      The.
 STANDARD
c BEARER
        A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





You graduate tonight out of a marvelous
tradition, the Protestant Reformed tradition.
God in His eternal  .love and wonderful grace
has preserved that among us, You have. been
instructed in those traditions the past three
years. Hold to  them.  Defend them fearlessly.
Expound  them faithfully.

   (see Seminary Graduation Address, p. 414)





                                            Volume LIV, No. 18, July 1,1978d
                                                   l66N  0 3 6 2 - 4 6 9 2


410                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER

                                                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                            Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
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                                                                        Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                        Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma,
                                                                        Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev; Robert C. Harbach,
Meditation -                                                            Rev. John A.  Heys, Rev. Mark H. Hoeksema, Rev. Meindert Joostens,
                                                                        Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Rodney  Miersma,
                                                                        Rev.  Marinus   Schipper. Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev.  Gise J. Van  Baren,
   The Helmet of Salvation.. . . . . -. . . . . . . . . . .410          Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman Veldman, Mr. Kenneth G.
                                                                        Vink.
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   Graduation, 1978 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .413    Church News Editor:  Mr. Kenneth G. Vink
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   Last Chance To Join! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .414                                Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
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MEDITA TIO N



                                The Helmet of Salvation
                                                            Rev. H. Veldman


                                         "And take the helmet of salvation." Eph. 6: 17a



  All-embracing is the significance of the shield of                     overcometh the world, the substance of things hoped
faith. Through it we receive and stand in the                            for and the evidence of things unseen.
unspeakably blessed consciousness of our righteous-
ness in Christ before God and we have peace with                             We now call attention to the helmet of salvation.
God and therefore with all things. Through this shield                   This scripture must surely remind us of Is. 59: 17 and
of faith we also lay hold of the  helmet of salvation                    possibly also Is. 61: 10. Only, in Is. 59: 17 it is the
and are able to take up the sword of the Spirit which                    Lord Who has this helmet upon His head; in this text
is the Word of God. Indeed, faith is the victory that                    we must put it upon our heads.


                                                                                                                               `
                                                                                                                               1
                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     411



                    ITS MEANING                              catastrophes and calamities. . . . However, the great-
   Does this salvation in this text refer to salvation in    est evil is sin. There is, first of all, the guilt of sin. Sin
the eschatological sense of the word, the salvation as       is the greatest evil because it lies at the bottom of all
it shall be revealed at the end of time, in the day of       the results of sin, of all miseries and sorrows; it
our Lord Jesus Christ? Or, does it refer to salvation as     separates us from and deprives us of the unspeakably
we possess it here, in this life, having been called out     blessed fellowship with God which is eternal life. This
of darkness and death into God's marvellous light and        sin as guilt is the greatest evil because its power lies in
life?                                                        the unchangeable righteousness of God which denies
                                                             to every sinner the blessed fellowship with God unless
   How wonderful is salvation! To be delivered from          His justice be fully satisfied. And, secondly, sin is the
the greatest evil and become a partaker of the highest       greatest evil because, as a spiritual power, it holds us
good! Two scriptural passages are particularly per-          relentlessly in its grasp, is a band or chain of iron and
tinent in this connection. We read in 1 Thess. 5: 18:        steel, which no man can possibly break. And now we
"But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on        are delivered from this sin, legally upon the Cross of
the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet,        Calvary, and also spiritually by the power of the grace
the hope of salvation." We may note that the apostle         and Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ.
here speaks of an helmet as the  .hope of salvation.
And although it is true that this salvation here must           Salvation! To become a partaker of the highest
be explained eschatologically, it is also true that the      good! Indeed, we will know what this good is only if
hope of this salvation we possess in this life. And in       and when we know what the greatest evil is. This
Is. 59: 17 we read: "For He put on righteousness as a        highest good is blessed fellowship and communion
breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon His             with God. Can one conceive of anything higher than
head; and He put on the garments of vengeance for            that the living God, the only adorable God, the God
clothing, and was clad with zeal as a  cloke." This          of eternal and infinite goodness and beauty, should
"He" in Is. 59: 17 is the Servant of Jehovah, Jehovah        call us His own, make us His children, assure us of .His
revealed as the God of our salvation in our Lord Jesus       love, grant us the privilege to love and to praise Him,
Christ. He has put on the helmet of salvation, the           to declare His praises! And, this is the highest good!
salvation of His people. In that work of salvation He        0, not the highest to which we could possibly attain.
will walk in the way of righteousness, fulfill the will      But this is the highest which God can possibly give us,
of God, execute vengeance upon His enemies, and be           fellowship with Himself in everlasting and heavenly
filled with a holy passion and zeal. The salvation of        immortality and glory.
His own and the destruction of the world go hand in
hand.                                                                         ITS IMPORTANCE
   Now we can understand the idea of this salvation             Indeed, without this helmet we cannot fight. Are
in this armor of the Christian warrior. First, this          you carnal? Do you cleave to sin and things that are
salvation must be principally the same in all these          below? Are you more interested in the results of
three passages. They all speak of it as an helmet.           sin than sin itself? Are you lukewarm to the power
Secondly, the salvation of Is. 59: 17 surely must refer      of sin and evil, indifferent to the temptations of sin
to that wholly divine and tremendous work whereby            and attracted to the lusts of the eyes and of the flesh
the Lord translates His people out of sin and death          and of the pride of life? Do the pleasures and
into the heavenly and immortal life and glory of His         treasures of this world appeal to you? Salvation, we
eternal covenant. Thirdly, as far as 1 Thess.  5:8 is        understand, is, first of all, deliverance from sin.
concerned, the hope of salvation must surely refer to        Besides, are you indifferent to the things that are
this salvation as in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.       above? Salvation is also to be a partaker  ,of the
Besides, it is only in that day that we will truly be        highest good. Is your position in the midst of the
saved, delivered from all sin and death and translated       world such that the hope of eternal and immortal life
into life and glory. However, we also read in 1 Thess.       and glory lives and throbs in your heart and soul? Are
5:8 of the  hope  of salvation. And this hope is             you so earthly and carnal that you have little time
something we possess now, in this life. Consequently,        and longing for the new heavens and the new earth?
the helmet of salvation is surely the salvation of our       My hatred of sin and the longing for the city that has
God as we possess it already in this life, in principle,     foundations are inseparably connected and related.
and ultimately will possess it in perfection in the day      Let us take inventory of ourselves.
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation! Deliverance from           Indeed, without this  helmet of salvation we can
the greatest evil! So often our greatest evil is merely      never fight. Then we have no desire to be delivered
that which we suffer as contrary to our flesh, our           from sin and evil. Why and how should and can we
natural distresses and miseries, not sin itself but the      bear the reproach and ridicule of sinful men and of a
results of sin. We, then, fear wars and rumors of wars,      world that lies in sin and darkness? Of what interest,


412                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


then, are to us the breastplate of righteousness, the        on the whole armor of God; gird yourselves with the
shoes of the gospel of peace and the shield of faith?        girdle of truth; put on the breastplate of righteous-
How, then, can we believe and confess that it is a           ness; shoe your feet with the shoes of the prepared-
privilege, not only to believe on Jesus, but also to         ness of the gospel of peace; take the shield of faith
suffer for His sake? And, satisfied with the life of this    and the helmet of salvation.
worid, we cannot experience any desire for the life            This word, "take," in verse 17 emphasizes more the
that shall be. Indeed, our evaluation of the wonderful       idea of "receive." This does not mean that God offers
salvation of God in Jesus Christ will surely determine       it and we must accept it, as some would explain the
the position we assume in the midst of the world!            text. But it is true that salvation is a gift of God `and
"- How different things become with this helmet of           we must take this helmet as freely given of God, and
salvation. Now we will fight this battle of faith            place it upon our heads.
because we have been delivered from sin and iniquity.
We have learned to hate sin. The love of God in Christ         Indeed, we must surely do something. Of course,
Jesus has been shed abroad in our hearts and minds.          we must not do something as prior to the work of
We have learned to hate the filthiness and corruption        God and upon which this work of God depends. Yet,
of sin and evil. The empty husks of this present time        as people of God we must do something as the fruit
we have learned to understand in their true signifi-         of grace. To receive the crown of victory in the day
cance. And we will also recognize the purpose of the         of our Lord Jesus Christ we must surely fight the
enemy, to lure us away from the blessed fellowship of        good fight of faith that no man take our crown..
God and lead us into the mire of sin and evil we have          We must take the helmet of salvation. We must
learned to know and hate. Indeed, with this helmet of        appropriate it unto ourselves, every day anew, the
salvation we will fight. We will refuse to return into       unspeakably blessed and sovereignly free gift of
the mire of corruption from which we have been               salvation. We must stand in the consciousness of our
delivered. We will rather sacrifice, including our lives,    deliverance from sin; we must know our sin, study
than to return to the filth we have learned to hate          the Scriptures, increase in our knowledge of them,
and despise.                                                 and we must ever hate and flee from evil even as we
                                                             learn to hate it more and more. We must stand in the
  And we will also fight because we have in our              consciousness of the hope of eternal life, must grow
hearts the blessed hope of life and glory everlasting.       in our desire and longing for it, appropriate it unto
Already in this life we experience the blessed fellow-       ourselves by a true and living faith, increase in our
ship with God and His service, and we know it to be          hatred of and rejection of the things that are below
inexpressibly sweet. And we surely look forward to           and in the blessed longing for that which is above.
the future, to gaze upon the city that has foundations       This we must do, never in our own strength, but
whose builder and maker is God. Standing in this             always in prayer, that the Lord may lead us and finish
salvation, with the helmet of salvation resting firmly       the work He has once begun in our hearts. In this
upon our heads, we look over the battlefield, turn our       consciousness of our salvation we must grow and
attention to the enemy, and realize that his sinister        increase. Hence, take this helmet of salvation, ap-
and diabolical purpose to deprive us of life and glory       propriate it unto yourselves, always setting before us
will surely fail. We know that nothing shall ever be         the Word of truth, in the personal assurance that
able to separate us from the love of God which is in
Christ Jesus. How important and wonderful is the             Jehovah God, in Christ Jesus, suffered and died for
helmet of salvation!                                         you, that you might live, even forevermore.
                                                               This is our calling as Christian warriors, soldiers of
                                                             the cross.
                ITS APPROPRIATION                              Put on the whole armor of God, also this helmet of
  "And take the helmet of salvation." Indeed: be             salvation.
strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might; put          And your defence will be sure.



