                                  he



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ARE~~RMED.SEMI-M~~TH~YMAGAZINE




       I

  IN THIS ISSUE:


               Meditation: Victoriously Finished

               Editorials:  in Support of Movies!
                            `Report of the Doctrinal Committee'
                                  - A Critical Study (2)
                            Did You  Know?,~

               The W.C.C. - And its Conference on Church and Society
                                     :
               All Around Us:  Doe%' Realism Justify Sin?

  "                             The Worship of Satan


                                                Volume  XLIII/r Number  12/ March 15, 1967


  266                                                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER

                                              C O N T E N T S                                                                                     FIfE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
Meditation  -
   Victoriously Finished . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266                      Semi-monthly,   except  monthly  during  June,   July   and  August
         Rev. J. Korterning
Editorials  -                                                                                                                           Published  by the Reformed Free  Publishing  Association
   "Report of the Doctrinal Committee"                                                                                                                 Editor-  Prof.   H.  C.  Hoeksema
   A Critical Study (2) The Committee and the "Offer" . 269                                                                         Communications   relative,   to  contents  should  be  addressed  to
          Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                      Prof.  H.  C.  Hoeksema,   1842  Plymouth  Terrace,  SE.,  Grand
   In Support of Movies 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271                   Rapids,   Mich.      49506.   Contributions   will   be  limited  to  300
          Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                      words  and  must  be  neatly  written   or  typewritten.   Copy  dead-
   Did You Know? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272            lines  are the first and fifteenth  of the month.
          Prof. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                      All church  news  items  should be addressed toMr. J. M. Faber,
Contending For The Faith -                                                                                                                 1123 Cooper,  S.E., Grand  Rapids,  Michigan  49507
   The Providence Of God - Miracles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273                                             Announcements  and Obituaries  with  the $2.00 fee includedmust
          Rev. H. Veldman                                                                                                           be in by the 5th or the 20thof the month, previous to publication
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   Virgins For Christ's Sake (Continued) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275                                                  see  address  below.
          Rev. J. A. Heys                                                                                                           All  matters  relative  to  subscriptions   should  be  addressed  to
Trying The Spirits -                                                                                                                        Mr.  James  Dykstra,   1326  W.  Butler   Ave.,  SE.
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         .Rey. R. C. Harbach                                                                                                           Renewal:   Unless  a  definite   request   for  discontinuance   is
A Cloud.of  Witnesses -                                                                                                             received   it  is  assumed   that  the  subscriber   wishes   the  sub-
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          Rev. B. Woudenberg                                                                                                        Jf  you   plan   to  move   please  forward   your   new  address   immed-
All Around Us -                                                                                                                     iately   so we may correct our mailing  list and avoid the incon-
   Does "Realism" Justify Sin?                                                                                                      vienience  of delayed  delivery.
   The Worship of Satan                                                                                                                  &wand  %lass  Postuge  paid at Grand Rapids, Michigan
                                                                                                                                                                                                   _.-
   News Briefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
          Prof. H. Hanko
Examining Ecumenicalism -
   The W.C.C. - and Its Conference on
   Church and Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...>..... 284
          Rev. G. Van Baren
Question Box -
   Questions On Dispensationalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
          Rev. R. C. Harbach
   Concerning The Coming of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
          Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
News From Our Churches -
          Mr. J. M. Faber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288


                    MEDITATION-


                                                             Victoriously Finished

                                                                                                       by Rev. J.  Kovteving

                                               "When Jesus  thevefove  had received the  vinegar  he said, It is finished, and
                                 .       yielded up his spirit."
                                                                                                                                                                     John  19:30

         Finished!                                                                                                                Luke 23:46. The words of our text musthave preceeded
        The darkness had passed, the light had returned.                                                                          these words by only afewmoments. The idea is obvious,
        What a victory.                                                                                                           "Finished, Father, I'm coming home!"
         Listen, "And when Jesus had cried with a loud                                                                               Such a word demands sober and prayerful consider-
  voice he said, "Father into thy hand I commend my                                                                               ation. It will not do to return tocalvary as a spectator.
  spirit, and having said this he gave ,up the ghost."                                                                            The cross was no drama; it was real. Blood, greedy


                                             THESTANDARDBEARER                                                      267

gambling, fickle fear, vinegar, all mingled together to       have no power against me except it were given thee from
form the last drop in the vessel of time. The fulness had     above; therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath
come. To reflect on such a stupendous moment demands          greater sin."
participation, "What think ye, whose son was he?"                To the daughters of Jerusalem he solemlydeclared,
   Victory seemed the farthest thing from the cross.          "Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your
   A bloodied tear-stained trail led to that bare skull.      children."
   Listen to Him speak. "My soul is exceeding sorrow-            From the first moment of the cross came the prayer
ful, even unto death." The darkness closed in upon the        from His lips, "Father forgive them, for they know not
intimate circle; Peter, James and John went to sleep.         what they do."
Jesus went forward a little and fell on the ground and           Surely it was true even as He had said, "No man
the valley of Kidron  echoed, "Abba Father, all things        taketh my life, I lay down my life for my sheep." The
are possible u'nto thee; remove this cup from me: how-        cross itself was proof, "He cried out with a loud voice,
beit not what I will, but what thou wilt." If there ever      "Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit."
was a supplicating prayer it was this one, for, "being           All this is summed up in one word, "Finished."
in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat              We must be careful to notice that Jesus did not say,
became as it were great drops of blood falling down           "I am finished." If that were so, this sixth cross word
upon the ground."                                             would have been that of a dying Christ. We would then
   The blood that stained the earth in the lone hills of      imagine that Jesus had just comeforthfromHis  suffer-
Gethsemane was but a smear of that whichwas about to          ing the pains of death and hell, and now weary, dehy-
flow in the hours ahead.                                      drated, gasping for his final breath, he sighed, "Fin-
   Soon the whine of the flagellum and the splattered         ished," it's all over, now I can die. This is not what
sound of torn flesh filled the halls of justice. Seventy      Jesus said.
less one! Pilate thought that the beaten, mutilated,             In like manner we must carefully note that Jesus did
bloodied body of Jesus would surely evoke some sym-           not say, "I finished it." If we would try to force this
pathy from the howling mass. The "culture" of de-             idea upon th.is word, we would be guilty of going into the
praved man knows no love, therefore they cried out the        opposite extreme and interpret this as a  wordof boast-
more saying, "Crucify him, crucify him!"                      ing. The I, the Person of Christ, is not on the foreground
   Another sound! The pounding of nails drawing more          here; in fact, Christ used the passive voice. He did not
blood. With outstretched arms the Lamb placed Himself         intend to say, I finished the work, as the Son of God I
upon the altar to die. With heaving, sweating, cursing the    have triumphed and come through victoriously; now,
soldiers lifted up the horizontal beam to be fastened to      Father, take me home. This was true, of course, but that
the vertical already embedded in the rocky soil. More         is not the intent of this word. Always He remained the
pounding. And there they crucified Him! There He              humble obedient servant; here, too.
hanged in open shame, nailed tothe cross, about to bear          Rather the emphasis was upon His work. Thus it is
the death of the damned. Soon the swelling pain tore          always with the servant, that the glory may be unto Him
through his mortal frame.  From parched lips came the         who sent Him to do that work.
cry, "I thirst".                                                 It is striking to remember that even in His intense
   All hell was around Him.                                   suffering, Jesus- was mindful that the work He was doing
   With drunken jest the chief priests pointed to the         had been laid out for Him in the eternal plan of His
superscription and defiantly cried, "Let the Christ, the      Father. It was brought before His consciousness in the
King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we         form of the prophetic word of the Old Testament. John,
may see and believe." The passersby railed on him,            in reflection upon the mystery of the cross, makes men-
wagging their heads and saying, "Thou that destroyest         tion of this. "After this Jesus knowing that all things.
the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself;       are now finished, that the Scripture might be accom-
if thou art the Son of God come down from the cross."         plished, saith, I thirst."
The malefactor railed on him saying, "Art not thou the           Thus it must be explained here also. Jesus knew the
Christ? save thyself and us."                                 Word of God in the Old Testament described His suffer-
   From the bowels of hell came the searing cry, "My          ing and death. He understood that from the beginning of
God, My God why hast thou forsaken me?"                       history, the expectation of the people of God centered
   What think ye? Whose son is He?                            in His suffering. Trembling Adam had been calmed by
   Pity? Oh, vanity! Pity is for avictim, not the victor.     this prospect, "I will put enmity between thee and the
   Take another look from a little different perspective.     woman and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise
   We're in the garden, the prayer of submission com-         thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel," Gen. 3:lS.
pleted. Jesus has returned to His disciples. Together         Likewise David spoke of that suffering, "I am poured out
they press on till they come face to face with the            like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart
"familiar friend." "Whom seek ye?" "Jesus of Nazar-           is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels . . .
eth" the reply. "I am He," and immediately they`went          for dogs have compassed me; the assembly of the wicked
backward and fell to the ground! "Thinkest thou that I        have inclosed  me; they pierced my hands and my feet
cannot beseech my Father and he shall even now send           . . .but be not thoufarfromme, 0 Lord; 0 my strength,
me more than twelve legions of angels?" A victim?             haste thee to help me." Ps. 22:14-20. Like a powerful
Hardly.                                                       wave this thought sweeps throughout the whole Old
   Or listen to Him speak to the judge, "Thou wouldst         Testament and reaches a mighty crest in the words of


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER

     Jeremiah, a lone captive in the midst of Jerusalem,           could cry in that moment of terror was, "My God, My
     "Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and       God, why hast thou forsaken me?" As soon as that in-
     see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which         tense suffering somewhat abated, His attention was
     is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me         immediately drawn to His bodily suffering.for then He
     in the day of his fierce wrath." Lamentations 1:12.           cried, "I thirst." It was at this moment that Jesus
        Yes, what God had said of the suffering of Christ          realized that He had drunk the cup, the dregs of hellish
     throughout the whole of the Scriptures was now fulfilled,     wrath for the sins of His people had been drained, and
     it was completed. And Christ was conscious of this,           therefore He cried, Finished!
     "Finished."                                                      Besides this, His heavenly Father afforded Him other
        Well may we ask the question, to whom did Christ           proof. The hell that He bore was objectivelymanifested
     address this word? In answering this question we will be      in the darkness. That darkness which surrounded the
     able to fathom a little of the depth of its meaning.          cross was the same as the darkness God revealed in
        Quite apparently and foremost, this word was ad-           Egypt; it was a symbol of God's absolute wrath. In the
     dressed to His Father. It was the word of the servant         midst of the darkness Jesus suffered silently. For three
     to the Sovereign.                                             hours He bore in perfect love our sentence of death. He
        Jesus knew all too well that His suffering on the cross    bore everlasting death in three hours of time. Christ
     was not the suffering for His own sins. The burden of         realized that He did carry it away, for the light returned
     sin that He bore was of them whom the Father had given        to the scene of the cross. How else could the soldiers
     Him. He had expressed that most beautifully in His            have seen the sponge and wine? Light had returned.
     intercessory prayer, "Father the hour is come; glorify        That was God's proof to His Son that the burden of wrath
     thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee even as thou gavest    was carried away and the work of the obedient servant
     him authority over all flesh, that whatsoever thou hast       was acceptable in His sight.
     given him, to them he should give eternal life." These           Triumphantly Christ responded, Finished!
     words Jesus had prayed on the door-step of Gethsemane.           That word is also spoken to us. Recorded for us in
        Now as He was coming out of the intense suffering,         the Divine Scriptures, this word echoes through the ages
I    He knew that the sentence of death that His righteous         as a cry of victory for us to hear. What more need we
     Father had imposed upon Him in behalf of His elect was        hear when the burden of guilt presses sorely upon us?
     now satisfied, for He had suffered the pangs of death         Time and again we gaze with tear-filled eyes at the
     and hell in their place.                                      horror of our sin and reflect upon the curse that is due
        Triumphantly he cried out, "Finished."                     to us for them. Oh, blessedgospel, finished! The burden
                                                                   has been carried, the tears, the suffering, the anguish,
        This indicates to us that Jesus understood that He was     the pains of hell and judgment, they are all gone, for
     victorious, or he could never have said to His Father,        Jesus carried them away once for all. This is the gospel
     Finished! There were a number of things that pointed          of "Finished" for us.
     out to Him this truth. He realized a diminishing of the          As we hear this word, our exalted Christ assures us
     suffering. Normally when one dies the suffering is            that our sins are forgiven, we are righteous before God
     greatest at the moment of death. With Jesus this was          and heirs of everlasting life.
     different. His decension-into hell was the moment of             What think ye of the Christ, whose Son is He?
     greatest suffering both for body and soul. During the            Well may we smite our breasts and say, "Surely
     three hours of darkness the gates of hell were open and       this was the Son of God." Yea more, "My Lord and my
     the flood of God's divine wrath poured over Him. All He       God."




