/                A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





       Go in debt for boats and sports equipment
     and pore over the  ,catalogs of these with your
     children, but find no time to read and explain
     the Scriptures with and to them; have your
     regular golf days and bowling evenings but no
     evening for joint study of the Word of God
     with fellow saints; follow vanity  - but do not
     then be surprised if your children reveal pro-
     fanity.

                See "Vanity and Profanity" - page  11



                                               Volume LV, No. 1, October I,1978
                                                         ISSN - 0362-4692


2                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER

                                                                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER
                             CONTENTS:                                              Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                         Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                              Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
                                                                                Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
Meditation  -                                                                   Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma,
                                                                                Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach,
     The Sword of the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2           Rev. John A.  Heys, Rev. Mark H. Hoeksema, Rev. Meindert Joostens,
                                                                                Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Mlersma,
Editor's Notes . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5       Rev. Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev.  Gise J. Van  Baren,
                                                                                Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman Veldman, Mr. Kenneth G.
Editorials  -                                                                   Vink.
                                                                                Editorial Office:  Prof.' H.C. Hoeksema
     Plans for Volume 55 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5                               4975  lvanrest  Ave. S.W.
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     Christian Timidity and Daring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .            Church News Editor:  Mr. Kenneth  G, Vin k
                                                                                                           1422 Linwood,  SE.
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MEDITA  TIO N




                                           The Sword of. the Spirit
                                                                   Rev. H. Veldman




                                     C`           and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. "
                                       .  .  .

                                                                                                             Eph. 6: 17b


     The sword of the Spirit is our only offensive                               passages where the Word of God is called a sword -
weapon. Strictly speaking, the words, "which is the                              seeRev.  1:16, 19:13, 15, 21, Is. 11:4.
Word of God," refer not to "Spirit" but to "sword."
We know of no passage in Scripture where the Holy                                    Another important question here concerns this
Spirit is called the Word of God. But there are                                  "Word of God." Is this Word of God merely. the


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     3



written Word of God, the Bible? Do.we have tautol-            the scriptures, neglect them, separate them from the
ogy here, inasmuch as the girdle of truth also refers to      living Christ, we will be hopelessly lost in the mire of
the Bible? Is, then, this written Word of God, the            False Mysticism, where we will hear all kinds of
Bible, called the sword of the Spirit only because it         voices except the voice of the living God and of the
was inspired by the Holy Spirit?                              Son of God.
  We repeat: this is the only offensive weapon of the           The scriptures, therefore, are surely meant here. Of
Christian soldier. Indeed, it is not our calling to           these scriptures Christ is the center. This is extremely
Christianize the world, improve it by means of laws           important. Christ is the revelation of the living God,
and legislation, make it a better place in which to live.     God's Party in the midst of the world through whom
Our only hope lies in the Word of the living God.             the living God reveals Himself. As the supreme Ser-
                                                              vant of Jehovah He glorifies God as the Head of all
                                                              the elect given Him of the Father; He manifests God
                                                              in connection with all our sins and trespasses, reveals
                    ITS MEANING                               God's righteousness  ,and justice, but also His un-
  The sword of the Word of God.                               changeable love and mercy, asHe suffers and dies for
                                                              them that they might live. And it is exactly in
  The sword in this. text refers to a short sword,
attached to the belt of the soldier, which could be           connection with that Christ, revealed in the scriptures
handled easily by the ancient soldier. This was the           and set forth in the gospel, that man reveals himself;
weapon used by the ancient Roman soldier.                     and it is also through that Christ that God reveals and
                                                              maintains Himself in all His dealings with the children
  This sword, now, is called the Word of God. I               of men.
know of only one other passage in Scripture where
the Word of God is called a sword, namely Heb. 4: 12.           However, there is more. This text also refers to the
However, we do read repeatedly that out of the                mighty, all-powerful Word of God. Do we not read
                                                              that the Word of God here -is a sword? Does not this
mouth of the Lord proceeds a sharp,  twoedged
sword. Now that which proceeds out of the mouth of            sword emphasize the mighty, devastating, killing
the Lord is surely His Word. This sword here is               power of the Word of God? This can hardly be said of
undoubtedly the Word of God.                                  the scriptures as such. The written Word of God as
                                                              such can neither make alive nor kill. It is true, of
  We also read here of the "sword of the Spirit."             course, that the contents of the Bible and the con-
This sword of the Holy Spirit is the only offensive           tents of the Word preached according to the scrip-
weapon in the arsenal of the Christian warrior. A             tures always judge and discern the thoughts and
common interpretation of this "sword of the Spirit"           intents of the human heart. The scriptures glorify
is that this sword is provided by the,Spirit, and that it     God and always set forth man as he truly is. However,
refers to the gospel, the written Word of God.                these scriptures as such are no sword that smites with
However, against this view are serious objections.            devastating and killing effect. You may read it, hear it
First, this would involve us in tautology, repetition,        proclaimed, criticize it, judge it, listen to it, or refuse
as far as the girdle of truth is concerned. Secondly,         to heed it. The Bible itself does nothing. God's Word,
the Word of God is called here a sword. A sword kills.        however, is always powerful, the word as God Him-
This can hardly be said of the written Word of God as         self speaks it, the word as it proceeds out of His
such. Thirdly, throughout the description of the              mouth. This word is creative, almighty; irresistible. Of
Christian soldier's armour in these verses of Eph. 6 the      this word this text speaks. The scriptures are a sword
girdle is the truth, the breastplate is righteousness, the    exactly because they are this Word of God. And
shoes are the preparedness of the gospel of peace, the        they are this Word of God because the mighty God
shield is faith, etc. This would surely indicate that         speaks through them, not only in the elect but also in
this sword is the Spirit. Honesty appears to demand           the reprobate. And in the day of our Lord Jesus
this conclusion.                                              Christ~God  will again cause His Word to be heard, His
  What is this sword of the Word of God? First, the           Word of judgment and doom, when finally, by that
scriptures are meant here. Fact is, we are exhorted to        Word of His power, all that was hid shall be revealed,
take this sword. So, this sword must be the scriptures,       the books `of our consciences will be opened, and the
because what else would we be able to take up and             enemies of Christ who are the enemies of God will be
use? Besides, there is no mighty Word of God except           destroyed even forevermore.
through the scriptures, the written Word of God. If
we fail to maintain this truth, then we will fall into
the error, the abyss, the thick fog of False Mysticism.
The Word of God, the mighty, powerful Word of God                                   ITS POWER
is always heard through the scriptures. If we despise           We must bear in mind that the sword power in


4                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



Scripture always represents the power of the magis-          to answer you. 0, he may rant and rave. He will
trate. And the power of the magistrate is always             continue to attack you, persecute, and even kill you.
two-fold: the magistrate has the power to judge and          But, if we proclaim the "Thus saith the Lord," he will
also to execute that judgment. We must also bear in          not be able to refute you. We must not approach him
mind that this sword is wielded here by the Christian        apologetically. We must proclaim the scriptures, and
warrior. He does not wrestle against flesh and blood,        the devil will flee from us, even as Christ silences him
but against principalities and powers, against all the       in the wilderness. This, however, is not all. That Word
forces of sin and' darkness. And this sword is his only      of God will also destroy the enemy. It will harden
offensive weapon whereby he attacks and destroys             him, cause him to grow in sin and in wickedness,
the enemy.                                                   evoke from him an ever increasing hostility, cause
     True, this sword of the Word of God is also such in     him to gather treasures off wrath, -always preparing
the elect. It is a sword of the Spirit. This is not          him for his divinely ordained condemnation.
merely a sword of man. Through it the living God
speaks His own mighty word through the Holy Spirit.            All this will culminate in the day of our Lord Jesus
                                                             Christ. Then Christ will appear. In that day God will
Without this powerful, efficacious Word of God the           not speak His Word through the scriptures anymore.
scriptures would be quite powerless. One, then,              Then the written word will no longer be necessary.
would be able to hear it preached, even read and
study it. One could also form an opinion concerning          Christ Himself will appear in glory and majesty upon
                                                             the clouds of heaven. Then God will again speak His
it, approve or disapprove, agree or disagree. But, these
scriptures themselves could never lead out of darkness       Word, and with terrible and everlasting finality! Then
into His marvellous light, convict of sin. . . , But now     all the powers of darkness and the enemies of the
the Sword of the Word of God begins to operate. As           cross will be completely exposed and revealed. In that
the scriptures are preached and we hear with our             day He will speak and the righteousness of God will
natural ear, God speaks His Word, by His Spirit, His         be fully revealed in the damnation of the sinner. Then
own mighty Word, applying the truth to our hearts            the elect will know themselves as never before, and
and minds, cutting, knifing through, as a sharp two-         the enemies of Christ will be crushed forevermore.
edged sword, calling and leading us out of darkness
into light, leading us in the way everlasting.

