                                           ~_~____ _~ _~__.
                                    h e

                             tandad

                                           earer

A   R E F O R M E D   S E M I - M O N T H L Y   M A G A Z I N E



I N   TfllS  I S S U E


         Meditation:
            Sage Counsel For The Future

         Editorials:
            Flight From The Telephone
            The Issue In Doctrinal Controversy

         Attacks on Papal Infallibility
         Operation ' 76 and the Universal Church
            (see: All Around Us)





                                               Volume XL VI / Number 7 / January I, 1970


146                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


                           CONTENTS:                                                                 THE STANDARD  BEARER
                                                                                  Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August.

Meditation  -                                                                     Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                        Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
   Sage Counsel for the Future . . . . . . . . . . , . . . .  .146          Editor-in-Chief: Prof.  f-f. C. Hoeksema

                                                                            Department Editors::  Mr. Donald Doezema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof.
Editorials  -                                                               Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Jay
   Flight from the Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .I49          Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev.  Marinus Schipper, Rev.  Gise J.
   The Issue in Doctrinal Controversy . . . . , . . . . .15 1               Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg
                                                                            Editorial Office:  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema
All Around Us  -                                                                               1842 Plymouth Terrace,  SE.
                                                                                               Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
   Attacks on Papal Infallibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .153         Church News Editor:       Mr. Donald Doezema
   Operation `76 and the Universal Church . , . . . .  .154                                           1904 Plymouth Terrace, S.E.
                                                                                                      Grand Rapids, Michigan  49506

Studies In Depth  -                                                         Editorial Policy:  Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his
   A Stimulating Christian Scientific Journal . . . .  .156                 own articles. Contributions of general interest from our readers and
                                                                            questions for the Question-Box Department are welcome. Contributions
                                                                            will be limited to approximately 300 words and must be neatly written
From Holy Writ  -                                                           or typewritten. Copy deadlines are the first and the fifteenth of the
   The Book of Hebrews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . .158          month. All communications relative to the contents should be sent to
                                                                            the editorial office.

                                                                            Business Office:  The Standard Bearer,
Contending for the Faith  -                                                                    Mr. H.  Vander  Wal, Bus. Mgr.
   The Doctrine of Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160                          P.O. Box 6064
                                                                                               Grand Rapids. Michigan 49506

In His Fear  -                                                              Subscription Policy:  Subscription  price,$7.00  per year.  Unless a definite
   Fear for the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .162      request for discontinuance is received, it is assumed that the subscriber
                                                                            wishes the subscription to continue without the formality of a renewal
                                                                            order and he will be billed for renewal. If you have a change of address,
A Cloud of Witnesses  -                                                     please notify the Business Office as early as possible in order tu aviod
   The Numbering of Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164         the inconvenience of delayed delivery. Include your Zip Code.
                                                                            Advertising Policy:  The  Standard Bearer  does not accept commercial
Contribution  -                                                             advertising of any kind. Announcements of church and school events,
                                                                            anniversaries, obituaries, and sympathy resolutions will be placed for a
   Not by Human Might nor by Government Force 166                           $3.00 fee. These should be sent to the Business Office and should be
                                                                            accompanied by the $3.00 fee. Deadline for announcements is the 5th
Church News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168    or the 20th of the month, previous to publication on the 15th or the  1st
                                                                            respectively.

                                                                            Bound Volumes:  The Business Office will accept standingordersfor bound
                                                                            copies of the current volume; such orders are filled as soon as possible
                                                                            after completion of  a  volume. A limited number of past volumes may be
                                                                            obtained through the Business Office.




Meditation

                                 Sage Counsel For The Future
                                                              Rev. M. Schipper

                 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all
             thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. "                                                 Proverbs 3:5, 6


   Thy paths!                                                                   Into that unknown future and over these uncharted
   Those over which you must yet walk, which still lie                      paths the wise man of God instructs you to place all
before you, and where you have never walked before.                         your confidence in the Lord Who will safely direct all
They refer, no doubt, to the way you must go in the                         your steps.
time to come, which is unknown to you, but which is                             And this is sage counsel, indeed!
known to and foreordained by Jehovah your God.                                  How foolish it would be to proceed without Him!


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      147



 How reckless is he who would lean on his own under-            being. The heart is it out of which are all the issues of
 standing!                                                      life. As a man thinketh in his heart so is he. There is
    0, indeed, you have an understanding. The Lord,             the center of all his thinking, willing, and desiring; and
 your God, when He formed you created you an intelli- here, of course, as the center in which dwells the
 gent creature. In distinction from the brute and inani- spiritual knowledge of God. With all your heart let all
 mate creation, He gave to you a mind which discerns            the confidence you have go out to Him.
 and intelligently sees into things. It weighs and meas-          Trust Jehovah!
 ures, analyzes and studies, estimates and judges the             0, indeed, that says more, much more, than simply:
 things which it sees. This understanding, along with           Trust in the Lord! Jehovah is Lord, to be sure! He is
 your will, distinguishes you and makes you an account- Sovereign, Ruler, Posesser, Who commands reverence,
 able and responsible being. But such an understanding,         obedience, service. But in the name Jehovah He is
 unless it is regenerated and comes under the power of revealed as the covenant Lord, the Lord Who has
 new life, is darkness! The carnal mind is enmity against       established with His people in Christ an everlasting
1 God, and is perverse in all its actions. But the Scripture    covenant. In that covenant He is and remains the
 here does not have in mind the understanding of the            unchangeable I AM. His word and His promises fail
 natural, depraved man. Solomon is speaking of the              not. The good work He has begun in you He will surely
 regenerated mind and the understanding of the child of         finish unto the end.
 God, who in principle once more is able to judge                  Trust in Him only!
 correctly. However, even that renewed understanding              Not partly on Him and partly on your own under-
is not to be relied on, to be completely trustworthy.           standing! Not both on Him and on an arm of flesh!
 For, you see, it is enclosed in corrupt flesh that never       Not on yourself, and when that fails, then on
 willeth any good thing. Is it not exactly the complaint        Jehovah!
 of the regenerated child of God "that to will is present         On Jehovah alone!
 with me, but how to perform that which is good I find            In all thy ways acknowledge Him!
1 not?" And is it not striking how Solomon, reputed for            Literally the text says: In all thy ways discover Him!
his great wisdom, should emphatically exhort you not            And this shows you how and in what manner you can
 to lean on your own understanding?                             realize your calling to trust in Him.
    Rather place all your trust in the Lord!                      It means, first of all, that Jehovah is not some vague,
    Trust in the Lord with all your heart!                      super Being Who is somewhere out there in outer
    Trust, as you know, is one of the two elements of           space; Whom you cannot see, but just have to believe
 saving faith. The other element is a certain spiritual         that He is somewhere and that somehow you are to
 knowledge, without which your trust cannot have                believe in Him. 0, no, it's nothing like that at all! It
 proper direction. You do not trust one whom you do             means that wherever you go, there He is also; and
 not know. These two elements are inseparably con-              wherever you go, there you will discover Him. In
 nected, and in such a way that the one finds its basis in      other words, He never leaves you alone; He always
 the other; that is, trust, or confidence, finds its            accompanies you as you tread your way.
 grounds in that certain spiritual knowledge. In other            It means, in the second place, that whereas He is to
 words, if you do not know Jehovah, your God, with              be found on your way, you are to look for Him; and
 that spiritual knowledge of the heart, you will not            when you discover Him, acknowledge Him as your
 trust in Him with all your heart. And this knowledge is        covenant Jehovah.
 obtainable only through grace and through the holy               In all thy ways  - discover Him!
 revelation of Himself to you through His Word and                The term "ways" is used here in the figurative sense,
 Spirit. And make no mistake about it, this knowledge           as it is so often used in Scripture. Literally, a way is a
 is not the mere intellectual knowledge which also the          beaten path over which one walks to reach a certain
 devils have and they tremble. It is the intimate, spiritual    destination. In the figurative sense it refers to one's life
 knowledge whereby we know Him as the God of our                as he lives it here in the present world. And as it is true
 salvation. Who loved us from everlasting! Who justified        of any way, that it has a certain beginning and leads to
, us in the blood and sacrifice of His Son on the cross!        a certain destination, so life as we live it here in the
' Who sanctifies us by the Spirit and grace of Christ!          present world has its beginning in birth, wends itself
 Who makes us the heirs of eternal life! And Who makes          through the various  stage.s in life  - childhood, man-
 all things to be subservient to our final and complete         hood, and old age  - to our eternal destiny. That the
 salvation in the day of Christ! Knowing Him with that text speaks of our way in the plural, evidently looks at
 knowledge, you also place all your confidence in Him.          that. life from the point of view of its various depart-
 Literally the text says: Confide towards Jehovah with ments and varied experiences. Our life is not always on
 all thine heart.                                               an even plain. There are mountains of troubles that
   With all thine heart!                                        have to be  climed, and there are valleys of  dispair and
    That means with the whole center of your spiritual          gloom that have to be gone through. There are  mo-


1
     148                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER


     ments when we are carried along, as it were, with the                 vah alone; and discovering Him in all our ways, and
     wind, and we travel with ease; but there are also  -times             looking to Him to guide us, we shall go safely through
     when our way is beset with many difficulties so that                  whichever ways He may lead us.
     the way seems impassible. And there are dangers to be                    And He shall direct thy paths!
     encountered, powers of darkness, that would endeavor                     Comforting promise!
     to destroy you. Moreover, the devil, the world, and                      Literally the text says: And He will make our paths
     your own flesh beset you often with manifold tempta-                  straight!
     tions, offering you prosperity, honor,  afid fame if you                We are reminded here of what the psalmist tells us in
     will but deny one of your Christian principles. And                  Psalm  37:5  - "Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust
     they threaten you with persecution and death if you                  also in Him and He shall bring it to pass." That is,
     walk steadfastly in the fear of Jehovah, your God.                   rolling our way on Him by faith, He will realize it for
       Not to discover, not to acknowledge the Lord in all                us. And this is precisely what He wanted to do in the
     your ways, is to disregard Him and to place your trust               first place. Our path was ordained of Him in His
     in another object. This is, indeed, God-provoking; but               eternal counsel. He makes our way difficult so that we
     also it is not safe. He knows how to allow you for a                 cannot travel it alone. By committing it to Him, He
     time to go your own way, while He withdraws from                     brings us safely to our destination, in order that His
     you in such a wonderful way that you feel the rod of may be all the glory.
     His chastisement, and see not the light of His presence.                Our paths become crooked and uneven and most
     In such a way you experience only sorrow and disap-                  difficult to travel, but He levels them and straightens
     pointment. But to acknowledge Him in all your ways,                  them out. 0, to be sure, He will also direct thy paths,
     and to place in Him alone all your confidence  - this                as the translation has it. Entrusting ourselves and our
     honors Him, and at the same time brings you joy and                  way to Him completely, He will lead us in such a way
     peace.                                                               that all our paths terminate in the end which He has
       How important this counsel is for you and me as we                 purposed for us. But the text promises still more. It
     enter into the new year! We call it a new year; and                  implies that our paths often become crooked and per-
     such it is as far as the calendar is concerned. Never                verse because of the sin which still so easily besets us.
     before has the church of Christ known the period of                  It implies, too, that due to the fact that we are often
     time into which we in the providence of God have                     weak in faith and unable to climb the heights, and
     been brought. And only God knows what lies ahead,                    descend the valleys, He will make straight paths for our
     for it is all ordered in His all-wise counsel. We do know            feet, and cause us to continue in the way of the
     from His prophetic Word that as the history of the                   upright.
     world and therefore of the church hastens to its end,                   This is the promise of Jehovah, our God!
     the days will become increasingly evil. And we do                       We may fail, and fail often, in the way of life; but
     know that as far as the people of God are concerned,                 He never!
     there shall be trying days such as the church has never                 Entrust yourselves wholly to Him, therefore, ye
     known. But what lies ahead in the year 1970 no man                   children of God! Look for Him all along your way.
     can predict. We do know, however, that though we                     And when you become entangled in your paths which
     enter a new span of time, we are nevertheless in the                 you make. crooked through your sin, lean not on your
     same old world, the world which lieth in darkness and                own understanding, but cast yourselves completely on
     where wickedness shall abound.                                       Him Who loved you and is determined that your way
       For this we need the wise counsel this Word of God                 shall lead to His everlasting glory in which He desires
     gives us. It would  be, sheer folly to lean on our own               that you also shall dwell.
     understanding. And even more foolish to look to an                      Then the way which leads through 1970 will be a
     arm of flesh for help.                                               blessed experience!
       We shall have to confide with all our heart in Jeho-