        The STANDARD BEARER
        makes a thoughtful gift
        for a shut-in.


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



EDITORIALS


                                        Graduation, 1978
                                                  PVOJ: H. C. Hoeksema





  Tuesday, June 13, was an important and joyous               Michael De Vries is a son of our Pella, Iowa congrega-
occasion for our Protestant Reformed Churches. It             tion.
was the date of our Theological School's graduation              In the third place, two of the graduates were at one
program, held this year at our Hope (Walker) Protes-          time parishioners of two of the professors. Prof.
tant Reformed Church, with a goodly audience in               Decker mentioned in his address that Messrs. Bruins-
attendance.                                                   ma and Flikkema were at one time his parishioners in
                                                              South Holland. They were also my parishioners in
  This year's graduation program was unique in more           South Holland prior to 1959. In fact, I baptized Mr.
than one respect.                                             Bruinsma. However, these young men were toddlers
                                                              when I bade farewell to South Holland and do not
  In the first place, at this same program we also had        remember that I was their pastor.
a graduate from our Pre-seminary Department. Usual-              As I remarked the evening of graduation, there is
ly pre-seminary graduation is conducted in a daytime          something sad about graduation for the faculty.
program at the Seminary Building. However, since              These three candidates have been with us at school
pre-seminary and seminary graduation coincided this           for a total of six years - three as pre-sems and three
year, the two were combined in one program. Deane             as seminarians; we will miss them. But graduation is
Wassink, a son of our Holland congregation, has               also commencement. We rejoice that the Lord has
completed his pre-seminary work; and next fall, the           given us three well-qualified candidates for the min-
Lord willing, he will begin his seminary work.                istry. Our hope and prayer for them is that they now
  In the second place, this year we had three                 stand at the beginning of a blessed and fruitful
seminary graduates who were all sons of churches in           ministry.
Classis West. Wilbur Bruinsma and Richard Flikkema               Prof. Decker's pertinent graduation address appears
are sons of our South Holland, Illinois church; and           elsewhere in this issue.


414                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


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SEMINARY GRADUATION ADDRESS


                            Holding Our Traditions

                                                ProJ: Robert D. Detker




   It is a special privilege for me to give the address       the fruit of the grace of God to you and to our
tonight. ,It is always a privilege to give the address for    churches. We rejoice with you and wish you God's
the Seminary commencement, but it is a special                richest blessings.
privilege for me tonight. That is because two of the             I wish to speak to you about traditions tonight.
graduates were parishioners of mine in South Holland          That is a bad word on the ecclesiastical scene today.
when they felt called to the ministry. They spoke             By tradition is meant the doctrine and practice which
with me about this and I counselled them at that              have been handed down to us from the past and
time. I have observed them through the years of their         preserved throughout the ages in God's church. The
training, and now they graduate. For that reason I am         church today does not want that tradition. Renewal
especially grateful that I may speak.                         is the good word today. Among many it is charis-
  Graduates, Candidates, we are thankful with you             matic renewal, a return, they say, to the zeal and
tonight. You have attained a significant goal. You            gifts of the early, Spirit-filled, tongue-speaking New
have been through some seven years of training and            Testament church. Among others renewal means
instruction in preparation for the ministry of the            something quite different. It amounts to revolution
Word and sacraments in the church of Jesus Christ.            against time-honored tradition. There is a revolution
That is a significant accomplishment. Many hours of           against the traditional doctrines: creation in six days,
study and prayer went into that. Now you are                  the inspiration and infallibility of the Bible, pre-
candidates and anticipate the call of Christ through          destination, particular and effectual atonement, the
His church. That is abundant reason for thanks. It is         virgin birth of Jesus and more. In the sphere of


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   415


practice .renewal means revolution against the way the        church in the past and a despising of the church itself
church does things and the life of the people of God.         which struggled to express and maintain the truth,
Drama and dance are approved as well as divorce and           often sealing its confession with its own blood. We
remarriage. The traditional methods of missions and           must hold these confessional Reformed traditions.
evangelism, the simple preaching of the gospel, are             Specifically those traditions are doctrinal first of
said to be wrong. The traditional way of worship with         all. Belonging to them is the doctrine of Holy
the emphasis on the preaching of the Word must be             Scripture, the truth that Scripture is the very Word of
changed. Thus it is said the traditions have to go.           God. That tradition is under vicious attack in our
They belong to a by-gone era. The church today                day. Scripture is said to contain a human element or
needs renewal and change.                                     factor which makes for all kinds of inaccuracies and
  Overagainst all this I submit to you that there is a        errors. Or it is said the Bible is full of myths and
set of traditions which we have inherited. Those              teaching models. The Bible is not reliable in what it
traditions have come out of the infallible Word of            says concerning the origins of man and the universe.
God and have been transferred to us from the church           Its accounts of the miraculous cannot be trusted.
of all ages through the Reformation of the sixteenth          There are errors of historical fact and genealogy. The
century and through the Reformation of 1924. These            Bible is man's witness to God or the record of man's
are Protestant  traditions and they are  Reformed             religious experience or encounter with God.  Over-
traditions. To these traditions God calls us to hold.         against that the Scripture itself testifies that it is given
  The word tradition means a giving over, a passing           by the inspiration of God and is profitable for
down either by mouth (oral tradition) or by writing.          doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in right-
It refers to the transmission by ancestors to posterity.      eousness. (II `Tim. 3 : 16) The Bible says that no
A tradition, therefore, is that which is handed down          prophecy of the Scripture is of any private inter-
or inherited; a set of beliefs or practices or both. We       pretation, but holy men of God spake as they were
find this idea in Scripture. We read, for example, of         moved by the Holy Spirit. (II Peter  1:20,21) This
the "tradition of the Pharisees." The reference is to         means that the Bible is the infallible, inspired Word of
the whole body of laws, precepts, and interpretations         God, our only authority for faith and life. That is our
of the law of God; that whole system of  "work-               confessions and that is our tradition and to it we
righteousness" so sharply condemned by Jesus. This            must hold. And that is absolutely critical, for quite
is, of course, tradition in the bad sense. The term is        obviously our view of Scripture determines our view
also used in a good sense in Scripture to refer to the        of everything.
truths of the Word of God which are transmitted                 There is also the traditional doctrine of the
from one generation of God's people to the next. (Cf.         covenant. There are many views on the covenant.
II Thess. 2 : 15).                                            Some teach that the covenant is a pact or b&lateral
                                                              agreement between God and man. Others find the
   It is in this latter sense that we speak of traditions.    essence of the covenant in a conditional promise.
This means that our traditions are not the teachings          Overagainst these the Scriptures teach and we believe
of men or the practices of mere men. Our traditions           that the covenant is the bond of friendship between
are not the teachings of Hoeksema and Ophoff,                 God and His people in Christ. The covenant is
Bavinck or Kuyper, Luther or Calvin. Our traditions           established by God in Christ sovereignly and accord-
are not even the teachings of Peter, Paul, John, Moses        ing to His eternal counsel. The covenant is main-
or Isaiah. But our traditions are the truths of Holy          tained and realized by God in Christ through His Holy
Scripture, the doctrines and the way of life taught in        Spirit and Word. We also affirm the second part of the
God's Word and transmitted from generation to                 covenant, our obligation to new obedience. The
generation by God's people, right down to the                 covenant obligates us to a life of obedience, an
present day.                                                  antithetical walk in the midst of the world. We must
  More specifically those traditions are set forth in         be manifest, as members of the party of the living
our creeds. In the Three Forms of Unity the church            God. For that same reason we have our children
has set forth and systematically arranged the truths of       catechized and we maintain wherever possible cove-
Holy Scripture. As Protestant Reformed Churches we            nant Christian schools where our children are taught
have inherited these truths. They are our traditions.         the fear of God. This truth belongs,tc?`our traditions.
Those creeds are under severe attack of late. It is           In fact it is a distinctively Protestant Reformed
being said that they need revision at many key points.        tradition.
Moreover many truths are openly contradicted and                There are the doctrines of sovereign grace. To
denied. Gravamina are lodged against key  creedal             these belong the truths of man's total depravity, his
truths as, for example, reprobation. That is a de-            inclination to sin and his inability to do the good;
spising of the Spirit's guidance and preservation of the      God's unconditional election off His people in Christ


