosophy, etc. Some good
 the prospect of a couple of years of extra pre-seminary         courses in English composition and in literature are
 training a deterrent to his aspirations to the ministry.        also very helpful, of course. And not to be overlooked
    My advice, therefore, would be that our young                are practical courses in public speaking. But a general
 people should have a little foresight with respect to           course will allow you to cull out some of the less
 their education.       Don't just drift.    Don't just go to    valuable "survey courses" with which the pre-sem
 school because you must. Don't just "get an educa-              course was loaded in my college days. Strange though
 tion" in general.         I realize that all of us are not      it may seem from a practical point of view, I would
 equally mature in our adolescent years. We do not all           also recommend, both in high school and in college,
 reach a definite decision as to our plans and goals in          some good stiff mathematics courses, --for the exer-
 life at the same age.        Besides, it is not always the      cise of your thinking and reasoning powers.
 case that we are able to stick to our plans and goals              There is no direct mention made among the entrance
 once we have decided upon them. Also in this respect            requirements of the average grade which you must
 the Lord leads, and we follow. Nevertheless, it is              maintain in the required courses; you must merely
 generally true that in our high school and early college        produce evidence of  credit for these courses. How-
 years important decisions must be made, and are                 ever, it is well in this connection to remember that
 made, that will affect our life's course.         Steps are     you must maintain an over-all "C" average in the
 taken which are frequently difficult to retrace. These          seminary; and also that pre-seminary students receiv-
 decisions must be made and these steps taken with               ing aid from the synodical Student Aid Fund must main-
 due seriousness and a sense of our Christian respon-            tain an over-all "B" average and have not less than a
 sibility.                                                       "C" in any subject.
                                                                    This brings us to the next aspect of our subject.
 Academic Requirements
     In this connection I call your attention, first of all,     Natural Qualifications
 to the requirements for entrance into our Theological              It is very evident that all these requirements pre-
 School. A complete high school education is mandatory,          suppose that an aspirant to the ministry must have
 in the first place.      And, as is very evident from the       various natural qualifications.      And among these a
 other requirements, this means a "college prepara-              goodly degree of intellectual ability is primary.
 tory" course in high school. Secondly, a complete                   This ought to be clear to anyone. Moreover, we
 college course is recommended. This is a good rec-              must bear in mind that it is in part through the be-
 ommendation.        In my opinion, the time has come that       stowal of various natural abilities that the Lord calls
 this should be mandatory, not merely optional. A                us and makes plain to us our calling to occupy a spe-
 minister of the gospel should have a thorough educa-            cific position in life.     It is well, therefore, that we
 tion, should have a good general background, should             remember that these "qualifications" are divinely
be, educationally speaking, well-rounded.           Besides,     bestowed.       Whatever talents and abilities we have,
 after a young man has completed four years of college,          they are gifts.
 he is from many points of view a bit more mature and                This does not mean, of course, that a person can,
 ready, intellectually, psychologically, and spiritually,        on the basis of these natural abilities. alone, pass
 for his seminary training. In the third place, however,         judgment on himself, come to a very definite conclu-
 there are certain courses in which a young man  must            sion, and, as it were, say, "This is the finger of God,
 have credits in order to enter the seminary. The em-            pointing me unmistakably to the ministry." No, this
 phasis in these requirements is on languages. A min-            is but one aspect of the picture. Nevertheless, on the
 imum of two years of Latin, two years of Greek, and             other hand, a young man must not ignore the fact that
 two years of German is required. And if Dutch is no             the Lord has bestowed upon him various talents and
 longer taught in our seminary, that will also be among          abilities.
 the entrance requirements.           These languages are            Thus, speaking quite in general, when the Lord
 necessary because they,  - some more and some less,             gives a young man a brilliant mind, a retentive mem-
 -- will be your  tools  both in the seminary and in your        ory, keen reasoning powers; the ability to think or-
 entire ministry. You cannot work without these tools.           iginally, the gift of a good voice, the ability to express
 In fact, Hebrew, which is somehow neglected among               himself clearly, and that young man, ignoring all the
 pre-seminary subjects, could profitably be included             gifts which the Lord has given him, devotes himself to


      -

 2      9    4                                       THESTANDARDBEARER

 a task in life which makes little or no use of these            calling.      And to these questions he must give con-
 abilities, he is very plainly squandering the many good         scientious answers, so that he is able to say that he is
gifts which the Lord gave him.                                   occupying the place in life which God wants him to
      The Lord speaks through the gifts which He bestows         occupy.
upon us.
      He also. speaks through the lack of gifts which He            Finally, for a young man who aspires to the minis-
bestows upon us.                                                 try the way must also be opened. Also in this respect
      Thus, for example, if the Lord bestows upon a man          the Lord leads.        If the Lord, for example, makes it
 a very limited mental capacity, but gives to that man           financially impossible for a young man to get an edu-
tremendous  physiZl-  strength, such a man may be                cation, or if through various other circumstances of
certain that he is not called to the ministry or to any          life it is made impossible for him to go to school,
 other task in life which requires a goodly degree of            this is the Lord's leading; and it must be accepted as
intellectual ability, but rather to some task which              such.
requires great physical strength. To be more specific,              In this connection I may call attention to the fact
if a young man cannot possibly master the languages              that the churches also have a responsibility. This is
that he will have to use in the ministry, he may con-            stated in our Church Order, Article 19: "The churches
sider it as evidence that he is not called to the minis-         shall exert themselves, as far as necessary, that there
try.         As one of my professors put it rather succinctly    may be students supported by them to be trained for
in my college days: "God speaks mightily through the             the ministry of the Word." In obedience to this rule
 Greek department." Or, if the Lord has given some-              of our Church Order, our churches maintain the
one a good mind, but an insurmountable handicap in               Student Aid Fund.       From this fund qualified students
-his speech, he may be sure that he is not being led in          may obtain financial assistance during their three
the direction of the ministry, where he will have to             years of seminary training, and even for the last two
speak all his life long. Or again, if a man does not             years of their four years of college. Our last synod
have the ability to study long and hard hours, he may            liberalized the provisions of this fund by deciding to
question ,seriously--w-hetke-r  he is intended for the min-      extend aid to married students as well as unmarried
istry, where he must study every day.                            students.      Any young man, therefore, who aspires to
      Thus there are more aspects of a man's natural             the Protestant Reformed ministry, but who has need
 abilities and make-up which enter into the picture.             of money to finance his education, will be liberally
One who is nervous and emotionally unstable will not             supported by the churches. Nor need a young man who
be able to stand the stresses and strains which a                has honest needs be ashamed to apply for this support.
minister must often face in congregational life. Even            The funds are available, and the churches consider it
from the physical point of view one must consider the            their duty to  exert themselves  that there may be stu-
matter, as is very evident from the fact that an aspir-          dents supported by them to be trained for the ministry
 ant to the ministry must present a statement of good            of the Word.
health from a reputable physician before he is allowed              However, let all our churches exert themselves also
to enter the seminary.                                           in more than the financial sense. Let us pray earnestly,
      Hence, there are many questions in this regard             "Lord, give us men!"
which a young man must very seriously and prayer-                   It is with that prayer, too, that these few articles
fully face as he stands before the question of his life's        have been written.



                                                     CONTRIBUTIONS

 Dear Mr. Editor:                                                formed organization which is busily engaged in pre-
        Ordinarily an item of news emanating from the Radio      paring for publication the Rev. Hoeksema's dogmatics.
 Committee of our Reformed Witness Hour would appear             Besides, printed copies of the radio messages of the
 in Mr. J. M. Faber's column of the  Stand&d   Beaver.           Reformed Witness Hour are available.
 But since  -Mr. Faber might find this "news item"                  The Radio Committee hopes, D.V., to add 
 rather lengthy for his very well edited column, we                                                                moYe   to
                                                                 these endeavors, namely, the preservation of the spoken
 respectfully request a small space in "Contributions."          word.       By means of tape recordings it is now possible
 Briefly stated, the gist of our message is tape re-             to obtain many sermons of our ministers. Complete
 cordings.                                                       Heidelberg Catechism sermons (Lord's Days 1 through
        Much worthwhile effort and time, on the part of          52) and a sermon by the late Prof. G. M. Ophoff are
 our ministers and many of our Protestant Reformed               included in the list of sermons presently available.
 people, have been and at the present time are being             It is not entirely inconceivable that our congregations
 devoted to the work of publishing and preserving the            which require reading services can be benefited by
 written   word(s) of our ministers.        Examples of this     means of these recorded sermons.
 are the bound volumes of the  Standard   Beaver,  the
 books written by the Rev. H. Hoeksema, and the newly               It is also possible to obtain selections by the Radio


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                               295

Choir and other musical groups heard on our radio             of advertising, but because it contains information of
broadcasts.                                                   interest to many of our people, especially those having
   Further pertinent facts and details regarding this         access to tape recorders. Mr. Vander Wal  informs-
project can be obtained by writing to: THE REFORMED           me in a personal note with this contribution: "We
WITNESS HOUR, P.O. Box 1230, Grand Rapids, Michi-             have done considerable preliminary exploration before
gan 49501.                                                    going into this field of endeavor. The results have been
                       --The Program Committee of the         most encouraging. We hope, the Lord willing, to  es-
                         Reformed Witness Hour                tablish a sort of `Tape of the Month Club' by which
                            per H. Vander Wal                 many of our Prot. Ref. people can avail themselves of
                                                              these tapes at a very modest cost." If you are inter-
                                                              ested, don't fail to write in to the R-W-H. Undoubtedly
Editorial Note:                                               you can obtain a complete catalogue of  available-ser-
   We welcome the above contribution not as a piece           mons.





                                                 G O G A N D M A G O G

                                                  Rev. G. C.  Lubbers

                                            Ezekiel 38, 39 - Revelation  20:8

The Evil Intent of Gog and Magog (Continued)                  ever, after the coming of Christ, the "Israel of God"
   How are we to understand the Lord's description in         no longer dwells thus. Israel dwells amongst all na-
the words of Ezekiel  38:10-13?  (See end of former           tions without any national walls and boundaries ! The
installment).      Does this mean that the prophet is here    prophet speaks of a people "gathered out of many
speaking of an undertaking on the part of the Gog and         peoples upon the mountains of Israel".  (38:8) See also
Magog during the times when Israel dwells safely in           verse 12b where we read,  ". . .and against the people
the land of Palestine, and that, too, during the  post-       that are gathered out of the nations, that have gotten
exile times before the coming of Christ and the des-          cattle, that dwell in the midst of the earth." The church
truction of Jerusalem in the year 70 A.D.? Or is the          dwells in the midst of the nations who are the "haves"
prophet perhaps referring to a time at the end of his-         in distinction from those who are the "have-nets" ! For
tory, during the so-called millenium period, as alleged        the church dwells in the very center of history and not
by Chiliasm?                                                   at the outer  peripher-y!  Thus the church shares in the
   The fact of the matter is that the prophet here speaks      abundance of the nations which have commerce, money,
of Israel dwelling safely in the `-`navel" of the earth        education, etc. These nations have the great task of
without walls, and, in one-breath, speaks of the global        accumulating all the earth's goods, that God may give
nations of three continents: Sheba, Dedan and Tarshish.        it to the righteous, adding all these things unto them.
To our mind this raises the question as to what is the        Matthew  6:33; Ecclesiastes  2:26.
relationship and inter-relationship of the land of Israel      s. It thus happens that the nations, Gog and Magog,
and of these global nations.                                   go up to war against the nations Sheba, Dedan and
   If we hold that Revelation  20:8 speaks of the end of       Tarshish which are near the center of the circle while
history, the end of the New Testament dispensation             Satan has in mind the utter destruction of the "Israel
"when Satan is loosed for a short season," and if              of God gathered upon the mountains of Israel." Thus
during the entire New Testament Dispensation the               the two are so inter-related that the latter cannot be
church is being gathered out of every tongue and tribe         attacked without the former also being the object of
and people and nation, we will have no difficulty to           plunder.    And thus the Satanic purpose of the forces
understand the inter-relationship to which we have            .of hell and the evil intent of Gog and Magog co-incide.
just referred. Truly, in the New Testament  dispensa-          The threefold influences from the mouth of frogs is
?:on the church does not dwell within walled cities,           here seen as portrayed in Revelation 16:13: the dragon,
but lives in the open plain as did Israel in the desert        the beast and the false prophet!
journey from Egypt to Canaan. The only protection                 Sheba, Dedan and Tarshish see only the earthly
was the "presence" of the Lord in the cloud from               evidence of the intent of Gog and Magog. Hence, they
heaven, which was more than sufficient, as became              ask: "Hast thou assembled to take the spoil, to carry
abundantly evident in the destruction of Pharaoh and           away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods,-to
all his hosts in the Red Sea. Only in the typical land         take away great spoil?" However, Satan has another
of Israel did Israel dwell within walled cities. How-          purpose.    He will deceive these nations to make a