                          This (the working out of their salvation) does not mean that they must now work
                     for the improvement of this present world, which is quite impossible. They need
                     not, and they cannot "turn the world upside down." Nor does it mean that they
                     must all be busy in a special sense in the work of the Lord. We do not all have to
                     be preachers or missionaries, or bring souls to Christ, or be elder or deacon in
                     the Church, or Sunday school teacher, in order to cause our salvation to serve its
                     purpose and to reach the end for which it was given unto us. On the contrary, the
                     mother in her home and in the midst of her children, the father in his place of
                     work, whatever it may be, the clerk behind the counter, the cobbler at his bench,
                     every one in his own position and calling, will work out his own salvation when in
                     that calling, and with his whole soul and mind and heart and strength, he serves the
                     Lord Jesus Christ, and lives through faith from the principle of the regenerated
                     life that has been wrought in his inmost heart. To let the light that is within us
                     shine,, that our Father which is in heaven may be glorified, - that it is to work out
                     our own salvation!
                                                             - H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," p. 85


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          269

EDIT0 R/AL&


               "Report of the Doctrinal Committee"
                                              A Critical Study
                                                             (2)

                    The Committee and the "Offer"

                                              by  Prof.  H. C. Hoeksema

BACKGR 0 UND                                                        sistently,  - or at least more consistently than the
   It was to be expected that the element of a "general,            men of 1924 did." This is what Prof. Dekker said in
well-meant offer" would occupy a large part in the                  effect when he came out for universal atonement. Or,
Report of the Doctrinal Committee.                                  to return to my other figure, he chose for the Arminian
   This is true for several reasons.                                face of Janus.
   In the first place, there is the broader historical                 In the second place, there is the fact that Prof.
reason of the First Point of 1924 and the place which               Dekker and those who agree with his position (like
that First Point has had in the thinking, the theology,             James Daane and Harry Boer and Dr. Henry Stob)
the preaching, and the motivation of the preaching (both            injected the First Point of 1924 into the picture.
at home and on the mission field) ever since 1924. I                Daane pointed up the issue rather well, I think, by a
refer, of course, especially to  `/  I'het puntje van het           question like this: "How can such a non-saving grace
Eerste Punt," the general grace doctrine of the First               come to expression in the preaching of the gospel that
Point, which must not be confused with the original                 preaches only saving grace?" The same is true of the
proposition of the First Point proper, or the common                following statement of Daane: "To this day no one has
grace doctrine. It is safe to say that if that general              been able to make clear to anyone that the well-meant
grace doctrine had not been inserted into the First                 offer of salvation is an instance, not of saving, but of a
Point of 1924, there would have  beenno "Dekker Case"               qualitatively different non-saving common'grace."
at present.    The latter is simply a development-a                    In the third place, the Christian Reformed Synod
necessary development, let me add, - of the former.                 automatically injected the question of the well-meant
This is not to say that there was no Arminian tendency              offer into the picture for its Doctrinal Committee by
in the Christian Reformed Church prior to 1924, and                 mentioning two items, both directly related to the First
that therefore there would have been no development of              Point of 1924, among the specific items to which the
Arminianism later. For fact is that one of the con-~                Committee was to give its attention. The first was:
terns of the men of "The Witness" was the threat of                 "a. Whether the nature of the atonement and the decree
Arminianism; and one of that group (who, however,                   of election allow for the validity of making a qualitative
later supported 1924) complained long before 1924 that              distinction between the general love of God and His
the churches were full of Arminianism and feared that               special love for the elect." This obviously has refer-
the battle was already lost. And if there had been no               ence to the common grace doctrine of the First Point.
Arminian tendency present in the churches; "bet puntje              And the second item was: "b. Whether there is Scrip-
van het Eerste Punt" (literally: the little point of the            tural evidence that the universal love of God includes
First Point) would, of course, never have seen the light            any intent to bring about the salvation of the non-elect
of day.                                                             or to perform any redemptive act on their behalf."
   There is another factor involved in this picture, of             This, while it does not mention the term "offer" and
course.    That factor is that the Christian Reformed               does not speak directly the language of the First Point,
Church adopted and f om then on attempted to follow                 unmistakably refers to the general grace doctrine of
a  ) double-track theology;. and the two tracks were                the First Point.
divergent,  - the Arminian and the Reformed track.                     Let me insert at this point the suggestion that the
The theology of the CRC became like the two-faced                   Synod might have pin-pointed the Committee's mandate
idol, Janus. It was but inevitable that in due time some-           in connection with the First Point if they had used
one would press the inconsistency of the divergent                  Daane's language. They might have very well assigned
tracks to its logical consequence, and say to the                   the committee this problem, to decide "Whether the
churches, "Let us follow the Arm ini an ,track con-                 well-meant offer of salvation is an instance'of saving,


                                            THE  STANDARD BEARER

or of a qualitatively different non-saving common            somewhat to "soft-pedal" the offer-idea; but in the
grace."    For it must be remembered that while the         meantime, because of the First Point and its history
First Point contains two doctrines (common grace and        they dare not "soft-pedal" the offer to the point of
general grace), the element of the so-called general        silencing it.
offer of salvation was supposedly adduced as proof for          In the meantime, a year has elapsed since the
the main proposition of the First Point, namely, a          Report was first issued.
supposedly common, non-saving grace. As I have said             And the problem is still there.
repeatedly in the past on this point, Daane is right            In fact, Synod of 1966 added a couple of problems
(though he is principally dead wrong on the whole           through its committee of pre-advice, items which show
matter of God's grace) when he says, "To this day no        plainly that the Report is not satisfactory on this
one has been able to make clear to anyone that the          crucial problem. For among the observations of Synod
well-meant offer of salvation is an instance, not of        and the additional problems referred to in the 1966
saving , but of a qualitatively different non-saving        postponement-decision you find this: "There are related
common grace." And I will add to that the fact that         problems which arise out of this context which need
history has shown him to  -be right. The Christian          theological clarification and precise statement, such as
Reformed Church has taught and followed, on the one         the following: . . . . .b. The relationship between election
hand, the antithesis-devastating doctrine of common         and the sincere ("sincere" or "well-meant"? The
grace and applied to the whole realm of things com-         two terms are not the same. H.C.H.) offer of salvation
monly subsumed under the term "culture." But the             . . . ..d. The universal implications of the atonement."
Christian Reformed Church has more and more                     In addition, the Committee now has no small number
followed the Arminian, general grace line in its            of statements from consistories and classes reflecting
preaching. When they adhered to the line of the general,    on the Report. And my educated guess is that a number
well-meant offer, they, were not really dealing in the      of these reflect dissatisfaction with the committee's
realm of common grace whatsoever. That offer is an          confused work on the offer-problem. In fact, I know
offer of  `salvation  according to them. As such it is      that Classis Grand Rapids West had a committee report
preached, and surely not as, an offer of common grace,      which proposed a statement dealing with this problem.
nor with the intent of bringing about any so-called             In addition to this, the Reformed Jownal has begun,
common grace benefits, nor with the intent of leaving       figuratively speaking, to club the Committee over the
any other impression on the hearers than that God           head with its own report.
well-meaningly wills the sahation  of all who hear. If          Hence, the problem is becoming more difficult.
you follow the well-meant offer idea, you preach just           I do not know what the outcome will be.
like any Arminian evangelist preaches.                          But I can predict confidently that even though the
   But the Committee in this connection, especially in      original conclusions of the Committee would be adopted,
connection with point "b" quoted above, was faced by        the problem would still be there. For 1924 would still
the problem of trying to maintain a two-track theology      be there. And even if the CR Synod should affirm the
and of trying to give some kind of yes-no answer,           doctrine of definite atonement, 1924 would still be
without saying "yes" so emphatically that they justified    there.    And as long as it is there, no Reformed de-
Dekker     and Daane, and without saying "no" so            nomination which still numbers among itself those who
emphatically that they denied the First Point of 1924.      would like to be truly `Reformed, can have peace.
   That is a rather large order, I would say. And I
would also suggest that the Committee sensed this.              With this background furnished, I will begin next
This lies at the root of the confusion in the Commit-       time, D.V., to survey the Committee's confused
tee's report. Over against Dekker's position, they try      meanderings and findings on this important subject.




                   We should be so deeply impressed with the sacredness of this calling, and with
               the seriousness of this task, that we-put  forth all our efforts, and give it the most
               painstaking attention and care. In the fear of God we should tremble at the very
               thought that, perhaps, we are not working out our own salvation as we ought.
               Rather than asking the question, which is so frequently asked in our day, how far
               we dare go into the world, and how closely we can with impunity approach the
               consuming flame of sin, we should fear and tremble lest we do not keep our gar-
               ments clean, and lest we do not sufficiently manifest ourselves as children of light.
               In the true fear of the Lord, with painstaking care, trembling lest you should mar
               the work, work out your own salvation!
                                                     - H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," p. 88


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 271




       EDITORIAL-  0


                            In Support  Of  Movies!

                                              by  Pyof. H. C. Hoeksema


   That title looks incongruous on the cover of the          God: because many false prophets are gone out into the
Standard Beaver, does it not?                                world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit
   Have no fears! The Standard Beaver  has not taken         that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
to the support of movies or of movie attendance. The         is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that
title was, however, intended to catch your attention.        Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and
For this editorial intends to call attention to a recent     this is that spirit-of antichrist, whereof ye have heard
article in support of movie attendance which illustrates,    that it should come; and even now already is it in the
among other things, the dangers inherent in the course       world."
which the Christian Reformed Synod of 1966 chose with           In the first place, of course, such misquotation of
respect to the "film arts" (more bluntly stated: the         Scripture is not worthy of a student of God's Word.
movie issue).                                                And it is misleading. I do not say deliberately mis-
   My reference is to Dr. John H. Bratt's little article     leading; but it is misleading, nevertheless. That little
in  The  Banner,  February 10, 1967, p. 11. Writing          snatch of a text might sound rather pertinent to the
under "Postscript" he attempts to marshal biblical           unsuspecting.
support for following what he calls the "principle of           In the second place, it seems to me that this text,
discrimination" with respect to Hollywood movies.            quoted in full, "proves" too much for Dr. Bratt. For
Writes he: "In .fact, I think that the tenor of Scripture    the basis of the "good-movies-are-legitimate" deci-
is strongly geared to making ,discerning Christians,         sion is supposed to lie in the realm of "common
that is, those who judge and evaluate and choose that        grace" and a "restraint of sin." But the text in First
which is right and good."         Dr. Bratt then makes       John (quoted in full, of course) certainly does not know
several references to Scripture. He concludes these          of any "gray area" between light and darkness. There
references as follows:                                       is, of course, no text in Scripture that does know of
    "The Apostle John advises us to `prove (test) the        such a gray area.       But it seems to me that such a
spirits' (I. John 4:l).                                      plainly absolute statement as that of I John 4:1-3
    "Such biblical counsels mean to me that rather than      would be about the last which Dr. Bratt would cite in
taking such film productions as Sound of Music, Old          this connection. Or is the doctor now suggesting that
Yallev,  Snowhite and the Seven  Dwarfs, Doctor Zhivago,     the spirit of such Hollywood movies as he mentions
and so .on, and throwing them into the caldron of blanket    might possibly be "of God" and breathing a "spirit
condemnation, we ought to weigh and evaluate them on         that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come inthe flesh?"
their own merits or demerits, and act accordingly."             But, in the third place, for those who are tempted
   Now I do not believe that any of the texts cited by       by the movies (whether in the neighborhood theater or
Dr. Bratt proves his so-called principle of discrimin-       in your own living room on TV), - and this I write not
ation with respect to Hollywood movies.        For:. 1) I    only for our Christian Reformed brethren, but for any-
believe that drama is not legitimate art, but the per-       one whom the shoe fits, - Dr. Bratt, in spite of his
version of good gifts of God. 2) Apart from the pre-         intentions to the contrary, suggests a very good
ceding, I do not believe that Hollywood offers a choice      antithetical test. For notice:
of "good" or "bad" such as is necessary to practice             1) This passage admonishes us to try, prove, test-,
discrimination.      When it is all bad, then choice is      the spirits with one question in mind: are they of God,
impossible.                                                  or are they not of God? Athird possibility there is not.
   But Dr. Bratt's flippant quotation of a few words         It is either...orl
from I John 4:l along with the application which he             2) This passage provides us with a very simple,
makes of these words is to me nothing less than              antithetical test.    The one side of the test is this:
shocking. My point ought to be clear to any discerning       "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come
Christian if I let Scripture speak here by quoting the       in the flesh is of God." Apply that test once to the
entire passage of I John 4:1-3: "Beloved, believe not        "very best" that Hollywood has to .offer.  Apply it to
every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of        the movies mentioned by Dr. Bratt. If you are busy


272                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

indulging in the movies in your local theater or in your       will be!
home,  - and mark you well, I do not say that you                 3) But then the question will not be downed: how can
should; but if you are of those who yield to this tempta-      you as a Christian be entertained by the spirit of anti-
tion, - at the very moment while you are watching and          christ?
listening, apply this test: is the spirit breathed by this        Perhaps for some this test is too "simplistic" or
movie a spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come       "absolutistic."
in the flesh? And is it therefore of God?                         For me, however, it is simple and absolute.
   I know what the answer will be.                                And it is Scriptural!
   And so do you!                                                 The trouble is, of course, that this antithetical test
   The other side of the test is this: "Every spirit           is vitiated by the common grace theory. And while I
that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the           have great sympathy for those in the Christian Re-
flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist,    formed Church who are genuinely troubled by the
whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even            "movie problem" and by the decision of 1966 (I know
now already is it in the world."                               that there are such; and I know of a consistory that
   Apply that test once to Hollywood's productions.            counselled its congregation to "total abstinence," in
Ask yourself the question: is the spirit breathed by this      spite of the decision of their Synod), nevertheless I
movie a spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is        warn again that they fight a losing, - if not a lost, -
come in the flesh? And is it therefore not of God, but         battle on the common grace basis. The real solution
the spirit of antichrist?                                      lies in a repudiation of 1924 and a return to the sound
   Again, you and I know what the outcome of the test          Reformed principle of the absolute antithesis.