     This applies, however, particularly to the wicked.
First, this sword of the Word of God comes to man                                   ITS USE
with divine authority. Man may not do with it as he            This exhortation is, of course, very particular. One
pleases. He may not sin, may not refuse to repent and        does not tell a farmer to perform a delicate operation
believe, may not reject the living Christ, seek the          upon a brain tumor. Only the Christian soldier is
things that are below, refuse to walk in all the             `meant here.
commandments and precepts of the Lord. The scrip-
tures speak to him with divine authority. The                  First, we must be Christian soldiers. Christian sol-
preaching of the gospel is not simply an offer; the          diers are not manufactured or produced by training.
Lord does not merely plead with the sinner, ask or           They are born, born again, not from below but from
beg him to believe in Him. But this preaching fastens        above, of God. The carnal man cannot use this
itself, through the Spirit, upon the minds and con-          Christian armour; he simply cannot put it on; it just
sciences of all its hearers. That Word lords it over us;     does not fit him. Neither does he will to put it on.
it commands us to forsake sin and to serve the living        And he cannot be trained to use it. So, we must be
God, and man may not refuse or reject it. He rejects         Christian soldiers, called by the grace of God out of
it, of course, but he is held accountable. And how           sin and darkness into His marvellous light.
could he be held accountable and responsible if he
were merely asked to turn to and believe in the living         Secondly, we must take this sword. Know the
God?                                                         scriptures. Not merely a  .part of them, but all of
                                                             them. A gospel on a thumbnail will not suffice. We
     Besides, that Word of God also hardens and de-          must be thoroughly indoctrinated, thoroughly
stroys and kills! That Word of God is always power-          founded in the inspired Word of God, and in all of it.
ful. It never returns to God empty-handed. It always         And, we must know how to use these scriptures. Do
performs its mission. It is never unsuccessful. Of           not hesitate to quote them and use them, knowing
course, the primary purpose of the gospel is always          that they are the sword of the Spirit, through which
the gathering of the Church. Nevertheless, that gospel       the Lord will speak His own Word, lead you in the
also has a purpose with respect to the reprobate.            way everlasting, and give you the sure and certain
Indeed, on the one hand, the enemy will not be able          victory.


                                               -I%E.STANDARD  BEARER



                                              Editor's Notes /


Book Club Members. You are reminded that- if you              complete information.
have a change of address, you should notify our                                     *  * *  *  *
Business Manager. A notice of change of address for           Publication  News. With the Christmas season soon
our Standard Bearer will not be sufficient, due to the        upon us, we urge you to take advantage of the book
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money and save you inconvenience. The address is:             cash situation has now improved to the point that we
The Standard Bearer, P.O. Box 6064, Grand Rapids,             have sufficient funds to proceed with the publishing
Michigan 49506.                                               of our next new publication, Herman Hoeksema's
                      *.* *  * *                              God's Eternal Good Pleasure  (Sermons on Romans
Bound Volumes. Our September 15 issue marked the              9-l 1).
end of Volume 54. Those who have a standing order                                   * 8  *  ;i:  *
will receive their bound volumes as soon as these can         Convocation Address. Be sure to read the transcript
be prepared and shipped. Those who do not have                of Prof. Hanko's Seminary Convocation Address in
standing orders are invited to place an order for the         this issue. It is a piece of necessary instruction. By the
Volume 54 and to get on the list for bound volumes.           way, there was neither collusion nor planned coopera-
The price is $7.00. We also have available a limited          tion in the fact that his address and `my recent
number of past volumes  - for those who want to               editorial touched on the same subject. This was a
build their libraries. Write the Business Office for          matter of happy coincidence.

EDITQRIALS
ProJ: H. CT Hoeksema



                                  Plans for Volume 55

   This is Issue No. 1 of our fifty-fifth volume. We are      by the staff) a master schedule for the entire
thankful to God that He has privileged us not only to         volume-year and informs each department editor of
continue publishing our magazine these many years,            his part in the schedule. Meanwhile, we try to leave
but also that He has given us the grace to continue,          the schedule sufficiently flexible to allow room for
we firmly believe, in the course which was originally         various special articles and reports which may become
mapped out for our Standard Bearer when it was first          available during the course of the year. In recent
held aloft in October, 1924.                                  years, due to the fact that our available supply of
   As we begin this new volume, we wish to call your          man-power and talents has become more plentiful, we
attention to some of the plans for this volume.               have been able to make some changes and improve-
Annually the staff meets during the month of June to          ments, to expand the number of departments, and to
elect officers and department editors  and&o decide           present a greater variety of writers. This has not
on various changes and improvements for the coming            always been possible in bygone years; in fact, there
volume-year. Then, during the summer months, your             were times when it was difficult to find sufficient
editor draws up (in accord with the decisions taken           writers and when it was a real chore to fill the 24


6                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



pages of our magazine for a total of 21 issues per          the staff did not consent, but they did reduce my
year. Remember, too, that the Standard Bearer can-          editorial quota to approximately two pages per issue
not go out and hire writers; we have no paid staff.         and relieve me of Question Box and give me leave to
Our editors have as their only reward the joy of            edit a new department.
writing and - we hope - of being read. But, as I said,
at present we have a larger pool of talents to draw on;     6) Finally, we also decided to have  Signs  of  the
and this makes it more readily possible to make some        Times appear more frequently - a total of 16 issues.
changes once in a while, as well as to divide the labors    The editors will continue to be Rev. Mark Hoeksema
a bit more widely.                                          and Rev. James Slopsema.
     First of all, let me call your attention to the           In the second place, the  follow.ing reassignments
changes in the coming year.                                 were made:
1) We welcome to the ranks of, our staff Rev. Arie          1) The  Meditations  will continue to be written by
den Hartog. He has agreed to share the department In        Revs. Cornelius Hanko, Marinus  Schipper, and
His Fear with Rev. Meindert Joostens.                       Herman Veldman.
2) Rev. Jason Kortering is going to discontinue writ-       2) Prof. H.  Hank0 will continue to write for  MY
ing the department Triumph Through Trials. Instead          Sheep Hear-My Voice.
he is going to edit a new Bible Study department. I         3) Rev. John A. Heys will continue to write for The
trust he will  telI you more about this when he             Day  of  Shadows.
submits his first article. But I can inform you now         4) Rev. George C. Lubbers will continue his  From
that this department will be designed especially to be      Holy Writ.
a guide and a help with Scripture reading in family
worship.                                                    5) Rev. David Engelsma will write his contributions
                                                            under Taking Heed To The Doctrine.
3) Prof. Robert Decker is going to divide his writing
labors this year, between his articles on the Belgic        6) Rev. Gise Van Bar-en will take you on a look All
Confession and. a new Missions rubric. The purpose of       Around Us.
this department is not only to give instruction con-        7) Revs. Rodney Miersma and Ronald Van Overloop
cerning our mission calling and news of our mission         will share the department The Strength of Youth.
labors when possible, but also to call attention to the
world missions scene.                                       8) Translated Treasures hopes to complete the trans-
                                                            lation of Abraham Kuyper's  Tract on the Reforma-
4) The staff decided to discontinue the department          tion of the Church.
Studies in Isaiah for the time being." We requested
Rev. Robert Harbach to join the ranks of those who          9) Book notices and reviews will appear from time to
write guest articles this year. This he consented to do,    time.
along with Revs. Wayne Bekkering, Marvin Kamps,             10) Mr. Ken Vink will strive to keep you up to date
and Richard Moore. From all of these you should be          on News  of  our Churches.  To do this, however, he
hearing a couple of times during the coming volume-         needs faithful correspondents in our various churches.
year; they write on subjects of their own choice..          Be sure to send him bulletins regularly, as well as
                                                            special news reports.
5) The Rev. Cornelius Hanko will be in charge of
Question Box during the coming volume-year. This              So now you know what to expect  in. the coming
change is due to another change, namely, that your          volume-year.
editor hopes to begin a department on the history of          Please remember our  Standard Bearer  and its
our Protestant Reformed Churches, in addition to his        writers and publishers in your prayers.. And please
editorial chores. Originally I had requested the staff      continue to support it not only with gifts, which are
to replace me as editor, so that I might write one or       always welcome, but especially by reading what we
two departments of more permanent value. To this            write.               c