296                                               THE STANDARD BEARER

confederacy:       a league of nations, united nations, one    Togarmah in the uttermot parts of the north, and all
world! And that will be proclaimed to be the kingdom           his `hordes; even many peoples with thee." (Verses
of peace. And all who will not bear that mark of the           2-5.)       And, again, we read in Ezekiel  39:1-6 as fol-
beast will not be able to buy or sell. And thus all the        lows, "And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog,
nations, Gog and Magog, will come into the land of             and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: behold I am
Israel, all over the world where the church dwells,            against thee, 0 Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and
close in upon her, surround her as the "camp of the            Tubal, and I will turn thee about, and will lead thee
saints," the beloved city!                                     011, and will cause thee to come from the uttermost
       There shall be no place to flee!                        parts of the north; and I will bring thee upon  the.
       When all these things come look up, for your re-        mountains of Israel: and I will smite thy bow out of
demption is nigh!                                              thy left hand, and I will cause thy arrows to fall out
       It was the consensus of opinion in our study, while     of thy right hand. And thou shalt fall upon the mountains
in the field at Houston, that what we are witnessing in        of Israel, thou, and all thy hordes, and the peoples that
our day in the uprising of the Orient, in Africa, and          are with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds
the phenomena in our own country in the Civil Rights           of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be de-
Movement fits in with this picture of "Gog and Magog,"         voured. Thou shalt fall upon the open field; for I have
and that we are living in that period when the nations         spoken it saith the Lord Jehovah. And I will send a
are being deceived, and the waters of the Euphrates            fire on Magog, and on them that dwell securely on the
are being made dry so that the kings from the rising           isles: and they shall know that I am Jehovah." And,
of the sun may rise up against the western nations;            to complete the record, we also notice what John sees
and it is Satan's purpose to surround the church in the        in the vision of the isle of Patmos, as recorded in
New Testament dispensation living in every tongue,             Revelation  20:9b, 10, "and fire came down out of
tribe, people and nation! And the church, which has            heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that de-
only the testimony of the word and faith in Jesus, is          ceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brim-
utterly helpless in this situation. Hers is the victory        stone, where are also the beast and the false prophet;
by faith, and by faith alone! Israel shall dwell in safety     and they shall be tormented day and night for ever
alone, and must not confederate with all the  non-             and ever."
Christian churches-who look like the Lamb, but who                 These passages call for a bit of interpretation.
speak like the Dragon! (Revelation 13.)                            It should be evident to the careful reader that the
       Ours is the duty to give heed to this prophetic         "destruction" concerning which the Scriptures here
word, which shines as a light in a dark place, until the       speak is not inflicted by human hand or armies of the
day dawn and the day-star arise in our hearts. Then            nations.      Nor was such a victory ever given to David
the Lord Himself is our strong tower, a refuge in the          in all his conquering of the foes of Israel. The nearest
time of storm! Let us be sober, and watch unto prayer!         victory that approximates this kind of destruction of
The Battle-Field And  Utter  Destmction                        the enemies in the land of Israel is that of the des-
                                               of  Gog  and    truction of the Assyrian hosts, the 185,000 who lie
Mww                                                            dead about Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah. There
       It should not surprise us that Gog and Magog shall      too the beloved city had been surrounded, and the Lord
be utterly destroyed!                                          fought from heaven for His people. This is no common
       Such is the burden of the Lord against Gog and          battle.     It is rather the final battle of "God Almighty"
Magog in all of the prophets; thus it was already as           which will be the end of history, the taking of the church
announced by the Lord against Satan, that old Serpent,         into heaven and the casting of all the hordes of Gog and
in Paradise after the Fall in the Protevangel. The             Magog into hell forever!
Seed of the woman will crush the head of the Serpent               That this cannot be any but that final and complete
and destroy the evil world powers.                             victory of Israel over all her foes is abundantly evi-
       Moreover, thus it is also repeatedly stated here in     dent from Revelation  20:9b., 10. After this "battle"
Ezekiel  38,39, as well as in Revelation  20:9b,lO.  We        there shall be battles no more! It will be the eternal
do well to take note of these expressed declarations of        state. History will be finished!
the Lord that He is "against" Gog and Magog.                       That the battle-field is described as being in the
       Space hardly allows us to quote all the references      land of Israel, the mountains of Israel should not sur-
here to this utter destruction of Gog. Suffice it to           prise us in the light of the nature of prophecy. For
call attention to the introductory words of this prophecy      the types and shadows and the victories of the Lord
by the Lord as given in the beginning of both chapters         were al.1 fought in the land of Israel against those who
38 and 39 of Ezekiel. In the former we read, "Son of           rose up against the beloved city to surround the camp
man, set thy face toward Gog, of the land of Magog,            of the saints. And ever the enemies fell in the land of
the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy           Israel!      It is indeed the battle field of the nations in
against him, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah,             the Old Testament times when the world consisted of
behold  I am against thee, 0 Gog, prince of Rosh,              three continents as to the actual recorded history.
Meshech and Tubal: and I will turn thee about, and put
hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth. . . .            The victory will be so complete that the land will
Persia, Cush and Put with them, all of them with shield        be renovated and cleansed utterly and completely. It
and helmet; Gomer and all his hordes; the house of             is the picture of the land of Canaan sought and  ob-


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  297

tained by Abraham and the patriarchs, that is, the               Pray, what does it mean that "they shall set apart
heavenly. Heb. 11.                                            men of continual employment, that shall pass through
   It should also be observed that the battle field be-       the land, and with them that pass through, those that
comes a "burying-place" of these nations, Gog and             bury them that remain upon the face of the land, to
Magog! It will be called the "valley of  Hamon-gog,"          cleanse  it"?       And why is here spoken of "seven
that is, the multitude of Gog. And what a stench these        months" except that it is the symbolic number of the
bodies are portrayed to be in the land. Hence, there          attainment of the eternal rest, the eternal Sabbath in
will be a great cleansing of the land. It will be a new       the Land, where the gates are never closed, and where
heaven and a new earth where the former things shall          there shall be no night, neither sorrow nor crying! If
be remembered no more. The "signs" of the great               this were meant literally why not sixmonths and fifteen
hordes in the land will be utterly removed. It is true        days?! Yes, hell has a memorial name here: it is  Ha-
that prophets speak of the cleansing as if it were to         mon-gog!       And the land shall be cleansed to be defiled
be done by human hands.       However, the reality is on      nevermore !
higher ground.





                                                     ROMANISM


                                                  Rev. R. C.  Havbach

   The Roman Catholic Church claims to be exclusively         all things contrary to Scripture, and acknowledges Jesus
the true church of Christ. All churches other than the        Christ as the only Head of the church.
Romish are the false church. No  manmay know Christ              The Roman Catholic Church claims that the marks
unless he is willing to learn that this church, than          of the true church are four. First, a united church.
which there is no other, is not a thing of evil, but          This is  the  outstanding mark of the ecumenical,  one-
instead the one only hope of the world, and, indeed, an       world church.       The unpardonable sin to the modern
extension of Christ Himself. So that haters of this           church is disunity, not heresy nor apostasy. But the
church hate Christ and crucify Him afresh.           This     fundamental mark of the true church is not unity, for
claim, to the ears of most people, especially to the          unity itself must be rooted in the truth. It must be
internationally minded, does not ring with the clang of       "the unity of faith" (Eph.  4:13, Douay-Rheims). The
extremism, for the modern church, even with its denial        "unity of the Spirit" is established in the "one faith"
of the Bible as the Word of God, its denial of the virgin     4:3,  5), and in "the truth" (v. 15). It must be, not a
birth of Christ and its denial of the ontological trinity,    unity inhering in the church, for this would be a unity
is moving down the ecumenical stream into the Roman           in mankind, but must be in the Head of the church.
Catholic Church. There is, indeed, one true church            But "if any man teach otherwise" than "the sound
consisting of true Christian believers, but it is the holy    words of our Lord Jesus Christ," he is not only  -
catholic church, not the Roman Catholic Church. In            "proud, knowing nothing" (I Tim.  6:3, 4, D-R), but is
this Christian church all the members expect their            not in that Head. Second, a holy church, through which
salvation alone in Jesus Christ, being washed by His          holiness is conferred upon its members. It is an error
blood.    This church has been from the beginning of          to take the attributes of the church and make them the
the world, which cannot be said of any Roman church.          marks of the church. The church is its attributes. It
Furthermore, this holy church is not bound, as is the         has marks. Not the nature of the church is its distin-
Romish church, to a certain place or to certain persons,      guishing mark, but its one main identifying character-
but is spread and dispersed over the whole world, so          istic is the pure preaching of the Word. But the church
that it consists of an assembly of those (not trying to       with no preaching, withmumblings in aforeignlanguage,
be, but) who are saved. This same true church is to           and that by men in feminine attire, is not holy. Third,
be discerned and distinguished from all sects and from        a universal church. We certainly believe there is one
all which call themselves the church only by the Word         catholic church, by which we mean one universal church.
of God, as found in the canonical Scriptures. There           A catholic church is a universal church. A Roman
will then be certain identifying marks the church will        Church is manifestly not a universal church. A Roman
bear, which are three, the preaching of the pure doctrine     Catholic Church is a contradiction in terms. Fourth,
of the Gospel, the pure administration of the sacra-          an apostolic church. The apostolicity of the church is
ments instituted by Christ, and the proper exercise of        not a mark of the church, nor is it an attribute of the
church discipline. In short, the true church manages          church in the sense of a so called "apostolical suc-
all things according to the pure Word of God, rejects         cession." The only apostolical succession supported


