 STANDARD
         BEARER  ..'  "
f- A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                       .





     Fleeing to the cross and clinging to the feet of
  the Savior, we hear the verdict: No condemna-
 tion! No condemnation for those who are in
 Christ Jesus, since He- bore the full burden of
 God's wrath for the sins of all His people. With
 the Psalmist we confess ever anew: "Blessed is
 he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
 covered."
            See "God's Just Judgment"  - page 362




                                  Volume LIV, No. 16, May 15,1978    4
                                            ISSN 03624692


362                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                   Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July. and August.
                           CONTENTS:                                                    Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                             Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
Meditation  -                                                                  Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                               Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma,
  God's Just Judgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .362               Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach,
                                                                               Rev. John A.  Heys. Rev. Mark H. Hoeksema, Rev. Meindert Joostens,
Editorials -                                                                   -Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Mlersma,
                                                                               Rev. Marinus  Schipper. Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.  Gise J. Van  Baren,
                                                                               Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman Veldman, Mr. Kenneth G.
  Dr. Daane's Distortions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .365               Vink.
  The United Reformed Church . . . . . . . . . . . . .3.67                     Editorial Office:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                     4975  lvanrest  Ave. S.W.
                                                                                                     Grandville.  Michiqan  49418
  Not A Pandora's Box, But An Evil Root . . . . .369
  Book Club Break-Through! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .369
Taking Heed to the Doctrine -
  The Living God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .370
Signs of the Times -                                                           contents should be sent to the editorial office.
                                                                               Reprint  Policy:   Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of
  The Growing Reality of the                                                   articles in our magazine by other Publications, provided: a) that such
                                                                               reprinted articles are reproduced in full; b) that proper acknowledge-
       Antichristian Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .372              ment is made; c) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint
                                                                               appears is sent to our editorial office.
The Strength of Youth -                                                        Business Office:  The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                     Mr. H. Vander Wal. Bus. Mgr.
  The Two Builders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .374                                  P.O. Box 6064
                                                                                                     Grand Rapids.  Michiaan-49506
All Around Us -                                                                Australian Business Office:.        keformed  Literature Centre.
                                                                                                                   P.O. Box 649,
   "Sportianity" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .377                                          Rockhampton 4700,
                                                                                                                   Queensland, Australia
  The Gospel Razzmatazz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .378                   New Zealand Business Office:            The Standard Bearer,
                                                                                                                       c/o OPC Bookshop,
                                                                                                                       P.O. Box 2209
  Pity the poor criminal? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .378                                                     Christchurch, New Zealand
                                                                               Subscription Policy:  Subscription price, $7.00 per year ($5.00 for
The Day of Shadows -                                                           Australasia). Unless a definite request for discontinuance is received, it
                                                                               is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription to continue with-
  We Shall Overcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .379             out the formality of a renewal order, and he will be billed for renewal.
                                                                               If you have a change of address. please notify the Business Office as
Triumph Through Trials -                                                       early as possible in order to  avord the inconvenience of delayed deliv-
                                                                               ery. Include your Zip Code.
  Pain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..38 2    Advertising Policy:  The  Standard Bearer  does not accept commercial
                                                                               advertising of any kind. Announcements of church and school events,
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .384                  anniversaries, obituaries, and sympathy resolutions will be placed for a
                                                                               $3.00 fee. These should be sent to the Business Office and should be
                                                                               accompanied by the $3.00 fee. Deadline for announcements is the 1st
                                                                               or the 15th of the month, previous to publication on the  15th or the
                                                                               1st  respectively.
                                                                               Bound  Volumes:  The Business Office will accept standing orders for
                                                                               bound copies of the current volume; such orders are filled as soon as
                                                                               possible after completion of a volume. A limited number of past vol-
                                                                               umes may be obtained through the Business Office.

MEDITATION



                                            God's Just Judgment
                                                                    Rev. C. Hanko


                 Will God suffer such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?
                 By no means, but is terribly displeased with our original as well as actual sins; and will
             punish them in his just judgment temporally and eternally, as he hath declared, `Cursed is
             every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
              them. "                                                           Heid. Catechism, Lord's Day 4, Question 10

Humble Submission
   The tone of this question and answer is quite                                 demanding of us the impossible. God's law confronts
different from the previous one. There we made bold                              us day and night with the demand: Love Me, for I am
to ask whether God .was not doing us an injustice by                             God! Love me whether awake or asleep, when you


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                363


eat your meals, when you work, when you speak or            into everlasting torment for his sin. The workers of
act. Let the deepest impulses of your soul and all          iniquity must perish. Therefore our Catechism speaks
your thoughts be directed in love to Me, so that your       of God's just judgment both temporally and eter-
life is permeated with that love. We find in ourselves      nally.
the very opposite. I hate God. I hate my neighbor. I
am so completely prone to hate, that I transgress
every command of God, and am not able to keep one           The Gospel Of God's Judgment
of them. Yet He demands love.                                 This just judgment of God is poured out upon the
  That was our problem in the previous question and         wicked already in this present time.
answer. We now are conscious of our wilful  dis-              God writes VANITY over the lives of evil men.
o&dience.whereby  we, in Adam, ate of the forbidden         They never succeed. Their lives are like a treadmill,
tree. We realize that this was nothing short of re-         wearying them to total exhaustion, yet getting them
bellion against our  God, We transgressed His cove-         nowhere. They try to dethrone God, but they never
nant, allying ourselves with God's enemy, Satan.            succeed. They build their tower of Babel, but God
According to the strict justice of God we deserve that      always disrupts their efforts. Man accrues a fortune for
God's image in us be perverted into "Blindness of           himself, but leaves it all behind when he dies. He may
mind, horrible darkness, vanity and perverseness of         have a Brink's truck with all his treasures following his
judgment." We are become "wicked, obdurate in               hearse to the cemetery, but he knows nothing about
heart and will, and impure in (our) affections."            it. Man makes a name for himself, but this  isi often
(Canons III, IV,' art. 1). Wilful disobedience and          forgotten before, he dies. The wise preacher of the
rebellion characterize our entire lives.                    Scriptures warns us: "It is all vanity, and vexation of
  "Will God allow such disobedience and rebellion to        spirit." The wicked have no peace, saith my God.
go unpunished?" We are standing before the tribunal           This is strongly confirmed in Romans 1 - "For the
of the Judge of heaven and earth, Who by the                wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
Scriptures and by the testimony of the Spirit in our        ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold
hearts brings us to trial in our own consciences every      the truth in unrighteousness." We are told here. that
moment, every day. Every attempt at self-defense has        these ungodly men "hold the truth." They know that
disappeared. As guilty sinners we bow our heads             God is the only true and living God, foi God manifests
before the condemning verdict of our God: "Cursed           Himself unto them in all the works of His hands. God
is every one that continueth not in all things, which       surrounds them with His power as the ever-glorious
are.written  in the book of the law, to do them."           God. It is exactly for that reason that man's re-
  In humble submission we confess that God "is              bellious heart suppresses the truth "in unrighteous-
terribly displeased with our original as well as our        ness." Even the pagan in the jungles who never heard
actual sins." We say with David, "Against thee, thee        of the ten commandments knows that God must be
only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight;        served, that stealing is stealing, that murder is murder,
that thou mightest be justified when thou  speakest,        that adultery is adultery. .Let someone steal his goods,
and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen        or rape his wife, or kill his child; the pagan knows
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."         that this is sin against God, and condemns him for it,
(Psalm 51:4, 5). The original guilt, and therefore the      even though he condones the same sins in himself.
original depravity of Adam, is passed on in the             Paul tells us that man's conscience accuses him. God
geneiations to each of us. To that we add our               never leaves himself without witness that He is God,
personal, daily transgressions, which we commit             so that no man has any excuse in the day `of
before the very face of God. Therefore God has just         judgment.
reason to be displeased, .even terribly displeased with       Under the righteous judgment of God sin breeds
us. God's displeasure is not a momentary flare-up `of       sin. Romans 1 goes on to describe the rapid degeneraA
temper, that soon fades away. Even as God is eternal,       tion of the sinner who forsakes God. Because he
His displeasure is eternal. Because sin is transgression    banishes God from his thoughts, God gives the sinner
of God's holy, law, God is filled with consuming            over to the vain and foolish worship of idols. Idolatry
wrath against the sinner. Because sin dishonors God's       leads to immorality, as is evident from the idol
holy Name, God arises in defense of His Name. We            worship in heathen countries where male and female
are told in the second commandment, "Fbr I,                 gods are worshipped, and immorality is a part of the
Jehovah thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the             worship. That same corruption develops rapidly in
iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the          high society, as well as in the slums. Every form of
third and fourth generation of them that hate me."          evil lifts its vile head, producing sin upon sin in the
God does not merely hate sin; He hates the sinner.          individual, in the nation, and in the whole human
God does not cast sin into hell. He casts the sinner        race, until .the measure of iniquity is full. Remans 1


364                                           THE STANDARD  BEARER


ends with the blood-chilling note concerning evil            the blows of judgment that fell upon the land. Or we
men: "Who-knowing the judgment of God, that they             think of Ahab, who was not ready for God's wrath
which commit such things are worthy of death, not            to be poured out upon him as long as he walked in
only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do          sackcloth in a  pretence of mourning. But, when he
them." Sin is a cruel tyrant who binds in shackles,          defiantly went to battle in spite of Micaiah's warning,
only to destroy. This same truth is taught us in James       he was ready to be sent to hell. God causes the cup of
1: 14, 15, "But every man is tempted, when he is             iniquity to be filled by every individual, by every
drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when           nation, and by the whole world; then comes the end.
lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin,         The Judge of heaven and earth stands at the door.
when it is finished, bringeth forth death." Sin leads us     (James 5:9).
like a dumb ox to the slaughter. Still worse, like an
adulterous woman, the sinner becomes pregnant with             From this temporal judgment of God upon the
                                                             wicked follows the eternal torment of hell. Hell is not
sin, even repeatedly, producing a large family of vile       annihilation, but isolation. Hell is being forsaken of
children: Evil desires, evil words, evil deeds. This goes    God. The wicked are cast away with a wrathful, "De-
on from bad to worse, to ever bolder sins, until the         part from Me, thou worker of iniquity." Weeping,
conscience is seared as with a branding iron, and hell       gnashing of teeth, everlasting fire express symbolically
swallows up another  .victim. It is indeed terrible to       the anguish of God's just vengeance, that causes the
fall into the hands of the living God!                       souls to writhe in remorse forever. Anyone who knows
  Under the judgment of God even the prosperity of           God's justice must confess: "Our God is a consuming
the wicked leads to their destruction. Asaph in Psalm        fire."
73 had been jealous of the wicked as they wallowed
in their abundance, especially when he compared this
to his own afflictions. He brought his problem to the        The Gospel
Lord, and learned, "Surely thou didst set them in
slippery places (like a steep bobsled run); thou castest       "The gospel," you ask? Does the justice of God
them down into destruction." James in his epistle            whereby He punishes sin both temporally and eter-
pronounces God's wrath upon the boastful rich by             nally belong to the glad tidings of salvation? It
Wm, "Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and             certainly does. Once more we stand before the
been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a          tribunal of God. Our conscience condemns us that we
day of slaughter." (5:5). How evident this is today in       have and do transgress all God's commandments  -
an affluent world. Does abundance cause the nations          that we keep none of them; that we are not able to
to recognize God as the Giver of these gifts? Does it        keep any of them. We hang our heads in shame,
fill their hearts with thankfulness? On the contrary,        realizing that we are worthy of God's just judgment
we live in a pleasure-mad, sports-mad, money-mad             as we stand burdened with the guilt of our sin. The
age, in which young and old indulge in gamblings,            voice of Jesus calls to us, "Come unto me, all ye that
lotteries, drinking, gluttony, immorality of the worst       labor and are heavy laden, and'1 will give you rest."
sort, and every form of corruption. There are more           Fleeing to the cross and clinging to the feet of the
unhappy marriages, more broken homes, more abor-             Savior, we hear the verdict: No condemnation! No
tions, more woeful miseries than ever before. The            condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, since
measure of iniquity is rapidly filling up upon the           He bore the full burden of God's wrath for the sins of
earth!                                                       all His people. With the Psalmist we confess ever
                                                             anew: "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
  In all this God does not leave Himself without             whose sin is covered."
witness. He speaks louder than ever as His judgments           The Comfort.
increase. Countless tornadoes reap their destruction
upon the earth; numerous earthquakes cause the                 .Never need the child of God `fear that he is being
souls of men to tremble, be it but for the moment.           punished for his sin. No matter how great our sin may
The air, the streams, the lakes, and the oceans are          be or how many our transgressions, or how repeated
becoming putrid with pollution. The prophecies of the        our wanderings, Christ bore the burden of our guilt
book of Revelation are being fulfilled before our            and set us free. The rod falling upon us is held by the
eyes. Yet no one cares. Formerly these visitations           gracious hand of our heavenly Father, Who is
were still referred to as "acts of God," but now they        afflicted with us in all our afflictions, and uses His
are referred to as freaks of nature or scientifically        wise chastisements for our sanctification. "For whom
explainable disorders. There was a time when a               the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every
national prayer day would show some semblance of             son whom he receiveth." Hebrews 12 speaks volumes
fear, but even that semblance is disappearing. We are        to us.
reminded of Pharaoh, who was continually warned of             With us in our afflictions. Punished for us so we
impending disaster, but whose heart was calloused by         may be chastened in love! What a Savior!


