                                   he

              ,              tandard

                                           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


                                                                            >
IN THIS ISSUE

     E d i t o r i a l :
          Should OPs and RPs Unite?

     Meditation:
          Blessing The Lord

     All Around Us:
          More On Evangelisti Thrust

     In His Fear:
          Addressing God In Prayer





                                            Volume XLIX / Number 4 / November 15, 1972


74                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


                             CONTENTS:                                                                                    THE STANDARD  BEARER
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Editorials
                                                  Editor's Notes
                                                               Pro5 H.  C  Hoeksem

      Our agent for Australasia has had a change of This will be the last oppportunity this year to take
address which should be noted by our readers "down advantage of these very special bargains. Remember,
under." His address is now: W. van Rij, 59 Kent Lodge too, that these will make excellent Christmas gifts.
Avenue, Christchurch 4, New Zealand.                                             Send in your order promptly!
                                   ***                                                                                                           ***
      Our Business Manager informed me that included                                   We call your attention to the reappearance in this
with this issue will be a green insert with a repeat of issue of the department In His Fear, under the editor-
the combination book and subscription offers which ship of Rev. Dale H. Kuiper. He begins with treatment
appeared earlier. Response has been very encouraging.                            of a timely subject. Look it up, and see for yourself!

                                Sh,ould OPs and RPs Unite? (2)
                                                     CORRESPONDENCE AND REPLY

      From the Rev. John J. Mitchell, Editor of The subject:
Presby   teriun Guardian,  published by the Orthodox Dear Professor Hoeksema:
Presbyterian Church, I received the following letter in                               It is certainly enlightening to read another's reaction
reaction to my recent editorial (Sept. 15 issue) on this to what one has written. Your editorial, "Should OPs


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     75


and  RPs Unite" was indeed interesting in showing          Christ, and thou shalt be saved."
how an outsider views our affairs.                            It is not Arminian to insist that there is a sincere and
  There are, of course, some matters on which your free offer of salvation from God; in fact, that there is
judgment differs from ours. For example: The such an offer will become part of the condemnation of
"Declaratory Statement" of the Bible Presbyterian those who `refuse to come to the light. It is Arminian
Church, which you quote, is not Arminian. The first to say that grace is given to all, or that God has a
article is clearly in accord with the Westminster Con- redemptive love for all, or that all men are naturally
fession of Faith, and is the traditional doctrine of able to respond to God's free offer. It is
Presbyterian churches. In brief, both OPs and RPs, as unpresbyterian  to say to a mixed audience that "God
well as Bible Presbyterians, would agree that the offer loves you." It is not  unpresbyterian to say to such a
of salvation is freely extended to all men, is sufficient group, "God promises salvation to each and everyone
for the sins of all men, but is applied only to the elect here who will repent and believe on the Lord Jesus
who repent and believe under the effectual working of Christ." That is a fact, and thanks be to God that he
the Holy Spirit. This is the position set forth in  The sends forth his Spirit into the hearts of his elect that
Free  Offer of the Gospel by Murray and Stonehouse. they might be "made willing and able freely to answer
  Nor do I agree that "an ecclesiastical marriage his call, and to accept and embrace the grace offered"
should be transacted either with complete enthusiasm in  the gospel (Larger Catechism Q. 67).
or not at all." This is not of the same order as a           Thank you again for your "outsider's" review; it is
marriage between two individuals. We are `not free to appreciated. And your concern for the future of these
deal with Christ's church on our own emotional bases. Presbyterian churches is also much appreciated. I hope
If we are one in faith and practice (which of course is these comments of mine may give further light into the
the crucial question here), then we ought to be one in state of our affairs and beliefs.
organizational matters also. Our hesitancy with respect                               Cordially in Christ,
to the Christian Reformed Church is due precisely to                                  (signed) John J. Mitchell
our questions  ,about doctrinal agreement. And the PS: I would be gratified if you could publish this letter
hesitancies we still may feel toward the R.P. Church in The Standard Bearer.  More knowledge, in both
are also in that area. If they can be cleared directions, of PRs,  OPs, and  RPs could be of mutual
satisfactorily, then there should be union  - and it help to us all. But you are the editor!
should be with enthusiasm for the work of Christ's
church.                                                                                         /              J. J.M.
                                                                                      ***
  I agree with you that "Christian liberty" remains
one of the more basic problem areas, though there has Reply. First of all, a hearty word of thanks'to the Rev.
been real  .pr.ogress there. On the matter of Mitchell for his cordial and interesting and enlightening
eschatological views, neither the  0-P. nor the R.P. letter. I gladly publish it; and I agree, too, that
Church has an official position; there is, we would "More knowledge, in both directions, of  PRs,  OPs,
prefer to say, freedom in this area rather than and  RPs could be of mutual help to us all." I
"neutrality." Dispensationalism is, of course, quite appreciate especially the frankness with which Editor
another matter; neither church officially allows for Mitchell writes, and I hope that this can be the'
that. .                                                    beginning of a friendly discussion. In a private letter, in
  In sum, I would judge that few if any of us are which I requested a bit more information, I have
concerned about the millennial question, so long as no suggested to the Rev. Mitchell that it would be nice if
one is agitating for his view to be the only tolerated the  Presbyterian Guardian  would also carry our
one. Probably also the question of "Christian liberty" discussion, although I realize that the  Prkbyttirian
is not the problem it once was, though it could again Guardian might have problems doing this because of
become an issue. At least, I do not see either of these, lack of space and due to the fact that it is not
given the evidence available concerning the,opinions of published as frequently as our magazine.
office-bearers in both denominations about them, as          In the second place, in this part of my reply I want
sufficient to bar a merger.                                to concentrate, first of all, on certain areas of
  But it is with the matter of alleged Arminianism that substantial agreement between the Rev. Mitchell and
I am most concerned.. I do not at all agree with you myself, in order then to pin-point the areas in which
that the Murray-Stonehouse booklet, or the we apparently do not see eye to eye. Later I expect to
"treatment of Dr. Clark in by-gone years," indicates write in some detail on those points on which we
any weakness at all in the O.P.C. over against disagree.
Arminianism The basic question then and now is               What are those areas of substantial agreement?
simply whether or not God makes a sincere offer to           In the first place, I believe we are agreed about the
any and all men when he says, "Whosoever will may
      _.                                                   matter of transacting an ecclesiastical marriage with
come," or, "Repent and believe- on the Lord Jesus enthusiasm  By my reference to enthusiasm I surely


76                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



did not intend to suggest that we should deal with denominations is not completely settled, even to the
Christ's church  on our own emotional bases. extent that it "could again become an issue." I have a
(Incidentally, I don't believe that to be true of the question here. Why does not the Basis of Union deal
marriage between two individuals either.) I agree that frankly with this matter? I have the impression - and I
there should be unity in faith and practice. I agree that stand to be corrected - that the Preamble of the Basis
this is indeed the crucial question. And I believe that of Union  skirts  this issue rather than deal with it
exactly where there is such unity in faith and practice, directly. And in my opinion, this can only give rise to
an  .ecclesiastical  marriage can be and ought to be "hesitancy."
consummated with complete enthusiasm.                            In the sixth place, I agree with Rev. Mitchell that "It
      In the second place, the Rev. Mitchell evidently is not unpresbyterian  to say to such a group (a mixed
agrees with me that such a reason for enthusiastic audience), `God promises salvation to each and
marriage is not yet there. For he writes of "hesitancy" everyone here who will repent and believe on the Lord
exactly in some areas regarding faith and practice. I Jesus Christ.' " But I hasten to add: 1) That this is not
have a question here. Perhaps Editor Mitchell can the same as an offer. 2) That even as to the form of its
clarify this. Is the 1972 decision of the O.P. General words it is a promise, which is by no means the same as
Assembly to be understood as only a conditional an offer. 3) That it is a  particular.  promise, i.e., "to
approval of the Basis of Union? And is it still each and everyone here who will repent and believe."
theoretically possible that the next Assembly will not 4) That, therefore, this is nothing but the thoroughly
be satisfied as to the improvements made in the Presbyterian and Reformed doctrine of the general
statement and might therefore reject it? And is it not, proclamation of a particular promise.
therefore a bit premature to draw up a Plan of Union             In the seventh place, I am also in agreement that it is
before there is assurance of agreement on the Basis of Arminian to say that grace is given to all, or that God
Union?                                                         has a redemptive love for all, and that it is
      In the third place, I am in agreement as to the "unPresbyterian  to say to a mixed audience that `God
hesitancy of the O.P. Church with respect to questions loves you."'
of doctrinal agreement with the Christian Reformed               For the rest, there are, I think, some substantial
Church. I commend the O.P. Church for its insistence areas of disagreement. Let me mention them:
that these questions be satisfactorily answered. Having
followed the OPC-CRC discussions in as far as they               1) The Basis of Union speaks of "neutrality" in
were made public, I am aware that they involved in eschatological views. Rev. Mitchell prefers to speak of
part the issues of the so-called "Dekker Case." "freedom." For my part, I do not believe that there is
Although I shall discuss the matter of the "offer of the room under the Presbyterian confessions for
gospel" later, I would remind Rev. Mitchell that the p r e m i l l e n n i a l i s m ,   n o t   e v e n   f o r   t h e
Arminianism of the "Dekker Case" and the inability of non-dispensationalist type. Moreover, especially in our
the CRC to cope with it are rooted historically in the times, when eschatology is again on the forefront in
Christian Reformed doctrine of the "well-meant theology, I believe that there should be unity in faith
offer." And I would also caution that the OPC should on this matter.
be as careful and insistent with respect to true unity           2) We are evidently at variance on the matter of
with the RPC as with the CRC.                                  Arminianism, both with respect to the Bible
      In the fourth place, I believe that Editor Mitchell Presbyterian "Declaratory Statement" and with
and I are in agreement that there is no unity in the area respect to the so-called Clark Case and the booklet,
of eschatology, specifically with respect to "The Free Offer of the Gospel,"
premillennialism Apparently we are not agreed as to              To both of these matters I hope to give some
the importance of this lack of unity. About this later. detailed attention in future issues of our magazine.
      In the fifth -place, I believe we are agreed that the      Once again, thank you, Rev. Mitchell, for writing.
m a t t e r   o f "Christian liberty" between the `two And: call again!


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   77



~
 Meditation

                                     Blessing The Loral
                                                      Rev. M. Schipper
                `Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.
               Selah.  "
                                                                                                   Psalm 68: 19.