298                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

by the Word of God is that of the doctrine of the                          not commemorate that person. We commemorate a
apostles.        In that succession we stand, and  that is the             person in his absence. In the Lord's Supper we "shew
mark of the true church.                                                   the death of the Lord," we do not slay the Lord and
       The Romish claims to be the true church because                     make a new sacrifice. When we show forth His death
it has the Bible, more Bible than Protestants, and                         we point out that which has already been accomplished.
"has the highest regard for the Bible." But it is evi-                     In the Mass the superstitious  ,look  at a sacrifice. In
dent that Rome's highest regard is not for the Bible,                      the Lord's Supper  we look back  to the finished work of
but for the church. Roman Catholics are not readers of                     Christ on the cross. There is not a word in the Bible
the Bible, are largely ignorant of its contents, and it                    concerning the Mass, not a word as to its institution,
;s a rare sight if a copy of  theiBible  may be found in a                 nor a word that Mass was said by Jesus or the apostles.
Roman Catholic Church. The' Bible, pushed into the                         That it is identical with the holy communion or the
background, is made to take a back seat to Tradition,                      Lord's Supper, Romanists themselves deny. To them,
which competes with the Bible for standing before the                      the Mass is the sacrament; the Lord's Supper is a
ever imposing authority of the church. The Bible is                        criminal abuse (I Cor.  11:20, note, D-R).
shelved in favor of Rome's authority, not God's. The                          The Roman church the one, only true church? That
Bible has authority only in the hands of the Roman                         church where the pope has more prominence than
Catholic Church. This means that the Bible in Prot-                        Christ? Where traditions and Vatican councils prevail
estant hands has no authority, because it is not  .the                     over the Holy Spirit?       Where the absolution of the
Bible as the Word of God which has the authority; it is                    priests is more popular than the forgiveness of our
the church as the extension of Christ which alone has                      great high priest? Where doubt concerning eternal
authority. "The reliability of the Bible depends wholly                    destiny and fear of hell and purgatory prevail instead
on the authority of the (Roman) Catholic Church..."                        of the full assurance of faith and salvation? This is
This church, then, really has no mark, sees no need                        indeed Romanism, but not Christianity.           This is
for any mark, the church being church and known as                         hierarchy and priestcraft displacing the liberty where-
such by virtue of coming on its own terms as inherently                    with Christ hath made us free. Where they speak not
superior to every power and standard, including that of                    according to this Word we can only say there the true
the Word of God. However, for the true church the                          church is not, because there is no light in them, but
Bible is, not merely contains, the Word of God, the only                   rather ignorance and spiritual darkness hold sway.
infallible rule of doctrine and life, the complete truth                      The Romish church claims to be the true church
of God in all respects, and is above all, above all                        because it avowedly has been built on the visible head-
writings of  ,men, above custom, tradition, antiquity,                     ship of Peter.     According to Rome's interpretation of
succession of times and persons, above councils, de-                       Matthew  16:18, Peter is the rock upon which Christ
crees, concordats and encyclicals.                                         builds His church, "in which building he should be,
       The Romish church professes to be the only true                     next to Christ Himself, the chief cornerstone." (D-R
church because it holds the doctrine of the trinity. Yet,                  Bible, Mt.  16:18, note) Against this church Christ said
like Freemasonry, it has a trinity peculiarly and more                     the gates of hell shall not prevail, Yet immediately
popularly its own in Mary, Joseph and Jesus, in that                       after the Lord uttered those words the gates of hell
order.       The Romish church makes much of the deity                     did prevail against that rock, for the Lord said to
of Christ, "the doctrine that Christ is God," but little                   Peter, "Go behind Me,  Satan,  thou art a scandal unto,
of the divine lordship of Christ.                    It will admit that    Me" (D-R).        But Peter himself disavowed being the
Christ is the mediator between God and man, but                            cornerstone, and insisted that "Our Lord Jesus Christ
avoids the reminder that "there is one God and  one                        . ..is the stone which was rejected by you the builders,
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."                       which is become the head of the corner." (Acts  4:10f,
(I Tim.  25)          For there are the pope, the mediatrix                D-R) Not only once did Peter affirm this, but again,
Mary and a host of saintly mediators, who displace                         and in the plainest, most unequivocal language. "Jesus
Christ as our only great high priest and mediator.                         Christ. ..chief cornerstone, elect, precious.. .the stone
       The Romish church claims to be the true church                      which the builders rejected...made the head of the
because for it was shed "the precious blood," and                          corner." (I Peter  2:6f, D-R) Neither did Paul for a
therefore salvation and atonement are found only in the                    moment foster such a story as that Peter was the
Roman church.            But the once-and-for-all sacrifice,               cornerstone. He taught a truth to depart from which is
oblation and satisfaction of Christ is denied by the                       fundamental heresy.       "For other foundation can no
Mass, which is a daily repetition of the sacrifice of                      man lay, but that which is laid,  whichis  Christ Jesus."
Calvary, wherein Christ is brought down from heaven                        ( I Cor.  3:11, D-R)
in transubstantiated bread, crucified afresh, and then                        The Roman church as it itself evidences cannot but
eaten up alive by the priest. The Mass is unscriptural                     bear certain unmistakable marks. But such marks can
and unchristian because Christ instituted the Lord's                       only be the marks of the false church, and the marks of
Supper, the memorial of a sacrifice, not the Mass, a                       the false church, wherever we find them, whether in
real sacrifice. The bread is "for the commemoration                        the papal communion or elsewhere, are: 1 Assumption
o f   M e . "     ( I   C o r .   11:23-34,  D,R)      But if Christ is    of more power and authority by the "church" and its
actually present in the bread and wine, and actually                       ordinances than that of the Word of God. 2 Refusal or
received in eating the elements, then there is no                          failure to submit to the yoke of Christ. 3 Administer-
commemoration.            When you receive a person  you  do               ing the sacraments not as appointed by Christ in His


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 299

Word, but adding to and taking from them as seems fit.        of creation and at least two authors.         4 That Adam
4 Relying more upon men than  uponchrist. 5 Persecu-          probably was not a monotheist. 5 That the authors of
tion of the true church and its members, who live             Scripture wrote from late periods, after the captivities,
holily and according to the Word of God, and who re-          and projected their own thinking into what they pre-
prove the unfruitful works of darkness for their error,       sented as original histories.        (Spokane, Spokesman
covetousness and idolatry.       This is Rome --  Sempev      Review, June 30, 1964, quoted in Chr. Beacon, Sept.
Eudem .                                                       28, 1964).     Both within and without the Romish church
    In keeping with these marks, some Romish priests          Modernism is fast winning the day for the one-world
are now teaching: 1 that they no longer believe that man      church; Some churches "have so degenerated as to
was formed from the dust or that woman was made               become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of
from the rib of man. 2 That old theologies enshrouded         Satan.      Nevertheless, there shall be always a church
Adam with unbelievable physical and mental qualities.         on earth to worship God according to His will."
3 That the book of Genesis has two separate accounts          (Westm. Conf.,  25:5)





                                                                                  (Psalm 68:ll)


                                PREDESTINATION AND GOSPEL PREACHING

                                                     Rev. C.  Hank0


    It is our purpose in this and in following articles to       He writes, "St. Paul was a missionary. His letters,
discuss the so-called "five points of Calvinism" in           while addressed to churches, are really all missionary
connection with the subject of missions.                      letters.      They are full of instruction on doctrine,
    We shall begin this discussion with an article or         ethics, and church procedure by which the younger
two on the truth of sovereign predestination and its          churches were to live. We can  organizationally   speak
place in the preaching of the gospel on the mission           of a mission stage and a church stage, but anyone who
field.                                                        has any acquaintance with the realities of the mission
    There has always been considerable discussion             field knows that there can be no substantive difference
about the place of predestination in the preaching of         between the preaching and instruction given before the
the gospel on the mission field. Usually the question         organization of a congregation and that given after.
has taken this form, "Is it the calling of the Church to      Church organization does not automatically lift church
preach the doctrine of election when the gospel is            members to a higher degree of knowledge and under-
brought outside of the established Church and preached        standing than they had before organization of the con-
to the unconverted?' As often as not the question has         gregation took place.         When therefore Paul told the
been answered in the negative; and the reason given           Ephesians in his moving farewell address that he had
for this negative answer has usually been that the            not shrunk from declaring to them `the whole counsel
doctrine of predestination is too complex, too difficult      of God,' I cannot but as a missionary feel that this
to understand, and lacks all appeal to those who have         meant all the essentials of the gospel, including the
never heard the Scriptures or who are in  kmdergarten         doctrine of election."
as far as their knowledge of the Scriptures is concerned.        You will have noticed that Rev. Boer first points
Especially in the mission field the doctrine of pre-          out that there can be no substantive difference between
destination was not only ignored, but denied.          All    the preaching and instruction given before the organi-
emphasis was laid upon a general, well-meant offer of         zation of a congregation and that given after. And then
salvation and upon God's desire to save allmen, if they       he also adds that Paul did not shrink from declaring all
would but accept Him. Only later when the converts            the essentials of the gospel,  including the doctrine  of
were brought into an established church were they             election. With that we heartily agree!
probably taught the five points of Calvinism as a part           But upon examination, one discovers that the doc-
of the Confession of the Church.                              trine of election (Rev. Boer does not speak of reproba-
    Surprisingly enough, in the December issue of  The        tion at all, evidently because he is determined to
Reformed  Journal,  Rev. Boer, principal and teacher of       avoid the very mention of the term) which Boer wants
the Theological College of Northern Nigeria, takes            taught in the mission field is a doctrine that has no
issue with the position of the past and insists that also     similarity with the truth of Scripture, even though he
the doctrine of election ought to be preached when the        makes several weak appeals to the Word of God in
gospel is carried to the unchurched.                          support of his contentions.


     300                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

            First of all, he criticizes the view of election that    with a redemptive love; and that this universal love
     is presently current in the churches. (I do not know            means that the cross is also universal as far as re-
     whether he is referring in this article to the Christian        demption is concerned.       It is but natural then that
     Reformed Churches; it is possible that he is, and that          election also becomes a universal possibility of salva-
     the view which he describes is being taught in those            tion for all men.
     churches.      But Boer is adept at setting up straw men           But this is worse than the Arminians taught. Boer
     and then knocking them over with a great flourish, only         insists in his article that he does  notwant a conditional
     to raise up in the place of these straw men other views         election, i.e., an.election dependent uponforeseenfaith.
     of his own. The fact of the matter is that oftentimes           But he cannot escape the meshes of conditionalelection
     he is not at all describing the historically Reformed           with a mere statement. He must adopt such an Armin-
     and Calvinistic conceptions). He is of the opinion that         ian view, but he must also go even beyond it and teach
     the fundamental weakness of the present doctrine of             a universal election,  - something the Arminians never
     election is that it is separated from faith and thus is         dared to do.
     made an abstraction.             He writes, "The words `the        It is not our purpose to go into detail in criticizing
     elect' usually signify for us the totality of those who         this view. We only want to point out:
     according to the divine decree are to be saved. It                 1) That Scripture surely does, contrary to Boer's
     often has no reference at all to faith. The elect in the        contention, discuss election as a decree of God in His
     general usage is a totality whose character is deter-           eternal and unchangeable counsel.
     mined by God's predestinating actions... . They are for            We refer, first, to Ephesians 1:3-6. "Blessed be
     us too often a grand totality that in the end is little         the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
     more than a grand abstraction.`*                                blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
            In the place of this, Boer wants to put election and     piaces  in Christ; according as he hath chosen us in
     faith together in the closest possible relationship. He         him before the foundation of the world, that we should
     insists that Scripture never speaks of election without         be holy and without blame before him: In love having
     speaking of faith; that Scripture never refers to the           predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
     elect  except that they are also  believem;   that it is        Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his
     impossible to be an elect without having faith as yet -         will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he
     this is a grand abstraction; that election is never             hath made us accepted in the beloved."
     spoken of as an act of God simply, rather that God                 Anyone can see at once that Paul is speaking about
~    always presents election as an act that finds its re-           the church, even though he speaks in the first person
     sponse in faith.       "The unbeliever who is elect but not     plural. Moreover, Paul does not associate election and
     yet a believer, or the elect who has not yet been born,         faith, but speaks of the fact that God bath chosen us in
     is a familiar figure in our theology. The Bible does            Christ before the foundation of the world. What follows
     not know him. Always the New Testament deals with               is the fruit of this eternal, sovereign election. The
     the elect as known men, believers, here and now or              fact that we are "holy and without blame before him"
     then and there living in the exercise of their faith."          is the fruit of our election. Again, the fact that we are
            This is all extremely vague language, and it is a        adopted to sons (which is appropriated to us by faith)
     matter of real doubt precisely what Rev. Boer wants.            is the fruit of this predestination.     And finally Paul
     Especially the question of the relation between election        wants us to know that this is according to "the good
     and faith is a question which he insists on leaving             pleasure of His (God's) will," even "to the praise of
     hanging in the air.                                             the glory of His grace."
            It is possible, on the one hand, that Rev. Boer is          Again, how can Rev. Boer escape the plain language
     interested in a view somewhat like the Liberated of the         of Romans 9, which speaks of election, but also of
     Netherlands, namely, that election as a decree of God           reprobation.. We read: "(For the children being not
     is among the "hidden things" with which we have                 yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
     nothing to do. All  ,that need concern us (according to         purpose of God according to election might stand, not
     this view) is faith and believing. One can hardly speak         of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her,
     of being an elect unless he has persevered in the faith         The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written,
     even unto the end. But should this be the view of Rev.          Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
     Boer it is all rather silly, for election, he insists,             No amount of exegetical maneuvering can escape
     must have a place in the preaching of the gospel to the         the simple statement of sovereign love to Jacob and
     heathen.                                                        hatred to Esau.       For in verses 15 and 16 we read:
            On the other hand, he seems to be teaching a view        "For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I
     of election which makes election an intention of God, a         will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom
     purpose to bring salvation to all; election is then the         I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
     possibility of salvation for all in God's decree; it is a       willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth
     potential  - a divine potential for universal salvation.        mercy." See also verses 17, 20-26.
     If this is indeed what he intends to maintain, this would          Or who would want to deny the stirring language of
     not be at all strange. Developing from the latter part          Romans  8:29,  301      "For whom he did foreknow, he
     of the First Point of Common Grace, that God offers             also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of
     sincerely salvation to all men,  The  Reformed  Journal         his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
     is quite intent in teaching also that God loves all men         brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them
                                 ,