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          365


EDITORIALS




                                 Dr. Daane's Distortions

                                             Prof H. C. Hoeksema


  At the conclusion of his first article on "The Logic    finds individualism both in Reformed theology and in
of Election" James Daane promised to show in a            the Canons when it comes to the doctrine of election.
second article why Reformed theology thinks of            This individualism, according to Daane, leads to a
election in terms of numbers. That second article         logic of number in election. And this logic of number
appeared in The Banner of April 14, 1978. The article     leads to the doctrine of reprobation.
is outstanding probably for only one reason, namely,        But more than this, Daane is openly critical of the
that for a change Daane wrote an entire two pages on      Canons of Dordrecht when it comes to the doctrine of
the subject of election without so much as mention-       election. This is contrary to the Formula of Sub-
ing Herman Hoeksema. I would almost begin to think        scription, of course; but Daane can get away with
that Daane is slipping. However, on second thought,       that in the Christian Reformed Church, just as Harry
the reason probably lies in the fact that Herman          Boer did. The difference is that Daane is permitted to
Hoeksema is so thorough a foe of all individualism in     do this in the official periodical of the Christian Re-
his theology and such a champion of the corporate         formed Church, while Boer iyas confined to a recog-
and organic unity of Christ and His church that even      nized liberal periodical,  The Reformed Journal.  Dr.
Daane hesitated to attack Hoeksema this time.             Daane writes:
  For in this second article Daane's big complaint            What I would want the reader  .of these lines to
is against the alleged individualism of Reformed              recognize is this: creedally and even theologically, we
theology and of the Canons of Dordrecht. This is              have only a very partial, fragmentary doctrine of
supposed to be the .big reason why Reformed                   individual election, one that is neither set in nor
theology thinks of election in terms of numbers.              shaped by the whole Biblical doctrine of election.
  However, Dr. Daane's entire argument on this score          And it is on the basis of this Biblically deprived and
is full of distortions.                                       impoverished view of election that we, via the logic of
                                                              numbers, so largely based the doctrine of reproba-
  Before I refer to these distortions, I wish to make         tion.
the point once more that Dr. Daane is coming out of         In a similar vein, he calls the Reformed doctrine of
his corner, and in doing so is making plain what I        election "individualistic," and "a view of election the
always claimed concerning him and concerning              Bible does not sustain." Further, he charges that "our
anyone else who does not believe the doctrine of          individualistic election ignores the chief elements of
sovereign reprobation, namely, that he does not want      the Bible's view of election."
and cannot hold on to the doctrine of sovereign
election. Time was when men like Berkouwer and              Again I say: I am glad about this. I am glad not
Daane  - making their appeal incorrectly to the non       because Daane denies election; I would much rather
eodem modo, "not in the same manner," of the              see him confess it. But I am glad because Daane is
Conclusion of the Canons - claimed that the doctrine      confirming, black on white, what Reformed men have
of reprobation found in Canons I, A, 6 and 15 was         always maintained and what we have frequently
really foreign to the true spirit of Canons I and its     emphasized, namely, that the denial of reprobation
doctrine of sovereign election. They claimed that the     leads inevitably to the denial of election. James
statement of the Conclusion was really a corrective to    Daane is Exhibit No. 1 in proof of this contention.
Canons I, A, 6 and 15. Now, however, we see a shift         Let everyone who is afraid of the Reformed
in Daane's thinking. He now attributes the incorrect      doctrine of reprobation or who is inclined to  soft-
view of reprobation, which, according to him, the         pedal or to compromise it take note of this, and let
Canons teach, to an incorrect view of election. He        him take warning.


366                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


  And let the Christian Reformed Church, which is            Reformed creeds are individualistic in their view of
confronted by Harry Boer's gravamen against repro-           election. I make bold to say: he cannot!
bation, take note of this. I believe that the CRC
severely compromised both election and reprobation           Distortion Number Two
already in 1924 by the Three Points, and that the              The second distortion is a matter of the history of
theological aberrations of men like Boer and Daane           doctrine.
are but the logical outgrowth of that denial - helped
along, of course, by G. C. Berkouwer. Nevertheless,            Anyone at all acquainted with the history of
the Christian Reformed Church is now being asked             doctrine will know that it is nothing short of
officially to discard the doctrine of reprobation as         preposterous to accuse Reformed theology and our
taught in the Canons. Let the CRC be warned from             Reformed creeds of individualism. But perhaps Daane
Daane's writings that if it discards reprobation, it will    has been associated too long with a fundamentalistic
also discard the Reformed doctrine of election. What         seminary such as Fuller.
it will have left is a choice between traditional  Ar-         Who are the theologians who hold to indi-
minianism or the vagaries of Daane's dabblings, ac-          vidualism?
cording to which "the clue to election  - in an ad-            They are the Pelagians, their half brothers the
mittedly complex manner-is openness and inclusion."          Semi-Pelagians, and the Arminians who, as our fathers
  But what about those distortions which we                  put it, brought again the Pelagian error out of hell. In
mentioned?                                                   fact, the watchword and the fundamental error of
                                                             Pelagianism is individualism. This is the underlying
Distortion Number One                                        reason why Pelagianism and Arminianism always
  Dr. Daane deliberately confuses the teaching of            deny original sin and teach instead that man becomes
individual election and individualism,        meanwhile      corrupt only by imitation. This is why Arminianism
never actually telling us what individualism is. This is     denied that Christ really died instead of anyone, that
the foundation of his argument, although he never            He represented anyone, but that He made salvation
deals with a single one of the many passages of              possible for all men. This is why Arminianism also
Scripture which speak of individuals being elect,            preaches a gospel for all men, the more the merrier.
never makes it plain how it is even logically possible         Now mind you, the fathers at Dordrecht were
to conceive of individuals except numerically, and           fighting Arminianism and its individualistic view!
never shows what is wrong  - either Biblically or              And Daane  calIs Reformed theology and the
logically  - about thinking of election in terms of          Canons individualistic? That's too big a lie to
numbers.                                                     swallow!
  Let Daane answer with a Yes or a No this question:
did God from eternity choose  some  men? If he
answers Yes, then he must concede that election is           Distortion Number Three
numerical, and also that God did not choose others.             Daane is guilty of incipient dispensational&m.
If he answers No, then he is left to choose between a           Why?
total denial of any personal election or the error of
universal election (God chose all men.).                        Repeatedly he speaks of "the election of the
                                                             nation of Israel" and the "eiection of the church" as
 What is individualism?                                      though they were two distinct things. Now apart
  It is the error which conceives of the members of          from the fact that Daane's whole theory of the
the human race strictly as individuals; both in sin and      election of Israel is errant, he apparently makes
in grace. With respect to the doctrine of sin, indi-         separation between Israel and the church. This is a
vidualism denies that all the members of the human           separation which Scripture never makes. In fact,
race stand corporately and organically related to our        Scripture refers to Israel as "the church in the wilder-
first head and father, Adam; and thus it denies both         ness." And. our creeds emphasize that the church is
original guilt and inherited corruption. With respect        gathered not just in the new dispensation, but from
to the doctrine of salvation, individualism denies that      the beginning to the end of the world. That includes
all the members of the elect race, the church, stand         Israel, therefore. But to separate between Israel and
corporately and organically related to Christ, their         the church is characteristically dispensational.
representative and their organic head, and thus must            By the way, let Daane apply the non-individual-
also deny both objective justification in Christ and         istic, organic idea to the election of Israel, and he will
new life in Christ for all the members of His body.          discover that the lines of sovereign election and
  Now let Daane prove  - with facts, not just with           reprobation cut right across the generations of Israel,
empty claims  - that Reformed theology or the                that not all is Israel that is of Israel, and that Israel is


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 367



God's chosen people only organically, because of the            How about Canons I, 10, the very article which
presence of the "remnant according to the election of        stresses personal, definite election? It has often been
grace," what Isaiah 6 calls "the tenth." Woops,              overlooked that this article speaks not only of indi-
there's that numerical election again!                       viduals, but of a whole, a body: ". . . but that he was
                                                             pleased out of the common mass of sinners to adopt
Distortion Number Four                                       some certain persons  as a peculiar people to  him-
  Dr. Daane factually distorts our confessions.              se15 . . . " (italics added)
  Our confessions speak only of individual election            .How about Canons II,  9? It speaks of. God's
and are individualistic?                                     accomplishing His purpose of election  `%o that the
                                                             elect 
  One wonders whether Dr. Daane troubles himself                       in due time may be gathered together into one,
                                                             and that there never may be wanting a  church
to read the creeds.                                          composed of believers, the foundation of which is
  How about Question and Answer 54 of the Heidel-            laid in the blood of Christ, which may steadfastly
berg Catechism: "That the Son of God from the                love, and faithfully serve him as their Savior, who as-a
beginning to the end of the world, gathers, defends,         bridegroom for his bride,, laid down his life for them
and preserves to himself by his Spirit and word, out         on the cross, and which may celebrate his praises here
of the whole human race,  a church chosen to ever-           and through all eternity." (italics added)
lasting life, agreeing in true faith; and that I am and
forever shall remain, a living member thereof." (italics        How about Canons V, 15? It speaks of the church,
added)                                                       too, as "the spouse of Christ."
  How about Canons I, 7, the definitive article on              These are just a few of the many indications in our
election? There we read: "Election is the unchange-          confessions which show that they are not at all
able purpose of God, whereby, before the foundation          individualistic in their view.
of the world, he hath out of mere grace, according to           Frankly, I cannot understand how anyone gets.it in
the sovereign good pleasure of his own will,                 his head to call Reformed theology. and our Re-
chosen. . . .a certain number of persons to redemp-          formed creeds individualistic in their approach to any
tion in Christ, whom he from eternity appointed the          doctrine, much less election.
Mediator and Head of the elect, and the foundation              Dr. Daane distorts.
of salvation." (italics added)