416                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


in distinction from the rest whom He reprobates; the       which we have mentioned, both doctrinal and prac-
limited or definite and effectual atonement of Jesus       tical and liturgical, not only has been denied in the
Christ; irresistible grace and the, perseverance of the    past but is denied today. And that too not only by
saints. These doctrines of sovereign and particular        the liberal church but within the Reformed churches.
grace are clearly taught in Scripture. They are set        Many winds of false doctrine blow today. Hence
forth in the creeds and have been confessed by the         without shame or fear we must defend those tra-
church throughout the ages. For them we had to battle      ditions. We must expose and refute the false doctrines
in 1924 and again in 1953. They belong to the tra-         and evil practices. In our preaching, teaching, and
ditions which we must hold.                                evangelizing we must show the error of them out of
  There is the tradition of the godly way of life.         the Word of God. That is a difficult task to be sure. It
Scripture calls us as the redeemed to a life of            is not calculated to make us popular. In fact we will
godliness, obedience to the law of God. In every           be cordially hated for it. But if our churches are to
sphere - home, church, school, work, and recreation        stand in this evil day then those traditions must be
- we are called to live antithetically out of the          zealously defended.
principle of regeneration, opposing the evil. Strangers      In the second place there must be positive  expo
we are, pilgrims as all our fathers were, for we are       sition of the traditions, especially the doctrinal
citizens of the kingdom of heaven. That great truth        traditions, for they are the foundation of the
has been preached and lived by the church through-         Christian life. Again that is terribly necessary. If there
out the ages. It belongs to our traditions.                be no positive exposition of the traditions the
  There is our liturgical tradition. Belonging to it is    churches will stagnate and fall into the pit of dead
Psalm singing. Psalm singing is taught by the Word of      orthodoxy. And if that happens they will not be able
God and required by the Church Order of Dordt. The         to hold the traditions.
Psalms are the inspired songbook of the church. The          Hence we must constantly be searching the Scrip-
church through the ages has sung the Psalms: the           tures, for they are an unfathomable treasure. We must
church of the Old Testament sang them; Jesus and           know and diligently study the creeds and we must be
the church of the Apostolic era sang them; the             steeped in the writings of the fathers. The fruit will
Reformational church returned in its liturgy to Psalm      be that the churches will grow and develop in the
singing; the Dutch church of our fathers sang the'         knowledge of the truth. They will be faithful to the
Psalms and we are still singing them today. Psalm          Word in doctrine and walk. They will hold to the
singing is our beautiful, distinctive musical tradition    traditions and the glory of God will shine in them.
and we must hold to it. There are the prayers and
Scripture readings and the offerings to relieve the          But how is this to be done? By what means shall
poor and to maintain the ministry and schools. These       the church defend and expound the truth? The
are taught in Scripture and belong to our tradition.       answer: by preaching! The churches must preach.
                                                           Preaching, as we have seen, is itself a tradition. It is
  But the chief element in our liturgical tradition        alive in our churches, Our churches are characterized
is the preaching of the Word. The church of the Old        by many things: doctrinal awareness and sensitivity,
Testament through its prophets  preyhed: Jesus             insistence on a godly walk, discipline, generous
preached the gospel of the  kingdom.`The church of         support of the causes of God's kingdom and more.
the New Dispensation through its apostles, prophets,       But the one thing that stands out above all else is our
evangelists, pastors. and teachers preached. The Ref-      preaching. It is the distinguishing mark of our
ormation was liturgically pre-eminently a return to        churches and it is our strength. It is utterly crucial
preaching. The Dutch churches were known for               that we be faithful in preaching. The Scriptures teach
preaching and producing some truly great preachers.        that by preaching the wisdom of this world is made
The same is true of our own churches. Our Protestant       of no effect and believers are saved. (I Cor. 1) By
Reformed fathers, Ophoff, Hoeksema, Vos, were              preaching believers are kept from being tossed to and
excellent preachers and they taught us to strive for       fro by every wind of the doctrine of deceivers, and
excellence in preaching. Our worship services today        they are built up into the Lord Jesus Christ. (Eph. 4)
are characterized chiefly by sound, exegetical preach-     By a preacher who is sent by Christ we hear Christ,
ing of the Word. That is the Protestant Reformed           are given faith to call upon His name and be saved.
liturgical tradition. Its beauty lies in its profound,     (Romans 10) By the sincere milk of the Word which
Biblical simplicity.                                       by the gospel is preached unto us we grow. (I Peter 2)
  To these traditions we must hold. That involves in       We must preach, therefore. It is the only way we shall
the first place a sturdy defense of them. This is          defend and expound the truth. It is the only way we
necessary because those traditions are under attack.       shall administer the sacraments and exercise disci-
That always was the case but it is the more true           pline. It is the only way we shall hold to our
today. The attacks have intensified.  .Every tradition     traditions.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               417



  Our calling is plain. The seminary must prepare           have been instructed in those traditions the past three
preachers. Professors must therefore vindicate sound        years. Hold to them. Defend them fearlessly. Ex-
doctrine, expound the Holy Scriptures, and hold the         pound them faithfully. If those traditions are to
traditions so that the truth is developed and preachers     continue in the churches you above all will have to
are prepared for the churches. The churches must            hold them! And, finally, if I may end on a somewhat
exercise discipline, administer the sacraments, care        personal note, I have often told you in class that you
for the poor, visit the sick, comfort the dying and         must be many things in the ministry. You must be
sorrowful. But above all the churches must preach the       compassionate pastors after the example of the Good
Word. At home, on the Lord's Day, in catechism,             Shepherd of the sheep. You must be able to visit the
from house to house, in missions, among all nations         sick, comfort those in sorrow, bring the Word to
wherever God leads and opens doors, the churches            those distressed, admonish the wayward. All this and
must preach.                                                more you must be. But I also always told you and I
  And, candidates, that is your calling. You graduate       take this opportunity to exhort you once more,
tonight out of a marvelous tradition, the Protestant        above all else: strive to be good preachers!
Reformed tradition. God in His eternal love and               May God bless you and our churches.
wonderful grace has preserved that among us. You





                             Synod of 1978-A Report

                                               Rev. Arie den Hartog



  Since this was the first opportunity for me to            minute sermon on a text assigned to him. This is
attend synod as a delegate, I looked forward to this        always the first part of the examination because of
with eager anticipation. It is an opportunity that          our conviction that above all a minister of the church
anyone who loves our churches and the work in them          of Jesus Christ must have the ability to preach the
would greatly enjoy. With a great sense of excite-          Word, which will be his chief task. Having heard the
ment, therefore, and a measure of fear and awe I            three sermons, I was impressed by several things. Our
came to the synod. I make this brief report to you          students are trained to preach the same blessed gospel
not only that you may know some of the decisions            that we have the privilege to hear every Lord's Day.
made by our synod but also that you might share in a        Although we as delegates had the calling to listen
way in the excitement and joy of these labors. This is      particularly carefully to these sermons, I don't think
the synod of our churches and therefore ought to be         that any of us really feared that one of our students
the concern of all of us.                                   would preach a sermon that would be characterized
  The first matter of business at synod is always the       by false doctrines or modern philosophy. This may
appointment of officers and the division of labors          easily be taken for granted; but especially when one
into the various committees.  .The result of synod's        considers the "preachers" that many seminaries in
elections was that Rev. J. Heys was appointed Presi-        our land are graduating and synods are approving for
dent, Rev. J. Kortering as Vice President, Rev. M.          candidacy, this should be occasion for great thanks-
Joostens as First Clerk, and Rev. A. den Hartog as          giving on our part. All the students, though perhaps
S e c o n d   C l e r k .                                   with varying ability, demonstrated they learned to
   As was mentioned by our President, the most              exegete the Word of God carefully and to preach in a
exciting and joyful labors .of the synod of 1978 had        way that was a clear and edifying exposition of God's
to do with the examination of our three graduating          Word. We have again gained as churches three men
students: Wilbur Bruinsma, Michael De Vries, and            who have been trained and equipped to preach the
Richard Flikkema. On Wednesday afternoon synod              blessed gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ unto us.
listened to each of the three students give a forty-five    Thanks be to God!


418                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



  After the sermons the rest of the examinations          glorious commission to preach the gospel even to the
continued. The examinations to which our students         uttermost parts of the earth. In comparison to the
are subjected are indeed very difficult and thorough,     larger denominations of our land our mission pro-
as anyone witnessing them would testify. I can            grams, of course, seem small. But we know that the
remember my own feelings on the morning before the        Lord is not dependent on numbers and size. Accord-
beginning of examinations. If the Lord in `His grace      ing to the measure of our size and resources the Lord
had not sustained me, it would have been impossible       has given us work to perform and this should be the
to sustain the examination. Imagine being examined        occasion for rejoicing and for zealous involvement in
for six hours in dogmatics. In this part of the           these labors.
examination especially the students were again and          The first mission work dealt with was our Home
again asked to prove the doctrines of Scripture by        Mission work in Victoria, British Columbia. Our work
quoting texts. In fact, in preparation for  synodical     there does not presently seem to be having- a lot of
exams one must have about 200 proof texts at his          positive fruit. Rev. Harbach is laboring with a few
finger tips. After dogmatics the students were ex-        faithful saints there. Synod decided to continue the
amined in Bible history, church history and church        labors of Rev. Harbach in Victoria. Let us continue to
polity. But why all of this, you might ask. Our whole     pray for Rev. Harbach and the work being done there.
denomination through its elected representatives had      One can well imagine that the work of Rev. Harbach
opportunity to witness and give consent to the            must at times be disappointing and discouraging. We
knowledge and ability and conviction of our students      all labor, however, in the assurance that God will
before they were declared candidates. The last part of    never allow His word to return to Him void.
the examination is called  practica. In this part the       The second mission related matter treated at synod
students were asked practical spiritual questions         was the Jamaican Mission field. We have had the
about their conviction and calling. Rev. C. Hanko         privilege of laboring directly and indirectly in
every year again is called to take this part of the       Jamaica for many years now. This year again two
exam, undoubtedly because he is so well qualified for     emissaries spent several weeks in Jamaica to evaluate
this *task and truly makes this part of the exam a        the field. The emissaries Rev. B. Woudenberg and Mr.
beautiful and significant climax to the whole of the      C. Prince gave a detailed report to the synod and were
examination.                                              also given the opportunity to speak on the floor of
  In a brief but very moving ceremony, all our three      synod. Their report evidenced that they labored very
graduating students were declared eligible for can-       hard while in Jamaica and even since the time they
didacy in our churches. This joyous moment should         returned through correspondence with the Jamaican
be able to be shared by all our people. Once again the    ministers. In general, their report emphasized that the
Lord has given us men ready to be called to serve in      Jamaican mission field remains for our churches an
our churches. How greatly we are in need of this gift     open door for much labor. Our assistance is both
of the Lord also to replace those of our ministers who    ileeded and desired by the Jamaican churches. There
will be retiring. May we pray earnestly that God may      is a great need for a much more extensive evaluation
make these men as faithful and zealous as those of        and work of the field. Our synod therefore made
our ministers who became emeritus.                        several decisions about Jamaica. It was decided to
                                                          continue laboring in Jamaica through the ministers by
  Our President made a very significant general           means of correspondence, tapes, and instruction
comment about the rest of the labors of our 1978          programs. The Mission committee was instructed to
synod. He noted that the bulk of the agenda had to        enlist the continued help of the emissaries in carrying
do with matters relating to work outside of our           out this work. Synod decided to instruct our Mission
denominations, especially matters of mission work. A      Committee to send emissaries to Jamaica again if
great deal of time is being spent today in many           necessary to provide assistance and guidance to the
synods on internal issues of doctrinal controversy and    churches. Synod decided' to instruct the Mission
matters such as women in office in the church and         Committee to investigate carefully the Jamaican
the status of the homosexual. This ismost often due       Mission field to determine if a full time missionary is
to  apostacy and error in the churches these synods       needed, and to come to next year's synod with a
represent. Matters are often being considered which       complete set of objectives and a plan of action. It was
should not even come up in synods of the church of        decided also to increase the financial support of the
Jesus Christ. The Lord has greatly blessed our            Jamaican ministers and to ask our churches to take
churches so that the time and efforts of synod could      up collections for this support. From all these
be directed to matters proper to the church of Jesus      decisions it is evident that the Jamaican Mission field
Christ. Furthermore, that so much time was taken up       remains for our churches a field where we can expend
by mission related matters evidences that the Lord        much labor for the extension and prosperity of the
has given us much work to do in carrying out the          church of Jesus Christ there.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 419



  In other mission-related matters synod approved            This will deal with the field of Singapore. I will report
the calling of a second home missionary and ap-              this as well as other significant acts of synod to you
pointed South Holland as a calling church. Our               in my next installment.
Mission committee continues to use the Reformed              (Editor's note: Due to the fact that Synod of 1978
Witness Hour in its work and was granted approval of         did not begin until June 7, this is only a partial
a budget $10,000 for this purpose. The budget in the         report. The second installment will appear in the
amount of  $60,320.00 for Home Missions was                  August issue. We thank Rev. den Hartog for taking
approved.                                                    the time during the busy labors of Synod to prepare
  At the writing of this article synod is anticipating       this report.)
the treatment of one more major item of missions.