                      Christian Timidity  and Daring

     Some months ago we informed our readers that we        living, specifically in relation to the so-called "amuse-
intended to write more on the subject of antithetical       ment problem." That is still our intention. And the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            7


present editorial is certainly in the context of a           promote indulging in a dirty, blasphemous movie
discussion of that subject. `It is not, however, directly    such as Saturday Night Fever! I am sure that if Calvin
in the line of what we intended to write on this             were living, he would have for Mr. Kroese a few of
subject; it is rather occasioned by a current discussion     the choice epithets such as he had for a man like
in The Banner in connection with a recent review by          Pighius. Of course, if you quote a snatch of Calvin
Prof. Irvin Kroese of the movie entitled "Saturday           out of context, you can very easily make it appear
Night Fever."                                                that John Calvin supported almost any errant idea. In
   In the context of a mild disagreement between             this  --.instance, Calvin is quoted as teaching "that
himself and the Rev. Jacob Eppinga about a "prohib-          without the knowledge of the doctrine of Christian
itive mentality" (favored by Eppinga) and a "permis-         liberty `the conscience can scarcely attempt anything
sive mentality" (favored by Kroese), Mr. Kroese              without hesitation, in many (things) must demur and
recently came across with a commendatory review of           fluctuate, and in all proceed with fickleness and
a movie which he himself admitted to have attended,          trepidations' (Institutes, III, xix, 1)"
but a movie in which the language of the characters is         After this seemingly supportive quotation of Cal-
"confined almost entirely to.profanity and vulgarity"        vin, Prof. Kroese writes:
and in which the activities of the characters are                   In a society whose principal deities seem,to be
"mainly brawling and copulation." The latter term                Eros and Mammon, the call to permissiveness sounds
could, of course, more accurately be made to read                to many like a cruel joke. But the God of Christians is
"fornication." As an added indication of the gross               still the God of Abraham, and the call is really the
immorality of this movie, we mention the fact that a             call to faith. I'm suggesting that we trust God a little
newspaper report carried the information that the                more, trust each other, and trust even ourselves, with
printed text of this movie was banned in the public              God's help, to carry on the Lord's work. It is our
schools of Wyoming, Michigan. Prof. Kroese's review              calling to bring redemption to all spheres of life. And
-evidently precipitated no little amount of unfavorable         how are we going to do that as we enter what even
reaction among readers of The Banner, judging from               Christians now call "the post-Christian era"? With
                                                                 asceticism, with withdrawal, with fear?
the sample of response in "Voices" in The Banner of
`September 8. In that same issue there also appears a           Mr. Kroese concludes his article on a similar note:
response from Prof. Kroese.                                         The letter-writers are concerned about the direc-
   Now it is not my intention to mingle in the                   tion of the CRC and the welfare of our covenant
discussion in  The Banner.  First of all, I care for             youth. So am I. The future of the church lies with the
neither Mr. Eppinga's prohibitive mind nor Mr.                   young people who  stay  with the church. Many are
Kroese's permissive (better called `2ibertine") mind.            leaving it, but not, I can assure you, because it
In the context of the official Christian: Reformed              -stresses too much the theology of the covenant and
stand on what are euphemistically called the "Film               justification by faith. They can't stomach what passes
Arts"  - a decision firmly grounded in the Three                 sometimes for the church's virtues: its temporizing,
Points of Common Grace  - there is basically little              its timidity, its desire merely to preserve what it
choice between these two minds. Secondly, a discus-              ought to put to use. It is time to allow our young
sion of Christian liberty and an appeal to Christian             people to be the kind of Christians that the Spirit
                                                                 would have them be.
liberty is hardly germane in that same context of the
Film Arts decisions. Christian liberty has been prosti-        The above must be read bearing in mind that this is
tuted, principally, into libertinism.                        an article in defense of Kroese's recommendation of
                                                             the movie already mentioned.
  My concern in this editorial is about a phenom-
enon which I have noticed more and more in certain             This is the kind of boldness and daring that must
circles. It is the phenomenon of an appeal to the            be displayed in the name of Christian liberty: Chris-
doctrine of Christian liberty in order to urge Chris-        tians must be bold to indulge in the fellowship of the
tians, especially young Christians, to be daring rather      world and its evil lusts. The Holy Spirit Himself
than timid, bold rather than fearful, about going out        would have young people be that kind of Christian.
into the world and having fellowship with the world            But do you know what Calvin taught about such
and its corruptions.                                         an attitude of boldness and daring?
  Mr. Kroese's reply to  Voices  in  The Banner  of            In an altogether different connection  - I was
September 8 furnishes examples of this. But Prof.            preparing for a chapel talk at our seminary - I came
Kroese is not the only one `guilty of this. I have           across some choice remarks of Calvin on the inter-
noticed this tendency with increasing frequency. Mr.         pretation of Psalm 119: 115, "Depart from me, yc
Kroese presents his thoughts on this subject with an         evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my
appeal to Calvin. Yes, indeed, he quotes a bit of            God." His comments run altogether contrary to  the
Calvin on the subject of Christian liberty in order to       kind of daring which Mr. Kroese  recommends.


8                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



Notice:                                                      vided we contract an intimate acquaintance with
                                                             them, it is scarcely possible for us to avoid being
     "Some explain this verse as if David declared that      speedily corrupted by the contagion of their example.
he would devote himself with more alacrity and               The dangerous influence of fellowship with wicked
greater earnestness to the keeping of the law, when          men is but too evident from observation; and to this
the wicked should have desisted from assaulting him.         it is owing, that few continue in their integrity to the
And, unquestionably, when we feel that God has               close of life, the world being fraught with corrup-
delivered us, we are more than stupid if this experi-        tions. From the extreme infirmity of our nature, it is
ence does not stir up within us an earnest desire to         the easiest thing in the world to catch infection, and
serve him. If godliness does not increase in us in           to contract pollution even from the slightest touch.
proportion to the sense and experience we have of            The prophet, then, with good reason, bids the wicked
God's grace, we betray base ingratitude. This, then, is      depart from him, that he may advance in the fear of
a true and useful doctrine; but the prophet meant to         God without obstruction. Whoever entangles himself
convey a different sentiment in this place. As he saw        in their companionship will, in process of time,
how great a hindrance the ungodly are to us, he              proceed the length of abandoning himself to a con-
banishes them to a distance from him; or rather, he          tempt of God, and of leading a dissolute life. . . ."
testifies that he will beware of entangling himself in
their society.' Nor has he said this so much for his           Christian timidity is timidity of catching infection
own sake as to teach us by his example, that if we           from the world and of contracting pollution even
would hold on in the way of the Lord without                 from the slightest touch.
stumbling, we must endeavour, above all things, to             Christian daring is not daring to walk as close to
keep at the greatest possible distance from worldly          the fires of hell as possible without being burned, but
and wicked men, not in regard to distance of place,          it is daring to be a spiritually separate people, holy
but in respect of intercourse and conversation.  Pro-        unto the Lord!

SIGNS OF THE TIMES




                                    Signs in Society (2)
                             The Feminist Movement
                                                Rev. Mark Hoeksema




     In the last article on signs of the times we began a    religious, philosophical, military, scientific, or any
consideration of various signs in the realm of our           other kind, a certain measure of social unity is
society. It was pointed out that these signs, while not      necessary. That is, the .peoples  of the world must be
perhaps as noticeable or spectacular as those in the         united both internally and as nations to a degree that
realm of nature, are nonetheless very significant for        will make possible a voluntary union under the
us. And just because they are often overlooked, the          universal reign of the antichristian forces. This means
importance of seeing and understanding them needs            that the sharp diversities, clashes, differences, and
emphasis.                                                    variations that exist among people must be reduced
     On the basis of Scripture, particularly Revelation      or eliminated altogether in order for unity to be
13, the point was stressed that the antichristian            accomplished. Somehow a measure of cooperation
kingdom will be of such a nature that it will en-            must be worked among those. of different races,
compass and control all of life throughout the world.        cultures, backgrounds, religions, economic classes,
In order to bring about this unity, whether political,       and life-styles. This will be no easy task, and will