                                  The United Reformed Church



  In  The Outlook,  April, 1978, the Rev. John               of interested parties prior to this congress. It was
Vander Ploeg writes again about a "United Reformed           hoped that this congress might give birth to a
Church." What I had begun to think was ,a long               permanent union of some kind, and that this in turn
forgotten "dream," has now taken on the garb of "an          might give birth to a United Reformed Church. It is
ongoing challenge."                                          fine to write: "To. pray for, to pursue, and' to
                                                             propagate the realization of the `United Reformed
  Frankly, I find it difficult to believe that the           Church' should be the aim which we still cherish as a
Reformed Fellowship is sincere about this matter.            part of our Lord's building program and regard as our
And I have my reasons for this. In the first place, it is    ongoing challenge." But concretely, now, who is
four years ago, May of 1974, that- this "dream" was          "pursuing" this thing, and  ho,w? It appears to me
fast proposed in The Outlook. What has been done             that this "ongoing challenge" remains at the challenge
since then? There was to be a Congress of Conserva-          stage, that no one takes up this occasionally renewed
tives in 1976. There was to be a preliminary meeting         (hardly "ongoing") challenge, that no one appears to


 368                                           THE STAiJDARD BEARER



 dare take it up, and that the concerned and conserva-           order to form another supposedly true church? That
 tive dissenters in the Christian Reformed Church                would be an act of schism on my part.
 somehow keep a little interest stirred up and at the              But I also wish to point out that from the point of
 same time soothe their consciences by continuing to             view of those groups of dissenters, such as Reformed
 speak of this dream as an ongoing challenge. Pardon             Fellowship, the ACRL, and the League of Christian
 my bluntness, brethren, but that is the impression              Laymen, this is wrong. Rev. Vander Ploeg likes to
 you are leaving on me and others. In the second                 characterize it as true ecumenism. But this is not
 place, I remind Rev. Vander Ploeg and the Reformed              correct. One can hardly speak of ecumenism  among
 Fellowship that they had a golden opportunity to sit            those who do not constitute the church, but are only
 down and talk in an unofficial conference with                  non-ecclesiastical organizations of dissenters in their
 Protestant Reformed brethren, and they refused our              respective denominations. Ecumenism in the true
 well-meant invitation. In fact, they refused to sit             sense involves churches, denominations, of like faith.
 down at a no-strings-attached preliminary committee
 meeting and even talk about talking. This I reported              Moreover, the entire procedure outlined by Rev.
 to our readers in 1974-75. In fact,                             Vander Ploeg in this connection is wrong. He is
                                         The Outlook,
 after publishing one of my editorial replies to Rev.            saying in effect: 1) In our present denominations we
                                                                      -?
 Vander Ploeg's "dream," would not even continue to              cannot be satisfied because of their errors of doctrine
 publish the further editorial exchange on the matter.           and life. 2) Nowhere else can we find a faithful
 This, too, does not have the ring of sincerity to me.           Reformed denomination which measures up to the
                                                                 marks of the church mentioned in Article 29 of the
    However, what I wish to emphasize especially in              Belgic Confession, and nowhere else can we fulfill our
 connection with this "challenge" of a "United                   calling to seek the true church. 3) Hence, let us
 Reformed Church" is that for our Protestant                     institute the church anew and cooperate to form a
 Reformed Churches this whole idea holds neither                 United Reformed Church.
 challenge nor urgency nor attraction. In fact, for us it
 would be totally unnecessary.                                     The above reasoning might be correct, except for
                                                                 the fact that Premise Number Two is false. It totally
    Why do I write this?                                         ignores the objective fact that the Protestant
    The reason is simple: there already is a "United             Reformed Churches in America are, according to the
 Reformed Church." Because there is, there is no need            marks, the manifestation of the true church.
 of  .forming one and urging people to form one. In                That is the situation.
 fact, to multiply churches would be wrong.                        The underlying reason is that Rev. Vander Ploeg
    We are the "United Reformed Church." No, that is             simply does not want to face up to the wrong-doings
 not our formal name. We are the Protestant                      of the Christian Reformed Church in 1924, wrongs
 Reformed Churches in America. Nevertheless, we are,             for which he and others remain corporately re-
 in the first place,  Reformed.  We are Reformed                 sponsible. This is plain, too, from the fact that he and
 according to the confessions, pure and simple. And as           the Reformed Fellowship want by all means to avoid
 Reformed,  we are United,  united on the basis of               a discussion of these matters and will not face up to
 Scripture and the Reformed creeds. This is exactly              them, and will not even confer about a conference.
 what distinguishes us from other denominations of
 Reformed descent. They are Reformed in name; we                   But if this is the case, then remember this too: God
 are Reformed in fact. Moreover, history proves it! Is           will not bless any efforts to form a United Reformed
                                                                 Church which ignore the path of truth and righteous-
 it not a striking fact that our denomination is not             ness. For He is the Holy One!
 assailed by the troubles which other Reformed
 ,denominations are experiencing today? We do not                  It may have a fine sound to prate about the "chal-
.<`have conservative and liberal wings. We have no need          lenge" of forming a dream-church. I prefer to speak
 of organizations of laymen in which dissenters  find            of the sacred calling to seek and to join ourselves to
 a shelter. I do not write this to boast, but to                 the true church, according to the marks.
                                                     testify.
 For it is indeed a testimony that we are united, and              Meanwhile, I am happy to notice, as I visit in our
 that we are united `on the basis of the .pure Reformed          churches, that increasingly there are those brethren
 faith.                                                          and sisters from the Christian Reformed Church who
  From our Protestant Reformed point of view,                    at last are beginning to recognize the fact that they
 therefore, to join forces with groups of dissenters             can fulfill this sacred calling by affiliating with us,
 from here and there in an effort to form a "United              and who do so especially because, according to their
 Reformed Church" such as Rev. Vander Ploeg                      testimony, they find with us the pure preaching of
 proposes would not only be unnecessary, but it                  the Word, preaching with the old, familiar, distinc-
 would be wrong. Must I forsake the true church in               tively Reformed ring!


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                369


                  Not A Pandora's Box, But An Evil Root

   In the same article in which he writes about a           black on white, that our leaders prophesied present
 United Reformed Church, Rev. Vander Ploeg takes            day developments fifty years ago, and that these
 exception to recent remarks by Rev. Van  Baren             prophecies are being fulfilled today. And we have
 in our February 15 issue. Rev. Van  Baren, you will        proved it by showing that the CRC itself, both
 recall, suggested that it is time that The Outlook (and    officially and unofficially, has repeatedly appealed to
 its new managing editor) pay attention to the  clear-      the Three Points of Common Grace in making its
 cut relationship between present CRC trends and            present day decisions. Off-hand, let me just mention
 1924. Rev. Vander Ploeg claims to respect our right        the Dekker Case, the Fihn Arts Decisions, and now
 to reiterate our rejection of common grace "year           the stand on dancing, which is based on the Film Arts
 after year after year." He asks that we respect their      decision.
 conviction that the CRC position on common grace is           3. As to respect for convictions, let me point out
 "Biblical and is not per se the Pandora's box out of       that such respect is for me impossible for two closely
 which our difficulties have necessarily arisen."           related reasons. In the first place, those convictions
   Now Rev. Van  Baren may certainly speak for              are neither Biblical nor confessional. And, in the
himself on this matter, and perhaps he will write at        second place, Rev. Vander Ploeg and the Reformed
greater length about it.                                    Fellowship are not even willing to talk and to confer
   I only wish to point out:                                about these allegedly sincere convictions. In fact, they
                                                            are not willing even to talk about talking! Now what
   1. That we prefer to speak of the errors of 1924 as      kind of convictions are those? How sincere must we
the  evil root  (not a Pandora's box), out of  .which       think such convictions are? As you well know, I do
present day problems and errors in the Christian            not hide my convictions under a bushel. Nor am I
Reformed Church have grown. In other words, there           afraid to ,discuss them with friend or foe, in print or
is  - and this was also Rev. Van  Baren's point  - a        in speech. But when we sought a no-strings-attached
connection,  a  relationship,  an organic connection,       joint committee meeting merely to plan lfor a future
between the two.                                            conference with the brethren of the Reformed
   2. We have not only made this claim, but we have         Fellowship, they turned us down!
 repeatedly proved it. We have proved it by showing,            How sincere are your convictions?


                                Book Club Break-Through!

   Here is big news about our R.F.P.A. Book Club!             In the second place, we will increase our discount
   Up to this time we have been advertising that Book       offer to a whopping FORTY PER CENT if 1000
 Club members will be entitled to buy all RFPA              readers sign up. Do you realize what that means? This
 publications at a 20% discount (plus shipping) if they     is wholesale price! You will never be able to purchase
 agree to purchase every  new  book automatically           our books at such a price anywhere else.
 (with the exception of educational manuals and               What is our motivation?
workbooks). We have had only a moderately good                For one thing, we want our books in your homes;
 response to this offer. To date approximately 225          and we will do as much as possible to get them there.
readers have signed up.                                     For another, we feel that if you belong to our base of
   To encourage a greater response, the Publications        loyal supporters, it is only fair that you are also
Committee is making a double new offer. We feel that        rewarded by a price break. Thirdly, we of the Publica-  :<
 this should bring an overwhelming response. In fact,       tions Committee sorely need and desire a permanent
you would be very foolish not. to take immediate            and dependable base of support for our publishing
advantage of this offer: you will never be able to get a    projects. The simple economic facts are that without
better deal than this!                                      such a base of support, our publishing projects will
   In the first place, we will increase our discount        have to be delayed or cancelled altogether.
 offer to a big THIRTY PER CENT if 400 readers sign           What can you do, and what should you do in
 up. If the total remains below 400, the discount will      response to this offer?
remain at 20%. If it goes up to 400 or more, the
`discount goes up to 30%.                                      1. If you have not signed up as a Book Club


370                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


member, do so IMMEDIATELY. If you have lost the            exception to the thirty or forty per cent discount
card we provided with our circular letter, drop us a       would be occasionally a book which we wholesale at
post card or letter signifying your desire to sign up      what is called "short discount." At present we have
and the fact that you agree to membership rules. The       one Bible manual selling at a short discount (25%).
rules are simple:                                            2. If you have already signed up as a Book Club
a. You must be from a Standard Bearer home. More           member, don't worry: if we get 400 members, you
than one member of a family may sign up. In fact, we       will automatically get the higher discount; and if we
encourage our young people to begin building a             get 1000 members, you will get it, too. However, you
library of Protestant Reformed literature.                 can help us in a very important way. Talk to your
b. You must agree to purchase every new publication        family members and to your fellow Standard Bearer
(with the exception of educational manuals and             readers. Urge them to join our RFPA Book Club.
workbooks) at the going discount plus shipping costs,      Talk it up! This will be to your advantage and to theirs.
whether the discount turns out finally to be  20%,           Hurry! The cut-off date on this membership drive
30% or 40%. These books will be'sent automatically,        is July 15.
and you will be billed for immediate payment.                Write to: RFPA Book Club, P.O. Box 2006, Grand
c. You may purchase any amount of RFPA books,              Rapids,  .Michigan 49501. Be sure to include your
old or new, at the going discount rate. The only           name and full address!
TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE


                                       The Living God
                                               Rev. David Engelsma