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  301

he also called (past tense); and whom he called, them            were the ones whom God had appointed or ordained to
he also justified (past tense); and whom he justified,           eternal life. This is especially strong in the Greek.
them he also glorified (past tense.)." God's people              The Greek reads literally, "And they believed (aorist)
stand before God eternally as foreknown, predestinated,          whoever were appointed (perfect) to eternal life.`? Not
called, justified, even glorified. It is all an accom-           faith is first, but election; not they that believed knew
plished fact in God. Glory be His Name!                          that they were predestinated to salvation, but they that
   2) That when faith is discussed in connection with            were predestinated believed!
election, faith is always described as being the fruit of           This is also the teaching of the Canons. Until now
election.    Just to mention one passage, Paul states in
Acts  13:48, "And as many as were ordained to eternal            Rev. Boer has not referred to the Canons. But these
                                                                 Canons teach very clearly in chapter 1, articles 6 to
life believed." This text especially is important, for
Boer also quotes this text in support of his contention.         10 that election is God's eternal and unchangeable decree
But he grossly misinterprets the text to serve his               to choose a certain number of people to redemption
                                                                 in Christ.
purpose.     Here is a glaring example of how a text is                         They also teach that election is the source
forced to express the very opposite of its obvious               and fountain of all the blessings of salvation including
                                                                 the gift of faith.
meaning to suit the fancy of the writer. Boer insists
that this text must be interpreted to mean that "The                 But we shall be compelled to say more about the
knowledge of their election grew out of the reality of           relation of faith and election in the preaching of the
their faith." We could paraphrase that statement as              gospel on the mission field.      For the time being Rev.
follows: "As many as believed realized that they were            Boer owes it to his readers to define his terms. What
ordained to eternal life." But this is a perversion of           is election? What is faith? What is the relation between
the text.       Granted that the passage does not speak          election and faith? He intends to write more on this
explicitly of election, it nevertheless implies it. The          subject. I for one will belookingfor an answer to these
meaning is surely clear that the ones who believed               questions.





                                                 PHE INNER CONFLICT


                                                      Rev.  J. A.  Heys


   Although it does not manifest itself at birth, each of        finances; and yet the child when grown may rather seek
us has his own peculiar nature and characteristics.              the fields of the sciences.      Even as no two children
   The new-born babe looks like any other babe in the            look alike (with the exception of identical twins) so no
nursery.        There are a few external features that           two children from the same parents have the same
distinguish.     They vary in size, amount of hair, color        natures. You may find in your children natures that
of hair, roundness of face and weight, but the physical          are so different from each other. They may not look
features that will distinguish them from others are not          lilce brothers at all; and they may behave as complete
as sharply defined as they will be in years to come.             strangers. Who can tell when the child is only a day
They look very much alike, so much so in fact that               or two old what his nature is and how he will think and
precautions need be taken lest the parents take home             will, what his favorite color and food will be, what his
from the hospital the wrong child.                               likes and dislikes in clothing and furniture will be? He
   Yet inside is a distinct soul and individual heart.           does not know that yet himself. He has not come to
It is not yet evident whether this person has a poetic           self-consciousness.     In due time all these matters will
soul that will delight in the world of art and music or          become plain to him and to those who deal with him.
a cold, cynical soul that will cause him to stand aloof              It will without exception be a nature that is under
and in a self-centered life.          It  i,s not yet evident    the dominion of sin. David speaks the truth when he
whether this child will be-a leader or one who is                declares that we are conceived in sin and shapen in
perfectly content to be led, will be mechanically mind-          iniquity.     Psalm  51:s. Paul says that the carnal mind
ed or seek fields of philosophy and education. We can            is enmity against God and is not subject to the law of
tell so little about that new-born babe as far as its            God, neither indeed can be. Romans  8:7. And that
character and nature are concerned.                              means that the carnal mind of the meek, the  self-
   Looking at the parents we may assume that the                 conscious introvert who has an inferioritycomplex is
child will have the same hot temper of one of the                also enmity against God and cannot be subject to the
parents or the calm, poised nature of the other. We              law of God. There is no such thing as naturally being
may expect the child to follow his father in the field of        pleasing in God's sight. That amanhas not the courage


302                                               THE STANDARD BEARER

to strike the blow that kills does not mean that he is        a fiery preacher of the gospel, a zealous apostle who
not a murderer in his heart. And natural meekness is          was willing to go into fire and persecution to preach
no virtue that merits before God. There are not those         the Christ Whom he had formerly persecuted. And no
who do not need Christ, because they already from             different is it with  US.     Our evil nature remains with
their natural birth have His virtues. The Psalmist            us, but we receive grace through regeneration to fight
again declares in Psalm  14:1-3, "The fool hath said in       it and wrest from the grip of the old man of sin our
his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they            talents and members and faculties to the glory of God
have done abominable works, there is none that doeth          and in His service.
good.      The Lord looked down from heaven upon the             In the regenerated believer, therefore, we find a
children of men, to see if there were any that did            continuous struggle. There is conflict in his life. For
understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside,            in him there are two lives that are opposed to each
they are all together become filthy; there is none that       other.      The source of the one life is this sinful earth
doeth good, no not one."                                      and fallen Adam and Eve. The source of the other is
       Whether, therefore, it is a patient or an impetuous    Christ Who dwells in the heavens with the God of our
nature, whether a quiet or an excitable nature, it will       salvation. Jesus says to Nicodemus that we must be
be a nature that moves in the sphere of sin and brings        born  from  above, if we are even to see the kingdom of
forth the works of darkness. An unregenerated heart           heaven.      It will be a rebirth, for we have already been
can only bring forth the works of the kingdom of dark-        born with the life from below. But the word Jesus
ness.      Cain could only perform that which the fallen      uses stresses the idea of a higher source, a source
natures of Adam and Eve could produce. And although           diametrically opposed to the first life which we receive
the opportunity to sin is not the same with all men, all      from Adam and Eve through our parents.
men sin with their whole being and fail to serve God             The direction of that life of the rebirth is therefore
with any part of it until they are born again. Except         also so different from the direction of the first life
they are born again they cannot see either the kingdom        wherewith we come into this world.            The new life
or the laws and principles of that kingdom. It is there-      seeks the things which are above wherechristis  seated
fore impossible for them to be subject to the law of          at God's right hand and sets its affections on those
God. When we say that man by nature is corrupt, we            things above. The carnal mind which is enmity against
say that the natural thing for him to do is to sin.           God seeks the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and
       Regeneration does not change this nature, for it       the pride of life. The life of regeneration is always
does not take away that hot temper or indolent character.     aimed upward. The life of our natural birth is always
Peter was an impetuous man who spoke twice before             directed towards the base, the evil, the corrupt things
he thought once. We see this on the mount of trans-           of this world.
figuration when; without giving it a thought, he sug-            And it simply follows that two lives going in opposite
gested building three tents, one for Jesus, one for           directions and having contrary sources are going to
Moses and one for  Elias. He manifested it again when         clash in the individual. If we do not walk with God, we
without consideration of Jesus' words that He must            walk in opposition to Him. If the life of our natural
suffer and die and would rise again the third day Peter       birth does not walk. with God -- and it certainly does
said, "That be far from thee, Lord." Had he given it          not  - and the life of God is infused in us by regenera-
a. thought he would not have objected to that last part       tion, there is going to be in us that which walks with
and declared that he did not want Christ to rise again        God and that which walks against Him. The conflict
the third day. That was not his intention, to be sure.        then follows. A fierce, unceasing, relentless struggle
But Jesus had hardly begun the statement, and while           follows.       The life of the regenerated is indeed a
He is still stating the truth about His resurrection,         continual struggle. He has peace with God according
Peter began to answer the first part in his impetuous-        to that new principle of life, but as long as that flesh
ness.     Regeneration did not take this impetuous nature     is with him, he does not have peace with himself.
from him. Regeneration does not destroy the old man           Paul presents all this so vividly in Romans 7 and at
of sin. It does not even reform him. He stays an old          the end cries out of this continuous struggle in those
man of  sin until this body takes the last breath of life.    memorable words,         "0 wretched man that I am! who
The old nature is an evil nature and remains such till        shall deliver me from the body of this death?"
God destroys it in death.                                        The evil that he would not, that Paul did. The good
       What regeneration does is to implant a new life        that he would, his old man of sin allowed not. He found
alongside of that old life and nature. What regeneration      that according to the new principle of life that he de-
does is to give us a life whereby we are able to fight        lighted in the law of God. The life from above was
victoriously against that old nature.        Regeneration     there.       But he also finds another law warring in his
sanctifies the man so that his zeal is now directed           members and warring against the law of his sanctified
towards things holy and spiritual. It enables the             mind. There is a spiritual conflict which he experi-
physically lazy to become diligent in the things              ences because he is a regenerated child of God.
spiritual and to fight against and overcome the indo-            At times it may appear as though one is not a child
lence of the flesh.       Paul was a man who with zeal        of God and that there is no such struggle within him.
sought to destroy God's Church. His conversion did            There are those, as righteous Lot, who  seemto be able
not take away the fire of his nature and make him a           to live in the world and with the world and have no
quiet, easy-going individual. Instead it turned him into      struggle.      Scripture reveals to us that this was not the