       There is nothing in this text which would indicate throughout the Psalm, is ADONAI, meaning, Lord. It
     that the psalmist had in mind a special day of is evidently, then, the intention of the Psalmist to
     thanksgiving  - a day in which the church of Christ point to God as the most excellent One, Who must be
     would assemble to bless the Lord for the benefits He submissively and reverently addressed, as well as
     so graciously bestowed on us as evidenced in an humbly served and adored.
     abundant harvest. Fact of the matter is, the text, on          Blessed be the Lord!
     the very surface of it, leaves the impression that the         The God of our salvation!
     psalmist conceived of each day as a thanksgiving day.          Here God the Lord is looked upon as the Strong
     And so it ought to be.                                       One, the Almighty. Whose is all power, might, and
       We are not interested at this point in discussing the dominion. Striking, it.is, that no less than thirty times
     propriety or impropriety of a special Thanksgiving God is so named in this Psalm. The psalmist begins by
     Day, except to say that we believe it to be in the realm     saying: "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let
     of consistency to continue our annual Thanksgiving them also that hate him flee before him." A little later
     Day so long as we also continue to keep our annual he says: "The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at
     Day of Prayer. Consistency demands that if we gather the presence of God; even Sinai itself was moved at the
     in our houses of ,prayer to ask the Lord's blessing upon presence of God, the God of Israel." And the psalmist
     the seed that is planted, it would be the height of closes the Psalm with: "Ascribe ye strength unto God:
     ingratitude not to gather in those same houses of his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the
     prayer after the harvest has been gathered to give clouds. 0, God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places:
     thanks unto the Lord for having heard our prayer. But the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power
     it should be abundantly clear to all that neither prayer unto his people. Blessed be God."
     for God's blessing, nor thanksgiving for His blessings         That He is the God of our salvation, means that He
     should be limited only to a day. As suggested above, is the God of Jesus. And Jesus is Jehovah, Who alone
     the psalmist by implication suggests that every day saves. This mighty God of our salvation came down in
     ought to be a thanksgiving day, because daily the Lord the Person of Jesus, Who assumed our nature in which
     loadeth us with benefits.                                    He saved us.
       Moreover, it ought also to be observed that the              Blessed be the Lord, Who is the God of our
     psalmist looked upon those things he calls daily salvation!
     benefits only as they are related to our salvation. He         He Who is in Himself the most blessed One! Who
     does not exhort us to bless the Lord merely because needs not be worshipped by men's hands as though He
     we receive an abundance of benefits. Rather he sees all needed anything. The All-Sufficient God is He. Who is
     that with which the Lord loadeth us as benefits only blessed,apart from'any blessing that may be ascribed to
     because he sees the Lord making all things to be Him. Fact is that the translators have added to the text
     subservient to our salvation. Very plainly the the copulative verb "be," which appears in italics in our
     implication is that the abundance of things we receive King James version, indicating that it does not appear
     of the Lord are no benefits at all unless, they are in the original text. So that we may translate "Blessed
     related to our salvation.                                    the Lord, Who daily loadeth us," And this would
       With all this in mind, let us consider, first of all, imply that the Lord is blessed in Himself. That God is
     what it means to bless the Lord.                             blessed means that He is the good God, the
       The object of blessing is the Lord!                        All-Sufficient One; Who is praise-worthy because .of
       And the Lord, in our text, is He Who is Our Ruler, His goodness. All of His attributes are indicative of His
     Master, Possessor, and Defender. Here is not an blessedness.
     instance where the term "Lord" should be translated            Just because of His blessedness, He is to be blessed!
     "Jehovah,`,' as the case so often is in the Old Testament      When we bless the Lord, the ever blessed God of our
     Scriptures. But the term used in the text and salvation, it is that act whereby we humbly bow before


                                              \

78                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


Him and then point to Him as our Benefactor. One poor child of God could not sing: "He lavishes daily
who blesses the Lord is deeply conscious of his own upon me His benefits?"
unworthiness, of his own insignificance. To bless Him          Understand well, shall there be a Thanksgiving Day,
is to say from the heart that we are nothing, and He,is a day in which we bless the God of our salvation, it
all. To bless the Lord is to acknowledge that we are must be true that the rich and poor alike, that is, of
empty, and that He, Who is the sole fountain of all God's people, shall be able to bless the Lord and sing:
goodness, must fill us. It means that we acknowledge "Bless the Lord, Who daily loadeth us with benefits."
that we can never remunerate Him, that we are most And they should together sing, because God is the God
unworthy of the least of His benefits. It means that we of their salvation.
are nothing, and have nothing of ourselves, but that all       Thanksgiving and blessing is not a national virtue,
our fulness is of Him alone. And this is not a matter of nor is it an activity of all men without distinction.
a moment, or of a special day, but it is the purpose of        All men may receive rain and sunshine, bread and
creation, of recreation, of the continual preservation of water in abundance. God, in His providence, gives an
all things, unto all eternity.- that God may be blessed. abundant harvest to the wicked as well as to the
      Blessed be the Lord!                                   righteous. Sometimes, as was the case with  Asaph
      Who daily loadeth us with benefits!                    (Psalm 73), the Lord gives more to the wicked than He
      The term "benefits" also appears in italics in the does to the righteous. But the Lord does not give unto
King James version, which means that the original text the wicked His grace and salvation. Therefore the
has simply: "day by day he loadeth us." The Revised wicked with all of his abundance receives no benefits.
Version has: "Day by day he beareth to (or for) us." Therefore also the wicked do not, nor can they bless
Both of these translations are acceptable. Both fit the Lord. Without grace it is impossible to bless the
nicely with the preceding verse, where the psalmist Lord. Oh, indeed, the wicked can rejoice in things; but
declares: "Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led in their prosperity the favor of God is not upon them.
captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, His face is against them that do evil. He is angry with
for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell the wicked every day. In their prosperity He sets their
among them." The apostle Paul offers us a feet upon slippery places to cast them down to
commentary on this verse in his letter to the Ephesians destruction. The sacrifices of the wicked are an
(4:8): "When he ascended up on high, he led captivity abomination unto the Lord. How shall they give
captive, and gave gifts unto men." Here he is no doubt thanks who taste not the Lord's favor? How shall they
speaking of Christ Jesus, Who had `received gifts give thanks who hold . the truth under in
intended for men in His glorious ascension. Christ gives unrighteousness, who care not for the Lord's glory?
these gifts which. He received unto men.                       Shall there be anyone to bless the Lord, that one
      This is the reason why the Lord should be blessed! must first be blessed!
      Daily He loadeth us, or beareth to us, benefits!         These are they who are addressed by the psalmist.
      Oh, how many are the benefits He lavishly bestows They are they who in principle have tasted the Lord's
upon us!                                                     salvation.
      Like refreshing water that flows from an artesian        On  bended knee they humbly confess their own
well to the thirsty traveler. He slakes his thirst, yet the unworthiness of any of Jehovah's benefits. With a deep
waters keep on flowing. They never stop. So the sense of humility they acknowledge that the Lord is
benefits continually flow unto the children of God. their Master and Sovereign. They point away from
There is land, more than they can use. There is air, themselves to their Benefactor Who makes all things,
more than they can breathe. There is water, more than prosperity and poverty, health and sickness, life and
they can drink. There is light, more than they need. death, work together. for their salvation. And in the
When they are cold, He clothes and shelters them from center of all the lovingkindnesses of their Lord they
the blast of winter. When they are tired, He gives His see Jesus, the God of their salvation blessing them with
beloved rest. Never are the righteous forsaken, nor is gifts from on high.
his seed begging bread. In our affluent times it               Their Jesus, Who came to them of the Father, to
becomes so evident that He gives us not only our bare assume their nature and to take upon Himself the curse
necessities, but riches besides.                             that was due to them, and bear it all away before the
      But as we suggested above, most likely the psalmist tribunal of the righteous and holy God. Their Jesus,
was not even thinking of these material gifts. He Whom God raised from the dead, because He was
undoubtedly had in mind the spiritual gifts. That is righteous, and had merited righteousness for all `His
why he hastens to add: "The God of our salvation."           people given Him of the Father. Him God raised unto
      It appears that we could miss all the material things the highest heavens and gave gifts unto Him, in order
we  mentione.d,  and still we would have abundance. that He in turn might lade us with all His benefits.
Think of Lazarus who lay at the foot of the rich man's That Jesus Who pours,out into our hearts the grace of
table. `Or, did you think that here was a case where the God whereby they -in turn may respond, exclaiming


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  79


that He is  .blessed forevermore, Who is, indeed, the The God of our salvation!
God of our salvation.                                      Amen, and amen!
   Blessed be the Lord!


IQ.
   uestion Box

                                   About The Elder SOII
                                               ProJ: H. C Hoeksema

  From a Michigan reader I received the following             2) The younger son does not represent one who is
inquiry :                                                  saved because he repented. Repentance (return to the
   "I have this question concerning the Lord's parable Father) is never the cause of salvation. One is saved
of the prodigal son. Recently I heard this parable because of Christ's atonement and because of God's
interpreted to mean that the elder son, who remained work of grace in him, and in the way of repentance.
at home, was lost because he did not accept his father's In fact, we may say that the younger son's resolve to
invitation to go into the feast, which was interpreted arise and go unto his father was due to the drawing
to mean the church. Also that the younger son was the power of the father's love and was motivated by the
only saved one because he returned to the father. conviction of his father's love. Thus it is also in spiritual
Would you please answer in the  Standard Bearer, reality.
which we as a family enjoy so much because of its             3) The feast in the parable does not represent the
Reformed teachings."                                       church, nor is the elder son lost  because  he did not
REPLY                                                      accept his father's invitation to join the feast. In the
  First of all, thank you for that encouraging last line parable the element of the feast simply serves to
of your letter.  You  can pay the  Standard Bearer  no represent the idea of rejoicing, of joy over the return
higher compliment than that!                               of the lost son. In this joy the elder son did not join,
  In the second place, let the reader look up the text thereby manifesting his own wrong attitude and
of this parable in Luke 15: 1 l-32. Because of its length, relation to his father as well as to his younger brother.
I will not quote the entire parable, but only refer to Nor does the parable intend to teach that God invites
the text as necessary, assuming that the reader has his scribes and Pharisees to rejoice over the repentance of
Bible open to the passage.                                 publicans and sinners, much less invites them into the
  In the third place, I think it is important to pay church. The fact of matter is that the scribes and
careful attention to the occasion of this parable (as of Pharisees, who are represented by the elder son, were
all three parables in this chapter). That occasion is church members and considered themselves to be "the
found in vss. 1 and 2: "Then drew near unto him all cream of the crop."
the  pub&cans and sinners for to hear him. And the           All of the above, however, does not say very much
Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man of a positive nature as to the meaning of the parable.
receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." The fact Hence, I will try to explain briefly.
that the publicans and simmers came to hear Jesus was        We all recognize at once that the picture of this
enough to make the Pharisees and scribes, self-righteous elder son is a very doleful, dismal, gloomy picture. He
as they were, grumble and criticize. And to this all of is a cold, grumbling, servile character. And his
these parables constitute Jesus' answer, each time from unattractive character stands out the more because of
a different point of view. Briefly, I would say that the the contrast with the younger son and the contrast
purpose of the parable of the prodigal son is to picture with the joy that is inside the house as this elder son
the beauty of forgiving love and the joy of a forgiven returns from the field.
soul on the dark background of cold, legalistic, sham        -The chief question seems to  be:. who is that elder
obedience.                                                 son? Whom does he represent? And many answers have
  As to the interpretation suggested by my questioner, been attempted. According to some, he is one of
I have the following comments:                             those wicked Pharisees on account of whom Jesus was
   1) There is but one point on which I agree, namely, speaking. this parable. We sense at once that there is
that the younger son in the parable represents a sinner something about the elder son which points to the
who is saved, while the elder son represents one who is Pharisees. But what about some elements in the
lost. I hasten to add, however, that this is as such not parable, such as "I never transgressed any of thy
the point of the parable.                                  commandments," and, "Son, thou art ever with me,


80                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



and  all that I have is thin&" if Jesus has in view the son to the world of angels. Apart from any other
Pharisees? We can readily understand that without objections, however, the Lord Jesus always pictures
further definition these elements are hardly intel- the angels as rejoicing, while the elder son's grumbling
ligible as part of the picture of a wicked Pharisee, dissatisfaction over the reception of the younger son is
a "whitewashed sepulchre."                                     his chief characteristic in the parable.
      Others find in the elder son a picture of the Jew, in      I believe that the elder son is the Pharisee, indeed.
distinction from the picture of the Gentile in the But he is the Pharisee as he himself conceived himself
younger son. But there is no direct reference to these to be, that is: the ideal man of Phariseeism, who had
two in the parable or in the context. The context obeyed to the last jot and tittle. He is the picture of
shows rather plainly that the difference has to do with the perfect son of the law  - something like the rich
the publicans and Pharisees.                                   young ruler in his own estimation, who said, "All these
      Others have even attempted to make of the elder things have I kept from my youth up." And by means
son a faithful covenant child. However, the elder son of this part of the parable the Lord Jesus brings into
does not acknowledge his returned brother; and he sharp focus the dismal features of such an "ideal son of
does not want to enter into the joy of his father. This, the law" in distinction from the beauty of the
therefore, can hardly be.                                      repenting sinner.
      Almost desperately, some have referred the elder                              (to be continued)


