           The
   STANDARD
         BEARER
p-A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                                          P





             You  can  be  sure  that  anyone  who  walks  with  God  does  not
          regard  Him  as  an  emergency  measure,   someone  to  be  called  in
          conveniently   when  we  are  no  longer  able  to  take  `care  of
          ourselves.  That  man's  religion  is  not  a  conventional   side-issue,
          but  fills his whole life.  God had first place  in Enoch's life. God
          was  his  God  and  his  sovereign  Lord,  before  Whom  he  humbly
          bowed  to ask: Lord, what wilt  Thou have me do?
             How  else  can  a,  mere  earthly  creature  ever  possibly  walk
          with  God?  He  must  be  deeply  conscious  of  his  own  emptiness
          and  insignificance, Compared   with  God  he  is  but  an
          insignificant  speck  of  clay,  less  than  nothing  and  vanity.  For
          God  is  God,  the  almighty,  omnipresent,   .sovereign  God,  in
          Whom  we  live  and  ,move  and  have  our  being.  And  we  are  His
          creation,   His  handiwork,  existing  each  moment  by  His  power
          that  sustains  us.  The  Most  High  God  is  worthy  to  be  praised.
          For  even  as  all  things  are  of  Him  and  through  Him,  so  He  has
          also  prepared  all  things  unto  Himself,   to  show  forth  His
          praises.  He  has  even  called  His  people  unto  Himself,   not  that
          they  should  live  unto  themselves,   but  that  they  should  live
          unto Him in worship,  fear and obedience.
          [See  page  204.1





                                                    Volume L, Number 9, February 1, 1974


194                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


MEDITA TIO N


                                Spiritual Sensitkeness

                                                   Rev. M. Shipper

           "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all
           judgmeti t; that ye may approve things that  are excellent, that ye may be sincere and
           without offence till the day of Christ. "                                   Philippians 1: 9, 10

  That your love may abound . . . !                          expect this desire of his heart to be fulfilled?
  The apostle does not pray that the church at                 That there is a need for the church of Christ in the
Philippi  may have love. He was deeply aware that love       world to be spiritually sensitive there can be no
resided especially in this church; and in the hearts of      question. However shall this need be realized, there
all the members thereof. For this the apostle raises         must of necessity be a constant increase in knowledge
continual thanksgiving to God. He was so sure that           and discernment.
they possessed this love because they had communi-             When the text speaks of knowledge, the reference
cated it to him, not only in word, but in deed.              is not, of course, to natural knowledge of natural
  But he prays that that love may abound!                    things. As much as natural knowledge of natural
  0, indeed, there were perhaps many other things            things may be necessary for the realization of one's
for which the apostle could have prayed, also as they        place in the world, and this acquired knowledge may
pertained to this particular church. Was it not small in     be obtained through much study of the sciences and
numbers and strength? Could he not  .have prayed that        humanities, the apostle is not at all concerned about
the Lord would add to their number, so that the             it. He is not interested in, nor does he pray that the
burden of the work of the church could have  been            members of the church have a well rounded
more easily borne? Was it not a church which                 education. Nor is he concerned even about their
suffered reproach for the sake of Christ? And would         natural knowledge of spiritual things, important as
it not be permissible to pray that the Lord provide         this may be. One may very well have a head full of
for this church peace and prosperity if it be His will?     this knowledge and yet his heart is far from the Lord.
But for this he does not pray. On the contrary, he          It is always the danger of the theological professor
reminds the church that it is given them of grace in        and minister of the Word, as well as even the lay
the cause of Christ not only to believe on him, but         member of the church, when they approach the Word
also to suffer with Him.                                     of God that they do this only to acquire a head full
                                                            of Scriptural knowledge. And this knowledge may be
  Rather, his prayer is, that their love may abound         so exact that they know about the doctrines of
yet more and more!                                          Christian faith so that they can develop and teach and
  But this is not all! Notice that the prayer is: that      even defend these doctrines, yet it is no more than an
their love may increase in knowledge, and in all            intellectual gymnastic with them, while they are
judgment, so that they may be able to approve -the          strangers to the mercies of salvation and stand outside
things which are excellent, in order that they may be       of the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, Whom to
sincere and without  offence till the day of Christ.        know is  eternal life. Important as Christian education
  What the apostle really is desirous of is that the        is, and as necessary as the accumulation of Scriptural
church may increase in spiritual sensitiveness, such        knowledge may be, if it is no more than this, it avails
spiritual sensitivity that will keep the church above       nothing. It must be a knowledge of love shall it profit
reproach unto the coming of the Lord.                       us; a knowledge of the heart, in which the love of God
                                                            has been spread abroad.
  Love that abounds unto spiritual sensitiveness!              Notice, however, that the apostle's prayer does not
  That is what the apostle prays for in our text!           stop with his desire that the church be adept, and
  But what does this mean? And why was this so              increase in this principle, spiritual, saving knowledge;
necessary? And how did the apostle prayerfully              but he adds to this knowledge "and in all judgment."


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   195


   The knowledge for which  he. prays therefore, is            implies that  we. learn to abhor  z+ll that which is evil,
twofold. On the one hand, it is the  knowledge,of              corru&  atid ugly,  - the  .things of darkness. And
principle; while on the other, it is the knowledge of          positively it implies that by grace we, acquire a taste
practise.  He would not only be concerned, that  the.          for those things which are in harmony with the being
church increase in spiritual'knowledge,  but he is also        and will of God. It means that we find our delight in
concerned that  the church be spiritually able  to apply       those things which are pleasing to Him.
that knowledge. For instance, one may know from                  .And how necessary that is!
the heart that God is the`holy and dxalted one, but
unless this knowledge brings him into the dust before             As we are by nature, tie do not, neither can we
Him, it avails nothing. Or again, one may know frqm            choose or approve of these  excellent things. Only by
the  .heart that before God he is a sinner, but unless he,     grace do we acquire a new taste. So that the things of
humbles himself and repents  .of his sin, it is not            darkness become repulsive, while that which is good
enough. And again, it must be stressed that also this          becomes the object of our delight and approval.
judgment or discernment must be more than                         But even so the prayer. of the apostle is not ended.
intellectually logical,  - it must be'  spii-itual. This is      He also has in mind the end purpose of this
what is  meant by spiritual sensitivity.                       spiritual sensitiveness, and for that he also prays.
   And how necessary it is that we ppssess this                   That ye  may.be sincere and without  offence till the
spiritual sensitiveness!                                       day of Christ!
   How sad it is when our spiritual  development.goes             One who is sincere, according to the original text,
in the opposite direction! When our spiritual life             is one who is unmixed; pure in walk; able to stand the
becomes  more and  more obtuse!  Wheti'our  spiritual          true and severe judgment of the light. One, therefore,
senses are  dulle.dj and blunted. When we. become  s1o.w       who is sincere must be able to stand in the light of
to understand, and to respond in the spiritual sense of        God's judgment, and not be consumed.
the word! When we begin to act indifferently and
insensitively- to spiritual things! How appalling it is           That one is without  offence implies that he walks
when the members of Christ's Church become                     so circumspectly that no one stumbles over him, nor
accustomed to corrupt speech, to carnal pleasures,             is he the cause of stumbling in others. It means that
worldly fashions, and are no longer able to protest            you are never found in places  @he?e you  are not
against profanity, against what is evil. How the Holy          expected to be as a child of light. Your walk of life is
Spirit of Christ must be grieved when those who bear           never such. that another does not really know who
the name of Christ are playing ball as it  `iYere with the     you are.
the world, and no longer are walking antithetically in            All this means that  ifwe+moVdevelopin5piritual             --c
the world! Though there is no specific indication that         knowledge and discernment, we will be spiritually
the church at  Philippi  was in immediate danger of            dull. If we are spiritually dull, we cannot be quick to
becoming spiritually dull, the apostle is fully aware          approve the things which are excellent. And if we
that this may become the danger of becoming                    cannot do the latter, we will be insincere, and become
spiritually dull, the apostle is fully aware that this         stumbling blocks to others. Then we will enter Folly's
may  hecome the  dangei-  bf the church in the world.          Temple and eat of her dainties, and at the same time
And `surely' this applies to the church as we see it           be the occasion for others to stumble and to walk
today.                                                         with us in the ways of darkness.
  Approving the things which are excellent!                      Till the day of Christ!
  That is, of course, the end of the knowledge and               Rather, into the day of Christ!
discernment, for which the apostle prays.                        The day of Christ is Christ's day. It is the day of
  The things excellent are those things which differ           His  ,full revelation. It is  .the day of His complete
from all others because of their goodness. They are            victory, when all darkness will be forever banished
the things of God Who is the Excellent One. They are           and destroyed, and when only the  t`hings that are
the things of His Spirit and truth, the things of His          excellent shall remain and abide forever. It is the day
kingdom. They are the things of which God approves,            when His people whom He has redeemed shall be like
and which He expects that we shall approve,                    Him, and reflect perfectly His saving grace in them. It
  When our spiritual knowledge and discernment are             is the day when Christ shall receive all His own and
what they ought to be, we are able also to discern the         present them to the Father, without spot or wrinkle
things which excel because of their goodness, and              in the assembly of the elect.
choose them. Then we also approve them because                   The prayer of the apostle is, therefore, that the
God does. This requires a spiritually developed taste          church may be spiritually sensitive, developing in
and desire for that which transcends. Negatively, this         spiritual knowledge and discernment, so that they are


196                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



always approving the things which are excellent, in                            to make us perfect as He is perfect. Then, as it returns
order that they may be sincere and without:  offence                           to God Who gave it, it is the desire and longing of our
into that blessed day when Christ shall take them and                          tiew will to be perfect as He is. But then, too, it is not
present them to the Father. Thus the children of God                           only the desire for our own perfection that we seek,
will be prepared to stand forever in the midst'of all                          but also the perfection of the neighbor and all the
that is excellent in the new  1 creation where                                 holy brethren.
righteousness shall dwell, and when God shall be
glorified when He beholds in that people the                                       See to it that that love abounds yet more and
perfection of His grace.                                                       more!
    That your love may abound . .  .!                                              Like the volcano which can no longer contain
                                                                               itself, but continues to spout forth lava; so also see to
    That is the source of all this spiritual sensitiveness!                    it that the love of God in our hearts overflows in a
    It is the love of which you and I have been made                           never ending stream.
the living and conscious subjects!                                                 One who does this by the grace of God shall never
    0, surely, this love does not have its source in us!                       be ashamed; for he will be walking in the way of
    Love has its source  only in God, Who is love! And                         sanctification and perfection, without which no one
always this love of God is first. We love only because                         shall see the Lord. And when the Lord's day shall
He first loved us. He sheds abroad in our hearts His                           come, he shall stand in spotless perfection before the
love, but in such a way that we love Him, our                                  face of  His God.
neighbor, all the brethren, and all things excellent.                             The prayer of the apostle has an answer!
Also here, as it is always, love is a bond of perfection.
First, as it flows from God to us, as it is His purpose                           The church shall be perfected in glory!