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 9


      require. time; but that it will come about is un-           economic place, and status of women must `be altered
      deniable on the basis of Scripture. (The result, of         to give them equality with men.
      course, will be that no place will be found for the           But what are the causes or forces that have made
      church on the earth, and the great persecution will         this movement possible and have given it its impetus
      come about.) But the question that confronts us as          in recent years? From a Scriptural perspective, of
      those who live in the end times is this: Can we see         course, this matter must be viewed in the context of
      now any evidences of this "levelling" effect in our         the development of antichrist. In the deepest sense of
      society, so that we can perceive the rise and develop-      the word' the devil is behind this movement, control-
      ment of the power of antichrist? If so, what are they?      ling and influencing those who participate in it, and
      This question we  ,answered in the affirmative last         attempting to use the whole feminist movement as
      time. Now we turn our attention to the concrete signs       part of his effort to achieve the "levelling" effect
      in society.                                                 necessary for the attainment of social unity and
        One evidence of the trend toward social unity and         coherence. If the most basic difference among
      equality is the feminist movement, sometimes also           humans, i.e., the sexual difference of male and female
      termed the women)s  liberation movement. This move-         can be practically eliminated in most or all of life,
      ment or social trend is very broad and diverse,             then indeed a great stride toward social unity has
      including many shades and types of philosophies             been taken. This means, then, that the feminist
      within its confines, from the very radical to the           movement is part of the development of sin in the
      relatively conservative. It has both its secular and        world, and an important part. We must remember
      religious sides, and has intruded into American             that, as sin develops organically in the history of the
      politics, as is evident from the current debate con-        human race, the measure of iniquity of society on all
      cerning whether the `deadline for approval of the           levels and in all ways must be filled, before the world
      Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution may be           is ripe for the manifestation of antichrist and the
      rightfully extended. Indeed, this movement touches          judgment of God in Christ.
      most facets of American life today.                           But such a development does not take place in a
_.      Now it is impossible to examine here the pros and         vacuum, in the abstract; it has concrete causes and
      cons of this movement, or even to describe it in any        manifestations, means which the devil (under the
      kind of detail. Not only has this for the most part         sovereign control of God) uses to bring about this
      been done already, with varying degrees of capability       development of sin. Some of these may be enumer-
      and Scriptural accuracy, but also the subject is far too    ated and briefly described here. For example, women
      general for our consideration in Signs of the Times.        are joining the work force at ever-increasing rates. In
      We need not enter the debate with the likes of Letha        1940, only 8.6% of all mothers worked outside the
      Scanzoni, Virginia Mollenkott, and Nancy Hardesty,          home. In 1970, the figure was 38.2% and climbing. It
      all "evangelical" proponents of this movement, nor          is true that for some of these women such work has
      identify ourselves with Larry Christianson and              been and is a financial necessity, but that is becoming
      Marabel Morgan in their opposition to it. Rather, it is     less and less true. It is also true that many have
      my purpose to chronicle briefly some of the develop-        opposed this trend, insisting that the woman's place is
      ment of the feminist movement, and -try to draw a           in the home; but the trend continues. Reinforcing
      few conclusions from it.-                                   this trend has been the radical change that has taken
       The definition and origin of this trend are as             place in the role of wife and mother in the home.
      difficult to identify as the movement itself. In gen-       Families are smaller today than in former years,
      eral, the women's liberation movement refers to the         freeing the mother for other activities. Further, chil-
      rejection of the traditional roles and place of women       dren are born when their mothers are younger than
      in all of society, and the assumption of new, sup-          was previously the case; the mean age of the Ameri-
      posedly freedom-bestowing roles. But, contrary to           can mother at the birth of her last child is now about
      popular belief, it is not of recent origin. In fact, its    26 years. In addition, the life span has increased
      roots can be traced all the way back to the abolitionist    considerably, so that by the time that the youngest
      movement before the Civil War; it continued through-        child enters school, most women have 30 or 40
      out the last century, surfaced again in the early 20th      productive years ahead of them. They often turn to
      century in the woman suffrage movement, and now             employment outside the home. Still more, because of
      in our time has appeared again, both broader in its         the advent of effective contraception methods and
      scope and more radical in its goals. The feminist           because children are an economic liability today
      movement itself is not something new, then; but what        instead of an asset (they are no longer a necessary
      is different is the fact that as manifested today its       labor source), many women are electing not to have.
      proponents want nothing less than a total revision of       children, or at least, to have fewer.
      the existing social order. The traditional role,              Another closely related factor is the  development


IO                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



of technology to the point where the  duties~ of            be equally apparent to us. He controls both the
women are greatly eased. Even as recently as 60 years       nature and the pace of the development of signs in
ago, days which some can still remember, the life of a      society, as well as the end of them, which is the
woman was one of back-breaking manual labor and             coming of Christ for salvation and judgment. And as
ceaseless, dawn-to-dusk toil in a battle to satisfy only    we can see the time of the end drawing nearer (and
the basic needs of life. One needs only to enter a          even the increasing pace of social development is a
modern home to see that proportionately very little         sign of the end), we must more and more look
time need be spent on meeting survival.needs  with all      beyond this social order and this world to the city of
the modern inventions and gadgets that are available.       foundations, remembering that we are citizens of the
Small wonder then that women today have ample               heavenly order and kingdom. And that kingdom we
time and opportunity to turn their attentions and           shall inherit in the way of faithfulness to the com-
energies elsewhere.                                         mand to keep ourselves unspotted from the world.

      Another factor that contributes to today's libera-
tion emphasis is the increase of education among
women. Many women today are highly trained in                                                                                                                          2
professional and technical skills. But because males               Know the standard                                                                   d
                                                                                                                                                                      22
have opposed their equality in many work-related                   and follow it.                                                                 A&
                                                                                                                                                  . . ..____
fields, their economic achievements and status have                Read
remained inferior. This has led to a rebellion on the              THE STANDARD BEARER! g$j$r-
part of women against what they consider to be
unfair treatment. This, in fact, was one of the major
factors behind the Equal Rights Amendment, in-
tended to eliminate such discrimination.                                              STATEMENT  OF OWNERSHIP,  MANAGEMENT  AND ClRCU`ATlON
                                                                                                                          ,Rmuircd by 39 CL%2 3&w,
                                                                                                                                                                , A. P"BLICATION NO.      LDATL OF l,L,Hr
      But what do we say about all of this? Perhaps we                                                                                                                            I  0       Y/12/78
                                                                                                                                                                                   D m_ IN"YILIYr.ICrllPrTIO?4
make jokes about "Rosie the Riveter," about women                                                                                                                                         ,I,E~         37.00
wearing the pants, etc., at the same time being more        PO  BOX 6064, GRAND RAPIDS, KENT, MI 49506
                                                            5.LDCITlDN01T"L"EID~Y*~1T1.5O.FE"EII*LDY~INEI*OFFICI.OFT*E.Y~Llb*E15,NOt~*nm",
than half serious. Or we can attempt to find all sorts      1047 ALTO AVE SE., GPAND rmIDs, 1.x 49507
                                                            6.                         NAMES AND COMPLETE ADDRESSES OF PUBUSHER.  EDITOR. AND MANAGlNG EOITOR
of social factors which influence today's develop-          '"~~~~~~~~~~~LISi:II;G  ASSOCIATION, 30X 6064, GRAXD UPIDS, ,,,I 49506
ments; and this we must do, too, although never             EOITOR   ,Nmwo"ddddn",
                                                                  PRO?. H.  C.  XC~CE:,SELX.  4975 IVrliiit~ST  SB., GRAIIDVILLE,  L1 49418
limiting ourselves merely to ,such a perspective. But       N1*lrlnTL~I~OR,N.m.and~Lddn",
                                                                  a. VANDER  ML. 1047 AL'33 AVE. SE., GR4ND RAPIDS, L`I 49507
from a Scriptural viewpoint, what do we say? First,         1. OWNER II, ouned br a ra,Dommn.  ct. nnmr S"d ddrr.s  must be `,.,d *"d d.0 immdio,dr  ,hrm""drr  ,h# nomnand ddm`"`o,`,ocb.
the movement will undoubtedly continue. It may
assume different forms, may recede and reappear, but
it will continue. It must, until the necessary degree of
social unity is brought about. Second, we as the
people of God must not only see and be aware of
current trends and tides and movements, but  .must
take our stand and be prepared to suffer the con-
sequences. The church is not immune to the influence
of such things as the feminist movement. Abundant
proof can be produced of the upheaval concerning
the place of women in the church and the radical                                                                                            ,             ~.-
departures from the Scriptural norms on the part of         m.  PA,0   CIR1CYLATION
                                                                  I_  SAl.LST"ROYT"   DLILIR~Il)lDCIRrlleRS.STrlEET
                                                                    "ENDOR+   AreD   COUITLrl  SALL5                                                              0                                 0`
many. And the cause, more than anything else, is that             t.  M*ILs"D~CmPTIOfis                                                                   1,625                             1.599
the church, in an effort to be contemporary, has            c.  TOTAL   PAlO  ClRCYLIllOn ,S"rn  011081  Md   IOBl,                         I                   "",p              1                1':;'          j
imitated the world in this. We as the people of God         1).  F ILE r )lSTr llDY1 ION   q   * M AIL, Clr lr lllr l OR  .a ILrn UEANS
                                                                  SI~~LE*,COI~LIUENI*R*.1 NDOT*TR                  F R EeCOIlEl

are called not to lose the antithesis between church        E. TOTAL   DlITRle.UTlO"   ,S"rn.,,Ea"dD,                                                     1,657                             1,631
and world, but to remain faithful to the demands of         F. COPIE5NDTDlSTlle"TEo
                                                                  I. 
                                                                     DCFXSE  YIF,L~~TOYEI."I(ISCOYWTID,5~DILID
                                                                    AFTER  PRlNIlNr                                                                              243                               269
the Scriptures. Surely this will result in isolation and          ?. IETYlNl  FrlOU "Fw*A`zE"TS.                                                                 0                                 0
persecution against the true church, according to the
prophecies -of Scripture. But our calling is to take an
informed and faithful stand nevertheless and never to
compromise, as the spirit of the age would dictate.
  And finally, we must remember the purpose of all
of this. God is in control, though that may not always


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 11


THE DAY  QF SHADOWS





                        Vanity and Profanity
                                                  Rev. John A. Heys