                                          Did You Know?

                                                 by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema

   Did you know. that John Calvin held to the view that           over in silence the creation of the world? In this
(in his day) creation was little more than five thousand          instance, and every other, the truth of God is too
years old?                                                        powerful to dread the detraction of impious men....
   The great reformer makes only passing reference                This quotation is worthy of attention, not because
to this idea, and that too, not in his writings on crea-       we must slavishly follow everything that Calvin says,
tion, but in his writings on predestination. This very         but because:
manner of reference, however, emphasizes that with                1. It should furnish some food for thought to some
Calvin this was an accepted idea. Recently  I came             who are very quick to appeal to John Calvin for all
across this statement while reading the "Institutes"           manner of pseudo-Calvinistic ideas, but who in our day
with another purpose in mind. The quotation is from            are catering to evolutionistic theories and their notions
Book III, Chapter XXI, Section IV (page 174 of Volume          of a very old earth.
II of the Allen Translation). I will quote enough of the          2. It demonstrates that the idea of a comparatively
section to furnish the setting of Calvin's statement:          young earth is not to be ascribed to Archbishop Usher
                                                               for its origin, as is frequently suggested. This quota-
       Profane persons, I confess, suddenly lay hold of        tion at least suggests that in the history of dogma the
   something relating to the subject of predestination, to
   furnish occasion for objections, cavils, reproaches, and    idea of a young earth was rather commonly accepted
   ridicule.    But if we are frightened from it by their      at Calvin's time.       At least, the reformer does not
   impudence, all the principal articles of the faith must     present it as a new and unheard of idea. But Calvin's
   be concealed, for there is scarcely one of them which       "Institutes" were written before James Usher was
   such persons as these leave unviolated by blasphemy.        born. Usher was born in 1580, and his rather famous
   The refractory mind will discover as much insolence,        chronology belongs to the period from 1650-1654. The
   on hearing that there are three persons in the Divine       widely held idea that James Usher is responsible for
   essence, as on being told, that when God created man,       the idea that the earth is about six thousand years old
   he foresaw what would happen concerning him. Nor            must, therefore, be fiction.
   will they refrain from derision on being informed, that
   little more than five thousand years have elapsed since        3. This puts the much maligned James Usher, who
   the creation of the world. They will ask why the power      is frequently pictured as some kind of freak, but who
   of God was so long idle and asleep. Nothing can be          was actually a scholar of considerable note, in fairly
   advanced which they will not endeavour to ridicule.         good company. Those who enjoy ridiculing Archbishop
   Must we, in order to check these sacrileges, say            Usher should save a few of their barbs for John Calvin.
   nothing of the Divinity of the Son and Spirit, or pass      Or better: they should dispose of their barbs!


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         273




    CONTENDlNG  FOR THE FAITH-



                        The Providence Of God

                                                      Miracles


                                                by Rev. H.  Vildman


   We concluded our preceding article by calling to a           Finally, a third group would seek the essence of the
definition of miracles which defines them as super-          miracle in its mysteriousness, that we cannot under-
natural works of God.       And we concluded that this       stand or comprehend it. Now it is, of course, true,
distinction does not hold.     One who believes in the       that we cannot comprehend the miracles. But it is also
providence of God does not distinguish between natural       true that we cannot comprehend anything. We cannot
and supernatural works of the Lord. The Word of God          understand even the most `common event. All of life,
calls even the most common events the works of God,          every phase of it is beyond our comprehension. Con-
as in Ps. 107:23-32 and throughout the Scriptures.           cerning this Rev. Hoeksema writes as follows in' his
   Miracles have also been defined as the immediate          Dogmatics, Locus II:
works of God.      This, as we have noted, is Hodge's                  It is true that we cannot understand how the Lord
definition of the miracle.       We may concede that            can multiply the few loaves of bread in His divine
miracles are immediate works of God. But is it not              hands, so that a veritable multitude can be fed thereby.
just as true that all the works of God are'immediate,           But no more does it lie within the limits of my concep-
that all events and happenings are Divinely immediate?          tion how a seed can fall in the earth and die, in order
To be sure, the Lord works immediately when He                  to bring forth fruit a hundred fold. It is certainly true
gives sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, causes the       that my mind is amazed when the Savior calls Lazarus
lame to walk, raises the dead to life, restores calm to         out of the grave after he has been four days asleep in
an angry and turbulent sea by the word of His mouth.            the dust; but no less does the birth of a little child
But is not everything affected by the immediate opera-          transcend my boldest comprehension. How the Lord
tion of the Lord? It is surely the Lord Who causes              Jesus at the wedding of Cana could change water into
                                                                wine is certainly a mystery for us; but it is no less
the sun to rise and set every day; it is He Who causes          incomprehensible for us how the vein can produce
the seed to grow in the bosom of the earth and pro-             grapes and in that way change different elements into
duces the harvest. That the food we eat nourishes our           wine. In other words, it does not make any difference
bodies and the water we drink quenches our thirst is            for my understanding whether God by His almighty
surely not because this food and drink are able to do           power operates in the common and known way upon the
this of themselves. The Lord always works immediately.          vine and causes it to bring forth grapes, or whether by
Constantly and without ceasing He touches every                 the same almighty power He works upon water to change
phase of the world's existence; in Him we, and all              that into wine. When the sun and the moon stand still
things, move and live and have our being. Not a                 upon the word of Joshua, we confess that we cannot
sparrow falls from the housetop without the will of our         comprehend this phenomenon; but when the Lord every
                                                                morning anew. causes the sun to rise on the eastern
heavenly Father, and no man can make a single hair              horizon, that work of God too transcends my compre-
white or black. Hence, we cannot define a miracle as            hension, It is true that also according to the significance
an immediate work of God. It is true that miracles              of one of the original words of wonder in Holy Scripture,
are works of God which strike our attention as being            the miracle causes us to stand amazed and draws our
extraordinary.    However, their extraordinary char-            special attention. But the cause of this must not be
acter does not lie in the fact that they are immediate          found in the fact that we comprehend the common
works of God. If this were true, then everything would          events and acts of God's providence, while the wonders
be a miracle, because everything is immediate. That             transcend our comprehension: but much rather in this,
we often fail to see the wonder works of God in all the         that we become so accustomed to the daily works of
things that take place all around us is not because             God's omnipresent power that we usually pay no
                                                                attention to them. In the miracle God certainly per-
these works are not truly wonderful, but only because           forms something special, that exactly through that
we are dull in our hearing and seeing; we often have            special character draws the attention. Nevertheless,
no eye for the wonders of the Lord!                             neither in the so-called supernatural, not in the  im-


274                                               THE STANDARD BEARER

       mediate      character, nor in the incomprehensible       is that wonderful operation of God whereby He translates
       character of a wonder can the proper idea of a miracle    the whole creation, fallen in sin and under the curse of
       be found.                                                 God, into the glory of His eternal kingdom and ever-
       The essence of the miracle must be sought in its          lasting covenant. This heavenly renewal of all things
relation to the grace of God. The miracle belongs in             in heavenly immortality is the purpose of God, which
the sphere of God's grace. The miracle is essentially            He willed from before the foundations of the world.
a sign. And it is a sign of God's grace. We believe              With that purpose in mind He created all things. This
that this is the teaching of Holy Writ. The essence of           is stated emphatically in Eph. 1:9-10: "Having made
the miracle cannot be sought in its "supernatural"               known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His
character, because we cannot maintain the distinction            good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself:
between the natural and the supernatural. Neither can            That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He
the miracle be defined as an' immediate work of God,             might gather together in one all things in Christ, both
inasmuch as the Lord always works immediately. And               which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in
we have also observed that the essence of thesemirac-            Him." And there are no detours in the, Lord's realiza-
ulous works of God cannot be sought in the fact that             tion of this purpose. Unto that endHe certainly created
we cannot comprehend it.            We cannot comprehend         Adam mortal, that is, so that Adam could fall. Adam
anything. Besides, Scripture itself connects the miracle         was the first Adam and serves the purpose of preparing
with the grace of God. That Christ is born of a virgin           the way for the second Adam, the Lord out of heaven.
is called a sign in Is. 7:14. And what a mighty sign this        Sin and death must,enter this world as the way through
is! Isaiah, in Is. 7, had called upon the wicked Ahaz            which God would lead all things into heavenly glory
to ask of the Lord a sign in the depth below or in the           and immortality. And the grace of God is that wonder
height above. But Ahaz had refused because he hates              operation of God whereby He, through sin and death,
the living, knew only too well that the Lord would give          leads the world of His eternal election into that'glory
him any sign he asked, but had determined to seek                of His everlasting kingdom and covenant.
help from the king of Assyria. Thereupon the fearless               Of this Wonder of the grace of God the center is
prophet had proclaimed to Ahaz that the Lord Himself             Immanuel, God with us, in Jesus Christ, our Lord.
would give him a sign, namely the birth of Immanuel              He is Himself, centrally, this Wonder of Divine grace.
from a virgin. It is obvious that this sign would be             For, He is Immanuel, God with us. He is God, breaking
greater than any sign the wicked king could have asked           through our night of sin and death and of the curse.
either in the depths below or in the heights above. And          He is Immanuel, taking upon Himself our flesh and
is it not a striking phenomenon that our Lord's appear-          blood, and assuming all our sins and guilt, becoming
ance in the flesh should be accompanied by a host of             sin for us, Who Himself knew no sin. And His incar-
miracles .          One can hardly doubt but that all these      nation, of course, is accompanied by the Wonder Sign
miracles are essentially related to the coming of our            of all ages, the conceiving of a son by a virgin. Inas-
Lord Jesus Christ in our flesh and blood.                        much as the eternal Son of God'takes upon Himself our
       God's grace is the Wonder of God. The penalty of          flesh and blood it is, of course, imperative that our
death was executed by God upon Adam and Eve and upon             Lord Jesus Christ take upon Himself our flesh and
the entire human race when our first parents, Adam               blood without the will of man. Today the virgin birth
and Eve, ate of the forbidden fruit. Death passed upon           is denied by wicked modernism, and this in spite of the
them and upon all mankind. They became, in them-                 fact that the Lord accompanied this birth with a sign
selves, objects of wrath. They also became wholly                that could not possibly be misunderstood or contra-
corrupt. Created in the image of God, they became the            dicted!    Wicked modernism today declares that the
image of the devil.           They did not merely lose this      conceiving of a son by a virgin was really unnecessary,
image; it was changed into the image of the devil. Their         that the Son of God could have assumed our flesh and
light became darkness, their love of God became                  blood through the will of man, could have had an earthly
hatred and enmity against Him, their knowledge of God            father as well as an earthly mother. But imagine how
became the lie; they, were filled with corruption and            wicked modernism would have reacted had Jesus had
spiritual death. They also died physically. It is true           an earthly father as well as an earthly mother! In
that they did not die in the sense that their corpses            Bethlehem, however, the eternal Son  `of God breaks
lay at the foot of the tree. But they did die physically         through our sin and death, enters into our human flesh
in the sense that this power of physical death began to          and blood, with all the sins of all the elect of all the
reign in their bodies. They became subject to physical           ages upon His shoulders. Grace is the wonder operation
death.       We must maintain this Divine visitation of          of God which breaks through this accursed world. And
God's curse upon the entire human race. There is no              in Immanuel the everlasting God breaks through the
such thing as "Common Grace." Scripture does not                 night of our sin and guilt and death. It is therefore
speak of any injection of common grace into Adam and             understandable that this coming of the Son of God into
Eve, checking the process of death and enabling them             our flesh and blood should be accompanied by the wonder
to do good in the sight of God. But the Word of God              sign of the virgin birth. Only once in all the history of
does teach us that we are all conceived and born dead            God's covenant did the eternal Son of God take upon
in sin and in misery and that the carnal mind is enmity          Himself our flesh and blood. So, this unique birth of
against God, not being subject to the law of God, neither        our Lord Jesus Christ is accompanied by the unique
being able to be subject unto it. Now the grace of God           sign, never having happened before and never to happen


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   275

again, of a virgin, as virgin, giving birth to a son. It is    Himself. But this is not all. This Immanuel is also
the will of the Lord that the world must be without            centrally the Wonder of Divine grace in His death and
excuse. They must receive a sign that cannot be con-           resurrection. But to this we will call attention in our
tradicted, except by wicked unbelief. Indeed, Bethlehem        following article as we conclude our articles on the
is centrally the Wonder of Divine grace, centrally in          miracles in Holy Writ.