EDITORIALS^..
                                                        Editor's Notes

                                                               Pro5 H. C Hoeksema



Seminary Dedication                                                            books, received 34 renewal subscriptions, and 11 new
   As of this writing, "all systems  `&-e go" for the                          subscriptions. Books and subscriptions went to
Seminary Dedication Program at First Church, Grand                             Michigan, Iowa, Maine, California, Washington,
Rapids, at 8:00 P.M., Friday, February 15, the Lord                            Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota,
willing. And this is a last reminder and urgent                                South Carolina, New Jersey, Illinois, and Tennessee,
invitation to participate in this historic event, and                          and even to Canada and Australia. As of December
also to attend the open house at our new facilities.                           28, we have received 404 "10 for 2" subscriptions,
Prof. R. D. Decker's dedicatory address Will be                                w h i c h   h a v e   y i e l d e d   a   t o t a l   o f   7 6   n e w   f u l l
e'ntitled, "That All The Earth May Know That                                   subscriptions.
Jehovah Is God."                                                                  Gigantic growth? No, but steady growth for our
                                                                               Standard Bearer;  and our over-all increase has been
Of Book-Offers-and Subscriptions                                               comparatively  larger the last couple of years than in
   Does the propaganda by our Business Office help?                            many a previous year,  - reflecting also an increasing
D o   t h e   s p e c i a l   o f f e r s ,   t h e   c o m b i n a t i o n    interest in what our magazine has to say.
book-subscription deals, the 10 for $2 campaigns                                  With a little consistent effort, our Board and our
increase the subscription list?                                                readership could cooperate in this 50th  A,nniversary
   Our dedicated Business Manager recently furnished                           Year to produce the largest increase and the largest
some facts and figures to answer these questions. As a                         subscription-list our  Standard Beaver  has ever had.
direct `result of our last "greensheet" we sold 62                             How about it, Board? And readers?


                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                197




                       The OPC and the "Free Offer" (5)
                                                                      Contrary to Scripture

                                                                              (con timed)

    Last time we pointed out that in their purported                                   all  His enemies. The point is rather that this is the
exegesis of Matthew  5:44-48  and  Luke  6:35,  36 the                                 character  of the love of God as His people experience
authors of  The Free Offer  of  the Gospel  beg' the                                   it. HCH] And this is the only love of God that is
question, i.e., assume the very thing they are                                         mentioned in the text and in the context of both
supposed to prove by means of these passages. Hence,                                   passages.
we concluded that this part of their proof is a failure.                               "2. The children of God, in whose hearts this love of
They did not establish their claim of a divine love, or                                God is poured out, and who  ex.perienced  and tasted
grace, to all men.                                                                     this love of God as a love to His enemies, must
   We shall also point out later that- their proposed                                  manifest this love in their life and walk in the world.
exegesis of these passages is completely contrary to                                   Hence, they must love not only those that love them,
the current thought of Scripture.                                                      but also their enemies, that revile and persecute them.
   Before we proceed with our discussion, however,                                     They must do good to them, pray for them and bless
we wish to present the correct explanation of  the two                                 them. In doing this they manifest the image of their
passages in question, so that the reader  may compare.                                 Father which is in heaven.
We will do so very  ,briefly, leaving for a later time                                 73. As a most general example of this they must look
s o m e   f u r t h e r   r e f l e c t i o n   o n   t h e   m e a n i n g   a n d    at God's work in nature, where He causes His sun to
significance of these passages.                                                        rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on
   The following, in brief, is the Murray-Stonehouse                                   the just and on the unjust."
explanation :                                                                              As we said, we  shall.have  occasion to return to this
1) We must love our enemies.                                                           subject later, as well as to point out that the
                                                                                       Murray-Stonehouse presentation is contrary to the
2) The reason why we must love our enemies is that                                     current teaching of  Scr&&ue.
we are to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.
We are children of the Highest, and therefore must be                                      Now, however, we want  to turn to the pamphlet
like Him.                                                                              by Pastor Erroll Hulse on this same subject, and to
                                                                                       point out that in connection with this same subject of
3) Hence, if we love our enemies, we will be children                                  common grace and the offer he is guilty of the same
of God and reflect His love: for He loves all His                                      error of begging the question. In fact, this error is
enemies in this present life.                                                          even more glaring in his pamphlet.
4) This love to all men is manifested in God's                                             There is a certain amount of confusion in this
common rain and sunshine on all men without                                            pamphlet. Thus, for example, the author certainly
distinction.                                                                           sounds a good note when he writes: "Now this
5) Although these passages do not speak directly of                                    beautiful thing (preaching) is marred'by two horrible
the gospel offer, yet here we are given a disclosure of                                errors which we should seek always to avoid. The one
goodness in the heart of God toward all men                                            is to attribute  pow& to fallen sinners which they do
(something we cannot see if we merely concentrate                                      not have and make it appear that God is unable to
on the divine decree of reprobation), and a, disclosure                                s a v e   t h e   s i n n e r   u n t i l   t h a t   s i n n e r   g i v e s   h i m
of the relation there is between gifts bestowed and                                    permission.  " This is sound language, and clearly
the lovingkindness from which they flow.                                               anti-Arminian. Yet the author later in the pamphlet
                                                                                       insists that God is gracious in the preaching of the
   And what has always been our interpretation of                                      gospel to all who hear; and he never resolves the
these passages ? P e r m i t   m e   t o   .quote  a   b r i e f                       difficulty that arises from the obvious contradiction
explanation from Rev. Herman Hoeksema's  God's                                         here. He  never,explains how it is that the "common
Goodness Always Particidar,  pp. 195; 196 :                                            grace" of the gospel offer is an  ineffectual  grace, does
" 1. God revealed His love and caused His people to                                    not save those whom God is allegedly desirous of
know and to taste that love  3s a love that is capable                                 saving.
of being merciful and kind to His enemies. [Note: not                                    Another item of confusion. On page 4 the author


 198                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



 writes: "The term free offer, of course, means that the           men? Surely, He could not deal with men as animals,
Gospel should be preached  .indiscriminately to all                or as  ,devils, or as stocks and blocks? Does God not
 men." Now if  this.were the meaning of  the term, we              always deal. with each of His creatures according to
 would have no quarrel with it. In fact, there  would be           the nature which He Himself gave that creature? Or I
 no controversy about the whole matter. Nor would                  could ask the question: is God, then, also gracious to
 the term be necessary. As we have said again and                  the reprobate in hell? Also there, remember, He
 again throughout our history, and as our Reformed                 continues to deal with men as men, that is, He causes
 confessions plainly teach, the gospel must indeed be              them as men to suffer the everlasting torments of
 preached promiscuously and to all those to whom                   hell-fire. But is this perhaps gracious?
 God in His good `pleasure sends it. This is, however,               There is simply a total lack of exegesis here, that is,
 by  IZO  means  the doctrine of the free offer in the             a complete failure,, to draw the meaning out of the
 history of dogma; nor is this by any means the same               text, and that, too, in the light of the whole of
 as saying that God wills the salvation of all to whdm             Scripture. I assure Pastor Hulse that he cannot find in
 the Gospel is preached or that God  is gracious to all            Genesis or in the whole of Scripture an iota of proof
in the preaching. Nor is this mere truth of the                    that  .God was in any sense gracious to Cain  -
 promiscuous preaching of the gospel the doctrine                  provided that he faithfully interprets Scripture with
 which Pastor Hulse sets forth later in his pamphlet.              Scripture. But certainly there is no point proved in
 On page 7 he writes, to cite just one example: "That              the above paragraph; there is only a point  asstimed.
 God should  thu$ address every creature with a saving
Gospel is gracious and it is here we see the connection              The same is true of the next paragraph, which fails
between common grace and  the free offer of the                    to give the reference, Genesis  6:3. Pastor Hulse
Gospel." In fact, `Mr. Hulse cites almost all the                  writes:
passages in support of the idea that God wills all men                   In Genesis the Holy Spirit is described as striving
to be saved with  which we have become very familiar                  with men and women that they might repent. [Note:
in our  Piotestant Reformed Churches'.                               The text does not say: "that they might repent."
                                                                      HCH] "The Lord `said, My spirit shall not always
   But I will pass this  by.for the time being. I will also           strive with man." [A half quotation, HCH] God set a
pass by what I would criticize as a very defective                    limit of one hundred and twenty years,in which he
definition of grace. And I will concentrate on his                    would strive with man, "whose every imagination of
error of begging the question, `of simply assuming                    the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
what ought to be proved.                                              But that he should so strive is surely gracious. Hence
   On page 5 Pastor Hulse begins to answer the                         emerges the concept of common grace.
question whether there is a grace of God which is                   A  clearer example of begging the question could
common to all men as  fdllows:                                     hardly be  `fourid! Pastor Hulse simply assumes his
           At the time of the fall Adam and Eve are not cut        conclusion without any proof and without so much
        off completely. God speaks to them and confirms his        as beginning to explain the text: "But that he should
        judgment upon sin; but he also announces the               so strive is surely gracious."  Jt is not my purpose at
        promise of the Gospel. Ab'el is saved thfough Jesus        this time to explain the text. My point is that  Pastor
        Christ, represented in the sacrifice of a lamb (Gen.       Hz&e  should explain the text and not simply draw
        4: 1-17; Heb. 11:4). Cain on the other hand is rejected    conclusions. Let us grant, for the sake of argument,
 but, nevertheless, God reasons  with Cain  and.                   that this is indeed proof  of-commoli grace. It is not,
        -protection is afforded him (Gen. 4:7, 15). We see         of course; and we. are well acquainted with this
        then that God continues to deal with men as men,           passage because it was used by the Synod of 1924 in
        even though they are reprobate. That he should do so
        is surely gracious.                                        support of the error of a  common-grace-restraint-of-
                                                                   sin. But let us grant this for a moment. Then  Pastol-
   We  will  .pass by, for the sake of  argument, Hulse's          Hulse should show from the text, and that, too, in
interpretation of God's dealings with Cain. We will                the light of Scripture, that this striving is gracious.
accept at fade value the statement "that God                       The term  grace  is not so much as mentioned. One
continues to deal  with men as men, even though they               might even argue that the very term  strive,  which
are reprobate." But notice that the next statement is              would seem to indicate opposition and conflict,
a pure, unproved  asswqition.  This  ,is precisely the             indicates the opposite of a gracious attitude. My
point that Pastor  HulFe must  prove,  but fails to prove.         whole poirit is that there is an utter lack of exegesis
Why and how is it  pecessa@ly gracious that God deals              and a mere assumption `of what should be proved.
with men as men?  How does the  example of God's                     As one who is responsible before God rightly to
dealings with  Cain"even though reprobate" show                    divide the Word of truth, Pastor Hulse has no right to
that God was gracious to him? I would ask the                      deal thus with the Scriptures. And he must  not.and
question: how else could  Gbd deal with men but  as                may not expect people of God to accept his claim of


                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      199


a common grace of God merely on his say-so.                                            that this was necessary,  .that this is. any  -other
   The same error pervades the following paragraph:                                    covenant than that of Genesis 6: 18, or that this was a
                                                                                       covenant "whereby God could continue to deal with
         Such is the all pervasive depravity of man that "it                           mankind." For the sake of argument, let us grant that
     repented God that he had made man on the earth,
     and it grieved him at his heart." Destruction, which                              all this may be true. The point is that Pastor Hulse
     came by the flood, was inevitable. Subsequent to the                              does not  show  this from Scripture. And for my part, I
     flood it was necessary that a covenant be established                             do not believe either that it is true or that he  can
     whereby God could continue to deal with mankind.                                  show it from Holy Writ. But I will stand corrected if
     A proper basis was needed upon which to provide for                               he will come with Scripture, before which both he
     the whole fabric of the world, because of the evil                                and I must bow.
     effects of the fall. That the earth should not de
     destroyed again is part of this covenant (Gen. 9:`ll).                            2) A proper basis was needed upon which to provide
     Forbearance such as this toward a fallen world is                                 for the whole fabric of the world, because of the evil
     gracious.                                                                         effects of the fall. Proof, please?
   Again, it would be difficult to find a paragraph                                    3) This was a matter of divine forbearance. Proof,
with more unproved assumptions and total lack of                                       please?
real exegesis. I have an idea that Pastor Hulse here                                   4) Forbearance such as this toward a fallen world is
accepts the whole (Kuyperian) notion of a covenant                                     gracious. Proof?
of common grace (sometimes called "the covenant of                                       You see, if we are to deal with these questions
nature"). But this is beside the  .point. This one little                              correctly and convincingly, then we must come with
paragraph contains Hulse's view apparently of the                                      more than human claims and assumptions. To me, it
whole passage of Genesis 9: 8-l 7. But the paragraph                                   is nothing short of irresponsible to try to cover such a
of "explanation" is not even as long as the passage                                    key passage of the Word of God in a few brief
itself! Note the following unproved assumptions:                                       statements without an iota of proof, and then to
1) Subsequent to the flood it was necessary that a                                     build such a crucial and debatable doctrine as that of
covenant be established whereby God could continue                                     common grace and the offer of the gospel on such a
to deal with mankind. Not an iota of proof is offered                                  flimsy foundation.