                                                   TliE STANDARD BEARER                                                  303

case with Lot. He vexed his righteous soul, and that           of the spiritual food and receives from Sabbath to Sab-
certainly means that the struggle was there. He had            bath the pure, unadulterated Word of God is going to
not the spiritual strength to make separation. He had          find victory in his struggle against the motions of sin
a godless wife that held him in the bondage of this            in his flesh. And when he runs away from that Word,
heathendom. She was not an helpmeetfor a regenerat-            changes churches because the sermons are too long,
ed child of God.         She sought only to drag him ever      skips over the longer chapters and Psalms in the Bible,
deeper into the wickedness of Sodom and agreed                 subscribes but leaves unread the Christian literature
wholeheartedly to the betrothal of her own children to         that comes into his home, becomes a  "oncer" in at-
the paganism and devilishness of Sodom. She was no             tending the services of divine worship, when there are
help spiritually for Lot, and therefore was not meet           two services every Sabbath, sleeps through the sermon,
or a suitable partner for him in the wedded life of this       goes bowling or seeks the worldly entertainment of his
elect child of God. But so it is with so many of God's         TV set instead of attending his men's society and in
people. The extent of their spiritual struggle is nothing      short walks not in His fear but away from His sphere,
more than a vexing `of the righteous soul. But it must         that man is going to find little struggle in his life and
be more and will be more, if in His fear we walk our           find himself giving in more and more to that old man
pilgrimage here below. That it might be more, God              and his evil lusts.
took Lot by the hand and pulled him out of Sodom while            0, indeed it is easy to fight the brother, the  neigh-
he lingered.                                                   bour, the man who exposes the works of the old man
   Naturally the struggle of the new man in Christ in-         within.      It is easy to pride oneself that one is fighting
tensifies or diminishes as he is fed and nourished with        the good fight of faith and even profess to be seeking
the truth. No soldier can fight when he is cut off from        the brother's good. Well and good. That also is our
a food supply. No soldier of the cross of Jesus Christ         calling. But in His fear we will not neglect to fight the
can continue the struggle when his faith is not fed with       old man within ourselves. Viewing our own lives - and
Christ, the Bread of Life. It is, indeed, even as the          after all it is our own heart that we can see and not the
Indian convert said to the missionary. Having been             brother's  - one will, if one does so in all honesty, see
taught some time before about this struggle and this           oneself as the  publican  and cry out, "God be merciful
presence in the regenerated child of God of the new            to me THE sinner." A little more consciousness of
man of Christ to live in the same body and soul with           our own evil will prevent us from exalting self above
the old man of sin, he was asked one day by the mission-       the other. A little more fighting the flesh and the old
ary how matters were going in his spiritual life and           man within will keep us plenty busy to have far less
whether he was having the victory over sin. In answer          time to be looking for the faults of others.
to the question as to who was victorious in his life, the         May I wish you that your life be a continual struggle
old man of sin or the new man in Christ, he stated that        in that spiritual sense of the word? All is well, if that
it was just like his two dogs who were always fighting.        struggle is strongly there. And one can have peace with
Questioned by the missionary as to what he meant, he           God only when that struggle is there. Walk with God
stated that the dog which he fed the most had the victory      and there is bound to be that struggle. Walk the way
over the one from whom food was withheld. Indeed,              of the old man of sin and you cannot be in fellowship
and is it not so? That child of God who eats regularly         with God.

                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                 IN MEMORIAM
The Men's Society of Hope Church wishes to express             On March 6, 1965 it pleased our heavenly Father to
its sincerest sympathy to brother P. Zandstra, in the          suddenly take unto Himself, our Father and  Grand-
loss of his Father,                                            father
                                                                                    JOHN ZANDSTRA, SR
                  MR. JOHN ZANDSTRA                            at the age of 69 years.         We mourn his loss, but are
"Blessed are they that die in the Lord." Rev.  14:13           comforted with the thought that the Lord has delivered
                                      H. Kamphuis, Sec'y.      him from his afflictions, and that he now has the
                                                               complete victory over sin, through Jesus Christ our
                                                               Lord.                Mr. and Mrs. Charles Zandstra
                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                              Mr. and Mrs. Henry Zandstra
The Ladies Aid of the Protestant Reformed Church of                                 Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Zandstra
Doon express their deepest sympathy to Mrs. Jacob                                   Mr. and Mrs. John Zandstra
Mantel in the loss of her brother,                                                  Mr. and Mrs. John Mesman
                                                                                    Mr. and Mrs. Peter Zandstra
                    EISBRAND  I<ONING                                               Mr. and Mrs. Harold  Schipper
who passed away at the age of 79 in Utrecht, Nether-                                Mr. and Mrs. Bartel Zandstra
lands.                                                                              Mr. and Mrs. Everett Buiter
    May the King of the Church comfort and sustain in                               Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Doctor
this hour of sorrow.                                                                Mr. and Mrs. John Templeman
                       Rev. H. Hanko, President                                     Mr. Bernard Zandstra
                       Mrs. Gerald Van Den Top, Secretary                  61 Grandchildren and 1 Great Grandchild


304                                                THE STANDARD BEARER


                                        /4? &ibd 01 wua4e&

                                                   RUTH FINDS REST

                                                   Rev.  13.  Woudenbevg

                                  So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife.        Ruth  4:13

       Boaz had promised Ruth that he would see to her          could not be sold because it was not owned by anyone.
rights as a widow in Israel. Naomi assured her that             The land of Israel belonged to God, and it was only
Boaz would not rest until he had done it. And so it was.        given into the hands of the people to be used by them
The very same day found Boaz at thegate of Bethlehem            in His service. Neither was it given just to the indi-
representing the cause of Ruth before the elders of the         vidual, but to the families throughout their generations.
city.                                                           Thus no man was ever allowed to make a permanent
       The gate of the city in that daywas the near equiva-     sale or transfer of property to another. The most that
lent of our present county court house. At the gate of          anyone could do was to make a temporary sale, or
each city, just inside of the walls, there was an open          rental, or lease of the land to another. Always when
market place  whexe all business was transacted. There          the year of jubilee came, every fiftieth year, the land
contracts were made and publicly verified.           There      reverted again to the family to which it was originally
trials were held, judgments were made, and verdicts             given.      Even such temporary sales or leases of land,
were given.       There the law was recognized and en-          however, were to be made only in extreme circum-
forced if any order remained in a city. Thus it was             stances.      It was the duty of every family to do all that
that, leaving his duties at the threshingfloor, Boaz went       it could to keep all of its land within its own limits.
up `and took a seat at the gate of the city. In itself, this    Thus if any individual of a family came to need, it was
action was a public notification that he had on his mind        expected that the other members of the family would
legal matters which were pressing and needed to be              help him so that it would not be necessary for him to
transacted.                                                     sell his land to others. To fail to do so was a shame
       It was not long before there appeared at the gate,       in Israel.
perhaps just passing through it either out or in, the              There was a reason, therefore, why  Boq,,should
one man who was a closer kinsman to Elimelech than              approach this kinsman on this matter.           There was
he. Boaz had undoubtedly been aware that the duties             evidently a portion of land in the vicinity of Bethlehem
of the day would bring this kinsman that way. Im-               which had formerly belonged to Elimelech and which
mediately Boaz approached him and said in the idiom             Naomi had been forced to sell or lease out because of
of the day, "Ho, such a  one!turnaside,  sit down here."        her poverty and her own inability to operate it profit-
Nothing more was needed. It was immediately apparent            ably.     This was, however, a disgrace to her relatives
both to this kinsman and to everyone there at the gate          and family. It was an evidence for all to see that they
that Boaz had a legal matter whichhe wished transacted          had not cared for her inher need. Through their neglect
with this man before the sight of everyone. Without             the rightful heritage of their family had fallen into the
difficulty, Boaz had soon gathered together ten men of          hands of another.       Only one thing could change this;
the elders of the city to sit in witness and in judgment        they could redeem it from the hands of the stranger
over the matter which he wished to be transacted with           who had rented it by restoring to him the value of the
this relative of his. This was the equal of a court of          land until the year of jubilee. According to the law,
law gathered together according to the customs of the           they could do this at any time and could not be refused.
day.                                                            It was the duty of the nearest living relative; and ac-
       No sooner was all in order than Boaz presented           cordingly, in the name of the family and for the sake of
the matter before the kinsman and the elders. Pro-              its reputation, Boaz confronted this man in the gate of
ceeding carefully, he said, "Naomi, that is come                Bethlehem and laid the responsibility before him.
again out of the country of Moab, has sold (not `selleth'          The answer of this kinsman was immediate. "`I will
as in the  AV) a parcel of land, which was our brother          redeem it," he said. This was to be expected. He was
Elimelech's: and I thought to advertise thee, saying,           the closest living male relative of Elimelech. As long
Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of         as there was no living male descendant of Elimelech,
my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if            the portion of property which had belonged to Elimelech
thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know:         would eventually revert to him and to his descendants.
for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am            All this would be changed, however, if he would refuse
after thee."                                                    to bear the responsibility of a kinsman when requested.
       To understand this, we must first understand the         Then the property would become the eventual possession
laws which governed the transfer of property in Israel.         of the nearest relative that would. It was a matter of
Actually, in the strict sense of the word, property             protecting his own interests to consent to redeem the


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                305

properties of Elimelech.                                    of the elders. This was a sign for all to see that this
    But Boaz was ready for this.        As soon as this     man allowed his right of possession to be transferred
answer was given, he continued by adding, "What day         to Boaz. Accordingly also he said to them, "Ye are
thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must       witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was
buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead,    Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's,
to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance."     of the hand of Naomi. Moreover Ruth the Moabitess,
    This threw a whole new light upon the matter. As        the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to
willing as he was to take over theland  which Elimelech     raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that
had possessed, he was not willing to take Ruth to be his    the name of the dead be not cut off from among his
wife.     Very frankly he gave to Boaz the reason. "I       brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are wit-
cannot redeem it for myself," he said, "lest I mar          nesses this day."
mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself;         Such faithfulness to the law of God was not seen
for I cannot redeem it."                                    often any longer in those days. Those who stood in
    In this was made evident what was the real concern      witness were impressed by it and accordingly they
of this kinsman. He was concerned only with the matter      answered, "We are witnesses. The LORD make the
of inheritance, the extent of the possessions which he      woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and
would receive. His reason, therefore, for not marrying      like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and
Ruth, even though it was a duty under the law, was that     do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethle-
it would be detrimental to or damage his inheritance in     hem: and let thy house be like the house of Pharez,
the end.                                                    whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the
    The question does arise at this point as to how a       LORD shall give thee of this young woman."
marriage to Ruth could in any way interfere with this          Thus finally the way was cleared for the marriage
man's inheritance.      The answer is suggested that it     of Boaz and Ruth. Notification of this marriage and
was because of Ruth's nationality. The children of          its fruits close this short and beautiful book of the
Israel were forbidden to marry heathen, and this man        Scriptures.      By it several great truths are brought to
feared that a marriage to Ruth would bring a curse          the fore.
upon him and his inheritance. If this were so, however,        In the first place, it shows us that the Old Testa-
it would have applied equally well to Boaz. It is more      ment did not maintain mere legalistic bars against
likely that this man had no desire to marry Ruth be-        the heathen. Although Ruth was a Moabitess, her faith
cause it would have interfered with another, more           in Jehovah constituted more than ample credentials to
profitable marriage which he was contemplating. Pos-        be received into the nation of Israel. Although there
sibly this man was planning to marry another woman          may well have been nationalistic prejudices which she
who was without brothers and who therefore bore the         also met, they were not there in men of faith, such as
inheritance rights of her family. But to marry Ruth         Boaz.       By him she was received as a child of God, and
would have made this marriage impossible. (Although         that was sufficient for him even to the point of marriage.
we know that bigamy was practiced in that day and not          Even more, however, in this book we see the work-
directly forbidden by the law, we can hardly suppose        ing of God toward the fulfillment of his covenant. It was
that the law would have in any way encouraged it.           the day of the judges when there was much wickedness
Rather we may almost suppose and find the suggestion        which abounded in the land.       But even in the midst of
here that in cases of bigamy the profitable laws of         it, God still preserved his faithful remnant abiding in
inheritance did not apply, thus discouraging the prac-      faith and living according to the law. To them God gave
tice.)    So this kinsman refused a marriage to Ruth be-    a son,  Obed,.  the grandfather of David, the forefather
cause it would not have been as profitable as to an-        of Christ. It was the faithfulness of God to the living
other, and his inheritance would therefore be damaged       and the dead.        As the women of Bethlehem said to
by it. This much would surely seem evident. The only        Naomi, "Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee
real consideration for this man was the matter of           this day without a kinsman, that his name may be
material profit.                                            famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer
    This Boaz had expected, and he was ready to move.       of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age; for thy
He had presented the matter very-carefully and with         daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to
tact. Although to him as well as to Ruth the parcel of      thee than seven sons, hath borne him."
land involved was a minor consideration, he had pre-
sented it first so that the accusation could never be
brought against him that he had kept any part of the           "The way to preserve the peace of the church is to
matter secret, particularly a part which in the end         preserve its purity."
would prove to increase his own material possessions.                                                     -MM. Henry
Righteous man that he was, he had set forth the whole
case in all of its implications.- But it was this final        "It is not easy to be different from the majority.
refusal for which he himself was looking. It was this       It is not easy to hold unpopular convictions. It costs to
that he desired to hear. It cleared the way for him to      stand with a minority and bear witness for an unpopular
marry Ruth under the provisions of the law.                 truth or principle.     But it is worthwhile, and what is
    According to the prescription of the law, Boaz          far more important,  it is  Tight!"
therefore took from this man his shoe in the presence                                                     -M. Henry


