               The
    STANDARD
       BEARER
f- A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                                    *





               it is a reliable test of one's com-
     l l  0


 mitment to the Reformed doctrine of
 election to enquire into  his  commitment
 to  the  Reformed doctrine of reproba-
 tion.

                   S e e ,". . . (A History Lesson)"
                                                                - page 29




                                V o l u m e   Lh/,  N O .   2 ,   O c t o b e r   15,1977
                                              ISSN 0362-4692


 26                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                   Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                        Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                              CONTENTS:                                                      Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
                                                                               Editor-in-Chief:  Prof: Homer C. Hoeksema
Meditation  -                                                                  Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma.
                                                                               Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach,
       Rules For Outward Conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26               Rev. John A.  Heys, Rev. Mark H. Hoeksema, Rev. Meindert Joostens,
                                                                               Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma,
Editorials  -                                                                  Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev. Gise J. Van Barer!,
                                                                               Rev. Ronald Van Overloop,  Rev. Herman  Veldman,  Mr. Kenneth G.
       Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29    Vink.
                                                                               Editorial Office:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
       Attacking Election Via Reprobation                                                          4975  lvanrest  Ave. S.W.
                                                                                                   Grandville,  Michigan 49418
          (A History Lesson) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29       Church News Editor:  Mr. Kenneth G. Vink
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 MEDITA TIO N




                                 Rules For Outward Conduct
                                                                   Rev. M. Schipper


                     "Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.
                    Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye
                 ought to answer every man." Colossians 4:5,6.



       Our text is found in the last section of Paul's letter                    diately preceding our text he exhorts to prayer
to the Colossians, in which section the apostle gives                            Specifically he has in mind that the church pray fo
final exhortations to the church. In the verses imme-                            him, that  God. would  open to him a door for  thl


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 27


preaching of the gospel. As the apostle to the Gentiles        the world and particularly with respect to the chil-
he was called to go wherever the Spirit would direct           dren of this world with whom she comes into
him, speaking the mystery of Christ in the world. At           contact.
the moment he is in bonds because he had spoken
concerning that mystery. His heart's desire is that the          So we have in the text rules set down for the church
church petition the throne of grace that, God willing,        in her outward conduct.
his bonds would be loosed, that he may fulfill his               It must be remembered that the church, the be-
calling as minister of the gospel.                            lievers, are in the world. The Bible no where ad-
   Prayer is a spiritual art, in the activity of which the    vocates physical isolation from the world. Indeed, the
church of Christ is continually to persevere, to watch        Word of God is aware of the fact that because of
in the same with thanksgiving. Particularly it is that        persecution the church would be required to suffer at
spiritual activity in devotion to God which requires          the hands of the world, and because of the fact that
constant application of all the spiritual powers of the       the world would develop in sin and corruption the
believers, in which the latter realize that God gives         church would make evil attempts to seek isolation.
His grace and Spirit to those that ask Him. It is the         Perhaps this is what the apostle feared was a strong
highest form of glorifying God. Spiritual watchfulness        possibility on the part of the church in Colosse. Does
in the exercise of prayer is necessary that the children      he not call attention to this evil tendency and
of God may know the will of God and pray for those            doctrine of "touch not, taste not, handle not" in
things pleasing to ,Him and in accord with His will.          chapter  2:20-23? Besides, is it not true that the his-
They  .must watch against the seducing influence of           tory of Christ's church in the world is replete with
their own flesh and against the temptations of the            examples of Anabaptistic tendencies, that is, the his-
world and the devil. They must have a deep and clear          tory of those evil sects known not for their world
sense of their real needs and the needs of God's cause        fight, but for their world flight? To be sure, the
in the world. There must always be a spiritual longing        Scriptures teach that the church must live in spiritual
on the part of the children of God for the things of          separation from the world, but this is something quite
God's kingdom, while at the same time they thank-             different from physical separation. To live in physical
fully acknowledge that God is the overflowing foun-           separation from the world on some lonely island or in
tain of all good, so that their prayers are at the same       some secluded desert oasis is quite impossible, for the
time an offering of sweet smell and of praise to God.         simple reason that in such an attempt the church
                                                              would take the world along in her own flesh. More-
 Because of the deep concern of the church for the            over, was not the Lord Jesus deeply concerned about
things of God's kingdom, it must follow that the              this when He prayed that the Father would not take
prayers of the church will be especially for the needs        His children out of the world, but that He would
of the apostle and his helpers in the ministry of the         keep them from evil? And this means spiritual separa-
gospel. The apostle is not so much concerned about            tion. Then we live  I physically in the world, but
the opening of the door of the prison, but the open-          spiritually have no part of it. It means that anti-
ing of the door of speech. The opening of that door           thetically we stand in the midst of the world which
will allow the gospel to be preached and the mystery          we oppose because of our spiritual principles. That is
of Christ to be made known in the world:                      our Christian calling. And this is what the apostle also
  Now to this idea the apostle adds the words of our          has in mind in our text.
text - on the-surface, without any connection what-              Those who are without are those who are outside
ever.                                                         of the church of Christ, with whom we come daily
  Walk in wisdom toward them that are without,                into contact. They are those who are outside the
redeeming the time!                                           church, and therefore outside of Christ. They are
                                                              without the grace of regeneration. They walk in dark-
  Yet it should be `apparent that there is a very             ness according to the flesh. Nevertheless they live in
definite connection. The,apostle had just admonished          the same world with the believers who are the chil-
the church to pray for an open door for .the gospel in        dren of light. They work in the same factories, do
the world. This evidently caused him to think                 business in the same stores, ride the same buses, and
immediately of those Who are -without, that is, out-          fly the same airplanes. They live in houses and per-.
side of the church in the world. Moreover, he is also         haps next door to the believers. Hence believers,
mindful of the calling of believers with respect to           children~ of God, have their walk among them, and
those who are outside the church in the world. So             necessarily come in constant contact with them  -
understood, we can see how the apostle would be               with those outside.
concerned, not only that the church constantly pray             What we must see here is the fact that the apostle
that the gospel may have free course, but also that           not only sees us as living among those who are out-
the church know her calling as she takes her place in         .side, but he stresses the fact that we are to walk in


 28                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


wisdom "toward" them. Though he expects believers             put into words the thoughts of our heart. As one
to reveal their true spiritual self, never imitating that     thinketh in his heart, so he speaks. And remember,
world but always revealing their spiritual distinctive-       this speech is that of the believer to those outside, to
ness, yet we are expected to do this "toward" those           those who have a different speech, which is corrupt,
who are without. We are not to assume a lackadaisical         vile, profane. The speech of the believer to them must
attitude of no interest in them. Our interest must go         reveal the grace of Christ which is within us, or we
in  Itheir direction. What that interest must be, the         had better say nothing at all.
apostle explains further in the text.                            It is speech that must be seasoned with salt.
       Walking in wisdom toward them that are without,           The figure of salted speech indicates that the
redeeming the time.                                           speech is to be tasty, palatable, flavorful, savory.
       That is, walking in the sphere of Christian wisdom.    When speech is seasoned with salt, when it is acted
The wisdom of believers is not the same as the wis-           upon by grace, it becomes beautiful and pleasant.
dom of the world. The latter is foolishness, and God          Such it is, first of all, in the judgment of God; for it is
make it so, according to I Corinthians 1: 20. The fool-       speech that is in harmony with and according to His
ishness of the world is that it cannot see the wisdom         standard of truth and righteousness, and therefore
of God. Though the world may have what it calls               according to the Word of God. God speaks in His
wisdom, it is not the same as the wisdom of believers         Word. When our speech is seasoned with salt it com-
who are in Christ. When believers walk in the sphere          pares favorably to the Word of God. When we read of
of Christ, they also walk in the sphere of wisdom.            the gracious words which proceeded out of His
That means that they are motivated by faith and by            (Jesus') mouth (Luke  4:22), we can only conclude
the grace of the love of Christ, and that, too, toward        that they were words that were seasoned with salt.
one another. It also means that they walk according to        Such must be also the speech of His disciples, of
the Word of God as it is the revelation of Christ. In         everyone who walks under the banner of Jesus Christ
that revelation of Jesus Christ they have the precepts        in the midst of the world. Such must be the speech of
according to which they must walk in the midst of             each one who walks in wisdom toward those that are
the world. However, the apostle has in mind a par-            without. It follows, doesn't it, that that speech will
ticular application of this wisdom to specific cir-           be quite different than the speech of the ungodly.
cumstances. According to the circumstances in which           Indeed, the child of God will be known by his speech.
we find ourselves we are to walk in wisdom toward             If one talks like the world, there is no reason to be-
those without. This refers, of course, to practical           lieve that he is a child of God - he gives no evidence
wisdom. As another before me has said, one does not           that he is. Our speech must reveal the grace of Christ
preach the gospel to a man who is at the point of             which is in us. But that is not all.
drowning  - rather, he helps the man get out of the             The apostle adds to this L "that ye may know how
water. One does not offer the iast rites of the church        ye ought to answer every man."
to the man who falls among thieves  - but he stops
the flow of blood, and gets the man to the hospital.            The apostle Peter (I Peter 3 : 15, 16) also writes of
He is the good Samaritan - this is walking in wisdom,         this when he exhorts believers to sanctify the Lord
and redeeming the time.                                       God in your hearts, and be ready always to give
  Redeeming the time is taking advantage of the               answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the
opportunity. As the opportunity presents itself, it           hope that is in you with meekness and fear. This, he
must be taken advantage of. The Christian therefore           says, they must do to have a good conscience, that,
must never allow an opportunity to pass by without            whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they
`revealing to outsiders the wisdom in the sphere of           may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good con-
which he .walks. What he does to and for. the outsider.       versation in Christ.
he does because he belongs to Christ, because he lives          This is also the idea of the apostle in our text.
in obedience to Christ, Who commands him to love                No matter whether the outsider mocks with you,
God and the neighbor. In one  wordj when the be-              speaks with malicious intent, or whether he is dead
liever walks in wisdom toward those without, the out-         serious  - whatever the circumstances, the believer
sider must see Christ in him. That is what the apostle        must always be ready to answer. And when you give
is driving at. But there is more.                             answer, you are confronted with a question, a ques-
  The believer must `also be gracious in speech.              tion by those who are outside. The apostle does not
  It is through our speech more than anything else            say what it is that they may ask. Most probably their
that we also reveal our walk in wisdom. One does not          question wiil be one or more of these: Who are you?
simply walk in wisdom toward those without saying             Why do you live like you do? Why do' you go out of
anything.' It is precisely through our speech that our        your way for me? How do you explain the fact that
walk in wisdom is manifested. Through our speech we           no profanity passes over your lips? How can you be


                                                   THE STANDARD  FEARER                                                29


     concerned about me who did only evil to.you? Who is          These are the rules to live by!
     this Jesus Christ Whom you claim to follow, Whom
     you emulate in your life and walk? What is it that           Living by these rules, you will have a good con-
     makes you tick?                                           science, and the practical evidence that Christ lives in
                                                                you. So you will realize your calling to love God not
        And you must be ready to give answer!                  only, but also your neighbor and even your enemies.
        Here is your opportunity to walk in wisdom toward      When you love even your enemies, you do not con-
     those that are without. Let him know in no uncertain      done his sin and say nothing about his  c&Qpt
     terms not only who and what you are, but more             speech; rather, you reprove him and plead for
     particularly Who your God is Whom you serve, and          amendment. To be silent is to sin. To speak the truth
     Who your Jesus is Who delivered you from the lowest       to him is to love him.
     hell and is bringing you into the highest heavens.           Wonderful calling, but with serious implications!