  Reviewing the life of Isaac as it is made known to         in covenant homes, as it was here in this covenant
us on the pages of Holy Writ we do not get the               home. Fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grand-
impression that Isaac was a spiritually strong man.          mothers can be heard boasting, and find themselves
Indeed, he lived in the shadow of his father, Abra-          gloating, over the earthly achievements of their chil-
ham, of whom much is said in Hebrews 11, that                dren and grandchildren, over what high positions they
chapter wherein the giants (not heroes) of faith are         reached in the world, what degrees they have behind'
listed for us, the men who in the Old, Testament             their names, what sums of money they cornered
towered above the rest of God's people. In contrast          during the year, what "celebrities" associate with
to Abraham, Isaac in this chapter is presented-only as       them, and what. they are worth as far as this world's
by faith blessing his' two sons concerning things to         goods are concerned. Not a word or a whisper is
come.                                                        spoken about their spiritual abilities and growth.
  True it is that he lived in a time and under               They are proud because of the "venison" they have
circumstances that did not call for the display of faith     tasted. And the less talented children  - as far as
which we see in Abraham. He had no call to leave his         worldly standards are concerned, but not as far as
land and trust God to bless him elsewhere. He had            God's judgment is concerned - who have faith, hope,
not become as good as dead before children were              and the love of God, whose treasures are spiritual,
given to him so that he had to walk by faith in the          who find interest in the things of God's kingdom,
face of such an otherwise hopeless situation. He w.as        who are the meek of the earth, the poor in spirit and
not called to offer up his only begotten son whom he         who delight in the things of the Church and the Truth
loved. And not being led by God into such circum-            are not mentioned. Sadder are those cases where the
stances he was not given the opportunity to reveal the       parents of the latter are ashamed of their children's
strength of faith his father manifested.                     failures to be big in the world and consider them
                                                             failures while these children do serve loyally and in a
  Yet, one ought to be disturbed to read in Genesis          big way in the Church of God.
25:28 that, even though God had clearly spelled it
out that He favoured Jacob and would make Esau his             The less attractive daughter and granddaughter
servant, Isaac loved Esau "because he did eat of his         with a meek, quiet spirit, a godly nature and a love
venison." Or, if you prefer, "because venison was in         for the things spiritual is pushed back. The flashy or
his mouth."                                                  more attractive daughter and granddaughter is loved,
 May God grant that in our families the child with           showered with gifts,' given extra privileges; and her
natural talents of music or art, of learning easily and      beauty is the reason why the parents are proud. Of
quickly, or of athletic skills and strengths is not loved    these, parents want to talk. The subject had better be
by parents and grandparents more than those who              changed when the other children's names are men-
lack these but who have by God been given faith,             tioned. Venison in the mouth has a way not only of
obedience, piety, a love for His cause and willingness       leaving its taste there, but of affecting the words that
to serve Him. Sad to say, this is so often the case even     come out of that mouth.


12                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



      "Vanity of vanities," Solomon would say, "all is       condone three. If they are weak about one com-
vanity." And he would say again to these parents,            mandment of the law  - let us say the fourth one
"The fear of the. Lord is the beginning of wisdom."          concerning the Sabbath  - they must expect their
The wise father and mother, grandfather and grand-           children to be tempted to have a weak approach to
mother will be attracted to the child that fears God         two commandments and their grandchildren to be lax
and for the fear of God to be seen in him, for these         concerning three of them. For vanity not only breeds
are the things that child will take with him into the        vanity, it so often leads to profanity.
glories of God's kingdom. All the rest, all the things         Esau with fatherly approval concentrated on
of this world, all the natural beauty, physical and          material things and sought the vanities of this world
mental prowess will fade and soon disappear and              and the pleasures they afford the flesh. And he soon
cannot be taken along. What vanity to attach one's           revealed himself as a profane person. That is what he
heart to that which is vain! What vanity, what               is called in Hebrews 12: 16. And, although we usually
emptiness of spiritual worth it is to let the eye of the     think of profanity as nothing more than profane
flesh  - or in this instance the taste of the tongue -       language, cursing, swearing and blasphemy, it has a
determine whereupon the soul will fix itself, where-         far wider meaning. What .is profane is literally
unto it will be attracted and wherein it will  find          "outside of the temple," or, if you will, unholy. And
delight!                                                     a profane person is one who spends his life outside
      We ought to remember that we, as well as Isaac,        the things that are holy. He is a person who has no
foster in our children the same vanity that they see in      respect for the things that are holy and no use for
us. We can teach them to have an entirely wrong              them.
sense of spiritual values in this life. And when we
show far more concern for our children's financial              Some years ago - men hardly dare to say that any
and social progress, more interest in their athletic         more today since they think that they have found a
achievements and activities than their education, so         little good in totally depraved man, a little "civic
that we are at every baseball and basketball game in         righteousness" which even God can appreciate - men
which they play - or only sit on the bench - but are         spoke of sacred history and profane history. But who
never at the PTA meetings, we have taught our                today dares to call the history of the world profane
children something that they have noticed and do not         and the history. of the Church sacred? What "Chris-
forget. Let us beware lest we teach them the                 tian" school dares to speak the truth today and call
"delicious" taste of the venison of the world and to         all outside the Church, all outside the temple of God,
esteem the things of the world above the  .things of         profane? And yet God does that. The Word of God
God's kingdom. Let us be sure that our children learn        does that. In the Old Testament Scriptures it was
that we love them as God's children and not because          either Israel or the heathen nations. Today it is either
of their "venison."                                          the Church or the world. And the history of the
      Now Isaac had without doubt shown greater love         world is history about profane men in profane
for Esau than for Jacob - and from a purely earthly          countries who seek vanity and display profanity.
point of view he was a promising young man, one of           Take a good hard look once at our own country and
                                                             nation on a Sabbath day  - and indeed also and
which any earthly father could be proud  - but also          particularly then our political  le,aders  - and tell me
his great interest in venison as fixed by his son. He        once whether their deeds are sacred or profane. Are
let Esau know that his material achievements had             they in the temple even that one day in the week?
caught his eye and that he was loved for these. Isaac        Are they moved in their work with considerations of
tasted Esau's venison, and Esau tasted Isaac's delight
in the carnal. This- only spurred Esau on to greater         that which is good for the Church, the temple  -of
feats of physical prowess. And we are not to be              God, or the things outside of the temple and that
surprised that Esau, with -enthusiasm and fatherly           even militate against that temple? Prayers to the God
approval, sought the world and its vanities.                 of the temple must not be uttered in their schools.
                                                             Delegates can be sent to an atheistic UN with the
      Vanity in parents breeds vanity in children. Seek-     agreement that the prayer of the temple-- and in fact
ing the world as parents encourages children to seek         all prayers - will not be voiced so that the profane,
the world and to go all out for the things of the            atheistic nations are not offended. And we put our
world. It certainly is true that in the sins in which the    trust in such profane institutions and expect.peace to
parents walk the children will run. If the parents take      come from it? The Prince of Peace Who dwells in that
one step away from the truth they must not be                temple is locked outside the schools and the UN  -
surprised if their children take two steps from the          and then we expect through profane deeds of profane
truth, and their children's children take three steps. If    men that peace will come? This too is vanity of
they condone one sin, they must expect their chil-           vanities, all this is vanity. So much emptiness.. So
dren to condone two and their grandchildren to               many pipe dreams.


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   13



  But to return to profane Esau, it is quite striking           the world than being pleasing in God's sight, have
that, almost in the same breath, Moses, the author of           delight in the things outside the temple rather than in
the account in Genesis 25 that tells us Isaac loved             the temple of God.
Esau for the venison which he had been in the habit               What we do with our leisure time, where we go on
of preparing -for him, presents to. us the evidence that        our vacations, for what we spend our money, whether
his vanity produced profanity. The account of Esau's            we are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
selling of his birthright follows at once upon this             whether we seek vanities and attach high values to
statement of Isaac's carnal love for Esau because of            them, whether earthly, worldly beauty turns our
his venison. .And in Hebrews 12: 14-16 the profanity            heads, all influences our children and encourages
of Esau is depicted as consisting exactly in that deed.         them to do what their flesh  - which is profane by
We read. "Follow peace with all men, and holiness               nature  - desires. Go away from the church for a
. . . looking diligently . . . lest there be any fornicator,    week for your vacation and expect your children to
or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of               do that for a month. Go in debt for boats and sports
meat sold his birthright." Indeed, his profanity was            equipment and pore over the catalogs of these with
his disregard for the things holy and concern for that          your children,` but find no time to read and explain
pottage and the physical life he thought was in peril.          the Scriptures with and to them; have your regular
But you cannot separate that - for the Word of God              golf days and bowling evenings but no evening for
does not  - from the wrong value that his father                joint study of the Word of God with fellow saints;
taught .him by his love for the venison in his mouth.           follow vanity - but do not then be surprised if your
  We can by our own vanity and seeking of the                   children reveal profanity.
vanities of this earth lead our children into these same
pursuits and even drive them to these by our own                  Indeed, "Folloti . . . holiness . . . looking diligently
lack of interest in the things of the temple of God,            lest . .  ." we find our children becoming profane
the things of His Church. Let us go back to that                persons who sell their birthright for a mess of pottage
statement in Hebrews 12, "Looking diligently . .  ."            which is not worth all the trouble, and which they
and let us apply that to our children. Looking                  will lose sooner or later. Teach them to seek first the
diligently for every evidence and hint that we may be           kingdom of God. Teach them to have that as the
setting a poor example and that therefore they think            priority of their lives; and then have the joy of seeing
more of sports than education, more of pleasures of             them walk in holiness.