All Around Us

                              More On Evangelism Thrust
                                                    Pro$ H. Hanko

      More than once in these columns we have discussed decision which brought the Christian Reformed
the so-called "Key `73" program which, in the Church into the "Key `73" program This decision
Christian Reformed Church, is called "Evangelism reads: "that `each denomination' conduct the program
Thrust." We have discussed and criticized the entire `in keeping with the principles and practices of the
program and written a report on the book "Who In denomination.' " It is Heerema's contention that this
The World?" which is intended to serve as guidelines brochure violates this Synodical decision.
for participation in this program                                We obtained the booklet to check up for ourselves
      In the October,  1972  issue of  Outlobk,  Rev, whether or not this all was true. We are convinced that
Heerema discusses a brochure entitled "Called To it is and that Heerema is completely correct in his
Serve" which is produced by the Board of Publications allegations. If the Christian Reformed Church follows
of the Christian Reformed Church and is intended to this booklet, the entire denomination will be
be used by all the congregations which participate in completely changed in its structure, so that it will no
the Evangelism Thrust Program In his article, Rev. longer resemble in any essential way the institutional
Heerema charges that the book is not simply a form which it now has.
"strategy for evangelism" as it claims to be, but is a           There are, I think, particularly three areas in which
"strategy for the  remaking  of  the  Chri>tian Reformed this is true.
Church" (The emphasis is his.)                                   Before we enter into them a bit more in detail, it
      This is a serious charge. We are aware of the fact might be wise to make the general observation that, in
that the book "Who In The World?" is indeed a call to          some respects, this is a crafty book. Nowhere does the
alter the entire structure of the Church; but that book brochure explicitly call for radical change of any kind.
was an unofficial publication. Here is a pamphlet There is no single passage which one  can' quote and
which is official. It has the backing of and is published which can serve as proof that Heerema's contention is
by a Synodical Committee. Does this book do this true. The book rather contents itself with asking
too?                                                           questions which call into one's mind doubts about the
  Rev. Heerema asserts in his article that "Called To          present form of institutional life in the Church and
Serve" is based upon "Who In The World?" and which suggest radical alternatives. Or, abandoning
follows the same general pattern. He makes various             questions, the book will draw up a list of alternatives
quotes from the brochure to prove his point and insists        to present practices  - alternatives which also would
that the entire brochure. goes beyond the Synodical require a fundamental change in the Church - and will


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  81



ask the reader to make a choice. between these recommended is in the method of bringing the gospel.
alternatives. Perhaps some quotes from the book will It is true that the brochure lists preaching as "one form
demonstrate what is meant.                                       of teaching"; (p. 21) but it strongly suggests that the
  The first area in which the book suggests radical Church's calling is much broader than that, and even
change is in the con tent of the preaching. This is not talks about more effective ways of "communicating
really so surprising, for, even apart from the the gospel." This is partly because an altogether
"Evangelism Thrust" program, there have been radical inadequate definition is given of preaching. The
changes in the content of the preaching for many Scriptures make it very clear that preaching is the
years; and indeed, the Church has discussed various authoritative proclamation of the Word of God by one
problems in connection with the content of the who is called to be an ambassador of Christ by Christ
preaching on different occasions. (Cf. e.g., the Himself. The book (p. 21) defines preaching as
controversies over the question of the universal love of "solemn, public declaration" and "an urging to change
God and general atonement.) Nevertheless, this book one's ways, a summons to faith and action." But the
makes a considerable point of this matter. On page 9 book goes on to say: (p. 23)
we read:                                                           1. We remember 20% of what we hear.
      From Genesis through Revelation, is  the central               We remember 40% of what we hear and see
    message good news or bad news? . . .                             illustrated.
      What of condemnation, judgment, hell? Surely the               We remember 60% of what we hear, see
    Bible mentions a dark side . . . But is that dark side           illustrated, discuss, and we remember 80% of
    the message which we are to deliver? . . .                       what we hear, see illustrated, discuss and do.
    1. Would you agree with this statement?                          If the church wanted to make communication of
    "The bad news isn't news at all; it is just a description        the gospel more effective, how could the above
    of the mess man is in, of what man has done with                 findings of psychology be applied to such
    himself. The good news is news; it is God's                      activities of the church as:
    announcement of what He has done - something lost                a. preaching?
    man would not know if it were not announced by                   b. societies, study groups?
    God Himself. Until man hears about a way out, he                 c. catechism, Sunday School?
    cannot afford to admit his sin."                               2. The idea of building each other up suggests a lot
  It seems clear that the point here is that the                     of dialogue - of sharing personal experiences
preaching must never speak of judgment and God's                     and problems - of listening to others, etc. Do
wrath against sin. But what then is to be done with the              you think that your church community provides
                                                                     opportunity where people can share honestly
statement of the Heidelberg Catechism?  " . . .                      their problems and questions?
according to the command of Christ, it is declared and             3. If I had to choose an experience for a person
publicly testified . . . to all unbelievers, and such as             whom I wanted to strongly influence, I would
do not sincerely repent, that they stand exposed to the              choose the following:
wrath of God, and eternal condemnation, so long as                   a. Have him hear a good sermon or lecture on
they are unconverted: according to which testimony of                  the subject.
the gospel, God will judge them, both in this, and in                b. Have him hear a good sermon or lecture on
the life to come."                                                     the subject and then have a discussion about
  Or again, the cross of Christ is defined in these                    it.
words:                                                               c. Have him sit down with a small group of
      Jesus                                                            people who all believe the way I want him to
               died to bring men out of the tombs. He rose             be influenced to believe.
    and sent His Spirit to bring men out of the prison               d. Have a private talk with him.
    cells of loneliness into the freedom of life in                  e. A combination of the above.
    communion." (p. 25)
  We could quote more. But the point is that this is a             So, according to this book, psychology is going to
very superficial and incorrect presentation of the tell us how to "communicate the gospel," and the
gospel. There is no mention anywhere in the book of Word of God has nothing any more to say about this.
such important doctrines as sovereign predestination,              In the third area of change the booklet talks
vicarious atonement, the application of the blessings of especially about the changes which are necessary in the
salvation, etc. In fact, the book is decidedly Arminian institutional life of the Church to make the gospel
when it writes concerning faith:                                 effective in the community.
      Faith is believing by opening one's life to Christ -         It asks first of all what worship is. It answers this by
    so that "Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith."          using two key words: "celebration" and "edification."
    (P- 27)                                                      Now while these are no doubt important parts of
  Where in all this are the glorious doctrines of worship, why is it that the book presents these as an
sovereign grace? They simply do not exist.                       exhaustive list? Surely, all Scripture speaks of the
  The second area in which radical change is purpose of the worship services as being above all the


82                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



praise  of God. Nothing is as important as this.                                 church. Although he gave offices in the church, He
      But with this kind of explanation of worship, one                          did not give us detailed job descriptions. For instance,
gets conclusions which are also bound to be wrong.                               nowhere in the  .New Testament is the office of
The booklet says: (p. 39)                                                            deacon described; but there are strict requirements
                                                                                 for the people who are to hold this office. (p. 51)
          Summary. Our concern has been to answer the                                  What would your church do if one of your lay
        question: What is the assembly for? .Our answer is:                      members was found to be doing effective preaching in
        for celebration and edification. Now we may                              a "storefront church"?
        anticipate the next question: What activities in the
        assembly will best accomplish those purposes? If the                           Many strange things are happening these days. The
        best activities are engaged in to accomplish these                       Holy Spirit seems to be using unusual methods. Give
        purposes, then we may be confident that the church                           some examples which you have read about. How do
        will be made ready for a life of obedient and joyful                     you judge them? By where they meet? By how they
        worship.                                                                 are dressed? By their order of worship? By the beat
                                                                                     of their music? (p. 52)
      So you have this:                                                                 What about your church? Are its structures
            c. Evaluate the following possibilities for                          continually being revised to meet the needs of the
                    planning our assemblies: (by which is                        church and the world? What are the needs? (p. 54)
                    meant worship services)
                    1 )   A   o n e - h o u r   a s s e m b l y   f o r                 An artist was commissioned to capture on one
                         celebration and edification for                             canvas a contemporary picture which best
                         everyone.                                               communicated what the church was meant to be in
                    2)  An assembly for everyone except                          this world. He painted six pictures, all of which were
                         the very young who do not under-                        very good, and he now presents them to you for your
                         stand what is happening and are                         choice :
                         often hard to control for an hour in                        1. A family, neatly dressed, walking up the steps of a
                         the pew.                                                      church, with its high steeple pointing to the
                    3)  A nursery for the very young, an                               heavens.                                         1
                         assembly for children through age                       2. A soldier in shining armor, carrying a cross, leading
                         twelve, and another assembly for all                          a charge against evil-looking men, striking them
                         others.                                                       down with his flashing sword.
                    4) Everyone attends all the assemblies,                      3. A high pulpit upon which is lying an open Bible,
                         but the fust Sunday of each month                             gold-edged, with a red marker lying in it. Behind
                         is designed for children, the second                          the pulpit is a stained-glass window.
                         for youth, the third for the middle-                    4. Against the background of people hurrying by on
                         aged, and the fourth for the elderly.                         the sidewalk, a man, towel over his shoulder,
      After a discussion of the important place the sermon                             cleaning the wounds and sores on the feet of a
has occupied in the worship service since the time of                                  poorly-clad person.
                                                                                 5. A congregation made up of young and old, singing
the Reformation, a long series of questions is asked all                               enthusiastically as the sun's rays slant in to the
of  which are particularly geared to cast doubts on the                                auditorium.
importance and effectiveness of the sermon in modern                             6. A young man on a busy street corner, open Bible
worship services. Obviously, in this book, the sermon                                  in hand, earnestly talking to several individuals
is suspect.                                                                            who appear to be listening attentively to his
      Turning to the institute itself in its offices, etc. the                         words.
following paragraphs are quoted almost at random:                                      Now you choose one . . . (p. 58)
           Based on your study of how things went in the                       And so we could go on. Rev. Heerema writes that if
        early church, decide which of the following state-                   this booklet is followed, the Christian Reformed
        ments would most likely have been made by one of                     Church will go in an entirely different direction. We
        its members:                                                         agree. It will go in a direction entirely opposite the
           a. "`Well, now, let's see. Where can we fit him into              direction which the Scriptures mark out. It will cease
        our present structure and organization? We should be                 to  be the Church of Christ. It will no longer manifest
        able to find a job for him somewhere. Are there any                  Christ's body in any respect in the world. This is
        vacancies?"                                                          serious. But one gets the impression that the authors
           b. "The Holy Spirit is using George to bring                      and 
        neighbors into the church. How can we serve George                            publishers of this booklet know this very well.
        and others who have this gift? How can we change                     What we cannot understand is that Heerema concludes
        our structure to better respond to this working of the               his article with the words: "In a  final word let it be
        Spirit?" (p. 50)                                                     said that the congregation of which the writer is pastor
           Notice first what God did not give us. He, did not                is participating in Evangelism Thrust and is using
        give us: a chart for the administrative setup of the                 "Called To Serve, with emendations."