     EDITORIALS
     ProJ: H.C. Hoeksema


                                              Editor's Notes
     We  .call your attention to a special feature in this     Presbyterian Church in America by Pastor Eugene C.
     issue, namely, a transcript of Prof. Decker's  Con-       Case, of Woodville, Mississippi. We take this oppor-
     vocation Address and an accompanying letter from          tunity to thank Pastor Case for providing this report.
     the seminary faculty. We urge you to read these: it is                              *  * *
     one way of keeping in contact with our seminary           To help provide room in this issue for some of the
     even though you live many miles away.                     special features, the editorial department is slightly
                             * *  4                            abbreviated this time, Next time,  D.V., we hope to
     A second special feature in this issue is a report on     resume our critique of "Our Song of Hope.`?
     the recent meeting of the General Assembly of the


                 Attacking Election Via Reprobation
                                                 (A History Lesson)

       Any veteran reader of our magazine knows that           Church against the doctrine of reprobation as set
     down through the years, even preceding my editor-         forth in Canons I, 6 and 15. It is a legitimate question
     ship, the Standard Bearer has repeatedly warne'd that.    whether this same Harry Boer really believes the
     those who oppose the Reformed doctrine of reproba-        Reformed doctrine of election as set forth in the
     tion really do not want  the. Reformed doctrine of        same Canons. And it is also a legitimate question for
     election, that it is a favorite strategem of the          the Christian Reformed Church to ask itself whether,
     opponents of sovereign election to attack this doc-       if it honors Harry Boer's gravamen three years from
     trine by attacking sovereign reprobation, and that, in    now, it will be able to maintain at all the doctrine of
     fact, it is a reliable test of one's commitment to the    sovereign election.
     Reformed doctrine of election to inquire into his
     commitment to the Reformed doctrine of reproba-              No, it is not our intention to discuss these issues at
     tion.                                                     this time. Perhaps that will come at a later date.
       In our times this is an important subject. For            But we want "to call attention to a lesson from
     everywhere today the Reformed doctrine of reproba-        history which confirms our contention mentioned in
     tion is being attacked and denied. And, as anyone         the first paragraph of this editorial. It is a lesson from
     acquainted with current ecclesiastical events  wili       history which comes straight from the Synod of
     know, from the pen of Dr. Harry Boer there is a           Dordrecht, a lesson which is, therefore, all the more
     gravamen pending before the Christian Reformed            valuable.


L


 30                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


  Recenfly I was doing a bit  ,of research in a very        discussing the doctrine of reprobation. They
fascinating volume, the Acts of the National Syrtod  of     answered that they would heed the president's
Dordrecht, a large volume of some 950 pages which           admonition."
contains a very detailed account of the entire Great          At the thirty-fourth session the Arminians pre-
Synod. It is the kind of volume which, when you are         sented their opinions concerning the remaining four
consulting it for data on a certain item, you cannot        articles. But to this they added a lengthy statement as
put aside, but continue. to page through and read be-       to why they wanted to present their negative
cause your -eye .falls on all kinds of other interesting    opinions. And to this they appended again a lengthy
things. Ministers and theological students who. can         statement containing seven alleged reasons, along
read Dutch would do well to obtain this volume and          with several paragraphs of explanation, as to why
read it.                                                    they wanted to declare their opinions concerning
   But to return to the subject, as I was doing some        reprobation. In this section they stated, among other
research, my eye fell on an interesting account. You        things, that the reason why they wanted to state their
see, at the Synod the indicted Arminians, headed by         views on reprobation was "Because the difficulties
Simon Episcopius, were required to submit in writing        and doubts which trouble the Remonstrants and their
their opinions concerning the five articles of doctrine     Churches are especially concerning reprobation."
on which they were accused  ; of holding heretical          That was not true, of course. The fundamental ques-
views. Although they delayed long, the Arminians            tion was whether there was an absolute decree of
`finally presented to the Synod at the thirty-first         election, in other words, whether election was con-
session, December 13, 16 18, their opinions concerning      ditional or unconditional.
the first article, concerning divine predestination. In       And again, the Arminians state: "We acknowledge
another of their many delaying tactics, however, they       with the honorable president that the doctrine of
had failed to submit their views on the remaining four      election is lovely and comforting, and that of repro-
articles. Furthermore, in their ten paragraphs about        bation unpleasant; but we consider that the consola-
the first article,. the Arminians had gone out of their     tions which are drawn from absolute and uncon-
way to make statements about reprobation which              ditional election are full of dangers, and (if we have
were designed to put the Reformed view in a bad             insight into them according to their nature) provide
light, and thus to disparage the whole Reformed view        men an occasion for sinning; `and the opposite doc-
of predestination. In no fewer than six of the ten          trine of absolute reprobation is hateful with reason,
paragraphs they made references to absolute reproba-        for it is full of despair and stand opposed to the
tion; and more than one of these paragraphs referred        justice of God."
to reprobation exclusively.                                    You see, there is nothing new in history.
  What happened at the thirty-second session on               The Arminians saw that the easiest method of
Friday morning, December 14?                                `attacking sovereign election was to attack the Re-
  First of all, the Arminians were ordered to submit        formed doctrine of reprobation.
in writing their opinions on the four remaining                Our fathers of Dordrecht saw that this was the
.articles, and to do so by the following Monday.'           strategy of the Arminians and that the real issue was
Secondly, they were admonished to state their views         the Arminians' denial of unconditional and absolute
positively, rather than negatively; that is, they were      election.
told to state what they believed, rather than what
they did not hold, so that theirviews could better be         Therefore they admonished them: tell us your
judged. And if they wanted  to,present also their  re-      views of election positively. Don't hatefully drag in
j e  ction of opposite views, they could add that           the doctrine of reprobation.
separately.                                                    Let us learn the lesson. The man who hates the
  And then there follows this significant note: "The        Reformed doctrine of reprobation and calls it  un-
president (Johannes Bogerman, HCH) also  ad-                biblical, un-Reformed, and un-Christian really is,
.monished them that they should confine themselves          opposed to the Reformed doctrine of absolute and
rather to the questions concerning the comforting           unconditional election.
truth of election, instead of hatefully dragging in and        Don't be deceived!                   A
            ,-

                                                                                                :n I
                  Know the standard and follow it.                                             $  w
                                                                                                 ;A2
                  Read the STANDARD  B,EARER!                                                  -a-/---, -- -


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                               31


TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE





                A Reformed Look at Pentecostalism
                                                 Rev. David Engelsma



   In the previous article (Sept. 15 issue of The Stan-      en my faith in His Word, as much as if I saw them
dard Bearer) it was proved `from Holy :Scripture that        done with my very own eyes. The Reformed believer
the miracles alleged today by Pentecostalism are            has an abundance of wonders in the Bible; any addi-
fraudulent. The Reformed faith disavows  miracle-            tional miracle would be superfluous.
working. Our faith is the doctrine of the apostles,
who received it from Jesus. This doctrine has already          Thirdly, the Word proclaimed by the Reformed.
been confirmed by many miracles. It does not need           Church constantly accomplishes many, great miracles.
any further attestation. The only gospel that requires      It raises the spiritually dead; it opens the eyes of the
                                                            spiritually blind; it makes the spiritually lame to leap
new miracles is a new gospel.                               as a hart; it pulls down the fortresses of Satan in
  This, however, does not imply that the Reformed           human hearts and lives (cf. Is. 35; II Cor. 10:3-6). By
religion is a religion without miracles: Pent. would        the power of the Holy Spirit, the truth effects the
like to leave this impression. It is a gospel with          miracle of salvation: faith; conversion; pardon; and
miracles, whereas the Reformed faith is a gospel lack-      sanctification. These are astounding wonders, far
ing miracles and, therefore, less than a full gospel.       greater, should we be inclined to make the com-
  First, the Reformed faith - and the Reformed be-          parison, than miracles of physical healing, to say
liever!  - sees the almighty power of God in all of         nothing of the trivial, nonsensical "miracles" so often
creation and in every aspect of earthly life. The daily     boasted of by Pent. The spiritual wonders of the
rising of the sun; the annual quickening of nature in       gospel, in fact, are the reality of which the physical
spring-time; the blooming of a single rose; the con-        healing by Jesus and His apostles was a sign.
ception of a baby; the upheaval of an earthquake; the
rise and fall of nations; my health and life this              No, the Reformed Church is not a Church devoid
moment; and a piece of bread on my table - all are          of miracles.
the almighty, everywhere present, incomprehensible             But this, by the way. Our purpose has been to
working of the power of the providence of God. The          show from Scripture that Pent. is heretical in its doc-
Christ of our faith is the sovereign  ZLord Who is          trine of salvation ("Holy Spirit baptism") and fraudu-
presently upholding and governing all things by the         lent in its miracles. This has been done.
Word of His power in a most marvellous manner                  The Reformed faith judges Pent. to be a different
(Heb. 1: 3).                                                religion from that of Luther, Calvin, and the Re-
  Secondly, we claim as our own every miracle that          formed confessions - a fundamental departure from
is recorded on the pages of Scripture. The notion that      the faith once delivered to the saints.
one does not have miracles unless miracles are done
by him or before his eyes is foolish. The miracle of               The Reformed Testing of Pent.`s Spirit
the flood; the miracle of the fire of the Lord devour-         Pent. replaces the Word of God in the Church and
ing Elijah's sacrifice; the miracle of the incarnation;     in the life of the member of the Church with ex-
the miracle of Peter's raising of Dorcas; and all the       perience, human feeling. This is one of its basic
others are  my  miracles, as truly as if I experienced      errors. Essentially, it is an attack on the Word,
them, not only because they were deliverances of the        whether it replaces the Word altogether, or whether it
Church of which I am a member, but also because             puts the Word in the background, or whether it puts
they astound me, make me adore God, and strength-           experience alongside the Word. The movement as a