                  The Arminian holds that Christ, when He died, did not die with an intent to save any particular person: and
               they teach that Christ's death does not in itself secure, beyond doubt, the salvation of any one man living! . . .
               they are obliged to hold that if man's will would not give way and voluntarily surrender to grace, then Christ's
               atonement would be unavailing. . . . We say Christ so died that He infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude
               that no man can number, who through Christ's death not only may be saved, but are saved, must be saved, and
               cannot by any possibility run the hazard of being anything but saved!
                                                                                                                  C. H. Spurgeon


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                   149



Editorials

                                 Flight From The Telephone
                                                   Pro5 H.C. Hoeksema

  In one of the Dutch papers,  in de rechte straat,            all, has our observance of the sabbath-rest sunk so low
(Nov., 1969) there is reported a tragic instance of the        that we are continually phoning one another on
sad state of affairs in the.  .Gereformeerde Kerken,  an       Sunday?
instance at the same time of the reckless manner in               "But perhaps it is understandable. For if Lever finds
which certain leading figures express themselves pub-          a sermon to be worth the bother on Sunday especially
licly to the detriment of  th"e churches. This incident        if it deals with actual events such as those of Vietnam
involved Dr. J. Lever, biologist at the Free University        and Czechoslovakia, then he does not really seek
of Amsterdam, and one of the leading protagonists of           God's Word any more."
the theory of evolution in the Dutch churches. The                A little later in the same article Rev. Hegger makes
above-mentioned magazine quotes from an interview              the following point:
between Prof. Lever and a certain A. ter Braak which              "What a beautiful opportunity Lever had to answer
was carried in  Jong Gereformeerd,  a paper for young          this question with a testimony concerning the pre-
people of the  Gereformeerde'  xerken  (somewhat equiv-        ciousness of the Word of God, which, though some-
alent to our  Beacon Lights  or  The Young Calvinist).         times proclaimed with weakness, is so great because in
I will quote this interview in translation:                    it God Himself directs Himself to us, admonishing and
"7. Lever: I like to go to church.                             comforting, as the God of wrath and of mercy. In that
`A. ter Braak: Why?                                            Word is life and light and power and peace. Why did he
"J.L.: In the first place, because I can't be disturbed        not talk about the assembling together of the Church
by the telephone; secondly, because I find it pleasur-         of God, which in spite of the sins and the smallness of
able to sit there with my children; and thirdly, because       spirit which, alas, cleave to us, is nevertheless the
I like to hear a worthwhile sermon.                            manifestation of the people of God, with whom God
"`A tB. : Mention an example.                                  has concluded His covenant in the blood of His Son?"
"J. L.: If fiid it pleasing when a sermon deals with              And then Rev. Hegger points out that this kind of
current events of our daily life.                              prppaganda serves to chase the youth out of the
"A tB. : Such as,  for  example, Vietnam and Czecho- church. Writes he:
slovakia?                                                         "In the second place, I find this expression of Lever
`7. L. : Yes. "                                                s o   t e r r i b l e   b e c a u s e   i t   i s   ,published   i n   J o n g
                                                               Gereformeerd,  the organ of the Federation of
  Not only did this interview have a place in  Jong            Reformed young people's societies. For in this manner
Gereformeerd,  but the above excerpt of it was quoted          you chase our youth out of the church. They will say
in the rather sensational Dutch daily,  Trouw.                 to reason No. 1 of Lever: `I am not bothered by the
  The Rev. J. Hegger (Editor-in-Chief of  in de rechte         telephone, hence . . . `; to reason No. 2: `I don't have
straat)   has some pertinent comments on this excerpt.         children yet, hence . .  .y; to reason Nb. 3: `I'm  not
First of all, he writes about the matter itself as follows:    interested in politics' or: `I can get more thorough
  "You see, when I read something like this, I find it         information about Vietnam and Czechoslovakia else-
to be terrifying. In the first place, for Prof. Lever          where than in church on Sunday. Hence . . . I just
himself. Is this the fruit of faith? How entirely differ-      don't go to church on Sunday.' It is not pleasant to
ently the Heidelberg Catechism speaks about the                have to write thus, but neither is it pleasant to have to
reasons why we `especially on the sabbath, that is, on         hear such language from someone who claims to be a
the day of rest, diligently frequent the church of God,' professing Christian. Things of that sort are painful;
namely: `to hear his Word, to use the sacraments,              and I am convinced that that pain does not simply
publicly to call upon the Lord.'                               arise  from personal feelings, but because I love God's
  "Is it not a mockery of the Word of God when you             Word and find it sad when anyone writes thus about
give as a reason: I go to church, where God's Word is          the eternal, glorious Word of God by which a believer
proclaimed, first of all, because then I can't be              is begotten again (I Peter  1:23) through the operation
disturbed by the telephone ? Must the proclamation of          of God's Holy Spirit."
the Word of God serve to counter-act the ringing of the           With these sentiments of Editor Hegger we are in
telephone? Why doesn't Lever take the phone off the            hearty accord. He is certainly correct as to the sub-
hook for an hour if he. wants, to get  s.ome rest? Above       stance of the matter when he puts Lever's "reasons"


150                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



for church attendance in the light of what our There is, of course, good reason  why these two go
Heidelberg Catechism teaches us in connection with hand in hand. It is impossible to grow good moral
the Fourth Commandment; and by so doing, Hegger fruits upon a tree of corrupt doctrine. Soundness of
exposes the wicked, superficial, flippant attitude be- doctrine and uprightness of life go hand in hand; and
trayed by  Lever. And he is also correct as to the ethics corrupt doctrine and an immoral walk go hand in
of Lever when he points out that by such talk Lever hand. Soundness of  doctrine is the basis and the root
"chases our youth out of the church,"  - something of uprightness of walk; and by the same token, false
which is all the more serious because of the fact that doctrine is the root of, and must needs bear fruit in, a
the  Gereformeerde Kerken  are particularly troubled by walk contrary to the precepts of our God. It is, of
the fact that especially the younger generation is for- course, possible in some instances, and then only for a
saking the means of grace, so that in many instances time, artificially to hang some fruits of external and
the second service on Sunday is attended by only a few apparent good works on such a tree of corrupt
of the older folk.                                           doctrine; but even these are only shining vices. And
  But there is more involved here.                           ultimately it must needs become abundantly plain that
  Here you have a clear illustration that doctrine and from the root of corrupt doctrine can only spring
morals go hand in hand. Still more, here is a clear corrupt works.
illustration that false teachers not only propagate false      The example cited earlier in this article is, I say, a
doctrine, but also lead the church in immoral, las- clear illustration of this point. Notice:
civious ways.                                                  1. Dr. Lever himself adopts  and teaches the false
  True, Dr. Lever is not a theologian or a minister. He doctrine of evolutionism. (false teaching)
is a biologist. But he has been a leading spokesman  -         2. He then goes about in a very smooth manner,
be it from a scientist's point of view  - of those who using language which gives the impression of discussing
have been striving, and to no little degree succeeding, an entirely legitimate question. (that of the relation
to foist evolutionism on the Reformed people in the between the Christian faith and natural science), to
Netherlands, and that in the name of faith in the Word       deceive the people into accepting an alleged harmony
of God. In November and December of 1968 he between evolutionism and Scripture. (unethical,
delivered a, series of radio lectures (now published in practice)
the book entitled  Waar Blijven We?)  which were broad-        3. He then, by way of an interview in a young
cast by the Netherlands Christian Radio Association.         people's paper, leads in  p,emicious  ways, publicly be-
The  stated  purpose of these lectures was to bring to littling and caricaturing church attendance and the
the attention of the general public in an understand- preaching of the Word, and furnishing especially the
able way the relation between  Ch.ristian faith and young people of the  churCh a thoroughly rotten
modern natural science, to remove misunderstandings, example.
and to present the viewpoint that both [Christian faith        Dr. Lever is by no means the only one who is guilty
and natural science] can actually be of essential  signif- of this. As far as the Netherlands is concerned, anyone
icance for the progress of mankind. All this, however, who follows reports in the Dutch papers or anyone
is a deceitful euphemism for the  actual  purpose of who has been there for a visit will be able to tell you of
those lectures, namely, to popularize the theory of the rapid degeneration not only in doctrine but also in
evolution and to deceive God's people into thinking Christian life that has befallen the Dutch churches.
that evolutionism is quite in harmony with Scripture. And one can notice repeatedly that the same group of
Aqd thus he has been a teacher of false doctrine.            men who are promoting the "new theology" in the
  But there is another aspect to this phendmenon of Netherlands are the men who are also placing their
false teachers which `is frequently ignored, if not con- stamp of approval upon all kinds of radical moral
tradicted. That is the matter of their own ethics and of. departures. From these same false teachers come such
the immoral ways in which they seek to lead the things as the desecration of the Sabbath, recommenda-
people of God. You understand, of course, when I use tion of street rebellion, recommendation of and praise
the term "immoral" in this connection, I am not for homosexual writings, etc.
thinking exclusively of sexual immorality, but of              Moreover, in the present course of events in the
immorality in general, that is, of that which is contrary Netherlands there are at least two sound reasons for
to God's commandments. And the Biblical picture of this close connection between corruption of doctrine
false teachers is such that it consistently portrays false and corruption of morals. The first is that the doctrine
teachers not only as having evil motives, but also as of Holy Scripture is at stake; and when you forsake the
seeking to lead God's people astray in their life as well objective standard of the absolute authority of the
as in their doctrine. This is, for example, the picture of Scriptures, you have completely lost your moorings,
false teachers which is painted in II Peter 2, which both doctrinally and morally. The second reason,
speaks not only of the "damnable heresies" but also of closely connected with the first, is that the specific
the "pernicious (lascivious) ways" of false teachers. false doctrine which is being embraced in many


                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              151



quarters in the Netherlands is the philosophy of  evolu-               rooting out of all false doctrine and the casting out of
tionism. And the latter is in its very nature destructive              false teachers.
of all morality. The philosophy of evolution and the                      If that is not possible by reformation from within,
doctrines of grace (and I have in mind especially now                  then there is only this alternative: reformation by
the grace of sanctification) mix like fire and water.                  separation. Any other course is fatal!
   What is the solution?                                                And this is true in America as well as in the  Nether-
   Basically, it is a very simple one: the resolute lands!



                        The Issue In Doctrinal Controversy
                                                        PUOJ:  H. C. Hoeksema


   I n   t h e   s a m e   a r t i c l e   f r o m   i n   d e   rechte  straat. into account the fact that the writer is only answering
mentioned in the editorial "Flight From The Tele-                      a correspondent and not dealing with this question
phone" a very important aspect of doctrinal contro-                    extensively, yet, it seems to me, there is more that can
versy is touched on by Editor Hegger. And both                         and must be said.
because it is of importance in all controversy and                        In the first place, it should be observed that this and
because it is of special importance in the current con-                similar questions frequently arise at times when there
troversy against the "new theology" in the Nether- is false teaching abroad  hi a church or a communion of
lands, I want to comment: on it.                                       churches. Sometimes this question arises quite
   The article from which I quoted is a reply to corre- honestly; when men teach that which is very plainly in
spondence. This correspondence expresses disagree-                     contradiction of Scripture and the confessions, when
ment with what Rev. Hegger had written earlier about they deliberately and sometimes even cockily intro-
Dr. Lever's position. This particular correspondent was duce teachings which are radically new and different in
offe'nded by Rev. Hegger's criticism of Lever's posi- the churches, when this is pointed out to them and
tion, and suggest that Rev. Hegger really expressed when the whole tide of the history of dogma is against
doubt as to whether Lever is a professing Christian.                   them, and when they nevertheless wilfully persist in
Commenting on this point, Rev. Hegger replies:                         their erroneous doctrines and persist in propagating
"Another observation. I did not deny that Prof. Lever them, then, as Rev. Hegger states, it is quite under-
could be a professing Christian. Emphatically I wrote:                 standable that earnest-minded children of God begin to
`Let it be well understood. I will not assert that they                ask whether such men who deny the fundamentals of
are  unbelievers.  I will not presume to judge their hearts' the truth can possibly be believers. And there is an
(p. 13). Because of this I also received a few reactions answer to this question. Certainly, part of that answer
from subscribers who asked me: How can you leave is that we do not judge the hearts, but the deeds and
open the possibility that these men (Kuitert, Lever, the expressions; and part of that answer is that we
Baarda  c.s.) are believers? I can understand such a refuse to usurp God's judgment seat. And from that
question, but once more: I refuse to sit in the judg- same point of view, there are many questions which
ment seat of God. But I indeed can and must observe shall not have their final and full answer until the day
the fruits:. for Jesus Himself has taught us that: By the of judgment. Part of the answer is, too, that by the
fruits you know the tree. And then I must sometimes fruits the tree may be known. But part of the answer
say: These are  fniits which decidedly do not come is, too, that we do not have to judge this question, but
forth from  faith,  even though I do not yet say thereby simply allow the judgment of the Word of God to fall.
t h a t   s u c h .   m e n   a r e   a l s o   i n   t h e   d e e p e s t   s e n s e And there can be no doubt but that Scripture every-
embelievevs. "                                                        where condemns not only false doctrine but also false
   At the end of his reply to this correspondent, Editor teachers. Let him who has any doubts on this score
Heggei- writes in the same vein: "No, this expression of read a passage like II Peter 2, for example. In other
Lever is not the fruit of faith, and.1 believe that in this words, the judgnient of the Word of God is that he
case I must apply the words of Romans  14:23:  `All who wilfully persists in false teaching and who does
that is not of faith is sin.' Though I repeat once more not repent of it brings upon himself damnation. And it
that I do not want to judge concerning the  hearts  of is highly necessary in this age, when there is so little
others, but only concerning their  expressions.  "                    sensitivity about the seriousness of sin and especially
  With the above sentiments of Rev. Hegger one can about the sin of false teaching, and when practically
agree, as far as they go. And although one can take. everybody, no matter how blatant a heretic he may be,