                                            THE  STANDARD.BEARER                                               83



From Holy Writ

                       Pure and Undefiled Religion (3)
                                             Rev. Robert D. Decker

chap. 1:2-4, (continued)                                  convictions, our obedience, our striving after the
  "My brethren" James writes. There is the affection Kingdom of Heaven; all of the activity of our faith is
of the love of God in this address, "My brothers." The always mixed with the imperfections of the sin of our
inspired writer means to identify himself with the old nature. Often we-are weak and faltering and so we
saints in the dispersion. He wants them to understand need to be tried. And, when we fall into divers
that he knows what they are experiencing in the divers temptations and as a result have to fight and struggle
temptations they encounter. They must be assured and pray and suffer, we are driven to a deeper
that the admonition of these verses and the sharp knowledge of God and a stronger confidence in His
rebukes of the letter generally are meant for their mercies. In the battle against Satan we learn not to rely
eternal good. James writes out of the love of God for on ourselves but to cling to Jesus and trust in our God.
the brothers scattered abroad.                            We look forward with growing hope to the glory that
  They must count it pure joy when they fall into will be revealed in us at the return of the Saviour.
divers temptations "knowing this, that the trying of        Still more, the trying of our faith works patience. It
your faith worketh patience." Here's the reason why works that; i.e., it works out or accomplishes patience.
they must count it all joy when they fall into A tried faith achieves a wonderful fruit, Patience.
temptations. By these their faith is tried and that tried Patience is endurance, it's the "staying power" of the
faith produces patience in them.                          Christian. The word means to remain under and
  Faith is the living bond that unites the child of God obviously implies suffering. This does not mean that
with his Savior. By faith we live in and out of Jesus we simply bear the burden of many temptations, or
Christ even as the branches live in the vine (John stoically, passively submit to whatever the Lord's way
15: 1 ff.) Through that living link all of the blessings of may be. Patience is not the attitude, "I might as well
salvation merited by Christ become ours. Consciously, bear with it  - whatever will be, will be, I can't do
by faith, we know God as our gracious Father for anything about it  .anyway." Patience is that virtue of
Jesus' sake. He is the God of our salvation Who loved the tried faith of the Christian which enables him to
us eternally, gave us to Christ, and Who will love us stand firmly in the battle of faith over against the host
forever. And, knowing God thus we are assured of
salvation, victory, and everlasting life. Now then, this of temptations of the Evil One. It is that power by
we must know, not just as some cold fact, but by the which we do not succumb to the evil. It's the strength
knowledge of experience, that the trying of our faith which prevents us from faltering along the way. Or
works patience.                                           again, it's the power of faith by which we never lose
  God, in other words, uses the divers temptations to hope, but press on in the struggle as more than
try our faith, and this is why we must count those conquerors through Him that loved us. In patience we
temptations all joy. No, God does not tempt us. The face the world and the devil bravely and courageously
very thought of that is blasphemy. God is the ."Father with all our trust in the Almighty God of our salvation.
of lights" Who gives every good and perfect gift, and
Who cannot be tempted with evil, and Who tempteth           How do we experience  the, joy of temptations?
no man. A man is tempted when he is drawn away of Verse four supplies the answer: "But let patience have
his own lust and enticed. (cf. vss. 13-17) But God is her perfect `work, that ye may be perfect and entire,
God! He is Sovereign over all creatures and Satan is, for wanting nothing." "But. . .", the Lord knows we need
all his demonic power, but a creature. God causes all admonition at this point! He.knows our frame and He
things to work for our salvation  - even the remembers that we are dust (Psalm 103). We made the
temptations of the devil. The supreme example of this point in the previous article that this is a difficult word
in the Scriptures is Job. Satan could not touch him to receive. To "count it all joy in divers temptations"
apart from God.                                          is not easy. Not only so, this is an impossible Word for .
  What the text is saying then is that God uses the us. Exactly because of our sinful natures we do not
temptations of Satan for the trying of our faith. That count it all joy when we fall into divers temptations.
term "trying" means to test out, or to prove. Now,
God does not try our faith, test it out, to determine We do one of two things and both are sinful, either we
whether or not it is genuine. God's gift of faith is complain or we yield. Seldom are we bravely, joyfully
always genuine. Rather the idea of trying is that God bearing our crosses and in self-denial following Jesus.
purifies our faith; He gets rid of the impure elements Our inclination is to avoid the offence of the cross by
by means of the fire of temptations. How we need just compromising the faith. So the Lord says: "let
that! Our conscious believing, our knowledge and patience have her perfect work."                                     .\


84                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


      The adjective "perfect" is derived from the noun all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be
which means end, goal, purpose. The thought given him." Wisdom is precisely what we need and
conveyed, then, is that we are to allow patience to precisely what we lack. "If any of you lack
work through in us to its goal. What James is saying is:     wisdom . .  ." is a conditional construction in which
"remain stedfast in- the faith; stand in all the divers the truth stated in the "if clause" is assumed.
temptations, do not compromise or yield, no matter Paraphrasing we would put it this way; "if any of you
how narrow the way, severe the suffering, count lack wisdom, and you all lack exactly that." In this
everything loss for Christ's sake." Let patience have light we understand the relationship between the
her complete work in you.                                    thought of these verses with the preceding. The point
      In that way the purpose of God is reached with us. is very simply this: we cannot count it all joy when we
The text expresses it thus: "in order that ye may be fall into divers temptations apart from the wisdom of
perfect and entire, wanting nothing." God wants us to God. And this is what we lack; we come behind, we are
be perfect: that is, complete, fully matured spiritually, inferior in the wisdom of God. So, James says, ask of
molded perfectly into the image of Christ, conformed God! But be sure you ask in faith, nothing wavering. A
to His Son in the fullest sense. And entire this is a wavering or doubleminded man must not think that he
further explanation of "Perfect." The word means shall receive anything of the Lord. He is unstable in all
complete in all its parts. No virtue of the grace of his ways.
salvation must be missing. "Wanting nothing"                    Before delving into the riches of these verses, we
expresses the same thought negatively.  "In nothing should understand that there is a profound spiritual
being left behind" is the literal translation. By allowing truth here to which we do well to pay attention. If we
patience her perfect work in us, we reach the goal of are unhappy as God's children and find ourselves
perfection in every respect. We attain to perfect confused and distressed, perhaps even deeply
knowledge, perfect confidence, perfect obedience, depressed; there can be only one reason. We lack the
perfect praise, perfect joy.                                 wisdom of God. When all the searching for answers is
      We never reach that on this side of the grave. But we over and all the struggling to find reasons is ended, the
are on the way. The life of the child of God is a steady fact that we lack God's wisdom remains the deepest
progressing toward that goal of perfection which is cause of our distressful situation. In their deepest roots
glory - life in the presence of God. That is what God man's problems are always spiritual. They originate in
is working in us through the Spirit of our Lord Jesus sin, not just sin in general, but in specific sins. And
Christ. Count it all joy, then, brother, when you fall when God's people find no joy in their earthly
into many temptations. The trying of your faith works pilgrimage, and grieve rather than sing amid the
patience. Let patience have her complete work in you, conflict, it's invariably because they come behind in
in order that you may be fully matured and complete the wisdom of God. And they come behind in the
in every grace and in nothing being left behind. That is wisdom of God because they are not "asking of God!"
glory, glory indeed.                                         Or, if they are asking of God they are not doing so in
chapter I; verses 5-8; `Prayirzg  In Faith For Wisdom ": faith  - they are asking, but wavering as a
      If we are going to hear and do this word and doubleminded man. God's people would experience a
consider it pure joy when we fall into divers lot less heartache and a lot more genuine happiness
temptations we will need the wisdom of God. "If any were they to learn this lesson.
of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to


Contending for the Faith

         The Doctrine of Atonement (Reformation Period)

                                                   Rev.  H.  Veldman

      How detailed and thorough the fathers are in their Canons called: The Rejection of Errors. This heresy of
rejection and repudiation of the Arminian error! In Arminianism must be completely throttled and
this Second Head of the Canons they not only set stamped out in the hearts and minds of the people and
`forth the truth of the atonement positively, but  not' church of the Lord. Is this a lesson for us? Does it not
less than seven lengthy articles are devoted by them in teach us that we, too, must be zealous and very
their rejection of this heresy in the section of the thorough in our zeal and determination to fight the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     85



teaching and heresy of the Remonstrant? Fact is, this        death of Christ. Imagine: the fathers of Dordt declare
pernicious teaching is also with us today.                   that the Remonstrants speak contemptuously of the
  In our preceding article we were calling attention to      death of our Lord Jesus Christ! This is exactly the
Article III of the second part of Head II of our Canons,     charge which the Arminians hurled at the Reformed
in which the fathers set forth the error of the              fathers. They contended that the fathers of Dordt
Remonstrants and their repudiation of it. They call          spoke contemptuously of the death of Christ. You see,
attention to the fact that the Arminians taught that         the fathers taught that Christ died only for the elect,
our Lord Jesus Christ merited neither salvation itself       that Christ, therefore, died only for some of the
nor faith for anyone. And they also taught that what         human race. The Arminians taught that Christ died for
happened upon the cross was that Christ merited for          the whole human race. And the Arminians accused the
the Father the authority or will to deal with man again      fathers, therefore, of belittling the death of Christ.
in whatever manner He wished. Of course, God could           How much richer, they declared, is their conception of
simply have left all men in their sin. But now Christ        the cross of Calvary! But the fathers do not hesitate to
merits for the Father the authority or will to deal again    hurl this charge into the face and teeth of the
with man in whatever manner He wished. The Lord              Remonstrants. And how correct they are! According
could now prescribe new conditions, upon the                 to the Arminian, all that Christ merited upon the cross
fulfillment of which man would receive eternal life          was the authority and will of the Father to have
and`%e saved. What this new condition is, is not set         dealings with the sinner. But, according to the
forth in this article. And the idea is that the obedience    Remonstrant, then it could very well come to pass that
to these conditions would then again depend upon the         no one would be saved by the death of Christ; and that
free will of man.                                            Christ would have suffered in vain. Now I would like
  How, now, do the fathers answer this heresy of the         to call attention to the fact that, in the light of the
Arminians? Now we must bear in mind that this                view of the Remonstrant, Christ certainly died in vain
teaching of the Remonstrants was diametrically               to a very large extent. Does he not teach that Christ
opposed to the Reformed truth. The Reformed truth            died for the whole human race, that it was His desire
teaches that Christ certainly merited salvation through      to merit salvation and life for every man, head for
His satisfaction upon the cross, and this only for His       head? And must not also he admit that not all men are
own. According to the Arminian, Christ did not merit         saved, that, in comparison with those who perish, only
salvation for anyone, but only the authority and will        a few are saved? Is it then not true that, with respect
of the Father to deal again with the sinner and to           to all those who perish, Christ died in vain for them?
prescribe new conditions for that sinner. Christ made        Hence, how much of that precious blood of the Lamb
something possible for the Father. Did He make it            of Calvary was spilled in vain! But this is not all. The
possible for the Father to give salvation unto His own?      Arminian teaches a salvation of the sinner which is
This the Remonstrant would not say. No, Christ made          dependent upon the will of the sinner. The Arminian
it possible for the Father to have dealings again with       cannot possibily know who will be saved. Christ has
the sinner. Does this speak of salvation? Not at all!        merely merited for the Father the authority to offer
These dealings are of such a nature that now the             salvation to the sinner. Does not, then, the possibility
Father can again confront the sinner with conditions         exist, as far as the Remonstrant is concerned, that no
which he must fulfill in order to be saved. But the          sinner will accept this proffer-red salvation? How true is
Reformed truth teaches very emphatically that Christ         the charge of the fathers of Dordt that, according to
merited salvation for His own through His satisfaction       the Arminian presentation, it could come to pass that
upon the cross of Calvary. In the second place, the          no one is actually saved by the death of Christ. And
Reformed truth also teaches that Christ also merited         this is certainly a contemptuous speaking with respect
for them faith, whereby they become partakers of that        to the sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
salvation. This is clearly stated in Article VIII of Head      Secondly, the fathers of Dordt declare that by this
II of the Canons, and we quote: "For this was the            error the Arminians reject and deny the foremost
sovereign counsel, and most gracious will and purpose        benefit of the death of Christ, namely, salvation itself.
of God the Father, that the quickening and saving            How true is this charge of our fathers! The Arminians
efficacy of the most precious death of His Son should        did not teach that Christ merited salvation by His
extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon them alone       death upon the cross. They did not teach that Christ
the gift of justifying faith, thereby to bring them          merited for the Father the right to give salvation upon
infallibly to salvation." And, thirdly, the Reformed         the sinner. They taught that Christ merely merited for
truth also taught that in time He also surely bestows        the Father the right and authority to deal again with
that faith and that salvation.                               the sinner, to prescribe new conditions unto his
  How, now, in Article III, do the fathers characterize      salvation. Of course, the Arminians were compelled to
the teaching of the Arminians? First, they declare that      say this. They could not teach that Christ actually
the Remonstrants adjudge contemptuously of the               merited salvation for His own. Then, of course, all