        306                                                  THE  STPNDARD  BEARER
                                                                                                          I
                                     `._

                                               &amh&p  &me&&&+

                                                   THE W.C.C.  - AND COMMUNISM


                                                              Rev. G. Van  Buren

                                                                                                                                               c


               This, according to present plan, will be the con-          McIntive   ati `Amen  Charlie"
        cluding article on the World Council of Churches. It                 You have probably heard the two on the radio. In
        should be evident that if one is to judge the organiza-           recent years, their attacks against all that which ap-
        tion simply from a human viewpoint, that is, from the             pears to be leaning toward communism are well
        viewpoint of its outward success in achieving its own             known.       To nearly every charge that McIntire makes,
        goals, a person would have to commend the W.C.C. It               "Amen Charlie" solemnly responds, "Amen." (I re-
        has succeeded in establishing a degree of oneness                 frain from commenting on the obvious theatrics of
        among its 300 million members,  - a oneness such as               this.) This same McIntire is the author of a mass of
        has not been evident since the time of the Reformation.           literature which he offers to his radio audience. These
        It is a "voice" to reckon with in political organizations
        of this earth. It is continuing its drive toward world            will contain the substance of his charges made on the
                                                                          radio as well as documentation of thesecharges. From
        government and a united church. And who knows how                 some of this printed literature I quote. Explaining the
        successful the organization will ultimately be in achiev-         difference between the W.C.C. and the International
        ing its goals? But men of God must not judge accord-              Council of Christian Churches, the following state-
        ing to human standards.             When the organization is      ments are made:
        judged according to Scriptural standards, I am con-
        vinced that one must conclude that this organization is                     The W.C.C. received into its membership all manner
        not ` `of God," but of men. It must be condemned in                   of church groups, including modernists, evangelic&,
        no uncertain terms.                                                  Unitarian, Greek Orthodox, and Communist-controlled.
`<_-           One other. aspect of this organization I`would con-            At New Delhi, December, 1961, the W.C.C. received
        sider with you: its attitude toward Communism. The                    into membership the Red-dominated Russian Orthodox
                                                                              Church. . . .
        reader may be aware that Dr. Carl McIntire, pastor of                       The W.C.C. has on its executive and central com-
        the Bible Presbyterian Church at Collingswood, New                   mittees clergymen with Communist affiliations from
        Jersey, and speaker for the "Twentieth-Century                        Communist countries and holding positions in Com-
        Reformation Hour" (heard daily through the week over                 munist governments, whose churches are dominated
        more than 600 radio stations in this country), has                   by the secret police.             The Council includes such
        strongly condemned the W.C.C. because of its  Com-                   churches in its membership.1
        munistic leanings and its membership which includes
        churches in the "iron curtain" countries. The latter                 Again, in discussing the meeting of the Central
        churches, he claims, are infiltrated with communists              Committee of the World Council which met in Roches-
        and use the W.C.C. as a platform to proclaim the                  ter, N.Y., on August 27 to September 2, 1963, McIntire
        propaganda of Soviet Russia. Now McIntire condemns,               writes:
        and rightly so, the W.C.C. on many other points in                           . . .Among the subjects receiving the widest publicity
        addition to the subject of "Communism." He con-                      were the Council's pronouncement endorsing the Test
        demns it for not -requiring "unanimity in the accept-                 Ban Treaty; the unashamed call for "co-operation"
        ance of any one Christian doctrine and does not debar                with the Communists; the denouncing of all Christians
        those of Unitarian belief from its fellowship." He                    who practice any form of segregation as "betraying
                                                                              Jesus Christ"; and the welcoming of the Roman Catho-
        condemns it for "a misunderstanding of the meaning                    lic Church into the ecumenical movement, . . .
        of the Lord's prayer in John 17, in seeking to build an                     All the committees set up by the Council to handle
        organic, visible, one-world church." Again, he con-                   its business had representatives of the Russian Ortho-
        demns it for conceiving the kingdom of God as "a vis-                dox Church on them  L- except the Finance Committee.
        ible, social order which actively promotes world social-              No representatives from the Iron Curtain countries =
        ism."l      But in this article I wish to consider partic-           were placed on the committee dealing with the raising
        ularly his charge of communistic leanings and influences              of money.
        in the W.C.C. I presume that McIntire considers this                        Nikodim's press conference used the platform of
        last as the most weighty objection against the W.C.C.;                the World Council of Churches to announce that in
                                                                              Russia they have "freedom of worship" and that there
        at least, his radio broadcasts and printed material                   is "no government interference" in the life of the
        appear to hit this point the hardest.         I have no intent        church - the same line that the Communists have been
        of entering into some sort of dispute with McIntire,                  preaching through agents and spies every time one of
        but because of the prominence of this charge he has                   their spokesmen landed upon the shores of the United
        made, I think it well that we consider it too.                     States. As one watched the delegation from behind the


                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER          I                                               307

     Iron Curtain move about, Archpriest Susemihl seemed                  State, and the freedom of religious worship is guaran-
     again to be the one whowasgivingdirections; and in the               teed by the Constitution.
     voting, Archpriest Borovoy would lift his hand first,                     The State does not interfere in the internal affairs
     others glanced his way and lifted their hands along with             of our churches. Soviet legislation provides for strict
     him.     This was noted time and time again. . . .                   responsibility against wounding the religious rights of
           Not one word was said on the floor or in any reso-             believers. . . .
     lutions against the Communists, against Russia, or                        We Churchmen get indignant over the attempts of
     against any Communist activity in any part of the                    the champions of the cold war to distort the picture of
     world1  The greatest single enemy that the Christian                 the real position of religion in our Country, and to
                                                                          try, for purposes of propaganda so alien to the in-
I    church has, the great disturber of the peace in the
:", world today, did not come in for any consideration or                 terests of the Church, to present the problems of the
     discussion.        In fact, when  Averill Harriman read his          existence of Church in a secularized society- which
     prepared text, the speech which he made, when he saw                 are common for the whole of Christendom today- as
     the Russians sitting on the front row, he left out a                 an indication of the         alleged    lack of freedom of
     section which was critical of Russia- a section about                religion. . .  .4
     "Communist aggression."
           So far as the Communist cause is concerned, the                Such a statement is made in the face of constant
     one development which overshadowed all others was                contrary reports from Russia itself. It would appear,
     the announcement that the world has now moved "from              too, that the decisions of the W.C.C. at times do aid
     co-existence to co-operation."          In the unanimously       and abet the cause of world communism.
     adopted declaration on "The Test Ban Treaty and the                 However, a serious word of warning ought to be
     Next Steps," the Central Committee called upon the               sounded against the presentation of McIntire. I agree
     nations "to explore the possibilities of advancing from          that Communism, as it exists today, is an atheistic,
     co-existence to the beginning of co-operation. General           wicked form of government. We must beopposed to all
     and complete disarmament is the desired goal."2                  such godlessness too.          But I fear that  McIntire's  ex-
     In commenting on the Sixth General Assembly of the               treme overemphasis of Communistic dangers in the
National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.,                 W.C.C. (and in our country), misleads many. Many of
meeting in December of 1963 in Philadelphia (affiliated               his adherents see Communists peering at them from
with the W.C.C.), McIntire declares:                                  behind every bush. I think I am not deluded about the
                                                                      dangers of "communistic takeover," and the resultant
           No resolutions were passed dealing with Communism,         persecution for the church. Yet, this ogre of Com-
     denouncing it, exposing it, warning the nation against           munism frightens many Christians to such a degree that
     it, or even suggesting that the Communists might in-             they forget that the real danger for the Church in the
     filtrate religion and attempt to twist the Biblical con-         last days is not Communism, but modernism and all
     cept of the church to support the Communist concept
     of peace. , . .                                                  false       doctrine      introduced by        the antichrist. I
           The National Council leaders obviously live in some        know,       McIntire also warns against many of  the
     kind of dream world in which they themselves are                 false doctrines taught by various members of the
     blinded to the reality of the peril that confronts the           W.C.C.; but by far his strongest warnings are directed
     world and the United States in the Communist con-                against the Communistic tendencies which can be seen
     spiracy. 3                                                       in the W.C.C. and elsewhere. And whilemany fearfully
                                                                      watch and fight against that terrible threat of Com-
Is  McIntive   Cowed?                                                 munism, antichrist calmly begins to take over the
     Several charges, I believe, McIntire has ratherwell              "churches."            He probably will not be a Communist,
substantiated.           It appears that the Russian churches         and certainly will not arise out of atheistic Russia.
which were received into membership of the W.C.C. do                  When he finally is manifested, McIntire and many of
send at least some delegates who, in guise of ministers               his followers will begin to realize that all along they
or priests, are actually agents of the Russian secret                 were pointing their biggest guns at the wrong enemy.
police.      He quotes the text of a statement made by one               I believe we ought to learn from Scripture. Read
Russian churchman, Archbishop Nikodim, made in this                   what Paul writes in Romans 13. This is written pos-
country while here at the invitation of the `National                 sibly some seven years  after   the beginning of the rule
Council of Churches in this country. The statement                    of Nero in Rome. He headed an outspokenly atheistic
surely indicates that these "churchmen" from Russia                   government. Nero's dastardly deeds are proverbial.
do not hesitate to use the opportunities of such visits               I would suppose that even that Communist Stalin could
to present the Russian propaganda of freedom of wor-                  not equal him in wickedness. Yet Paul does not plead
ship in Russia. He declared in Denver, on February                    for funds to oppose Nero. He does not urge all Chris-
27, 1963:                                                             tians to renounce the government. He does not warn
                                                                      about dangers of this godless regime infiltrating the
           . . .We have. come to you from a Socialist State           church.      No. Paul (speaking the infallible Word) says,
     where our people, seized by  labour  enthusiasm is               "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.
     creatng a new dynamic society, multiply the achieve-
     ments of our Country in economy, science and culture.            For there is no power but of God." (Romans  13:l)
           . . .I presume you will agree if I say that, to ensure     Did not Paul disapprove of the godlessness of this gov-
     efficient work for itself, all this complexecclesiastical        ernment? Of course he did. Was not Paul aware that
     organism requires normal relations with the State.               this very Nero had killed, and would continue to kill,
     The Church in the  .USSR  is disestablished from the             many Christians? Surely he was. But such an  atheis-


308                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER

tic power is so obviously opposed to the church that all        will oppose Christ and His own until Christ delivers
were aware of it without much reminder. The church              them.
is even called to submit to such authority -- except, of           1. Quoted from the leaflet, "What is the Difference",
course, when it requires of us what is contrary to the                   prepared and distributed by the 20th Century Ref-
Authority over all: Jehovah our God. But read Scrip-                     ormation Hour.
ture carefully. Almost without exception, the warnings             2. Quoted from he packet: "The World Council of
to Christians there are against all manner of  false                     Churches in the  U.S.A.",  distributed by the above
doctrine, -- particularly such as arises from within the                 organization.
church itself. For that reason we must also oppose the             3. Quoted from the packet: "Voluntary Revolution",
                                                                         distributed by the above organization.
W.C.C. and what it represents. Personally, I doubt that            4. Quoted from the text of statement by Archbishop
it will ever be taken over by Communism. But I do                        Nikodim, released by the National Council of the
believe that there is real reason to believe that anti-                  Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. as reproduced in
christ, at the end of time, will use such an organization                the packet: "Eugene Carson Blake", page 24, dis-
to establish his one great universal "church" which                      tributed by the 20th Century Reformation Hour.