                                                                            Book

                                                                        Review

                                                                          Proj H. Hanko




GIFTS AND MINISTRIES,  by Arnold Bittlinger;                                           justify the movement with a reinterpretation of key
Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1973; 109 pp., $1.95 (paper).                                         passages. The book is thoroughly Pelagian, but has
                                                                                       value for anyone who is interested in hearing what
    Speaking from within the Pentecostal movement,                                     Pentecostals believe from their own spokesman. The
the author attempts to re-explain the whole concept                                    author is hailed as "the most  ,competent theologian
of offices within the Church to include the special                                    within the charismatic movement." This statement
o f f i c e ,   t o   b r o a d e n   t h e   t h e o l o g i c a l   b a s e   o f    does not speak very highly of the theology of
Pentecostalism to make it more ecumenical, and to                                      neo-Pentecostalism.


200                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



Q U E S T I O N   BOX



                                   About Preaching In
                        The Sphere Of The Covenant

                                                 Proj H. C. Hoeksema




 From a Canadian reader I received a rather lengthy         faith in them that heard it.' Also I Corinthians 10
letter which touches on an important question. I  wiIl      gives us a clear picture that everyone of the old
quote most of the letter:                                   covenant people were not saved, but were destroyed
   "However at this time I will try to put in words         because of their sins. And Paul  s.ays, `Wherefore let
something on which I would like to have your                him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.'
opinion. This something concerns the `covenant of           (vs. 12)
grace.'                                                        "I am afraid that much preaching has led to a false
   "By now you will be perfectly aware of the fact          security,`in that the impression has been given that
that I am not a theologian, and I hope you will also        we `stand? by  reasonof  the covenant. `The just shall
this time bear with me when I put things upside down        live by faith.' Of course, all this is to be included in
and vice-versa. Although we as laymen cannot in             the covenant of grace; and for that reason the Jews
many cases discuss the truth as a minister, this does       said, `We have Abraham for a father.' And Nicodemus
not mean that we do not know our doctrine and our           lacked the knowledge that he `must be born again.'
Bible; I must admit, of course, that our training in the     "It is also Answer 84 of our Heidelberg Catechism
Chr. Ref. Church has been far from complete.                `which deals with this matter of preaching to children
  "As I have said, my question concerns the                 of the covenant when it says, `that to believers one and
`covenant of grace'; and not this precious truth itself,    all  it must be proclaimed that those who believe the
but its application to believers and their children. By     gospel shall be saved; and that those who reject the
`application' I mean, then: how should preaching be         gospel shall be damned.' This distinction as so clearly
in our churches, and what shall we tell our children at     set forth in our Catechism has not been heard in
home, at school, and in church? My concern goes             many churches for a long time already. I am
somewhat as follows: years ago already, when I was          convinced that this lack in the preaching has many
still a boy, my parents used to say of the general          lulled to sleep, and is deadly.
preaching in the Gereformeerde Kerken, `We hear so
little of conversion and repentance; it seems that             "Preaching is all-important, for `it pleased God by
these are not necessary for covenant people.' And, of       the foolishness of preaching to save those that
course, this has not changed in the years that              believe.' (I Cor.  1:21) I know that I have been very
followed, but preaching has become what I call              incomplete. Much more should and could be said
`one-sided' more and more all the- time. For as it is       about this important matter. I hope (but I am afraid
now, it is taken for granted that when we are               you may think different), that you do not get the
baptized, and go to church, all is.well. But is it?         opinion that I have anything against the dogma of the
                                                            covenant; but I believe that a wrong-interpretation of
  "Nicodemus was a `master in Israel" but the Lord          this doctrine, among others, has led us astray in our
told him plainly, `You'must be born again.' We read         `Chr. Ref. Churches. What is your opinion?"
in Hebrews  4:2, `For unto us  .was the gospel
preached, as well as unto them: but the word                                              "Yours truly,
preached did not profit them, not being mixed with                                        N."


                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     201



Reply                                                                              And Their Seed  and  The Triple Knowledge, Vol. II
                                                                                   (2nd  _. edition), both written by Rev. Herman
   First of all,  l&t me apologize for not answering                               Hoeksema and both published by our Reformed Free
earlier. Shortly before your letter arrived, there was a                           Publishing Association. Briefly, let me say that our
flurry of questions for Question Box, which partly                                 conception of the covenant is that it is the eternal
accounts for the delay. Besides, it takes  a,little study                          relation of friendship between God and His elect
and research to answer questions of this kind; and                                 people in Christ. This covenant God alone establishes
this in turn, takes some time; and the latter is                                   and realizes, sovereignly and unconditionally. And
somewhat of a scarce commodity in my life, it seems.                               God realizes this covenant historically in the line of
At any rate, I will try to begin the New Year right by                             the generations of believers. This is put very briefly;
serving you with an answer.                                                        but it is essential to the understanding of the problem
   In the second place,  you need not have an                                      which you raise and the answer furnished below.
inferiority complex about being a layman. There is                                   In the third place, I would suggest that part of the
something Romish about the term "layman" even                                      solution to your problem lies in the fact that the
though it is used well-meaningly. All the people of                                whole idea of the antithesis has been virtually lost in
God are prophets, you know; and we all have the                                    the Christian Reformed Church because of the error
unction of the Holy One. Besides, your `question is                                of common grace. Preaching in the sphere of the
nothing to be ashamed about.                                                       covenant, if it is to serve to distinguish the carnal
   But now let me turn to the substance of your letter.                            element from the spiritual seed, must be sharply
   I n   t h e   f i r s t   p l a c e ,   y o u r   questioli  c o n c e r n s    antithetical.
covenant-preaching in the Christian Reformed                                         Finally, I can best describe for you what I believe
Church. You will understand that I hear very little                                preaching in the sphere of the covenant ought to be
Christian Reformed preaching. I do recall that Dr.                                 by means of a lengthy quotation from a chapter on
James Daane recently complained about the lack of                                  that very subject in  The Triple Knowledge, Volume
"election" and of "covenant" in Christian Reformed                                 11, pages 435, ff. Because of the importance of this
preaching. I do know, too, from my reading of                                      question I will take the space in our magazine for this
various Christian Reformed periodicals that there is a                             lengthy quotation. I propose  thaty-ou study this,.  &cl
serious lack in this respect. And I do know, too, that                             then, if you still have questions on the subject, call on
the whole concept of the covenant dught to occupy a                                Question Box again. Here is the quotation:
central place in the theology and preaching of a
Reformed church: for the covenant idea belongs to                                    We believe that in the line of the covenant, in the
the very genius of the Reformed faith. For the rest, I                             Church, the seed of  regene&ion&  inzpla&e&in  the-
will have to go on the information which you furnish                               hearts of the children of the covenant in very infancy.
in your letter.                                                                    There are, of course, exceptions. God remains free to
                                                                                   work His grace in the hearts of His people either in
  In the second place, you write that your question                                infancy or in later years; but as a rule their rebirth
does not concern the doctrine of the covenant as such                              takes place in earliest childhood.
and that you do not have anything against the dogma
of the covenant. Your question concerns the                                          As we said, we do not base our view of immediate
application of this doctrine. Yet you also suggest  tha&                           regeneration on the presupposition that children are
"a wrong interpretation of this doctrine, among                                    regenerated. On the contrary, the conception that
others, has led us astray in our Christian Reformed                                regeneration is an immediate work of the Holy Spirit,
Churches." Now I do not know what you understand                                   independent of the preaching of the Word, is directly
by the covenant of grace. I am well acquainted with                                founded on Scripture. But just because Scripture
the Heynsian idea of the covenant which for many                                   teaches this truth and presents the rebirth of His
years was the prevailing view in the Christian                                     people in the narrowest sense of the word, that is, in
Reformed Church and which was essentially                                          the sense of the implanting of the seed of regen-
Arminianism applied to the covenant. And there have                                eration, `as an immediate work by the Holy Spirit,
been, through the years, many misconceptions                                       therefore it is evident that also the littlest infants can'
concerning the covenant and the place of the children                              receive the grace of regeneration. And again, because
of believers in the covenant. I believe that this                                  we believe on the basis of Scripture that regeneration
question of the idea of  the covenant is most likely at                            must be conceived of as an immediate work of the
the basis of the problem you raise in your letter. A                               S p i r i t , and because for that very reason the
wrong conception of the covenant is bound to  .affect                              regener&iop  of infants is possible, therefore we
preaching  iri  the. sphere of the covenant. Now I                                 regard it as a common rule that in the line of the
cannot here go into all these matters. I  can suggest                              covenant children are reborn from infancy.
some good study material on this subject  2  Bklievers                               Then we can understand the real significance and