86                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



those for whom He died would also actually have to be hesitate to say this. We must not soft-pedal these
saved. So, the Arminians reject and deny the foremost           departures from the truth. Pelagianism and Arminianism
benefit of the death of Christ, namely, salvation itself.       are heresies that have their origin below, in him who is
Of course, there are also other benefits of this death of       the liar from the beginning. And they who teach these
Christ. Faith is also a benefit of this death of our Lord       false and pernicious doctrines are called in the Word of
Jesus Christ. All the benefits of salvation flow forth          God wolves in sheep's clothing, ravening wolves,
from the cross of Calvary. But salvation is the foremost        desperately hungry wolves, wolves who would devour
benefit. And the Scriptures certainly teach that Christ         and destroy the church of the living God. Never grant
merited salvation by His suffering and dying upon the           them a place within the church of the Lord.
cross of Calvary. Does not the Word of God speak of
the death of the cross as a redemption, as in 1 Pet,                                     Article IV
1: 18, 19:  "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not                      who teach: That the new convenant  of grace,
redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,               which God the Father, through the mediation of the
from your vain conversation received by tradition from              death of Christ, made with man, does not herein
                                                                    consist that we by faith, in as much as it accepts the
your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as             merits of Christ, are justified before God and saved,
of a lamb without blemish and without spot." To                     but in the fact. that God having revoked the demand
redeem means: to buy with a price. God's people have                of perfect obedience of faith, regards faith itself and
been redeemed by the blood of Calvary. They have                    the obedience of faith, although imperfect, as the
been purchased out of all the power of sin and of the               perfect obedience of the law, and does esteem it
devil. This is simply a fact. It is for this reason that the        worthy of the reward of eternal life through grace.
apostle Peter speaks of this blood of the cross as the              For these contradict the Scriptures: "Being justified
precious blood of our Lord Jesus  Chri$. And notice                 freely by His grace through the redemption that is in
what we read in Heb. 10: 10, 14: "By the which will                 Christ Jesus; Whom God set forth to be a propitiation
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of               through faith in His blood," Rom. 3:24, 25. And
Jesus Christ once for all . . . For by one offering He              these proclaim, as did the wicked Socinus, a new and
hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." This             strange justification of man before God, against. the
passage certainly speaks for itself. How true it is that            consensus of the whole church.
Christ merited salvation for His own by His death upon            We understand that the phrase, "but in the fact that
the cross of Calvary; and how true it is that the               God having revoked the demand of perfect obedience
Arminians reject and deny this foremost benefit of the          of faith," should read : "but in the fact that God
death of Christ!                                                having revoked the demand of the perfect obedience of
      And finally, the Arminians by their doctrine again        the law."
bring the Pelagian error out of hell. Strong language?            In this article of the Rejection of Errors, the
Yes. But it is so true! Pelagianism is the error that           Remonstrants are presenting what the condition is
teaches the free will of the sinner. Christ did not merit iupon which God will  beitow life and salvation. In
salvation for men, only the  authori!y and will of the iArticle III the Arminians declare that Christ by His
Father to deal again with the sinner. This means that           death upon the cross merited for the Father the
the sinner's salvation is dependent upon his free will.         authority and will to deal again with the sinner, to
He is not saved because Christ died for him, but only           prescribe new conditions for that sinner unto his
because he chooses to accept the salvation that is              salvation. But they did not state as yet what those
offered to him. And the fathers say that this error is          conditions are. Now the fathers of Dordt tell US what
brought again out of hell. Hell is the source of the lie.       the condition is upon which God will bestow life and
The devil is the liar from the beginning. The truth is          salvation. To this we plan to call attention in our
from above. The lie is from below. And we must not              following article.


The Strength of Youth

                               Divorce and Remarriage (2)                                                                      I
                                                   Rev. J. Kortering

      In our search for a Biblical understanding of divorce     TEACHING OF JOHN CALVIN
and remarriage we continue our investigation of the               -Calvin was prolific with the pen. It is not our intent
position taken in past generations.                             to give a thorough historical presentation of what he


                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        87


had to say on this subject. Rather, we should give a                     commentators; for they have thought that generally
representative quote.                                                    and without exception celibacy is enjoined in all cases
   Calvin, over and again, emphasized the sanctity of                    when a divorce has taken place; and therefore if a
marriage. This he spells out in connection with the                      husband should put away an adulteress, both would
wickedness of divorce. In his commentaries on the                        be laid under the necessity of remaining unmarried.
gospels, Matt. 19: l-l 2, he states:                                     As if this liberty of divorce meant only not to lie with
         Now Christ assumes as an admitted principle that                his wife; as if Christ did not evidently grant
    at the beginning God joined the male to the female,                  permission in this case to do what the Jews were
    so that the two made an entire man; and therefore he                 wont indiscriminately to do at their pleasure
    who  divorces his wife tears from him, as it were the                . . . . Christ condemns as an adulterer the man who
    half of himself. But nature does not allow any man to                shall marry a wife that has been divorced,  this is
    tear in pieces his own body . . . .                                  undoubtedly restricted to  unlawfil and  frivqlous
         And if the institution of marriage is to be                     divorces. In like manner Paul enjoins those who have
    reckoned an inviolable law, it. follows that whatever                been so dismissed to remain unmarried or to be
    swerves from it does not arise from its pure nature,                 reconciled to their husbands (1 Cor. 7: ll), that is
    but from the depravity of man . . . .                                because quarrels and differences do not dissolve a
         For it is not in the power of a man to dissolve the             marriage . . . . Mark intended to show that our Lord
    engagement of marriage which the Lord wishes to                      condemned the corruption which was at that time
    remain inviolate; and so the woman who occupies the                  universal, that, after voluntary divorces, they entered
    bed of a lawful wife is a concubine.                                 on both sides into new marriages and therefore he
  Then Calvin deals with the important "exception"                       makes no mention of adultery.
text, Matt. 19: 9, "And I say unto you, Whosoever shall                That this is the position of Calvin, is borne out by a
put away his wife except it be for fornication and shall             set of marriage ordinances issued by the Council of
marry another  ' committeth adultery, and  whoso                     Geneva about 1547 under the influence of Calvin.
marrieth her which is put away doth commit                           These are included in the Register of the Company of
adultery."                                                           Pastors of Geneva in the time of Calvin, a book edited
  On this 9th verse, Calvin has the following to say:                by Philip Hughes.
         But an exception is added: for the woman, by                          For what reasons a marriage can be rescinded. If a
    fornication, cuts herself off, as a rotten member from               husband accuses his wife of adultery and he proves it
    her husband, and sets him at liberty. Those who                      by sufficient witnesses or evidences and demands to
    search for other reasons ought justly to be set at                   be separated by divorce, it shall be granted and
    nought, because they choose to be wise above the                     thereafter he shall be able to many again, if he so
    heavenly teacher.                                                    wishes. Moreover, while he should be exhorted to
         But the exception which Christ states appears to                pardon his wife, yet one has no right to co'mpel him
    be superflous. For, if the adulteress deserves to be                 to do so against his will.
    punished with death, what purpose does it serve to                         Although in ancient times the right of the wife was
    talk of divorces? But as it was the duty of the                      not equal with that of the husband where divorce was
    husband to prosecute his wife for adultery, in order                 concerned, yet since, as the Apostle says, the
    to purge his house from infamy, whatever might be                    obligation is mutual and reciprocal regarding the
    the result, the husband who convicts his wife of                     intercourse of the bed, and since in this the wife is
    uncleanness is here freed by Christ from the bond. It is             not more subject to the husband than the husband is
    even possible that, among a corrupt and degenerate                   to the wife, if a man is convicted of adultery and his
    people, this crime remained to a great extent                        wife demands to be separated from him, this shall be
    unpunished; as, in our own day, the wicked                           granted to her also, provided it proves impossible by
    forbearance of magistrates makes it necessary for                    good counsel to reconcile them to each other. If,
    husbands to put away unchaste wives, because                         however, the wife should fall into adultery through
    adulterers are not punished. It must also be observed                the evident fault of the husband, or the husband
    that the right belongs equally and mutually to both                  through the fault of the wife, in such a way that they
    sides, as there is a mutual and equal obligation to                  are both to blame, or if there should be proof of
    fidelity. For, though in other matters the husband                   some fraud perpetrated with a view to obtaining a
    holds the superiority, as to the marriage bed, the wife              divorce, then they shall not be permitted to demand
    has an equal right; for he is not the lord of his body;             it.
    and therefore when by committing adultery, he has                  That last sentence is most interesting. The church
    dissolved the marriage, the wife is set at liberty.              has debated the so called "innocent party" in a divorce
  John Calvin also takes the position that adultery                  and their right of remarriage over and  o&r again. Is
broke the marriage and that upon divorce, the                        there such a thing as an innocent party? It would seem
innocent spouse was free to remarry. The "except for                 that the untenable position of one guilty and the other
fornication" of Matt.  19:9 excluded a remarriage                    innocent, and idea basic to the adultery-dissolution
resulting from a divorce on the grounds of adultery. He              divorce-remarriage idea, is evident here. Does not
says:                                                                adultery or any disruption in marriage involve the
         This clause has been very ill explained by many             sins of both marriage partners and therefore require