152                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



can be not only tolerated, but even hailed, as a fine        Dordrecht. They did not want to be treated as suspects
Christian gentleman,  - it is highly necessary, I say, and defendants; they wanted to be accepted as being
that this be emphasized. The matter of false teaching, equally Reformed with the Counter-Remonstrants.
from a spiritual, ethical point of view, is just exactly as This was the strategy of Dr. Kuitert when he spoke
serious as that. And the reason is that the truth of before the Christian Reformed Ministers' Institute. In
God, as it is objectively and perspicuously set forth in his introductory remarks he pleaded to be accepted as
the Scriptures, is at stake. And God is not mocked! He one who believed the Bible. But does this mean that
is a righteous and holy Judge!                               everyone must accept such statements? If they did,
   But there is another aspect to this matter. Not           every heretic would achieve his purpose. The question
infrequently this same question, whether a certain is not what anyone  claims;  it is what he  actually
teacher of false doctrine is a believer or an unbeliever,    teaches.  Does this mean that everyone is automatically
is introduced as a charge, an argument, against those under suspicion until he clears himself? By no means!
who sharply oppose and condemn his false teachings. But as a matter of practical common sense, in the first
Or, if this particular question is not introduced, then place, a little warning light ought to flash on when
you will hear irenic warnings against being too sharp,       someone must go out of his way to introduce his
too outspoken, too condemnatory, too polemical; or remarks by assuring you that he is Reformed or that he
you will hear pleas that we ought to accept one              believes the Bible. As a rule, people who are Reformed
another in good faith, that we ought to discuss things do not have to sound a trumpet before themselves.
calmly, that we ought to keep the discussion on a high And, in the second place, it is the burden of a speaker
and rather academic plane, that we ought not be in a or teacher to demonstrate that his teachings are in
rush to make charges of heresy, etc., etc. There is a accord with Scripture and the creeds. On that basis he
good deal of this kind of talk abroad in the Nether- must be tested; and it is the calling of every believer to
lands right. now. It is directed especially against anyone "try the spirits." And only on that basis may his claim
of the  "verontrusten" (concerned ones) who happens be accepted.
`to speak his mind in no uncertain terms about the             In the third place, it should be remembered that in
"new theology." But sometimes similar thoughts are any doctrinal controversy this cry of "bloody murder"
expressed among the  "verontrusten"  themselves about or of personal attack is frequently used as a "red'
the writings of those who outspokenly oppose the herring," as a ploy designed to draw the attention
liberals. Words of apparent caution are sounded that away from the real issue and to gain sympathy for the
"we must keep the channels of discussion open." In false teacher. In fact, however, anyone who has the
other words, everyone must be a "nice  guy:' and look boldness to break out into print or to appear on the
on everyone else as a "nice guy." Everyone must do a speaker's platform should also expect to have opposi-
good deal of "pussy-footing" when it comes to criti- tion, whether for good or for ill. An it should be kept
cizing and opposing the views and statements of in mind that if the heretic has the right  (?) to express
others.                                                      his views, then those who oppose him surely have the
  What about this? Is it right? If we fail to observe right to express their views. The issue is not the person
such cautions, are we guilty of heresy-hunting, or, or the personal faith of the false teacher, to be sure.
worse yet, of heretic-hunting?                               The issue in doctrinal controversy is the issue of the
  This leads me to some further remarks.                     truth of God. And do not forget, whether he admits
  First of all, it should be kept in mind that there has this or not, it is the heretic himself who has made the
never yet been a heretic who stomped on the  ecclesias-      church's heritage of the truth the issue. And when he
tical stage with wooden shoes. There is a very good does so, he must expect to be opposed. And does not
reason for this. Any false teacher who openly would any son of the church have both the right and the
say, "I am a heretic," or, "I am an unbeliever," or, "I calling to defend his heritage with might and main?
do not believe the Bible," or, "I do not believe the This is the aspect of controversy which is do often
creeds of our church," or even, "I do not believe this forgotten. We must not listen to the irenic blandish-
or that doctrine taught by Scripture and the confes- ments of those who always call for peace and tolera-
sions," would, of course, be recognized for what he is, tion. We must not listen to the crafty cries of those
a heretic; and he would get no following. A successful who are always ready to call a personal foul. It is
heretic must deceive people into thinking that he holds indeed strange that so many can become "hot and
to Scripture and the creeds while he undermines and bothered" about a lack of toleration or a lack of
denies them.                                                 understanding or a lack of brotherliness, but can never
  In the second place, it is simply  naive  to accept become "hot and bothered" about sound doctrine and
anyone at face value merely because he  claims  to godliness and can never evince any concern, not to say
believe Scripture and the creeds. This is precisely what alarm, when the church is being robbed of its most
any false teacher wants you to believe. This was the precious possession, the truth.
strategy of the Arminians at the time of the Synod of          At the same time, in the fourth place, two things are


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           153


 always necessary in doctrinal controversy. The first is bound, when Scripture and the creeds are at stake, to
 that criticism and polemics must be objectively see matters through to a proper conclusion  ecclesias-
 grounded, and the grounds must be Scripture and the tically. If he is unwilling to follow this course, he does
 confessions. This is the sole test! And the second is not have the courage of his convictions. Nor can it be
 that he who engages in journalistic controversy against said that he serves the church well who is content to
 public utterances of someone in the same  denomi-          treat only journalistically what ought to be dealt with
 nation may not leave matters there. He is morally ecclesiastically.


l  AZZ  Aromd  U s                    L



                              Attacks on Papal Infallibility
                    Operation `76 and the Universal Church
                                                 ProJ: H. Hanko


 ATTACKS ON PAPAL INFALLIBILITY                             and were not afraid to castigate the pope's views  -
                                                            even in his presence. They were determined to state
   The Second Vatican Council which had begun its their views that the pope's authority had to be shared
 meetings under Pope John and finished them under with the bishops.
 Pope Paul had discussed at some length the problem of       As far as any concrete action accomplished however,
 papal authority. It had adopted the principle of there was disappointment. Every time a specific issue
 "shared authority", i.e., the principle that the pope      came up it was referred to the Theological Commission
 shared his authority in the Church with the bishops.       for further study. Yet it was apparent that a majority
 But the Second Vatican Council had not specifically of the bishops present wanted greater power for the
 spelled out what this meant in actual practice. It was bishops even though they were not by any means
 interpreted by each cleric in the Roman Catholic           agreed on just how this should be implemented.
 Church to suit his own ideas. The pope himself con-          While the Synod of Bishops was meeting, another
 tinued to insist on the absolute authority of the pa- group also held meetings in Rome. It was called the
 pacy and was supported by many conservative clergy. European Assembly of Priests, but was soon dubbed
 But many more liberal clergy were not of a mind to let the Counter Synod. These were rebel priests who were
 the partial victory of Second Vatican slip away from weary of far more in the Church than the question of
 them.                                                      papal authority and who were dedicated to thorough
   The clash came at a recent meeting of the Synod of and basic change in the whole structure of the Church.
 Bishops. This Synod of Bishops includes one hundred          They were not permitted a meeting place on any
 and forty-four clergy from ninety-two countries. The       Roman Catholic property and met in a Waldensian
 meeting was in Rome.                                       Church. They asked for an audience with the pope but
   From the outset it appeared as if the pope would were refused. Their purpose was to form an inter-
 surely dominate the meeting and have things his way.       national organization, but in this they failed. Partly
 He personally drew up the agenda and it appeared as if they failed because of lack of unity; partly because the
 his intent was to use the Synod to squash all liberal meetings were not well organized.
 opposition. This appearance of papal domination was          From the meeting emerged a document however.
 strengthened in Paul's opening speech. He made no According to  Christianity Today,  the first part of the
 bones about it that he held supreme authority in the       document called for
 church; that while he honored the College of Bishops,
 he was not about to permit his authority to be con-               A Catholic Church free of the total authority of
                                                                the Pope, decisions made on the local level by lay-
 ditioned by their clerical status in the Church. He was        men as well as by clergy, and the opportunity for
 the Vicar of Christ.                                           personal guidance of the faithful by the Spirit of God
   But there were liberals in the Synod who were                rather than by the direction of a priest as he sees the
 determined to talk back. Among them were Bernard               will of God. Systematic in its approach to reform for
 Jan Alfrink of Holland, Leo-Josef Suenens of Belgium,          every major area of the church, it lays the foundation
 Julius  D'dpfner  of Munich and Franziskus  Konig  of          for a pattern of worship and life that could be truly
 Vienna. They were sharp in their criticism of the pope         universal.