202                                             Tl-ii STANDARD  BEAi'ER



operaiion.df the  preachtig of the Word  in`thh sphere        heart.
of  the' Church, and in  the line `of the covenant as a           In the sphere of the  .Church God in His infinite
means of  grace. Means  require conscious reaction.           tisdom `and  mercy causes the covenant child to be
They are elements which God uses but which we alsd            born, and under the influence of the preaching of the
use: Bread is used by God to nourish Our bodies, but          Word in this wider sense  the child is placed from very
we eat it. Thus the Holy Spirit  uses the preaching of        i n f a n c y .
the Word to work faith and to strengthen it, but we              This begins  alreacly in the administration of
also use it and are even responsible for the use of the       baptism, of which we must speak later in-detail.  ,But
Woid of God. Now, it is dnly the living that can  tise        in baptism the Church already exercises the influence
means. The dead Can neither eat nor diink. And the            of the preaching of the Word by exacting from the
spiritually dead do, indeed,  i-eact upon the preaching       parents the promise that they will bring up their
of the Word, but only to reject it. They never come           children "in the  atoresaid doctrine, or help or cause
to repentance and: faith. To them it is' a saviour of         them to be instructed therein, to the utmost of their
death unto death. But just as the physically living are       power." And of this doctrine in which the children
ab1.e to . . . use the means God provides for  .the           m u s t   b e   i n s t r u c t e d   t h e   p a r e n t s   a r e   a s k e d   t o
sustenance of their earthly life, so the spiritually          acknowledge that it "is contained in the Old and New
living are capable to use the means which the Holy            Testament, and in the' Articles of the Christian Faith,
Spirit provides for the working of faith and  the             and which is taught here in this Christian Church, to
development and upbuilding of the same.                       be the true and perfect doctrine of salvation." Hence,
     Hence, life is first. Regeneration precedes all other    in accord with,  this pledge of the parents it is in the
work, of the Holy Spirit in .the heart of the sinner.         covenant.home that the influence of the  Word of God
And in regeneration the  .-Holy Spirit implants the           is exerted upon the child first of all. This is continued
power of the faculty  of faith, so that potentially the       in Sunday School, and presently, through the
regenerated is a believer, even before he comes to the        ministry of the Word directly in catechism, and in the
conscious activity of faith. And that this work of            midst of the congregation through the preaching. And
regeneration. and the implanting of. the faculty of           further, the influence of the preaching of the Word in
faith is usually done in infancy, that is, in the line of     the sphere of the Church is felt in many other ways,.
the: covenant,  is the common view of the Reformed            as the reading of the Bible  .in the home, the
theologians. [Here follows a lengthy quotation from           conversation of the saints among  one another, and
Ursinus, which  we will omit. HCH]                            the study of Scripture in the various societies that ark
     Now, in the sphere of the covenant conscious faith       organized within the church.- And once more it must
and repentance are wrought gradually in little                be emphasized that the very heart of this sphere and
children through the influence of the preaching of the        influence is the preaching of the Word as a  .means of
W      o    r    d    .    .                                  grace, together with the administration of the
                                                              sacraments.
     The influence of this preaching and its sphere is, of
course, not limited to. the official ministry in the             No&, who shall say at  how early an age' the Holy
church on Sunday and on the mission field. In the             Spirit  is able to quicken the seed  of.regeneratiqn and
wider  .sense it includes many different spheres of           bring the faculty of faith to .a more or less
iabor. There is, for instance, the work of the                c o n s c i o u s   a c t i v i t y ?
theological school, where young`men are  tr$ned  ,for            Worldly educators realize rather clearly that from
the ministry of the Word, where they are taught to            earliest infancy, yea, from very birth the whole
exegete Holy Writ  and. to understand the doctrine of         outside world streams in upon the consciousness of
the Church, and where the truth is developed and              the child and  makes its impression upon that
maintained and defended over against all errors.              consciousness. Hence, modern educators stress the
There is the labor of preserving and translating as well      importance of surrounding the child, even in the
as of interpreting the Bible,  ,a labor that  shoivs its      cradle, with objects, sounds, shapes, and colors and
fruit not only in many  works on textual criticism, but       smells that are calculated to make the most favorable
also in hundreds of commentaries. There is the calling        impression upon the little infant. Why cannot the
of the Church to' estab1is.h  and formulate the truth of      Holy Spirit impress the little child with all the
the Wbrd of God in her Confessions, not only  to              influence of  a. truly covenant home, the singing of
defend it  over,against  opponents  and gainsayers, but       psalms or hymns, the playing of sacred music, the
also to preserve it in generations. Of all these labors       simple prayer uttered by the parent at the cradle, the
the Church, which. is the  .pillar and ground of the          folding of the little  ha@  o$ the infant in prayer at
truth, and  fo  which  the Word of God has been               the table in the high-chair, and many other influences
entrusted, is the subject.  -And  of. them all the            of the Christian home, `to bring the faculty.  .of faith
preaching of the Word as a means of grace is the very         into some sort of conscious activity?


                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       203



     At any rate, it must be admitted that we know                                       walk in the way of continued conversion in the  midst
  very little of the life of an infant, and it is certain that                           of  t,$e Church and in the world. And this entire
  long before what is usually considered the age of                                      cha&e is wrought through the preaching of the Word.
  discretion there can be a decided influence of the                                       It stands to reason that the preaching of the Word
  Word of God upon our covenant children.                                                in the sphere of -the covenant must be both distinctive
      It is especially for this reason that according to our                             and upbuilding.
  conviction children of the covenant are regenerated                                      On the one hand, it cannot proceed on thk
  from earliest infancy. Why should He according to                                      assumption that all the children of the covenant, that
  the rule of the covenant bring little children under                                   is, those that are born in the sphere of  and under the
  the influence of the preaching of the Word from their                                  coyenant, are elect and regenerated. The theory of
  earliest infancy if they were not regenerated? As we                                   presumptive regeneration, according to which it is
  said, the dead cannot use means; and there is. no                                      presumed that all the children that are born under the
  proper reaction upon the preaching of the Word by                                      covenant are regenerated, is certainly not Scriptural.
  those that are spiritually dead. Only those that are                                   All are not Israel that  .are. of Israel; and not the
  spiritually living are capable to  u$e the means which                                 children of the flesh, but the children of  the promise
  the Holy Spirit provides for the working of faith and                                  are counted for the seed, Nor can it be said that those
  for the development and  upbuilding,of  the same.  And                                 who are under the covenant but who are and remain
  therefore we repeat:  as a rule; barring exceptions, the                               carnal  atid never come to saving faith or true
  children of the  covknant that are elect are  also                                     conversion  belong to the exceptions. The history of
  regenerated  frdm their `earliest infancy.                                             the Old Testament Church teaches quite the
     Thus the covenant child  gradu&y comes to                                           opposite: always it was the carnal seed that abounded
  conscious faith,  receiires the promise, and assumes his                               in the covenant of the old dispensation, and the
  "part" of the covenant, which according to our                                         remnant according to the election of grace was saved.
  B a p t i s m   F o r m   c o n s i s t s   i n   t h i s ,   t h a t   w e   a r e    Nor does it appear different when we look at the
  "admonished of and obliged unto new obedience,                                         Church in general of the new dispensation. If we
  namely, that we cleave to this one God, Father, Son,                                   consider baptized Christendom as the whole, it would
  and Holy Ghost, that we trust in him and love him                                      seem that those who have apostatized from the faith
  with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our                                  are far more numerous than the faithful believers.
  mind, and with all our strength; that we forsake the                                   Always, therefore, there is the carnal seed in the
  world, crucify our old nature, and walk in a new and                                   Church. And the theory of presumptive regeneration,
  holy life." When the child of the covenant reaches the                                 that presumes that all the children born in the
  age of discretion and has always walked in the way of                                  covenant are elect, is not only unscriptural, but it is
  the covenant, he is not and cannot be expected to be                                   also dangerous. Dangerous it is, not because, as the
  conscious of  any sudden or remarkable change or                                       popular saying goes, it tends to let the people go to
  conversion in his life. To be sure, the change which                                   hell with an imaginary heaven; for that is quite
  we call conversion must surely take place; as the                                      impossible, at least where the truth is preached. But
  Catechism has it in question 87:  "Those  cannot be                                    the danger is that because it presumes what is not
  saved who continuing in their wicked and ungrateful                                    true according to Scripture, it leaves the carnally
  lives are not converted to God. No unchaste person,                                    minded men in the Church, and thus the Church of
  idolater, adulterer,  thief, covetous man, drunkard,                                   Christ is corrupted. And therefore, the preaching
  slanderer, robber, or such like shall ever inherit the                                 must be directed not only to the elect but also to the
  kingdom of God." The covenant child, therefore,                                        reprobate, not only to the godly but also to the
  must be able to give account of himself and be                                         ungodly. It must be so distinctive that under its
  conscious of true conversion, which consists of the                                    influence the reprobate and ungodly cannot remain,
  mortification of the old and the quickening of the                                     but will reveal themselves as haters of the truth of
  new man. He must be conscious of a sincere sorrow                                      God and His Christ.                    L
  of heart that he has provoked  God, by his sins. He
Q must be cognizant of a desire to hate and flee from                                      Besides, even the elect and regenerated are not
  sin.  He must be conscious of a sincere joy of heart in                                perfect. There is even as regards  the'm much flesh in
  God through Christ and of a sincere delight to live                                    the Church. Daily they have to strive with the desires
  according to the will of God in all good works. But in                                 and lusts of the flesh, and must be admonished
  the way of the covenant this conversion is not sudden                                  steadfastly to walk in the way of the covenant, to
  or marked, but gradual. The question is not when and                                   hate sin and to fight against it and flee from it.
  where the covenant child was converted or how that                                       Hence, the preaching in the sphere of the covenant
  change was effected in him, but whether he knows                                       must always be distinctive. This does pot necessarily
  that he is converted and reveals his conversion by a                                   mean that it must divide the  Chu;rch `into elect and


204                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



reprobate, converted and unconverted, and address          is profitable for  doct.rine,  for reproof, for correction,
them separately. Rather it means that the whole            for instruction in righteousness.: that the man of God
Church, as it organically exists in the world,  ti&t be    say  bi perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good
brought under the influence of the very same               works. "
preaching. The same Word must be directed to all; all        Such preaching will, of course, have the result that
must be exhorted to be converted and to convert            it is a savor of life unto life for those whom God has
themselves, to repent in dust and ashes; and all must      chosen unto everlasting salvation and a savor of death
be admonished continually to walk  `in the way of          unto death for the rest.
sanctification and to live antithetically, as of the
party of the living God in the midst of the world.           And under such preaching alone the Church will be
For: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and    built up and believers will be edified.





                 The Standard Bearer
                         ,In Retrospect

                                   ProJ: H. Han ko



   The ,following  article, written by Rev. C Hanko, is    friendship between God and His covenant people.
a reprint from Volume XXIV. It was published in the          That is the meaning of the expression. It is evident,
rubric "`From  Holj Writ." Rev. C. Hanko was               that this cannot possibly refer to a physical, outward
substituting at this time for Rev. G: Lubbers who was      walk with God. That would be impossible. Whatever
ill. The article is entitled "Walking With God. "          physical association there may have been between
  Scripture says of Enoch that he  walked with God.        God and Adam in Paradise was destroyed by the fall.
"And Enoch walked with God after he begat                  God did establish a new relation of friendship
Methuselah three, hundred years, and begat sons and        between Himself and His people in Christ, but this is
daughters, . . . And Enoch walked with God and he          riot a physical contact. How can an earthly mortal,
was not; for Gdd took him." Gen.  5:22, 24. That is        who is bound to time and place, walk about with the
by far the most unique biography that you can find         otinipresent, infinite and sovereign God, Who is a
anywhere in the annals of history or in the Scriptures.    Spirit? Moreover, no one can actually see God alive.
Whatever else  Enoch may have done during the three        So that physical association is at once impossible.
hundred and sixty-five years of his life upon the            But it does refer to a spiritual relation between
earth, or whatever cherished memories he may have          God and His saints, an inner association and
left behind, the outstanding feature of his life that      communion through the Spirit. Walking, in this case,
governed them all was, that he walked with God.            means going about, associating, living in fellowship
  This is also Said of Noah as a reason  why he alone      and mutual friendship. It is the fruit of God's grace in
found grace in the eyes of the Lord, to be spared with     the hearts of His people whereby they know that He
his family by the waters of the flood. "Noah was a         is their God and they are His people. They count it
just man, perfect in his generations; Noah walked          their highest good that they are privileged to fulfill
with God." Gen.  6:9.                                      their "part" in His covenant by walking with them.
  Otherwise this expression is not very freely used in       That was originally Adam's blessedness in the state
Scripture.  Wk do often read of walking before the         of righteousness. Gen.  3:8 states, "And they heard
fa?e of God, or  .of walking after God, or following       the voice of the Lord God walking in  `the garden in
.after Him, or even of walking in God's statutes and       the cool of the day." This is significant, for now God
judgments. But the expression, "walking with God" is       is, walking alone. Adam and Eve are hiding from
a unique description of the intimate- fellowship and       before His face. They dread His coming, because they