88                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



the need of mutual repentance and  forgiveness, but                   In the past many years they took the position that the
not a dissolution of the marriage. More on this later.                innocent party might remarry, if the spouse committed
                                                                      adultery. As recently as 1956, however, they went far
THE REFORMED CHURCHES                                                 beyond that and said that the remarried guilty party
      One looks in vain for a statement in the Reformed               might remain married if they confess their sins even if
confessions on the place of divorce in the life of the                their ground for divorce was not adultery, or their own
church and whether divorced persons may remarry.                      adultery.
Even Lord's Day 41 of the Heidelberg Catechism, in                              1. No substantial and conclusive Scriptural
dealing with the 7th commandment, gives no direction.                       evidence has been produced to establish the thesis
The Church Order gives no specifics on this either.                         that parties remarried after being divorced on the
      The Westminster Confession of Faith, 1647 gives                       ground of their own adultery, or divorced on
counsel on this subject. We read in Chapter 24 of                           nonbiblical grounds are living in continual adultery.
Marriage and Divorce.                                                           2. No substantial and conclusive Scriptural
         III. It is lawful for all sorts of people to marry who             evidence has been produced to warrant the demand
       are able with judgment to give their consent. Yet, it is             that a person remarried after being divorced on the
       the duty of Christians to marry only in the Lord. And                ground of his own adultery or divorced on
       therefore, such as profess the true reformed religion                non-biblical grounds, must in order to prove the
       should not marry with infidels, Papists, or other                    sincerity of his repentance, cease living in the
       idolaters: neither should such as are godly, be                      ordinary marriage relationship with his present
       unequally yoked, by marrying with such as are                        spouse.
       notoriously wicked in their life, or maintain                       Three more resolutions were added, giving warning
       damnable heresies.                                             to consistories that they guard the sanctity of marriage
         V. Adultery or fornication, committed after a                and secure genuine repentance in such cases.
       contract, being detected before marriage., giveth just              In contrast to much of what we have quoted, we
       occasion to the innocent party to dissolve that                now refer to a decision taken by  Classis West of our
       contract. In the case of adultery after marriage, it is        churches in 1963. This quotation is only part of the
       lawful for the innocent party to sue out a divorce,
       and after the divorce to marry another, as if the              decision, but it is sufficient.
       offending party were dead.                                               Also in this verse watt. 19:9) Jesus does not make
          VI. Although the corruption of man be such as is                  fornication a legitimate ground for remarriage after
       apt to study arguments, unduly to put asunder those                  divorce. This is evident from many texts which
                                                                            clearly state that any violation of the marriage bond
       whom God hath joined together in marriage; yet
       nothing but adultery, or such willful desertion as can               must be endured and that only death can break it,
                                                                            e.g. Mark  lO:ll, Luke  16:18,  and Romans 7:1-3.
       no way be remedied by the Church or civil                            Jesus' argument here is that the marriage bond can
       magistrate, is cause sufficient of dissolving the bond               never be dissolved except by death; that fornication
       of marriage, wherein a public and orderly course of                  is the only ground on the basis of which a man may
       proceeding is to be observed; and the persons                        put away his wife, but that this putting away of his
       concerned in it, not left to their own wills, and                    wife is only separation, not a dissolution of the
       discretion in their own case.                                        marriage bond. Thus remarriage is always adultery
      The texts  for proof of the above position are Matt.                  when the former spouse is still living.
1:18-20,  Matt.  5:31,32, Matt.  19:9, and Rom.  7:2,3.                    In order to see the correctness of this position, we
We will treat these passages a little later.                          must show the error of the opposing view and consider
      The Christian Reformed Churches agree that there is             the Scriptural soundness of this one.
a place for divorce and remarriage within the church.                      This will have to wait until our next article, D.V.


In His Fear

                                        Addressing God In Prayer
                                                           Rev. D. H. Kuiper
                                                      `<God,  you %e the greatest. "
                                                   "God,. . . . . you're a cool cat. "
                                                              "Hello, Dad. "

      The above words are not mine. The first were                    young people's magazine, comes from a poem by a high
spoken by a grade school student at a local Christian                 school student. The last formed the address in a
school program. The second quote, taken from a                        congregational prayer by a minister in a Des Moines
                                                                      /


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   89


 church. All occurred within the context of the                peers, the other in reference to various dignitaries,
 "Reformed community." These samples, which have               strangers who might be dignitaries, and the God-
come to my attention this past year; will serve to point       head. For example, the Dutch has the familiar  iou
to the seriousness of the "you-thou" controversy. At           and the polite U and the German has du and Sie. If one
 stake is one's conception of God .and the attitude one        turns to the original Biblical languages, however, he
takes in prayer to God.                                        finds that the Hebrew and the Greek do not provide
   The "you-thou" controversy is one which is                  for such a distinction. So that the dispute is not
engaging parents, teachers, and ministers increasingly.        actually between the usage of sacred language and
Parents are concerned because their children are being         modern usage, but between the usage of Old and
instructed in the day schools by those who prefer to           Middle English of four centuries past and twentieth
refer to the Deity with the pronouns you and your:             century practice (more especially language patterns of
Some teachers become involved when they insist on              the last half of the twentieth century). The version of
such words as thy, thou, and thine in their classrooms.        the Bible authorized by King James in 1611 reflected
The controversy naturally spills over into the area of the usage of that day, and thus we find the words
music, since song is also a vehicle of speaking to and         thee-thou-thine  when the Godhead is addressed. In
about God. There seem to be a few who are adamant              fact, these words are also used when one man speaks to
on one side or the other, while the majority doesn't           another in the King James Version.
seem to think it matters much one way or the other.              Nevertheless, it is our conviction that  today we
Some ministers even use "you" and  "thou" in their             ought to preserve the distinction when we address
public prayers, either to show how tolerant they can           God. As  -the centuries rolled by since the time of
be or how difficult it is to make the transition. It is our    Shakespeare, the English language changed, and we are
conviction that this is a serious matter and that those        left only with common pronouns in our daily usage.
who are in a position to give leadership and instruction       But for some reason one exception prevailed; as all this
had better be correct. Does not James warn in the              time went by and language became more secularized
opening words of his third chapter that men ought not          and familiar, the words thee-thou-thine survived, and
strive for the position of master and teacher, knowing         the use of them in respect to God persisted! This is a
that they shall receive the stricter judgement? Those          very good thing! And the reason for the survival of this
who lead others have a grave responsibility. Those who         practice surely is that the God who directed all that
instruct  convenant children, whose tendency is to             history is pleased by the distinction.
believe and trust, have the highest responsibility of all.       The heart of the controversy, after all, is our
   The reason for introducing familiarity into prayer is       conception of God. The issues revolve about the points
usually stated along these lines: God is invisible, the        of Who God is, what is our relation to Him, and how
concept of God is so abstract, that it is difficult to get     are we to use His Names. The point is that we ought to
it across to little children. By referring to God in           employ every safeguard that we do not become guilty
common, down-to-earth language we can make Him                 of breaking the third commandment by dragging the
real in the child's mind. Then He will not seem so far         Name of God off the. high pedestal where it belongs
away, so abstract, and so unapproachable. Further, It          and making it common and profane. The danger is
is often stated that God and Christ ought to be such a         never that we honor God too highly or that we esteem
part of our lives that we integrate Their Names into           Him too much, but the danger is always that we refuse
our vocabularies in a very natural way; to use  thee,          to honor Him by treating the living God as just another
thou thy, and thine is rather superficial and awkward.         being. Before we know it, we begin to think that God
Before we get into the actual arguments that ought to          is altogether such an one as ourselves (Ps. 50:2 1). Is
be considered, we can note here that when we make              that not the greatest blasphemy and the worst
the above reasons the matter of our concern, we busy           profanity?
ourselves with something that is really God's work.              Let all those who want to make God seem real and
God does not leave Himself without witness, also in            close to children read Isaiah 40, verses 12-3 1. And let
`respect to little children. Our attempts to make God          them read these verses to the children who come under
real and comprehensible, no matter .what language we           their instruction. What power and wisdom is here
use, will not succeed except that faith believes that          revealed! What transcendence and glory! "Hast thou
God is, and that He is a rewarder of those that                not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting
diligently seek Him. God testifies in the hearts of His        God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends  of',the earth,
children, young and old, and this Spirit-wrought               fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of
testimony breaks through all barriers and abstractions.        His understanding." (Is.  40:28) If the power of such
' It must be conceded that such words as  thee  and' revelation does not send redeemed man looking for
thou  do not carry the force of inspired authority.            ways to exalt the Name of God and to lift it on high
Some languages make a distinction between familiar             far above every other name, then perhaps man ought
and polite pronouns; the one to be used with one's             to ask himself the question whether he really knows


90                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



God.  It is no coincidence that this over-familiarity is      presence of His divine majesty;  thirdly, that- we be
pushed the harder in those circles where God's                fully persuaded that He, notwithstanding that we  are
sovereignty is only given lip service, and where              unworthy of it, will, for the sake of Christ our Lord,
salvation is pictured as a co-operative venture of God        certainly hear our prayer, as He has promised us in His
and man. But notice the first part of Isaiah 40: word." The Heidelberg Catechism removes all
"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.            questions.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her,            The quotations at the beginning of this article are
that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is        sad. You will notice an increase in the degree of
pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand            profanity as you pass from one to another. As was
double for all her sins." Those beautiful words, which        explained, the age of the individual also increased with
everyone seems to want to emphasize, are true only            each example. This is the result of modern education
because the rest of the chapter is true. There is             in the area of prayer. Does it make God seem real and
comfort for Jerusalem because the  ,Lord is                   close.? Does it enable little children to understand God
omnipotent!                                                   better? Does it result in true godliness? It ought to be
      It is a question whether God hears a prayer which is    clear that it fails miserably. It ought also to be clear
not uttered in the consciousness of the transcendence         that once a person sets out along lines which stress
of God and the unworthiness of man. In the forty-fifth        familiarity, there is no telling where he will stop. We
Lord's Day the question is asked, "What are the               might be shocked by these examples, and hopefully we
requisites of that prayer which is acceptable to God          are; but we ought not to pretend that this is as bad as
and which He will hear?" The answer is: "First, that it will get. The end point is contempt, absolute
we from the heart pray to the one true God only, who          contempt of God!
hath manifested himself in His word, for all things He          May God keep us from all trends which result in the ~
hath commanded us to ask of Him; secondly, that we            dishonor of His great Name. And may we continue to
rightly and thoroughly know our need and our misery,          use that form of address which makes clear distinction
that  so we  may  deeply humble ourselves in the              between Creator-Redeemer and man.



                                      Annual Reports
                                        Reformed Free Publishing Association
                                                  Secretary's Report

Mr. Chairman, Members of the R.F.P.A., and Friends:           following: "Several innovations were instigated by
      It is my duty as secretary to report to you tonight your Board during the past year in order to increase
,on the principal activities which have occurred              our subscription list. First, an introductory offer
throughout the past year in connection with the               labelled  "10 for 2" was introduced to our readers. By
publishing of the Standard Bearer.                            means of advertisements in our paper and in other
      The Board met at the prescribed times to conduct periodicals, it was announced that the Standard Bearer
its business and to hear the Business Manager's reports,      could be obtained by new subscribers for six months
which were always lively and interesting. Invariably the ( 10 issues) for only $2.00. To date almost 200
letters which he read at these meetings showed                potential new subscribers have responded to this offer.
gratitude for the contents of our publication and also        Truly amazing! One member of our Protestant
encouragement to continue in this, the Lord's work.           Reformed Churches submitted and paid for 32 new
      The Board also decided to give our Business Manager subscribers to our offer. A subscriber belonging to the
$500.00 per year as a token gift for his labors in behalf Christian Reformed Church submitted and paid for 12
of the Standard Bearer.                                       new potential subscribers. Response has been received
      At our May meeting, the Board granted the request       from just about all of the 50 states of our country  -
of the Synodical Committee for Correspondence with including Alaska and Hawaii; several from Canada and
Foreign Churches for $1000.00 to help pay for the             the Netherlands. Surely, the Lord has blessed us in this
publishing of a  Critique  of  the RES,  a booklet            endeavor. Secondly, this  " 10 for 2" offer was also
prepared by Rev. Sang Chan Lee, in the Korean                 extended to our readers in Australasia. Included were
language. This booklet was to be distributed to               New Zealand, New South Wales (Australia), Tasmania,
churches of the Hapdong Presbyterian denomination in          etc. Twenty-three new subscribers reached out to take
K o r e a .                                                   advantage of receiving the  Standard Bearer  by this
      From our Business Manager's pen we quote the            means. Thirdly, in conjunction with our Permanent