154                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



   The second part of the document, however, was many countries in cooperation with liberal churches
social. The dissident priests demanded of the church and present ecumenical organizations; it is legalized
that it involve itself in such matters as the population through the governments of various countries.
explosion, the problem of war, social discrimination,            The "dechristianized Christianity" will be some kind
economic policy. Strikingly and threateningly, many            o f "s o c i a l   g o s p e l " which is compatible with
saw the only hope of solving the many problems of the Communism.
world in a single world church and a single world                     For this reason, the World Communist Conspiracy
government.                                                        has nothing to fear from a "religion" based on a
   There were some who viewed these recent meetings                social gospel which is itself the product of thinking in
of the  bishops and priests as giving evidence of a real           terms of the individual's helplessness in the face of
reformation within the Romish Church. In fact, it was              mass economic forces. Indeed, Communism can find
not uncommon to read of comparisons between  recent                in such religions invaluable allies in its quest for
changes within Roman Catholicism and the Refor-                    global empire, and if they feel the necessity for
mation of the Sixteenth Century. As a justification for            transforming "God" into an invisible earthly com-
such comparisons it was pointed out that the key issue             rade prepared to lead "the masses" in battle against
                                                                   their "capitalistic oppressors" and keeping him as
with Luther, Calvin and the other reformers was also               such, the Reds rightly judge that this profanation of
the issue of the authority of the pope.                            Divinity is itself most useful to the Marxist cause.
   This in itself is, of course, true. But the fact of the            At the 18th National Convention of  the Com-
matter is that within Roman Catholicism the question               munist Party, U.S.A., the Red faithful found "God-
is whether the pope shall exercise authority alone or              less religion" incorporated in "Operation `76" as an
whether he shall share his authority with other mem-               instrumentality, coequal with the ratio-political mod-
bers of the clergy. This was not the question in the               ality reported in News-letter No. 72, for effecting our
Sixteenth Century Reformation. For Luther and for                  Country's surrender to a Soviet-dominated World
Calvin the question was the authority of the clergy vs.            State by July 4, 1976. . . . The plan of action is quite
the  sole authority of the Scriptures. They unequivo-              precise. It is geared to the creation of a single Church
cally rejected the former and maintained the latter. Of            of World Brotherhood seated in the Holy Land by
                                                                   the mid-1970's.  The ultimate goal is a Global State
this principle Rome wants nothing.                                 Religion in which the political and church powers are
                                                                   one and the same, but this objective extends beyond
OPERATION `76 AND THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH                             the terminal date,of Operation `76, whose blueprint
                                                                   in this area is restricted to fostering a domestic inter-
  A mimeographed sheet has recently been given  me                 faith union of the "mainstream" of Protestant, Cath-
which contains a reprint of an article by W. Henry                 olic and Jewish denominations in an expanded
MacFarland which was originally published in the Sum-              National Council of Churches, which by a series of
mer, 1967 issue of  The American Mercury.  It contains             "guidelines" to be laid down by several agencies of
material of a "fantastic plan to turn the-church into an           the Federal Government, and later to be sustained by
instrument of communist conquest." It describes how                decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, will BY
Communists in this country and abroad, with the help               FORCE OF LAW, COME TO INCLUDE ALL
of liberal churchmen especially to be found in the                 CHURCHES, DENOMINATIONS, SECTS AND IN-
                                                                   DIVIDUAL CLERGYMEN AND EVANGELISTS
World Council of Churches and the National Council                 LEGALLY RECOGNIZED AS HAVING THE
of  Churches intend to establish a world-wide and uni-             RIGHT TO FUNCTION IN THE FIELD OF RE-
versal religion while outlawing all the true worship of            LIGION! All seeking to operate outside either the
God.                                                               Council or the guidelines will, in the earlier stages of
  It is impossible to quote the entire document in the             the plan, be subjected to crippling economic dlsa-
rubric. Nor am I reprinting parts of it because I believe          bilities, and later be included under statutory and
the  statements made in it are necessarily correct. The            prosecutable offenses. . . .
article is without any documentation  bf any kind and                (The National Council of Churches), in collab-
is  quite obviously without any firm proof. But it                 oration with the political arm of Operation `76 will
contains a kernel of truth and gives some idea of the              undertake to intensify the assault upon churches and
direction of events in our day and the threat of liberal           individual clergy and evangelists who remain outside
churchmen.                                                         the Council and faithful to fundamental tenets which
  The plan described in the article is called "Operation           fall to yield to the secularizing of God and His forms
`76" since this is the target date for the accomplish-             of worship. Tb.e assault will take two approaches:
                                                                   one frankly political, the other psycho-sociological.
ment of the plan. The general plan is a blueprint for              In the first, r.esisting churches, missions, and indi-
the "dechristianization of Christianity" by means  -,of            vidual religionists will be identified with the "lunatic
the  establishment of a universal religion agreeable to all        fringe" in the political area - the so-called "far-right,"
in the world. The plan is formulated by Moscow and                 the "extremists " "fascists," et. al. In the second, the
the Communist regimes; it is steered by Communists in              resistors will de protrayed as "sick," paranoid,"


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     155



       "escapists" and a menace to the "mental health" of             The article concludes with a quotation from some of
       both the local community and the Nation.                    the documents and with a description of plans to
         As these twin onslaughts, perpetuated by the              publish a new universal Bible which will "ultimately
       liberal-oriented mass communications media, are de-         come to engage and reconcile the religious beliefs of all
       termined by professional opinion surveys to have            rational Twenty-First Century Mankind." All that gives
       sufficiently isolated the  non-ecumenicals from the         offense to any religion will be removed. The author
       sympathy, and even the toleration, of the condi-
       tioned mass public, the Federal Government will             claims that already legislation is being prepared to
       move into position, first to circumscribe and then          erase all records of the crucifixion of Christ as being
       to render virtually unlawful the formal propagation         offensive to Judaism. The legislation is being prepared
       of those religious teachings to which the National          by the Anti-Defamation League.
       Council of Churches has objected. . . .                        There is just enough truth in an article like this to
     This will be done first of all by removing the tax- give pause to the reader. Surely, for one thing, Scrip-
. -exempt status of  all. these-Churches and imposing on ture  .itself points clearly  in.the..direction of a one-world
  them various financial burdens.                                  religion under the rule of Antichrist which will tolerate
         At the same time, the NCC's  psycho-sociological          any religious beliefs but the truth of  the.Word of God.
       thrust will be reinforced by the'Federa1 Government         For another thing, it is surely true that the liberal
       through another executive agency, the U.S. Depart-          church of our day is dedicated to precisely such a
       ment of Health, Education and Welfare, under which          one-world religion and is ready also to join with gov-
       is operated the National Institute of Mental                ernment in order to'promote such plans. And there are
       Health.. . . Under the present plan as conceived in         other such elements of truth.
       Operation `76, the National Institute of Mental
       Health will receive and accept recommendations                 But the details are quite another matter. For one
       from the World Health Organization, a Socialized            thing, the article does not give sufficient proof to claim
       Agency of the United Nations, setting forth "stand-         belief in itself. Whether all these things which the
       ards" for "healthy mental attitudes on religion and         article claims are really happening are true is an open
       moral conduct." It is projected that these "stand-          question, For another thing, Scripture does not give us
       ards". will parallel the "creed" .of the National Coun-     the details either. We are not told in Scripture whether
       cil of Churches with respect to such matters, and that      Communist Russia will be the leader in such a move-
       such concepts as Divinity, Salvation, "literalism" in
       Bible interpretations, chastity before marriage, absti-     ment as described in the article. We are not told
      nence from homosexual and perverted heterosexual             precisely in what manner the Antichristian kingdom
      relationships, etc., will be spelled out as latent signs     will suppress the preaching of the true gospel of Scrip-
       of actual or potential "mental illness."                    ture. And it is always dangerous to speculate. It is
         The year chosen by the Kremlin's blueprint is             dangerous because God usually surprises us when He
       1973, and the legislation (presently drafted by top         does actually reveal the details of His counsel and will.
       Communist  legal  experts)   movides for  comuulsorv        Dangerous because if we swallow all these details hook,
                       I     L     ,I                 A     -
       "observation, custodial care and such treatment as          line  -and sinker, we run the risk of looking the wrong
      may be indicated by the patient's condition and              direction when these days actually come. It is safer to
      prescribed by competent medical authority" in cases          stav with Scripture.
      involving individuals "whose behavior, demeanor or
      public utterances as an individual religious  prac-             Nevertheless, all this is but another indication that
      titioner shall be such as to impair the emotional            the days are short. We hasten rapidly towards the end.
      well-be&z of the communitv, as defined in Article II         We may be nearer than we sometimes think or like to
      of this Act."                                                think. Watch therefore and pray.




               Let the church beware that she is present when the Word is preached! We must feel it as a sacred obligation
           to be present when the Church of Jesus Christ gathers for worship. And we must receive it as a blessing of
            Christ, when the Word is ministered unto us. For we must be founded in the truth and grow in the knowledge
            and grace of Christ. And in this sense of our obligation and feeling. of being blessed we must form the good
            church-going habit.
                                                                                         The Standard Bearer, VII, p. 5 12


     156                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


     Studies in Depth

                   A Stimulating Christian Scientific Journal
                                                    Rev. Robt. C. Havbach

        The American Scientific Affiliation is a Christian         his own banner, and does not show emblazoned on his
     organization established for the fellowship of Christian      escutcheon in letters of gold the very principle for
     men and women of science. The organization offers             which he lives, and from which his conclusions derive
     "scientific counsel to Christian teachers, ministers, stu- their  power."3
     dents and others" presenting the Christian position "to)        Science,  according to the Affiliation includes not
     a generation characterized by materialism and skepti-         only mathematics, engineering, medicine, physics,
     cism. " A service is provided to aid Christian writers chemistry, astronomy, biology and geology, but also
     and publishers toward maintaining scientific accuracy         sociology and the so called "social sciences." Here
     in their works. Scientifically accurate and biblically        caution is needed. As the editor of the Affiliation
     sound publications are available, including a journal         warned, "There are as many caricatures of science in
     which will prove of worth to the seminary library, the        the Christian community as there are of Christianity in
     pastor's study and the Christian school teacher's desk.       the scientific community. He [the Christian scientist,
     A lending library is available to membership, furnishing      RCH] is responsible for building an understanding of
     works on the relation of science to the Bible. Aims           the differences between pseudo-science, science and
     include evangelism among scientists, spiritual growth         scientism. 7y4 This may also apply to the so called
     and intellectual development of constituency. Member-         "social sciences," which do not rank with the technical
     ship includes students, ministers, housewives, teachers       sciences. Nor do we believe they developed out of the
     and others only little or not at all conversant with          academic world. The origin of the term "social sci-
     science. A doctrinal form of subscription consists of ence," if checked, will lead through a most intriguing
     two points, (1) the belief in the inspiration of  inerrant    history.5 Over a hundred years ago the term was de-
     Scripture, and (2) the deity of Christ, the only atoning vised by self-styled "experts." "In the  Inteuzational
     Mediator between God and men. Many organizations              Encyclopedic Dictionary  (1897) the observation  ,is
.    today have already more than  two points  of unity, to        made that `Comte [August Comte . . .  1798-18571 may
     say nothing of three  forms  of unity. Yet it is certainly rightfully be claimed as having created  Social Science.'
     scientific to have as a Christian basis a more compre- However, since Comte was secretary to Saint-Simon
     hensive statement of faith, such as that expressed in         from 1818 to 1824 it can be reasonably deduced that
     the Westminister Standards, or in the Reformed Con-           he acquired the term `social science' from his master.
     fessions. These great symbols have always been at the         The gist of Saint-Simon's socialist system included
     heart of the theological sciences, and provide the bases much . . . in the form of modern communism and fas-
     for the right interpretation of all the other sciences.       cism. "6 Among notables who initiated and spread so-
     Theology proper, conceived of as the doctrine of God,         cialist ideas by way of "social science" were Horace
     is the ruling power, the queen of sciences. 1 There is        Greely, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Ralph Waldo
     "one all-comprehending unity, the acceptance of one           Emerson.7
     principle by which everything is governed," so that             Another eye-catching term bombarding us on all
     there "must be stability and regularity ruling over           sides is the one in the words "Judaeo-Christian." "It is
     everything." That principle and ruling power is not historically true that to a large extent the development
     man's capricious will, but "the unity and stability of of science in the Western world has close links with the
     God's decree."2 The biblical (Calvinistic) doctrine of perspective on the world derived from the  Judaeo-
     God forms the foundation of all creation and all his- Christian faith. It is the emphasis on the objective
     tory. Standing on the eternal counsel of God, this            rational reality of the natural world that gave rise to
     foundation provides the basis for the view that the           the philosophical presuppositions that nurtured sci-
     universe is existing and developing according to God's        ence. It is the  Judaeo-Christian emphasis on the value
     foreordained plan. That one principle of the sovereign of the individual and the value of work that fostered
     will of God stands antithetically to the  Ai-minian ideas the industrial revolution and the development of scien-
     of chance, deistic dualism, contingent thought and            tific  technology."8 This term may simply refer to the
     emergency plans. A Calvinistic epistemology requires a fact that Christ and the first Christians were Jews, or
     broad, all-embracing interpretation of God's creation to the word  Jew  in its best sense,  praise  to God, or to
     and of all reality, "refusing the scientific name to          the truth that anyone is a Jew who knows circumcision
     whatsoever investigator dare not unroll the colors of of heart (Rom.  2:28f). The meaning then is that the