SEMINARY CONVOCATION ADDRESS





                                 A Prayer for Laborers
                                        in God's Harvest
                                                      Prof H. Hanko




Text: "Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest            Protestant Refdrmed Church.)
truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; Pray ye
therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send              My reason for speaking on this text is that I detect
forth laborers into his harvest." (The following is the         among us a certain lackadaisical attitude among our
substance of the speech delivered at the 1978  con-             people towards the need for students in our seminary.
vocation exercises of the seminary held in Hope                 This arises apparently, on the one hand, from the fact


14                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



that God has given us a number of students in the             This harvest is gathered throughout the New Dis-
seminary - more than we had for several years prior         pensation and it is always an abundant harvest. The
to this. On the other hand, there does not seem to be       harvest is plentiful however, only from a certain point
room now for all the students we presently have             of view. If our viewpoint is mere numbers as we
attending school. The result is that there is no longer     compare the number of the elect with the number of
any sense of need to encourage and pray for young           the reprobate, -then we look at the matter wrongly.
men to enter .the ministry. While just a few years back     From this point of view there are only a few who are
we almost always heard from our pulpits a prayer            saved, for the wicked always outnumber the right-
that  the Lord would  Erovide us with students, we          eous. The elect are, in the words of Isaiah, only a hut
seldom if ever hear this prayer any longer. This            in a garden of cucumbers, a besieged city, a very small
attitude is, however, a serious mistake on our part         remnant. But this is not the  .proper  viewpoint. We
and the `reason is to be found in these words of Jesus.     must remember first of all that the number of those
  The context, both before and after these verses,          who are saved is very great, for a multitude which no
indicates that what Jesus said applied first of all to      man can number is finally gathered before the throne
the circumstances of the Lord's earthly ministry. We        and the seed of Abrahti is as great in number as the
read that Jesus had compassion on the multitudes            stars in the heavens and as-the grains of sand by the
because they were distressed and because they were          seashore. Secondly, even though the kernels of wheat
as sheep without a shepherd. And in the immediately         which are finally stored in the granary occupy a
follotiing chapter we read of Jesus sending out the         comparatively small space in relation to the chaff, the
twelve apostles to preach the gospel of the kingdom.        harvest is nevertheless very great. A man who visits a
                                                            farmer who has just completed his harvest and who
Nevertheless, Jesus is laying down here a funda-            says to the farmer that his crop was very small
mental truth which is applicable to every age of the        because the straw stack is so very large while the
church's  history. There never has been a time when         amount of wheat which is harvested is relatively
this was not true that the harvest is plentiful and the     speaking small, will be told by the farmer that he
laborers few. And the same truth is applicable ,to our      looks at the matter wrongly. All the labor that was
present age. John Calvin speaks for his time and for        applied to the field and the chaff itself which finally
ours in his commentary on this passage; he writes:          ended in the straw  pi!e was for the purpose of the
"There never was greater necessity for offering this        harvest. And though the amount of wheat may be
prayer than during the fearful desolation of the            small in relationship to the amount of straw, never-
church-which we now see everywhere around us."              theless the harvest is truly plentiful. Thirdly, Jesus is
  When Jesus gives, as His reason for admonishing us        looking at the matter here from the viewpoint of the
to make this prayer, the fact that "the harvest truly is    amount of work that needs to be done to bring in the
plenteous, but the laborers few," what does He              harvest.
mean?                                                         We therefore face the same situation today which
  There is here, quite obviously, a figure of speech.       faced Jesus when He uttered these words. Jesus
The abundant harvest refers, metaphorically, to the         Himself sees to it that this word is always true. There
many elect of God to whom the gospel must be                are today many who are distressed and spiritually
preached in order that they may be brought into the         weary because there are none to lead them. They are
fellowship of the church. Comparing the gathering of        also as sheep without a shepherd. And the compas-
the elect and their separation from the chaff to a          sion which moved Jesus ought also to move us. The
harvest is an idea found in many  ,places in the            men who claim to be shepherds `are oftentimes not
                                                            shepherds but wolves who devour and scatter the
Scriptures. The idea of the figure is clear. The history    flock. This is true both in our country and gbroad.
of this present world from the viewpoint of the
realization of the counsel of God is compared with a          The second reason why we are instructed to make
field in which crops are grown. Just as all that            this prayer is that the laborers are few. We might be
happens.in that field is for the purpose of the crop, so    inclined to dispute these words of Jesus. It seems to
is all that happens in history for the purpose of           us as if there are more laborers than we know what to
bringing forth the elect. The field is plowed and           do with. There are, after all, only a few vacant
harrowed; is cultivated and fertilized; is blessed with     churches and there are many students in our semi-
rain and sunshine. And it is all for the purpose of the     nary. And so, we might argue, Jesus' words cannot
harvest when the crop is brought into the granary and       possibly apply to the times in which we live.
the chaff burns in the fire. So all that takes place in       But Jesus Himself says differently. As applicable as
all the history of the world is for the purpose of the      the Word of God in its entirety is to our time, so also
gathering of the elect whom God has ordained to             are these words which Christ speaks; and we ought to
everlasting life.                                           be careful lest we contradict Him `as if we know


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                15



better. It is true now too that in comparison with the         The laborers whom the church needs are`men to
work of the harvest the laborers are few.                    preach. All the emphasis falls upon the fact that they
  We must look at all this in the proper light. Christ       must be men who will work. They are in fact called
has entrusted us with His Word. And there are but            "workers" in the text. But they must be workers in
few places in the world today where this truth is            the true sense of the word. They must be workers
maintained in all its purity. If the harvest is to be        who are faithful to the truth of the Scriptures and
gathered by the preaching of the truth of God's              who will preach it in all faithfulness come what may.
Word, the  labdrers must come forth from churches            They must be men who love God and His cause and
where that truth is confessed in all its purity and          who have compassion for the sheep who are distressed.
preached.                                                    They must be men who possess courage and faith, for
                                                             the days ahead will not be easy days and the work
  But we must remember also that this is a matter of         will be very difficult and dangerous. They must be
faith. Perhaps it is impossible to point out specifically    men who are prepared for that work. Such men we
the concrete need for more ministers of the Word.            must seek from God.
Perhaps if you should ask me to cite instances where
all the men whom the Lord sends us are going, I                If you who are students at present in our seminary
would not be able to answer you to your satisfaction.        are inclined to wonder sometimes why so much work
But this is, after all, not the point. The.Lord always       is given to you in the years of your s@dy so that your
asks us to live by faith,  not by sight. This is the         studies seem sometimes to be a burden almost too
pattern of our entire life here below. And that faith        great to bear, bear in mind that this too is part of
by which we must walk very concretely demands of             your preparation for the ministry. You must learn
us that we believe these words which Christ spoke:           also in  tee years of your studies that you are to be
the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few.        workers in the harvest of the Lord.
  And so we must pray to the Lord of the harvest.              This prayer can arise from the church only when
We must pray that He  wiil send laborers into His            there is a desire to see the work done. It presuppdses
vineyard.                                                    a willingness and an eagerness to perform the work. If
  The Lord of the harvest is God. To use the figure,         that work must be done in this country or overseas, if
He is the One Who owns the field. He does all the            it must be done in the way'of great financial sacrifice,
work in the field. He prepares the soil, plants the          if it must be done at no little cost to ourselves, it
seed, nurtures the crops; and the whole harvest              nevertheless must be done and we must go where the
belongs only to Him. God does this through Christ.           Lord directs and walk through doors which He opens.
He does this first of all by sending Christ into the         It must be done without holding back and with a
world to suffer and die on the cross and to rise again       deep sense of the mission calling of the church.
from the grave that all the elect may be saved. He             Then our prayers will arise in all sincerity, and then
exalts Christ at His right hand so that, under the rule      God will answer them. He will send us such men and
of Christ, all that takes place in the world may be for      He will use us to gather those whom He has ordained
the purpose of bringing forth the elect. Through             unto everlasting life.
Christ God causes His Word to be proclaimed and
sends forth His Spirit to work in the elect so that
they are brought out of darkness into t&e light of the
kingdom of heaven. They are His elect and He will see
to it that not one is lost. It is to God therefore, the
Lord of the harvest, that our prayer for laborers must
be brought.
  Only God Can call laborers  - this is the presup-
position of the text. We do not recruit men as the
United States army does. We cannot bring laborers
into the harvest. This does not preclude a responsi-
bility of parents, ministers,- and elders who talk to
young men and work with them.towards  the end that
they become ministers of the Word. But only God
can send forth these laborers. He alone Can move the
hearts of young men to pursue their studies so that
they are hrepared for this work. Only He can finally
call through His church to the work of gathering the
harvest. And so all our prayers must be directed to
Him.