  There is a question which gets much attention            being knows that God exists. He knows this as surely
today  - as it has gotten much attention down              as he knows that he exists and that the world exists.
through the ages  - but which is actually a very           The reason why he knows that God exists is that God
foolish question. This question is: Does God exist?        Himself reveals His existence to every man. God
Men pose this question, apparently in all seriousness,     makes this known through the creation. The Bible
and then debate it vigorously. Some list many argu-        teaches this in Romans 1: 19, 20. Verse 18 speaks of
ments against the existence of God and solemnly            God's wrath on men "who hold the truth in un-
conclude that there is no God. Others find reasons in      righteousness." Verses 19, 20 go on to say: "Because
creation, in history, in the opinions of mankind, and      that which may be known of God is manifest in
in their own personal experiences for the existence of     them; for God hath showed it unto them. For
a god and decide that a god does exist - a "Supreme        the invisible things of him from the creation of the
Being," a "Supreme Intelligence," or a "Prime              world are clearly seen, being understood by the things
Mover."                                                    that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead;
  But the question itself is a foolish one! A man          so that they are without excuse.."
might as well ask the question, "Do  I exist?," or,           These verses teach that God shows to every man
"Does the world exist?" (The fact that philosophers        certain things about Himself: His power, His God-
have asked these questions, seriously, does not make       head, His existence. There is a clear revelation of the
them any less silly.) The fact of God's existence is no    God Who made the world in the world that He made.
question. The Bible does not even concern itself with      Every creature, including man himself, shows God's
such a question. It never bothers to argue, much less      existence. The result is that every man knows God.
prove God's existence. The Bible simply begins with        This is what verse 21 says: "when they knew God,
the Almighty activity of the living God. The very          they glorified him not as God." No man is saved by
first words of the Bible, Genesis 1: 1, are:  "In the      this knowledge, nor is it possible to be saved by it.
beginning God created the heaven and the earth;"           For there is no Christ and no grace in it. Men hold the
  There is no need for the Bible to begin by debating      truth under in unrighteousness (Romans 1: 18) and
the proposition, "God exists," because every human         change the truth of God into a lie (Romans  1:25).


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                371



 Indeed, God's purpose in showing the truth of Him-          Westminster Shorter Catechism. Its opening question
 self to them is that they be without excuse (Romans         is: "What is the chief end of man?" The answer:
 1:20). But there is no atheist (a person who believes       "Man's chief end is `to glorify God, and to enjoy him
that there is no God) and no agnostic (a person who          forever."
 believes that it is uncertain whether God exists or           This all-important knowledge of God is to be found
 not); everyone knows God. Only the fool denies God;         only in Holy Scripture. Even though God reveals His
 "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God"          power and divinity in creation, He makes Himself
 (Psalm 53: 1). His trouble is ,not intellectual (in his     more clearly and fully known to us by His holy and
 head) but spiritual (in his heart - where he hates the      divine Word. The knowledge of God derived from the
 God Whom he knows).                                         Bible is a saving knowledge, when the Holy Spirit
   The Bible is concerned with a different question,         reveals it in our hearts; `rwhatsoever  man ought to
 not the question: "Is there a God?"; but the ques-          believe, unto salvation, is sufficiently taught therein"
 tion: "Who is this living God? What is He like?"            (Belgic Confession, Article VII).
   Strangely, though, even people who claim to be              What does the Bible teach about God?
 Christians have a tendency today to be indifferent to         God is personal. He is not a mere force or power or
 this question. For this question concerns doctrine,         idea, but He is a Person Who says, "I." He has a mind
 and many people profess to have no interest  `in            and a will. He knows; He plans; He sees and hears and
 doctrine, least of all in the doctrine of God. They         speaks and works. He looks down from heaven and
 demand that the Church limit her teaching to the            beholds the children of men. He judges every man,
 subject of man's behavior, particularly to our duty to      not only according to our outward deeds but also
 love our neighbor. "Tell us how to live," they say to       according to our secret thoughts and desires. Because
 the preacher, "and do not bore us with doctrine." It        He is personal, He can be prayed to by those who fear
 is a plague in the churches today, a sickness unto          Him; He, hears and answers prayers.
 death, that there is little doctrine, little teaching of      God's Being is spiritual. So, Jesus describes God in
 doctrine in the preaching and little knowledge of           John 4: 24: "God is a Spirit: and they that worship
 doctrine by the people. Christianity without doctrine       him must worship him in spirit and in truth." God
 is simply not Christianity. "Take heed . . . unto the       does not have a body; He is invisible. For this reason,
 doctrine" were Paul's parting words to the young
 minister, Timothy.                                          it is wrong to make images of God or to attempt to
                                                             worship Him by means of images. God forbids this in
   The doctrine of God is of primary importance. The         the second commandment of His law. We must
 main purpose of the Bible is to make known the truth        worship Him in spirit and in truth.
 of God. The Bible is not a handbook of solutions to           Certain perfe,ctions  characterize God's Being. These
 all of men's problems. It is not even, first of all, the    are important for our right knowledge of God. God is
 book that sets forth the way of salvation for men.          eternal. Unlike us and our world, God has no begin-
 First of all, the Bible reveals God. It does this in its    ning and no end. He is not subject to time.  Psalm
 witness to Jesus Christ. For Jesus is the brightness of     90: 2 speaks of God's eternity: "Before the mountains
 God's glory and the express image of God's person           were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the
 (Hebrews 1:3). And the work that Jesus came to do is        earth. and the world, even from everlasting to ever-
 the. work of revealing God to men, as we read in            lasting, thou art. God."
 Matthew 11: 27 : "neither knoweth any man the
 Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son
 will reveal him."                                            God is almighty. He has all authority; i.e., the right
                                                             to rule His creatures. He has all power, i.e., the actual
   The doctrine of God is important for our salvation.       strength to rule as He pleases. He exercises this
 When Jesus reveals the Father to a person, He saves         infinite power also. He displayed His power when He
 that person. The true knowledge of God is salvation.        created this vast universe by His mighty Word. He
 John  17:3 says: `fAnd this is life eternal, that they      continues to display this power in upholding  -and
 might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ         governing this creation. For every creature depends,
 whom thou hast sent."                                       moment by moment, upon God. We all depend upon
    We must know God! We must know Who God is                Him for our very existence. Acts 17:28 teaches this:
 and what He is like! The Reformed Church has                "For in Him (God) we live, and move, and have our
 always been characterized by its emphasis upon God          being." What wickedness, what folly, therefore, for a
 and the doctrine of God. The faith of the Reformed          man to ignore or to blaspheme God! And what
 Church is God-centered. The motto that expresses the        ingratitude! The very breath he draws with which to
 heart of our faith is this: To God alone be the glory!      curse God, he has from God.
 One of the creeds of the Reformed faith is the                God, however, depends upon no one and upon


372                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


nothing. He is independent. He has His Being of                   Nor do His love, His grace, and His mercy abolish
Himself; His is all might. Therefore, He freely makes           His holiness and righteousness. These are also perfec-
His own plan, and He sovereignly performs all His               tions of God, marvellous perfections, perfections
good-pleasure in heaven and on earth. God makes this            that make Him adorable, perfections that cause His
known in His great Name, Jehovah  ("r Am That I                 people to love Him, to serve Him with all their life, to
Am"): "That men may know that thou, whose name                  preach Him and to confess Him in the face of all
alone is Jehovah, art the `most high over all the               opposition. In Jesus Christ, God has revealed Himself
earth." (Psalm 83 : 18).                                        to be a God of love, of grace, and of mercy. He takes
  God is the Holy One (Isaiah  40:25). In His  holi-            a sinful people to heaven, having cleansed them from
ness, He is high and lifted up, far beyond all  crea-           all their sin; He forgives our sins; He blesses and does
tures, in awesome majesty (Isaiah 6: l-4). He is free           good to those who have no worth. But this does not
from every taint of sin and is the awful enemy of               involve the sacrifice of His holiness and righteousness,
sin. He hates sin, and He will certainly consume.every          for He saves His people on the basis of Jesus' death
sinner among men whose sins are not forgiven by the             on the cross, where all His hatred for sin was fully
death of Jesus Christ and whose sins.are not washed             revealed and where all His righteousness was satisfied.
away by the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit.                 We can only know His love and mercy by believing in
                                                                Jesus Christ crucified for our sins. Apart from the
  Closely related to His holiness is God's righteous-           cross of Christ, there is only wrath, condemnation,
ness, or justice. All of God's thoughts, plans, words,          and death.
and works conform to the perfect goodness of His
Being. God governs the world and deals with every                 If this is Who God is - and it is! - God must be
man, righteously. This justice of God, challenged so            worshipped. "Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be
often and understood so little, will be displayed for           praised" (Psalm 145 : 3) To refuse to worship God and
all to see at the Final Judgment. As a righteous God,           instead to worship some idol is the first and great sm.
God requires that men live in a way that harmonizes             God sent out the apostles, and now sends forth the
with God's righteousness. God makes this demand                 apostolic Word, "that ye should turn from these
and sets forth this righteousway of life in His law, the        vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and
Ten Commandments. He also demands that every sin                earth,. and the sea, and all things that are therein"
committed against His righteous law be punished with            (Acts 14: 15). The call of God's Word to you and to
a punishment that fits the seriousness of sin, namely,          me is: Worship God! Do so by believing on His Son,
temporal, and eternal death: "the wages of sin is               Jesus Christ; by praising Him in His Church; and by
death" (Romans 6:23). There may be no salvation for             obeying His law.
a man, no life, unless all of his sins are paid for in full.
  Men may not like such a God. Indeed, there is no
one of us who does love this true God by nature. We                                   1 *  *: *  *
prefer a god who is unholy as we are and who does                 A wonderful perfection of God is His Love. We
not mind our sins. We like a god who winks at our               have a pamphlet entitled, "God's Great Love for the
sins and who will welcome us to heaven, or at least not         World" - an explanation of John 3: 16 - which we
send us to hell, after a long life of wickedness which          want to distribute as widely as possible. We invite you
is neither repented of nor forgiven. But our likes and          to write for a copy, or as many copies as you can put
dislikes change nothing. This is Who God is and what            to use, in care of the Business Manager of The
He is like.                                                     Standard Bearer.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

The Growing Reality of the Antichristian Kingdom
                                                  Rev. Mark Hoeksema


  The reality of the kingdom of antichrist in the last          All Reformed Christians, indeed, all evangelical Chris-
days is an indisputable fact. The Scriptures, especially        tians, albeit with differences, acknowledge the truth
the book of Revelation, picture to us the rise,                 of Scripture concerning the antichrist. Since to us
establishment, and inglorious end of this kingdom.              who live in the last times this is an important subject,