       IN HIS  FEAR-



                            Virgins  For Christ's  Sak'e

                                                 (Continued)

                                                  by Rev. J. A. Heys


   Marriage is for life.                                       as one flesh. Jesus, in Matthew 19:3-9, where He again
   With that truth we were busy last time. And we made         speaks of divorce, and now in answer to these conten-
the remark last time that "Moses did not give the              tious and fault-finding Jews, says unequivocally, "What
Israelites a bill of divorcement that dissolved the legal      therefore God hath joined together, let not man put
tie of marriage and allowed remarriage; and Jesus does         asunder." This surely is not agreeing that Moses gave a
not agree with the Jews that he (Moses) did." Jesus            bill of divorcement that allows remarriage of either
gave answer to the contentious Jews, but His answer            party. Besides, and perhaps this should be placed first
was not that those divorced according to Moses' com-           as far as the meaning of the text is concerned, the
mand might remarry because the marriage bond was               hardness of the heart that demands divorce in the sense
severed by man. We wish at this time to refer you to           of living separately, so that the woman is not under the
Moses' precepts as Paul presents them in Romans 7:1-3,         domination of the man under his roof, is to be found in
"Know ye not, brethren (for I speak to them that know          an adulterous Zife. Where the mate has slipped into
the law) how that the law hath dominion over a man as          great temptation--whether she set the occasion herself
long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband         or was trapped by a cleverly laid plan makes no
is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth;       difference--and repents and leaves that evil way, the
but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of      rule applies to forgive and receive her back. But there
her husband. So then, if, while her husband liveth, she be     are instances where the hard heart of the adulterer or
married to another man, she shall becalledan adulter-          adulteress produces a life of fornication and faithless-
ess; but if her husband be dead, she is no adulteress,         ness. In such instances the husband or wife may need
though she be married to another man." Not only is             to give a word or bill of divorcement in the sense of
the language here very, very clear, but it may be noted        separation for the family's sake and the children's sake.
that this is the law which God gave through Moses. If          But there simply cannot be any denying that Jesus
Moses gave a precept and permission to Israel for the          condemns attempts even to put away in the sense of
divorced to remarry because of the hardness of their           claiming that the marriage bond has been dissolved,
hearts, it is not the law of God. But Paul here speaks of      that the two are not before God one flesh anymore; and
the law of God and not of anyman-made or Moses-made            that either party is free to remarry.
exceptions. Paul r ep e at s this in his epistle to the           Granted that a partner is unfaithful and sins against
Corinthians. Thus in I Corinthians  7:39 he writes,            either husband or wife, this does not grant that offended
"The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband           party the right-to commit a sin. The breaking of a
liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be    commandment of God in one aspect of its broad meaning
married to whom she will; only in the  Lord.".And              does not give right to break it in another phase of its
Moses, speaking as God's mouthpiece, does not advocate         meaning. The man who has been defrauded byfalsifica-
and did not teach a divorce that allowed remarriage.           tion does not by virtue of that fact have the right to
   The hardness of man's heart may require separation.         backbite and slander the defrauder. One on whose life
The husband who, though he may be able to forgive, sins        an attempt has been made to kill does not receive
against his conscience by living further with afaithless       because of this fact a God-given right now to injure
mate may have to separate and give her a word of               bodily that would-be murderer. And one sinned against
divorce that declares that he cannot live with her any         by a faithless life's companiondoes not receive the right
more as husband and wife. But they remain before-God           to sin against that other half of the "one flesh" by


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

adding a foreign element of a new "wife" or                   temptations and difficulties of the way. She may not allow
"husband."                                                    rebellion against the authorities. She may not smile in
   In that light Jesus' words in Matthew 19:9 are so          approval of idolatry, image worship, taking God'sname
significant, "And I say unto you Whosoever shall put          in vain and desecrating the Sabbath. But she may not
away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall        dirty her garments by allowing fornication and adultery
marry another, committeth adultery: and who s o               among her membership by unscriptural divorces and re-
marrieth her which is put away (as the innocent party)        marriage of the divorced. She will not receive Christ's
committeth adultery." Why cannot a man marry the              smile of approval if she does; and in generations she
innocent party? Why does he commit adultery, if he            will become the harlot that He destroys as the false
does marry a woman put away by her husband because            church. She must not become like the world. She must
he wants to commit adultery due to the hardness of his        be an imitator of God and follow after Christ and not
heart and not because she has been unfaithful to him?         the Antichrist.
Because, as Jesus said, "Wherefore they are no more               There is an element that belongs to this picture and
twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined          our young people do well to take heed to it. Our youth,
together, let no man put asunder." Andthis is not mere        in the very first place, must not become unequally
advice. It is the command of God. Let not! Do so only         yoked with the unbeliever and find all too soon spiritual
under the penalty of the wages of sinwhich death! is the      incompatibility! That is the very worst kind of in-
meaning. God joined together. God considers them one          compatibility that there is; and those who through their
flesh until one of the two's flesh dies. See again            foolishness find themselves therein are to be pitied.
Romans 7:1-3 and I Corinthians 7:39.                          How tragic that a young man or a young woman of the
   Returning to Matthew 7:31 and 32 we may note that          Church of Jesus Christ finds it so difficult to be a virgin
Jesus says, "Whosoever shall put away his wife, saving        for His sake because of a worldly-minded mate! Our
for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit           children are simply asking for trouble when they de-
adultery; and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced      liberately seek to yoke themselves unequally with one
committeth adultery." If you please ! That man who puts       who will not be an help meet for them in the spiritual
away the innocent party causes her to commit adultery.        sense. And now we must come back to that which we
No, the idea is not that she sins by an act which he          wrote last time. God gave to Adam an help meet for
commits. The text says clearly enough that he causes          him and not an help mate. Be it far from our covenant
her to commit adultery. And that last part can only           seed simply to seek a play mate for themselves or a
mean that he stigmatizes her as an adulteress. Since it       "plaything." Marriage is a serious business that is
may be necessary to put a wife away because she lives         for life!
in fornication, and this is the only condition under which
and grounds for which God grants a bill of divorce-that           An help meet for Adam is an help suitable for him
means separation from under one roof, when a man              from the point of view of God'spurposein creating him.
puts away his wife in the church world, all must con-         The word meet in the expression means fit, suitable,
clude that she is an adulteress. And a woman who puts         appropriate, becoming. Adam was created to be God's
away in Israel and in the church world an husband             friend-servant. Eve was created to help him in that
stigmatizes him as a philandering, filthy and faithless       capacity. In his natural life, in his spiritual life, in his
partner. What is more, the verb inthephrase "causeth          life as an husband and as a father, in his work as
her to commit adultery," that is, in the last part of         prophet, priest and king Eve was to be at his side to help
this phrase, is in the original in the passive form. It       him and not to be a distraction, a  hinderance and
does not speak then of an act which she commits but           detriment. And our young people in the church are to
which is committed upon her by her hardhearted                seek one that will help them and not hinder them.
husband. He puts asunder what before God is still joined          A pretty face is what attracts the flesh. A witty
to him in God's judgment. He, that hardhearted husband,       mind may appeal to the flesh. A quiet and meek nature
deals with her as a foreign element and therein sins          that can be ruled, the clinging vine type that seems to
against her. And the man who would take this innocent         emphasize and satisfy the male ego does appeal to the
party for his wife also sins against her by adding him-       flesh. But the criterion for both young men and young
self as a foreign element between and along with that         women is spiritual compatibility not only but spiritual
which God will consider one flesh until either one of         ability to help the other in the covenant calling of living
them die, and their flesh is no more.                         together in the service of God to the praise of His name
   And the church that allows and advocates remarriage        in every aspect of the married life. Man and wife to-
of the divorced goes contrary to the ordinances of            gether must be a synchronized team that functions as a
Christ, the Head of the Church and the Bridegroom Who         virgin of Christ.
is ever faithful to His Bride, the Church. She had better         Paul puts it this way in that passage to which we
review her stand and be herself a virgin for Christ's         already referred, I Corinthians 9:39: ". . .She is at
sake. The reason for advocating or for condemning             liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the
remarriage of the divorced and of allowing divorces for       Lord." ONLY IN THE LORD is what our covenant youth
any other reason than fornicationmust not be utilatarian.     must constantly bear in mind with all its relationships
And convenience or inconvenience must not rule the            with the other sex. And there is an ocean of truth in that
Church. To be a virgin for Christ's sake the Church           phrase. It means first of all that they marry so that both
must be pure in doctrine and walk regardless of the           of them are in the Lord and that there is no foreign


                                                  THE STANDARD BEA&ER                                                    277

.    mixture of the Antichrist and of unbelief between the two     disagreement and grief in such an union. There are
     of them and Christ. To be married in the Lord means           times in some communities and in small congregations
     that husband and wife together are the virgin of Christ.      and denominations where this marrying in the same
     It means that they both are members of His Church. For        denomination is impossible. Then our youth is still
     the Church is the body of Christ, and unless both husband     obliged to seek a life's partner that will help in the
     and wife are in Him by being in His body, the Church,         service and worship of God and to choose one who is
     they are not married in the Lord. Then one member may         (1) willing to be instructed in his faith, and (2) is
     be in the Lord, but they are not as man and wife, as one      sincerely willing to agree not to agitate against the
     flesh.                                                        other's faith. And even then they should not get serious
        They must therefore both be in the faith, for that also    until it is determined that they both will conscientiously
     is to be in the Lord. He is the object of our faith and       before God embrace the same faith. For being married
     must be in our single life but also in marriage bond.         in the Lord also means being married in the presence
     They must be of the same faith; and they must be of the       or eyes or favour of the Lord. We do it before His face
     same  specific faith. Membership of one in the Roman          whether we are conscious of that fact or not. And our
     Catholic Church and the other in a Protestant Church is       seed's calling is to choose a life's partner with HIM,
     spiritual incompatibility which brings nothing but grief      whose virgin we are to be, in mind. Then when some
     and tears and hindrance in the spiritual life. It does not    natural incompatibilities do appear the common love of
     help either party one bit ! But neither does marrying into    God and of His Christ will hold them together and enable
     different denominations of Protestantism that disagree        them to live one life of dedication to Him, and receive
     on fundamental points of doctrine. There will be spiritual    His children to train in His fear.