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          157



only true Jew is the true Christian. There is then no               alysts, information theorists, operational managers
more reason for speaking of Judaeo-Christian religion and, yes, theologians. Note where this staff list beings
than- to speak of  Abrahamic-Christian or  Davidic- and where it ends. The terms "sociologist," "social
Christian religion. The term "Judaeo-Christian herit- sciences," "social anthropology," "statistical sociol-
age," for example, is certainly not Pauline, since he ogy" are imposing titles which tend to so overawe the
had enough trouble with the Judaizers than to deliber- average person as to cause him to bow before "ex-
ately confuse the church world with such a semantic                 perts" at home in such a complicated field. They
device. Not this term, nor any other  ihat applies to               would lead us to believe that now all the arts and
Christ, has its source' in rabbinical speculation. The              sciences, including history, geography, economics and
teaching of Jesus, as He made plain, was always anti- law, are to be classified under "social sciences." Sociol-
thetical to Judaism. When He said, "Ye have heard that ogy, a pseudo-science, the brain-child of Claude Hem-i
it hath been said, `Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and Saint-Simon and his collaborator Auguste Comte, has
hate  thine enemy' " He referred to Judaism. But when forced its way into general acceptance everywhere
He said, "I say unto you, `Love your enemies' " (Mt.                including the universities, where it did not originate. ld
5  :43f),  He inculcated distinctively Christian principle. Personal investigation of this field should reveal under
To John the Baptist multitudes went out from "all the masquerade of harmless sounding labels, New
Judaea . . . but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Thought and other interesting specimens of poison.
Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, `0                But what is the express purpose of MARC? It is the
generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee                   "giving of every man and woman in the world an
from the wrath to come?' " (Mt.  3:5, 7). John did not opportunity to say `yes' to Jesus Christ," This is the
think that his religion had any connection with Pelagian-Arminian idea that spiritually dead man, who
Judaism. There was nothing in common between John ever since the Fall has said `no' to God, has the innate
or Jesus and the Pharisees and Sadducees, on the power to say `yes' to Him. It implies that man has the
ground of anything Judaeo-Christian, so that rapport power of contrary choice. It implies that given the
or reconciliation might be attempted from either side.              opportunity and refusing it, it had been better not to
The antithetical teaching of Jesus denies that our re- have been given it. It denies election and the fact that
ligion is Judaeo-Christian. "Except your righteousness God will save a given chosen one, even though he may
shall exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall never have had such an opportunity (offer) or may
in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Mt.                   have refused a hundred of them.
5:20). The term has a rather ecumenical and evolu-                     There is also in this issue of the journal a fine article
tionary ring to it. It is as though "Heathenism was on the biblical term  firmament  (Heb.,  raqia  `) under the
humanity upon its face in despair. Judaism was human- title, "The Three-Storied Universe." Using the critical
ity upon its knees, hoping, praying and prophesying. In faculty as a sanctified sieve, the journal is recom-
Christ, for the first time in history, humanity stood               mended.
upon its  feet."g But humanity in Christ has always
stood upon the promises of the covenant since the                   1  A. Kuyper, Calvinism, Eerdmans, 1947, p. 113.
protevangelium.                                                     2 ibid.,  p.  114
  Another interesting article in the journal relates to a 3 ibid.,  p. 141
joint project of World Vision  atid a school of Fuller 4 Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation,  March
                                                                    1969, p. 6
Seminary known as MARC, Missions Advanced Re- 5 This may be traced fully in the Veritas Foundation's The
search and Communication Center, in Monrovia, Cali- Great Deceit-Social Pseudo-Sciences,  (1964),  West Sayville,
fornia. MARC is a data processing center which utilizes New York.
an IBM 360 computer, model 30. For more detail, see                 6 ibid., p. 57
a former recent  Standard  Bearer  article, "A Missionary 7ibid.,p. 58  '
Movement." For the operation of a computer-systems                  8 Journal of the A.S.A., March 1969, p. 7
socio-religious research center for Protestant Christian 9 John B. Koehne, in "News & Notes," quoted in Old Faith
organizations the following are needed: sociologists, Contender, July 1969, p. 189.
social anthropologists, systems engineers, computer an- 10 The Great Deceit, pp. 3-6,45


           Let the minister feel the heavy obligation that rests upon his shoulders, when he is called to instruct the
        youth of the covenant, to be a minister of the Word of God unto them! He is called "fo feed the lambs"! A
        poor minister is he who is inclined to neglect this important part of his calling, who is tired (lazy, I should say),
        when the time is there to meet his classes, who makes as little as possible of this work and dismisses his classes as
        soon as he possibly dares to save his face before the congregation. He is unfaithful to his high calling, a betrayer
        of the Church of Christ to the devil, unworthy of his title: V.D.M.                The Standard Bearer, VII, p. 5 12


158                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


From Holy vrir
                                The Book of Hebrews
                                                  Rev. G. A Lubbers

OUR HOPE DIRECTED TO CHRIST'S  RETURN                          and the atonement in the end of the ages. And the
,WITHOUT SIN  - Hebrews  9:27, 28                              return of Christ is the final period of history, when all
  Christ came to carry away our sins outside of the            is come to pass. We now live between the cross and the
camp. He came to-carry away the sins of many. Thus             final return of Christ. That will be His Parousia, when
Isaiah had foreseen Him in the prophetic word from             the tabernacle of God shall be with man.
afar. -(Isaiah 53  ~12) Thus He is-described as the  Man'df       And this plan  -of God is  aepi&d in the life of every
sorrows, as one who is acquainted with grief. The              man which is born from women.
chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His                It is as follows: It is appointed unto a man once to
stripes we are healed. But this He will do only "once."        die and afterwards .the judgment! That is the order.
He did this once at the consummation of the ages.And           Whether this judgment be an acquittal at the  judgment-
in this  one  act  all things in heaven and on earth are       seat of God, or whether it be final and irrevocable
united in Him. He that descended is the same also that         condemnation, the truth is: It is appointed to a man
ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all      once to die, and afterwards the judgment. Here there is
things. (Ephesians 1: 10; 4: 10. Cf. Psalm 68: 18)             no return to this life after the appointed time of dying
  Now Christ will return from heaven a "second                 is come. The life's history of a man has then come to a
time." This time he will not return by being born from         close. There is not such a thing as a "second chance" as
a woman, coming under law. (Galatians  4:4, 5) He will         spoken of by the hypothetical universalist. This is also
return as the Son of Man coming with the clouds of             the death-blow to the Romish teaching concerning
heaven and with great glory. He will return with the           purgatory.
ten thousands of His angels and saints, His holy ones,            Thus also there is something very irrevocable in the
to judge the quick and the dead. He will return, as the        order of the historical moments of Christ's suffering.
angels spoke to the apostles, "in like manner as ye have       When he shall have given his soul an offering for sin, he
seen Him go into heaven." That will be the pattern. It         shall see His seed. It is the relation of seed-time and
will be a glorious. return in which the Son of God is on       harvest-time, each in its own order. The first time
the clouds. And every eye shall see Him, even those            Christ came to bear the sins of many; the second time
who pierced Him! Such is the general testimony of the          he comes without sin. The cross of Christ will be raised
Scriptures.                                                    up nevermore.
  The point which the writer singles out here in He-              That is our hope. It is the hope of Israel which gives
brews concerning Christ's return is the element that           rest to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in their grave of
this return shall "be without sin." That it will be            Machpelah. It is the hope of the coming of the Lord
without sin, means, as the context shows, that Christ          from heaven with the sound of the archangel, and with
shall not come the second time as he came the first            the-sound of the trumpet! He will then come not to
time. Concerning the first coming of the Savior the            remove our sins, but he will come to perfect our
writer had taught his readers in Hebrews 2: 14  "Foras-        salvation. Fact is, that he will be made visible, mani-
much then as the children are partakers of flesh  and:         fested in all the glory of the saving work of His first
blood, he himself likewise took part of the same;  that.:      coming. This will be the revelation of Jesus Christ, and
through death he might, destroy him that  .had  the!           of the glory of God in  all. the saints in the New
power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver  themi :Jerusalem.  It will be our entering into the true and
who through fear of death were all their lifetime sub-' heavenly tabernacle which was not made with hands.
ject to bondage." Thus was the first coming of Christ.i        This will be the time when all tears shall be wiped from
But the second time the Lord Jesus will not need  toi          our eyes, and when all the firstborn Sons, the Israel of
come once more to destroy him that had the power of            God, shall forever dwell. with God; He shall be their
death. He will come the second time to take his people         God and they shall be His people. And God shall be all
home and to fulfil the will of the Father, that not one        in all!
of those given Him perish, but that He may raise them          THE ALL-DETERMINING WILL
up in the last day.                                            OF GOD CONCERNING
  Thus is the plan of God unfolded.                            PERFECT SAL VATION  - Hebrews lO:l-10
  It is thus that Cross and crown are united!                     The Old Testament Scriptures-have various names
  Each must be-in its own place in history. The Cross          by which they  .are called. S-ometimes they are called


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       159



 simply "the Law," and then again "the Law and  the yearly sacrifices which must be brought to the temple
 Prophets." Sometimes the Scriptures are identified                  on the great day of atonement. The "law" concerning
 with the Holy Ghost and we read "`Wherefore as the                  the offerings and sacrifices on the great day of  atone-
 Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear His voice . .  ."           tient we find in Leviticus 1'6. This was the very epit-
 (Hebrews 3 :7)                                                      ome of all the sacrifices of the Old Testament law. But
    Whereas the books in old time were in the form of a              even this was not desired by the Lord, as we noticed
 roll or scroll, the Old Testament Scriptures are desig- above.
 nated as the "Volume of the book," and this refers                    The law was a mere "shadow." It was not the
  then to the entire Old Testament Scriptures,  thirty- "body," the image of the things itself. It was a mere
 nine books of the volume. These are the accepted                    shadow, a dim outline representing the things to come.           -
~ canonical Scriptures. They are the rule of faith for the           Hence, they were merely parabolic, symbolical acts.
~ church of the time of the apostles and of Christ, and              The goat and the bullock died. But they did not die by
 they are the last court of appeal for the church of God their "will." It was a death on the part of the victim,
 in the times of the writer of Hebrews and, therefore,               which did not understand the nature of its own death.  -
 the convincing testimony of the Holy Ghost for the                  And it died, too, with the unwillingness of the brute
 believers, called the Hebrews.                                      beast that struggles to live. The sacrificial victim did
    Now it is the teaching here in this passage that two             not really bring a sacrifice to God. It did not come to
 things are very evident. In the first place, we are told            do the will of God, and to love God,  His righteousness
 that the "law" has in it an innate inability to perfect             and justice. The victim did not bring about satisfaction
 those who came to sacrifice in the Old Testament                    for sin, and, therefore, could not expiate our guilt !
 Tabernacle. The writer to the Hebrews had pointed                     Christ came to do exactly that when  her came to
 this out earlier in this book. The "law" was made after bear away the sins of many. He came to destroy sin,
 the pattern of the heavenly. It was not the very and He did. For His is not a mere shadow sacrifice, but
 heavenly and the true temple itself. (Hebrews 8: 5, 11; it is the real sacrifice acceptable to God.'
  9:9) The deepest reason is not that "the law" is impo-               Had these sacrifices  hi the day of atonement in the
 tent due to sin. That too is true. (Romans 8: l-4)                  Old Testament taken away of guilt and sin they would
 However, here the reason is that God did not "will" not have been repeated yearly.
 such a sacrifice to remove sins. This gospel-fait the                 But now their very repetition is of such a nature
 writer had pointed out earlier in Hebrews  2:9, 10 in               that we do not simply remember that we are sinners,
 the well-known words, "But we see Jesus, who was                    but the very sacrifices  remind  US that we are still in sin.
 made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of It reminded the one who brought the sacrifices under
 death crowned with glory and honor; that he by the                  Aaron that their conscience was not purified. The
 grace of God should taste death for every man. For it               worshipper was conscience-stricken by his sins, that is,
 became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are he stood in judgment with God as one whose  sins were
 all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the             not yet atoned. And so his conscience drove him to the
.. captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." temple. He did not yet stand in the liberty of the sons.
 Such is the deepest, the most profound theological                    What a terrible plight to live under! Never could the
.. reason why God disavowed the "law" as a means for                 "law" remove sin and guilt. They were all weak and .
 perfecting  (teleioosai).   For this perfecting, although  it       beggarly elements. Yes, it. was keeping of days,
 includes our sanctification from the guilt and pollution            months, years, sabbaths, new moons, etc.,  -but these
 of sin, refers to a different notion. It refers to the full         ordinances and the keeping of the same were all to no
 development of God's plan and purpose concerning his                avail of themselves.
 temple, His covenant with man. The covenant must                      Small wonder that the cry arose: How long, 0 Lord,
 not and cannot be perfected with man in the  wajr of                and let it repent Thee concerning Thy people!
 "the law."                                                            But there is hope: Christ is the end of the law for
    God did not will it!                                             righteousness for everyone that believeth, for the Jew
    The law could not bring  about  the perfection of the            first and also for the Greek. For there is no difference..
 promised salvation!                                                 And this is evident from the law. and the prophets
    It is God's  all-determining will as contained in the            which loudly proclaim a righteousness of Gdd which is
volume of the book!                                                  without law. For all have sinned and come short of the
                                                                     glory of God. We  ari: not saved by works of law, nor
.THh LAW A MERE SHADOW OF GOOD THINGS by the sacrifices of bulls and goats: We are saved solely
 TO COME - Hebrews 10: I-S                                           by Him who said: Behold, I am come to do thy will, 0
    The writer to the Hebrews is here speaking of the                God!