                                                       Rev. H. Hanko


How Many Loves of God?                                          all kinds of distinctions which make these doctrines
       As our readers know from editorials appearing in         so tremendously complex that all their beauty and
the  Standard   Beaver,  there is a growing controversy         power is lost in a maze of words.
in the Christian Reformed Church concerning the love               An example of this is found in the latest issue of
of God. Especially the editors of the Refovlned  Jou~ml         Tovch and  Trumpet   in which John Murray of West-
are arguing that God's love. extends to all men without         minster Theological Seminary begins a series of articles
distinction.                                                    under the general subject of "The Free Offer Of The
       The striking part of this controversy is that those      Gospel And The Extent Of The Atonement."
who are writing about it clearly recognize that the love           It is his contention first of all that salvation is of-
of God cannot be separated from the grace of God, nor           fered to all men through the preaching of the gospel.
from the decree of election, nor from the atonement of          This is the "first point" of common grace. He finds
Christ on the cross. Thus, in order to maintain this            this universal offer of salvation implied particularly
universal love of God for all men, the editors of the           in the universal demand made upon all men to repent.
Reformed  Jouw~1.1   have been insisting on a universal         He writes:
grace of God shown to all men. This is, of course, in                    And since repentance is redolent of the gospel, the
harmony with the three points of commongrace adopted               universality of the demand for repentance implies the
by the Christian Reformed Church in 1924. Further,                 universal overture of grace.
they have- insisted that the atonement of Christ is also           Next he turns to a discussion of the relation be-  ~
for all men. They have, in recent issues, flatly opposed
a limited atonement and insisted upon a universal atone-        tween this universal offer of grace and the atonement  ~
                                                                of Christ.       And he finds that the universal offer of
ment.      What then about the decree of election? Also
concerning this they are now writing. And, while it is          grace rests upon and is grounded in the atonement.
not yet clearly evident in what direction they shall go         He writes:
in their treatment of this doctrine of election, it seems                This is but to say that what we often speak of as
that they also shall begin to speak about a universal              the atonement is that which laid the ground for the
election.     Consistency would seem to demand this. So            preaching of repentance to all nations. . . . We thus
they have a universal love of God as the cause of a                see that the universal demand for repentance and the
                                                                   unrestricted overture of grace involved mu s t be
universal election revealed in a universal atonement               grounded, according to our Lord's own teaching, in
on the cross and resulting in a universal grace.                   the atonement.
       This is all quite consistent, and the logic of it all
is beyond reproach.                                                From there the author goes on to the question of
       There are conservatives in the Christian Reformed        the relation between the atonement and the love of God
Church who are not in agreement with such open  uni-            and finds that the atonement is indeed an expression
versalism. They would like tomaintain  alimited  atone-         of God's love. He writes:
ment and a particular election. But they`are saddled                     The atonement in none of its aspects can be prop-
with the decisions of common grace which they have                 erly viewed apart from the love of God as the source
no intention of repudiating. And so they begin to make             from which it springs.


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                309

   But then the question arises whether or not this                  There is a love which is the fountain of election; a
does not concede the argument to the editors of the              love that is expressed in the vicarious atonement of
Reformed  Journal  after all. A universal offer grounded          Christ on the cross when He took  away the sins of His
in the atonement, which in turn is an expression of              people.      But there is also another kind of love. A love
the love of God -- does not all this necessitate a uni-          for all men. A love that expresses itself in the cross
versal. atonement and a universal love?                          when blessings are earned by Christ's sacrifice for the
   Not so, says the author. The reason is that we                non- elect.     A love expressed in the universal offer of
must make distinctions in the doctrine of the atone-             the gospel. A love for all men that falls short of saving
ment and in the love of God. There are various as-               love.       A love that bestows grace on all men. A love
pects of the atonement, and  there are different kinds           presumably, that turns to wrath when the wicked are
of love in God.                                                  cast into eternal punishment.
   With respect to the atonement, it is true that                    So- we have two kinds of grace; two kinds of bless-
Christ died on the cross for his people to take away             ings merited on the cross; two kinds of sufferings of
their sins.     But at the same time there is a lot more          Christ; two kinds of atonements; two kinds of love of
to the atonement than this. Christ also merited on the            God. And while the author does not say this, we really
cross blessings for the wicked which they receive be-            ought also to have two kinds of election. For they all
cause He died for them too, although He did not earn             go together.
for them salvation. The blessings He earned for them                 It is not our intention to enter into a detailed criti-
fall short of salvation.                                         cism of all this in this column. This is the business of
   The author writes:                                            the editorial page, and criticism is being made there.
      Many benefits accrue to the non-elect from the re-             But it does seem worthwhile to point out: 1) that the
   demptive work of Christ. . . . Many blessings are dis-        editors of the  Reformed   Journal,  while they are com-
   pensed to men indiscriminately because God is ful-            mendably logical, have nevertheless destroyed, one by
   filling his redemptive purpose in the world. Much in          one, all the fundamentals of the Calvinistic and Re-
   the way of order, equity, benevolence, and mercy is
   the fruit of the gospel and the gospel is God's redemp-       formed faith.       They have written precisely what the
   tive revelation centred in the gift of his Son. . . . Thus    Arminians maintained, and they have defended what
   all the good showered on this world, dispensed by             the Canons have condemned. 2) That the conservatives
   Christ in the exercise of his Lordship, is related to         have gotten themselves entangled in awful traps of
   the death of Christ and accrues to man in one way or          hair-splitting distinctions and labyrinths of error be-
   another from the death of Christ. If so it was designed       cause they do not want to go as far as the Arminian
   to accrue from the death of Christ.        Since many of      position, while they still have to reckon with a universal
   these blessings fall short of salvation and are enjoyed       grace and a universal favor of God to all men. 3) That
   by many who never become possessors of salvation,             these distinctions of two kinds of grace, two kinds of
   we must say that the design of Christ's death is more
   inclusive than the blessings that belong-specifically to      love, two kinds of atonement, can have no other result
   the atonement. This is to say that even the non-elect         but terrible confusion.        The gospel of salvation is
   are embraced in the design of the atonement in respect        hidden beneath man-made distinctions. The truth of
   of..those blessings falling short of salvation which they     Scripture is lost in murky byways of confusion. The
   enjoy in this life. This is equivalent to saying that the     people of God are robbed of their comfort in the hope
   atonement sustains this reference to the non-elect and        of the gospel, for they cannot follow men through these
   it would not be improper to say that, in respect of           mazes of man-invented distinctions.        And this is the
   what is entailed for the non-elect, Christ died for them.     saddest of all.       There is nothing any more for the
   But then, what about the love of God?                         people of God. Confusion reigns instead. They cannot
   These many blessings that come to the wicked and              find their Christ, the Christ of the Scripture's, thread-
non-elect through the cross, the author finds, flow              ing their way through such intricate networks of error.
forth from God's kindness, beneficence, mercy, be-                   How clear and beautiful stands out the truth of
nevolence and goodness. But, of course, this is really           Scripture against such a dark background. God loves
saying the same thing as saying that they come forth             Himself with an eternal love, for He alone is God. In
from God's love. And so the author concludes that they           His love for Himself, He loves an elect people whom
do. He writes:                                                   He has chosen in Christ. The cross of Calvary is the
                                                                 full and glorious expression and realization of that
      The foregoing exposition is sufficient to show that
   there is a love in God that goes forth to lost men and        love, for the cross is a vicarious atonement for the
   is manifested in the manifold blessings which all men         elect; Christ died to take away the sins of His people.
   without distinction enjoy, a love in which non-elect          He died for nothing else. To this elect people God
   persons are embraced, and a love that comes to its            reveals the riches of His grace and love through the
   highest expression in the entreaties, overtures, and          preaching of the gospel, for by His sovereign and ef-
   demands of gospel presentation.                               ficacious call effected through the Spirit, God calls
                                                                 His people out of darkness into the light of the fellow-
   But now to avoid some sort of universal love, we
are told -that we must also make a distinction in the            ship of His grace and love.
love of God.                                                        HOW  clear  this glorious truth is. How brightly it
                                                                 shines.      The people of God can easily understand it.
       It must be said from the outset that there is differ-     And understanding it, they can find refuge in its glorious
   entiation in the love of God.                                 truth, while in their amazement at the wonder of their


310                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER

salvation they bow in adoration before Him Who alone                  rule except that one must as responsibly as possible
is worthy of all praise and glory.                                    seek the good of one's neighbor.
The New Morality                                                      A nice bit of jargon to serve as a guide for a teen-
                                                                   ager struggling with the temptations of Satan!
       Especially since John Robinson's book "Honest to               The pity is that all this comes from clergymen. It
God" was published, there has risen in the church a                is increasingly the position of the Churches. It is not
cry for the so-called "new morality". John Robinson                enough that we have to have a constant stream of vile
himself explained what this is.             He stated it as his    mud thrown at us by radio, television, magazines, the-
conviction that the time had come to discard the old               aters and books; it all must be approved now by the
rules of morality by which the world lived, and sub-               Church. It's not adequate that our country is sinking
stitute for these rules new rules which were more in               into a morass of moral impurity; the Church has to
keeping with our modern twentieth century. Particu-                stand by and cheer.
larly this means that the law of God embodied espe-                   But God is being denied. God is a holy God Who
cially in the ten commandments has become outdated                 hates sin with an awful hatred. He demands holiness
and can now better be filed away as an old archive with            in His creatures.      And He has given His own divine
only the value of historical curiosity. In its place we            will in the moral law as an objective standard of right
must have the rule of love. And this rule of love comes            and wrong in order that man may know what this holi-
down  r. to this: do whatever you want to do as long as            ness is. This law is as eternal and unchangeable as
you do it in love for your fellow man. If what you do,             God Himself. And God remains God Who visits sin in
no matter what it is, it is perfectly all right if you have        His holy and divine wrath; Who punishes the sinner
the concern of your neighbor in your heart.                        with death in this life and everlastingly in hell. It is
       This applied especially to immorality and promis-           all this which the new moralists deny. They deny an
cuity - only there really is no such thing as immorality           objective standard of right and wrong, setting up their
and promiscuity any more under the new rules. Every-               own corrupt ideas instead as the moral guide for men.
thing is approved: sexual perversion, extra- and pre-              They use carnal lust as the criterion of obedience.
marital relations, sodomy, prostitution -- the            whole    They deny the reality of sin. Intheir pride and haughti-
gamut of an immoral life. Writes one clergyman:                    ness, they determine for themselves good and evil.
                                                                      The end of this will be a wave of immorality which
                                                                   sweeps this country and the church which would make
          There is only one thing which is always good re-         the Romans of Paul's day blush with shame. Of these
       gardless of circumstances, and that is neighborly con- '    Romans Paul wrote (and the words have double force
       tern, social responsibility, agape--which is a divine
       imperative.      In the situational approach of the new     today): "Who knowing the judgment of God, that they
       morality one enters into every decision-making mo-          which commit such things are worthy of death, not
       ment armed with all the wisdom of the culture, but          only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do
       prepared in one's freedom to suspend and violate any        them." Romans 1:32