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      205



have broken their relation of friendship with God by            people unto Himself, not that they should live unto
entering into a friendly alliance with the serpent.             them&ves, but that they should live unto Him in
That covenant communion in which they walked                    worship,  feti, and obedience.
together and spoke together in mutual friendship is               That service must be a willing service in love. Our
destroyed. And as far as man is  conckrned, he is               relation to God is not that of a wage-earner. Nor may
neither able. nor willing to restore that relation. It is       we regard it our duty for duty's sake,  since God
broken forever. But God  Himself promises to restore            demands love from the heart. No man can walk with
His covenant fellowship with them in Christ, by a               God without a deep conviction of sin and guilt.
declaration of war, creating enmity between the                 Because of our sins we are unworthy and unfit to
prince of darkness and all his host on the one side,            enter into the presence of Him Who is spotlessly holy.
and God's elect covenant people in Christ on the                We deserve only to be banished from His presence
other.                                                          forever. But God Himself has removed our guilty
  As a result,  Enoch and Noah, the seed of the                 stain through the perfect sacrifice of His Son upon
woman, walked with God. Later God assures His                   the cross. He takes us unto Himself, makes us like
chosen Israel, "And I will set My tabernacle among              unto Him in the true knowledge, righteousness and
you, and My soul shall not abhor you. And  I  will              holiness of Christ, Who is our complete salvation. In
walk among you,  and will be your God, and ye shall             holy awe His saints worship Him as their God and
be my people." Lev. 26: 11, 12. This promise is also            Father, Who calls them out of darkness into His
given to the Israel of God in the New Dispensation,             marvelous light.
"For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath             Such love manifests itself in implicit trust. Have
said, I will dwell in them and  walk in  thefiz; and I  will    you never noticed how confidently a child will walk
be their God and they shall be my people." This same            next to his father, no matter how strange the way
promise is finally realized in heaven, according to             may be,  how dark the night, or how many dangers
Rev.  `3:4, "Thou hast a few names even in Sardis               may threaten? Asaph expresses -exactly that in the
which have not defiled their garments; and they shall           seventy-third Psalm. When he had ventured a step
walk with  me  in white;  for they are worthy."                 alone without His God, his feet had well-nigh slipped.
  This walking with God implies a living faith,                 He was ready to question the wisdom of the Most
humble obedience, a devoted love, an implicit  trtist           High, and allow the doubt to take root whether God
and constant prayer.                                            was actually good -to Israel. He almost mistook the
  Faith is the bond that unites us to Christ and to             prosperity of the wicked as a token of God's favor,
                                                                and the  adirersity of the righteous as a sign that God
God. By that living bond of faith a  .relation of               had forsaken them. Until he went into the sanctuary,
friendship is established between God and His                   where he met his God, and soon his problem was
restored image-bearer. "Can two walk together, except           dissolved. He learned to hold God's hand, walked
they be agreed?" Amos 3  :3.                                    confidently at His side. In child-like trust he
  You can be sure that anyone who walks with God                confessed: "Nevertheless, I am -continually with thee;
does not regard Him as an emergency measure,                    thou hast  holden me by my right hand; thou shalt
someone to be called in conveniently when we are no             guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me
longer able to take care of ourselves. That man's               to glory." Ps. 73 : 23, 24.
religion is not a conventional side-issue, but fills his
whole  lif& God had first place in Enoch's life. God              Such confidence, Asaph teaches us, is possible only
was his God and his sovereign Lord, before Whom he              by abiding in the sanctuary in constant prayer.
                                                                Walking together implies talking together, revealing
huqbly bowed to ask: Lord, what wilt Thou have me
do?                                                             the thoughts and secrets of the heart to one another.
                                                                He who walks with God knows Him as his friend. He
  Hbw else can a mere earthly creature ever possibly            draws near to Him as to the  oyerflowing fountain of
walk with God? He must be deeply conscious of his               life and blessedness. He delights in His presence, seeks
own emptiness and insignificance. Compared with                 His face, pours out his heart to Him, and makes all his
God he is but an insignificant speck of clay, less than         needs known in prayer and supplication with
nothing and vanity. For God is God, the almighty,               thanksgiving. He prays without ceasing, in devotion
omnipresent, sovereign God, in Whom we live and                 and~fear,  for from his  .heart rises the confession,
move and have our being.  Atid we are His creation,
His handiwork, existing each moment by His power                   Whom have I, Lord, in heaven but Thee,
that sustains us. The Most High God is worthy to be                  To Whom my thoughts aspire?
praised. For even as all things are of Him and through             And having Thee, on earth is nought
Him, so He has  .also prepared all things unto Himself,              That I can yet desire.
to show forth His praises. He has even called His                  But that life of fellowship with God requires a


206                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



spiritual separation from the world of sin and evil.                everywhere, persecution ran rampant. As almost a
Frieridship with God precludes enmity  ,with the                    lone witness of his God Enoch testified, "Behold, the
world. God says to Israel, "And if ye will  not~hearken             Lord  cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to
unto me, but walk contrary to me, then I will walk                  execute judment upon all, and to convince all that are
contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will                 ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which
chastise-you seven times'for your sins." Lev.  26:27,               they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard
28. If Israel walks away from the Lord to seek other                speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against
gods or the pleasures of sin, God will walk in the                  him." Jude 15, 16.  Noah, likewise, was a preacher of
opposite direction away from her. A breech will be                  righteousness, boldly defying and condemning the
established that only grows wider as lsrael departs                 world. Every hammer blow was a witness that he
farther from the  -Lord. The Holy Spirit can have no                believed in his God, Who is holy and righteous and a
fellowship with sin, so that He withdraws Himself in                consuming fire against all the workers of iniquity.
sore displeasure, -causing us to experience His                     The fact that they were friends of God made them
disapproval until we are brought back in repentance.                enemies of the world. Should they not hate those
Therefore Micah admonishes Israel, saying, "He hath                 who hate their God? And though they were hated by
showed thee, 0 man, what is good; and what doth the                 the world, they had the testimony of God that they
Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love                 were pleasing to Him. Heb.  11:5-7. They walked with
mercy, and to  walk humbly with thy God?"  Micah                    God as a friend with a friend. And God took Enoch
618.                                                                unto Himself in heaven. While Noah was delivered
                                                                    from an evil world by the waters of the flood. For
  Enoch walked with God in the midst of an evil                     God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
generation. And so did Noah. It was the time before                 He takes them into His glory and clothes them with
the flood, when a rapid degeneration was hastening                  garments of righteousness in Christ, that they may
the  tiorld toward  judgment. Cain's wicked city                    enjoy His fellowship forever. God is faithful. His
exalted itself against God and His church as a                      covenant never fails. Blessed  is that people whose
kingdom of antichrist. Wickedness aboundkd                          God is Jehovah.



                                               Book Review
                                                           Pvof. H. Hanko


THE EVANGELICAL RENAISSANCE,  by Donald                                 mystics were actively engaged in social and political
G. Bloesch; Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1973; 165 pp., $2.95                       action. They not only brought revival to the church
(paper).                                                                but helped to turn the destinies of entire nations. . . .
                                                                             Those who espouse an evangelical position should
  A Quotation from the Preface will give the best                       not isolate themselves from other Christians if they
possible idea of the contents of this book.                             are to be a bona fide source of renewal for the church
          Because I see in the resurgence of evangelicalism             today. We must let ourselves be corrected by our
       today both opportunities and pitfalls, I have been               Catholic and Orthodox brethren, especially where
       moved to share some thoughts on a direction for                  this is warranted by Scripture. We have much to learn
       evangelical renewal in the future. An analysis has               even from liberal Protestants, who have not been
       been made' of the rise of the new evangelical theology           entirely off the mark in some of their protests and
       and of the hallmarks of evangelicalism. I have also              concerns. The new Social Gospel movement
       sought to reassess the  contributibn of Karl Barth,              undoubtedly errs in confusing a just society instituted
       showing how it is possible to learn from his theology            by social engineering with the kingdom of God, but it
       even while not embracing it as the answer for our                bids us to recall that there are definite social
       times. In addition I have seen the need for dispelling           implications in the biblical message. . . .
       the bogey of Pietism, since both ecumenists and
       evangelicals today should acknowledge their                    The book is recommended to those  whoGare
       indebtedness to that great. spiritual movement h the         interested in keeping up with recent trends in
       past which was responsible for the missionary upsurge        evangelical and ecumenical thought,  `no't because we
       and the outpouring of charitable enterprises in              agree with the contents, but because we must know
       Protesta+.&m. It can also be shown that a sizable            what is happening in `the ecclesiastical  %world of our
       number  of Pietists and a great many of the Christian        time.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    207


OPEN FORUM



                           Correspondence re Jamaica
                                            _:


To the editor of the Standard Bearer.                           Furthermore, the brother writes, against such a
                                                             background, the decision of the Mission Committee
Dear Sir,                                                    to terminate the labors of the present is certainly
   In the Standard Bearer of Nov. 15,  1973. there           justified, and according to the brother, it is wise.
appeared an article writteii by brother Mark                   That is brother Hoeksema's conclusion. And
Hoeksema under  the heading, "Two wise men and a             because of this conclusion we as churches must turn
f o o l . " In this little story, brother Hoeksema           $0 other mission fields the Lord has opened for us.
illustrates the foolishness of the Jamaicans. He writes        But how  can:we turn to other mission fields, if we
about the foolishness of their  w,ay of driving their        refuse to work among the foolish? Are not all mission
automobiles, also on the general economic situation,         fields among the foolish?
and about Jamaica's political instability all of which         And ought `not we confess that we are not better
is a result of their foolishness.                            than those foolish Jamaicans? That' includes you and
  I will pass all this by. But I have some criticism on      me except for God's grace. That is what the Bible
the way the brother writes about the churches in             tells us in the light of what we read in I Cor.  1:26-29,
Jamaica.                                                     "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not
  He calls them fools. Foolishness as men count it,          many wise men after the flesh, not many noble, are
and `foolishness as God counts it. Unhappily, the            called:' But God hath chosen the foolish things of the
brother writes, `there are not two wise men for every        world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the
fool. In fact  one must search to find a wise man            weak things of the world to confound the things
among the fools;  but, the brother further writes, we        which are mighty; And base things of the world, and
must keep  things  in perspective for though  most  !eem     things which are despised,  bath' God chosen, yea, and
to be fools, there are some wise men. The students           things which are not, to bring to nought things that
whose training is almost  fi,nished have shown wisdom.       are: That no flesh should glory in his presence."
There are elders who are wise, and there are some              Let us, therefore, not be highminded, but fear.
people who have shown wisdom. They are  .a minority,                                          Your brother in Christ,
but they do exist.                                                                                  T h y s   F e e n s t r a





                           FEBRUARY 15 IS AN IMPORTANT DATE IN OUR HISTORY;


                                PLAN TO BE AT FIRST CHURCH, GRAND RAPIDS,
                                                                   .:
                                     FOR THE `SEMINARY BUILDING DEDICATION.