16                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


THESTRENGTH.OFYOUTH





                                      Be  Firm in Truth
                                                Rev. Rodney Miersma




      As each child of God sails across the ocean of this    of higher learning that are not under the control of
present life he is met by angry waves and all kinds of       your parents or church, there are many winds. Take
contrary winds which seek to bring his ship off course       for example the many subtle ways in which one is
to eventual shipwreck on the shoals and reefs. In            taught that the heavens and the earth were not
order to remain on course this ship must have a very         created by God the Father Almighty. Notice how
strong helm, that mechanism comprising the rudder            science has elevated reason above faith in all phases of
and the wheel that is used to steer the ship. The            life. The Bible is no longer regarded as the infallible
apostle Paul uses this figure to describe the church         Word of God, God-breathed. No, the Bible is full of
here on the earth. We read in  Ephesians 4:  14,15:          mistakes and we have to find the truth as if we were
"That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to           looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. The
and fro, and carried about with every wind of                Bible then becomes the  word of man, each one
doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning crafti-         making it say what he wants it to say, so that
ness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speak-        everyone is a law unto himself and does that which is
ing the truth in love, may grow up into him in all           right is his own eyes. The Bible has no more authority
things, which is the head, even Christ." We then, who        than a novel. This leads to all kinds of ideas as to how
are the church of Jesus Christ, are kept on course by        we may live. Suddenly one may engage in theater-
the Word of God which He has revealed unto us.               going, dancing, etc.; because there is sonic redeeming
Jesus Christ as helmsman steers the church to its            social value present which we can enjoy and cultivate,
destination; the eternal haven of rest.                      thus fulfilling our cultural mandate. The lie is pre-
  By the time you read this article many of you will         sented as if it were the truth. These false doctrines
have  ,begun another year of schooling, whether that         sooner or later affect not only those in schools but
be in high school or in some other institution of            also those who are in the home or at work. We all get
higher learning. Others will have settled into the           the message to do our own thing. This message comes
routine of a daily job, whether at home or elsewhere.        loud and clear through the means of the newspaper,
Whatever you do and wherever you go you will run             the TV, the radio, and all the other media at the
into contrary winds and angry waves which the                disposal of the world. Overnight we have rights to do
apostle properly terms as false doctrine. This is true       anything we please.' In direct conflict with the Word
of the church in history and this is true of that same       of God we are taught that we have a right to murder
church today. There is not one doctrine, not one             by taking the life of the yet unborn. We have a right
truth, as it is in Jesus Christ, that has not been denied    to rebel against one  .in authority by striking against
or attacked. These winds of false doctrine are not           our employer for higher wages, by refusing to pay
merely a fair breeze of trade winds, but winds that          income tax, by rioting in the schools, etc. The
are whole gales developing into hurricane propor-            marriage bond is- no longer held to be inviolable and
tions. This all in accordance with the signs of the          holy; one can change marriage partners as easily as
times as the cup of iniquity is filling very rapidly and     one changes a pair of socks or sports a new hairdo.
the  antichristian power is getting stronger and             We are told that we must fraternize with the world
stronger.                                                    because God loves all men and bestows his favor even
                                                             on the unrighteous. No longer must we think of sin as
  Lest you young people feel that it really is not as        sin against a righteous and holy God, but as some-
bad as all that, .let us look at the situation today. For    thing that is not acceptable to society. As soon as
those of you who are in high schools and institutions        everybody, or at least the majority, favor something,


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  17



then it is good no matter whether it agrees with the         Christ of the Scriptures. As soon as you depart from
divine standard of God's Word or not.                        the truth of the Scriptures and follow false teachers,
  Young people, these winds are not blowing by               you lose Christ and strike your roots into the wrong
accident, but come to us "by the sleight of men, and         soil, sucking in poison instead of Christ. And as you
cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to de-          grow up into Him, so you will also grow out of Him,
ceive." By the sleight of men one gambles with the           that is, become conformable to His image, loving the
truth. One does not proclaim and profess the truth           Lord your God with your whole heart, mind, soul,
out of a motive of love for Christ, but for filthy lucre.    and strength. When the truth is involved, there can be
Instead of the sheep being fed, they are fleeced.            no compromise. Do not be fooled by the pleasant,
Beware. of such false prophets for they are not              ego-inflating idea that Scripture must change to keep
seeking your welfare, but their own carnal ambitions.        pace with our modern society. Any change from the
By cunning craftiness the truth is twisted in such a         Christ of the Scriptures will mean that we no longer
way that you no longer can recognize it from the lie.        grow up into Him.
One who speaks the truth can do so clearly, un-                As the apostle plainly states, we must do this in all
ambiguously, so that you do not have any questions           things. In other words, our sphere of life is in Christ
as to the truth. Only when you exercise  cu'nning            Jesus, just as the fish's sphere of life is the water. As
craftiness with the truth do you have to camouflage          soon as we go outside of our sphere we lose the very
it. And the purpose of all this, do not forget, is to        means of our existence, just as the fish that leaves the
deceive you. Gambling with the truth they seek their         water must certainly die. Our  whdle life, both as to
own selfish end, using cunning craftiness as their           the inward aspect and as to the outward aspect, as
method in order that jrou may be led to believe that         that inward life comes to manifestation in our daily
the lie is the truth. Against this the Word of God           walk, must be such that we grow spiritually into and
warns us: "Be not tossed by every wind of doctrine."         out of Christ. Over against the emphasis on man's
  As you perhaps noticed in the text quoted from             inherent ability to save himself through his piety,
Eph. 4: 14,15,  the apostle not only uses the figure of      religion, works, or goodness, we must always confess
the ship crossing the sea, but also that of a child.         that our hope, love, righteousness, and faith are all
What Paul says here, "Be no more children," is not           out of our faithful  Saviqr Jesus Christ. This firm
contradictory to what Christ taught when He said             inward commitment will reveal itself in all that we
that we must become as little children. Christ was           do. This is revealed when one attends church faith-
referring to our proper attitude toward the kingdom,         fully, attends and participates in discussion in Young
that we must be humble and docile. Paul is referring         People's Society, and diligently prepares for cate-
to our stand over against false doctrine. Be strong,         chism and confession of faith. At the home this
not as little children that are easily led astray. Over      commitment is revealed in an attitude of obedience
against all false doctrine as taught on radio, TV, in        toward one's parents, for their authority is the
books, and in many other ways, we must loudly                authority of Christ. In the field of labor one soon
proclaim the antithesis and respond with a resounding        finds out that one cannot go along with all that one is
"NO."                                                        encouraged to do  - the office parties where the
  As children of God you ,and I must grow up into            liquor flows freely and the joking and laughter is all
Christ. If we are tossed about by every wind  df             at the expense of someone else, God's command-
doctrine, we lose Christ, and without Christ we have         ments, and the holiness in one's life. In addition,
nothing. Think of it, all that we have or shall have of      there is stealing from the employer that is taken for
the blessings of salvation is in Christ. Our righteous-      granted and even considered a right or a fringe
ness, knowledge of God, wisdom, holiness, yea, our           benefit. Or how about the padding of expense
eternal life is in Christ our head from Who.m flows the      accounts and the like? No, we cannot do these things
fulness of grace and salvation into all His people. It is    even though we are encouraged to do so.
to this end that we are fi.rm with a view to the truth,        Soon fellow employees will see this example of
that we grow up into Christ. As a little tree strikes its    Christian living and hate you for it. Eventually you
roots into the soil, so do we strike our roots into          may even lose your job because of the pressure by the
Jesus Christ. If no roots, then no contact with Christ.      employees or because your name will be slandered
However, if God in His grace has given us roots so           before the employer. But do not be discouraged, for
that we are able to strike into Christ, then we seek all     the sufferings of this present time are not to be
our food, all our nourishment, from Christ .alone. So        compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.
doing we strike our roots deeper and deeper into             As Moses we learn to forsake the pleasures and
Christ.                                                      treasures of Egypt and to have respect unto the
  It follows, then, that we must not have false doc-         recompense of the reward which is ours in  Christ
trine. Simply put, there is no other Christ than the         Jesus.


18                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



      We can do this by always speaking the truth in        remain on its course, for Jesus Clirist will be at the
love. Not just truth as in dealing honestly iyith one       helm, and the Word of God will be the strong rudder.
another in business, but the truth as it is in Christ.      In this way we will safely arrive at our eternal
And not the love of man which embraces false                destination, the eternal haven of rest where we shall
doctrine. but the love of God. Then our ship will           live in blessed fellowship with the Lord our God.