      TRYING THE `SPIRITS-


                                      Dispensationalism

                          A Minus-Proof Speculation

                                                     by Rev. R. C.  Havbach


        The Bible of modern Dispensationalism, of which            (v. 5) This is another well-known messianic Psalm,
     C. I. Scofield was editor-in-chief, states in a footnote      describing the Sin-bearer, Gethsemane, the Cross,
     on Eph. 3:6 that "The mystery `hid in God' was the            those responsible for the crucifixion, and Judas, the
     divine purpose to make Jew and Gentile a wholly new           betrayer.    Here the sins of His people are referred
     thing, `the church, which is his (Christ's) body' . ..The     to as His sins, so close the oneness He has with them
     revelation of this mystery, which was foretold but not        in the imputation of the& sin and condemnation to Him.
     explained by Christ (Mt. 16:18), was committed to Paul.          "His name shall endure forever: His name shall
     In his writings alone we find the doctrine,. position,        continue as long as the sun, and men shall be blessed
     walk and destiny of the church." This, however, is so         in Him: all nations shall call Him blessed." (Ps. 72:17)
     far from the truth, as we have firmly demonstrated            Notice, not blessed  by Him, but "in  Him," or as in
     and will continue to do so, that one wonders whether          Eph. 1:3, "Blessed with all spiritual blessings in the
     dispensationalists ever give a careful reading to the         heavenlies in Christ." Scofield, taking no note of all
     Word of God. That the body of Christ is not at all to         this, theorizes that "as the Israelite's blessing was in
     be found in the O.T., since it is with the N.T. "a wholly     the land, so the Christian's blessing is `in Christ.' "
     new ,thing" is a conjecture without the least support         For the "in Christ" truth actually was not only a
     from Scripture. Nor does Scofield give any evidence           favorite with Paul, but also with David before him.
     for his strange hypothesis in the note where it is            "All my springs are in Thee." (Ps. 87:7)
     advanced.                                                        "This He ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when
        But let us continue our examination of the O.T. on         He went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a
     this score. In our last writing we left off at Psalm 40.      language that I understood not." (Psalm  81:s) The
     We now .turn to Psalm 69. "0 God, Thou knowest My             personal pronouns here all refer to the, God of Jacob
     foolishness,  and  My  S&IS  are not hid from Thee."          who affirms that the Egyptian language He understood


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

not! How can the omniscient God speak in this manner          this is the name wherewith SHE shall be called, `The
of Himself, whose wisdom is unsearchable? He does             Lord our righteousness." (33:16) The fact is, the
so in His Son who, as so united with His people, so one       Bridegroom and the Bride are given the same name;
with them, spoke as though their ignorance were His.          or upon being married to Another (Rom. 7:14) she takes
   "0 Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer, give ear, 0          His  name! Here the truth of the body of Christ in the
God of Jacob. Selah. Behold, 0 God our Shield, and            O.T. is as plainly revealed, although, of course, not as
look upon the face  of  Thine Anointed."    (Ps.  84:8, 9)    fully, as in the N.T., where the Church and all its
The Anointed is Christ, so that David pled that his           members are denominated Christ in I Cor. 12:12. For
prayer be heard  for  Chvist's sake!  Daniel did, too.        in that Pauline passage not Christ as an individual is
"Now therefore, 0 our God, hear the prayer of Thy             meant, but Christ as identified and united with His
servant, and his supplications, and cause Thy face to         covenant members ! There is not a man on earth able
shine upon Thy sanctuary that is desolate,  fov  the          to refute this asseveration.
Lovd's  sake." (9:17) In the face of this Scripture it           It is the plain teaching of plain Scripture that the
cannot be maintained that Israel was destined to receive      Church is the body of Christ, and that this body
earthly blessings, and not the spiritual blessings            embraces all who are representatively and organically
destined for the Church.                                      united to Him. He is the Last Adam, and as such, the
   Psalm 89 is another messianic prophecy, as is              federal and vital Head of the whole Election of Grace.
evident in verse 27. Following this verse, the Father         Read Eph.  5:23, where it is written, "Christ is the
promises to preserve Christ's "seed" and "children."          Head of the Church, and He is the Saviouvof the Body."
Then it is said, "If they break My statutes, and keep         What this irrefutably proves is that the Headship of
not My commandments, then will I visit their  trans-          Christ and His Suviouvhood are co-extensive, and that
gression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.       all saved by Him belong to and are members of the
Nevertheless My lovingkindness will I not utterly take        Church! Then if Adarn, Abel, Enoch, Noah and Abra-
from  Him,"  not "them," although He is speaking of           harn were saved,by God in view of Christ's effectual
them.     The remarkable change in pronouns again             atonement, then they are members of the Body!.
reveals the oneness of the members of Christ's body              The O.T. saints were not only members of the
with their Head. Then it ought to be carefully noted          Church and body of Christ, but they also knew this and
how this section closes.      "It (His throne) shall be       delighted in the spiritual  and etevnul, realities of the
established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful           Gospel. For Moses and believers of the Mosaic dis-
witness in heaven. " (v. 37) How, in the light of this,       pens ation "had respect unto the recompense of the
can it be said that the true Israel of the O.T. was an        reward." They "did all eat the same spiritual  meat,
earthly people? For here we have the character and            and did all drink the  same  spiritual   drink: for they
locution  of Christ's throne! From this it is as clear        drank of that spiritual  Rock that followed them: and
as the sun that Christ's kingdom is  eternal and              that Rock was  Christ,:"  (I Cor. lO:l-4) This idea is
heavenly. (See II Peter l:ll, ASV).                           further proved in Heb. 11:24-26 where we read that
   "My substance was not hid from Thee when I was             Moses did "esteem the reproach  of  Christ,  greater
made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest           riches than the treasures of Egypt." The O.T. saints,
parts of the earth. Thine eyes didst see My substance,        then, were not ignorant of their Savior, Christ.  But
yet being unperfect; and in Thy book all My members           what, at this place, is meant by "Christ," or, as in
were written, which in continuance were fashioned,            the original, "the  Christ?" Not merely Christ per-
when as yet there was none of them." (Ps. 139:15, 16)         sonally and individually considered, but Christ viewed
On this, in his  magnum  opus on the Psalms,  The             as inseparably united with His people, or as the
Tyeasuvy   of  David,  Spurgeon said, "The great Lord         Puritans put it, Christ  mystical, i.e., the Church. This
knows who belong to Christ; his eye perceives the             is borne out by the words, "esteeming the ye&roach  of
chosen members who shall yet be made one with the             Chvist" which are parallel to the words "choosing
living person of the mystical Christ. Those of the            rather to suffer  aflictions  with  the people  of God."
elect who are as yet unborn, or unrenewed, are never-         This is not the only parallelism in the passage, but is
theless written in the Lord's book. As the form of Eve        sufficient to show how "the. Christ" and "the people"
grew up in silence and secrecy under the fashioning           are used practically synonymously!       The "people of
hand of the Maker, so at this hour is the Bride being         God" (v. 25) are in verse 26 designated "the Christ."
fashioned for the Lord Jesus; or, to change the figure        This, as we said, is the title given to the Church in
- a body is being prepared in which the life and glory        I Cor. 12:12. Then the true Israel in the O.T. were
of the indwelling Lord shall forever be displayed. The        members of Christ!
Lord knoweth them that are his: he has a specially               In view of all that we have up to this point set forth,
familiar acquaintance with the members of the body of         it shocks our senses when Dispensationalists tell us
Christ; he sees their substance, unperfect though they        that there was no such thing as an Old Testament
be." (Vol. 7, p. 227)                                         Church, that it is therefore all wrong to speak of such.
   Now compare the following: "In His days Judah              The writer himself once thus believed the Word of
shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, and this       God, but did so ignorantly, not in the face of such
is His name whereby HE shall be called, `The Lord our         evidence as has been thus far presented. The writer '
righteousnes$.'  " (Jer.  23:6)    "In those days Judah       in his dispensationalist days was something of the
shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely; and         ignoramus he supposed the O.T. saint was. For any


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   279

neophyte Bible student ought to be able to understand         (Mt. 16:18), that He was not speaking of the body of
that in every  age "the path of the just is (has been and     Christ, or as we call it, the church triumphant, for
shall be) as the shining light, which shines more and         He added, "and the gates of hell shall not prevail
more unto the perfect day." (Prov. 4:18); that therefore      against it." He referred rather to the church as
the O.T. Israel was not without the spirituallight of the     visible on earth, the church militant, for it would be
gospel! Even a stripling in the faith ought to be able        pointless to speak of the gates of hell prevailing against
to see that the Bible cannot affirm that there was "the       the church triumphant, or against the body of Christ.
church in the wilderness," (Acts 7:38) and then in one        Even a Sunday School pupil can see that not only did
of the epistles declare there was no church in O.T.           Stephen believe there was a "church in the wilderness,"
times. For the Bible does not contradict itself. Nor          but that the Messiah speaking out of the old congrega-
does it .make such a statement in any of the epistles.        tion (Ps.  22:22), said, "I will declare Thy name unto
This is dispensationalism, not Paul, nor his epistles.        My brethren; in the midst of the church will I sing
Also a sleepy Christian can wake up and see that when         praise unto Thee." (Heb. 2:12) Moses, Stephen and
Jesus said, "Upon this rock I will build My church"           Christ - in the same Church!




   A CLOUD OF  WITNESSES-



                                     Jonathan's Arrows

                                                by Rev. B. Woudenbevg


                       `And when the lad was come to the place  of  the  ayrow which Jonathan had
                   shot, Jonathan  cried after the lad, and said, Is not the  ayyow beyond thee?
                      And Jonathan  cried  after  the lad, Make speed, haste, stay not. And Jona-
                   than's lad gathered up the ayyows, and came to his master.I Samuel 20:37, 38

   Together in the field, along with their God, David         be made by Jonathan to discover just exactly how
and Jonathan reaffirmed the covenant of friendship            determined his father was in his opposition to David.
which they shared together in mutual love. There was          The question was a good one; for it was entirely possible
a reason for this, for they felt instinctively that hence-    that, if Saul suspected that Jonathan was working to
forth they would not be able to share their lives             help David, he would prevent Jonathan from contacting
together as they had in the past. Each knew, and each         David directly. How then could they be sure of a way
now knew that the other knew that in the end it was not       in which Jonathan could pass on to David whatever
Jonathan that was to be king over Israel but David.           information he should discover? It was a matter of
Even more, they knew that Saul knew this also and was         providing for all possibilities. Accordingly, Jonathan
determined with all that was in him to prevent it.            laid out the following plan. "Tomorrow," he said, "is
Because of this, David was now a fugitive in the land         the new moon: and thou shalt be missed, because thy
while Jonathan could not escape the responsibilities          seat will be empty. And when thou hast stayed three
that came to him as the son of the king. Their lives          days, then thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the
from now on were bound to go in separate ways.                place where thou didst hide thyself when the business
Nevertheless, before they parted, they stopped to             was in hand, and shall remain by the stone Ezel. And
establish a covenant, to affirm their abiding love and        I will shoot three arrows on the side thereof, as though
friendship together. Regardless of what happened, they        I shot at a mark. And, behold, I will send a lad saying,
promised, this love would remain unending and un-             Go, find out the arrows. If I expressly say unto the lad,
changed, rooted in their mutual love for their God.           Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them;
   Only after this was done did Jonathan return to the        then come thou: for there is peace to thee, and no hurt;
question which David had last asked. The question was,        as the LORD liveth. But if I say thus unto the young
"Who shall tell me? or what if thy father answer thee         man, Behold, the arrows are beyond thee; go thy way:
roughly?" and it concerned the attempt which was to           for the LORD hath sent thee away. And as touching the