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           91



Publication Committee, new and regular subscribers             Kraker, Arnold Dykstra, and undersigned.
will be able to obtain books published by our R.F.P.A.                 In conclusion, brethren, it is evident from the
at a reduced price. Watch for further details in foregoing that the Standard Bearer is being sent far and
forthcoming issues of our magazine."                           wide and that it is also being read and appreciated by
  At this time we gratefully acknowledge the financial         those not in our denomination. Now, as we stand at
gifts from individuals, societies, and congregations, and the threshold of another year of  publishing  fie
solicit your continued support.                                Standard Bearer,  we see it as a wonderful calling, a
 .A special word of thanks is due Mr. Gerrit Pipe for glorious privilege, and a serious responsibility. Let us
his faithful assistance in the mailing department.             indeed be thankful to God for our faithful
Needless to say, we really rely on our Business                Editor-in-Chief and Department Editors, for the
Manager's keen attention and ability to expedite               dedication and zeal with which they write. May the
matters pertinent to our publication.                          Lord continue to bless them in their labors.
  Retirees this year will be the Messrs. Wm. De                                                                   G. Bol, Sec'y

                                                   Treasurer's Report

   BALANCE ON HAND SEPT. 1,197 1                                                                                  6,448.78
     Receipts:
           Subscriptions                                                                6,436.Ol
           Membership                                                                     102.00
           Gifts                                                                        6,883.25
           Advertising                                                                   204.00
           Bound Volumes                                                                 636.25
           10 for two offer                                                              350.25
           Miscellaneous                                                                 244.48
           Interest Earned                                                                 60.12
            Receipts for the year                                                                           14,916.36
            Total Receipts                                                                                  21,365.14


     Disbursements:
           Wobbema Printing Co.                                                         5,445.75
           National Correct Color Service                                               1,214.OO
           Photo Composition Service                                                    5,470.oo
           Postage                                                                        390.00
           Holland Book Binding                                                           361.25
           G. Pipe (Traveling Expense)                                                    115.00
           H. Vander Wal (Business Manager) -
           (500.00 token gift 672.59 postage & supplies)                                1,172.59
           Correspondence Committee (Korea Material)                                    1 ,ooo.oo
           Advertising                                                                     66.61
           Miscellaneous                                                                   31.49
             Disbursements for the year                                                                     15,266.69
    BALANCE ON HAND SEPT. 1,1972                                                                                  6,098.45'


 Gifts:
   Protestant Reformed Churches                                          Hull                                      - 2 1 5 . 2 3
     Doon                                          112.07                 Kalamazoo                                      35.81
     Edgerton                                        6 9 . 6 6           Loveland                                        81.38
     First                                         794.89                 Randolph                                       71.76
     Forbes                                          33.70                South East                                    391.48
     Holland                                         95.30        i       South Holland              _.     :           784,09
     Hope                                         1,244.21                South West                                     46.91
     Hudsonville                                   712.27                Church Undetermined                             62.48


92                                                THE STANDARD BEARER



      Societies                                                   Total Gifts
        Eastern Ladies League                        86.40          Churches                                  4,751.24
        First Ladies Society                         50.00          Societies                                   293.28
        First Mens Society                           30.00          Individuals gifts                       1,838.73
        Hope Choral Society                         101.88                                                    6,883.25
        Hope Mr. & Mrs. Society                      25.00                                        C. Kuiper, Treasurer



The Signs of the Times

                                   The Enemy Within
                                                    Rev. G. Yan Baren

      The title may seem a bit pretentious. It could            antichrist can readily speak to all the peoples of the
certainly be used in various different senses.                  earth. It is this speech which can and does reach into
      I am concerned particularly in the attempt of Satan       our very homes. In that sense, I speak of the "enemy
to infiltrate our very homes in order to instruct in the        within."
lie. We are, perhaps, not too aware of his attempt. Nor           The means of modem communication, the mass
are we always aware of the fact that as the time of the         media, have for the most part been taken over by the
end approaches, Satan will increasingly try to speak to         world and are used by them to set forth their evil
us. His time is short  - and he knows that. He,                 thoughts and desires. We must recognize this and be on
therefore, works frantically in order to undermine or           our guard against it. The enemy within seeks to
destroy (if such were possible) the faith of the saints.        undermine  - and to a certain extent, we can see the
      One striking sign of the end of the age is the fact       sad consequences in our own homes. I am concerned
that Satan through the beasts of Revelation 13, speaks.         most about the abuse of television, but the other
We read in Revelation  13:5,6: "And there was given             means of communication can not be ignored: radio,
unto him a mouth speaking great things and                      the printed page, the use of film, etc. The world,
blasphemies; and power was given unto him to                    Satan, and finally the antichrist can reach into our very
continue forty and two months. And he opened his                homes to tell us what to think, what to seek, what to
mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His                say, how to dress. Are you aware what the enemy
name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in                within seeks to do to you and your family? I would
heaven." Of the second beast we read: (Rev. 13: 11)             remind you of a few dangers.
"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the
earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake           BLASPHEMY
as a dragon." In harmony with the above is the                    One noteworthy mark of the speech of the beasts of
revelation in Daniel (7:8,11,20).                               Revelation 13 is blasphemy. There is blasphemy
      My intent in this article is to point out that in many    against God, His Name, His tabernacle, and His people.
ways that speech of these passages can be heard today.          How extensive this blasphemy ah-eady is! Whether on
We must be aware of this and beware it. Our eyes are            television, radio, or the printed page, it is obvious that
often blind to this; our ears are sometimes dull of             there is nothing "sacred" to man. God's Name is used
hearing. Ought we not to see and hear that these                in vain. His Church is mocked. His Word is often
passages of Scripture are even now being fulfilled?             quoted but scorned. Man knows no bounds in his evil
Surely, the passages of Revelation 13 and Daniel 7              desire to denounce all that which is spiritual. Trouble
have not yet been fulfilled. The kingdom of the                 is, all this blasphemy enters directly into our homes.
antichrist has not yet been established. The speaking           We have almost become immune to its terribleness. It
of the beasts, then, has not yet been heard. Yet much           is not unusual to hear children of God even mouth some
of this same sort of speaking is heard today. Do you            of these same blasphemies which pour forth into the
recognize the speech of the antichrists? Scripture              homes. Our children watch it and read it. Nothing seems
declares: "Neither give place to the devil" (Eph. 4:27).        too terrible anymore. No wonder children grow up with-
We ought to guard against his speech which is                   out any sense of the awfulness of all of this! They have
presented to deceive.                                           almost become hardened to the awful blasphemies so
      We can see already how that at the end-time the           common today. And when the end does come, very


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                   93
I

      few will be shocked at the blasphemies of the beasts of     devil finds somewhat of a place.
      Revelation. How much place have we given to the devil          And no wonder then that sin does not appear so
      in our homes?                                               t e r r i b l e   a n y m o r e .   N o   w o n d e r   t h a t   w h o l e
L U S T                                                           denominations can alter historic stands and adopt
        Lust would be the evil, inordinate desire for that        positions of this world contrary to God's Word. What
      which is forbidden in the Word of God. It is seeking        else can they do when the majority of the members
      the things of the flesh. This may be related to the         simply accept as proper that which God's laws
      realm of "sex," in which there is no regard to the          condemn? I think specifically now of altered positions
      marriage bond. This may be related to the realm of.         on movie attendance; of altered positions on abortion;
      the material, which one sets his heart on the things of     of altered positions on marriage, divorce, and
      the earth.                                                  remarriage.
                                                                     No wonder that one finds "Christian" parents
         Now Satan from the beginning has sought to instill       cheating on their income tax forms. No wonder that
      lust in man! Already to Eve in Paradise, he brought to one finds  "Christian'T workers stealing from their
     1 her attention the desirability of the tree of knowledge employers  - either a stealing of time or of material
      of good and evil  - in spite of the Word God had objects. No wonder that "Christian" children can
      spoken. Eve desired and ate of the forbidden fruit.         appropriate that which belongs to another without any
         The evil of lusting for the things of the flesh is sense of guilt, it would seem. No wonder that lying can
      constantly before us through the mass media. The be done as though there is nothing wrong in it. Satan
      common attempt to arouse sexual lusts ought to be has spoken often - seeking to convince that sin is not
      obvious to all. Advertising implies often sexuality sin. He has entered into our homes with his lies; we
      related to the material. Usually a new car will be          have listened far too much.
      presented with a scantily attired woman in or near it.
      The desirability of less restraint in the marriage WORLDLY PHILOSOPHIES
      relationship is suggested. The dramas of men, the              What is particularly disturbing in the "voice" of the
      written stories, the advertising - all these present the    world which enters our homes is the evil philosophy
      evil thoughts of the world. And all these come flooding which is presented  - and accepted almost without
      into our homes.                                             question. There is the idea of "peace" and "unity"
         And there is the gross materialism of our day. which is presented. I have observed this in children's
     Through the various media, one is encouraged to set television programs, including that oft-approved
      his heart on earthly things. The appeal of better "Sesame Street." One can so quickly speak of the
      homes, nicer cars, fashionable clothes, clever gadgets is "good" programs and "good" articles. Yet a "good"
      set forth. Increasingly, it seems impossible to             program such as Sesame Street repeatedly emphasizes
      remember that the things of this earth pass away. Our the unity and oneness of man and the harmony which
      desires, our thoughts, are directed towards the earthly.    must exist between them - all without the cross. What
      The advertising, the conversations, of men, these all are children, who repeatedly hear this in their youth,
      remind of the pleasures of the material. The speech of going to believe as they grow up? I suggest that much
      the world is heard in our homes. We listen; we hear -       of this is built-in instruction by the voice of this world
      and are influenced so much by this all. Are not our to teach our precious children that unity and oneness
      desires directed towards the very thing the voice of the and peace are possible without Christ. Why are our
      world presents? How hard to remember: "Give no children at times even now advocates of "peace" such
      place to the devil!"                                        as the world seeks? Why do they use the "peace sign?"
                                                                  Why do they wear such signs on their clothing? Has
      SEARED CONSCIENCES                                          not the "voice" of the world to an extent affected
        With all that which enters our homes, it is no            them?
      wonder that the conscience seems to be almost                  Have we also not been affected by the "voice".
      hardened to what is and what is not sin. News reports lwhich encourages materialism? Do we not place great
     , consistently present the atrocious, evil, disastrous,      emphasis upon our material possessions? Are we not
     corrupt. This is the news. Adultery is presented as a        insistent upon the latest fashions? Do we not want the
      common-place thing. The details of the latest robbery       latest of the labor-saving devices? How much have we
      and murder are reported in gruesome detail. The rise in     not also been influenced by the "voice" which enters
      the crime rate is considered almost acceptable. In some     our homes? We minimize the reality of this influence
      cases, one can avidly watch the latest television drama.    only to our own spiritual hurt.
     One becomes wound up in what is presented. One                  And does not the "voice" within. our homes train us
     becomes almost sympathetic toward the hero  -  noi to listen to what man has to say? The repetition of
     ~ -matter what his  sin: God's laws are not regarded as man's thoughts and ideas flooding into our homes'
      absolute. Man in his pretense can glorify the violation     seeks to condition us to hear more and more of the evil
      of God's law. All this is presented in our homes. The       philosophies of this world.