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 373


it is worthwhile to examine that kingdom in the light        man, 666, and that under His controlling power it can
of Scripture, and also attempt to fit present-day            never stand or accomplish the destruction of the
events into that Scriptural perspective.                     church and kingdom of God. While the aspect of the
  It is impossible to begin to summarize all that the        destruction of this kingdom of antichrist is important
Scriptures teach about the rise and fall of the  anti-       from this viewpoint of comfort, and while it is impor-
Christian  ,kingdom. But a few main lines should be          tant also from the standpoint of understanding that
drawn on the basis of God's speech to His church,            the unity of this Kingdom is never a complete and
                                                             permanent unity, it must not be allowed to detract
which we  find most clearly in certain parts of the          from the fact of that unity, which the Scriptures
book of Revelation. If we piece together some of the         always picture as a reality, and a terrifying one at
data found in the bopk of Revelation, then we find           that.
that the kingdom of antichrist comes about by way
of gradual development. Especially under the figure             Consider that there have been repeated attempts
of the two beasts in Chapter 13 we obtain an                 by the greatest nations of the world to effect this
understanding of this kingdom. A careful interpreta-         unity; attempts which have been made over thou-
tion of this passage shows that there are two aspects        sands of years of history; and attempts which have
to this kingdom. The first is political, so that the         always been dismal failures. But the antichrist will
antichrist (be he an individual or not - the Scriptures      succeed. Just imagine: He will take the nations of the
do not tell us) arises from the sea of the nations of        world, disparate and diverse as they are, and weld
this world, and develops such power that the deadly          them into a working coalition which for a time he
wound of Babel is healed, and he is able to bring into       will be able to maintain, until it will become plain
his fold all the nations of the world, so that there is      that God is using this kingdom to realize His king-
world unity, at least in the outward sense of the            dom. Such is the Scriptural reality of the coming of
word. In order to do this, the antichristian power           this kingdom.
dominates the lives of men, both actually and spir-            But if it is so, are there any evidences of its advent?
itually; that is, he is able to control and use the          How does it come about? We must be careful in
powers of science, education, philosophy, and even           attempting to answer this question to remember that
religion to accomplish this unity,, so that, at least for    the antichristian kingdom will not come about over-
a time, there is an actual and viable unity in the           night; we will not wake up some morning to read in
world.                                                       the newspaper that antichrist has achieved world
  It is important, moreover, to remember that this           domination, and then wonder how, it could have
world unity shall include those nations which have           happened while we weren't looking. God does not
been historically under the influence of the gospel,         work thus in history, as He has taught those who have
and therefore may be called nominally Christian; in          eyes to see; rather, the events of history develop and
fact, it is out of these nations that antichrist shall       unfold slowly and gradually, and build up toward the
arise. But his kingdom will also include those nations       climax He has intended in His counsel. While it is also
that Scripture terms Gog and Magog, that is, those           true that there may be some Scriptural warrant for
nations which have been for the most part removed            asserting that the events of the last times will move
from the history of the world and outside the pale of        quickly and with increasing rapidity, the history of
Christendom. The achievement of this unity will be           the last times will not be principally different from
an astounding feat, for never has it been a reality in       the history of the entire New Dispensation out of
the world since the effort of Babel, which God in His        which it develops. This means that God's people, who
wisdom disrupted by the confusion of languages.              know and believe the reality of the antichristian
Though many attempts have been made throughout               kingdom as He has revealed it-in the Bible, can see the
the history of the world to bring about a world              development of that kingdom. Though this does not
kingdom, the devil has never been successful in this         mean that we must suddenly issue forth with a spate
purpose. But the kingdom of antichri t will achieve          of predictions (against which Scripture also warns), it
total domination, a rule so complete Ihat according          does mean that we should be evaluating present
to Scripture, it will be impossible to buy or sell           events in the light of what we know to be the truth.
without his approval, so that one's very life will be        When we do so, then it becomes plain that the
dependent on that kingdom.                                   antichristian kingdom is not only a reality somewhere
  `Now the Scriptures also picture to us the fall of         in the distant future, but is also a growing, approach-
that kingdom of antichrist under the divine wrath and        ing, and increasing reality.
judgment of God. Of this we read in many places, cf.           For example, we need only point to a few recent
Revelation  16:10-16,  19:11-21, and  20:7-S God             events in the history of the world to show this. Why
comforts His people with the assurance that the              do the actions of one nation have global con-
number of this kingdom is after all the number of            sequences? Why is the whole world watching to see


374                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


what the United States will do about the Panama                   define the intricate connections between various
Canal? Most observers agree that the Canal has little             nations. Nor is it really necessary to try to explain all
strategic value in our nuclear age, and even its                  the ramifications and implications of this "global
economic value is decreasing with the coming of ships             community." But this does not mean that Christians
too large to pass through it. Why then all the                    must therefore simply ignore world events, confusing
excitement and debate? Again, why are the super-                  though they may be; we must be aware of what is
powers of the world so vitally interested in the                  taking place around us, so that we see and recognize
Mid-East, so that even now the United Nations has                 the signs of the times.
installed a peace-keeping force in Lebanon? And why                 What conclusion must we then draw from all of
has the attention of the world been focused upon                  this? First, that the events of the world are important
Africa, particularly the Ethiopian conflict and the               to us as Christians, not because we are of this world,
Rhodesian and South African problems? What busi-                  but because we are in it. They touch us as Christians,
ness do the United States and Russia have in inter-               and more specifically, as Christians living in the last
fering ( as some see it) in the internal affairs and              times. Second, we must see that even now the
politics of a third country or continent? And why the             kingdom of antichrist is gradually becoming a reality.
recent uproar over some exotic weapon called the                  It is not here yet, and it will not come tomorrow; but
neutron bomb, which kills people but creates only                 the way is being prepared for it, through the in-
limited physical destruction, and which is therefore a            creasing interdependence and growing unity of the
very important strategic weapon in Europe?                        nations of the world. And finally, we must be aware
  Though at first glance none of these events seem to             that this is one of the signs of the times. The events
have much in common, in reality they do. Marshall                 and movements of the world are not merely political
McLuhan  has observed that we are living today in a               or military, or economic, but spiritual as well, for
"global community." By this he meant, and rightly                 they are motivated by the spirit and power of
so, that the nations are so interdependent upon each              antichrist, who is even now in the world. And these
other politically, militarily, and economically that              events are  telic, that is, they are means toward an
the world has become like a  smali community in                   end, the end of the realization of God's kingdom in
which everyone depends on everyone else. It is                    Christ. Though they seem to militate against Christ's
perhaps not possible for a layman to define what                  kingdom, and though that is certainly the intention
precisely constitutes these interrelationships; in fact, it       of the powers of evil, the comfort of the Christian as
is often doubtful whether the so-called experts under-            he views the signs of the times is that God is King,
stand the world situation. But I would suggest that               and that He uses all things, also the advent of the
this is due exactly to the complexity of this inter-              antichristian kingdom, to serve the purpose of the
relationship, so that it is impossible to separate and            salvation of His people in the kingdom of His Son.

STRENGTHOFYOUTH


                                     The Two Builders
                                                 Rev. Rodney Miersma


              "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of'mine, and doeth them, I will liken him
           unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
              "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
           house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
              `(And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened
           unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
              "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
           house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. "
                                                                                              Matthew 7: 24-27


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                375


  "The Strength of Youth."                                   The same difference is present when we apply this
  Once a month the  Standard  Bearer  features an          figure to the spiritual aspect of life. He who hears and
article under this heading. These articles are directed    does not the sayings is building on spiritual sand. This
especially towards the youth of the Church of Jesus        is a real danger for our covenant youth. For building
Christ that they may be strengthened and prepared          on sand represents all the attempts of sinful man to
more fully for their walk as a pilgrim and a stranger      obtain salvation for himself. Young people are
here on the earth.                                         enamoured by his methods and are led into the ways
                                                           of autonomous man. Natural man recognizes all the
  Here in the Sermon on the Mount Christ lays down         results of sin such as sickness, sorrow, death, wars,
some basic principles with respect to this strength.       famine, crime, etc. In his pride he seeks salvation from
One is strong if he is wise; he is wise if he "heareth     these results of sin but not from sin itself. In order to
these sayings of mine, and doeth them." On the             accomplish this salvation he turns to reason, to
contrary, one is not strong if he is not wise, but         philosophy, or to science. Now, as I mentioned, the
foolish; and he is foolish if he "heareth these sayings    time of youth is a dangerous time in this regard. He is
of mine, and doeth them not." Using the illustration       at a stage~in his life when he thinks that he knows the
of the two builders Christ bears this principle out.       answer to every one of life's problems. Father and
  "These sayings of mine" refer in the narrow sense        mother are old-fashioned as they cling to the "fool-
to the Sermon on the Mount and all that Jesus has to       ishness" of Scriptural principles. After all, we live in a
say with respect to the righteousness of the kingdom,      different age. That which was relevant years ago no
its subjects, and their pursuit of that kingdom. More-     longer applies today. Consequently he turns to his
over, in the wider sense, "these sayings of mine" refer    newly found wisdom with the exuberance of youth,
to the whole revelation of God as contained in the         being attracted b,y all the newest ideas and inventions
infallible, inspired Scriptures.                           that man has created for his salvation from life's
  Now in the church of Jesus Christ in its earthly         social ills.
manifestation there are two kinds of people which             Beware, covenant youth, lest you be deceived! One
react in two different ways to "these sayings." The        who has this earthly wisdom does not have Christ in
one does them and is a true member of the church, a        his heart, and the Word of God does not serve as his
child of God; the other does not do them and is a          guide. He loves man rather than God, with the result
false member, a hypocrite, a child of his father, the      that he is a law unto himself. See how that applies
devil. Both hear the Word of God, both are members         today? One no longer obeys the one standard set
of the church visible, but only one hearkens unto that     down by God, but each person is a law unto himself,
Word and is wise.                                          having his own standards for that which he does. His
  The question that confronts each youthful saint as       entire house is built upon the right of the individual,
he consciously sets out on his pilgrim's journey is,       which is no more than an attempt for happiness and
"What kind of builder am I?" One can not sit back          for freedom from the guilt of sin apart from the cross
and do nothing, but one must build, and build he           of Christ. This is building on spiritual sand.
does - not just any kind of structure, but a house. A         Looking from the positive point of view we are all
house is one's home which is the center of his activity    called to build upon the spiritual rock, not only to
and life, the place of his joy where he has fellowship     hear the sayings but to do them. He who builds on
with the members of his family. The house represents       sand has not exceeded the righteousness of the scribes
a place of shelter and security. This is true also         and Pharisees and will in no wise enter the kingdom
spiritually. So the question is, "How and where shall I    of heaven, for the righteousness of the kingdom of
build my house?"                                           heaven is  only in  Christ Jesus. We, young and old
  From the illustration of Christ we can see that          alike, must adhere to the Word of God as it is given to
there are two different ways resulting in two dif-         us in the Scriptures, for it is perfect and complete,
ferent kinds of houses with distinct and differ-           containing the whole will of God and all that is
ent endings. The one builder builds his house on           necessary for us to know unto salvation.
the rock. In other words, he saw to it that his house         To emphasize this point let us look at the Scrip-
had a good, solid foundation. Luke tells us that he        tural presentation of the rock upon which we are to
had to dip deep to reach this bed rock, a task which       build. First of all, this rock is God Himself. He is the
was very difficult and which required arduous labor.       Rock of salvation: "He shall cry unto me, Thou art
Consequently; the house was not large and grand, but       my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation,"
a small, humble abode. On the other hand, the other        Psalm  89:26. He is the Rock of strength: "Because
builder did not concern himself with a good founda-        thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and
tion but expended his time and labor in building a         hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength,"
fine, grand, palatial home.                                Isaiah 17: 10. Secondly, Christ the Word Incarnate is