     208                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



     ALL AROUND US



                                         Scientists and Evolutionism

                                                                               ProJ: Ii Hanko





         We are sometimes left with the impression that                                       origin of living things is truly scientific in the sense of
     there  are scarcely any scientists in, this country or                                   being provable by experiment, only the Creationist
     abroad who do not accept the evolutionistic view of                                      position is true to the Scriptures. Despite theoretical
     t h e   o r i g i n   o f   t h e   c r e a t i o n   a s   t h e   c o r r e c t        claims, no organism has been experimentally demon-
     interpretation. In fact, scientists and scientific                                       strated to evolve to a `higher', biochemically more
                                                                                              complex form. The evidence is more consistent with a
     periodicals and science textbooks deliberately try to                                    pattern of degradation to `lower', biochemically
     leave this impression. The idea is apparently to try to                                  simpler forms, in agreement with the Biblical record
     persuade the public that no one any more believes in                                     and with the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
     creationism according to the Scriptures.
        -A  -  peri0.dica.l .-published  -by the  .Institute for                             D r .   D o n a l d   Hamann   i s   P r o f e s s o r   o f   F o o d
     Creation Research, entitled "ICR  - Acts and  Facts"                                 Technology at North Carolina State University in
     recently included an article in which twenty-one                                     Raleigh.
     scientists, from all over the country, were quoted on
_    their  .views of evolutionism vs. creationism. We give                                       I believe in special creation by the God of
     some excerpts below.                                                                     Scripture because the mass of scientific evidence
                                                                                              corroborates Scripture and speaks of laws initiated by
        Dr. Thomas G. Barnes is Professor of Physics at the                                   God . . . The tendency of the universe to die an
     University of Texas. He is quoted as saying:                                             energy death opposes evolution. A later cataclysmic
               As a scientist my concern about evolution is that it                           act of God (evidence of the universal flood) is
            is a barrier to scientific progress . . . When (the rapid                         indicated by frozen extinct animals accompanied by
            decay in the earth's niagnet is) examined in the light                            tropical food where freezing occurred so rapidly that
            of electromagnetic theory  ad the time factor.                                    internal decomposition did not take place. Such
            involved, this is excellent support  for Special                                  evidence, along with the clear literal statements of
            Creation. I have never seen an evolutionist who was                               Genesis, make it illogical for me to accept anything
            willing to face up to this fact.                                                  but the Genesis record of creation and the flood.
        Dr.  Edivard  Blick, Professor of Aerospace,
     Mechani-cal,   a n d   N u c l e a r   E n g i n e e r i n g   a t   t h e             Dr.  Duane T. Gish is Professor of Natural Science
     University of Oklahoma writes:                                                       at Christian Heritage College.
               Evolution is a scientific fairytale just as the                                   My university training and research experience has
            `flat-earth theory' was in the 12th century. Evolution                            tremendously supported (faith in creation), as the
       d i r e c t l y   c o n t r a d i c t s   t h e   S e c o n d   L a w   o f            incredible complexity, the vast organization, the
            Thermodynamics, which states  .that unless an                                     obvious plan, and evident purposefulness of every
            intelligent planner is directing a system, it will always                         detail of the structure and function of the living cell
            go in the direction of disorder and deterioration . . .                           was revealed through my biochemical studies.
            Evolution requires a faith that is incomprehensible!
            Biblical Creation is the only sensible alternative.                             While our faith in the work of creation rests in the
                                                                                          Scriptures, these men give powerful witness to the
        Dr. Larry Butler is professor of Biochemistry at                                  fact that the evidence in the creation itself points to
     Purdue University.                                                                   the truth that the worlds were framed by the Word of
               I am a creationist rather than an evolutionist                             God so that things which are seen were not made
            because, while neither of these interpretations of the                        from things which appear. Heb.  11:3.


                                                    THE STANDAR-D BEARER                                                                209





                                           Evangelicals and  :

                                           the S&al Gospel'

                                                         Profi  H. Hanko





  More and more, modern day evangelicalism goes in                          we call  o.ur fellow evangelical Christians to
the direction of the social gospel. Recent evidence of                      demonstrate repentance in a Christian discipleship
t,his is to be found  in  a  Decla@on  of Evangelical                       that confronts the social and political injustice of our
Concern  drawn up by a group of fifty.leaders who are                  nation.
committed to  evangelical&m and who include a broad                           -We must attack the materialism of our culture and
spectrum of men ranging from the editor of  Right                           t h e maldistribution of the nation's wealth and
On, a. paper. published by the Christian World                              services. We recognize that as a nation we play a
Liberation Front of Berkeley, through Carl F. H.                            crucial  role in the imbalance and injustice of
Henry, to two representatives of the Christian                         international trade and development. Before God and
Refoi,med  Church.                                                          a billion hungry neighbors, we must rethink our
                                                                            values regarding our present standard of living and
  The document reads                                                        promote more just acquisition and distribution of the
      As evangelical Christians committed to the Lord                       world's resources.
   Jesus Christ and the full authority of the ,Word of                         We acknowledge our Christian responsibilities of
   God, we affirm that God lays total claim upon the                  : citizenship. Therefore, we must challenge the
   lives of his people. We cannot, therefore,,separate  our                 misplaced trust of the nation in economic and
   lives in Christ from the situation in which. God has                     military might  - a proud trust that promotes a
   placed us in the United States and the world.                            national pathology of war and violence which
       We confess that we have not acknowledged the                         victimizes our neighbors at home and abroad. We
   complete claims of God on our lives.                                     must resist the temptation to make the nation and its
                                                                            institutions objects of near-religious loyalty.
       We acknowledge that God requires love. But we
   have not demonstrated the love of God to those                              We acknowledge that we have encouraged.men to
   suffering social abuses.                                                 prideful domination and women to irresponsible
                                                                            passivity. So .we call both men and women to mutual
       We acknowledge  that God requires justice. But we                    submission and active discipleship.
   have not proclaimed or demonstrated his justice to an
   unjust American society. Although the Lord calls us                         We proclaim no new gospel, but the Gospel of our
   to defend the social and economic rights of the poor                     Lord Jesus Christ who, through the power of the
   and the oppressed, we have mostly remained silent.                       Holy Spirit, frees people from sin so that they might
   We deplore the historic involvement of the church in                     praise God through works of righteousness..
   America with racism and the conspicuous                                     By this declaration,  we endorse no political
   responsibility of the evangelical community for                     ideology or party, but call our nation's leaders and
   perpetuating the personal attitudes and institutional                    people to that righteousness which exalts a nation.
   structures that have divided the body of Christ along                       We make this declaration  in the biblical hope that
   color lines. Further, we have failed to condemn the                      Christ is coming to consummate the Kingdom and we
   exploitation of racism at home and abroad by our                         accept his `claim on our total discipleship till He
   economic system.                                                         comes.
       We affirm that God abounds in mercy and that he
   -forgives all who repent and turn from their sins. So:             Where in all this is the Word of God?


210                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



FEA TURE


                                 The Promised Victory
                                  of. the woman's Seed
                                                    Rev. M. Kamps

           Gen. 3:15 "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and
           and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and Thou shalt bruise his heel. "


  Gen.  3:15 is known as the mother promise. Many             Secondly, God is speaking to the serpent, the "thee"
forget that it was declared to Satan by God in the            of our text, and in it to Satan. That Satan is here the
hearing of Adam and Eve. It is God's message spoken           serpent can be proven by comparing our text with
after the fall of man into sin and death. Man had been        Rev.  12:9 where we read: "And the dragon was cast
created good. He was created in the image of God in           out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan,
true knowledge of God, righteousness, and holiness.           which deceiveth the whole world. . .  ." What God
(Col. 3 : 10, Eph. 4: 22-24) Man was created such that        says to Satan, the "thee" of our text, is said in the
he should be and was the friend of God. As the friend         hearing of Adam and Eve. Therefore, we see that the
of.God, he  .was..God's  servant in the world. Man  -,QS      words of the Promise are put negatively in a judgment
made king-servant under God, for all of  creation was         addressed to Satan.
put under the dominion of God's representative in               God says to Satan, "I will put enmity between thee
the world. You agree, of course, when I say that              and the woman. .  ." What is enmity? First of all, and
Adam and we in him were given a high and blessed              negatively, one cannot equate enmity with anger or
position of honor in the beginning of time. But               wrath. Wrath does not always proceed from enmity.
Adam, who was both legally and organically our                It is true that enmity will reveal itself frequently in
father, fell into sin. He died when he yielded to the         wrath, but all wrath is not out of enmity. Wrath can
temptation of the Devil. Man had despised his                 and does frequently proceed from love! Consider the
excellency and the good gifts of God his Sovereign            father who loves his child with all his heart; don't you
Friend. Man chose the friendship of the devil as              see him frequently pouring out his wrath in
preferable to obedience to the will of God. He                punishment of his wayward son? Why does a father
revealed that preference when he trampled under foot          do that? So that, by letting his son feel the heat of his
the Word of God and did instead the will of Satan.            wrath, the father may correct the son whom he loves.
  But at that historical moment God reveals His sov-          God does the same with the elect sinner whom He
ereign will to save unto Himself a people in Christ. Gen.     loves eternally in Christ. There is a "wrath of love."
3: 15 as spoken by God to the devil constitutes a curse       Secondly, and positively, we note that enmity is
and judgment for Satan, the old serpent. But these            hatred. Hatred seeks the destruction of its object.
same words, spoken in the hearing of Adam and Eve             Hatred is the desire to remove one from your
and in them to elect humanity in Christ, constitute a         presence. This explains why hatred reveals itself
promise of salvation. It is the first declaration of the      frequently in murder.
gospel.                                                         Now, God says in Gen. 3: 15 that he would put
                                                              enmity or hatred between Satan and Eve, and
                                                              between Satan's seed and Eve's seed. Note, too, that
T H E C O N T E N T                                           this hatred is to culminate in the bruising of the
  In the consideration of this Promised Victory we            serpent's head. The woman's seed would destroy
shall treat, first of all, its content. Negatively, the       Satan. That God would put enmity  inhEve and her
promise to Eve and her seed is put in the form of a           seed for Satan, implies that God would cause them to
judgment upon Satan. Let us note various elements.            turn in love towards Him; serve Him and walk
First of all, God is speaking, "I  will put. .  ."            obediently before Him as His friends. Adam and Eve