SPECIAL REPORT


                               More About Singapore

                                                   Rev. J. Slopsema


  In the April 1, 1978 issue of the Standard Bearer            To understand the GLTD we must first understand
there appeared an article entitled "Singapore." In this      some of their history. The GLTD had its beginnings a
article the Foreign Mission Committee informed you           little over 10 years ago as the Monks Hill Bible Club.
that it had sent two emissaries, Elder Dewey Engels-         This was actually a Bible study group formed by a
ma and myself, to Singapore to investigate a possible        number of new converts attending the Monks  Hill
field of labor with a group of young people who call         Secondary School. In the course of time, however,
themselves the Gospel Letters And Tracts Depart-             the members of this Bible Club turned their attention
ment (GLTD). This article, written on the basis of           more and more to evangelism and the distribution of
past correspondence with the GLTD, was necessarily           Christian literature and tracts. This, by the way, is
brief and incomplete. Having finished our investiga-         still one of the main concerns of the group today. But
tion, however, we would now like to give you a more          in harmony with this, they changed their name to the
detailed idea of the situation as we found it in             Gospel Letters and Tracts Department. Although the
Singapore.                                                   GLTD has always been an independent organization,
  Singapore itself is a rather small island on the tip of    many of its members at one time were also members
the Malayan peninsula, approximately 24 miles long           of the New Life Bible Presbyterian Church in
and 15 miles across. Nevertheless, it is  the. fourth        Singapore. But about two years ago most of the
largest seaport in the world and boasts a population         GLTD withdrew its membership from Life Church.
of over  2:5 million people, which makes for very            The reason was dissatisfaction with certain practices,
crowded living conditions. The largest percentage of         viz., Life Church employed a Hindu and a Roman
the population is Chinese, although there is a signifi-      Catholic to teach in its school. Consequently, most of
cant percentage of Malayans and Indians as well.             the members of the GLTD are not affiliated with any
Singapore is predominantly a pagan country embrac-           church. At about the same time that the GLTD broke
ing many false religions. One can find Muslims,              away from Life Church, they received a Baptist
Buddhists, Hindus, Chinese ancestor worshippers, and         missionary pastor. Actually this missionary pastor
others in Singapore. The Christian church is also            was one of the original members of the GLTD who
present in Singapore, with many denominations                had gone to the U.S. to study for the ministry in a
represented. In addition to Roman Catholic and               Baptist Seminary. His Baptist teachings, however,
Anglican, there are also Methodist, Baptist, and             especially his views on baptism, were not received by
Presbyterian Churches on the island. But these have          the GLTD. As a result he left to labor elsewhere.
by and large followed the general trend today of               At present the GLTD has approximately 120
apostasy. All we can say is that at best they are            members. With one exception they are all single
devoted to Arminianism. And it was in that spiritual         individuals. The exception is a man without children
climate that we found the GLTD.                              whose wife is a Hindu. The GLTD is also very young.
  What is the GLTD? Who are these people?                    Most  of its members are 18 to 21 years of age. In


   420                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


   addition to this they are all converts from paganism.       They also have an annual Bible Camp in December (it
   They have all been bom,of pagan parents, reared in          is warm all year round in Singapore) and a Vacation
   pagan homes, and indoctrinated in the idolatry of           Bible School, both of which are for the purpose of
   paganism. In fact, their parents and families are still     evangelism. The GLTD, therefore, is for all practical
   in the darkness of heathendom. With but two                 purposes operating as a church.
   exceptions, each of these young people is the only            As far as the spiritual life and walk of the GLTD
   one of his or her family that has been brought to the       are concerned, we were deeply impressed. They are
   Christian faith. The two exceptions involve sisters         very much devoted to the cause of God and very
   that were led to conversion. These young people,            careful to conform themselves to the law of God. In
   therefore, have never had the advantage of a covenant       many ways we can look to them as examples. We
   home or upbringing. In fact, many of them have been         found, for example, absolutely no trace of the
   persecuted and beaten by their parents for their faith.     paganism of their past or of their families. One might
     As we have suggested, the GLTD is not an                  expect a problem with this, especially after reading
   organized church with properly ordained  office-            Paul's epistles to the church at Corinth. But we found
   bearers. It is a society that is seeking to be organized    not an inkling of this. The members of the GLTD
   into a church. And even now they are for all practical      walk very antithetically over against the paganism of
   purposes functioning as a church with a full-orbed          Singapore. They are truly lights shining in the midst
   "church life." The exact structure that this assumes is     of darkness.
   of course different than ours. And the reason is that          In addition to this we found that the GLTD
- their situation is different than ours. Perhaps the          also knows how to give. The average worker in
   chief determining factor is their difficulty in meeting     Singapore earns much less than do we. We were told
   together as a group. Most of them have no means of          that a common laborer earns about $8.00 a day. In
   transportation. In addition to this their parents           addition to this most of the members of the GLTD
   discourage and even militate against participation in       do not work but go to school. Yet, while we were
   the activities of the GLTD.                                 there their collections on Sunday were from $300 to
     Bearing this in mind, we can understand that the          $500. We were told that they have been as high as
   GLTD meets only once a Sunday for worship. It is            $800. In addition to this, the GLTD provided us with
   simply impossible for most of them to meet twice.           free lodging and gave us $100, which probably would
   They do, however, make the most of the situation.           have  .covered  all our expenses had we been able to
   For their worship service lasts from 2 to 3 hours as        adjust ourselves more to the oriental culture. The
   their leaders on a rotating basis exhort them from the      GLTD is definitely not looking for a financial
   Word of God.                                                handout. Their interest in us is purely of a spiritual
     In addition to this the members of the GLTD meet          nature.
  during the week for Bible study, much as we do in              In addition to this, the GLTD also knows how to
   our Bible societies, although, again, because of the        suffer for Christ's sake. As we have indicated, many
   difficulties of getting to meetings, they do not all        of the GLTD have been beaten and persecuted by
   meet together in one place. Instead there are little        their parents when they first came to the Christian
   groups scattered here and there throughout the city         faith. But yet they persevered in the faith. And in
   of Singapore, meeting wherever there happens to be a        almost all cases, we were told, their parents became
   concentration of members. Some meet in schools,             more tolerant when they saw the transformation that
   especially those that attend school. But one night `we      the grace of God had worked in the lives of their
   also met with a small group in a park under a street        children. Perhaps more striking yet is the fact that in
   lamp. They have no other place to meet.                     spite of all this, these young people hold no ill-feeling
     The GLTD also provides instruction for its                towards their parents. They love their parents, are
   members, much as we do in catechism. This instruc-          concerned for them and their salvation, seek to please
   tion is especially for those who are young in the faith.    their parents, and are very obedient in the home. Our
   For this purpose they have three "Saturday Club             own young people would do well to follow their
   Meetings" and several Sunday School Classes. Atten-         example.
   dance is voluntary, however, because of the difficulty        Where does the GLTD stand doctrinally?
   that many members have in coming.                             The GLTD does not have a doctrinal stand. What
     In addition to this the GLTD also has a Ladies' and       we mean by this is that the GLTD is not doctrinally
   a Men's Fellowship that meets every week for varied         one. They do have a "Statement of Faith"; but this
   activities. They have three prayer meetings a week -        Statement is brief, incomplete, and allows for many
   one on Wednesday evening and two on Friday. The             different and divergent views. In harmony with this,
   Friday meetings are for those who attend school and         the GLTD embraces anything from Arminianism to a
   are not able to attend the Wednesday evening session.       somewhat Reformed position.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                               421


  We found in our discussions with the GLTD that             admit that. Their biggest weakness is in their doc-
many of them want to be four-point Calvinists. On            trinal position, or lack of it. But considering the
the one hand, they want to maintain sovereign                paganism out of which they came, considering the
predestination, total depravity, irresistible grace, and     total Arminianism they embraced only two years ago,
preservation of the saints. But on the other hand,           considering their youth and lack of experience,
they also want a universal atonement of Christ, along        considering the church situation in Singapore, con-
with a universal love of God and a universal offer of        sidering many things, we were utterly amazed to
salvation. They make the common distinction be-              find what we did in the GLTD. While many today
tween the hidden and revealed will of God. Although          are departing from the truth and the sacred ways of
God sovereignly elected some and not all (hidden             God, these young people without the benefit of older
will), He nevertheless reveals Himself as loving all and     leaders have been advancing towards the truth.
seeking the salvation of all in Christ. And it appears as    Amazing!
though they want this for the sake of the  address-            What is our future with the GLTD?
ability of the gospel. They have difficulty seeing how
one can effectively do mission work unless he can              The GLTD is looking for help and leadership. They
come to the unbeliever and say, "God loves you,              recognize their need for growth and development.
Christ died for you," etc.                                   They' also recognize that they can get no real help
                                                             from the existing churches in Singapore. They came
  Once again, however, this does not represent the           to us looking for help. They heard us; in many ways
position of all of GLTD. Some have difficulties with         they were receptive to us; we were able to show them
other of the five points of Calvinism. And others            many'things from the Scriptures, even on matters of
accept all five points, although at the same time they       disagreement. But both they and we recognized that
do speak of a common, non-saving love (grace) of
God.                                                         it is premature to send a missionary to labor among
                                                             them. For the differences that exist between us have
  Perhaps this wide range and diversity of doctrine in       been clearly spelled out. And now they need time to
the GLTD can be explained from their history. Until          think things over. Is the Reformed faith as we
about two years ago, the whole group was totally             maintain it the direction in which they want to go?
Arminian. But through reading, some of the leaders           They want to make sure. Remember, it was only a
came into contact with Reformed theology and                 year ago that they had trouble with a Baptist
started to develop in that direction. As they did so,        missionary pastor. And so it was decided that we
they were able to take some of the members with              would begin a tape program of instruction with them,
them, some part way, and others hardly at all.               following the Heidelberg Catechism. This will give
  What must we think of the GLTD?                            them the opportunity to decide in the future whether
  In many,  .many ways the GLTD is to be highly              or not they will want a missionary from our churches.
commended. In many ways they also put us to                    The Foreign Mission Committee asks for your
shame. Indeed, the GLTD is not without its weak-             support in this and that you remember this work and
nesses and shortcomings. And they will be the first to       the GLTD in your prayers.