 32                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


whole runs down doctrine; it speaks disparagingly of                     movement. The Spirit is at the center and gets the
orthodoxy. Wherever it appears, it does away with                        attention in Pent. The work of the Spirit, not that of
the creeds. One of the "gifts" which it has restored is                  the Son, is celebrated and exalted. The very name by
that of special revelations given directly from God to                   which this movement calls itself gives it away:
certain "prophets. " This is the denial of the sole                      Pentecostahsm  - a name that has to do with the
authority and full sufficiency of Scripture - a death-                   Spirit. Scripture, however, gives the people of God
blow to sola scriptura  (Scripture alone). Hearing and                   the name Christian - a name that has to do with the
believing the Word is no longer the central thing, but                   Son, Jesus.
the experience of the Spirit-baptism.                                       This disparagement of Jesus in favor of the Spirit is
   This displacement of the Word with experience                         rooted deeply in basic Pent. doctrine. Pent. teaches
identifies Pent, as a revival of the ancient heresy of                   that the child of God must go beyond Christ to the
mysticism: immediate contact with God.  Pent.`s fa-                      Spirit, must advance beyond merely  (!) receiving
vorite words are "experience," "feeling," "power,"                       Christ by faith to receiving the Spirit in the Spirit-
"ecstasy," and the like. This is its Spirit-baptism; this                baptism.
is the nature of the Pent. meeting; this is its appeal to                   Pent. insults Christ.
religious people; this is why women have a leading
place in the movement.                                                      Whatever spirit replaces Christ, disparages Christ,
                                                                         or goes beyond Jesus the Christ is not the Spirit of
   That Pent. is experientialism and mysticism is                        Christ but one of the spirits  -of antichrist, for the
readily illustrated from Pent. sources. The  Full                        Spirit of Christ reveals Christ, bestows Christ, calls
Gospel Business Men's Voice  (a Pent. magazine) of                       attention to the work of Christ, and glorifies Christ.
June, 1960 gives a description of his baptism with the                   "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send
Holy Spirit by a minister who, disturbed by his "lack                    unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth,
of power," had sought the baptism in fire:                               which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of
        "Directly, there came into my hands a strange feeling,           me" (John 15 :26). "He shall glorify me: for he shall
        and it came on down to the middle of my arms and                 receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you" (John
        began to surge! It was like a thousand  - like ten               16:14).
        thousand - then a million volts of electricity. It be-
        gan to shake my hands and to pull my hands, I could                A third error is its minimizing of faith, stressing
        hear, as it were, a zooming sound of the power. It               instead certain human works. Pent. insists that faith
        pulled my hands higher and held them there as                    in Christ is not enough; something additional is re-
        though God took them in His. There came a voice in               quired; one must go beyond faith to the Spirit-
        my soul that said, `Lay these hands on the sick and I            baptism. It slights those who merely (!) believe, ex-
 w i l l h e a l t h e m ! `. . . but I didn't have the baptism . . .    tolling those who have stepped up to the Spirit-
        In an air-conditioned room, with my hands lifted. . .            baptism. Downgrading faith, it stresses all kinds of
        and my heart reaching up for my God, there came the              human works. Pent. puts a premium on certain works
        hot, molten, lava of His love. It poured in like a               that are alleged to be conditions for receiving the
        stream from Heaven and I was lifted up out of my-                baptism with the Spirit: praying intensely, cleansing
        self. I spoke in a language I could not understand for           one's heart from all sin, yielding oneself completely,
        about two hours. My body perspired as though I was
        in a steambath: the Baptism of Fire!" (quoted in                 and the like. The great emphasis, of course, is on the
        Frederick Dale Bruner, A Theology of the Holy                    human work of tongue-speaking. Believing on Jesus
        Spirit, p. 127).                                                 must take a back seat to this!
   John Sherrill, well-known Pentecostal, writes of                        It is not strange then that Pent. practically ignores
seeing Jesus as a bright white light in his hospital                     the one fundamental blessing of salvation for the
room (cf. his  They Speak with Other Tongues).                           child of God, the blessing received through faith:
Donald Gee, another leading Pentecostal, describes                       forgiveness of sins.
the Pent. baptism this way: "We are taken into God,                        Whatever disparages faith, whatever adds to faith,
and the soul will receive a consuming desire to ever                     whatever goes beyond `faith is of the devil, is another
more be utterly and entirely lost in Him"  - the                         gospel, and whoever falls away to this heresy loses
typical language of mysticism (A New Discovery, p.                       Christ and salvation.
23).                                                                       Faith alone!  Sola fide!  All  of salvation, by faith
   A second fundamental error of Pent. is that it puts                   only! "For by grace are ye saved through faith . . .
Jesus Christ into the background and puts the Holy                       not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8,
Spirit on the foreground. It is forced to deny this,                     9). The first verses of Galations 5 give a sharp warning
just as Rome is forced to deny that the cult of Mary'                    that there may be nothing alongside faith. To add to
actually replaces Jesus, but the fact remains. The                       faith is altogether to lose Christ and to fall from grace.
truth of this charge is obvious on the very face of the.                 For salvation, we begin, continue, and end with faith.


           -                               THF crAnlm  - _
                                           -"- "`fiI'JW+KD BEARER

                                                                                                                                            33




                                     . . e OF  THE..   .
                           PROTESTANT   REFORMED   CHURCHES
                                   September 30, 1977
Beloved Brothers and Sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ:
       Greetings from Seminary Hill!         We thought that perhaps you would like to
hear from us at the beginning of the school year.
       Our new term began on the seventh of September; and, as has becom e  our
custom in recent years, we had a public convocation program at our Southwest
Church.         This year it was Prof. Decker's turn to deliver the message, and he
spoke on "Buy The Truth." A transcript of this message will appear in 7the  s  iLme  ~:~~~~~~~~~
                                                                                                . . . . . . . . .x; .,..... I .A........
issue as that in which this letter appears, so that all of you may benefit from
it.    For us as Faculty convocation is a happy occasion, for it always seems *
good to see our students again and to get back into the harness after the sum-
mer period.
        Our student body thisyear is slightly smaller than last yeas. Gradua-
tion plus the fact that some of our pre-seminarians did not return this fall
has resulted in the fact that the student body totals fifteen. Eight of these
students are in the seminary department, and many of you in the Michiga
have become acquainted with them through their speaking "a word of edif
in the churches.         The Seniors Class is comprised of Wilbur Bruinsma, Michael
De Vries, and Richard Flikkema.         The Middlers Class is Ronald Cammenga, Carl
Haak, Ronald Hanko, Steven Houck, and David Zandstra. There is no Juniors
Class this year.         In the pre-seminary department we have seven students at
various stages of their preparatory work.            New to our school are Barry Gritters
a son of our Redlands, California congregation, and Jon Smith, of Birmington,
Alabama, who transferred to our school from Reformed Theological Seminary, of
Jackson, Mississippi.         Jon is on a combined program of pre-seminary and semi-
nary work, due to the fact that our pre-seminary requirements are a bit differ-
ent than at other schools.
        Our Faculty is also different this year. Not only is Prof. Decker  back
                after his extended absence of last year, and carrying his  fu1l load*
                   have a new face in our teaching staff.





                                      who are not of our Protestant Reformed  constitu-
           This is gratifying.     part of this money goes into our Library Fund, to
                                         growing library.        part of it is put to good
                                        items for the school, such as the  new 'Opy

        Our space is used up, SO we must say farewell.             Remember us in Your PraY-

                                                 With love-in the Lord Jesus Christ,
                                                              The Faculty


34                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


CONVOCATION.ADBRESS (SEMINARY)





                                      Buying the Truth
                                               ProJ: Robert D. Decker




      As I view the ecclesiastical scene, especially the     coming to stand more and more alone! That is true
Reformed scene, I am impressed with two facts. The           both as far as the true doctrine of Scripture is con-
first is the fact that the truth is being sold on every      cerned and `as far as our manner of life is concerned.
side; one is not even shocked by it anymore. Consider        This ought not disturb us at all. Let it be alone!
how the truth is being sold. The truths of creation          Alone with our God and His Christ on the basis of His
and the fall of man into sin as recorded in the first        t r u t h .
few chapters of Genesis are denied. These chapters,
we are told, contain not a literal account but are              That is why we need this Word from Proverbs
teaching models. The truth of definite (limited)             23:23. If our churches are going to stand on the basis
atonement is denied in favor of universalism. The            of the truth, they need ministers who will preach the
truth of theexpiatory or atoning character of the death      truth. And that means they need a Seminary in which
of Christ is denied. The truth of the place and calling      there are professors who are committed to the truth
of women in God's church is denied. The truth of the         and who will teach young men that truth. For us as
miracles and especially the central one, the virgin birth    professors and students as we begin another season of
of Jesus Christ, is denied. The truth concerning the task    instruction and learning there is no more timely
or mission of the church is denied. The church, it is        admonition than: "Buy the truth and sell it not. . . ."
said, must be the "healing community" in the midst              That which we are exhorted to buy is the truth.
of the world. The church must work to eradicate              That term as used in the text is found often in the
poverty; it must work for peace and social improve-          Old Testament. Sometimes it has the connotation of
ment. All the while the task of preaching and evan-          firmness or stability or that which is secure or certain.
gelizing is scorned and the church's calling to be           Closely related to those meanings is that of faith-
separate from the world is denied. The truth as it           fulness. Then too it denotes uprightness, integrity, or
applies to the godly life of the child of God, for           justice. But in every instance the underlying idea is
example in the area of worldly amusements, is                that which is opposed to falsehood. The truth is
denied. Movies and dancing have won full approval in         always that which is opposed to the lie. Hence we
many a church. And, to cite no more, the truth of the        may define the truth as reality. That's the truth. That
inspiration and infallibility of the Holy Scriptures is      which is real is the truth. And the truth is reality over
denied. The Bible is said to be a collection of              against that which is unreal or contrary to reality.
moralisms couched in, myths and teaching models. Or          Then too the truth is always the faithful presentation
it is said to be man's word about God or concerning          of reality and that too with respect to all things: God,
his religious experience with God, but it is not literal-    Christ, the church, the world, the past, the present,
ly the very Word of God. All this occurs not just in         the future, heaven, earth, all things.
the church world generally or in the modern, liberal            That means, therefore, that God is the truth. That'
churches, but within the Reformed community of               is Scripture throughout. Deuteronomy  32:4 says:
churches.                                                    "He is the Rock, his `work is perfect: . . . a God of
      This brings me to the second fact with which I am      truth and without iniquity, just and right is he." The
impressed: we as Protestant Reformed Churches are            truth characterizes God. He is the God of truth. That