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 211


 and. her seed. would turn to  God. and draw nigh- to          goodness. And. finally, so that God may be revealed as
 Him; which act necessitates that they turn from Satan         God-alone. Whose eternal purpose in Christ can never
 and his seed. God assures Satan; then, that Adam and         be thwarted, annulled, or frustrated by ungodly men
 Eve and her seed -would learn to hate him and his evil       and devils. We may conclude then, I believe,`that even
works. Eve and her seed would desire the destruction          the  fall.of Satan and man through Satan's temptation
of Satan and his seed and even pray for it. This text,        all serve, in spite of themselves, the holy and all wise
then, is a promise of deliverance to Eve from the             purpose of our heavenly Father.
bondage of sin and slavery under the devil; and, on
the other hand, a promise of freedom to will the will         .THE WARRING SEEDS
of God and the ability to love  Him;                             Let us now  notice.that as a result of the realization
   When did God speak these words of promise? First           of this word of promise, "I will put enmity between
of all, when it appeared as if -Satan was victorious.         thee and the woman, and her seed and thy seed. . .  .",
Satan's temptation was successful! Man had chosen to          these seeds will be warring seeds. There are only two
do Satan's, will and had become his friend. It                seeds, two kinds of people in all of history. These two
appeared as if God was defeated and his purpose               seeds, or peoples, are at war throughout all of history.
frustrated!' Into that apparent victory of Satan God          The church of Christ over against the world of
stepped to declare His message. That sovereign                unbelievers and devils. The woman of Gen. 3 : 15, who
message was, first of all, to Satan and fallen man that       brings forth the seed, whom we saw is Christ, is the
God's Sovereign will would be realized. For we read           church of the old dispensation. It is the church as the
"I will. .  ." which is an emphatic' assertion and            woman of Rev. 12, which brings forth the man child
declaration. concerning the future. Secondly, God's           who shall rule with an iron rod. At war therefore are
declaration shows that the victory is to be gained            Abels and Cains of all ages, spiritual Israelites over
through the revelation  of'the grace of God in Christ.        against spiritual Edomites, the regenerated.and called
Christ  is the Seed  of the woman. Revelation 12 makes        elect over against the reprobate in all ages and in all
this fact plain. Christ is the man child  .that is born to    countries of the earth. After the declaration of this
the  woinan.  ,Christ is He that is snatched up to God        word of promise to  ..Eve, the record of Scripture
and to his throne. Christ shall rule with a rod of iron.      immediately turns to the `realization of this promise
And it is of Christ and His victory over Satan, of            .in the lives of Abel and Cain. Abel represents `the
which victory all heaven sings to the praise of God in        church,`the  S&rites;  in whom God has worked by His
the revelation of His salvation. (Rev. 12: 10) From the       irresistible grace. Sethites are children of' God in
viewpoint of  Gen 3: 15, Christ is to be brought forth        whom the victory of Christ is revealed in a broken
by the woman by the wonder of God's grace.                    and contrite heart. Sethites are those whom God
                                                              unites to His Son through faith, and who by the same
  Secondly, we can answer the question: When                  faith tight in the armies of the captain of our
Spoken?, by saying  that'it was in the beginning. The         salvation.
words of Promise were spoken in the garden.. These
words were spoken just after the fall of man and the            Cainites are fallen and depraved men who hate God
apparent victory of Satan; they were spoken before            and His redeemed church. Cainites are the seed of the
the development of the age, before the development            serpent, and as his spiritually they do his will.
of the human race and nations. The promised victory           Cainites are the instruments of the old Dragon of
is given in the beginning. Here the  End of all things,       Rev. 12 through whom the Dragon attempted to
the final manifestation of the victory of the woman's         destroy the man child. Cainites of all ages hate the
seed, is declared from the beginning. Do we not read          church and the church's Christ. The Cainites are the
in Scripture: "Known unto God are all his works               reprobate whom God is pleased to leave in the
from the beginning of the world?" (Acts 15: 18) Not           friendship of Satan.
only does God know the end of all his works, but he             These two seeds, who are spiritually radically
declares  that end in the beginning. Isaiah  46:9-l 0,        different, relentlessly. and continuously fight one
"Remember . . . I am God, and there is none like me,          another. We see, then, that there are really only two
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from                kinds of people in the world from the beginning to
ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,       the end of time. The one is the seed of the woman,
My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure."       who have the testimony of Christ Jesus and who keep
  Why does God declare the end of all things from`            the commandments of God (Rev.  12:17); the other
the beginning? First, so that unbelieving man and             are the seed of Satan, who bear his image, and who
Sat an and his hosts may behold the sovereign,                despise God and His word, and who seek to destroy
gracious and irresistible work of God in the elect in         the church.
Christ and by it know that He is God. Secondly, so              What motivates the woman's seed in this war? Two
that the church may rest.in His power, wisdom and             things;, one, the love of God and of His Son, which


212                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



love is freely. bestowed upon- them; the. other               "theologians." Is the victory theirs? Is the love of
motivation is the hatred of all that is of sin- and Satan     Him who is the Truth completely lost? Is the church
in their own life and in the world. What motivates the        of Christ swallowed up by this raging sea of denials of
seed of Satan in this relentless war? First, it is the        the truth? You and I would often times think so.
love of sin, rebellion  and, the lie. Secondly, that which    But!
motivates the seed.of the serpent is the hatred of God
and of the virtues of God as they are manifested in
the lives of His people.                                      THE VICTORY
  We should not overlook the fact that in the world              But God's message  was  and  is  declared and is
it always appears to the faithless and often times to         realized  always  in the midst of Satan's and
the child of God as if the cause of God is defeated, as       unbelieving man's apparent victory. The victory of
if the woman's seed is overcome and killed by sin and         the woman's seed, Christ and those that belong to
Satan. It always appears to mere sinful man as if             Him by a true faith, is certain. First of all, the victory
Satan is victorious and the cause  and,purpose of God         of the woman's seed is eternally assured in the
thwarted. It looked that way when Cain killed Abel.           unchangeable counsel of God, who has chosen us
It looked that way when the Dragon through  Herod             unto salvation in the "Lamb slain before the
destroyed Rachel's children in Bethlehem. It looked           foundation of the world." (Rev. 13 : 8, Eph.  1:3-4)
certainly as if Satan and his seed had the victory at         Secondly, the victory of the seed is realized and
the cross.  -And it looks that way throughout the             manifested in the cross and the resurrection. At the
whole new dispensation, for even now the church is a          cross Satan's head is bruised and principally crushed.
besieged city,  .which appears about to be destroyed          Heb.  2:14,  ". . .that through death he (Christ) might
once and for all. Today, many in the church despise           destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the
our Reformed Confessions. Today, many theologians             devil. "
deny the very core truths of the Reformed faith; they            The result is that the believer never really doubts
deny God's absolute sovereignty, His immutability.            that the victory is his by faith in Christ. He is more
They deny that grace is an attribute of God, they             than conqueror through Christ. The woman's seed,
deny that the. decree of God of election and                  believers in Christ, have the victory over sin and death
reprobation is unconditional, they deny the doctrine          through the power of God's grace in Christ. The
of limited atonement; and much, much more of the              ground of the believer's confidence of the victory
truths of Scripture is denied by "Reformed"                   over sin and Satan and his seed is Christ, Who loved
theologians. Not only do they  deny, many truths              them unto death. The "in the beginning Promised
which the church of Christ has held dear, but they are        Victory" is the eternal will of our ever faithful
able to lead many via Arminianism into Modernism.             Father, Who declared the End in the Beginning and
The church is plagued with many masters of                    Who causes all things to be subservient to the
deception, who  go under the honorable name of                realization of His sovereign good pleasure.





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                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        213


SIGNS  OF' THE TIMES



                                          The Last Frontier


                                                        Rev. G. Van Baven





   It would be a truism to suggest that many things of                   Flooding created most of the need for disaster
striking nature have happened during the past year                    relief last year, and the ominous fmding is that the
(and years). It is a fact, however; and  it ought to be               Mississippi River system is in worse condition now
observed carefully by the child of God. The striking                  than it was a year ago. . . . Unless the rain and snow
events remind the Christian of the nearness of the end                ease off in the Midwest, 1974 could bring on disasters
of this age.                                                          even worse than those of 1973 and 1972.
   We have, in this rubric, pointed out in the past how              Strikingly, the same issue of  Time  (Jan. 14, 1974)
that  %atural" disasters have not only fallen upon                contains a feature article that treats the subject,
mankind, but that also these disasters have been                  "Exploring the Frontiers of the Mind." It serves as
increasing in intensity. It is not uncommon to read:              further reminder of the  developmentof-manand its                    '
"The  worst storm of the century." It reminds one of              implications concerning the end of this  age  and the
`the testimony of Scripture that as the end of this age           return of the Lord.
approaches, the "natural" disasters in the world will                One can read in Daniel  12:4,  "But thou, 0 Daniel,
increase. The book of Revelation points out that in               shut up the words, and seal-the-book, even -to the                        .-
the opening of the seven seals, there are revealed the            time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and
normal number of disasters. But when the trumpets                 knowledge shall be increased. " The fulfillment of that
blow, the. number and terribleness of disasters                   Word is seen so clearly in all areas of learning, but
increase. It can only remind us that Christ is coming             especially in man's study of the mind. To know and
again  - soon. The worldly man, however,  &rugs  off              to  control the  mind of man would be the ultimate
these facts  - even though he does observe them. So               aim and desire of the antichrist.
one finds  in  a review of 1973  in Time  the following:            But to return to the article of  Time.  The article
       The year 1973 probably cost Americans more in              points out the wonder of the brain. (And, incidentally,
    terms of their self-image than any year in recent             one  is struck by the fact that  this wonderful brain of
    memory. The effect was dismaying as Watergate,                man could hardly be the product of evolution.) It
    prolonged economic malaise, sudden energy shortages           points out:
    and a general crisis of authority and trust lodged
    deeply within the national psyche. In an odd and                    The most mysterious, least-known area of man's
    unwelcome tattoo of accompaniment, nature also                    universe does not lie in the farthest reaches of outer
   wreaked a special havoc on the country for the                     space. Nor is it found in the most remote Amazonian
   second year  running. Total damage for natural                    jungle or in the inky blackness of the Mariana Trench.
    disasters in 1973 exceeded $1.2 billion. Federal funds            It is located instead inside the human skull, and
   expended to assist local governments and citizens in               consists of some 3% pounds of pinkish-gray material
   the 31 states plagued with natural disasters came to              with the consistency of oatmeal. It is, of course, the
   an estimated 750 million, and 75,000 families                     human brain.
   received direct relief. It was scant consolation that                . . . .The brain is the newest and perhaps the last
   the year before, 48 major disasters cost $3.5 billion in          frontier in man's exploration of himself. Crossing that
   damages, making disaster relief expenditures for the              frontier could have the same impact on humanity as
   past two years more than the amount expended for                   the discovery that the earth was round. "We are like
   the preceding decade.                                             the Europeans of the 15th century," rhapsodizes one


214                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



       brain researcher. "We're standing on the shores of                knowledge of what- takes place during learning could
       Spain or Portugal, looking out over the Atlantic. We              result in improvement in teaching techniques. Even
       know that there is something on the other side and            - _ human intelligence might be increased as a result.
       that our discovery of exactly what this is will mean                  A breakthrough could also lead to the kind of
       that things in our world will never be the same                   social evolution that might help prevent the conflicts
       again."                                                           that now set man against man and nation against
          . . . .Finding the key to these mysteries (of the              nation. "Most of our evolution has been somatic,"
       brain's functions), a discovery that would suddenly"              says Schmitt. "We've changed our shape. But if we
       explain these functions, could lead to better ways of             could really understand ourselves and by extension
       treating the psychoses and neuroses that plague                   each other, we could evolve socially as well." That
       millions. It could result in identification and                   kind of evolution, Schmitt contends, may well be
       correction     of the causes of many neurological                 necessary for the continuation of the species.
       disorders and, by revealing how the brain works,                  "Armies aren't the key to man's survival," he says.
       revolutionize thought, education and co'mmunication.              "Governments are not enough. Treaties are not
       It might even help man turn away from what some                   enough. Only self-knowledge will help man to
       see as a headlong pursuit of self-destruction.                    survive."
  The article continues by describing some of the                            . . . .The explorers of the brain have embarked on
wonders of the brain. It points to the various tasks or                  a journey even more significant than the voyage of
functions of the brain. Then the article suggests                        Columbus in 1492. Columbus discovered a new
several benefits which supposedly will accrue to man                     continent. The explorers of the brain may well
as a result of the control. of the brain:                                discover a new world.
          Doctors are still not sure how the .brain perceives          All this ought to give pause for much thought. The
       pain, but some neurosurgeons. have found ways of             article certainly emphasizes the extent' of the
       relieving the chronic and acute discomfort associated        development, of man in `the past century. Surely
       with terminal cancer and other diseases. Dr. William         "knowledge has been increased!" The brain and mind
       Sweet,  chief of neurosurgery at Massachusetts               are recognized as the "last frontier" in man's
       General Bospital,  has found that by destroying small        discovery of himself. That ought to serve as reminder
       clusters of cells in different parts of the brain, either    how near the coming again of Christ must be. There
       by freezing or by electric current, he can relieve pain      are not many areas left for the inventiveness of man
       without producing the degrading effects of the               to discover more. As he reaches these "last frontiers,"
  old-style pre-frontal lobotomy . . . .                            we are reminded of the fact that the end is at hand.
          . . . .Building on his earlier work, Sweet and others
       have also discovered that they can calm the violent             At  thti same time, though scientists  would allay the
       outbursts of rage often associated with psychomotor          fears of many; the control of the mind of man surely
       epilepsy by destroying or partially removing the  :          wouid"open the door wide  for the coming of the
       amygdala, an almond-shaped body in the limbic                &tichrist. The coming of the antichrist is described in
       system of the brain. ._ . .                                  Revelation 13. One can understand that chapter
  The article concedes that there are' expressed fears              better in light of recent developments in man's
by many with this tinkering with the brain:                         attempt  to control the mind. Man has indeed been
                                                                    doing that with mass means of communication. But
          While neuroscientists look forward eagerly to the         ho will be doing that  thro'ugh the use of drugs or
       day when they will understand how the brain works, _
       some people feel that they have already gone too far.        other inventions as well. Revelation 13 describes the
       There are those who fear that new drugs and surgical         subservience of almost all men to the antichrist. He
       techniques could be used to impose a form of "mind           deceives  m&n that dwell on the earth by means of
       control" on non-conformists, tranquilize prisoners or        those miracles which he had power to do in the earth.
       inmates of mental hospitals, and tame those whose            Through discoveries in connection with the control of
       behavior or ideas society finds troubling. They note         the mind, the antichrist could well seek to establish
       that psycho-surgery is being widely used in Japan to         peace and contentment among men. If he can control
       calm down,hyperactive  children. . . .                       the mind of man, he can control the world.
          Most neuroscientists agree that their science can be         Be sure to look about you and see what is
       abused but doubt that it will be. Schmitt, for               happening. Do not be lulled into sleep by man's
       example, feels that fear of thought control is               a s s u r a n c e   t h a t "f e a r   o f   t h o u g h t   c o n t r o l   i s
       unreasonable. "When it comes to thought control,"
       he says, "politicians and journalists do a better job        unreasonable." Man never seeks to accomplish this
       than neuroscientists." Instead, the brain researchers        sort of development except for the purpose of
       stress that the benefits resulting from their research       promoting a kingdom among men'in subservience to
       would far outweigh the dangers. An understanding of          satan. Yet we are assured, even as we see these things
       how the brain works could lead to treatments for             taking place about us, that the "day of the Lord is at
       some forms of mental retardation. A greater                  hand."