ALL AROUND US



                 What's Up at the C.R.C. Synod?

                                                  Rev. G. Van Buren


   By the time these lines are read, the C.R.C. Synod        some of the more controversial issues, these will be
should be history. At the time of this writing, it is        returned to the hands of a study committee. Some of
still several weeks away. The issues will have been          the issues are reported in the June 1978 issue of
decided by the time this Standard Bearer is sent out.        Outlook. Rev. Peter De Jong reports. On dancing:
One wonders what those decisions will be. Likely, on


422                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


          Among the items that concern the college and                  approved for trial last year, before September 1,
       seminary, what seems likely to catch the most                    1978. That form in its capitulation to the modern
       attention is the follow-up of last year's announced              liberation fad in the vows pointedly refused to
       board decision to  .actively promote dancing on                  recognize the God-given distinction between the role
       campus. Last year's synod turned down a motion to                of man and woman in marriage and even tastelessly
       disapprove of that policy but directed that reactions            presumed to instruct God in the prayer how He ought
       to it be sent to the board. The board now reports that           to counsel the partners when they would become
       it has received hundreds of reactions, at least 85% of           bored with each other!
       them critical, but is still of a mind to follow the                 One wonders about some of the doctrine ex-
       announced course and that it expects the synod to                pressed in the new forms found in the report. Where
       support it.                                                      does the Bible ever intimate that the Christian "may
  The opposition against social dancing is evident.                    joyfully bear the cross of Christ". We have crosses to
Yet the Board of Calvin College and Seminary is                         bear, but never bear Christ's unique cross! Is this an
correct: the Synod's decisions in 1966 on movie                         unintentional slip or a deliberate heresy?
attendance and 1971 in answer to an overture of                            Again, although the Bible instructs us to confess
Classis Hamilton on dancing give no alternative to                      our sins to the Lord and to one another as we sin
Synod but to approve. To deny the request would be                      against him or her, where does it ever instruct us to
to contradict earlier decisions; to approve might stir                  confess them to "the whole communion of saints in
up a hornets' nest. We await with curiosity to see how                  heaven and earth"? We should not say such things if
                                                                        we do not mean them. If we include such material in
the Synod extricates itself from this problem.                          our liturgy just because it sounds grandiloquent, are
  Another controversial subject at the Synod will be                    we not in danger of turning the whole business into
that on liturgy. A standing committee has been                         hypocrisy?
grinding out a series of new forms for use in the                     The article continues by pointing out that there are
churches. These forms were made optional within the                 various reports which are concerned with the position
churches. Now, it seems, the committee is concerned                 of the minister within the C.R.C. There have been
that there is too great diversity among the churches.               increasing problems with ministers' who leave the
It proposes that Synod try to provide limits on the                 ministry as well as problems related to ministers who
variations of forms which may be used. This might                   begin labors not very related to the ministry of the
create problems for those most conservative congrega-               Word. One wonders if this whole matter has gone
tions who still want to use the old and tried forms.                much too far already for the Synod ever to correct
The  Outlook  states:                                               this as it should. The report says:

          Now the committee, fearful that this policy (of                 The Minister's Information Service notes "that
       using various forms) has created "anarchy and sheer             there is an increasing concern about the question of
       congregationalism" determines that this freedom of              being released from the office of the ministry and
       the churches must be reined in. It "believes that it is         from the ordination vows. Would it therefore be wise
       time for the synod to begin to set . . . limits". It            to establish a period of probation prior to ordination?
       proposes to set up an order for the Lord's Supper in            Or to remove the implication of permanency attached
       which it indicates what words must be used and at               to the ordination vows"?
       what points and to what degree they may be altered.                . . . Increasingly ministers of our churches are being
       This order may also be the order for other services             placed in roles which are quite different from the
       than those at which the Lord's Supper is celebrated.            ordinate pastorate. When questions about how far a
       Included as an option in it is what it calls "the Passing       minister's ordination might be stretched to cover such
       of the Peace." By this the Committee means Paul's               duties arose two years ago, a committee was ap-
       "holy kiss" for which it would substitute a handshake           pointed to study the matter. Its report proposes that
       and words such as "The peace of the Lord be always              the description of the minister's task as "spiritual in
       with you". The Report goes on to indicate how the               character and directly related to the ministerial
       three current forms for the Lord's Supper may be                calling" be abandoned.
       divided up and used piecemeal in different parts of the
       service. The net impression the reader. gains from the             It proposes a series of changes in Church Order
       whole business is that it is extremely and needlessly           articles 11-14 to d@ with these matters. Some of
       complex and arbitrarily cuts up our too many                    these details seem to have some merit. What I fmd
       existing forms.                                                 somewhat disturbing is the Committee's baldly stated
                                                                       assumption "that most stipulations governing the
          . . .To help guide the churches in the confusion it          offices . . . are neither sacred nor biblically enjoined.
       is creating, the Committee proposes that the Synod              To put it another way, the nature and extent of
       approve a loose-leaf Service Book which can be                  ecclesiastical office is what the church says it is".
       constantly changed!                                             Although we all recognize that the Bible does not give
          Churches are asked to bring to the Committee                 us detailed regulations to cover every area of the
       their reactions to the new marriage form which was              churches' life, doesn't such a sweeping assumption as


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      423


    this contradict the principle that Christ governs His            (0r, on "Social Justice"): A Committee to con-
    church by His Word and Spirit? In a variety of                sider establishing a denominational "standing com-
   matters one senses that we pay less and less attention         mittee for social justice" first considers objections
   to anything the Bible says, but isn't it somewhat              that this is going beyond the proper province of the
    startling to see this Committee baldly claim such             church, then finds precedents we have established for
   independence of Scripture as a basic church prin-              a move in this direction and finally recommends
   ciple?                                                         establishing such committees on all church levels.
  Increasingly, too, the C.R.C. is becoming involved             And there comes again a report from a third study
in the "social" issues of the day. This hardly                 committee concerning women in office.
conforms to the old Reformed principle that the                      We observe that it, in what may prove to be the
ecclesiastical gatherings treat only ecclesiastical mat-          most controversial item of the Synod's business,
ters. Many rejoice that finally the church is becoming            would lead us to the same conclusion that the Bible
involved in this world's problems. However, when                  tells us nothing clearly and that the church is free to
reading the report in the  Outlook  one is struck not             do as it pleases.It may be worth recalling that this is
only by the extent to which our "mother" church has               the last of three reports that in one way or another
been doing this, but also by the absolute nonsense in             have been dealing with this matter. In 1973 an
which they have involved themselves. Listen to this:              go-page report went through the Bible citing the
                                                                  many examples of the prominent places given women
      Last year the Race Committee (SCORR), bur-                  in order to prove their equality and dismissed
   dened with an impossibly broad mandate (to "elimi-             anything the Bible taught about their not being put
   nate racism, both causes and effects . . . through the         in the same offices as men as the expression of the
   world . . .") and no assigned job, brought in a                male-dominated ancient culture.
   somewhat dispirited report. The Synod, however,
   continued it and raised its quota which had been cut              In 1975 another committee first plainly exposed
   the previous year. . . .                                       the fallacious reasoning of the earlier report and
                                                                  called attention to New Testament passages which
      The Committee's report includes the  6-page                 showed that special offices were not given to women.
   "Koinonia Declaration" of a group of white Afri-               Then it observed that if these passages were taken
   kaners who are objecting to some of their South                literally they would forbid a few things which our
   African government's policies. The Race Committee              churches are already doing. "Therefore" the Com-
   wants our Synod to endorse this declaration which              mittee sought and found excuses which it argued
   condemns both Black as well as White nationalism.              made such Bible teachings no longer applicable. By
   "Nor are we convinced that both White and Black                this curious process the Committee reached the same
   nationalist movements ought to be condemned with               conclusion that the Bible didn't oppose the ordina-
   equal force, as the Declaration seems to do".                  tion of Women. The Synod of 1975 appointed a new
      Of its $114,000 budget, $50,000 is for salaries and         committee which was to study the way in which the
   operating expenses and the rest is given to other              Bible should be understood to apply to such matters.
   agencies (and minority scholarships). How can giving             This Committee found itself sharply divided, four
   special "minority scholarships," restricted to certain         of the professors (from Calvin College and Seminary)
   races eliminate race discrimination?                           on one side, three others, two from Reformed
      (Or, on "World Hunger"): A Task Force on World              Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi and one
   Hunger" faces us with 70 pages of lengthy discussion           from Reformed Bible College) on the other. In that
   on poverty in the world, some common sense                     situation the Committee, instead of presenting two
   recommendations that we waste and spend too much               reports in which the positions of each group could be
   and ought to be more saving and give more help to              clearly stated and argued, was prevailed upon to stay
   the needy. Not content, however, with such practical           together and attempt to bring one report which
   and generally acceptable advice, it would have us take         probably satisfies no one. Although the differing
   on the job of restructuring the world! It is confident         conclusions are indicated at the end, the argumenta-
   that it will meet with opposition as it criticizes our         tion, as Professor Van Groningen, himself a com-
   "recreational vehicles and Cadillacs" and "Florida             mittee member, pointed out in last month's Outlook,
   vacations"; it proposes that we give one percent of            is confusing and far from satisfactory in many ways.
   our income to a world hunger program, and vastly
   expand the work of the CRWRC. Since its aim to                    . . . As one moves through it, however, he notices
   restructure the world system, "structural or system-           an emphasis emerging that stresses the way biblical
   atic change both in North America and worldwide,"              material was culturally conditioned. . . . "Care should
   is a bit ambitious even for that agency, it suggests           be taken not to transfer such applications directly to
   that the Synod continue the work of this Committee             the different situations obtaining today."
   to take on that problem. Without underestimating                  Again, the question may be considered whether a
   the competence of our modest "task force" to handle            given word in Scripture, which appears to be the last
   such  an undertaking, don't we have to face the                word the canon speaks on the subject, is possibly
   question whether the Lord has assigned this job to             open to the future for further development in
   our churches (Luke 12:14)?                                     connection with the coming of God's kingdom". Not