376                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


this rock. As rock He is the sure foundation as               Now let us evaluate our spiritual house. The great
described in Isaiah 28: 16: "Behold, I lay Zion for a       storm is judgment. Even at the present time we see all
foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner        kinds of signs prefiguring the final judgment. In times
stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not       of war and hopelessness when all the human structure
make haste." This tried stone is the chief corner           collapses, even the world sees that it can not build
stone : "And are built upon the foundation of the           human salvation and happiness that is not built on
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the       the rock of righteousness. But the child of God,, the
chief corner stone," Eph. 2:20. Man in his foolishness      wise man, who builds upon the rock always has peace
tries to lay another foundation, his own righteousness,     and salvation no matter what becomes of him in the
but the apostle Paul in I Cor. 3: 11 says that there is     world. But the final test is judgement day itself. In
no other foundation possible. "For other foundation         that day the ungodly shall perish, shall not stand in
can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ           judgment nor in the congregation of the righteous.
Jesus." This is all true because of the very character      All their work has been based upon temporal man
of this rock: it shall never pass away (Matt. 5: 18).       rather than upon the eternal rock. However, the
Covenant youth, this is the foundation for God's            righteous who lived his life out of Christ shall stand
elect, the same rock that is a rock of stumbling for        firm. We all shall stand before the judgment seat of
the reprobate.                                              Christ, and, resting on the perfect work of Christ on
                                                            the cross, we are justified before God - hence, heirs
  He who builds on this rock is wise; he who does           to His kingdom, partakers of everlasting life!
not is a fool. In Scripture always the wise and the           In all this there is the implied admonition, "Do not
fool are men that are compared with a view to               build on the sand!" By nature all are foolish and
their attitude and relation to reality. A fool does         build upon the sand, but by grace we are enabled to
not figure properly with reality either in ordi-            build on the rock. By grace we are enlightened that
nary  .life or in spiritual life. He acts as if God is      we see reality. This means a life of antithesis in which
not there or as if he can make his own God, thereby         we constantly remove the sand and refrain from
depending on his  .own righteousness which is  self-        helping the world to build their structure on sand. We
glorifying. A wise man figures with reality and             stay away from peace that is no peace and steer clear
determines his actions accordingly. Both in ordinary        of humanism, human philosophy, and social uplift as
and in spiritual life he has foresight. He sees God as      a means of salvation. Instead we have the salvation of
the true Reality, knowing and depending on His              the world in our hands  through grace.  Salvation
righteousness. How can you tell whether you are wise        which is built on the Rock Jesus Christ. And the
or not? By testing and evaluating your building, that       outcome will show that the rest are fools and that by
is, your work. This is readily seen once again from the     the grace of God we are wise.
example of these two builders. Their buildings are            In this light, young people, go on building. But
tested when reality comes. In this case the reality is
the storm: the rain, the floods, and the winds. The         oarry the words of this Scripturally based song in
                                                            your heart.
whole of each structure is put to the test: the rains
try the roofs, the great flood waters the foundations,              "My hope is built on nothing less
and the winds the walls. The result? The fool's house                 than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
fell with a great fall (for it was a great house). There            I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
was no foundation and the sand was quickly swept                      but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
away. The opposite is true of the wise m&`s house. It              On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
fell not for it was founded on the rock.                              all other ground is sinking sand."





                  Know the standard and follow it.
             Read the STANDARD BEARER!


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           377

ALL AROUND US

                                                   "Sportianity"

                                                       Rev. G. Van Baren



  In the April 10, 1978 issue of "The Christian                      and houses of "worship" - the stadia, gyms, pools,
News," an interesting article appears with the above                 and courts.
title and written by Clyde Kaminska. He points out
rather dramatically some of the impact and effect of                    Sport even has its symbols: the trophies and the
sports in the world and especially upon the Christian.               game balls, awards, retired jerseys, and the like. Sport
                                                                     offers enough ritual and celebration of human
Some of his solutions and conclusions are wrong.                     achievement for even the most dedicated follower.
But his evalua`tion  is worth considering. He writes:                   Sports competition seems here to stay and a force
      Has "Sportianity" replaced  Christianity  in Amer-             with which the church must deal. . . .
   ica?
       "Sportianity" is a word seemingly coined by                 And what are some of the solutions?
   Sports Illustrated.  This magazine printed a series of               Adjustments in worship schedules may be made to
    articles describing the influence of Christianity on             lessen the temptation to neglect worship. For ex-
    athletics and vice-versa. Some claim that "sport has             ample, some congregations offer Saturday afternoon
   become the religion of America."                                  or Monday or Wednesday evening services so mem-
      In October 1976 President J.A.O. Preuss wrote                  bers of the parish can get in a full 18 holes or be on
   about sportsmania in his column in the LUTHERAN                   hand for the kick-off on Sunday. -This is not an ideal
   WITNESS. He pointed out that, because of growing                  solution, but an attempt at solving the problem. The
   sports interest, in some congregations evangelism and             church has even placed "missionaries" at race tracks
   stewardship drives cannot be scheduled for Sunday                 to reach and serve thousands who need to hear the
   afternoons; church boards cannot meet on Monday or               Word.  T,me,  sport today is more important in our
   Friday evenings; house calIs or other activities must             culture than previously; however, religion has moved
   not clash with sporting events.                                   to "where the action is."
      Sunday once was a rather tightly structured,  well-               But so far sport seems to be having a greater
   defined day of peace; worship in the morning followed            impact upon religion than the other way around, and
   by a good dinner and family fellowship and then rest             we need to overcome this effect.
   and relaxation with the family.                                      The choice between sport and Christianity is a
      Now Sunday has changed so much that dinner, for               matter of priorities. The Christian constantly reevalu-
   many, is replaced by the takeout Big Mac and family               ates the way in which he spends his time and talent,
   fellowship by the  19-inch  Sony. And the journey                 whether in sports or in other' matters. We must help
   from the house is often to see a game rather than to             people become more aware of the challenges and the
   visit a church. . . .                                             stumbling blocks in this area of living. Sport need not
                                                                     - must not  - become Sportianity.
      In a sense,  orgqnized  sport also has a "religious"
   structure. It has a body of beliefs and rules accepted          Though I would sincerely believe that we, within
   by great masses of people, perhaps best expressed in          our churches, do not face such a serious challenge
   "what sports have done for me" testimonials.                  from sports, we are not very slowly moving in that
      Coaches and officials perpetuate the sanctity of           same direction. One hears disturbing reports of time
   sports. There is almost a saint structure of departed         spent before the t.v. on Sunday afternoons watching
   souls such as Knute Rockne, George Gipp, Babe                 certain sports activities. Sports have done far more to
   Ruth, and  Vince  Lombardi.                                   build up the "school spirit" within our own schools
      There are ruling patriarchs best exemplified today         than anything else. The churches find it increasingly
   by Johnny Wooden. Superstar athletes have a special           difficult to have any night which can be used for
   charisma with the fans. High councils and conven-             spiritual activities. One hears far more discussion of
   tions debate rules, make legislation, and even hand           the latest football or baseball game than the Sunday
   down punishment.                                              sermon. Complaints are heard sometimes about the
      Yes,  thefe are even  Fmatics   - those true be-           length of a  serinon  - and perhaps by one who is
   lievers who flock to games in which an idolized team          willing to sit for hours on a hard bench watching a
   is play&g.                                                    football or other game. Perhaps some serious  re-
      Sport has shrines - the Nation& Halls of Fame -            evaluatiog is necessary by us too.


378                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


                                            The Gospel Razzmatazz
  Christianity Today,  April 7, 1978, contains an                      tudes that should then be challenged and changed are
editorial which comments on some of the activities                     simply accepted as normal and given divine' sanc-
within the churches which are "full of sound and                       tion. . . .
fury" but "signify nothing."                                              We  cannot  call "God" by shouting "man" in a
          Evangel&& have never been so numerous; the                   loud voice, Karl Barth rightly observed. God is not
       impact of Christian values on society has seldom been           simply the magnification of our own evangelical
       less. Within  evangelic,alism  itself, scarcely ever has        mentality; he is, in fact, very different from it. The
       there been so much activity, but seldom ever has it             failure to recognize  this, to see  that  God is often
       amounted to less. Is this, one wonders, a tale signify-         being colored by our own cultural norms and ex-
       ing nothing, though full of sound and fury?                     pectations, removes from our faith its real cutting
                                                                       edge.-A cultural Christ can neither change those who
          The current impotence of evangelicalism  in the              follow him nor the culture of which he is a reflection.
       face of our secular culture can be analyzed from                P.T.  Forsytb observed  that  "the non-theological
       many angles, but one aspect that should not be                  Christ is popular, he wins votes; but he is not mighty;
       overlooked is the level of spirituality within  evan-           he does not win souls; he does not break men info
       gelicalism. It is possible, after all, that God  migb.t         small pieces and create them anew."
       have got a bit lost in all the razzmatazz. That is a
       sobering thought. . . .                                        The above points  out the terrible evil within the
          What these engineers of men and causes actual-            churches of failure to follow the command of God's
       ly succeed in doing, however, is dissecting the              Word- as presented by the apostle Paul, "For I
       church's inward and outward lives. They  do' so              determined not to know any thing among you, save
       believing that if the outward one is managed,                Jesus Christ, and him crucified." (II Cor. 2:2). That
       packaged, and  strear@ned  properly then the in-             policy does not normally gain vast hordes of converts.
       ward one will take care of itself. Consequently,
       we have come to imagine that the. saint and the              It  does not attract the attention of Madison Avenue.
       intellectual are different people, that you can have         But God has surely promised that through the weak
       faith without reflection,  actidn without conscience,        means of preaching, that is, faithful preaching, He
       preaching without the  Word,  the Gospel without             will bring His chosen ones to repentance and con-
       cost, and worship without God. . . .                         fession. The cross is regarded as being without power
         Given this kind of vacuum at the center of Chris-          and foolishness by men  - but it has ever been the
       tian life, it is never long before God, instead of           power and wisdom of God. He who understands that
       standing in awesome majesty before the believer, is          well, need not design all kinds of "Razzmatazz" in
       reconstructed in the believer's image.` The very  at&        order to prdmote the. cause of God's kingdom.


                                                 Pity the poor criminal?

  The Presbyterian Journal, April 5, 1978, presents a                   opposite sex or from their families . . . or otherwise
news item which relates the desire of a certain group                   deny them the opportunity of human life in com-
to  reduce the punishment of criminals  - and this, in                  munity."
the name of Christ. It is,shocking  how that the Word of                   Otherwise, the  report says, the "system helps
God and work of Christ are used to "prove" the very                     create and encourage the very antisocial behavior it is
things which the Word of God condemns. We will be                       supposed to remedy."
hearing more of this sort of thing as the end of the                       The task force, which asks to be continued with
age approaches.                                                         funding guaranteed by the 1977 Women's Birthday
          A task force report on criminal justice  which.               Offering, says that imprisonment should be used
       rejects capital punishment and calls for reducing                "only to the extent that and only so long as the
       long-term prison sentences and  the elimination of               denial of freedom is necessary to protect (the  grim-
       imprisonment "as the principal means to achieve                  inal) and other people."
       community protection and well-being" will be pre-                   It declares that "social defense and restoration of
       sented to the 1978 General Assembly of the Pres-                 community should be the only concepts to rule the
       byterian Church US in June.                                      response of society to offender and offenses."
          The report by the Task Force on Criminal Justice,                Any system based on vengeance (by which the
       which  has been in the making for some three years,              task. force means punishment for the sake of punish-
       also calls for a rehabilitation system instead of a penal        ment) "is counterproductive as it intensifies antisocial
       system which will not separate offenders "from the               attitudes and further separates the human  com-


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                379


   munity. . . .                                                         In the New Testament, according to the task force,
      The task force bases its "findings" on theological           social and economic concerns were expanded to
   presuppositions which see the "justice" of God as               include "justice for lawbreakers, disturbers of law and
   redemptive and forgiving only and identical with His            order."
   love.                                                              On Calvary, God took on Himself His own
      "God's justice is openly biased in favor of those,           "annihilating wrath against sin . . . rather than let it fall
   who are weak, vulnerable and helpless," these Pres-             on those who deserve it." This means "the guilty are
   byterians say at the outset.                                    forgiven, set free, given new life." Presumably this
                                                                   means all men, as the report denies distinctions. . . .
      In the Old Testament, "the hope for the Messiah"
   was precisely the hope for the exercise of "God's             One can only add again, what terrible conclusions
   justice in behalf of the politically and economically       are made when the Word of God found in II Cor. 2:2
   and socially weak."                                         is ignored.