94                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



USE OF TIME                                                  because of the "voice" which enters our homes? How
      Perhaps, one could point out the waste of time in much place  has there been found for the devil?
connection with the mass media of our day. How                   I do not advocate the removal of these "mass
many do not spend far more time reading their daily           media." Such would be virtually impossible. But saints
newspaper than they do reading and studying of God had better be aware of the attempts of the
Scripture? How many have  ,no time for study of world and of Satan to influence our thinking and
society lessons or catechism or Sunday school  - yet undermine our faith. Use good inventions to the glory
spend hours in front of television? How many have no          of God, but beware the voice of the beasts which even
time or desire to hear our own "Reformed Witness now is being heard. For thus we live as those who
Hour" - yet have time to hear the godless songs of know that the "Lord is at hand' (Phil. 4~5).
man on radio? How much precious time do we waste -


Book Reviews
                                      The Ground of Certainty

THE GROUND OF CERTAliWY,  by Donald Bloesch;                  and theology, in the course of the book he eventually
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1970; 212 pp., $3.25          joins them, on the basis of common grace. His purpose
(paper). (Reviewed by J. Huisken)                             is not straightforwardly to condemn the erroneous
      Dr. Donald Bloesch is currently professor of            position of the philosopher, but his purpose is to
theology at the Dubuque Theological Seminary in               understand and transform (p. 104). Theologians and
Dubuque, Iowa. The cover of the book calls attention          philosophers have a commonness in sin, but they also
to other works of Bloesch, but this is my first contact       have a commonness in their yearning for the truth that
with any of his writings..                                    redeems. This yearning is, of course, the result of the
      Every book has a purpose, a  moving  force or general operation of the Holy Spirit upon mankind,
urgency for its being written, and this book is no            the work of common grace. And, says Bloesch, this
exception. Its raison d'etre is stated by Bloesch in the      doctrine of common grace is essential to his theology
"Foreword":                                                   (p. `23).
                                                                 Furthermore, just as disappointing is Bloesch's
          In this book we sharply diverge from                failure to articulate clearly his theological stance and
          much traditional thinking on the                    his theological concepts. Particularly disturbing is his
          relation between theology and                       failure, to delineate his concept of Scripture. Biblical
          philosophy and suggest an alternative               revelation, he says, is the ground of certainty; but he
          that is solidly anchored in biblical faith.         does little more than tell us that this revelation has an
          Instead of seeing this relation in terms            objective and a subjective pole. Because of this lack of
          of synthesis or correlation or even                 articulation, I found myself substituting my own
          simple subordination, we call for the               concepts and then, of course, the book and the
          conversion and transformation of                    thought is no longer Bloesch's, but my own, which
          philosophical meanings in the light of              ought not to be.
          the biblical revelation.                               Generally, I found myself at the apex of agreement
      In light of the current trends in philosophy of or at the nadir of disappointment when reading this
religion and the continued emphasis upon natural              book. Certainly his basic approach is right, but I take
theology, Bloesch's purpose is a worthy one. And, I           issue with his theology.
must agree, Bloesch does attempt to do exactly as he             I would certainly recommend this book to anyone
says. He distinguishes between philosophy and                 interested in the age-old debate concerning the
theology on the basis of one's beginnings - either in         relationship between philosophy and theology, with a
reason of faith - and he strongly holds that reason is        par  titular recommendation to teachers, ministers,
the obedient servant of faith. He strongly condemns           seminary and college students. This book would
the current trends in philosophy of religion and looks `certainly lend itself to much discussion and could serve
askance at natural theology. Truth for him is revealed,       as a basis for a seminar on this topic. Bloesch's analysis
and only in this revelation is truth to be found. In this     of the encounter between faith and reason throughout
respect, the book certainly met its objective.                history is reason enough to read the book, but I would
      The book, however, has basic disappointments.           urge further discussion of this subject particularly
While Bloesch. calls for the separation of philosophy         amongst those in education.


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      95



            RESOLUTION.OF SYMPATHY                                           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
  The Ladies Society of Hope Protestant Reformed                  The Ladies' Society .and the Men's Society of the
Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan, wishes to express             South Holland Protestant Reformed Church wishes to
its heartfelt sympathy to one of its members, Mrs.              express their sympathy to Mr. & Mrs. P. A. Poortenga,
John Moelker, in the death of her husband,                      Mr. & Mrs. R. Hoving, Mr. & Mrs. E. Medema, Mr. &
                 MR. JOHN MOELKER.                              Mrs. D. Haak in the Passing of their mother and
                                                                mother-in-law
  "For whether we live, we live unto the Lord: and                                MRS. JENNIE IPEMA
whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live
therefore, or die, we are the Lords." (Romans  14:8).           who was taken into eternal rest on Sunday, October
                               Rev. R. Van Overloop, Pres.      15,1972.
                                Mrs. D. Meulenberg, Sec'y.        "Return unto thy rest, 0 my soul; for the Lord hath
                                                                dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered
                                                                my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet
                                                                from falling." (Ps. 116: 7-8.)
            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                Rev. R. Decker, President
  The Consistory of the Hope Protestant Reformed                                          Mrs. John Hollernan, Secretary
Church of Isabel, South Dakota extends its sincere                                          Mrs. Jack Lenting, Secretary
sympathy to one of its fellow members, Elder Hiram
Streyle, in therecent death of his wife                                             IN MEMORIAM
                MRS. HIRAM STREYLE.                                              MRS. JENNIE IPEMA
  May the bereaved be comforted in the Word of God
found in Psalm 116: 15, "Precious in the sight of the             Our comfort is, "The Lord gave and the Lord hath
Lord is the death of His saints."'                              taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Job
                                 Rev. R. G. Miersma, Pres.      1:21B
                                Mr. Milton Collman, Clerk         On the 15th of October in the year of our Lord,
                                                                1972, it pleased our covenant God to remove out of  '
                                                                our midst at the age of 73 years our beloved Mother
            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                              and Grandmother,
  The Adult Bible Class of Hudsonville Protestant                                Mr. and Mrs. Peter A. Poortenga
Reformed Church hereby expresses its heartfelt                                   Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Ipema
sympathy to two of its members, Mr. and Mrs. Erne                                Mrs. Henrietta Quinliven
Miedema. in the loss of their son                                                Mr. and Mrs. James Triezenberg
                                                                                 Mr. and Mrs. Henry P. Ipema
              DOUGLAS ERNE MIEDEMA                                               Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hoving
whom the Lord called home very suddenly on October                               Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Medema
7, 1972 at the age of 21. May they together with their                           Mr. and Mrs. Donald Haak
family be comforted by the word of God as found in                               3 9 grandchildren 23 great-grandchildren
Psalm 145: 17, "The Lord is righteous in all His ways, c
and holy in all His works."                                                 ANNIVERSAR Y ANN0 UNCEMENT
                                        A. Karsemeyer, Pres.
                                  N. Van Overloop, Sec'y.         On November 18, 1972, the Lord willing, our
                                                                parents,
                                                                         MR. AND MRS. DAVID MEULENBERG
            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
  The members of the Men's Society of the Southwest             will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.
Protestant Reformed Church of Wyoming, Michigan,                  We, their children, do thank and praise our covenant
express their sincere sympathy to Mrs. A. Talsma in             God for our years together, and for using them  to.
the death of her husband,                                       instruct us in the fear of  His name. That they may
                                                                continue to experience the Lord's blessing in the
                   ALBERT TALSMA.                               remainder of their earthly pilgrimage is our prayer.
  May our covenant God comfort her by His Word                                   Their loving children:
and Spirit. "For me to live' is Christ, and to die is gain.                      David and Bonnie Moelker
(Philippians 1: 2 1.)                                                            Betty Meulenberg
                                   The Men's Soc'y. of the                       Larry and Judy Meulenberg          .'
                             Southwest Prot. Ref. Church..                       Barbara Meulenberg
                                      Rev. H. Veldman, Pres.                     Jonathon Meulenberg
                                           Jay Boone, Sec'y.                        and their granddaughter.


  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                            SECOND CLASS
            P.O. Box 6064                                                                       POSTAGE PAID AT
 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                                 GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.



.`96                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

                                 News From Our  Chudms


                       October 31, 19 72                         think, readily discernible from a couple of bulletin
        At the installation of now Rev. W. Bekkering, Rev.       announcements.
 R. Decker read the Form and Prof. H.C. Hoeksema led
 the service. After the service a lunch was served in the           Those of you who receive the "Studies in Bible
 church basement. In Randolph's bulletin of the                  Doctrine" from the Lynden congregation have no
 following Sabbath, Rev. Bekkering and family                    doubt noticed, on the back side of the most recent
 expressed thanks to "the congregation for all the issue, the invitation to "listen to our new radio
 kindness shown them in the past few weeks, the program, `Christian Dialogue.' " The notice went on to
 improvements made in the parsonage, the food shower,            explain that "this is an open line discussion program
 and the fine lunch the ladies served Friday night." with live response from the audience by means of the
 Even from this distance, the mutual joy and                     telephone. 9:30 P.M. every Staurday evening on KARI
 satisfaction experienced in that congregation is, I radio, AM, Blaine, Washington."                                D.D.



                                    750 Jefferson Ave.           and controversy. Mr. Bekkering preached his required
                                    Loveland, Colo. 80537 sermon before the delegates of  Classis in a special
                                     October 2 1, 1972           worship service of the Hull congregation, the evening
                                                                 of October 10. His text was Proverbs 3:5. Mr. Kamps
        Report of the Fall, 1972 Meeting of Classis West         preached on.Psahn 11:5 in the presence of the Classis.
        Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches With the concurrence of the delegates ad examina,
 met in Hull, Iowa on  Octqber 11. This meeting of Classis approved the examination of both candidates
 Classis had been postponed from September 6, so that and advised Randolph and  Redlands to proceed with
 Classis could examine all of the candidates who might their ordination. Both candidates signed the Formula
 accept calls in  Classis West. Twelve elders and eight of Subscription, after it was read aloud to them by the
 ministers from the churches in Classis West attended.           president of Classis. Mr. Bekkering was to be ordained
 Three ministers from Classis East were also present at on October 13, and Mr. Kamps, on October 15.
 the Classis to witness and approve the examination of              The Classis rejoiced with the vacant churches in the
 the candidates, in accordance with Article 4 of the             satisfying of their need for a faithful pastor and gave
 Church Order: "the examination both of doctrine and             thanks to God Who gave our churches these men for
 life . . . shall be conducted by the Classis . . . and . . .    the ministry of the gospel. It was  Classis' prayer that
 shall take place in the presence of three delegates of the Lord Jesus Christ bless these young men and make
 synod from the nearest classes." Rev. Dale H. Kuiper            their work fruitful.
 presided at this meeting of Classis.                               Only one congregation in  Classis West remains
        The Classical Committee of Classis West presented        vacant, the Ebenezer Protestant Reformed Church of
 to  Classis the request of the Randolph, Wisconsin              Forbes, North Dakota. This church requested and
 consistory that Classsis examine the candidate who had          received classical appointments according to the
 accepted their call, Wayne Bekkering, and the request           following schedule: Oct. 22  -  Kortering;. Nov. 5  -
 of the Rediands, California consistory that Classis ex- Miersma; Nov. 19 - Moore; Dec. 3 - Lanting; Dec. 17
 amine the candidate who had accepted their call, Marvin - Kortering; Jan. 7 - Miersma; Jan. 21 - Moore; Feb.
 Kamps. This peremptior (decisive) examination of 4, 11 - Kuiper; March 4 - Laming.
 candidates constituted the bulk of  Classis' work. In             The next meeting of  Classis West will be held in
 accordance with the decisions pertaining to Article 4           South Holland, Illinois on March 7, 1973, the Lord
 of the Church Order, Classis examined Mr. Bekkering             willing.
 and Mr. Kamps in dogmatics, practical qualifications,           Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
 knowledge of Scripture, knowledge of the confessions, Classis West