280                                             THESTANDARDBEARER

matter which thou and I have spoken of; behold, the             was not there and was not coming there, and his own
LORD be between thee and me for ever." Jonathan's               son Jonathan had assisted David in staying away. What
plan was very simply a means bywhichhe could inform             was he to do? No matter how he tried, things always
David of the outcome of his investigation even if his           seemed to go wrong in the end. It was the curse of
father Saul should assign someone to follow him so as           Samuel coming to him again. It infuriated Saul each
to prevent him from conferring with David. Jonathan             time again that he felt its power binding him. With a
could merely pretend that he was going out to engage            surge the blood rushed to his head; but what could he
in some customary target-practice and at the same time          do with David gone and escaped once again? The only
pass .on to David all of the information which he would         one around whom he could implicate was his own son
need to know.                                                   Jonathan; and, because his anger had to qent itself
       The plan of Jonathan was quickly agreed upon; and        somewhere, it was on Jonathan that it did. With the
David hid himself again in the field while Jonathan             screaming voice of an insane man, he shouted at him,
returned to the palace.                                         "Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I
       The next day came with the feast of the new moon,        know that thou has t chosen the son of Jesse to thine
and matters went pretty much the way that David and             own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother's
Jonathan had, anticipated. The royal table was set in           nakedness? For as long as the sonof Jesse liveth upon
the customary manner, with seats of honor for Jonathan,         the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy
David, and Abner the captainof the army: but, of course,        kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me,
the seat of David was empty. Nevertheless, Saul said            for he shall surely die."       So great had Saul's fury
nothing. It was not uncommon for a fighting man such            against David become that he had nothing but scorn
as David to find himself ceremonially unclean at the            and derision for anyone who would take David's part.
time of the new moon and therefore to absent himself            But there was only one thing he had with which to
from the first day of the feast.          Actually Saul had     counteract the power that protected David: that was his
wanted David to be there very badly for he had intended         own vain pride and authority. Desperately he attempted
to make a final end of the whole matter, while he had           to use it, ordering Jonathan to bring David to him.
never thought that David might ever presume not to                  Jonathan's attempt to answer his father was, perhaps,
appear when he was expected at the table of the king.           rather foolish. Being himself a man of strict honesty
Thus Saul said to himself, "Something hath befallen             and justice, he felt that truth and justice held the key to
him, he is not clean; surely he is not clean." The very         all persuasion. Even before his father's fury, he could
thought that David might escape him once again by               not resist the temptation to try to bring his father
failing to come to this feast was too painful for Saul          around to his own views.        Pleading for justice, he
even to allow himself to consider it.                           asked, "Wherefore shall he be slain? what hath he
       The next day, however, the second day of the feast       done ?' '
came and still the seat of David was empty. Now the
possibility of uncleanness could no longer apply, for              Earlier, when Saul had still been concerned with
enough time had passed that David might have purified           maintaining a good appearance, this sort of argument
himself. It was evident that something had happened             had worked; but not any longer. Basically Saul had no
which Saul had not anticipated. Harshly, and yet in a           real concern for right and wrong. In fact, through his
way rather plaintively, Saul turned to Jonathan and             years of wilful pride, he had finally come to the position
demanded, "Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to             where the only right to him was what he wanted, and
meat, neither yesterday, nor to day?"                           whatever opposed his own personal desire was wrong.
       This was exactly, of course, the question which          To have Jonathan now attempt to challenge him with an
Jonathan was waiting for. It gave him the opportunity           appeal to a higher principle than his own desire only
to test the feelings of his father toward David just as         infuriated him beyond even the control of his own
David had suggested.          Quickly Jonathan answered,        reason. Just as with David before, Saul picked up his
"David earnestly asked leave of me togo to Bethlehem:           javelin and threw it with all of his might at Jonathan.
and he said, Let me go, I praythee; for our family hath         Such was his determination to kill David and all who
a sacrifice in the city; and my brother,!he hath com-           defended him.
manded me to be there: and now, if I have found favor              It was more than the otherwise calm nature of
in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my         Jonathan was able to endure. Even as he sprang aside
brethren.       Therefore he cometh not unto the king's         to evade the javelin of his father, his own temper broke
table."                                                         and he rushed from the table and the room in utter
       With Saul it, was not at all a question as to whether    fury. It was evident now that justice and truth meant
there might be an element of truth in what Jonathan             nothing to his father whatever; all that mattered was
said or not. The fact just stared him in the face that          his own, so easily offended pride. Deeply grieved,
David was not coming to the palace for this feast; he           Jonathan did not stop until he had come to his own
was not coming at all. The more often David eluded              room and there he remained until his anger subsided.
him, the more determined Saul was becoming to put               All through that day he sat alone in his sorrow without
David out of the way. Ever since he had gone himself            as much as, eating. It was not until the next morning
to Naioth at Ramah, he had looked forward to this               that he picked up his bow and arrows, and calling one
feast of the new moon with firm determination to finish         of the palace children to him went out as though to
the matter then. Now that feast had come, and David             practice his marksmanship in the fields.


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   281

        As unobtrusively as possible Jonathan made his           royal palace as long as Saul remained king.
     way out into the field to the place which he and David         Once the boy had returned with the arrows, Jonathan
     had agreed `upon. All the time as he went, he watched       could well have returned to the palace while David set
     with special care if there should be anyone following       out upon his way. By this time, however, Jonathan had
     him under orders of his father, especially because his      determined quite surely that there was no one who had
     father had seemed quite aware of the fact that he and       followed him into the field. Thus he gave the bow and
     David were still in contact with each other. He             arrows to the lad and instructed him to return them
     observed nothing, but still he followed exactly the plan    to the palace while he remained alone in the field, and
     which had been laid down. Coming to the rocky ridge         without suspicion the lad went.
     of Ezel where David was hiding, he sent the young lad          No sooner was the lad gone than David stepped forth
     who was with him out into the field to retrieve the         from his hiding place. Deeply moved, he bowed him-
     arrows as they were shot. Then he took a few arrows         self three times to the ground in acknowledgement of
     and shot them far beyond where the boy was standing.        Jonathan's kindness; and, when Jonathan approached him,
     Hardly had the lad turned to pursue them but Jonathan       the two young men fell upon each other's necks, kissed
     cried out in a loud voice, "Is not the arrow beyond         and wept.      There was little more to say. They had
     thee? Make speed, haste, stay not." To anyone else          talked themselves out a few days before. Now the
     these would have appeared as nothing more than              parting words were Jonathan's as he said to David,
     directions to help the lad locate the spent arrows; but     "Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us
     to David crouching attentively in his hiding place it       in the name of the LORD, saying, the LORD be between
     meant far more. It was just as he had expected. Saul's      me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for
_    hatred was not just a momentary flare-up; it was an         ever." So the two men parted, friends, bound with a
     unwavering determination which threatened his life.         bond of love, but never to meet again in this life on the
     Henceforth there would be no welcome for him in the         same intimate terms which they had known in the past.



     ALL AROUND  US-



          Does "Realism" Justify Sin?

                                 The Worship of Satan

                                                                           News Briefs

                                                      by Pyof. H. Hanko

     DOES "REALISM" JUSTIFY SIN?           _                     dramas coming from even Reformed educational in-
        There is a continuing debate going on concerning         stitutions.
     the moral rightness of depicting sin in works of art -         But in our own circles as well there are marked
     novels, dramatic productions, paintings, etc.       The     tendencies in this direction. Perhaps not as serious
     problem has reached crisis proportions in the world.        as elsewhere, but they are there. One hears from
     With the advent of the "new morality" anything goes.        time to time a plea being made, for example, to permit
     Magazines, books, movies, dramatic productions all          our children in school to read books in which sex and
     seem to vie with each other to see which can be the         swearing are very common.
     dirtiest and foulest. Swearing, sex and sexual aber-           And, as often as not, the justification for all this is
     rations, murder and lying saturate the arts. But the        the magic word "realism". I suppose it is difficult
     world does not have the distinction of being alone in       to keep from being prudish about all this; and there are
     this respect. The problem has entered the church and        problems here whit h certainly need to be discussed.
     church-related schools. Sin is graphically portrayed        But what does bother me considerably is the fact that
     in every form it takes in literary productions and          the cry for realism is oftentimes a justification for


282                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER

grossest sin in works of art. Realism is supposed to                      -H.H.) We are all so afraid of being thought unsophis-
justify reading novels with sex in them.                    Realism       ticated that we run for cover at the least scorn of one
broadens the field of literature to embrace just  about                   who is so sure that we must have realism....
everything.       In fact, the term has become a handy way                   It is amusing but also tragic that in the American
to defend sin and flout the words of the apostle Paul:                    culture we are so unsophisticated as to believe that
"For it is a shame even to speak of these things which                    our young people should be allowed everything in the
are done of them in secret." Eph. 5:lZ.                                   name of freedom. Then we wake up with such naive
       But is this cry of realism sufficient? In a recent                 surprise because somehow man-woman relationships
article in  Christianity  Today,   Addison  H,  &itch  had                have gone very sour indeed.
some pointed comments to make concerning this                             There is a point here that needs to be underscored.
matter.       He is  writing chiefly about dramatic  pro-              Realism itself is not justification for much of what is
ductions, which he approves  - and we must take issue                  done and put into books. Whether it be astage pro-
with him at this point. But his remarks are pertinent                  duction or a novel, this excuse simply will not do.
to  all forms of literary art as well.  He writes in  part:            Rather, a work of art of any kind (and surely a novel)
         It might be worth our time to reconsider this whole           must have more justification than that it depicts reality
   argument  about realism. We must admit that almost                  to be chosen as good and permissible for our children.
   anything that is portrayed must be somewhere, among                 It has to have its chief justification in the fact that
   some people,  realistic. But whether we need to know                there is in it a communication of truth. It must not
   or have set before us on the stage or described in
   novels what realism in these matters may mean to                    only passively reflect what life is; it must also point
   some kinds of people is a nice question.                            the way to what life ought to be. It must help in the
          I like to think of it this way. The rose bush in             difficult task of interpreting life in the light of God's
   front of our house is just as real as the garbage can               Word and explaining the calling of life according to the
   at the back.         I think it is a sound instinct that the        precepts of God. Then it is good. We ought to beware
   garbage ought to be kept at the back of the house, with             of pleas for  realism  - especially when they become
  " the lid on it. I don't thinkdoing this is narrow-minded,           an excuse to read or write anything and everything.
   naive, old-hat, provincial, or square. It is a piece of
   progress that to my mind makes our century more                     THE WORSHIP OF SATAN
   pleasant and certainly more healthful- than previous                   Recently an article appeared in the Grand 
   ones. The streets of our cities were once almost like                                                                    Rapids
   cesspools, and that was real enough. Now we have                    Press  (and,no doubt, in other papers across the country,
   learned to clean up the streets, and that is real, too.             for it was carried by Associated Press Wire Service)
   What I am trying to say is that to argue realism is not             in which was described a wedding performed in the
   quite enough. Something else is at stake here.                      name of Satan. It was performed by a sorcerer in the
          In the movie and the play Who's Afraid of Virginia           living room of a black-walled Satanist Church. The
   Woolf? we have plenty of realism. The older couple                  officiating sorcerer wore devil's horns; the ceremony
   in the play have made a very sad mess out of their                  was performed in an atmosphere of devil worship and
   lives, and in the course of the play they pull in the               sorcery, for the participants were surrounded by human
   younger couple. With plenty of liquor and lots of foul              skeletons, stuffed oppossums and leopards, and a
   language and one woman who acts like a fishwife and
       another who can't keep from falling apart in tears, we          physician's examining table which later became a bar.
   get a strong dose of realism - at least what is real in             The one officiating also wore a black hood and a robe,
   some marriages and some families. Depending upon                    rang a gong periodically, recited an ode to the satyr
   where we sit ourselves, we are more or less horrified               Pan and spoke incantations in a language he himself
   by being allowed to look into something like this.                  had invented. In explanation of the ceremony, the one
          Perhaps the play has a moral: Don't drink so much            officiating said: "This marriage was conceived not in
   and do your best not to get your marriage into a mess               heaven, but in hell, which is the mold from which
   like that.       There is, of course, a touching and very           heaven was cast and which has kept religion alive from
   dramatic problem in the case of the older couple, and               the beginning."
   there is a kind of hope at the end that they have found                This is only one instance of a phenomenal growth
   each other and are about to reach out and touch now
   as persons dealing with their problems. All I can say               of demonism throughout the world  - especially in
   is three cheers for that....                                        civilized countries.    All sorts of demonic cults are
          . ..Great literature is not only a reflection of life but    being formed and sorcery, soothsaying, necromancy,
   also a creator of life....                                          fortune telling, occultism, etc. is spreading rapidly.
          . ..Can we justify anything so long as it is artfully        Many times the rites of societies mimic the sacred
   done for the sake of art? I pull back from this argu-               ceremonies of the church - as the wedding described
   ment, too. Let your mind run to some of the physical                above and as various rites of devil baptism. The
   things people have to do in the normal course of a day.             enemy of the Church is indeed, first of all, Satan. He
   We rightly do these behind closed doors. They are
   absolutely                                                          remains implacably committed to subject this creation
                   real, but doing them, even doing them well,
   on the stage would certainly be no argument for their               to himself so that he may rule as sovereign lord -over
   presentation.                                                       all things in God's place. The Bible tells us that this
          . ..I have often wondered why a college drama de-            will someday actually come to pass before the Lord
   partment can present on the stage viewpoints and                    returns; but Scripture also suggests in some places
   language that would get a man fired if he used them                 that at this time men will literally worship Satan and
   in the classroom. (And the same can be said>of novels               bow before him as their king. Surely this is happening


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      283

now.        A startling and fearful sign of the evil of our      system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures."
times.                                                           They will be asked to promise to bring any disagree-
NEWS BRIEFS                                                      ments with fundamental doctrines to the attention of
                                                                 their presbyteries.
   From time to time various attempts are beingmade                  - changes in the election of elders and deacons.
by certain groups to control religious radio broad-              All officebearers elected subsequent to the merger will
casting.       This has been tried in the past - as e.g.,        no longer serve indefinite or lifetime tenures as is
by the National Council of Churches; this will be tried          now done in Presbyterian Churches. They will have to
again in the future.                                             retire after a certain length of time.
   Recently, the United Church of Christ, financed by                The committee discussing merger has not yet made
foundation grants amounting to a total of $85,000 has            recommendations        concerning the decision of the
announced plans to monitor all religious broadcasting.           Southern Presbyterians to join the COCU talks.
The avowed goal is to silence broadcasts which "tend                                        * * *
to be weighed with extremist viewpoints." When a                     Briefly we note (hoping to discuss this more fully
certain broadcast reveals such extremist tendencies in           at some future time) a trend of major proportions
the opinion of UCC officials, attempts will be made to           within the Roman Catholic Church towards the liberal-
stop the program through appeals to the Federal                  ism of Protestantism. This liberalism, culminating
Communications Commission and, if necessary, in the              in the death-of-God movement, is being openly espoused
courts.                                                          in Roman Catholic circles.
   This aim of the UCC is, no doubt, directed against                And in connection with this, there is a movement
various "right-wing" broadcasts, - although they do              among Roman Catholics in Europe gaining strength, to
not say this. The reason and justification for this is,          have conversations with communists. Several efforts
according to UCC officials, to keep from the air all             have already been put forth in this direction; and the
programs which do not serve the general interest of              idea is being hailed by Romish and Protestant liberals
the public.       It is not difficult to envision what will      alike.
happen if these liberals are ever successful in their                Along with this, it is of more than passing interest
attempts.       Perhaps for the time they will be content        that the pope is paying increased attention to com-
in banning "right-wing" broadcasts. But they have a              munism. He seems to have charted a course for him-
pretty potent argument that also the proclamation of the         self in which he will attempt to act as mediator between
truth of God's Word does not serve thegeneral interest           Western and communist governments. He has already
of the public. And their venom will be turned against            tried this in connection with the Viet Nam War, and
the truth and those who proclaim it.                             seems intent on enlarging his role to include all
                             * * *                               differences between the West and the Communist bloc.
   According to the Presbyterian Jouvrud  progress is               There are significant implications in all this. Not
being made in merger talks between Southern Presby-              only do these developments point to increasing possi-
terians and the Reformed Church of America. The                  bilities of union between Romanism and Protestantism,
document ready for consideration by the churches deals           but they point to a greater  political role for the Vatican.
with church government. Some proposals in the docu-              The church is walking a way that leads not only to
ment include:                                                    merger within the ecclesiastical community; but the
   - changes in ordination vows.             Among these,        same road to unity leads to an unholy alliance between
officers will not be asked to affirm, as once they did,          the church and the state. There are other evidences
that the Bible is "the Word of God, the only infallible          of this; the one mentioned above is part of a larger
rule of faith and practice." Nor will they be asked to           picture.    But the church which joins the state in a
"sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith             common cause will also have to bear the burden of
and Catechisms of this Church, as containing the                 joining in a common cause which is of Satan.