                                               j         THE STANDARD BEARER                                            35



He is the Rock means that He is unchangeable, and                   served for us in the Holy Scriptures. Scripture is the
that too in justice, for just and right is Her The truth,           truth precisely because it is "God-breathed" (II
therefore, is the unchanging, ever faithful, just God.              Timothy 3: 15). It is the revelation of God in Jesus
God is the God of truth for He is the eternal reality.              Christ through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Scripture is
He is before all things and He made all things to be a              the product of the work of God through His Spirit,
revelation of His glory. As the truth He never denies               for "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by
or contradicts Himself. Always He is the same. He                   the Holy Ghost." (II Peter  1:21) This means that
says: "I am that I am." As the immutable One He is                  Scripture is not, as many teach these days, the words
the truth, the unchangeable reality.                ,               of God  and  the words of man. Nor is Scripture the
  Thus too the Lord Jesus Christ is the truth. He is                record of man's witness to God or an account of
the eternal Word by Whom and for Whom all things                    man's religious experience or encounter with God. 0
were made. And that Word was made flesh and dwelt                   no! Scripture is in all its parts the very Word of God.
among us. As such He is the complete] and perfect                   We must maintain this most emphatically. The Bible
revelation of the Father, the God of truth. Christ is               is God's Word, given by the miracle of inspiration and
the reality. The types and shadows  iof the Old                     preserved throughout the ages for the sake of the
Dispensation, significant in their time and place, were             church. This means that Scripture is the whole truth.
not real. Christ is the reality to which-they pointed.              It is the truth about everything. It presents all of
Christ is the reality over against all that is contrary to          reality in its proper perspective. There is nothing: no
the truth. He condemned all that is of  ithe darkness               field of endeavor, no area of knowledge which can be
and the lie. Christ Himself said: "I am the way, the                understood apart from the light of the Scriptures.
truth, and the life."                     !                         And Scripture is the only truth. There is no truth
                                                                    apart from the Scriptures. Everything apart from the
  The Holy Spirit is the truth. As the  iSpirit of the              Scriptures is of the creature and thus is the lie. The
exalted Lord Jesus Christ He is the Spirit of truth.                Scriptures are the only source of the truth. It is too
And as the Spirit of truth He leads the people and                  bad, but a fact nonetheless, that these things need
church of God into the knowledge of  Fhe Word of                    emphasis in our time, for there are few even in Re-
Christ.                                                             formed circles who maintain this view of the Holy
  That truth is made up of several parts. This is                   Scriptures.
brought out beautifully in the text when it speaks of                 Scripture reveals the truth about God. The Bible
wisdom, instruction, and understanding./ The transla-               tells us all about Who He is, His attributes and per-
tion is incorrect in that it has "also" as if the text              fections. Scripture informs us that God is the Creator
reads: "Buy the truth, and also buy  wiisdom, etc."                 of all things but also the God Who upholds and
This is not correct. The idea of the textj is that these
three, wisdom, instruction, and understanding, are                  governs all things to attain the purpose He has
three parts of the truth. When we  b& the truth,                    ordained in Christ before the foundations of the
therefore, we are buying wisdom, instruction, and                   world. Scripture tells us that God is the God of all
understanding.                                                      glory Who is God alone and Who must be worshipped
                                                                    and praised by `us. Scripture presents us with the
  Along with the truth we also receive wisdom. That                 truth concerning man. Scripture teaches us that man
term, wisdom, in Scripture means: "wise in the sense                was created good and in the image of God. Scripture
of intelligent, the ability to judge or discern." Hence             tells us that man chose for Satan and the lie, turning
wisdom is the gift of knowing reality and living in                 against the living God. As a consequence man
harmony with that reality. Wisdom is  ialways prac-                 is guilty, totally corrupt, prone to all evil and in-
tical. It is being able to discern the Lord's way and               capable of any good. Scripture gives us the truth
                                                                                                        -
ordering one's life in harmony with  tdat way. The,                 concerning Christ. That He is the only begotten of
second part of the truth according to the text is in-               the Father, that He is Immanuel, that in Him the
struction. This word is used in the  Ol'd Testament                 fulness of God is revealed as the God of our salvation,
Scriptures to refer to the correction  ofj children by              that Christ is the only Savior of God's elect, and that
their parents or of men by God. Sometimes it is also                in His death and resurrection He brought life to all of
translated admonition, or discipline. Hence this is the             God's people - all this Scripture reveals concerning
discipline of the truth: that which  corrects us from               Christ. Finally Scripture presents the truth concern-
error and keeps us in the truth. And finally there is               ing all things: that the world did not come about by
understanding. This term really means  insight.  With               evolution, but was created by the mighty Word of
the truth we are given insight into reality. That is the            God; that the earthly is only preparation for the
truth in all of its riches: God as revealed in the Lord             heavenly and, therefore, that we must not seek
Jesus Christ; wisdom, correction, and understanding.                earthly things; that in all events good and bad, past
   That eternal, unchanging reality, the truth, is pre-             and present, God is actively saving His church and


36                                               THE STANDARD BEARER


bringing about the consummation of His eternal                  still being defended by us. I am not at all ashamed to
counsel in,Christ.                                              say: our churches and Seminary have the truth. That
      This, in brief, is what Scripture is, and this is what    is no reason for pride. God's grace has kept us in the
Scripture teaches. Scripture is the truth. This has             truth, not we. Thus in deepest humility and with
serious implications as far as our attitude toward and          profound thanksgiving we may say that we have the
approach to Scripture is concerned. Precisely because           truth. Now then, "sell it not!" Do not get rid of it, do
Scripture is all of that, it may not be contradicted.           not let go ,of the truth. Do not sell the truth by com-
All that speaks against the Scriptures is the lie. Nor          promise, not even a little. Whatever you do, do
may Scripture be doubted. We do not approach the                not sell the truth, not for any reason. Our
Bible to see whether or not it is true. Nor do we set           churches and Seminary are small, but we must not
ourselves up as judges of what belongs to Scripture             sell the truth in order to grow and become large. The
and what does not. Positively we must approach the              churches and Seminary may very well become smaller
Bible in the faith that everything we find in it is the         on account of the truth. Let that be. Do not sell the
absolute truth of God which' must, therefore, be                truth.
believed and obeyed. We bow in humble submission                  Rather we must buy the truth. This cannot be
to Holy Scripture. In that humility of faith we must            taken literally, as if we were admonished to buy the
do all of our work in teaching and learning in the              truth with money. That is not the idea. The truth is
Seminary. Scripture is the truth.                               priceless. Besides, the Scriptures warn us against
      That truth of the Scriptures we have in our               making merchandise of the truth. We have a figura-
Reformed Confessions, the Three Forms of Unity.                 tive expression here. The term means purchase, get a
Scripture records the revelation of God. And that               hold, of, take possession of something, make some-
revelation came in time and `history gradually, in              thing your very own. And that refers to our response
types and shadows, in Christ and through the                    to the truth. When the truth is revealed to you or
Apostles and Evangelists. That truth is objectively             made known to you, when it is preached or taught
contained in our Confessions. These sum the truth.              you, then buy it, i.e., get a hold of it, take possession
The Confessions are the fruit of the work of the Holy           of it, know it and believe it and make it your very
Spirit as according to His promise He guides the                own. That is our calling! And there are no options
church into all the truth. Through the ages, often in           here. God says to us: Buy the truth and sell it not.
controversy and over against false teachers, the church
stated its confession. Thus in the confessions the                And as God calls us together as a Seminary for
truth of Scripture is arranged systematically and               another season of teaching and learning, this is our
logically. All the various truths of Scripture are put          calling. The faculty must buy the truth and sell it not.
together as they comprise the. body (unity) of the              They must not compromise the truth; they must
eternal truth of God's Word. That is the truth! Do              never let it go. They must hold it fast! All of the
you wish to know the truth of Scripture? Go to the              instruction of the professors, all of the various
Confessions of the Reformed Churches. That needs                courses, must be instruction in the truth of Scripture.
emphasis in our times.  T,oday it is said that those            Hence they must prayerfully and diligently study the
confessions are no longer adequate. They do not meet            Holy Scriptures and the Reformed Confessions in
the needs of our modern day. Thus we witness a                  order more and more to gain an insight into and a
growing movement to get the creeds revised. We must             deeper understanding of the truth. In this way only
not become a part of such a movement. Those                     will they be able to teach the truth and defend it.
Confessions contain a priceless heritage of the truth.            That is also the calling of our students. They must
Thank God for them.                                             receive that truth. They must learn it and know it. To
      That is the truth which we must buy: the precious         be sure! But more than that, they must also believe
heritage which God has given to His Church to believe           the truth and walk in it. They must make it their very
and walk in; the truth of the Word of God as set forth          own possession. Apart from that they can never be
in the Reformed Confessions and as, by the grace of             ministers of the Gospel in God's church. This means
God, preached and taught in our Protestant                      they must study, prayerfully and diligently they must
Reformed Churches.                                              study. They must not be lax or lazy in their work.
      "Buy the truth and sell it not . .  .," that is the       The truth demands our very best efforts. In this way
admonition. "Sell it not." That implies that we have            and in this way alone they will become equipped to
it, it is in our possession. Indeed it is! God has given        shepherdize the flock of Jesus Christ.
us in the Scriptures and our Reformed Confessions a               That is our calling! Buy the truth and sell it not.
priceless heritage of the truth. It is a fact that the          May God in His mercy grant us the grace to be
truth is still preached from our pulpits, taught in our         obedient to that calling for the blessing of the
catechism rooms and in the Seminary. The truth is               churches and for the glory of His Name.


                                          1
                                          /              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               37


MY SHEEP HEAR MY  V&E



                                     October 1.5, 1977
                                               I
Dear Timothy,                                  ,
   It has been a while since we were discussing                     carries a bit further the lessons he learned from his
together some aspects of Paul's teaching in his letter              teacher. If a parent occasionally is guilty of criticizing
to Timothy. The summer months interrupted our                       his pastor in the presence of his children, the children
correspondence somewhat; .and we were *temporarily                  will make this a regular practice. If a teacher once in a
distracted by our discussion on questions of the                    while engages in wicked gossip the student will make
meaning of the inspiration of Scripture. j                          it a pattern. of life. There are two reasons for this.
   But now the opportunity is again present to return               One is that we all enjoy sin because we have yet a
to this discussion. You will recall perhaps that we                 nature that delights in sin. And in committing sin we
were talking about what Paul writes in chapter 4, vss.              always look for excuses to justify our sin. The easiest
7  & 8, and, more particularly, about what is meant                 and most convenient way to justify sin is to blame
when Paul admonishes Timothy to exercise himself                    someone else for what we do wrong. It happens then
unto godliness. We talked about that in a general sort              that we find it very easy to point. to the example of
of way; now the time has come to get diown to some                  those who are to be good examples to us and justify
specifics.                                                          our conduct by pointing to what those whom God
                                                                    has placed over us do. But it is exactly this urge to
   While the things about which I intend to write to                justify our own conduct which leads us to carry an
you in this connection are not specifically  referred to            occasional sin to the extreme of making it a pattern
in the text, nevertheless, they belong toi the exercise             for our lives. "My pastor does it" is a most con-
of godliness in a very concrete way. And they are                   venient excuse to cover our own sins. The second
important enough to discuss at some length. The list                reason is that principle of the second commandment
of subjects which I intend to discuss is by no means                that God visits  .the iniquity of the fathers upon the
exhaustive. Hence, if there are other aspects to this               children unto the third and fourth generation of them
question which you would like to discuss, be sure to                that hate him. God also visits the iniquities of
let me know.                                                        teachers upon their pupils and the sins of pastors
   When we were talking together about this matter                  upon their congregations. While this does not oblit-
of exercising one's self unto godliness, we talked also             erate individual responsibility, it is nevertheless an
briefly about the fact that the minister must be a                  inviolable rule of God's organic dealings with men.
good example to the congregation. Paul specifically                 This "visiting of iniquity" means a multiplication of
mentions this in vs. 12: ". . . but be th& an example               sin. Israel's relatively isolated sin of worshipping the
of the believers, in word, in conversatio$, in charity,             golden calf at Sinai was after all a sin that developed
in spirit, in faith, in purity." It is this matter of               in Israel's history until it became full-blown idolatry
example in various areas of life that  ineeds to be                 after the pattern of all the abominations of the
discussed. The particular aspects of  the question                  heathen.
which I will be writing to you about come to                          So there is this important matter of example.
mind only because they seem to me  to be pressing
problems of unusual urgency in the days1 in which .we                 Perhaps the place to start is in the matter of
live.                                               ,               Christian liberty. I start here because it seems to me
                                                                    that the principles are clearest here.
   I suppose if one were to look for one unifying idea
which binds together all the various ideas we will be                 It is not my purpose to discuss at length the whole
discussing, it would be this: the pastor who wishes to              concept of Christian liberty. This is a rather involved
be a good example to his congregation-must learn to                 subject, worthy' ,perhaps of extended discussion, but
give up many things which in themselves would not                   not especially relevant to what we are now talking
be wrong for him to have or to do - for the sake of                 about. I only want to talk about this area in a general
being such an example.                              I               way to illustrate the point I am trying to make.
   In a way there is a principle of human! nature here.               You know that Christian liberty` covers a broad
The child always goes slightly beyond his parent in                 range of Christian conduct. Through the marvelous
the imitation of his conduct. The  stt(dent always                  .grace of God in Christ we are set free from the