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                 215


                            News From  OurA2iurcrhes
                                                             ,_         rii-*Cr`,        .     ;:
                                                             ._:          ,r.t-:~,
  We have a couple of short items for the little space              1973. He's a  dittleyoung, therefore, to appreciate the
that remains for the news column. Prospect Park                     f a c t   thataishis.  ,membership  .by  b a p t i s m   i n   t h e
made a trio consisting of the Revs. D. Kuiper, R.                   Hudsonville congregation marks what must be
Miersma, and R. Moore. They elected to send the call                something of a record in our churches. It happens
to Rev. Moore. The call to serve as Home Missionary                 that the membership role there includes also the
was declined by Rev. Engelsma, who subsequently                     names of Scott's father, his grandfather, his great
accepted the call to serve as pastor of our South                   grandmother, and, finally, Mr. Jacob  Schut, his great,
Holland congregation.                                               g r e a t   g r a n d f a t h e r .   F i v e   g e n e r a t i o n s   i n   o n e
  Then we `have a couple of local  .statistics which, I             congregation! From the rest of us  - congratulations!
think, are of at  ieast passing interest.. -First, in the               And, finally, this requested announcement: Clerk
bulletin of First Church there was an expression of                 and bulletin editor of Southwest Church is Mr.  Phillip
thanks by Mrs.  Wm. Nienhuis for the cards she had                  J. Lotterman, 871 Rushmore St., Jenison, Michigan
received on her  ninety-ninth  birthday. And, second,               49528. The treasurer of Southwest is still Mr. John
Scott Michael Lubbers was born on December 4,                       Vander Woude, 7085 Sunset, also in Jenison.                                 D.D.


                                           REPORT OF CLASSIS EAST
                                                   January 3, i974
                                            Southeast Pvot. Re$ Church

  Classis East met in regular session on January 3,                 Church for their catering services.
1974 in Southeast Church. Each church was                               Classical appointments were requested by Prospect
represented by two delegates. Rev.  H. Veldman,                     Park and by  Classis West for help in filling South
whose turn it was to lead the  classis in opening                   Holland's pulpit. Rev. M. Schipper and Elders J.
devotions, was absent due to mission work in                        Boone and P.  Bumham were appointed to construct
Houston, Texas; Present at this  classis and given                  the appointment schedule.  Classis adopted the
advisory vote were Rev. G. Lubbers, Prof. R. Decker                 following schedule for these churches: PROSPECT
and Rev. D. Kuiper.                                                 PARK: January 20 and 27  - R. C. Harbach; February
                                                                    3, 10, 17, and 24  - G. Lubbers; March 3, 10, and 17  -
  The regular business of every session  classis was                M. Joostens; March 24, 3 1, and April 7  - M. Schipper;
conducted. The report of the Stated Clerk was                       SOUTH HOLLAND: January 20  - R. Van Overloop;
received; the regular committees were appointed and                  February 10 - J. A. Heys; March 17  - C. Hanko;
reported. Elders T. Engelsma and C. Lubbers were                    March 3 1 - H. Veldman.
appointed to the Finance Committee for this session.
Expenses incurred for this session were $181.36.                        There was some unfinished business from previous
Elder J. M. Faber thanked the ladies of Southeast                                                                         (continued on back page)




                                                                                                     ANNIVERSARY


                  PLAN TO ATTEND                                         On February 6, 1974, the Lord willing, our beloved parents,

                                                                                         MR. AND MRS. BEN BLEYENBERG
            THE SEMINARY BUILDING .'
                                                                     hope to commemorate their 50th wedding anniversary. We are thankful
                     DEDICATION                                      to our covenant God for sparing them these many years for each other
                                                                     and for us. We pray that God may continue to bless them in the
                                                                     remainder of their earthly pilgrimage and that they may enjoy the
                  ON FEBRUARY 15.                                    peace which alone can be found in Him.

                                                                         Their grateful children and grandchildren, Mr. and Mrs. Tunis
                                                                     Jansma, Mr. and Mrs. John Haverhals, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Peter Rynders,
                                                                     Jr., Mr. and Mrs. John Hoksbergen, Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Bleyenberg, 21
                                                                     grandchildren, 1 great grandchild.

                                                                                                                                  Sioux Center, Iowa

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



                                                             ,  __~  :;  -y  _...  i,  _





classis which this session had to consider.  Ih the first                                   THE STANDARD BEARER
place, the matter referred to the consistories for                    Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
study and response had to be treated. This matter had                 Published'by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                         Second Class Postage Paid at Grand  RapIds.  Mich.
originally been brought by a consistory to the                    Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer  C. Hoeksema
January, 1973  classis, had been placed in committee,             Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Mr. Donald Doezema.
                                                                  Rev. David J.  Engelsma. Rev. Cornelius Hanko. Prof.  Herma?  Hanko,
had been referred after the committee reported  to the            Rev. Robert C. Harbach, Rev. John A.  Heys, Rev. Jay  Korterlng,  Rev.
                                                                  Dale H. Kuiper, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev.  Marinus   Schlpper,  Rev.
consistories and was now ready for final disposition.             Gise J. Van  Baren. Rev. Herman Veldman
                                                                  Editorial Office:  &of.  H. C. Hoeksema
The final outcome was that  Classis declared that the                                  1842 Plymouth Terrace, S.E.
                                                                                       Grand Rapids. Michigan 49506
January 3, 1973 and June 27, 1973,  classis had erred             Church News Editor:         Mi. Donald  Doezema
                                                                                              1904 Plymouth Terrace, S.E.
in entering the matter in the first place, since the                                          Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
matter had not been finished in the minor assemblies.             Editorial Policy:  Every editor is solely responsible for the contents Of
                                                                  his own articles. Contributions of general interest from our  readecs
Secondly, the church visitors appointed by the  classis           and questions for the Question-Box Department are welcome.  Contrl-
                                                                  butions  will be limited to approximately 300 words and must be  neatly
in its April session were scheduled to report. Again,             written or typewritten, and must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first
                                                                  and the fifteenth of the month. All communications relative to the
however, due to the press of mission work, this                   contents should be sent to the editorial office.
                                                                  Reprint  PO/icy:  Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of arti-
committee was not able to report. This time  classis              cles in  our  magazine by other publications, provided: a) that such re-
                                                                  printed articles are reproduced in full; b) that proper acknowledgement
decided to dismiss the committee altogether.                      is made; c) that a copy of the  periodical  in which such reprint appears
                                                                  is Sent to our editorial office.
  Classis further busied itself with matters unique to a          Business Office:  The Standard Bearer
                                                                                       Mr. H.  Vander  Wal. Bus.  Mgr.
January session: subsidy requests, election of delegates                               P. 0. Box 6064
                                                                                       Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506
ad examina and synodical delegates.                               Business Agent  for Australasia:Mr.  Wm. van Rii
                                                                                                      59 Kent Lodge Ave.
  Subsidy requests for the year 1975 were received                                                    Christchurch 4. New Zealand
from three churches, viz., Faith, Kalamazoo, and
Prospect Park. Faith requested $4796 subsidy,
Kalamazoo $4300, and Prospect Park $12,580 with a
pastor and $3 170 without a pastor. All these requests            Advertising Policy:  The  Standard Bearer  does not accept commercial
                                                                  advertising of any kind. Announcements of church and school events,
were granted and forwarded to Synod for final                     anniversaries,  obituaries, and sympathy resolutions will be placed for a
                                                                  $3.00 fee. These should be sent to the Business Office and should be
action.                                                           accompanied by the $3.00 fee. Deadline for  announcements'is  the 1st
                                                                  or the 15th of the month, previous to publication on the 15th or the
                                                                  1st respectively.
  Delegates  ad examina  elected were Rev. Heys to a              Bound  Volumes:  The Business Office will accept standing orders for
                                                                  bound copies of the current volume: such orders are filled as soon as
three-year  primus  term and Rev. R. Van  Overloop  to            possible after completion of a volume. A limited number of past vol-
                                                                  umes may be obtained through the Business Office.
a three-year  secundus  term.
  Delegates to the 1974 Synod were elected. The                                                   l         0        0
result of that election is as follows:                                                            CONTENTS:
  MINISTERS:  Primi  - C. Hanko, G. Lubbers,  G.
Van  Baren, R. Van Overloop;  Secundi  -  R. C.                   Spiritual Sensitiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194
Harbach, J. A. Heys, M. Schipper, H. Veldman;                     Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .196
ELDERS:  Primi  - T. Engelsma, J. M. Faber, J.                    The OPC and the "Free Offer" (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -197
Huisken, D. Kooienga;  Secundi  - P.  Burnham, C.                 BookReview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..19 9
Lubbers, H. Meulenberg, J. Van  Baren.                            About Preaching in the Sphere of the Covenant . . . . . . . . .200
  After the questions of Article 41 of the Church                 The Standard Bearer  in Retrospect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .204
Order were asked and satisfactorily answered,  Classis            BookReview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._;...20 6
                                                                  Correspondence re Jamaica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207
adjourned. The next session of  Classis East will be              Scientists and Evolutionism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208
held on April 3, 1974 in Hope Church. Rev.  Schipper              Evangelicals and the Social Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209
closed this session with a prayer of thanksgiving.                The Promised Victory of the Woman's Seed . . . . . . . . . . . .210
                                 Respectfully submitted,          The Last Frontier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .213

                                            Stated Clerk
                                            Jon Huisken      4