THE DAY OF SHADOWS


                                   We Shall Overcome

                                                    Rev. John A. Heys


  Two little unborn members of the human race                 Jacob as an attempt to hold Esau back and to have
fought so fiercely in their mother, Rebekah, that they        the mastery over him. He is the weaker one and the
caused her unusually great discomforts. And the               younger one; but his prophetic struggle is to have the
fierceness of that struggle came again to manifesta-          mastery of which God spoke to his parents before he
tion, and demonstrated itself with prophetic  sym-            was born.
bolism,.when the day came for them to be born.                   This is even accentuated and explained in the name
  Esau is born first, but Jacob has hold of his heel in       that Isaac and Rebekah gave him. They called him
a gesture of his struggle to hold Esau back and be the        Jacob which means supplanter. This they did because
first of the two brothers to be born. That is what that       God had called him that before he was born. Rebekah
firm grip of his frail little fist on the heel of his         was told that the elder would serve the younger even
brother means. It was not a symbol of affection for           though he would be the weaker of the two sons. And
his brother. It was not an attempt to let his parents         that means that he would supplant his stronger
know that he was also there and ready to be born.             brother in due time. Esau will be born first,
This was not a time when medical science with x-rays          and Esau will be the stronger; but do not write
and stethoscope could detect two heart beats, or              Jacob off as Esau's servant and inferior brother.
rather the beating of two hearts in Rebekah, and the          He had hold on Esau's heel, and he will in God's time
bony structure of two infants in her womb. And                supplant him. He will overcome all that which seems
because it is true that God had told her what no              to be against him, and in a sense is already against
physician could in that day tell her (and He told her         him. His hand on Esau's heel says, "You must also
even that there were two sons, not a son and                  reckon with me. When you rejoice that Esau is born, I
daughter, or two daughters) Jacob needed not to               am there too; and you cannot receive all of Esau
inform his parents that they must also receive him            without seeing me, for his heel and my hand are
and welcome him into the family. There was no need            joined in a firm grip! He comes first, but I am not
since God had already informed them, and had even             letting go. I have a promise from God, and I expect to
told them that the firstborn would be the stronger of         get it!" This confirms in the eyes of Isaac and
the two sons. Although wholly unconscious of what             Rebekah that word of God that he will overcome.
he was doing, Jacob with his little hand took hold of         And so they without hesitation call him Jacob,
the heel of Esau because the God, Who was entreated           Supplanter.
of Isaac, was pleased to speak through an action He
caused the unborn son to perform. This we want to                Esau receives his name because of his outward
bear in mind. And we must therefore see this act of           appearance. Jacob receives his name because of the


380                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


Word of God. Esau receives his name because of what         Hebrews 11 as one of the giants of faith. Let us not
men can and do see. Jacob receives his name because         call him by what we see of him but by-what God says
of what God sees, and what the child of God sees by         of him. He is the supplanter, the weaker, younger
faith. Esau receives his name because of what his           brother who will overcome and be raised by God`s
parents brought forth. Jacob is named because of            grace far above his brother.
what God brought forth. Esau receives his name                We may not stop there, however. Jacob represents
because he will be mighty in the world and will             the whole church of God from Adam till the last saint
appear to be such to men. Jacob receives his name           who is reborn before Christ returns. As we said a
because he is mighty in God's eyes and will be              moment ago, God calls His people by that name of
glorified by Him before the eyes of the whole world         Jacob many times many years after He gave him in
in God's time. Esau is named because of men's judg-         addition to the name Jacob the name Israel. And the
ment upon him. Jacob is named because of God's              Israelites themselves are in Malachi 3:6 called the sons
judgment upon him. Esau is named because of what he         of Jacob, not sons of Israel. In both Matthew 1 and
will do. Jacob is named because of what God will do         Luke 3 the genealogies of Jesus are traced from
for him. And .although  Isaac and Rebekah cannot see        Abraham through Jacob (not Israel) to Joseph, and
all this, they were led by God to take hold of His Word     from Joseph back through Jacob (not Israel) to Adam
that he will be served by his older brother, and that       and God Himself. In Romans 9: 13 it is said, Jacob
his weakness at the moment will not prevent him             (not Israel) "have I loved and Esau have I hated." And
from overcoming.                                            in Hebrews 11:9 it is with Isaac and Jacob (not Israel)
   Because Jacob is named with a view to what God           that Abraham is listed as dwelling in tents. That name
will do, and not because of what he is as brought           is not taken away from him. In Christ, who was in his
forth by Isaac and Rebekah, and because he has been         loins, he does supplant and overcome.
named due to spiritual and not physical considera-            He is, however, Supplanter because he is Israel.
tions, his name is going to be amplified later on in his    And after this name his descendants are known. We
life. He is still going to remain Jacob, the Supplanter.    have that oft-repeated statement in Scripture, "the
He is not going to lose that name. But he will be the       children of Israel." And that does not simply mean
supplanter because of the truth in his new name,            the fleshly descendants of Jacob. They, in the first
Israel - Prince of God - which he will receive after        instance, are the Israelites, the children of Israel. But
he has gone through a trial, and after he has learned       they as the fleshly seed, they as the nation of Israel
not to strive to overcome by his physical strength and      did not supplant Esau and his seed. Today they have
ingenuity.                                                  not supplanted Esau's seed. There were partial vic-
  He remains Jacob; and after he received the name          tories, and `Jacob did receive both the birthright and
Israel at Penuel he is often still referred to by God       the birthright blessing. But the whole incident of the
Himself as Jacob, the Supplanter. Surely we are not         struggle before birth and the firm grasp on Esau's heel
to call him the Deceiver; We know his history; and          at birth speak of much more than Jacob's personal
deception was that to which he often resorted. But          victory, or of that of the nation of Israel.
we err when we say that the name Jacob means                  This all has meaning for us in the new dispensation.
Deceiver..In itself it means to follow, come after. And     It is rich in significance for the entire church of God,
though it is true that a deceiver follows, lies in wait     as we said, from Adam until the day of Christ. They
for and seizes from behind, the fact is that God had        are not all Israel that are of Israel; and there are those
explained to Rebekah that he who followed would             who are the true Israel who are not fleshly Israelites,
supplant, for the elder shall serve the younger. He         even as Peter was taught by no one less than God
comes after but will overcome and be elevated above         Himself when He gave him that vision of the unclean
his stronger brother. Besides, even though Jacob            animals let down by a- sheet (Acts 10) and was told
resorted to trickery and deceit quite frequently, and       not to call unclean that which God has cleansed. And
this was a besetting sin with him, he is a child of God     now, where are we going to put Cornelius? He was
with faith in God and must not be put in the class with     not a fleshly descendant of Jacob. But he surely was a
the children of the devil, that deceiver who led            member of the Church of Christ. And before we
mankind into his fallen state of depravity. Christ, do      begin to divide all the believers, and all those to
not forget, was in the loins of Jacob. Jacob is a           whom salvation is come (See Acts 11: 18) into two
covenant child; and we dare not speak of him, and           groups, the Jews in the Kingdom of Heaven and the
call him a name that would place him lower than his         Gentiles in the Church, let it be noted that according
reprobate brother to whom we do not ascribe                 to Acts  2:47 "the Lord added to the church daily
deception but despising of the birthright. A deceiver       such as should be saved." He added, if you please, to
is one whose  whole  life is characterized by decep-        the organization, the entity to which Peter, the Jew,
tion. This is not so of Jacob. He is mentioned in           belonged. For it is in connection with the work of


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 381


Peter and the other apostles who were Jews, on the            Church) of faith. All are built upon the same founda-
day of Pentecost that God, through Luke, speaks of            tion and Christ is the chief corner stone of a building,
men being added to the Church, added thus to that to          the church, for both Jews and Gentiles. The true
which Peter and the apostles belonged. The apostles,          Israelite today is the believer, whether he be Jew or
who were Jews, belonged to the Church.                        Gentile. Listen once to Galatians  3:28, `There is
  What is more, Stephen on the day of his stoning             neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free,
spoke to the angry Jews that took away his life about         there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in
Moses "that was in the Church in the,wildemess with           Christ Jesus."
the angel which spoke to him in the mount Sinai, and
with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to             That means that the little hand of Jacob holding
give unto us." I have heard men twist the truth here          tightly on to Esau's heel, and the name God gave
by translating the word church into congregation.             him to explain that deed, signifies that we, believing
They want not to hear the Word of God that very               Jews and Gentiles alike, shall overcome. We are
clearly declares "the church in the wilderness." One          weaker than the world. We are as nothing in the
feels and can sense that there is something wrong             world. The world is first, and afterward and.out of it
when one has to change a word in Scripture to                 God gathers His church. We are kicked around,
maintain a position. The plain facts are that the word        tormented, persecuted, and ridiculed. The world
church in Acts 7:38 is the same word that the word            holds the earth and its fulness in its hands and
of God uses in Ephesians 1:22. Or again in Galatians          threatens to take it all away from us - which it will
1: 13 Paul speaks of having persecuted the church (the        do in the days of the antichrist. But we shall over-
same word) of God. And these were Jews  that Paul             come because "a Star shall arise in Jacob, and a
persecuted. He speaks in I Thessalonians 1: 1. of the         Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the
church in Thessalonica. And that is the same word             borders of Moab, and destroy all the children of
that Stephen uses in Acts  7:38. And in Ephesians             Sheth." Numbers 24: 17. In Christ, Who comes out of
2: 1 l-22 Paul speaks of the middle wall of partition         the loins of Jacob through the virgin Mary, the entire
having been broken down and Gentiles and Jews                 church from Adam onward overcomes all her enemies
being fellow citizens (so the Gentiles do belong to the       and inherits the new earth in which righteousness
kingdom) with the saints, and of the household (the           shall dwell.



                                           Book Review

THE NECESSITY OF FAITH,  Harry M. Kuitert                     of the (formerly revered) Free University of Amster-
(translated by John K. Tuinstra); Wm. B. Eerdmans             dam. You will not find a Biblical, let alone a specif-
Publ. Co., Grand Rapids,  Mich.; 159 pages, $2.95             ically Reformed, note in the entire book. You will
(paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema)                   find errant notions, stated in an abrasive style, too
  This is a translation of Kuitert's notorious                numerous to mention. The following paragraph from
                                                    Zonder    the publisher's summary on the back cover will
Geloof  Vaart Niemand  WeZ  (Without Faith No One
Fares Well). The translator, a Christian Reformed             furnish a fairly accurate sample of what I mean:
pastor, attempts in a preface to excuse himself for           "Christianity's norms embody the promise of God's
translating a book like this, claiming that "translation      salvation in a form which is constantly developing,
entails neither agreement nor disagreement with an            with each branch of the church acting as a distinct
                                                              expression of Christ's appearance on earth. Revela-
author's point of view." I cannot agree: when some-
one uncritically plays a part in sending a book like          tion continues to occur in worship, in prayer, and in
this into the world, he is not neutral. The translator        dialogue with others, and its fruits are freedom and
also betrays his lack of neutrality in the same preface       joy. As long as God has not spoken the final word,
by speaking of benefits for the reader and of the             Christians dare not assume that their words concem-
author's valid criticisms and positive insights.              ing him are the last to be uttered."
                                                                "How is the gold become dim!" Not recom-
  If you want to be irritated, frustrated, and angered,       mended, except as a sample of the sort of thing which
read this little book, bearing in mind that it comes          has long been corrupting the Gereformeerde Kerken
from the pen of a professor in the Theological Faculty        in the Netherlands.