 38                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


 bondage of the law. The Christian may not have his          for the flesh. A minister, aware of this danger in the
 life controlled by a series of dos and don'ts. Paul         congregation, will have to curtail his own Christian
 speaks, in the first verses of this chapter, of the fact    liberty in this respect in order to set a good example.
 that every creature of God is good, and nothing to be       Even if an appeal by an alcoholic to the minister's
 refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. The           conduct is unjustified - because the minister has only
 Christian's life may not be curtailed by law upon law       an occasional drink  - yet the minister ought to be
 and precept upon precept.                                   careful that no such appeal can ever be made. When
       As Paul points out in I Cor. 8 and other passages,    Nathan confronts David with his sin of adultery and
within the area of Christian liberty there are actions       murder, he speaks of the fact that David, by his sin,
which are violations of the conscience for one child         had given occasion for the enemies of God to
 of God, while these same actions are no violations of       blaspheme. The key word is "occasion." He must
the conscience for another saint. Thus, what may be          never even be the occasion for anyone to justify his
wrong for one is not necessarily wrong for another.          conduct by an appeal to the conduct of the minister.
One person sins when he eats meat sacrificed to idols;       In writing concerning the qualifications of an elder
another may eat that same meat and not sin at all.           Paul says, in I Timothy 3, that he must "Have a good
   Now what particularly concerns me here is the fact        report of them which are without; lest he fall into
that a pastor who is determined to exercise himself          reproach and the snare of the devil." A pastor's
                                                             life must be exemplary in every respect even if he
unto godliness and who is a good example to the
flock. will also, of necessity, curtail his own Christian    must curtail his own Christian liberty to attain that.
liberty. There may be any number of things which he            The same thing is true of Sabbath observance. It is
may do in good conscience before God and therefore           impossible and wrong to lay down laws for Sabbath
without sin, but which he will not do for the sake of        observance. The principles of Scripture are clear
the flock for which he is responsible. He will do this       enough. But if a minister should treat the Sabbath as
willingly and eagerly out of love for the sheep over         any other day and flaunt openly his Christian liberty
which God has placed him. He will do this without            in this respect, he does evil to the congregation,
grumbling and complaining, for his concern for his           promotes the sins of those who are ready and eager to
sheep is very great.                                         violate the Sabbath, and harms irreparably his own
   I hesitate to use specific illustrations because it is    ministry.
so easy to be misunderstood. But perhaps the risk is           Yet the point is that the'minister must not only
worth taking.                                                negatively refrain from certain acts which he could in
   I am not saying that he curtails his own Christian        fact in good conscience do; he must be a positive
liberty because he might be an offense to his weaker         example to the flock. I suppose this is really the
brother. Paul certainly lays down this principle as a        reason why most of our ministers do not possess a TV
fundamental principle of Christian conduct in I Cor.         set. It is not that our ministers believe that TV is
8. "Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I          wrong in itself. But the misuses of TV are many and
will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make      great. Each man must, ultimately, answer to his own
my brother to offend." This is certainly always the          conscience before God what he watches on TV. But a
calling of every Christian; and he who ignores it            minister does well when he sets a good example. And
imperils his own soul. The pastor must also adhere to        the best way, on the whole, to do that is to keep the
this principle.                                              thing out of his house. And, positively, he must show
  But this very principle implies a bit more because         by good example, the proper use of time.
of the position which a minister of the gospel                 And so we could go on.
occupies. It is involved in being a good example.              The objections which will be raised can, in some
  There is one area which deeply concerns`me.  There         measure, be anticipated. For one thing, someone will
are in the Church of Christ (perhaps because of the          object that no one may infringe on my Christian
affluence of our modern age) many who drink too              liberty and curtail it by objections which are ground-
much liquor. I am not saying necessarily that they are       less. Someone, e.g., may not force me to part my hair
alcoholics  - although in my judgment anyone who             on the right because he happens to be offended when
has to have his drink every day comes perilously close       I part it on the left. Someone may not refuse me the
to being an alcoholic. But I am convinced that among         right to have a drink now and then because he uses
`some of us there is a tendency to drink too much.           this to blame me for his excessive use of alcohol. All
The excuse which is often offered for this is that this      this is true beyond doubt. But it ought to be
belongs to the area of Christian liberty. It does            remembered on the one hand that I may voluntarily
indeed. But what is so often forgotten is that Paul (in      curtail my own liberty out of a sense of obligation to
Gal. 5: 13) warns against using liberty as an occasion,      the flock over which the Lord has placed me. And, on


                                          I/ THE STANDARD BEARER                                                               39
                                          I


the other hand, more is demanded of him who                           congregation over ,which the Lord has placed you is
occupies a position of responsibility in the Church                   strong enough to grow by this type of instruction, by
(or, for that matter, in the home, the school, the state              all means use it. But be sure that this is true.    ,
or shop) than of others who are under au/thority.                       Well, the time has come to close this letter. I am
  Another may object that it is better to teach                       sure that these comments arouse questions in your
Christian liberty by practicing it and  ireceiving all                mind. Let me hear from you.
God's gifts with thankfulness and use them in mod-                                                 Fraternally?
eration. There is force to this argument. If the                                                   H. Hanko

SPECIAL REPORT




                           Presbytdrian Church .m America:
                                    Fai$h General Assembly
                                               /          By Pastor E. C. Case


   The Fifth General Assembly of the Presbyterian                     that men who have been divorced on the grounds of
                                          J
Church in America, meeting in the audi ,orium of the                  adultery or willful desertion by their spouses,
First Baptist (that's right folks, Baptist) Church of                whether they remain single or remarry, may serve as
Smyrna, Georgia, was called to  order1 by retiring                    officers in the church. The committee further held
moderator William A.  McIlwaine  on the evening of                    that men who have been divorced on other than
September 12, 1977. The Baptist facility was used                     Biblical grounds should be denied office until they
because there is no PCA building in the Greater                       have publicly repented of their sin. It was not clear
Atlanta area, nor in many other areas fo? that matter,                whether this public repentance would include separa-
large enough to handle the 600 plus commissioners                     tion from a second wife, if there had, indeed, been a
who would eventually come together  f# this meet-                     remarriage, but such would have been the effect of an
ing.                                                II                amendment from the floor which would have made
   After hearing and approving the report of a com-                   those unbiblically divorced, and then remarried, in-
mittee dealing with Presbytery boundaries (which                      eligible for office in the PCA as long as the first
included the erection of a new presbytery, Central                    spouse is alive.
Florida, and the merging of Vanguard and,Tennessee.                     The matter of whether the remarriage of divorced
Valley Presbyteries), the Assembly elected Mr. John                   persons is ever allowable, even when the divorce has
Clark, a ruling elder from First Church, Macon,                       been granted on Biblical grounds, was not addressed.
Georgia, as the new Moderator. Mr. Clark has been an                  Such remarriage is permitted by the chapter of the
able and active leader in the PCA since the early days                Confession cited above (though this writer does not
of the still young denomination.                                      agree with the allowance of the Confession at this
   The business of the Assembly, in its plenary ses-                  point). An important question that was raised, how-
sions, began in earnest on Wednesday morning,                         ever, involved the doubts of some as to whether any
September 14, with the report of Ad-Interim Com-                      divorced man could meet the requirement of I
mittee on Constitutional Documents. Lively debate                     Timothy 3, to the effect that the bishop' must have
was immediately stirred by a section of this com-                     his house in order.
mittee's report dealing with "the husband of one                         The whole issue was finally sent to a new com-
wife" passage in I Timothy 3. The issue involved was                  mittee for further study.
that of church officers who have been divorced and                      Also committed for further study was the report of
remarried.                                                            the Ad-Interim Committee on the Number of Offices
   The committee, on the basis of statements in the                   in the Church, which has been hanging over the head
Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 24, held                     of the Assembly since the third meeting in Jackson in