               There can be no doubt that, if the truth -were to be determined by popular vote, the doctrine of sovereign
          election would be rejected by an overwhelming majority.                                           H. Hoeksema


160                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



Contending  for  the  Faith

                                        THE DOCTRINE OF SIN
                                             THE THIRD PERIOD - 730-1517 A.D.
                                                PROTESTANT DOCTRINE OF SIN
                                                     ACCORDING TO CALVIN

                                                           Rev. H. Veldman

   In our preceding article, we called attention to the              Having concluded what Calvin has to say about
fact that  the Word of God does not separate the things            Common Grace, we now wish to call attention, specif-
that are present and earthly from the things that are              ically, to the doctrine  of sin as occurring in the writ-
eternal, and surely teaches us to view them in the light           ings of the reformer. He writes on this subject in Book
of each other. And we maintain that this is also the               II, chapters 1-3, of his Institutes.
position of Calvin.                                                  He begins by calling attention to the old adage,
  It must be maintained that, although the prosperity              which strongly recommends to man the knowledge of
of the wicked constituted a problem for Calvin, never-             himself. He considers it shameful for man to be igno-
theless he sought its solution by maintaining that the             rant of himself. But then Calvin immediately calls
Lord shows the wicked temporal mercy, but  he also                 attention to the preposterous use which some philoso-
attempts to  solve the problem in the light of eternity            phers have made of this adage, and we quote, I, 1, 1:
and by maintaining that the Lord is God. In connec-                       For while they exhort man to the knowledge of
tion with the manifestation of God, one reads repeat-                  himself, the end they propose is, that he may not
edly that thereby the wicked are rendered inexcusable.                 remain ignorant of his own dignity and excellence;
We read this repeatedly throughout Book I of his                       nor do they wish him to contemplate in himself any
Institutes. But, if we wish plain language that "Com-                  thing but what may swell him with vain confidence,
mon Grace" fulfills the curse, and renders the wicked                   and inflate him with pride.
inexcusable before God, then we should note what we                   This statement may well be considered the key-note
read in III, 25, 9:                                                of what the reformer has to say about the subject of
         How is it, then, that God not only "maketh his            sin. He states that man's knowledge of himself consists
       sun to rise on the evil and on the good," but that, for     of  two things: first, he must consider what was be-
       the accommodations of the present life, his inestima-       stowed upon him as his creation, and, secondly, he
       ble liberality is diffused ti, the most copious abun-       ought to contemplate his miserable condition since the
       dance? Hence we see, that  tigs which properly              fall of Adam, the sense of which will tend to destroy
       belong to Christ and his members, are also extended         all boasting and confidence, overwhelm  him with
       to the impious; not to become their legitimate pos-         shame and fill him with real humility.
       session, but to render them more inexcusable. Thus             One might almost conclude that Calvin wrote the
       impious men frequently. experience God's benefi-            following with his eye upon present conditions, estab-
       cence in remarkable instances, which sometimes ex-
       ceed all the blessings of the pious, but which, never-      lishing the truth that, while conditions may vary and
       theless, are the means of aggravating their                 change outwardly, issues and principles remain the
       condemnation.                                               same  throughoul: the ages, so that we need not doubt
  This is plain language. And also when Calvin writes              what the reformer's position would have been had he
about those temporal gifts for the wicked which they               lived today (II, 1, 3):
share with the godly in God's covenant, we read the                       For, according to carnal apprehension, a man is
same thought, as in III, 2, 11.                                         thought to be well acquainted with himself, when,
  And finally we note that the church of the present                    confiding in his own understanding and integrity, he
day refuses to speak of this purpose, because, so they                  assumes a presumptuous boldness, incites himself to
                                                                        the duties of virtue, and, declaring war against vice,
declare, we have nothing to do with it. Calvin always                   uses his most strenuous endeavours to adhere to what
ends in the doctrine of God's sovereign election, in an                is  fair and honourable. But he, who inspects and
essential distinction between the Church and the                        examines himself by the rule of the Divine judgment,
World, and his common grace is the means to render                      finds nothing that can raise his mind to a genuine
the wicked inexcusable and to increase  h'is judgment.                  confidence; and the more fully he has examined
In this Calvin does not remain silent. Calvin's common                 himself, the greater is his dejection; till, entirely
grace was a peculiar phenomenon in this natural life.                   discarding all confidence, he leaves himself no ability
God's grace is, according to him, exclusively particular                for the proper conduct of his life.
and reserved only for the people of God.                             Having written this, the reformer, continuing in the


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           161



same paragraph, calls the attention of the reader to                 perfectly consistent with the truth. Original sin,
man's original condition and of that from which man is               therefore, appears to be an hereditary depravity and
wholly departed, the viewing of which should con-                    corruption of our nature, diffused through all the
found him and almost annihilate him. What would                      parts of the soul, rendering us obnoxious to the
have been Calvin's position were he living today, wit-               Divine wrath, and producing in us those works which
nessing the church's social gospel (and I refer to the               the Scripture calls "works of the flesh." . . . These
refolmed church world of today), the church's efforts                two things therefore should be distinctly observed:
                                                                     first, that our nature being so totally vitiated and
toward social improvement and the betterment of this                 depraved, we are, on account of this very corruption,
world, all taking place in the Name of Christ, the King              considered as convicted and justly condemned in the
of His church, and as seeking the establishment of His               sight of God, to whom nothing is acceptable but
Kingdom? What would be his reaction while witnessing                  righteousness, innocence, and purity. . . . Nevertheless
the terrible defection from the truth, the ruthless tram-            we derive from him, not only punishment (original
pling under foot of the very fundamentals of the Word                guilt, H.V.), but also the pollution to which the
of God, the corrupting of the truth and the denial of                punishment of justly due. . . . And thereforeinfants
the infallibility of the Scriptures? How violently he                themselves, as they bring their condemnation into
would react and protest against the present day reduc-               the world with them, are rendered obnoxious to
ing of Genesis l-3 to a myth, the attack upon the                    punishment by their own sinfulness, not by the sin-
virgin birth and the miracles of our Lord! How he                    fulness of another. For though they have not yet
                                                                     produced the fruits of their iniquity, yet they have
would cause his voice to be heard against the social                 the seed of it within them; even their whole nature is
gospel of today, the identifying of the kingdom of our               as it were a seed of sin; and therefore cannot but be
Lord Jesus Christ with a kingdom consisting of warring               odious and abominable to God. . . . The other thing
against poverty, social injustices and racial inequalities,          to be remarked is, that this depravity never ceases in
and all this  2aking place without the cross of Calvary!             us, but is perpetually producing new fruits, those
Indeed, circumstances may and do vary, but principles                works of the flesh, which we have before described,
and fundamental issues remain the same throughout                    like the emission of flame and sparks from a heated
the ages.                                                            furnace, or like the streams of water from a never-
  Calvin, in his doctrine of sin, maintained the Scrip-              failing spring. Wherefore those who have defined
tural doctrine of original sin. Incidentally, he connects            original sin as a privation of the original righteous-
                                                                     ness, which we ought to possess, though they com-
all the present sin and misery with the sin of Adam.                 prise the whole of the subject, yet have not used
This,  of course, is well-known. He would have viewed                language sufficiently expressive of its operation and
with horror the position taken by many in the re-                    influence. For our nature is not only destitute of all
formed church world of today, that Scripture's ac-                   good, but is so fertile in all evils that it cannot remain
count of the fall of our first parents in  -Paradise is a            inactive. Those who have called it concupiscence
myth, that Adam and Eve were not the first people,                   have used an expression not improper, if it were only
that sin, therefore, never entered this world as set forth           added, which is far from being conceded by most
in the first book of the Bible. He maintains Scripture's             persons, that everything in man, the understanding
account of the fall, is unalterably opposed to the                   and will, the soul and body, is polluted and engrossed
teaching of Pelagianism which would maintain that                    by this concupiscence; or, to express it more briefly,
Adam only ruined himself and that his sin did not                    that man is of himself nothing else but concupis-
injure his descendants. He writes, II, 1, 5 :                        cence.
                                                                   This is Calvin's doctrine of original sin, original guilt
       This is that hereditary corruption which the fa-
    thers called original sin; meaning by sin, the deprav-       and original pollution. He is unalterably opposed to
    ation of a nature previously good and pure. . . .There       the heresy of  Pelagianism  which he calls profane, a
    is certainly no ambiguity in the confession of David,        devilish delusion and a teaching of consummate impu-
    that he was shapen in iniquity, and in sin his mother        dence. He includes in this original corruption also the
    conceivedhim. . . . Every descendant, therefore, from        children, and declares that their whole nature is as it
    the impure source, is born infected with the conta-          were a seed of sin and that it therefore cannot but be
    gion of sin; and even before we behold the light of          odious and abominable to God. And he concludes with
    life, we are in the sight of God defiled and polluted.       the observation that our nature is not only destitute of
    For "who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?"         all good, but that it is so fertile in all evils that it
    The book of Job tells us, "Not one."                         cannot remain inactive. Everything in man, the under-
  Calvin defines original sin and sets forth the terrible        standing and the will, the soul and body, is polluted
extent of it in II,  1,8 and we quote the following:             and engrossed by this concupiscence; or, to express it
       To remove all uncertainty and misunderstanding            more briefly, man of himself is nothing else than
    on this subject, let us define original sin. It is not my    concupiscence. And so Calvin also remarks that sin has
    intention to discuss all the definitions given by            possessed all the powers of the soul, since Adam de-
    writers; I shall only produce one, which I think             parted from the fountain of righteousness. And he also


162                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



declares that man is so totally overwhelmed, as with a Paul says that all the affections or thoughts of the flesh
deluge, that no part is free from sin and that therefore are enmity against God, and therefore death.
whatever proceeds from him is accounted sin, even as


In His Fear
                                Fear For The Future
                                                    Rev. John A. Heys


   Fear is here!                                              rich soil for housing projects and transport rich soil
   And though we wanted it otherwise, we brought it           from fields to insure a nice green lawn. Meanwhile, for
with us into the new year.                                    years we have poured tons and tons of filth and sewage
   Putting up a new calendar, calling the month by a          and poison into our rivers and lakes, killed off our fish
different name, and the year by another number does           and made it necessary to go farther and farther away
not take away the fears we had in the year that is gone       from the cities for some usable water for our drinking
by with startling swiftness.                                  purposes.
   In fact, the very fact that we have to call the year by      We have been so eager to get rid of our pesky
a larger n-umber simply means that we are a year closer       mosquitoes and to harvest bumper crops of food that
to the day of our death. And the thought of that death        we have resorted to powerful insecticides to kill our
is what gives us fear and many an anxious moment.             flies and bugs and beetles. And in the process we have
Did not the author of the epistle to the Hebrews write        killed our birds which accounted for many other in-
that Christ will "deliver them who through fear of            sects. We have destroyed the balance that God in His
death were all their lifetime subject to bondage?"            wisdom placed in the creature world. These insecti-
  We have not in the year gone by slowed down this            cides have also drained into our creeks and rivers and
process which brings us to the grave and to a confron-        lakes to contaminate the fish which our filthy waters
tation with the God Whose we are and Whom we have             did not kill. And we live in fear of cancer-forming or
not served with that diligence which is required. And         cancer-producing meats from fish but also from other
nothing in the past has assured us that we will not           beasts. We have created a wonderful world of con-
meet head on the Anti-Christ, that man of sin, who will       fusion and contradiction for ourselves and our
not allow us to buy or sell. We have not erected an iron      children.
curtain to block his approach from us and from our              Then, too, there is the ever spiralling cost of living
children. And though at times we look to the morrow           to worry about with another series of strikes to boost
because of some joy we expect to experience on that           the cost of the objects we need and intend to buy. We
day, the joy is always overshadowed by what we know           cannot make ends meet, so we strike and get more
will follow.                                                  money to spend. But the consumer is not one step
  In spite of the rosy picture that men try to paint,         ahead. He has not caught up yet with the wages he lost
there is nothing to which men can point that will give        during the strike before the manufacturer raises his
true assurance. The unbeliever sees clearly enough that       prices to make up for the higher wages he now has to
although we fought two wars to "end all wars," we             pay his help because of this strike. And so we end up
have only produced an armament race with such dread-          with more money to spend for items that now cost
ful weapons of destruction that the chills run down           more money to buy.
our backs with fear of what man is now able to do in a          Psychiatrists, psychiatry, psychiatric hospitals and
moment! And ironically enough, men  fight  their  fel-        psychiatric  counselling are all in ever-increasing de-
lowmen in our streets to call for an end to fighting the      mand. The trend is not away from these but towards
enemy and stranger in another land.                           more use of them. We cannot relax. Tensions mount.
  Although we do not suffer at the moment, there is           The problems-increase without any actual solution.
the fear of a serious food and water shortage in the            The space program with its astronomical cost con-
years ahead. The population explosion has many                tinues each year to demand a higher piece of the
serious-minded planners for the future worried about          finances. We cannot afford it now; and we  cannot
what we will eat and drink in the days when these             afford either to drop it. It is costing the money that
children born today beget their children. And in our          ought to be put to use upon the inhabitants of the
folly and unconcern we still continue to dig up our           earth and not on the craters of the moon. We better

                                             . .