                        But this salvation they must work out. They must let that gift and power of
                   salvation serve the purpose for which it was freely bestowed upon them. They
                   must bring that glorious gift of salvation by grace to manifestation in their whole
                   life. In their entire walk, and that, too, in the midst of the world that-lies in dark-.
                   ness, they must reveal themselves as those that have been delivered from the
                   dominion of sin, and liberated unto righteousness. From the principle of their
                   new life in Christ Jesus, they must live in every walk of life, representing the cause
                   of the Son of .God in the world. Thus the salvation that was wrought within them will
                   be worked out by them.
                                                    - H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," pp. 84, 85


284                                          THE STANDARD BEARER




       EXAMINING  E  CUMENICALISM-



               The W.C.C.  - and Its Conference on

                                  Church  atid Society

                                                by Rev. G. Van  Baren


   Much is being heard, also in Reformed circles, of          antichrist. This second beast "exerciseth all the power
the World Council of Churches (W.C.C.). Inour country,        of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and
the Reformed Church in America is a member. The               them which dwell therein to worship the first beast,
Christian Reformed Church is not  - but there is              whose deadly wound was healed." This second beast
considerable agitation within it to change this situation.    uses its powers of persuasion (it has a voice of a
The argument is often heard that a scriptural, con-           dragon) to convince men to worship the first beast.
fessional, Calvinistic church can influence such an           Yet the second beast comes as a mild lamb (it has
organization far more from within than from without.          horns as a lamb) which serves to convince many that
This attitude appears to me to be very similar to that        there is in this beast nothing to fear. One cannot help
of the proverbial fly who enters into the "parlor" of         noticing that when a gathering such as the recent
the spider.                                                   Conference on Church and Society, under sponsorship
   The W.C.C. and its related organizations continue          of the W.C.C., takes place, there is both in declaration
to reveal themselves. This revelation of its character        and appearance a close resemblance to that second
was made again last July in Geneva, Switzerland. At           beast of Revellation  13.
that time there was held a "Conference on Church and             The Conference on Church and Society emphasized
Society." This conference was under the auspices of           particularly four points: "(1) Modern technology....;
the W.C.C.; it consisted of a body of "experts"' who          (2) The need for accelerated development in Asia,
would speak co jthe W.C.C., but also who revealed the         Africa, and Latin America....; (3) The struggle for
general direction in which the W.C.C. is going. Twice         world peace....; (4) The problem of just political and
I have attempted to obtain the documents which were           social order and the changing role of the state."
approved at that gathering - but I have not received             Though there were various documents treated at this
them to date.     However, an interesting account and         Conference, and though I have only brief excerpts of
analysis of this Conference was presented in the latest       these, yet several points seem to emerge.
Christickity  Today I by Alice Widener (February 17,             First, this brain-child of, the W.C.C. would like to
1967). The article was reprinted from the magazine            see a one-world power, or at least a supranational
U.S.A.,;  Vol. 12, Nos. 24-25. I intend to quote from         organization, with power to act in various spheres.
this article, and especially those quotes that article        The conference called for a "gradual imposition of
contains from the documents of the Conference itself.         supranational approaches upon national efforts." There
                                                              is the recommendation that the Church urge govern-
THE BEASTS OF REVELATION 13                                   ments "to introduce economic, political and social
   As one reads an article as that appearing in               education into `national school systems to support also
Christianity  To&y,\  shivers go up and down one's            the idea of "a diminuation of national sovereignty."
spine. Here one sees presented an unfolding of that           In another place the Conference proposes a "supra-
which Revelation speaks of. In chapter 13 there are           national authority (over) the two major nuclear powers."
presented two beasts-terrible beasts. The first                  This supranational power must see to the proper
comes from the sea with his seven heads, ten horns,           and equal distribution of wealth:
and ten crowns. Without entering into detail, we can
state that this beast represents the political world-                Unfortunately the level of government contributions
power as it reaches its climax and culmination in the            has only rarely been determined in. consultation with
                                                                 the receiver.     These contributions, even to inter-
kingdom of the antichrist.      The second beast with            national agencies, are voluntary, short-term commit-
horns as a lamb and voice of a dragon represents the             ments.    However, the transfer of capital and skill
social-religious-scientific aspect of the kingdom of the         through governmental channels must be considered as


                                                 THESTANDARDBEARER                                                           285

   a long-term process, and more formal, medium or                    firmer guarantees of human rights.           Where  such
   long-term arrangements and commitments are be-                      changes are impossible, the Christian may come to the
   coming increasingly necessary for the efficient opera-             .conclusion  that he has no alternative but to violate the
   tion of these agencies and the carrying out of develop-             constitution in order to make possible a better one....
   ment programs.                                                      We understand that laws may be defied in the defence
                                                                       of the constitution, and that the constitution may be
   To carry out the  above "longterm arrangements                      defied in defence of human rights.
and commitments," eventually there will have to be "a                     . . ..No generally valid over-all prescription can be
system of international taxation."                                     given for the ways in which changes in the organization
   To carry out the plans of this Conference, a virtual                of political and economic power in developing nations
dictatorship will be necessary.         The plans involve              should occur and how Christians should respond to such
nothing less than a          "restructuring of the world               changes....
economy." This "restructuring" would also require                         There are, however, at least two generalizations
force to carry it out and would, admittedly, work hard-                which can be made about the approach of Christians to
ship for many:                                                         the reorganization of the structures of power in the
                                                                       "Third World." One is that wherever small elites
      The fundamental restructuring of the world economy               rule at the expense of the Welfare of the majority,
   necessarily implies temporary dislocation andpossible               political change toward achieving a more just order as
   suffering for a large number of people. The first task              quickly as possible should be actively promoted and
   of the churches in this situation is to speak to the                supported by Christians. The second is that, in cases
   government or power structure responsible and to                    where such changes are needed, the use by Christians
   insist that prior measures be taken to prevent or at                of revolutionary methods - by which is meant violent
   least to minimize and alleviate the difficulties which              overthrow of an existing political order - cannot be
   individuals and groups may have to face. Only after                 excluded a priori. For in such cases, it may very well
   every preventive measure has been taken should the                  be that the use of violent methods is the only recourse
   Church prepare people to accept and overcome these                  of those who wish to avoid prolongation of the vast
   problems and impart the vision of a wider world order               covert violence which the existing order involves. But
   for which restructuring is a necessary preliminary.                 Christians should think of the day after the revolution,
                                                                       when justice must be established by clear minds and
   Secondly, this Conference, supposedly representing                  in good conscience.      There is no virtue in violence
the thought of the "Churches" and reflecting  (sqp-                    itself, but only in what will come after it. In some
posedly)    the testimony of Scripture, presents a                     instances significant changes have been made by non-
"morality" `which is wholly against the thought of                     violent means, and Christians must develop greater
Scripture and the law of God. It minimizes the calling                 skill and wisdom in using these.
of the church to preach the gospel and, in fact, scoffs                One would almost think that those people havenever
at the position of the church in the past ages. It rejects         read Romans 13.
the idea that it is enough "to seek to save souls and                  One final fact emerges  from the documents of this
improve individual characters on the assumption that               Conference.        The "Church" wants to cooperate in all
good people will produce good government." And it                  of this with the world  - in fact, must conform itself
scorns the past position of the church: "the problem of            to the world in order to accomplish its goals. The
the contemporary structure of the Church is that it was            Conference stated, "In many parts of the world today,
devised for a past form of society, which was static,              the Church represents a relatively small minority,
generally agrarian, and religiously conformist."                   participating in the struggle for the future of man
   What then is the calling of the church? What are                 alongside other religions and secular movements.
the rules it must follow? The proposals of the Con-                Moreover, it can hope to contribute to the transfor-
ference of "churchmen" are shocking. It suggests that              mation of the world only as it is itself transformed in
the church must even encourage revolution to carry                 contact with the world." And again, "AS Christians,
out that plan to "restructure" society.                            we are committed to working for the transformation of
      Political involvement at times confronts Christians           society working in and through the established institu-
   with especially difficult issues such as the use of             tion`s according to their rules."
   constitutional or extra-constitutional methods of polit-            There is left no Christ. There is no preaching of
   ical action, the use of violent or non-violent action,          the gospel. There is no maintaining of the truths of
   and the rights of minorities or other oppressed groups          the Word of God. There is no care for that truth that
   within the life of a nation.                                    the church and its members are pilgrims and strangers
      . ..In many cases where legislation violates an
   acceptable constitution, and no speedy means of legal           on the earth. There is no looking for the kingdom of
   relief are available, the Christian may be called to            heaven.    None of this appears to be the concern of this
   civic disobedience (sit-down strikes, passive dis-              Conference.        What is seen is the rising of the second
   obedience or deliberate violation of laws). In cases in         beast of Revelation 13. Watchhim! You will be hearing
   which the constitution itself is inadequate, the Christian      more and more of him in the "conferences" which the
   is called to work for its amendment in the interest of           "churches" hold .

                      When God saves us through Jesus Christ our Lord, His purpose is that we may
                  be to the glory of His grace in the Beloved, may declare His praises, and bring
                  forth fruit unto righteousness, walking as children of light in the midst of the world
                  that lieth in darkness.                     - H. Hoeksema, "The Wonder of Grace," p. 82


286                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



 QUESTION BOX

            Questi.ons .On. Dispensationqlism
                                                 by Rev. R.  C.  Havbach

           Concernipg The  Coming of  Christ
                                               by  Pvof.  H. C. Hoeksema