40                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


1975. The question involved is whether the offices of       ments to other nations," were referred for study to
the church be two (elder and deacon) or three               be handled at the next Assembly. And, one wonders
(minister, elder, and deacon). A variation of the ,first    what new causes will be before us by then.
view holds that there are two offices, but with a             All of this, of course, puts the PCA in a rather
distinction of task between those who rule and those        awkward position in relation to the denomination
who both teach and rule. A new view, called the             from which most of our present membership sepa-
"Triune office view" was introduced at this                 rated  - the Presbyterian Church, U.S. One of the
Assembly; the product of the rather fertile imagina-        greatest complaints about the PCUS assemblies was
tion of Dr. Francis Nigel Lee, formerly of South            their taking stands on various political and social
Africa, presently a PCA pastor in Kosciusko, Missis-        issues which were regarded as being outside of the
sippi. Where and when all of this will end is very          province of the Church. These stands were, it should
much an open question.                                      be noted, almost uniformly liberal in nature. One
One of the most disturbing things about the                 wonders, now, if the PCA is to become the "flip-side"
Assembly, in this observer's opinion, was its willing-      of the PCUS; also making statements on political and
ness to address itself to issues which hardly seem the      social matters, but from a conservative point of view.
province of an ecclesiastical court. This was par-            Also disturbing is the fact that the Assembly, in
ticularly manifest in the adoption of a resolution          response to a request from something called the
wherein the Assembly moved to petition the Presi-           Hawaii Right to Life Committee, voted to send a man
dent and Congress of the United States in the matter        to Washington, in conjunction with other "conserva-
of the proposed withdrawal of American troops from          tive" Protestant leaders, to meet with the President to
South Korea. The Assembly says it is opposed to             impress upon him the fact that opposition to abor-
that.                                                       tion is not just a Roman Catholic cause. One suspects
      Now, no one is more sympathetic to the cause of       that the President already knows that, but un-
South Korean independence than this writer. And,            daunted, the PCA has decided that we must have our
one can easily understand the concern of the brother        man in Washington, if only for a brief time. Nor was
who introduced this resolution; himself a refugee           there much concern expressed over the fact that we
from Communist oppression.in Hungary. It is also to         are aligning ourselves, in this matter, with a secular
be admitted that the Confession of Faith allows for         society whose membership, in some parts of the
such "humble petitions in cases extraordinary."             nation at least, includes such groups as the Mormon
(Chap.  31:4) The question which must be raised,            church. The question, of course, is whether our
however, is whether this is, indeed, an extraordinary       common stand with such groups in opposition to the
case. And, if it be deemed such, we- must further           sin of murder by abortion justifies this proposed
inquire as to whether the Confession is, at this point,     cooperation.
in. harmony with Scripture.                                   There is much else that we could report, but our
      It is interesting to note that in the Scriptural      space grows short, so we will limit ourselves to two
proof-texts offered in support of this article (Luke        final items which should be of interest to Standard
12:13, 14; John  18:36), there is no support to be          Bearer readers.
found for synods or councils intermeddling in civil           The first of these involves the attempt by New
affairs, but a great deal of support for the first          River Presbytery to get the Assembly to commend
.statement  in this chapter and section of the Con-         the  Presbyferiqz Journal  for "the valuable service it
fession: "Synods and councils are to handle, or             renders." The result, however, was closer to con-
conclude nothing but that which is ecclesiastical."         demnation than commendation. The Committee on
This statement is also given support by the record of       Bills and Overtures which handled the matter, recom-
the First General Assembly of ,Christ's Church (Acts        mended (interestingly, with the urging of the editor
15), where the matters handled were exclusively             of the Journal) that New River's overture be received
ecclesiastical. That individual Christians, or groups of    as information. Obviously, they were trying to avoid
Christians, may address their government is beyond          a debate over the editorial policies of the  Journal
dispute. That church courts, as such, may do this, is       which have, in recent years, been antagonistic to a
quite debatable.                                            consistent Reformed position and sympathetic to
      Moreover, it is disturbing to think that future       charismatic tendencies in and out of the PCA. The
assemblies are going to have more and more of their         plan went awry, however, when a motion was made
time taken with such matters. Two other resolutions,        from the floor, the substance of which called upon
one expressing opposition to "godless Communism,"           the Assembly to express disappointment over edi-
and the other requesting that we petition the Presi-        torial policies of the  Presbyterian Journal  which
dent and Congress "to honor and scrupulously keep           appear to, contradict the Reformed Faith, especially
its (i.e., the United States') treaties with and commit-    in regard to the spiritual gifts.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 41


  The motion was easily defeated, but it was amusing         they are getting their way. The last Southern invasion
to note that even some of those who spoke against            of the North took place in July, 1863, ending at
the motion expressed dismay over the direction the           Gettysburg. One hopes that the disaster of that little
Journal has been taking. All in all, the Journal wound       excursion is not somehow repeated in an ecclesiastical
up with something less than the vote of confidence           context come next June.
New River Presbytery had sought.                               In conclusion, let it be noted that the generally
  The other item of interest is the fact that the            negative tenor of this report should not be taken to
Assembly reaffirmed its commitment to meet next              mean that everything in the PCA is on the downhill
June in Grand Rapids, in conjunction with the Synod          grade. Some of us were encouraged, for example, by
meetings of the other bodies which are a part of the         the election of certain individuals of strong Reformed
North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council.            conviction to some of the Assembly's Permanent
These include the Christian Reformed Church, which           Committees. Also, one should take into account that,
is the host for this little party; the Orthodox Presby-      on balance, the Assembly did more re-committing
terian Church; the Reformed Presbyterian Church of           and postponing than anything else. So, there are still
North America; and the Reformed Presbyterian                 opportunities and crucial debates in the future.
Church, Evangelical Synod.                                     Perhaps the best summation of  the  Assembly
  Practically speaking, this meeting in Grand Rapids         would be that which was spoken to this writer by a
makes no sense whatever. The PCA doesn't have a              veteran of many ecclesiastical wars with whom we
single congregation in that area. Moreover, the great        had the privilege of sitting through most of the
body of the church is in the States South of the             meetings. At one point, after a motion he had sup-
Mason-Dixon line and east of the Mississippi River.          ported had been defeated, he noted that it got more
There are a few congregations elsewhere, but these           support than he thought it would. "There's more life
represent only a fraction of the total body and none         in this group," he said, "than I thought there would
of them is even close to Grand Rapids. Still, some in        be when we started out."
the PCA are bent on dislocating the whole Assembly             One hopes he is right.
to meet "up nawth" so that we can prove the
unprovable  - that we are a "national" church. And             But, then, one wonders sometimes.

.SIGNS OF THE TIMES



                                The Rich Get Richer
                                                 Rev. Mark Hoeksema


  In Revelation  6:5-6 we find the narrative of the          balances as interpreted in verse 6. Not all people upon
opening of the third seal in the general context of the      the earth shall be affected by the shortage of food,
signs that point to and bring the coming of the end of       but only certain ones, for the black horse and rider
all things. The content of that seal is a rider upon a       will carefully mete out famine and plenty as with a
black horse, which rider holds in his hand a pair of         very precise and accurate scale. Those who are
balances or measuring scales. In interpretation of this      touched by the famine are the poor of the earth, the
black horse and rider we are told in verse 6, "A             common people, for a measure of wheat and three
measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of          measures of barley will sell for a penny. A penny
barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and        represents the  w.ages of one man for one day, his
the wine."                                                   livelihood, and a measure of wheat or three measures
   If we interpret this seal in the light of Scripture,      of barley represent the amount of food necessary to
then we find that the black horse is symbolic of             sustain a bare existence. The meaning is therefore
famine that shall occur in the last times, along with        that the famine is of such a kind that it requires the
the hardship and suffering and death that accompany          full resources of a man just to acquire his daily bread.
famine. This famine, however, is pictured not as             There is no extra food, but only that which affords
universal, but as selective, as seen from the idea of the    subsistence; nor is there money left over for the pur-


42                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


chase of more food or other goods. Man is just barely        article described the recent advance of deserts into
able to scratch out an existence, living from hand to        previously fertile or semi-fertile areas because of poor
mouth. In sharp contrast to such a life, the oil and         .land management practices and over-population in
wine must not be touched or affected in any way. Oil         semi-arid areas. The results of all of this have been
and wine are symbols of luxury, ofthe finer things of        tragic, resulting in much suffering and poverty, and
life, of wealth and great plenty, of feasting and high       even death in some African nations. In 1974 alone
living. The meaning is clearly that the rich are not to      more than lOO.,OOO people perished from famine just
be touched by this famine, but must be allowed to            in the southern Sahara region. And there are many
continue their lives of plenty. (We cannot help but be       more places on the earth that are nearly as bad. There
reminded of the rich man `spoken of in Psalm 73).            are literally millions of people who live from hand to
The overall picture, then, is one of great contrast          mouth, and when there is any unusual drought, they
between untold wealth and abject poverty, of the             die by the thousands. They are able to get a measure
infinite gulf between the have and the have-nots.            of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley
  All of this is meant by way of explanation of the          for a penny, but they get nothing when there is no
title of this article. You will probably recognize it as     food.
the first half of a popular saying or proverb of today,        All of this illustrates that the matter of the division
the other half of which is, "and the poor get poorer."       between rich and poor is not only an individual thing.
These words are often spoken by way of complaint             It is true, of course, that within almost any nation
by the workingman to his fellows as he contemplates          there is this stark contrast between the few wealthy
his position in relation to those who are wealthy. It        and the masses of the poor. But this is true also on a
seems that the common people cannot "get ahead,"             national level, so that some nations wallow in super-
and sometimes cannot even keep up or stay even with          abundance while others have their very existence
the cost of living, while such matters as daily bread        threatened  by'lack of daily bread. And to see both
are insignificant trivialities to the rich. Surely these     extreme riches and extreme poverty at the same time,
words are not meant as an expression of a Scriptural         and written about in one issue of a news magazine is
truth, but as the lament of discontent with life.            striking indeed. Surely we may draw from all of this
Occasionally Christians are even heard to say these          the conclusion that the contrast between nations
words in the spirit of discontent or mild rebellion.         serves only to highlight the internal contrasts within
This should not be, of course, but sometimes it is so.       nations, for the running of the black horse is a world-
But although this little saying is not meant to express      wide phenomenon.
a truth of the Scriptures concerning the end times,            All of -this is most significant for the people of God
the fact is that it is precisely accurate, for this is       today. We are able to see the signs of the times ex-
exactly the teaching of the third seal of Revelation 6.      emplified in the running of the black horse, and then
      The contrast described in the third seal was force-    we know that the end is near. And the more the black
fully illustrated in the September 12, 1977 issue of         horse becomes evident, the nearer is the end. But if
TIME  magazine. One article described the bumper             we say only that the contrast between riches and
crop that is even now being harvested in the U.S.A.          poverty is a sign or indication of the coming of the
American farmers are reaping about 2 billion bushels         end of all things, then we have missed a very im-
of wheat, 6 billion bushels of corn, and almost 2            portant point. The book of Revelation teaches us that
billion bushels of soybeans. And this is the third year      this sign, along with the others detailed in Scripture,
in a row of bumper crops in some areas, so that there        actually cause or bring the end as well. The church is
is no room to store the crops, and so that there is a        saved in  .the way of all sorts of calamities; Zion is
drastic drop in prices, according to the laws of supply      redeemed through judgment, so that the same judg-
and demand. The article went on to mention the               ments that bring ruin and destruction upon the world
economic implications of this oversupply  :`for this         and the wicked are the means of the salvation of the
country (the irony of it all is that many farmers have       church. Moreover, the signs in their causative func-
produced so much but are receiving so little for their       tion also increase in intensity as the end becomes
products that they are being forced out of business          closer. The truth is, then, not only that the manifesta-
by rising production costs). But all of this is not of       tions of these signs become more visible, but also that
concern here. Rather, consider the simple fact of            more and more clearly they cause the end to
abundance: billions of bushels of grain, millions too        approach.
many, grain piled on the ground, even on main streets          This may be understood if we pause to consider
of small rural towns. There is so much food right now        the implications of the running and work of the black
that we do not know what to do with it all!                  horse and his rider in the earth. What is produced in
      In the same issue of TIME was another article on       the world is social difference, class structure, the
the creeping deserts in many parts of the earth. The         basic difference between rich and poor, all due to


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                             43


.economic  differences. Moreover, the result is in-           that we live today in a "global community." No
evitably social chaos wherever the black horse goes;          longer are nations isolated from each other, but their
sometimes this takes the form of inter,nal trouble or         economies, governments, and futures are closely in-
revolution in nations, sometimes this takes the form          tertwined with one another. Though perhaps it is not
of nation rising against nation, which is in itself a sign    possible to point out or prove the exact implications
of the end. All of this has always taken place to a           of the present contrast in food supplies, we may be
certain extent; that is the nature of the signs, for they     sure in the light of Scripture that they are there.
do not concern unusual or new phenomena, but                  When we put all of this into the context of the rise of
things that are considered normal and usual, but              antichrist and the eventual unity of the entire world
which have great significance and which increase in           under his wicked rule, and when we remember that
intensity. There has thus always been the difference          this world order shall not be permanent but will end
in the social structure of the peoples of the earth, but      at the battle of Armageddon, then these events take
that distinction is becoming more and more pro-               on significance for us. We must know the testimony
nounced in our world, and will continue to grow.              of Scripture so that we can see these signs in their
                                                              manifestation. And we must believe that God in His
   In this light we are able to understand the sign of        sovereignty controls all these things, and that, not-
the black horse. It is perhaps true that objectively the      withstanding all efforts of men, He uses social differ-
famines and difference of social class are not increas-       ences and calamities for the coming of His kingdom,
ing in frequency or even in severity. But surely it is        and will continue to do that even up to the very end.
true that the black horse is much more visible than in        It will be interesting to follow the progress of this
former times even from the viewpoint of the pub-              social situation, to observe man's effbrts to remedy it,
licity and knowledge regarding famines and social             as well as God's direction and use of this phenom-
upheavals, due to the modern communications media.            enon. Our calling is then to be aware of this sign, and
And it is also true that the contrasts  06 plenty and         to put our trust in God, believing that He will use it
famine are increasing in their significance for the           for our salvation in the coming of the kingdom of
world as a whole. Marshall  McLuhan  has observed             Christ.