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     163



first solve a few of our problems here below before we          God be the fear which we have for the future. Then
go so far away to create new problems there. But we             the mists will all roll away. Then we will see victory
cannot drop the whole program either. The sky used to           and a blessed future.
be the limit of our spending, but now we have to raise            Let our fear for the future be the fear that looks
the limit to Mars and some distant star. And yet we             back to Calvary, to the open and empty tomb, and to
cannot back down after getting to the moon, because             Christ seated at the right hand of God in heaven. Let
the consequences would be tragic for the economy.               the eye of faith be fixed on Christ, and our fear will
What an amount is invested in buildings and electronic          not be one of terror and fright but of reverence and
equipment! What a vast number of men are employed               awe, of amazement and respect before the God of our
in this whole program! And if we were to drop it  -             salvation. We take all of our problems and cares into
and there is no sense, now that we have gone to the             the new year; but let us by all means take Christ along
moon, to phase it out gradually or partially  - what a          with us into that year and into all the days of our life
terrific unemployment situation we have created! No,            here below. Let us walk in the new year in faith, even
we have to go on till we are ruined.                            as we walked throughout the old in that fear of the
  More seriously still, there are those inroads into the        Lord, which is faith and trust in Him as the God of our
church-world and those vicious and subtle attacks               salvation.
upon the faith and spiritual lives of our children. With all      The fear of the Lord, or, if you will, faith in the
the amazing media of communication and instruction              God of our salvation, is not going to change circum-
today the approach is so subtle and appealing to our            stances around about us. If all men in the world would
youth. Shall we not have fear for the future for them?          suddenly receive the gift of faith from God, there
They are exposed to so much more than we were when              would be a new society, a new outlook, a new  world-
we were their ages. The pleasures and treasures of the          and-life view, a new approach to the old problems and
world are so much closer to them and more easily                a new dedication and consecration. And in the new
available with automobiles, radio and television. They          Jerusalem we will not have the problems that we now
make more money so quickly as to be in a position to            have. There surely will be no fear of the criminal, nor
seek all these. Family life is disrupted so soon and in so      fear for want of food and drink. Fear of war will be no
many ways because of the complexity of our life.                more. And unemployment will be a forgotten word.
  And then there is also the whole church picture to            No longer will we fear that the minds and hearts of our
strike fear into the heart of the serious, concerned            children will be corrupted. We shall have one gloriously
child of God. Mergers continue to be realized. The              large church, for the prayer of Christ that "they all
enemy of the child of God, who would remain distinct            may be one" will be fulfilled by God in the return of.
with the distinct truth of God's Word, grows bigger             Christ and the destruction of all sinful flesh. But in this
`and bigger, more powerful and still more powerful.             life, there will be no such universal and total conver-
And the heretics become bolder  and. bolder. The                sion. And instead we are to expect that the church
church begins to look and to sound more and more                remains a little flock in the midst of a multitutde that
like the world. It is NOT a case of the world looking           will continue their evil course, and be a threat to the
more like the church. The world is not trying to join           lives of the children of God.
the church; but it is in the church that wants to look            Besides, even in the life of the individual child of
like the world that it is declared that God is dead.            God there is no sudden removal of all his problems
Once again it is the case of the "sons of God" seeing           when he is converted. The converted drunkard, who
"the daughters of men that are fair" and that these sons        has wasted his life and has a body full of aches and
of God "took them wives of all which they chose." pains and permanent damage to his liver, heart, ar-
There is not anything in Christianity that the world            teries, and entire digestive system is not going to be
wants; but there is so much in the world that many in           healed by his conversion and new walk of life. And
the church want.                                                God is not going to lift the curse off the face of this
  Fear for the future there is.                                 earth because we now believe in Him. That curse will
  And fear for the future there must be. Only, let it be        remain till the day of Christ.
then the fear of the Lord. We cannot avoid seeing all             But faith will give us a different goal in life so that
the dangers in the world today. We are not blind to the         what now is such a dreadful loss and calamity to us
trend all around us in the world today. We, because we          does not disturb us and fill us with such fear and terror
believe the Word of God, can "see the day approach-             as it did in times gone by, never to return. And death
ing;" and we know that because man has set himself on           does not seem such a terrible woe to the believer,
a course of opposition to the living God, he is on a            because he sees it as his servant instead of his enemy.
collision course with the Almighty; and dread disaster          He sees it, not as the doorway to hell and its torments,
is just ahead for him. But then, seeing all this with the       but as the gateway to heaven and its glory. For by
natural eye and by the natural intellect, let us by all         faith he sees victory over death and the grave in Christ.
means look also with the eye of faith. Let the fear of          And he fears God rather than death which God  con-


164                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



trols so perfectly.                                            fear of the Lord which brings a peace that passeth all
   And faith keeps him steadfast and unmovable in the understanding and assures that all is well, even though
mist of all the sorrows and disappointments that the           for the flesh things go bad. For faith sees that all things
flesh experiences in this life. Faith, and its handmaid        without any exception work together for good to
of hope, keeps the child of God anchored in Christ in          those that fear God. For the mercy of the Lord is from
the midst of all the storms, so that he is not driven upon     everlasting to everlasting upon those that fear Him,
the rocks of despair and ruin. Faith makes him sing:           Psalm 103: 17. And if that mercy is ALWAYS upon us
                                                               and was upon us from everlasting and will be ever-
   Jehovah is my light,                                        lastingly, what can or will harm us? Have fear for the
  And my salvation near;                                       future, is my counsel to you. Have the fear of faith
  Who shall my soul affright,                                  that sees a  glotious future in the day of Christ.
   Or cause my heart to fear?                                     We are a year closer.
  While God my strength, my life sustains                         May that fear of the Lord also be here and abide in
   Secure from fear my soul remains.                           us till that day arrives.
  Indeed, have fear for the future. But let it be the


A Cloud of Witnesses
                             The Numbering of Israel
                                                 Rev. B. Woudenbevg

             And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against
           them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.
                                                                                              II Samuel 24: 1

  The Lord was angry with Israel. We don't know just              We read at this point in II Samuel 24, "And again
when this, was or what occasioned it; but it was evi-          the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and
dently toward the end of the reign of David, And when          he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel
we give it thought, it is not really surprising. The           and Judah." If we turn to the parallel passage in
circumstances surrounding the rebellion of Absalom             I Chronicles 21 we read, "And Satan stood up against
had done much to expose the weaknesses, not only of            Israel, and provoked David to number Israel." The two
those personally involved, but of the whole nation.            are not contradictory. They only bring out different
They had been so ready and willing to throw in their           aspects of God's way of dealing with His people.
support to a young and attractive rebel without consid-           Satan, of course, is the enemy and opponent of God
eration of the fact that he was a transgressor of the          and of His people. His whole goal is to disrupt and
fifth commandment, and that he was by no means the             destroy God's purpose of grace with His chosen. But
anointed of the Lord. They were not just rejecting             Satan in all of his wiles is still subject to God and His
their king: they were rejecting their God.                     infinite, sovereign power. In His wisdom and greatness,
  We are not told what the cause of this all was, but it       God is able to take even Satan at his worst and use him
is not hard to deduce: Israel under David had attained         for the accomplishment of his own purpose. In this
unto prosperity, and prosperty is always a particularly        instance it was undoubtedly to bring  outs the secret sins
difficult thing to be able to take from a spiritual point      of David and of Israel and to purge them through the
of view. All through the judges it had been borne out.         means of judgment.
In times of prosperity the people most readily fell into          That about which all of this developed was the
sin, and  .only the sorrow of judgment would bring             matter of the numbering of the people. Again we do
them back to repentance. The same thing had, in fact,          not know the details, but it would seem that someone
happened to David personally. In the hardship of his           appeared to influence David to make a numbering of
youth he had scorned to walk in the sins into which he         his nation and so determine the total size of his poten-
readily fell in the prosperity of his later life. And so it    tial fighting force.
had happened with the people too. Having tasted the              It was not really such a strange thing that David
pleasure of earthly plenty, they were concerned more           decided to do. After all, every major fighting power
for their own well-being than with the service of their        customarily knew and boasted in the number of men
God. And the Lord was angered by them.                         that it could field. Moreover, there was good historical


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  165



precedent to point him in this direction. Had not              dark shadow of despondency and guilt. We do not
Moses himself numbered the people of God two differ- know how long it was in developing, but gradually
ent times by very command from God? Why shouldn't David came to realize that Joab had been right and
he do the same?                                                that he had committed a great sin against his Lord and
   Nevertheless, there was behind this a very subtle God.
difference that reflected upon the moral value of what            At last, David could endure it no longer. We have no
David was doing. It was Joab that detected this imme- indication that anything but his own feelings of guilt
diately. Although Joab in his blunt and forward                brought him to this point of repentance; but when he
manner was often offensive and sometimes in error,             went to the Lord he went with all of his heart. In
there was a basic honesty in the man which David had           sorrow he cried out, "I have sinned greatly in that I
always appreciated and trusted. Moreover, Joab knew have done: and now, I beseech  .thee, 0 LORD, take
his king and master well, having seen David in all his away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very
strength and also in his weaknesses. No sooner had             foolishly  ."
David called him and commanded, "Go now through                   It would seem unlikely though that, even at this,
all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even unto Beersheba,        David did not realize the real seriousness of that which
and number ye the people, that I may know the                  he had done. Behind his action there was a motivation,
number of the people," than Joab detected that some- an attitude of heart shared by the whole nation which
thing was wrong. This thing arose from David's baser was utterly abhorrent to the Lord their God. This was
nature and not from his best. It was of carnal pride and brought out in His answer to David's prayer.
not spiritual strength. It was a sin akin to that which          The Lord came to Gad, the prophet with whom
Hezekiah would someday commit when he would in                 David commonly consulted at that time, and said, "Go
that same city take in the messengers of the Babylo- and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee
nians to show them all of his wealth and all of his three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it
strength. Such are sins which unbelievers can never unto thee."
understand; but the righteous do. It was a contradic-             So Gad appeared before David, and these were the
tion of David's own words in Psalm  20:7, "Some trust choices that he gave: "Shall seven years of famine
in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember come unto thee in the land? or wilt thou flee three
the name of the LORD Our God."                                 months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee?
  Joab saw this, and, being the man that he was, he or that there be three days' pestilence in the land? now
would not be silent. Directly he responded to David's advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that
command, "The LORD make his people an hundred sent me."
times so many more as they be: but, my lord the king,             Suddenly it struck home to David. That which he
are they not all my lord's servants? why then doth my .had done had not been just a personal thing with
lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of personal responsibility. It involved the whole nation.
trespass to Israel?"                                           His action had been performed in his capacity as king
  As it was, however, Joab no longer maintained the and for it the whole nation would have to suffer the
influence over David which he had had before the               results. It is something that every leader must learn
death of Absalom. Although he had maintained his               always to bear in consideration. One is never as free
position as head of the army by sheer force of charac-         and independent in life as we like to tell ourselves
ter, he was not able to gain the ear of the king as in when our hearts are set intently on the ways of sin.
former years. David merely ignored his protest and               One can only imagine how grievously David strug-
reiterated the command.                                        gled with the problem, and the seriousness with which
  For nine months and twenty days Joab and his                 he bore it can be seen from the answer which he finally
servants circulated throughout the land of Israel and          gave, "I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the
Judah counting every man they could find capable of            hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let
participating in battle. It was a disgusting occupation        me not fall into the hand of man." It was an answer
to him, to the point where he did not even finish it but       filled with spiritual discernment, and in the end it
stopped before he had included the Levites or the tribe        would prove to be the wisest also.
of Benjamin. (It is perhaps for this reason that we have          Had David been a hard and wicked man, that which
a difference between the totals as given in Samuel and         he had chosen would not have been so difficult. He
in Chronicles: the one might contain his actual count          had chosen the three days of pestilence, too short a
and the other an over all estimate.) In the end, how-          time for any of his enemies to `take advantage of him,
ever, he did give to the king a list of figures telling him    and it appears that the pestilence did not even touch
of his strength.                                               his own body or even particularly his own family. It
  But to the king it brought very little of the satisfac-      was the people it devastated. From one end of the land
tion which he had expected. Instead it was just the            to the other people came sick and began to die in vast
opposite. Once again there closed in upon his soul the         numbers. Thousands upon thousands were  immedi-