   The editor has asked the undersigned (a former              to the Church. But what belongs to the Jew, viz., the
Washingtonian) to answer two interesting statements            so called "earthly promise," does not apply to us. It
offered by Mr. Lionel Woodworth, a subscriber, of              cannot be said that such "promises" have nothingto do
Spokane, Washington. First, he writes:                         with us at all. They have sbmething  to do with us, but
   In reading the article on dispensationalism on pages        (so the theory goes) they do not specifically intend, and
176 to 178 of  The  Stantiavd   Beaver   for January 15,       so are not  fov, us. The posed statement, because it
1967, I was puzzled by the apparent contradictions             contains an error, and because it refers to an absurdity
between it and the writings of various dispensational          not ours, is enervated.
theologians. For example, Reverend Harbach writes                  Secondly, he writes:
that "Dispensationalists claim much of both Testa-                 The Reverend Harbach also writes: "Dispensation-
ments belongs not to us." In contrast, Dr. G. Cole-            alism does go to the extreme of belittling the Old
man Luck, chairman of the Department of Theology of            Testament, its importance and value." In contrast
the Moody Bible Institute, writes that Dispensation-           again, Dr. John F. Walvoord, president of DallasTheo-
alists "insist that no part of Scripture must be rel-          logical Seminary, Dallas, Texas, has written: "The
egated to some other age with the foolish statement            recognition of proper dispensational distinctions has
that it has nothing to do with us at all, " and goes on.       often been the means of opening a Bible previously
to quote II Tim. 3:16; I Cor. 1O:ll and Rom 15:4 (Good         closed. Laymen trained in non-dispensational inter-
News Byoadcastev,  June 1966, p. 11).                          pretation have found great portions of the Old Testament
   Answer: The quotation above given is really  no'            without meaning. Once these were understood in their
contrast to the statement made in the January article;         normal and natural sense as providing a prophetic
it is, in fact, a practical admission of the statement.        program for the present and future, the Bible became
Notice, it is not said in the words posed that dispen-         an open book ((GoodNews  Byoadcastev,  December, 1966,
sationalists "insist that no part of Scripture must be         p.  9)."
relegated to some other age." Whoever would come                   I believe that more people than I may be confused
with that statement would not be dispensationalist after       by the seemingly serious disparities between the Rev.
all! For that is what the dispensationalist does - he          Harbach and Doctors Luck and Walvoord as to the
relegates certain parts of Scripture to some other, a          theological teachings of Dispensationalists.
past, the present or a future, age. For example, the                                        Yours in Christ,
undersigned was taught in the dispensational school                                         Lionel Woodworth
founded by C. I. Scofield that the Sermon on the Mount
is not the standard for the Christian, in the Church, but         Answer: The above dispensationalist remark
is the constitution of the earthly kingdom of the Jews         happens to contain a rather general reference to "the
in a future millennium. Expressions may be found like          Old Testament." The words Old Testament are used,
this, and worse, in Scofield's introduction to the Four        but the term "Scripture" could just as well have been
Gospels and in his notes on the Gospel According to            employed instead. The statement therefore does not
Matthew. What the above statement maintains is that            specifically contend for the Old Testament. It rather
dispensationalists "insist that no part of Scripture           implies that anyone unequipped with the benefit (?)
must be relegated to sotie  other age with the foolish         of "dispensational distinctions" will find, not merely
statement that it has nothing to do with us at all (ital.      the Old Testament, but the Bible, a closed book, in
added)." Now that is something else. But who charges           fact, a meaningless book.      But with this assumed
dispensationalists with such a foolish statement? Cer-         superior light provided by these "proper distinctions,"
tainly we do not 1 On the basis of II Tim. 3:16, dispensa-     the Bible is claimed to become. an open book, which
tionalists will admit that certain portions of Scripture       not at all necessarily means that the Old Testament
do have something to do with us, in that they are              is given such esteem as views it a revelation. integral
profitable for instruction. We may be instructed, for          with the New Testament, containing essentially the
example, as to what belongs to Israel and what belongs         same message as the New, and directed equally with


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  287

the New to the Church of all ages. It is a belittling of    anti) ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right
the Old Testament and a serious error to teach that         hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven."'
the Church began no earlier than Pentecost, and that        On page 776, in connection with the opening of the
therefore there was no Church throughout the Old            book with its seven seals, Revelation 5, is the follow-
Testament dispensations.       Read further the forth-      ing : "In that sense, then, namely, in the sense that
coming series on the subject.       Anent the so called     Jesus executes the counsel of God in regard to the
"theological teachings of Dispensationalists," it is        coming of the kingdom of heaven, He is always coming.
rather well known that they have denounced all creeds,      He is coming in the preaching of the gospel, in war and
and have manifested a contempt for theology and             rumors of war, in earthquakes and pestilences, in
theologians, largely because the historic creeds and        famines and want in death and destruction. And be-
theological systems contain nothing of the doctrines        cause this is the truth, the Scriptures speak of signs
they deem essential and claim to have. rediscovered.        of His coming, signs that clearly and loudly proclaim
(Cp. Prophecy  and the Chuvch, O.T. Allis, Pres. &Ref.      throughout this dispensation that the Lord is coming
Pub., Phila., 1945, pm 16).                                 again.    And He comes quickly. There is no check.
                                                            There is no restraint.        There is no delay. Things
                                                            develop as quickly as possible, until in the end He
CONCERNING THE COMING OF CHRIST                             comes personally in the parousia, which we believe
                                                            to be His personal and visible arrival, to close the
   From the Junior Mr. and Mrs. Society of First            history of this entire dispensation."
Church, Grand Rapids, through its secretary, Mrs.              By the second expression, `Christ shall come,' is
Wm. J. Oomkes, I received the following interesting         meant the future and single event of Christ's final
question:                                                   coming, His arrival, His parousia, His personal and
   Dear Editor:                                             visible coming to close the history of the world. To
   At our last society meeting we had many different        that coming as the end-event Scripture refers very
views on the following question: "What is the differ-       often.    Let me mention just a few passages from
ence in saying, `Christ is coming," or, `Christ shall       I Thessalonians. In 3:13 we read: "To the end he may
come?' "                                                    stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before
   We as a society made the decision to send this           God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus
question to the Question Box in the Standa&                 Christ with all his saints." In 4:15 this coming is spoken
                                                Beaver.
   As soon as possible, may we see an answer to our         of as follows: "For this we say unto you by the word of
question for further discussion.                            the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
   A `thank you' in advance from the society.               coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are
                                                            asleep." And in 5:23 it is also the final coming that
                                                            is referred to: "And the very God of peace sanctify
REPLY                                                       you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul
   By the first expression, `Christ is'coming,' is meant    and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of
the truth that our Lord Jesus Christ is on the way, or,     our Lord Jesus Christ."
in the process of coming. This expression refers,               Perhaps part of your difficulty was caused by the
therefore, to Jesus' coming throughout the history of       fact that we sometimes loosely use the words "is
the new dispensation, from the time of His cross and        coming" in a future sense. Strictly speaking, they do
resurrection and exaltation until the final parousia. I     not denote the future idea, but the idea of process and
can put this no better in a brief statement than by         progress.
quoting Rev. H. Hoeksema, "Reformed Dogmatics,"                The relation between these two aspects of Christ's
page 775: "Always and in all the events of history, of      coming is, of course, that the latter is the end and the
the history of the world and of the history of the          culmination of the former.
church, in connection with the preaching of the gospel,        In conclusion, I cannot resist the temptation to point
Jesus is coming, and He is coming quickly. To this          out that here' is a question on which "Reformed
coming the Lord refers in Matthew 26:64: `Jesus saith       Dogmatics" would be very helpful to any society
unto him Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you.       member. I only quoted snatches of it.
Hereafter (better: henceforth, or: from now on, ap'                                                            H.C.H.



The Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School will          The Northwest Iowa Protestant Reformed School, the
present the annual all-school program entitled, "Our.       Lord willing, will open its doors September of 1967. Two
Catholic Undoubted Christian Faith", on Thursday,           teachers are needed: one for grades 1 to 4, the other
March 23, at 8:00 p.m., in the First Protestant Re-         for grades 5 to 8. Prospective teachers may write:
formed Church, Grand Rapids. Over 200 students in                            Mr. Ray Brunsting
grades l-9 will be involved (D.V.) in heralding the                          R. R. 2
message of peace confessed in our Apostles Creed.                            Rock Valley, Iowa 51247
                       Miss A. Lubbers, Principal               The Northwest Iowa Prot. Reformed School Board


288                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER

                                               NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES-
       REPORT OF CLASSIS  EAST                                                    Classis decided to hold the April 5th session in South-
       Sessions held January 4 and February 8, 1967                            east Church.
       At Hope Church, Grand Rapids                                               Questions of Article 41 of the Church Order were
                                                                               asked and answered satisfactorily.
             Rev. G. C. Lubbers led in theopeningdevotions, and                   Prof. H. Hanko closed this session withprayer.
       after the credentials were accepted, declared the classis                               February 8th session
       properly constituted. All the churches were represented                    Rev. G. Lubbers led in devotions. And Rev. H.
       by two delegates each.                                                  Veldman presided in the absence of Rev. M. Schipper,
             Rev. M. Schipper, following the order of rotation,                who had entered the hospital for surgery.
       then presided, while the Rev. Lubbers recorded the                         Elder H. Vander Kolk took the place of Elder B.
       minutes.                                                                Windemuller, and Elder H. Ophoff took the place of Rev.
             The chairman welcomed the delegates, especially the               M. Schipper as delegates.
       Rev. J. Kortering, who was meetingwithus for the first                     Elder W. Kamps was granted an advisory vote.
  ,time.                                                                          Classis then entered into executive session to treat
             The brethren R. Kamminga and A.  Haveman were                     the reports of the two committees previously appointed.
       appointed to serve on the Finance Committee for these                      The morning session was closed  by Elder R.
       sessions of classis.                                                    Kamminga, and the afternoon sessionwas opened by Rev.
             The minutes of the October 5th and the December 7th               H. Veldman, and Elder W. Kamps closed the afternoon
       sessions of  classis  were read and approved. The reports               session, while the Rev. H. Veldman opened the evening
       of the Stated Clerk and the Classical Committee were                    session.
       read and approved. The Classical Committee wasman-                         The Finance Committee again tendered its report re
       dated once more to present a copy of its Constitution to                expenses, which classis approved.
       the next classical meeting.                                                Elder W. Clason -reported that he had thanked the
             Holland and Randolph requested `classical appoint-                Marthas  of Hope Church for their excellent catering
       ments, and the committee: Rev. G. Van Baren, B. Winde-                  services.
       muller, and P. Zandst a was appointed to prepare the               -       After the chairman spoke a few fitting words to the
       schedule, which was later adopted as follows:                           classis, the Rev. R. C. Harbach closed the evening
       HOLLAND - Jan. 15 - G. Van Baren Jan. 29 - G. Lubbers                   session with thanks to God.
       Feb. 19 - H. Veldman Feb. 26 - J. Kortering Mar. 5 -                                                      Rev. M. Schipper, S.C.
       R. Harhach March 19 - M. Schipper Apr. 2 - G. Van
       Baren Apr. 9 - G. Lubbers.
       RANDOLPH - Jan. 1.5 - J. Kortering Jan. 22 - H. Veld-                   The second  in-the  Lecture Series was held in First
       man Feb. 5 - R. Harhach Feb. 19 - G. Van Baren  Feb.            Church of Grand Rapids Feb. 16 with Prof. H. Hanko at
       26 - M. Schipper Mar. 12 - G. Lubbers Mar. 19 - H.              the lectern. Rev. G. Van  Baren,  iii the absence of Rev.
       Veldman Apr. 2 - R. Harhach Apr. 9 - J. Kortering.              M. Schipper, led in the opening devotions and intro-
             Requests for Subsidy were presented by the  Con-
       sistories of Holland and Kalamazoo. The Committee:              duced the speaker. The Radio Choir, under the direction
  `Rev. G. Lubbers and Elders W. Clason, T. Elzinga, and               of Mr. Roland Petersen, rendered two numbers, and Mrs.
       A. Talsma was appointed to advise on these requests.            C. Lubbers, of Southeast Church, was at the organ.
       The committee later advised classis  to approve the             The audience, many of them visitors, enjoyed a  well-
       requests and to forward to synod. Classis followed this         planned speech which set forth the Scriptural truth
       advice.                                                         called, "Unconditional Election", the second of the Five
             Classis then went into executive session to read three    Points of Calvinism. The third in this series is scheduled
  protests. Two committees were appointed to study these               for March 16, and will feature Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
  protests, and to tender their advice on, the continued               as lecturer.
  session of classis  on February 8th.                                                                 * *  *
             Out of executive session, classis  proceeded to vote
  for delegates to synod, with the following chosen:                           Rev. M. Schipper is recuperating satisfactorily from
                                MINISTERS                              his recent surgery and has already been backin church
             PRIMI:                           SECUNDI:                 --in one of the pews, not on the pulpit--for two services
  J . Kortering           R. Harbach for Kortering and Schipper        Feb. 26. Due to his forced idleness, the Sunday ser-
  G. Van Baren            G. Lubbers for VanBarenand  Veldman          vices of Southeast Church and of Hope Church were
  H. Veldman                                                           re-scheduled in order to fill those pulpits for their four
  M. Schipper                                                          services. Such procedure was patterned after the
                                 ELDERS                                arrangements so often made in the Edgerton-Hull-Doon
             PRIMI:                          SECUNDI:                  combine.
  J. Kalsbeek                              T. Engelsma
  D. Langeland                                                                 Do You  Know.  that Rev. H. Hoeksema's  Dogmatics
                                           W. Kamps
  G. Pipe                                  F . Ondersma                is written'in such simple easy-to-read style that i?le
  H. Zwak                                  A. Talsma                   laymen encounter little or no difficulty in understanding
             Rev. M. Schipper was chosen  primus Delegate Ad           the eternal truths set forth therein? Borrow a copy from
  Examina  .for three years, And Rev. J. Kortering was                 a friend and in one perusal you will decide that you want
  chosen secundus for three years and Rev. G. Van Baren                to buy one for your very own!
  secundus for two years.
       `.                                                                 . .I. see`you in church                                 J.M.F.