ALL AROUND US
     Rev. G. Van Baren





                                            A perceptive analysis

  Recently  tfiere appeared in two issues of the              like to quote a few of the pertinent points of the
Banner a set of articles worthy of note. In the issues        articles.
of Aug. 19 and 26, Robert De Lange, missionary at                     The crises to which I'm referring affect a great deal
Charlotte, Michigan, sought to pinpoint some of the               more than merely the C.R.C. They are really tests of
causes of the crises in the Christian Reformed                    the whole Reformed system of theology. What seems
Church. His analysis, to me, appears very accurate                really to be at stake are some ancient issues now
and to the point. Were his conclusions to be adopted              being replayed.' I believe that the methods and
within the C.R.C., I am convinced there would be a                strategies of evangelism, the demise of morale and
radical change in that denomination. The writer                   morals, the decline in church growth, attendance, and
points to the evidences of Arminian approaches                    commitment can be attributed in a large degree to an
within his denomination. He explains that much of                 increasing emphasis. on Arminian concepts in the
                                                                  Reformed community, along with a steady decrease
the difficulty in the C.R.C. can be traced back to this           in the emphasis and practical implications of Cal-
Arminian tendency. He did not, obviously, point out               vinism, as defined by the Synod of Dort, 1618-19.
that the common grace issue of 1924 gave a tremen-                   . . . Many Christians today are searching for per-
dous boost to this Arminianism in the C.R.C.  -                   sonal assurance of the certainty of their faith and
specifically the adoption of the idea of a "well-meant            salvation. Closely tied to such a search is the need felt
offer of the gospel." Yet one could wish and pray                 by others that their particular congregation needs
that the C.R.C. would take the message to heart. I'd              renewal, almost to a rebaptism of the Spirit. Perhaps
                                                                                                           ,


44                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


       the reason such needs are felt is that while we have            of faithfulness remain wholly the blessing of God
       confessed historic Calvinism, we actually practice              alone - which may or may not be high conversion
       more of an Arminian emphasis.                                   returns.
          . . . If it is God who is the initiator and loving         In a subsequent article, the author points out the
       Father of our salvation and faith, then we have no          positive calling of the Calvinist and what is involved
       choice but to submit in obedience to His call. In so        in that. He emphasizes that the central calling of the
       doing we discover that through this obedience we            church is to be 
       find joy, peace, and motivation, because God alone is                           obedient.
       the provider of all good and perfect gifts.                         The primary motive, then, behind any method of
                                                                       evangelism or church growth discussions must be
          Could it be that while we confess the Canons of              obedience. It is not, first, of all, to secure some sign of
       Dort, in reality we find the practice of Arminianism           personal assurance of belief - although we might
       much more to our tastes, that we like being our own             surely hope that such assurance is forthcoming. By
       masters, and that we think it is really up to us to take        concerning ourselves primarily with being obedient,
       it or leave it? But what kind of assurance, hope, or            we are no longer worried about "making a sale,"
       basis for motivation is that? It leaves us with the             because the "sale" is not ours to make but Gods. By
       delusion of assurance that is as whimsical as the               being obedient, we place the emphasis, first of all, on
       human spirit.                                                   being "kind to one another," (Eph. 4:23), and "living
          Third, within the arena of, church growth  dis-              peaceably with all men, so far as is possible" (Rom.
       cussions  and methods of evangelism, we can see a               12: 18). By being obedient we realize that God is at
       good deal of Arminian input. We seem to be under a              work, through us, to make known His electing love to
       lot of pressure to implement church growth in terms             others as He chooses, not as we may choose.
       of increased conversions and to use all the principles
       of Big Business in order to be popularly appealing. To              . . . The importance of stressing obedience as the
       be sure, the very purpose of the church is missions.            response to God's election is that it maintains the
       But I'd like to suggest that the issue of size, number          distinction.between what God does and what man is
       of conversions, popular appeal, and strategies of              able to do. It constrains us both in perspective and
       evangelism are largely influenced by the Arminian-             methodology to remember that our concern is not,
      C~alvinism  distinction.                                         first of all, to secure a high rate of conversions. The
          For example, if man is ultimately responsible for            issue is not, first of all, whether or not we have led
       his salvation, then it makes very good sense to enter           anyone to Christ, but whether we have been obedi-
       the game of commercialization. Faith is then a                  ent. . . .
       product of man. And like man's other products and                   . . . Further, since we are not the ones ultimately
       services, his faith too must be sold; the better the            responsible for the plan of salvation, but God alone,
       salesman and the program the higher the sales. Once             the mission in which we are engaged cannot fail. The
       we enter that game, however, the reverse also tends to          genius of the Calvinistic system of thought is that it
       be true; the poorer the salesman the worse the sales.           embodies completely the fact that  God conquers
       Could this be the incentive behind some of our                  Satan! God is not dependent on man's willingness to
       current desires to initiate bigger and better, more            cooperate. The whole of salvation is completely
       enticing evangelism programs, and the subsequent                God's action. That is why it. cannot fail. And that's
       push to train slicker salesmen?                                 assurance! That's motivation! He did what man could
          If, on the other hand, God is ultimately the                not do in order that man could be truly man again,
       initiator and actor in the plan of salvation, then man's        obedient creature to the Creator.
       efforts must be concentrated on being obediently              I would strongly recommend both articles for more
       faithful  - which  may  or may  not  entail better          careful study. One could wish more of such would
       advertising. The question of goods and services is no       appear in the Banner.
       longer the primary issue or motivation, and the fruits

                                                      Membership decline
  From the  Clarion  comes the report of declining                 the membership decreased by some 2,400 members.
membership in the Reformed Churches  (Synodical) in                The trend is similar to that seen in many churches
the Netherlands. Before 1970 these churches had a                  who have been departing from their old heritage. At
`growth rate of some 10,000 per year. After 1974 this              least some of the members who depart, appear to do
growth rate almost completely disappeared. In 1977                 so because they are not being fed with the pure Word
these churches have been losing members. In 1976                   of God in  tlie preaching on Sunday.

                                                            What now?
  So asks the last News  Bulletin of the Assooiation  of                  As a result of this sad state of affairs, the C.RC.
Christian  Ref&med   L~ytikn. These  write:                           through its Synods, has lost at least two of the marks


                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         45


     of the true church as given to us in the Belgic                           synod were not dealt with honestly but were
     Confession, Article XXIX, namely: The pure preach-                        shunted aside in 1976 and 1977 on techriical-
     iug of the Word and Church discipline.                                    ities. More of the same is likely when the case
          Do you believe this is too harsh a statement? Well,                  comes up again in 1978.
     let's look at the record of the last ten years at synod.            5. Dr. Harry Boer (1977) - Questions the doc-
     We present the following partial list of well-                            triue of reprobation. Presents a gravamen to the
     documented cases:                                                         effect to Synod 1977. Synod declares "open
          1. Prof. H. Dekker (1967) - Denied the doctrine                      season" on the Canons of Dort for the next
               of limited atonement. Synod slapped his wrist                   three years. Unthinkable a few years ago!
             but failed to discipline. He is still teaching in
             the Seminary.                                           This is indeed a "harsh" statement. Consider: if
          2. Prof. L.  Sweetman (1968)  - Preached  ad-           two marks of the church are gone, it can not be
             mittedly questionable sermon- in IFuller Ave.        maintained that even the third (proper administration
               C.R.C. in Grand Rapids. Protest against it was     of sacraments) is still present  - for it is intimately
             not upheld by Synod. He is still teaching in         related to the first (pure preaching). This, however,
             Calvin College.                                      places the writers in a terrible position. By their
          3. Dr. Willis De Boer (1970-1972) - Views on            statement, they continue as members in a false
             early chapters of Genesis were protested by          church, which one who maintains the Netherlands
             Central Ave. Holland, C.R.C. Protest not up-         Confession,  mBy never do.
             held by Synod. He is still teaching in Calvin
             College.                                                One can sympathize with those who believe
          4. Dr. Allen Verhey (1976-1977) - Denied plain          strongly that their church departs from the faith once
             statements of Scripture in his  classicial  ex-      delivered to the saints. But, if they maintain their
             amination as a candidate. Was ordained anyway        claim, they are presently in an utterly untenable
             with approval of Classis GR East. Protests to        position.


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          THE STANDARD  BEARE

                                                 Book Reviews
I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT,  by Michael                           Michael Green, Rector of St. Aldate's, Oxford, has
Green; William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1977;                  added  tinother book to the mountain of literature on
223  pp.,  $2.95  (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H.                  Pentecostalism. It is somewhat doubtful whether this
Hanko)                                                            book makes any significantly new contribution to the
   This  volume is a part of a series of books being              field. I found the book very weak in important areas
published by Eerdmans. On the back cover we are                   and not overly helpful in the apologetic against  Neo-
told :                                                            Pentecostalism. The weaknesses are many more than
          Edited by Michael Green, these books are intended       the strengths.
    to take a fresh look at controversial areas of the              In the first place, the book is doctrinally weak. It is
    Christian faith. The writers, from different nations,
    cultures, and confessional backgrounds, all anchor            doctrinally weak first of all because there is no real
    their work in the Bible. Though fully abreast of the          theology of the Holy Spirit developed  - something
    latest scholarship  iu the area about which they              which is a crying need in the current discussion. It is
    write, they focus in these volumes on the current,            doctrinally weak secondly because it takes erroneous
    practical meaning of' their topic for the general             positions on some key points. Consider the following
    reader.                                                       quotes concerning the personality of the Spirit:


  46                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
                             -       -

           We have seen that the Spirit of God which                          the Old Testament, becomes clearly focused for the
        appeared fitfully, in a variety of forms, and  pro-                   first time in Jesus of Nazareth. . . . No longer sub-
        phetically  in the Old Testament days shone steadily,                 personal, the Spirit is stamped with the personality of
        personally, and fully in the Man of Nazareth. No                      Jesus. (p. 51)
        longer is the Holy Spirit encountered as naked power;
        he is clothed with the personality and character of                  There is also an Arminian emphasis in the book:
        Jesus. If you like, Jesus is the funnel through whom          the Holy Spirit is dependent upon our acceptance of
        the Spirit becomes available to men. Jesus transposes         Him before He can begin His work, pp. 87  & 88;
        the Spirit into a fully personal key. Jesus is the prism      there is a general operation of the Spirit in all men
        through whom the diffused and fitful light of the             leading to Christ. But the most serious weakness is
        Spirit is concentrated. (`p. 42)                              the author's willingness to make major concessions to
           By the time of the New Testament Epistles, on              Pentecostal&m. In chapter 10 he concedes tongue
        the other hand, the Spirit is the fully personal em-          speaking, prophecy, interpretation, and all the gifts
        bodiment of the Godhead. How comes this change?               mentioned in I Cor. 12 as present day gifts of the
           It is simply due to the fact that the diffused, little-    Spirit.
        defined, fitfully-manifested and sometimes  sub-
                                                  _~--_ __                   The  book is not of very great help in the defense
        personal presence of God-as Spirit which we found in          of the faith over against Pentecostalism.