382                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


TRIUMPH THROUGH TRIALS



                                                     Pain

                                                  Rev. J. Kortering


   Pain!                                                    another, but pain is still pain in whatever form it
   Reflect on it for a moment.                              comes.
   Remember the burning deep inside, the tears you            How have you handled it?
shed, the groaning. Sometimes you felt like screaming          Let's examine Job's experience and learn from
but bit your tongue in silence.                             him.
   Some of us have experienced a lot more of it than          First, he acknowledged that God was the cause of
others.                                                     his pain. No, it might seem as if Job could have
  Think of Job for a moment. The catalog of pain            ascribed all his trouble to the devil; but he didn't.
for that poor man is indeed long.                           Listen, "Naked come I out of my mother's womb,
                                                            and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and
  Pain of loss: The Sabeans took his oxen which             the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of
were plowing, and killed his servants and ran off with      the Lord." Surely, the devil challenged God and God
the asses that were grazing nearby. Fire fell from          gave Satan power to.afflict  Job. Yet the Holy Spirit
heaven and burned his sheep and the servants attend-        makes us to see with Job that God is behind it all.
ing them. The Chaldeans attacked his camels and             This is the first step to the victory over pain. We must
killed the servants caring for them. The terrible wind      acknowledge that it comes from God! Say it comes
from heaven destroyed the house and killed his sons         by chance, from the devil, from some hostile force,
and daughters while they were eating and drinking.          and you will forever be in distress. Pain is within the
All this, in one day.                                       will of God and comes from His Fatherly hand.
  Pain of disease: the terrible boils. He took the'            Secondly, he recognized that God was his strength
potsherd to scrape his sores. He sat amongst  .the          in the midst of the pain. This came in the way of
ashes. When his friends lifted up their eyes afar off       bitter struggle. Job said, "Oh that  5 might have my
and knew him not, they lifted up their voice and            request; and that God would grant me the thing that I
wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and               long for! Even that it would please God to destroy
sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. So
they sat down with him upon the ground seven days           me," chapter 6:8. Of God he says, "In whose hand is
                                                            the soul of every living thing and the breath of all
and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him for        mankind," chapter 12: 10. James adds the best com-
they saw that his grief was very great.                     mentary, "Behold,  .we count. them happy which
  Pain of guilt: he wrestled with the cause of such         endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and
affliction and pain. Was it -because of his sins? His       have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very
wife told him to curse God and die, in order to end it      pitiful and of tender mercy," James 5: 11. This is
all. His three friends accused him of having greater sin    important in order to rise above the pain - not only
than others, and told him that God was punishing            does God send it, but God demonstrates His mercy
him for them: "Even as I have seen, they that plow          and care to us while we suffer.
iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same,"                 Thirdly, pain is not God's righteous indignation to
chapter 4:8. Finally Job wails, "Why' do you perse-         punish. Job confessed, righteousness in-Christ. The
cute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?"       heart of the book of Job is in chapter  19:25: "For I
chapter 19: 22.                                             know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand
                                                            at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my
  Do you know what Job was speaking about? Have             skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I
you experienced the pain of loss, of disease, or of         see God." This is God's answer to guilt. With a living
guilt? Maybe you have gone through one more than            Redeemer, Jesus Christ, we have evidence of our


                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                  383


righteousness in Him. If Christ be not raised we are                        "life,  ' riches, nor health. In all these things, Job
yet in our sins, but now is Christ risen from the dead                       professed the goodness of God and the care of God
and He was raised for our justification. Already in the                      for him.
Old Testament, this was God's message to Job and his                               Pain!
answer to his accusers. Did God afflict Job as punish-
ment, a little bit of hell to bring him into line? No, for                         You know about it?
the Living Redeemer was proof enough for Job that                                  It too is a blessing. We learn as never before that
there is forgiveness with God.                                               Jehovah is very pitiful and tender of mercy.
  Pain serves to strengthen us. God proved to Satan                                The God Who teaches us such great truths will
that the faith of Job was not dependent upon ease of                         surely see us through.




                                                                      NOTICE!!!


   According to the decision of the Synod of 1977, the Council of the        evening, June 6, at 8 PM in Hope Church. Rev. G. Van  Baren, President
Hope Protestant Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan, was                of the 1977 Synod will preach the sermon.  Synodical delegates are
appointed the calling church for the 1978 Synod. The Council of Hope         requested to meet with the Council before the service. Delegates in
Church hereby notifies our churches that the 1978 Synod of the              need of lodging should contact Mr. Jon Huisken, 3324 Barrett St.,
Protestant Reformed Churches in America will convene, the Lord               Grandville, Michigan 49418.
willing, on Wednesday, June 7, 1978, at 9 AM in the Hope Protestant                                                  Jon Huisken, Clerk
Reformed Church. The pre-Synodical service will be held Tuesday





                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   The Adult and Martha Societies of the  Doon,   (Iowa)  Protestant               We take this opportunity to congratulate and rejoice with our
Reformed Church wish to express& sincere sympathy to Mr. and Mrs.            beloved parents, PROFESSOR AND MRS. HERMAN HANKO, on the
Jim Hoogendoorn, Jr. in the passing. of their father, MR. JIM                occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary, May 27, 1978. We thank
HOOGENDOORN.                                                                 God for the many years of faithful covenant instruction they have given
   "Cast thy burden  upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee. He shall       us. May the Father of Lights with Whom is no variableness neither
never suffer the righteous to be moved." (Psalm 55:22),                      shadow of turning continue to bless them in the years ahead.
                                                                                                                   Ron and Nancy Hanko
                        Rev. M. Kamps, Pres.                                                                         Jennifer
                        Mrs. Rod Bruinsting, Sec'y., Adults Soc'y.                                                    Ryan
                        Mrs. E. Van Ginkel, Sec'y., Martha Soc'y.                                                  Neal and Jeanne Hanko
                                                                                                                   Ken Hanko
                                                                                                                   Steve Han ko
                                                                                                                   Marcia Han ko
                                                                                                                   Tim Hanko
                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                             Sharon Han ko
                                                                                                                   Karen Hanko
   The Ladies Society of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church
expresses its sincere sympathy to one of our members, Mrs. Jean
Holstege, in the loss of her mother, MRS.  DENA DIEKEMA, at the age
of 92 years.

   "The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance
shall be forever." (Psalm 37:18j                                                              WEDDINGANNIVERSARY
                                     Rev. G. Van  Baren,  Pres.                    On May 27, the Lord willing, our parents, MR. AND MRS.
                                     Mrs. Hib Kuiper, Sec'y.                 ALBERT KARSEMEYER will celebrate their 30th wedding anniver-
                                                                            sary. We, their children, are thankful to the Lord for their covenant
                                                                             guidance to us and pray that God will continue to bless them in the
                                                                            years to come.

                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                          "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
                                                                             them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children's children."
   The Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Society of the First Protestant Reformed                                                  Psalm 103:17
Church in Grand Rapids expresses sincere sympathy to Ron and Kathy
Kooienge in the death of their infant daughter, KIMBERLY ANN.                                                     Jerry and Pat  Schipper
                                                                                                                     Becky and Jason
   Our  prayer'& that God will give them abundant peace, knowing that                                             Ed and Jeanne Karsemeyer
He doeth ail things well.                                                                                         Greg and Elaine Engelsma
                                      Eric Ophoff, Vice Pres.                                                        Chad
                                      Ruth Oosterhouse, Sec'y.                                                    Alan Karsemeyer


 THE STANDARD  BEARER'
         P.O. Box 6964           .
Grand Rapids, Michigan 495061





384                                            THE STANDARD BEARER

                              News'From' Our  .Churches

  Hope Protestant Reformed Churchin Isabel, South          of building an addition to the church parsonage they
Dakota, has a trio consisting of Rev. Arie den Hartog,     recently purchased.
Rev. George Lanting, and Rev. James Slopsema. A               The Men's Society of our church in Edgerton spon-
congregational meeting was scheduled on April 30 after     sored a spring social on March 13 to which the
the afternoon services for the purpose of calling a        members of the Ladies' Society and all adult
minister from this trio. Isabel's pastor, Rev. Rodney      members of the congregation were invited for an
Miersma, has accepted the call to labor in Pella, Iowa.    evening of Bible study, discussion, and fellowship.
   Rev. James Slopsema and eider Dewey Engelsma
have returned from their trip to Singapore with a             Our Michigan area -churches sponsored a lecture
positive report as to their contacts there.                entitled "The Pleasures of Babylon in Jerusalem, an
                                                           Analysis of the Entertainment Problem" on Thurs-
   Just before Rev. Slopsema left for Singapore, he        day, April 27. Prof. Hermon Hanko spoke to an
received a call from Faith Church in Jenison, Mich-        overflowing house at Hudsonville Church. Many
igan, to become their pastor. Upon his request, Faith      chairs had to be set up in the narthex and the
Church gave Rev. Slopsema permission to delay con-         fellowship room to seat the large audience. Cassette
sideration of his call until after his return. He will     tape recordings of this lectureare  available. Write the
then have the customary three weeks to make his            R.F.P.A., PO Box 2006, Grand Rapids, Michigan
d e c i s i o n .                                          49501.
 At a specialcongregational meeting held on March             An open house was scheduled on April 29 at the
10, the congregation of Edgerton, Minnesota, decided       Hudsonville parsonage. so that the congregation might
to build a kitchen in the basement of the church. The      see the pastor's new home. Coffee and cookies were
consistory brought a plan with an estimated cost of        to be served. The Hudsonville consistory has decided
$2,200 to $2,700. The.project is already under way.        to schedule communion services on the 2nd Sunday
   The consistory of our church in South Holland,          of March, June, September, and'December.
Illinois, has scheduled a special congregational meet-        The Church Extension Committee of our Loveland
ing May 8 for the purpose of considering a proposal        Church recently mailed out 600 copies of  the.pam-
that the congregation call a missionary and  suppont       phlet entitled "The Perspicuity of Scripture" by Rev.
him in the amount of $10,000 per year. This proposal       Hoeksema. The committee of our  Redlands Church
includes that this work be carried out with the advice     mailed 1094 pamphlets on "The Reformed Witness
of the  Synodical Mission Committee and under the          on the Subject of Marriage and Divorce" to homes .%-I
constitution of the Mission Committee governing the        the Redlands area.
mission work of the churches in common.                       Apparently many are not aware of the `new'
   The new Southwest Church building is now begin-         bulletin clerk of First Church in Grand Rapids. Mrs.
ning to look like a building. The floors have been         Judi Doezema, 1904 Plymouth Terr. SE, Grand
poured and the inside walls are going up. All the brick    Rapids, Michigan 49506, has served in that capacity
is on and all the windows are in. The committees are       since January, 1977. Mr. James Heys, who served as
busy picking out colors, `carpeting, etc. The Mr. and      clerk and bulletin clerk in First Church for many
Mrs. Society is holding various fund raising projects      years, has been translated to glory and the reward of
such as a garage sale to raise funds to furnish the        grace.
nursery in the new church.                                    A, Quiet Thought, from- the Southeast bulletin:
   The Isabel. bulletin carried a note that Mr. Thys       "The trials of life `come to pass', but they also pass
Feenstra, a member of our church in Redlands,              away when God's purpose in sending them has been
California, has offered his services to our congrega-      r e a l i z e d . "
tion in Houston, Texas, to assist them in their project                                                    K.G.V.