424                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



       surprisingly, the majority of the Committee, seeking            the Bible for opening the offices of elder and min-
       for reasons or excuses to defend the modern move-              ister to women" and see the Apostle Paul (I Cor.
       ment to remove all distinctions between men and                 14:34 and I Tim. 2: 12) stating "that a woman is not
       women in the church, as it refers to some selected              to have authority over a man". They would have the
       Scripture passages, ignoring many others, laboring              Synod declare that "the offices of elder and minister
       especially to dispute Paul's clear injunctions in I Cor.       not be opened to women".
       14:33-36 and I Timothy 2:9-15 arrives at the desired
       conclusion that "the biblical evidence for allowing or        Striking, that though these two reports disagree on
       denying women admission to the office of elder and          the ordination of women into  the  offices  of elder and
       minister as presently understood is not clear". It          minister, both agree that they may serve as deacons.
       would now open the office of deacon to women, but           In that connection, I recall a lecture given to
       would not yet admit them to become ministers or             supporters of "women in office" a few years ago in
       elders especially since "most of our churches do not        which the speaker exactly advocated this approach:
       seem to be ready at this time for women elders and          first get women into the office of deacon  - then
       women pastors".                                             work for elder, and finally for minister. So, whether
          Two of the minority, although dissuaded from             the C.R.C. takes committee "A" or committee "B"
       bringing their own separate report differ from the          report, the end result will be the same.
       majority's conclusion. They find some evidence in the
       Bible for permitting women deacons (Rom. 16: 1 and            I guess that I'm just happy that I need only serve in
       1 Tim.  3:l) and would permit their ordination to           our little Synod so that I won't have to become
       that office, "provided that their work is distinguished     involved in all of those "momentous decisions" which
       from that of the elders". They "find no evidence in         the C.R.C. Synod faces.

T H E S T R E N G T H O F Y O U T H

                          A Letter From New Zealand

                                       Rev. R. Van Overloop          Although our efforts remain centered in Christ-
                                       100 Sparks Rd.              church, we are now doing some work in Wellington.
                                       Christchurch 2              Wellington, which is the capital of New Zealand, is on
                                       New Zealand                 the lowest tip of the North Island and is about 40
                                       April 27,1978               flying minutes northeast of Christchurch. I am flying
                                                                   up to Wellington every other week to conduct a Bible
Young People of the                                                doctrine study class. This work is being done in the
Protestant Reformed Churches,                                      hopes that it will serve as a means to gather others
 c/o The Standard Bearer                                           who are interested in a truly Biblical teaching. There
Dear Young People,                                                 are three `or four families who serve as the base for
   Greetings to you in the Name of Jesus Christ Who                this work. It is also hoped that in time the numbers
is the King of His people and the Head of His Church.              of the group will be large enough to organize a
                                                                   congregation which can be a part of the Orthodox
   Since our last letter to you, two months have                   Presbyterian Churches.
quickly passed. By the time you receive this letter
you will be nearing the end of the school year. Your                 Every Monday evening I am meeting with four or
thoughts will be turning to summer work, warmer                    five young people. None of these young people is a
weather, and to the coming Young People's Con-                     member of the Orthodox Presbyterian denomination.
vention. On this side of the equator the leaves are                Rather a couple are members of the Presbyterian
turning color and falling from the trees. Also the                 Churches of New Zealand, one is from a Baptist
temperatures are growing increasingly cooler.                      congregation, and one is a member of the Anglican
                                                                   churches. In these meetings we are considering the
   Our work here in the Christchurch Orthodox                      basic tenets of the Reformed faith. The reception of
Presbyterian congregation seems to be progressing                  this instruction has been very good.
well. The meetings of which we wrote in our last
letter are continuing and prove beneficial to all                    Also, I have been asked to teach a  one-hour-per-
involved. Besides those meetings, there are more                   week course at Middleton Grange School. Middleton
activities which receive our attention.                            Grange is a private Christian school which my two


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                            425


older children attend. This ten week course which I           It is the principles of the primacy of the home, of
am to teach will be on Doctrines of the Bible. This         instruction of the youth, and of the centrality of the
course has been offered as an elective to students who      church which the Orthodox Presbyterian Churches
are in their last year at Middleton (the equivalent to      are dedicated to restoring. The present generation of
high school seniors). There will be approximately           New Zealanders is without the benefits of sound
thirty students in this class. Because the student body     covenant instruction in the home and church. In
of Middleton is from a varied church background, this       addition, they have not had the blessed privilege of
experience should prove very interesting.                   solidly Reformed preaching.
  One thing has forcibly struck me time and again             This has made me aware of how blessed you are to
since I have been in New Zealand. That is the fact          receive catechetical instruction thirty weeks a year
that the churches of New Zealand have almost en-            for eleven or more years. I hope you realize how
tirely neglected their young people, giving them            important and vital this instruction is. Its tremendous
stones for bread. Very few, if any, receive sound           importance has been impressed upon me by witness-
Biblical and doctrinal teaching.                            ing the lack of it.
  This lack of covenantal instruction is not so much          For you the catechism season has ended for an-
a reflection of Presbyterianism as such, for many of        other year. But you can resolve to work harder in the
the older people who had been brought up in the             catechism classes when they- resume in the fall.
Presbyterian churches can remember instruction in           During summer vacation do not take a vacation from
the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Nor is the lack of       continued study of God's Word. Strive to be more
covenantal instruction the attitude of the Orthodox         faithful in your own personal devotions. A well
Presbyterian Churches in particular. Rather the cause       trained youth will not forget his training when he is
of this lack of covenantal instruction in most of the       old.
congregations in New Zealand is great apostasy from                                         In His service,
the truth and the false notion that an evangelistic                                           R. Van Overloop
program will meet the need for instruction. And, as
you know, this is not unique to New Zealand. This           (Editor's Note: Did you see that return address at the
terrible sin is world-wide. Evangelistic programs have      beginning of this letter? Young and old, how about
taken the place of sound catechetical instruction. The      dropping the Van Overloops a line? I know they
youth programs which do exist are more social than          welcome letters. And: by all means, send it airmail;
educational. The children of these mainline denom-          surface mail takes a couple months. HCH)
inations are very little brought up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord.

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE

                                    Letter To Timothy

Dear Timothy,                                                  It is certainly true, as the Form for the Ordination
  The time has come in our discussion to talk about         of Elders and Deacons makes clear, that elders too are
the office and work of the elders in the Church of          called by Christ through His Church. The office of
Jesus Christ.                                               believers functions in the call of elders because Christ
                                                            is pleased to put men into office through the means
  In previous letters we have already- talked about         of the choice of the believers in the congregation.
the basic idea of the office of elders: how it stands       Even this election of elders, though through the
connected with the Old Testament offices; how it is         office of believers, is under the supervision and
related to the office of the apostles and the office of     direction of the Consistory itself. Our Church Order
the ministry of the Word; what is the chief feature of      provides for two methods: The Consistory may pre-
this office as a special office in the Church of Christ;    sent to the congregation either a double number from
and such like subjects. Now we must turn to more            which half are chosen, or may simply submit a slate
practical matters in connection with this subject.          of officebearers for approval. In any case, the  Con-
  There are a few remarks which I wish to make first        sistory exercises supervision, while the congregation
of all with respect to the calling of elders.               makes the choice or gives approval. Here too is part


426                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


of the genius of Reformed Church Polity of which we         that elders occupy such an important place in the
spoke in. an earlier letter. Here too there is neither      Church. In a way they are more important even than
democracy nor dictatorship: both believers and office-      the minister. I do not mean to minimize the impor-
bearers have their own assigned role. Both -aspects of      tance of the preaching of the Word, of course. After
this are necessary and important.                           all, this is the chief means of grace. But the fact never-
   But what is a striking aspect of this call is its        theless remains that the welfare of a given congre-
similarity to the call of ministers. In Article 4 of our    gation is greatly dependent upon the elders who serve
Church Order, four separate elements are included in        in it. In any given congregation, ministers come and
the lawful call of the ministers of the Word: election,     go. They never stay very long. And it is good that
examination, approbation, and -ordination. Our              they do not. But elders are men who are members of
fathers considered, rightly, that these four elements       a given congregation perhaps all their life. They stay
had to be present if a minister of the Word was to be       when a minister leaves and a new pastor is called.
called in such a way that it met with the requirement       They are the officebearers who give stability and con-
of decency and orderliness in the Church of Christ.         tinuity to the congregation. Upon them, above all,
                                                            falls the responsibility of the Church over which the
  Now, at first glance, we might think that these four      Lord has placed them. The spiritual strength of a con-
elements are not present in the call of elders, and, for    gregation can often be weighed by the quality of its
that matter, deacons. Nevertheless, a careful examina-      elders. Others from; different ecclesiastical circles, who
tion of Article 22 of the Church Order will reveal that
this is indeed the case.                                    have never known what the office of elder is really all
                                                            about, after having learned concerning the idea of the
  There is a slightly different order here because of       office of elder, stand amazed at the institution of
the situation which we have in our Churches. In the         elders as it functions within Reformed and Presby-
case of ministers, election precedes the examination.       terian circles. Anyone who minimizes this office
This is because all our students from the Seminary are      either does not understand it or has no regard for the
examined on the Synod, declared eligible for a call if      well-being of the Church of Christ.
they pass their exam, are elected by a local congrega-
tion to be pastors, and then are examined by Classis           It is for this reason that good elders must always be
after the election in the local congregation takes          chosen. The Consistory has a very serious responsibil-
place. But elders  are. really examined prior to the        ity here. It is so easy to let other motives determine
election.                                                   the nomination when that time comes in the early
                                                            fall. The Consistory might, e.g., consider putting a
   The same is true of approbation. In the case of          certain man on nomination because he is always
ministers the approbation takes place after the elec-       somewhat critical of the work of the Consistory, and
tion if the Consistory itself chooses a minister; while     the feeling is that if only he would serve once in the
if the minister is chosen by a vote of the congregation     Consistory and realize what the work really was he
from a trio or duo, then the approbation is part of         would cease being so critical. Or the Consistory might
the election, itself. The approbation of elders takes       put a man on nomination out of some motivation of
place at the time the nomination is announced, and as       sympathy because he is overlooked in the congrega-
the congregation votes for new officebearers or             tion, neglected in the life of the communion of the
approves of a slate presented to it by the Consistory.      saints, or whatever. Or he may be nominated because
   But the elements are all present.                        he is an outstanding man in the community, a man of
  We need not .discuss this in detail, except for the       influence among his fellow men, a man successful in
matter of examination. One -might think, at first           business with known administrative gifts. And even
glance, that no provision is made for the examination       though such a man may be lacking in the spiritual
of elders. But this is not the case. Although the           qualifications necessary to rule in the Church of
Church Order only speaks of "suitable" persons, the         Christ, he may be put on nomination for these
Scriptures themselves make it clear that elders must        reasons. There are many different reasons why a
have particular qualifications. These qualifications are    particular man may be nominated which are not
especially listed in I Timothy 3: l-7 although they are     proper.
stated or implied in other passages of Scripture. And         The Church needs the best possible elders. And the
it is concerning this matter that I want to say a few       Consistory must take special care that the best pos-
things to you.                                              sible men are nominated for this work. There must be
  The first thing that needs saying is that good elders     special care exercised to nominate men who have
who meet the qualifications of Scripture are of             been endowed by God with the gifts which God
utmost importance in the Church of Jesus Christ. We         Himself has decreed as necessary for the work of this
sometimes call our system of Church government              office. The -very welfare of the congregation is at
"presbyterian"; and this refers especially to'the fact      stake.