                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                            through their remaining days together.
The South Holland Protestant Reformed Choral Society                                            Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Davis
extends its deepest sympathy to members, Mrs. John                                              Henry Wm. Lenting
Zandstra, Miss Joyce Zandstra, Mr. John Zandstra                                                William Jr. Lenting
III, Mrs. Albert Buiter, Miss Barbara Zandstra, and                                             Adrian Jerry Lenting
Mr. Arthur Zandstra, in the loss of their  Father-in-                                              and 2 grandchildren
law and Grandfather,
                      MR. JOHN ZANDSTRA, SR.                                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
May the God of all grace comfort the hearts of the                 The Board of the Society for Protestant Reformed
bereaved.                                                          Secondary Education takes this opportunity to express
                                  Frank Van  Baren, President      its deepest sympathy to three fellow members, Richard
                                 Mrs. Donald  Haal, Secretary      and Joe Bos in the loss of a dear father
                                                                                     MR. WILLIAM BOS
                                                                   and to Mr. Cornelius Lubbers in the loss of his mother-
                      WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                          in-law
On March 8, 1965 our dear parents                                                 MRS. GERTIE  FLIKKEMA
            MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM LENTING                           According to Romans  8:28 we know that "all things
commemorated their 25th wedding anniversary. We,                   work together for good to them that love God, to them
their grateful children, thank our Covenant God for                that are called according to His purpose". Our earnest
the blessing we received through them.                May our      prayer is that this Word may comfort the brethren in
Father in heaven continue to bless them and lead them              their way.


                                                           THESTANDARDBEARER                                                        311
I
                                                                      "The Reformers and Their Stepchildren," Leonard
                                                                     Verduin, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand
                                                                     Rapids,  Mich. 292 pp. Price $5.75.

                                                                        The term "Stepchildren" in the title of this book
                                                                     refers to the Anabaptists. The book takes us back to
                      Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema                           that ever-interesting and stormy period of the Refor-
                                                                     mation of the sixteenth century; and it concentrates on
                                                                     one of the more stormy aspects of the Reformation,
~ "The Passion and Death of Christ," C.H. Spurgeon.                  one that is always discussion-provoking, the struggle
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids,Mich.                   between the Anabaptists and the Reformed.
(Paperback, 152 pp., $1.45)                                             Although brief characterizations are possibly  le.ss
                                                                     than fair for their very brevity, I would nevertheless
        This, as the title indicates, is a  bookfor Lent. It is      characterize this book as an attempted defense of and
     a book of twelve sermons; however, there is no single           justification of the Anabaptists over against the Reform-
     theme or viewpoint in this collection of sermons. They          ers and the mainstream of the Reformation. It con-
     are aphoristic sermons which have only this in common,          centrates on the issue of what is called "sacralism"
     that they all deal with some aspect of the suffering and        or "Constantinianism," -briefly, the theory of a state,
     death of our Lord Jesus Christ.                                 or established, church.
        The fact that this work is published (or: republished)          Verduin writes an interesting book. He has a style
     in paperback form, and therefore at a low price, would          which is in a way pleasantly provocative. As is evi-
     seem to indicate that it is intended for public con-            dent from many references and quotations, there has
     sumption.    Personally, I do not care much for paper-          been a goodly amount of research involved in the
     backs as a rule because paperbacks do not make very             writing of this book. In fact, the book is valuable for
     good additions to a library that is meant to be more or         its information alone, if for no other reason.
     less permanent. However, for those who are interested              All this, however, does not mean that I agree with
     in casual reading and who are not necessarily interested        the main thesis of the book.        Somehow, as I read, I
     in keeping and using a book once it has been read,              remained all along unconvinced, and received the im-
     paperbacks probably serve a useful purpose. Possibly            pression that while Verduin makes many correct ob-
     their handy and low cost format encourages more gen-            servations, he nevertheless ends by virtually clearing
     eral reading in a day when reading, especially of               the Anabaptists of any guilt and shoving the Reformed
     religious works, is in many homes a lost art.                   and the Reformers into a corner where they do not
        Spurgeon is good reading; and for anyone who is              belong.     My analysis     of the book's fault in this
     interested in doing a little "extra-curricular reading"         respect would be that while it offers much evidence,
     on the passion of our Lord in this season of Lent, this         the interpretation of that evidence is not always
     collection of sermons by  Spurgeon is no exception.             correct.
        This does not mean that you will find the style of              But read the book for yourself, and come to your
     preaching in this book to which we are accustomed.              own conclusion.
     Nor does it mean agreement with the exegesis, --or                 I would not, of course, agree with the statement on
     sometimes, the lack of it, -which you will find in              page 270 that the world "is populated with but two kinds
     these sermons. Nor does it mean agreement with the              of people, believers and not-yet-believers. . .  ." The
     approach and application which  Spurgeon makes often            implication of that "not-yet" is not Reformed. There
     at the close of his sermons. A Reformed man would               are not only "not-yet-believers" in the world, but also
     raise questions as he reads.                                    never-to-be-believers.     All non-believers are not po-
        Nevertheless, one can do far worse than read these           tential believers; some are reprobate.
     passion sermons of Spurgeon. And if you can read                   While recommendation does not mean agreement
     with discretion, you can gain a good deal of spiritual          in this case, I do recommend this book, especially
     nourishment from your reading of this little paperback.         to one who has a special interest in church history.




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                                             %ecwt   ?eam  tbz  &ifl@z&e&
                                             rAlZ the saints salute thee . . ." Phil. 421)

                                                      March 15, 1965              not wage-earners, your support is sorely needed; how
              First Church of Grand Rapids announces thefollow-                   about it?
      ing trios have been made: for Minister -the Revs. H.                                                   * * *
      Hanko, M. Schipper and B. Woudenberg; for Mission-                               Hudsonville's pastor, Rev.  G.. Vos, still suffers
      ary -- the Revs. D. Englesma, J. I<ortering and G.                          discomfort because of his mending collarbonefracture.
      Van  Baren.       The congregational meeting to elect men                   Prof. H. C. Hoeksema supplied his pulpit for him in
      from these trios is scheduled for March 23.                                 the evening service of March 7.
                                   *  8 *                                                                    * *  *
              Kalamazoo has scheduled a congregational meeting                         The flu-bug is no respecter of persons, as South-
      for March 17 for the purpose of approving the purchase                      east's pastor learned experientially; and Rev. Schipper
      of a church building.         Further details will have to                  had to cancel some of his mid-week schedules in the
      await our next issue.                                                       week of Feb. 21.
                                   * *  *                                                                    *  * *
              Our South Holland, Ill. congregation has decided to                      The Northwest Iowa Prot. Ref. Christian School
      build a new church with four hundred seating capacity.                      Society scheduled a special meeting March 5 to make
      Construction will begin the first of July, D.V.                             decisions regarding the opening of their own school
                                   * *  *                                         this Fall. The society also announced a public lecture
              From Loveland's Feb. 21st bulletin we lift the fol-                 to be given March 22,  - speaker and topic not yet
      lowing: The loan necessary for the construction of our                      known. The Board meets monthly, alternating between
      new church edifice has gone through. Labor will begin                       Hull and Doon.
      at once.       Ray Ezinga (Loveland's newest member, re-                                               * *  *
      ceived from Hope Church in Grand Rapids, J.M.F.)                                 Prof. H. C. Hoeksema will be the speaker on the
      has been hired to work full time on the edifice and to                      Reformed Witness Hour this month. The theme of his
      oversee the construction. The men of the congregation,                      first two radio sermons will be, "Edom's Blockade of
      in accordance with their decision, are expected to                          Israel," with sub-topics as follows: April 4,  "AHarm-
      donate fifty hours of labor apiece, to the equivalent of                    less Purpose;" April 11, "God's Purpose in Edom's
      $100.00.       Thus the cost of the building is calculated to               Hateful Blockade." After a Resurrection Day message
      remain within the figure originally set. . . . . . As we                    on April 18, there will be two sermons that take us
      put our hands to  .the work of the building of the house                    back to the days of Noah: April 25, "The Sons of God
      of God, may it be true of us as a congregation which                         and the Daughters of Men;" May 2, "Amalgamation."
      was true of the children of Israel in building the                                                     *  * *                    *.
      Tabernacle: "The children of Israel brought a willing                            Saturday, March 13, Rev. H. Hoeksema celebrated
      offering unto the Lord, every man and woman, whose                          his 79th birthday anniversary. He has now entered the
      heart made them willing to bring for all manner of                          year of which Moses of old sang in Psalm 90 that men
      work." (Ex. 25-29) Then we will find, as did Israel,                        may reach by reason of strength. Our faithful servant
      that "the people bring much more than enough for the                        of First Church agrees with that servant of old: "yet
      service of the work which the Lord had commanded                            is their strength labor and sorrow."
      to make." (Ex.  36:5)                                                                                  *  * *
                                   *  * *                                              Rev. G. Lubbers, of Southwest Church in Grand
              The Hope Prot. Ref. Christian School has a very                     Rapids, spent a two week vacation in Houston, Texas
      clever and effective method to notify parents on the                        in his former Mission field. In his absence his cate-
      school bus run if the bus is late or will not come at                       chism classes were conducted by Students Nobel and
      all.      The driver, or the Principal, phones the first                    Kuiper.      Seminarian R. Decker occupied Southwest's
      family on the schedule, and each successive family is                       pulpit three of the services and the fourth was held
      responsible for relaying the message along the way                           Sunday afternoon with Rev. H. Veldman officiating.
      so that all parents on the route are properly advised.                       Rev. Lubbers' vacation was marred by illness, nine
                                   * * *                                          days of which were spent under doctor's care receiving
              According to the bulletins, the Young People's                       anti-biotic treatments. Upon his return to Grand Rapids,
      Societies are all devoting an after-recess program to                        Rev. Lubbers preached in his own churchSundaymorn-
      the discussion of possible improvements that can be                          ing and in First Church, on Classical appointment, in
      effected in their Annual Convention.              For instance,             the evening. In our present shortage of ministers our
      Melvin Griess, of Loveland's Society, gave a paper on                       pastors are loath to take "sick-leave," and therefore
      that subject Feb. 7.          That certainly is the proper                  often perform their duties under physical handicaps.
      source for such improvements, -- at the society level,                      Indeed, our men are of that number spoken of in 2
      --from the young people themselves. Have the young                          Timothy  .2:2.
      people of your church asked for your contribution to
      their 1965 Convention? Because so many of them are                                . . . . see you in church.                  J.M.F.