 A HALF CENTURY OF THEOLOGY, G.C.                                     he developed his own view of election and of election
 Berkouwer; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,                       in relation to the preaching of the gospel (and
 Grand Rapids, Michigan; 268 pages, $6.95 (paper).                    remember: Berkouwer has openly denied double
  [Reviewed by Prof. H.C. Hoeksema]                                   predestination) in reaction to Herman Hoeksema's
    We have already reviewed the Dutch edition of this                view (or a caricature of that view). It is interesting to
 work and also devoted a rather lengthy critique to                   note that Berkouwer states of Hoeksema, "I have
 Chapter  4  in the  Protestant Reformed Theological                  seldom met a theologian who consistently reasoned
 journal.   Now we have the English translation by                    things through from an adopted standpoint."
 Lewis Smedes. Smedes has done an acceptable job of                          This book will not have a wide readership, since it
 translating, too, although a book almost always loses                is of special interest only to those with theological
something in translation.                                             interests.
    On October  12,  1973, Dr. Berkouwer retired as                          But by ministers and theological students it should
 professor of the Theological Faculty of the Free                     be read by all means, and I recommend this strongly.
 University of Amsterdam. This `event occasioned his                  Regular readers of the Standard Bearer will know that
 looking back upon a half century of being busy with-                 I  count Berkouwer  ar!r enemy of the Reformed faith.
 in the Gereformeerde Kerken and as occupant of the                   But he is a force to be reckoned with. There is
 Chair of Theology at the Free. And the book under                    probably no one person more responsible than is
 review is the result of his retrospective look. In these             Berkouwer for recent trends in the Dutch churches; I
 theological memoirs he traces the important currents                 hold him more responsible than men like Kuitert,
 in theology (in his view) from 1920 to the present,                  Baarda, and Wiersinga. Moreover, Berkouwer has
 and he gives account of his motives in his theological               undoubtedly influenced theology far beyond the
 and ecclesiastical labor.                                            boundaries of the Netherlands. He has many a dis-
   In a way this is not a typical Berkouwer book.                     ciple in this country also. Besides,  his Studies in
 While in the nature of the case there are many refer-                dogmatics   have been widely hailed; and only very
 ences to the views of others, at many points: there is               rarely did one read a critical review of any of them:
 much more of Berkouwer in this book than in some                            Berkouwer must be known and understood, there-
 of  his Studies in Dogmatics.  Through reading this                  fore, in order that we may reckon with him  and.his
 book one certainly obtains a better insight into the                 theology. This book is a help in understanding the'
 theological approach of the author.                                  man and his theology. For this reason I recommend
   Of special interest is his reference to the fact that              it.


         THE STANDARD BEARER

                       is a thoughtful gift for a "Shut-in".


)                                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                        47
I                                                                                     --




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                                            S U F F E R   L I T T L E   C H I L D R E N                                                                   .
                                                                         BOOK ONE
                                                               -GERTRUDE HOEKSEMA  -


               DESIGNED AS;
                           A Bible Teacher's Manual for use in Christian grade schools.

               HELPFUL FOR:

                           Sunday School Teachers, Catechism Teachers, Parents with small children

               CONTENTS:
                           A general introduction to the projected series of manuals. 125 two-page, well-planned Old
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I                            ANNOUNCEMENT                                                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
~        Southwest Protestant Reformed Church of Wyoming, Michigan                      On September 19, 1977, our parents, MR. AND MRS.  JdHN
     would like to borrow up to  $100,000.00 to finance the construction of          WIGGER, celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. We are thankful
     their Phase I building project. Those interested in loaning $l,OOO.OO or        to God for the years that they have had together and for the covenant
     more for periods of five years, ten years or fifteen years at interest rates    instruction we have received. It is our prayer that the Lord will
     of 7%.  7%% and 8% respectively are requested to contact Mr. John               continue to bless them and guide them in the years ahead.
     Vander Woude, 7085 Sunset Dr., Jenison, Michigan, 49428 (Phone
     616457-0553)  for particulars.                                                                                        Their children,
                                                                                                                                Mr. and Mrs. Bern Wigger
                                                                                                                                  Jennifer and Stephen
                         -NOTICE OF LECTURE  -                                                                                  Mr. and Mrs. Ben Wigger
                                                                                                                                Mr. and Mrs. Chuck  En&k
         On October 27, 1977, at 8:00 P.M., in The Hudspnville Protestant                                                         Scott
     Reformed Church, our Annual Reformation Day Lecture will be given.                                                         David Wigger
     Prof. H.C. Hoeksema will speak on "REFORMATION  - OPTION OR
     MANDATE?" Plan to attend, and urge others also to hear this
     interesting and timely lecture.                                                               RESOLUTION OF SY.MPA-iHY
                                                                                        The Ladies Aid Society of our Hope Church in Grand Rapids
                        RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY.                                      express its sympathy to one of our members, Mrs. C.  DanBoer  in the
         The Adult Bible Class of Faith Protestant Reformed Church ex-               loss of her husband, Mr. Cornelius DenBoer,  on Sept.  21,1977.
      presses their Christian sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Herm Schipper in the             May she find comfort in the words expressed in Job  19:25   & 26.
      loss of his mother, Grace Schipper at the age of 91 years.                     "For I know that my Redeemer liveth. and that He shall stand at the
         May our God strengthen them'by His Spirit and Word. "For this God           latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this
      is our God forever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death."            body, yet in my flesh shall I see God."
      (Psalm  48:14)                                                                                                    Rev. R. Van  Overloop  (Pres.)
                                         Rev. M. Joostens, Pres.                                                       Mrs. P. Knott  (Sec'y)


THE STANDARD  BtARER
         P.O. Box 6064          ____-     --__----~---~  ---~- _ -_
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





 48                                            THE STANDARD BEARER
                                News From Our Churches
   Rev. J. Slopsema has received the call to be pastor
 of our church in Randolph, Wisconsin. Randolph's           In addition to classes for the various age groups, Rev.
 trio also included Candidate Kenneth Koole and Rev.        Bekkering scheduled 15 minutes of singing between
                                                            classes, for "all the children together." Candidate
 Rodney Miersma. Rev. M. Joostens of our Faith
 Church has declined the call to be pastor of the           Koole preached for the Houston congregation during
 Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Christchurch, New          the months of July and August until Rev. Bekkering
 Zealand. Rev. Gise Van Baren has accepted the call to      arrived.
 serve as pastor of our Hudsonville  Church. Rev. Van         And, speaking of Candidate Koole, he and his wife
 Baren has served First Church `in Grand Rapids for         rejoice in the birth of a son, Justin Michael on
 about 12 years.                                            September 10.
       Several bulletins have carriednews concerning the      Faith Church in Jenison, Michigan, is making good
 work of our missionary pastor, Rev. Robert Harbach.        progress toward completing a final set of plans for the
 The Faith Church bulletin carried the following from       building of their new sanctuary. The first of these
 one of Rev. Harbach's letters "After about 2,532           blue prints was on display for the congregation.
 miles from Grand Rapids, we arrived safely in Vic-           Rev. Herman Veldman marked two rather special
 toria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia on           anniversaries during the month of September - one
 August 30. We immediately began regular church
 services in a Holyrood House in the city, preaching        of which also involved Mrs. Veldman. Not only did
 the Gospel to a small group of just over a dozen. . . .    Rev. and Mrs. Veldman celebrate their 45th wedding
 We are thankful to the Lord and happy in Him to be         anniversary, but Rev. Veldman also marked the 45th
 back in the field and busily serving Him in the cause      anniversary of his ordination to the ministry of the
 of the Gospel. . . . Weather is beautiful and warm.        Gospel.
 Roses and fall flowers are much in evidence. We enjoy        The Council of our Southwest Church sent their
 God's glorious handiwork in creation. Most of all His      pastor, Rev. Veldman, to Skowhegan, Maine, to in-
 presence and promises are ever faithful, ever sure.        vestigate a report of increased interest there. Rev. and
 Sincerely in our Sovereign God. . . ." Apparently, all     Mrs. Veldman planned to be gone for three weeks.
 the `red tape' involved in granting Rev. Harbach a           Southwest Council scheduled a special congrega-
 work permit in Canada is not quite accomplished as         tional meeting on October 6 to adopt the final plans
 yet. Such things as Medical Clearances and the like        for the new church building they plan to build soon.
 must be rubber stamped, examined, and slowly               The recently completed drive in the Southwest con-
 passed from office to office. Meanwhile, Rev. and          gregation resulted in $14,505 in cash and pledges for
 Mrs. Harbach are `moteling' it.                            their construction program.
       Rev. Bekkering sent in some news to end the news       The congregation of our church in South Holland,
 "blackout" from Houston, as he put it. The Bekker-         Illinois, was canvassed recently for orders for the
 ings have been rather busy getting situated in their       recently announced book by Rev. H. Hoeksema,
 new home and in a new congregation - The Trinity           When I Survey. . . . fifty-eight orders were placed for
 Protestant Reformed Church of Houston, Texas.              the book - a very good response.
 Plans are being put in place to hold a Reformation
 Day Lecture in Houston. The new Trinity congrega-            Last month, you may recall, we made mention of
 tion has "already experienced the communion of             the fact that the  Standard Bearer  had added a new
 saints that we have with the other members of our          reader in the Republic of Nauru, a place which the
 denomination in that Rev. Miersma saw to it that           U. S. Postal Service did not seem to know anything
 Houston received part of the communion service that        about. After some research, our business manager
 formerly belonged to our Forbes, North Dakota, con-        located Nauru in the central Pacific Ocean, just south
 gregation. That, sort of, keeps it in the family," Rev.    of the equator at long. 166", 56" E. The island's popu-
 Bekkering also writes that he and his congregation are     lation is about 7,000 on a land area of about 8.2 sq.
 looking forward to having visitors from the North          miles. The Nauruans have one of the highest per
 come and worship with them as they enjoy the mild          capita incomes in the world, due to rich phosphate
 Houston winters. As most of our churches have,             deposits on the island.
 Houston has begun catechism classes for the children.                                                      K.G.V.