                                               THE  STAhlDARD  BEARER                                            427


  The complaint is sometimes made that Consistories           this when it comes to other officebearers.
have a difficult time finding enough men for a                  I know that it is not right for a man to set himself
nomination. There are, I suppose, various reasons for         forward and actively campaign for a place on the
this. Sometimes there are not sufficient qualified men        nomination. This smacks too much of what the
in a congregation. Unless the congregation is very            apostle John condemns as "loving to have the
small (and, by the way, the presence of qualified men         preeminence." (See III John, 9.) And affairs in the
to serve as officebearers is one prerequisite in the          Church of Christ are not political and must never
Church Order for the organization of a new congrega-          become such. Nevertheless, a man of God deeply
tion), the absence of qualified men is a shame on the         committed to the cause of God and of His Church,
congregation. If it is really true that there are no          ought to face the question, in integrity of heart
qualified men, then that congregation is a spiritually        before God's face, whether God has a place for him in
weak congregation and ought to take steps to correct          the work of elder or deacon. And though he must
that condition.                                               wait patiently until God calls him to such a work, he
  Sometimes there are qualified men in the congrega-          must nevertheless prepare himself from youth on for
tion, but these men, for one reason or another, are           this possibility. He must ponder, as honestly as he
reluctant to serve. It is almost impossible to get them       can, whether God has given him the gifts necessary
to allow their name to remain on nomination. This             for this calling. He must make the study of God's
also is wrong. It is sometimes true that the able men         Word a part of his life. He must involve himself in the
in a congregation are very busy in other work. They           affairs of the Church and the work of the people of
are perhaps busy in the School Boards of the Chris-           God as much as in him lies. And He must develop
tian Schools or in various committees of the higher           those gifts which God has given him so that if the
ecclesiastical assemblies so that they have little time       time comes that God calls him to this work, he is
to add to their busy schedules. They have family              ready. It is not only true that there is nothing wrong
responsibilities which require their attention. But the       with this, but this is his solemn obligation. And if
fact is that the calling to serve in the Church of Christ     each, in his own place, does this, then there will
is a calling which is first. It must be considered above      always be men who are ready and able to serve.
other responsibilities as a call of God. While it is true       It is good, Timothy, that on family visitation and
that no father may neglect his family, no other work          in your work in the congregation you remind your
within' the Church is as important as the work of an          people of this.
officebearer. This always comes first. And  Con-
sistories ought to remember that they ought not to
leave a name off the nomination because such a                                              Fraternally in the Lord,
person is serving on the School Board if such a one is                                      H. Hanko
clearly the one most obviously qualified for the work.
  But sometimes qualified men simply will not serve.
This, for whatever the reason may be, is not good.
No man has the right to say No to God. Such a man
may, of course, have reasons for not serving of which
the Consistory is unaware. Then, if he brings them to
the attention of the Consistory, he will be taken off
the nomination. But if he has no such reasons, he
may not say No. He may feel himself to be unqual-
ified, but this is in every case true of a dedicated child
of God. The spiritual qualifications which enable a
man to serve are given from God.
  The congregation has a certain responsibility also
in this respect. Every man must consider the pos-
sibility that God may call him to the work of the
Church. We have really some strange notions about
this. A young man who desires to enter the ministry
of the Word must himself take the initiative. He may
be encouraged by Godly parents and by understand-
ing officebearers; but the initiative is finally his as he
pursues his course of study, applies for entrance into
the Seminary, and performs his studies in preparation
for the ministry. But for some reason we frown upon


428                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS

                                  Church Discipline  (2)

                                               Prof Robert D. Decker


             "ln the meantime we believe, though it is usejul and beneficial, that those, who are rulers of
             the Church, institute and establish certain ordinances among themselves for maintaining the
             body of the Church; yet they ought studiously to take care, that they do not depart from
             those things which Christ, our only Master, hath instituted. And therefore, we reject all
             human inventions, and all laws, which man would introduce into the worship of God,
             thereby to compel the conscience in any manner whatever. Therefore we admit only of that
             which tends to nourish and preserve concord, and unity, and to keep all men in obedience
             to God. For this purpose, excommunication or church discipline is requisite, with the
             several circumstances belonging to it, according to the Word of God. "
                                                                    The Belgic Confession, Article &XXII

  There is a woefulslack of church discipline among           tive and it certainly is not punitive. It has as its aim
the churches of our day. Practically anyone, no               the preservation of the church and the salvation (not
matter what he. believes and no matter how he lives,          punishment) of its members. So strongly did our
may be a member in good standing in most churches.            Reformed fathers believe this that they went so far as
Adulterers, homosexuals, heretics, desecraters of the         to speak of excommunication itself as the `"extreme
Sabbath, those who neglect the means of grace, and            remedy." (Cf. the  Church Order,  Article 76) Even
more are not only not admonished for their sins but           that "last remedy" was viewed by the fathers as the
granted access to the Lord's table and considered to          means whereby God might make the sinner ashamed
be members of the church in good and regular                  of his sins and give the church reason again to rejoice
standing. This same disregard for discipline is making        in him.  (df. Form Of Excommunication) When the
deep inroads into the Reformed Churches both in this          church disciplines an erring member it does so in
-country and abroad. False teaching abounds; open             order to bring that member to repentance. The
attacks upon the Confessions are countenanced. God-           church desires the salvation of the sinner. If that
ly practices long observed by the Reformed tradition          sinner remains impenitent and hardened then the
are now denied. Well nigh "anything goes." The                "extreme remedy must be applied.
attitude toward discipline is that it is something               The reason for this latter is that the unity and
negative and punitive. Discipline impedes the progress        peace of the church must be preserved. Sin causes a
of the gospel and the growth of the church. To                breach; it creates schism in the church. Sin is also like
theological development and growth discipline is con-         a cancer. If tolerated it will spread and pervade the
sidered stifling. Precisely why thisis the case we shall      church infecting the members. The purpose of dis-
consider later. Suffice it to say at this point that this     cipline therefore is the preservation of the purity of
is certainly not the attitude reflected in our  Con-          the church. and its unity in the truth of God's Word.
fession.        `.                                            In this connection and this is undoubtedly the deep-
  In  .view of this sad situation it is perhaps best to       est purpose of church discipline, the church exercises
begin our discussion of the principles of church              discipline in order that the name of Christ be not
discipline as taught in this Article by examining the         blasphemed but rather praised. The Church after all
purpose of discipline in God's Church. The  Con-              belongs to Christ. It was given to Christ by God
fession  speaks of "useful" and "beneficial ordi-             through the election of grace before the foundations
nances" as those "which tend to nourish and preserve          of the world. For that Church Christ laid down His
concord, and unity, and to keep all men in obedience          life at the cross and took it again in the resurrection.
 to God. For this purpose excommunication or                  The Church is loved and preserved by Christ and will
church discipline is requisite." The purpose of church        be glorified by Christ in the new heaven and earth.
discipline is, therefore, to maintain the peace and           All this means that when there is  offence in the
unity of the church and to keep its members in                church, the  offence of unrepented sin, Christ is
obedience to God. Discipline is not something nega-           offended. Festering sin, whether in doctrine or in life,