166                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



ately stricken, Soon the reports began to come into the        It was then that David saw his opportunity, He
palace from all corners, telling of the sickness, the        turned to God in prayer and cried out, "Is it not I that
pain, the death, the sorrow and the anguish. And each commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is
report was to David as that of a death in his own            that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these
family. He was the shepherd who loved his sheep; and         sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray
to hear of their suffering because of his sin was even       thee, 0 LORD my God, be on me, and on my father's
worse than if he had been the one to perish. Slowly, so      house; but not on thy people, that they should be
slowly, the moments and hours passed by, filled with plagued." It was a beautiful prayer, anticipating in
the anguished cry of suffering, and each was as an age       truth the prayer with which the final Son of David
to the great king who had brought this upon his              would commit himself to pay for the sins of all Israel.
people. But all he could do was to huddle with his              But the time for the fulfillment of God's purpose
-elders in sackcloth and ashes while crying to the Lord      was not ready. It would have to wait until the fulness
jfor mercy.                                                  of time. Meanwhile, however, it could be set forth in
   Neither was David's hope misdirected. At that very        anticipation through type and through shadow.
`moment when it seemed the whole nation would per-              In answer to David's prayer God sent the prophet
ish before the pestilence was finished, there appeared       Gad to him again with this commandment, "Go up,
an angel, hovering over Jerusalem and holding, as it         rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of
were, the pestilence in abeyance. It was not removed; Araunah the Jebusite." It was at the altar only that
but it was kept from destroying as it seemed it would.       God's mercy could be perfectly accomplished.


Contribution

       Not By Human Might Nor By Government Force

 We are grateful to our God and our Lord Jesus in effect that the public school plan for financing their
Christ that the Editor of  The Standard Bearer  has so schools is right and good and that our Christian schools
ably defended the matter of parental financing of our should also adopt this method of financing. But how
Christian schools over against those who are misleading can we do this when we have always maintained that
many Christian parents sinfully to transfer this pa-         the public school system is not according to God's
rental duty and responsibility to government in part or      commandments? Our God has not commanded  govem-
in whole. Surely this issue is of such great importance      ment to administer and to finance the education of
and significance for the spiritual welfare of our schools    children. This duty and responsibility has been given to
that we should all become rightly concerned to do the        parents  - not government. Parents must instruct their
will of God in this question.                                children in the home and family, and our Christian
  These false slogans, such as "fair share", "justice",      schools must always and ever be considered as the
"educational freedom", may fool some parents; but            extension of home training and as an aid to parents.
these should not deceive those who know the Scrip- Teachers in the school act and instruct only in the
tures and the commandments of Christ. We ought to            name, and by the authority, of the parents. Financing
be very careful not to be so influenced, so that we also     of these Christian schools is as much the duty and
begin to say that if we can get this mis-called "fair responsibility of parents as is the instruction of the
share" of tax money without government control over children. These two cannot be separated. In disobeying
the instruction of our covenant children, then we            God's commandments by transferring the duty of fi-
should take it. It is to be feared that if our Protestant    nancing Christian schools to government, we may not
Reformed parents talk this way, we have already lost and should not expect God's blessing on the instruc-
the fight. Even if this should be the case, it would still tion the children receive. It is  man  who maintains that
be wrong and sinful to transfer this duty to govern- government should provide and finance schools for
ment. We surely will succumb to the lure of easy             children. This is nothing other than sinful, devilish
money if we do not have the more solid foundation of rebellion against God and His commandments. When
God's word to stand upon.                                    parents send their children to public schools, they
  There cannot be any such thing as "fair share",            disobey God and Christ; and when we as parents ac-
justice", "educational freedom" when such proposals          cept government financing of our schools in part or in
are based upon wrong principles. When we wrongly             whole, then we too share in this disobedience.
seek or take government taxes for our schools we say           When we in humble trust in Christ and from the love


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        167


of God shed abroad in our hearts by the  ,Hdly Spirit              be closing their doors. How shameful to talk this way!
establish our own Christian schools and finance them How dishonoring to Christ who sits on the throne at
as we should, we are a testimony for righteousness and the right hand of God the Father in all his kingly
a judgment of God against those who wrongly insist                  power and  .majesty! He is a million times more power-
that government owned and operated public school ful and able than any earthly government. Let us in all
systems are right. When we would accept government child-like humility and faith put all our trust in our
financing of our schools, our testimony for the com- glorious and wonderful Savior, and may we count it
mandments of God would be destroyed. We would lose but a mild form of persecution that we are sinfully
our witness in this world for the truth of the holy forced by government to pay taxes for non-Biblical
Gospel that God saves His covenant people so that and non-Christian public-school systems. Our blessed
they are enabled to do his good commandments. It is Lord Jesus said: "Ye are the light of the world". This
not by human power nor by government force that we is also so in the instruction of children in parental
obey the commandments of Christ, but by His Spirit.. Christian schools. "Let your light so shine before men,
How disgraceful to Christ if we should say with those that they may see your good works, and glorify your
that seek to have government take over the financing Father in heaven," (Matt. 5 : 16).
of their Christian schools  - that if this government                                                                     H. Tilma
money is not received, the Christian schools will soon                                                      Grand Rapids,  Mich.



                     ANNOUNCEMENT                                                         INMEMORIAM
  Classis East will meet, Dr. Wednesday, January 7,                    On November 28, 1969, it pleased the Lord to call
1970 at 9 A.M. in the Southeast Prot. Reformed                      home unto Himself our beloved father, grandfather, and
Church. Consistories will reckon with this in the ap-               great-grandfather
pointment of their delegates.                                                       MR. JOHN KARSEMEYER
                                            M. Schipper, S.C.       at the age of 84 years.
                                                                       "For we know that if our earthly house of his
                                                                    tabernacle were dissolved, we have a  building.of God,
                           NOTICE                                   and house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
  There will be an Office Bearer's Conference January               IICor.  5:l.
6, at 8:00 P.M. in the Southeast Protestant Reformed                                  Mr. Wm. Karsemeyer
Church.                                                                               Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Karsemeyer
  Prof. H. Hanko will speak on the subject: "In the light                             Mr. James Karsemeyer
of Article 25 of the Church Order, may we accept                                      Mr. and Mrs. Albert Karsemeyer
government aid, such as  Medicade  or Medicare?"                                      6 grandchildren
                                         John Dykstra, Sec'y.                         3 great-grandchildren



              But what is the teaching of our modern schools, colleges and universities? What is the message that is
           delivered from the modern pulpit, by men that pretend to be ministers of the Word of God unto the flock of
           Jesus Christ? What has been done with the Holy Scriptures? They have been discredited long ago and men of
           science (and who dares to remain erect when the trumpet calls us to bow down before its god?) have assured the
           masses that it is no more the authoritative Word of God than any other book. What has been done with the
           truth of creation?It has been substituted by the hypothesis of evolution, a mere philosophy of man.What has
           become of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of His people, Who shed His lifeblood for our sins, Who arose for our
           justification, Who ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God; Who will come again on the clouds
           of heaven to judge the qtick and the dead? He has been transmuted by these modern wise men, before whom
           the masses bow in fear, into the good man of Galilee, a great teacher, a worthy example, a martyr for his cause,
           into anything but the Saviour of men! The virgin-birth is denied, the atonement is called blood-theology, the
           resurrection is spiritualized into thin air, the doctrine of the second coming is changed into that of man's
           improvement of the modern world.
                                                                                          The Standard Bearer,  VII, p. 460


  1 6 8                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



                               News From Our Churches

                                     December 15, 1969 Forbes, North Dakota; Randolph, Wisconsin; and, no
                                                             doubt, that's not all. From Randolph's bulletin-"Let
     It's pretty evident, from a quick look over all the us gather with our children on this occasion, to see
  bulletins, that we have several vacant churches in our `firsthand' what our offerings are being used for, and
  denomination. All our churches are, sooner or later, to hear the brethren there speak of our wonderful
  affected by classical appointments. Rev. C. Hanko had covenant God."
  quite a distance to travel for his two week appoint-                                 ****
  ment in Hull! Our seminary (students, that is) is cer-        Several of our churches have "letter writing" sched-
  tainly made aware of the minister shortage. They're ules to make certain that our young men in uniform
  getting some valuable experience rather early in their are not neglected. The Priscilla Society of First Church
  training. As we mentioned before, first-year Semi- in Grand Rapids went a little further. On an insert in a
  narians Wayne Bekkering and Marvin Kamps have al- November bulletin, they supplied the congregation
  ready occupied pulpits. From Southeast we read, "The with names, addresses, and  birth dates  of all the serv-
  congregation of Southeast Church counts it a privilege icemen from that church. We quote from that insert:
  to be the first to hear them, and assures them of her "We wish to remind each one of our congregation that
: `prayers that the Lord will strengthen and encourage these,boys are far away, that they need, not only our
  them as they bring  tous the Word of edification." And prayers, but also a reminder from us that we are
  we find that two students are also conducting the praying for them, that we  do  think of them, and that
  catechism classes at Southwest during the absence of we wish them God's blessing wherever they are. . . .
  Rev. Lubbers. Two other students, Mr. Ron Van              They will be more than happy to know that you are
  Overloop  and Mr. Jim Slopsema went to Illinois on thinking of them. Are you?"
  Sunday, December 14, to lead the worship services of                                ****
                                                               We've been sort of neglecting the schools, lately.
  our South Holland and  Oaklawn congregations.
                             ****                            How about a few excerpts from the November
  Speaking of vacant churches, Pella's days without an "Reflector", news bulletin of the South Holland Prot-
  undershepherd are over. Rev. Kuiper has, according to estant Reformed Christian School. In an editorial on
  Randolph's bulletin, "been led to accept the call from "The Christian Home and School", Mr.  .Lamm
  the congregation in Pella, Iowa.?' Randolph will call Lubbers, the school administrator, writes, "I believe
  from a trio consisting of Revs. Engelsma, Kortering, that if the importance of these two spheres of influ-
  and Van-Baren.                                             ence could be weighed, the home would be found to
                             ****                            leave a. far more lasting mark than the school. . . .
    Remember that Hudsonville's congregation decided Christian instruction starts at home. . . . It is there that
  against building an addition to their church? That, of he learns his basic values-what he should strive for and
  course, necessitated a search for another solution to w h y . . . His attitude towards his neighbor and toward
  their problem. From their Dec. 14 bulletin-"anyone his God are implanted at home. The Christian school
  who is personally interested in a Protestant Reformed continues this instruction. . . . But values and attitudes
  church in Jenison or Grandville is requested to sign a are deep seated, and the school seldom changes these."
  paper in the consistory room."
                         ****                                                         xx**
    Following a request by the Jamaica Sub-Committee,          A complement to that is this quote from Martin
  many different groups in our churches have chosen to Luther, used as a filler in Randolph's bulletin. "I advise
  make contributions to aid in the traveling expenses of no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not
  Jamaican ministers. The Sunday School of our church reign paramount. Every institution in which men are
  in Holland, Michigan, has decided to give $150. And not unceasingly occupied with the Word of God must
  the Men's Society of that same church "is taking become corrupt."
  collections every second Monday for these Jamaican                                  * * * *
 ministers. . .  ." They need us, it seems: But it's also      These fillers are often the best parts of bulletins.
  surely true that, as Rev. Lubbers put it in his farewell Let's end with this from Augustine, found in a section
  speech, "we need the spiritual exercise of loving them of Southeast's bulletin called "Quiet Thoughts":
  and sharing with them."                                    "Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward
                                                             of this faith is to see what we believe."
    Mr. Meulenberg's  slidzs*aii tape of Jamaica seem to
 be making the rounds-Michigan; Rock Rapids, Iowa;                                                           D.R.D.