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 429


brings shame and dishonor to the name of Christ.              preaching of the Word and the administration of the
That  offence must be removed in the way of the               sacraments. This is precisely the trouble in many
exercise of discipline according to the principles of         churches today  - also in those of the Reformed
the Word of God.                                              tradition. The pulpits emit an uncertain sound; the
   In sum, therefore, it may be said that the purpose        Word is not preached in all its beauty and power.
of church discipline is this: 1) To keep in the Church       Consequently discipline wanes. False doctrines and
of God the believers who are born there; 2) To take           disobedience to the law of God are the result. God's
into the Church of God believers born outside of it;         people are ignorant of the truth and become confused
3) To put out of the Church of God the wicked who            -and thus are easily led astray. In this kind of environ-
are born there; and 4) To keep out of the Church of          ment false teachers flourish.
God the wicked who are outside but who try to get               It ought to be understood that the church dis-
in. And, all this must be done for the sake of the           ciplines only for one sin, that of impenitence. Where
glory of the name of Christ Who is the Savior and            there is repentance that is the end of the matter. All
Head of the Church.                                          the members of the church are sinners, but the
  For this purpose certain ordinances or rules must          impenitent must be disciplined. According to the
be instituted and established by those who are the           Church Order (Cf. Articles 71-80) there are several
rulers in the Church, viz. the `ministers and the elders.    steps which must be followed with an impenitent
(Cf. Articles XXX and  XxX1) These ordinances,               sinner. The first is suspension from the Lord's table
however, must not be mere human inventions which             (sometimes called "silent censure.") This not only
"bind and compel the conscience in any manner                involves barring the sinner from communion lest the
whatever." This was written, no doubt, with the              Lord's table be desecrated; but it also involves barring
Roman Catholic Church in mind. The Church of                 him from all membership privileges. Such a sinner has
Rome bound the conscience of the saint to the                no right to vote at a congregational meeting, no right
church by ad kinds of rules governing all of life; e.g.,     to the sacrament of baptism, no right to protest or
rules of penance, indulgence, contrition,  etc.' This        appeal in matters other than his own case. This
must not be. Rather those who are charged by Christ          meaning of this suspension is that the sinner is barred
with the rule of His Body must "studiously take care,        from the means of grace. By his sin he is separated
that they do not depart from those things which              from the fellowship of the church and the means of
Christ, our only Master, hath instituted." The               grace which Christ has ordained only for the faithful.
ordinances by which the church is to be governed,
therefore, must be based on what Christ has in-                 If the sinner persists in his ungodly way, a series of
stituted in the Holy Scriptures. Only those ordinances        three steps must follow. (Cf. Church Order, Article
which are directly founded upon the Word of God are           77) In the first an announcement is made to the
valid rules for maintaining the Church of God. What-          congregation informing the members of the obstinacy
ever is not founded upon Scripture is mere human              of the sinner and of the care which the consistory is
invention and has no place in the church. Always we           bestowing upon him; and the congregation is ex-
ought to obey God rather than men! This is true              horted to pray for him. In order that he be somewhat
of our Church Order of Dordt which implements the            spared, the name of the sinner is withheld. Next a
principles of the Confession. A study of the Church          similar announcement is made in which the name of
Order will indicate that it succinctly and in a very         the sinner is given. Before making this announcement,
beautiful way sets forth the ordinances of the Church        however, the consistory must seek the advice of the
of Christ in harmony with the teachings of the               Classis. Because of the seriousness of the situation
Scriptures.                                                  and because it is tantamount to seeking approval for
                                                             excommunication itself, the advice of the neighboring
  But what is church discipline? The answer is: the          churches must be sought. It must be clear that sin has
preaching of the Word. Preaching is the principle way        been committed, that the sinner is indeed impenitent,
in which the keys of the kingdom of heaven are               and that the consistory has labored faithfully in
exercised. The elders of the church bring the Word of        seeking the sinner's repentance and reconciliation.
admonition and call the erring to repentance. But the        Finally the congregation is informed that unless he
fundamental. means of discipline remains the preach-         repents, the sinner will be excommunicated on a
ing of the Word. Preaching is authoritative. Through         certain date. The excommunication takes place,
preaching Christ speaks. That Word never returns void        therefore, with the tacit approval of the congregation.
but always accomplishes God's purpose in the saving          The time interval between these announcements is
of the elect and in the hardening of unbelievers.            left to the discretion of the consistory. During the
Discipline simply cannot exist where the preaching is        entire process the consistory is busy working with the
corrupted. Likewise, for the same reason, weakness in        sinner, admonishing him from the Word of God and
discipline will inevitably lead to a corruption in the       calling him to repentance.


430                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


    By this means the church of God is maintained. Its                      exercise of church discipline from the pulpit and
unity in the truth is preserved, and its members are                        through the office of elder. In this way and in this
led in the way of obedience to the law of God. May                          way only we shall stand in the truth and in the
God give us as churches grace to be faithful in the                         tradition of the Reformed fathers.

Book Review

A SYMPOSIUM ON CREATION (VI),  edited by                                    subjects: "Paleoclimatology and Infrared Radiation
Donald W. Patten; Pacific Meridian Publishing, 1977;                        Traps: Earth's Antediluvian Climate," "Millennial
154 pp., $3.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H.                               Climatology" (a book in which a dispensational mil-
Hanko)                                                                      lennium is said to be brought about through vast
    This book is the sixth in a series published ,by a                      geologic and climate changes), "Catastrophism and
number of scientists who, while holding to crea-                            Puritan Thought: The Newton Era," "Extraterrestrial
tionism in opposition to evolutionism, attempt to                           Origin of the Ice Age," "Louis Agassiz," "The Place
explain the catastrophes in Scripture (such as the                          of Trace Elements in the Creation." Some of the
flood, the plagues of Egypt, the destruction of the                         chapters are very technical and beyond the under-
Egyptians in the Red Sea, etc.) as well as the  pre-                        standing of those who are not trained in the natural
deluvian world in terms of natural phenomena. We                            sciences. The chapters on Louis Agassiz and the place
have read a number of the books published by these                          of trace elements in Creation are interesting and
men; and, while they contain some worthwhile                                worthwhile.
material, we are struck with the fact that the books                            The book is particularly recommended to those
do not pay sufficient attention to the miraculous                           who are interested in keeping up on the current crea-
element in Scripture and become lost in all kinds of                        tionism vs. evolutionism controversy and the thinking
speculation.                                                                of some well-known creationists in this country. But
    This book contains chapters on the following                            it must be read with caution.


                WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                    A RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION
    On June  II,1978 our beloved parents MR.  81 MRS. PETER KOOLE                The members of the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church extend
celebrated  their 30th wedding anniversary. We are grateful to our           their heartfelt thankfulness to Rev. M. Schipper upon his retirement
heavenly Father for keeping them for each other and for us, their            from the ministry of the Word of God after FORTY ONE years of
children. We are thankful for the Christian home they worked so              faithful service.
diligently to provide for us. Our prayer is that God will bless and keep         We thank our Heavenly Father for His Covenant Faithfulness in
them in His care.                                                            giving us men who remain faithful to the proclamation of His Word.
    "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon           Our prayer is that Rev. and Mrs. Schipper may continue to ex-
them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children."         perience the abiding love of our Heavenly Father as they continue along
.Ps.  103:17                                                                 life's journey, and that they may experience His promise as expressed in
                                      Larry and Pat Koole                    I Corinthians  1:9;
                                        Scot                                     "God is faithful, by whom we were called unto the fellowship of His
                                      Rev. Ken and Pat Koole                     Son Jesus Christ our Lord."
                                        Justin
                                     Jim and Kathy  VanderKolk                                          Thank you,
                                        Michael                                                         Southeast Protestant Reformed Church
                                     Jim Koole                                                          Dowie Vander Schaaf,
                                      Ron and Sherry Koole                                              Richard H. Teitsma
                                      Tim Koole



                WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
    On July 28, 1978, the Lord has cared for and blessed our parents,
MR. and MRS. HERMAN  SCHIPPER with 35 years of marriage. He has                The Adult Bible Society and the Martha Society of the  Doon  (Iowa)
blessed us by giving us parents who have educated and directed us           Protestant Reformed Church extends their sympathy to Rev. and Mrs.
through His Word. Our prayer is that He may continue to hold them in        Marvin Kamps and family in the recent death of her mother, MRS.
His care.                                                                   CORNELIA VANDER LAAR.' May God assure them that He doeth all
                                                                            things well.
                              Bill and Linda Lafferty
                                 Laurie, Michael and Kathleen                  "All things work together for good. to them that love God."
                              Jerry and Pat Schipper                        (Remans 8:28).
                                 Becky and Jason                                                                 Mrs. Rod Brunsting, Sec'y.
Jenison, Michigan                                                                                                Mrs. Ed Van Ginkle, Sec'y.


                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                            431

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432                                         THE STANDARD BEARER
                          News From Our Churches
  There have been quite a few news items of late            The Young People's Societies from  F'irst Church
concerning our ministers. With the retirement last sponsored a special program on May 30. Rev.
year of Rev. C. Hanko and this year of Rev. G. Woudenberg and Elder Prince showed pictures taken
Lubbers, Rev. H. Veldman, and Rev. M. Schipper on their recent trip to visit the Jamaican Churches
there have been and will be changes in the pulpits of and spoke of their work there. This program will
our churches. As of June 3 the following items were probably be repeated in other of our churches. The
on hand: Rev. James Slopsema has declined the call young people have also been busy of late conducting
received from Faith Church in Jenison, Michigan. a clothing drive for the Jamaicans.
However, from a trio of Rev. D. Engelsma, Rev. R.           Hudsonville Church sponsored a second lecture
Van Overloop, and Rev. Slopsema, Rev. Slopsema following up an earlier lecture in April by Prof.
received a call from Southwest Church in Wyoming, Hanko. Hudsonville's pastor, Rev. G. Van  Baren,
Michigan. Faith Church has formed a trio consisting spoke on "The Pleasures of Babylon: Dancing," on
of Rev. D. Engelsma, Rev. A. den Hartog, and Prof. H. May 25.
Hanko. Rev. den Hartog has the call from our church
in Isabel, South Dakota. Should Rev. den Hartog             Spring and early summer is a time for many special
decline the call to Isabel, the Seminary has informed activities in church and school circles. There are
the Isabel congregation that upon graduation from banquets, mass meetings, graduations, and picnics, to
Seminary, the then Candidate Richard Flikkema will mention a few of the activities announced in church
supply their pulpit for the summer months beginning bulletins. Among these seasonal activities we note the
June 25. Isabel's former pastor was installed as the following: Randolph scheduled the Annual Spring
new pastor of our church in Pella, Iowa, on Thursday Church  .Cleaning  on May 13. The ladies were  ad-
evening, May 25, by Rev. M. Hoeksema.                     `monished to bring their Spit & Span. Redlands held
                                                          their Sunday School Wiener Bake on May 12. Faith
  Rev. Schipper plans to preach his farewell sermon Church in Jenison, Michigan, held a picnic toy shower
in Southeast Church in Grand Rapids on July 16. The for the church nursery on May 3. The Hull, Iowa,
congregation is planning a special program for Rev. young people sponsored their annual Spring Banquet
and Mrs. Schipper to be held in the church on on April 27. Rev. Mark Hoeksema spoke on "Our
Friday, July 14.                                          Proper Use of Leisure Time." The Ladies' League met
  A special program was held in our Edgerton, at 1:OO PM in Doon, Iowa, on April 18. Rev. Kamps
Minnesota, church on May 18. Rev. Slopsema showed sp.oke on "Mothers and Their Calling to the School."
slides from his trip to Singapore and informed the Rev. Hoeksema conducted a question hour after the
congregation of his work there. This trip was under- speech. The Free Christian School PTA of Edgerton,
taken at the request of our Synodical Mission Com- Minnesota, met on April 28. Rev. Kamps was the
mittee upon the request of a large number of young speaker. After the meeting a shortage meeting was
people in Singapore who desire to learn more of the held. During the past two years we have learned
Reformed truth.                                           about `tasting bees' and `bean walks.' Now somebody
  Parents from our congregation in Lynden, Washing- might explain what a `shortage meeting' consists of.
ton, have banded together, formed a school society, The Loveland, Colorado, Ladies' Circle annual Auc-
and elected a school board. The society has purchased tion was held on May 13. Also in Loveland, a
a Grange Hall on 2% acres which they propose to Singspiration was held on Tuesday evening May 9. A
remodel for use as a school. The new school will be collection was taken for the `1978 Young People's
called the Covenant Christian School. About 30 Convention at South Holland, Illinois.
students are expected when the school opens this fall.                                                   K. G. V.