IN HIS FEAR




                                         If Ye Love Me
                           -Keep  My  C.ommandments

                                                Rev. Arie den.Hartog




      With these profound, beautiful, and absolute words    that we keep all things which  are contained in His
our Lord Jesus exhorted His disciples shortly before        Word: all His judgments, ordinances, and statutes, the
His suffering and-death. This is an absolute statement      whole of that.which  God requires of man to do.
that stands for us as Christians through all time. To          Many  ha& denied the absolute relationship set
love God or to love Jesus is to keep His command-           forth in the above proposition. They have sought to
ments. The two are inseparably related, they are            redefine and to broaden the whole -idea of the love of
indistingujshable.  It can be said that there is a          God. Sd broad have they sought.to make it that every
reciprocal relationship between loving God and keep-        man can be said to love God, with very few excep-
ing His commandments. To love Him is 3.0 keep His           tions. Though  men. walk in all  manner of iniquity,
commandments, and to keep His commandments is               though they worship and-serve many other gods after
to love Him with all our heart and sdul and strength        their own fashion, though they blaspheme the name
and mind. We shall consider especially the first of         of the only true God, though they desecrate His hdly
those relationships. The apostle John, who recorded         day, though they live in hatred and enmity with their
the above statement of our Lord in his first epistle        neighbor, though they live in adultery and  fomica-
(although with slightly different. words), emphasizes       tion, in greed and covetousness with their neighbor,
the absolute character of the above proposition. "He        yet they claim that they love God. This is possible
that, saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His com-           because of the cheap estimation they have of the love
mandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." I       of God. Love is, according to them, nothing more
John 2:4                                                    than a feeling, an emotion, an attitude. The love of
      The love of God is the most sublime, the most holy    God is not concerned with a certain standard, a
and pure and glorious of all motives that can live in       certain perfection which controls and defines it. Men
the heart and soul of man. For this very purpose was        need not be so terribly concerned about the law of
man made: to love God his creator and Lord and so           God. There are things that stand higher than the law
to glorify Him. According to the summary of the law          of God. As long as man is concerned with all sorts of
of God this is really the only motive that must             humanistic concerns, with social action, with the
continually and completely fill the heart of man. The       bringing of the kingdom on earth, promoting peace
love of God is manifest in us only when we keep His         and justice. among men, then it doesn't matter so
commandments. By `His commandments' reference               much if men keep the commandments of God or not.
is made centrally to the law of the ten command-               Others have sought to compromise this absolute
ments. But keeping His commandments in the most             statement  6f our Lord by taking away the absolute-
comprehensive sense of the word means of course             ness of the law of God. They make the law of God


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                           19



  something'relative, something that changes with time             disobedience to the law of God we pride ourselves
  and culture and circumstances. Each age must have a             that we still love God. The word of God clearly
  new interpretation of  the law of  Gsd. We need for              teaches us that when we transgress the law of God we
  each age a new morality. We see this kind of an                 reveal that we do not love God.
  attempt in many ways today, especially with the                     We neither love God nor keep God's command-
  seventh commandment. Surely, it is said, we must not            ments by nature. We are prone by nature to hate God
  today hold to the strict principles of sexual purity             and to transgress all of His commandments. The love
  that the church held in years gone by. We need to                of God is the result of the work of regeneration in us,
  reinterpret the law of God here to conform with our             the fruit of the operation of God's grace. Only with
  present liberated modern age. We need room for                  that same grace can we keep God's commandments.
  allowing  homosejtuality, premarital and extramarital
relations, divorce and remarriage. Those who are                      But why is there such an absolute relationship
  engaged in such abominable acts surely cannot be                between our love of God and the keeping of His
  condemned as not loving God! You see, when @e law                commandments? The love of God is in its very nature
  of God was written by the finger of God on Mount                holy and perfect. The love of God is much more than
  Sinai, there was not yet an understanding of the                a human emotion or feeling. It is a spiritual and
  various aspects of man's sexuality. Now, in our age of          .ethical  matter' of our hearts. The love of God can
  enlightenment, we need an enlightened interpretation             only operate in the sphere of spiritual perfection.
  of the law. Not only do men seek to do this kind of                 God .is our sovereign lawgiver. He has the absolute
  thing with the seventh commandment but with all of              right to demand His law of every creature because He
  the law of God. The fifth commandment, which is                 is God. His law is righteous and holy. His law is not
  the standard for authority and obedience, has to be             merely an arbitrary set of principles that could just as
  completely. reinterpreted. We live in an age of libera-         well be substituted for another. His law alone is
  tion. There is no such thing as God-ordained author-            perfect because it is the revelation of the perfect and
  ity. All men are fre'e and equal. Men have the right to         holy God. The law of God is unchangeable T not one
  liberate themselves from all forms of government                jot or tittle ever changes through all the' ages of time
  which do not satisfy and please them. Women have                and even unto eternity.
  the right to liberate themselves from the  God-                     The love of God must begin with submission to His
  ordained position of submission unto men. One could             commandments. Love is manifested in obedience,
  easily cite many more examples of the attempt of                whole-hearted complete obedience. In such obedience
  man to relativize the law of God.                               we acknowledge that God is God, that He is our
    Others have persisted in the age-old heresy that the          Lord, our ruler and law-giver to the glory of His
  law of God no longer applies in the new testament               name. He who loves God acknowledges that God is
  day. Christ has fulfilled the law and in such  2 way            holy and good and His commandments holy and true.
  that He has entirely done away with it as far as the            When man disregards or seeks to compromise the law
  demands of the law for our lives as Christians is               of God or change that law, man displays a most
  concerned. A more subtle and undoubtedly more                   horrible arrogance, before the holy, true, and sov-
  common variation of this heresy is the notion that,             ereign God. He who truly loves God will listen quietly
  since Christ has paid foi all,my transgressions of the          to His will, not seeking to change anything of the
  law of God anyway, it is not such a serious matter              word and law of God.
  that I keep the law of God. If we sometimes through                 Keeping the commandm&ts of God is the love of
  weakness violate the law of God, this ought not be of           God in action in us. True love of God is not merely
  such great concern to us since we already have'                 an- attitude toward God. It involves activity, a carry-
  forgiveness. in Christ Jesus Bnyway. As long as I still         ing out of the will and purpose of God. Man loves
 e love God He will be pleased with me in spite of my             God when ke acts according to the commandments of
transgression of His comm&dments. Have we not all                 God. This involves the desire of man's heart, the
  secretly at one time  or. another held this kind of             inclination of his will and all his thoughts, words and
  notion? How boldly men say they love God; but what              deeds. Keeping God's commandments means that our
  liars they are found to be in their careless trans-             actions are pleasing unto Him. If a man loves God he
  gression of God's law!                                          desires to dd that which is pleasing unto the Lord.
    Though we have not consciously held to any of the                 To love God is to desire to be like Him. To be like
  heresies mentioned above, we have nevertheless often            Him is to be righteous ,and holy as He is. We are holy
  sought to compromise the absolute proposition                   and righteous when with our wlnole being and all our
  above. We so easily and boldly claim that we love               actions we are in conformity to the law of God.
  God, but our careless transgression of His command-
  ments reveals that often the love of God is at best                 If it is indeed true that loving God means keeping
  miserably weak in  us.  How often while walking in              His commandments; then surely we as'the children of


     20                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



     God ought to have an earnest zeal for those com-           thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart,
     mandments. It  is no wonder that David, that great         and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And
     Iover o-f God, spoke so often in his Psalms of the law     these words, which I command thee this day, shall be
     of God. Think of such Psalms as 19, and 119 which in       in thine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently
     almost every. verse of its 176 verses extols the won-      unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou
     derful law of God. Well may the Christian then             sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the
     meditate upon that law day and night. How profit-          way, and when thou liest down, and when thou riseth
     able it is for him to search out all the profound          up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine
     implications of the law of God. How urgent it is that      hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine
     we strive for those commandments with all our heart        eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of
     and soul and strength and mind. Surely we must take        thy house, and on thy gates."
     heed unto the exhortation of Deuteronomy 6: "And



                                     To Our Sister Churches Of
                              The Protestant Reformed Churches

     Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus             through the sale of debentures exclusively to our own
     Christ:                                                    members. In addition to this,  $36,000.00 has been.
           It is our continuing desire to build a house of      pledged toward our church building by our members.
     worship for our small congregation in Wyckoff, New         We are still in need of $164,000.00. We appeal to all
     Jersey. Since we have obtained permission from our         interested parties to purchase bonds from us to raise
     synod to ask again our sister churches to hold a           this money.
     collection in their midst for our building fund, we           It must be understood that the reason why our
     considered it proper to report to you on our progress.     church building is going to cost so much is largely due
     As we reported in the church news column of the            to the fact that we live in a very high cost area and in-
     `Standard Bearer some time ago, we experienced             an area where there are many regulations for building,
     considerable difficulty in obtaining 3 building permit     which tends to drive up the cost. Our proposed
     for our  dhurch   btiilding  because of the current Op-    church building is a very modest 30' x 5 1' wood
     position to the building of churches in Wyckoff. By        frame structure with a seating capacity of 120.
     the grace of God, however, this long struggle that
     lasted almost two years was brought to a conclusion.          You will find our bonds advertised in this same
     We now have the final approval to proceed with our         Standard Bearer. We realize that the interest we offer
     plans.                                                     is very low and that the maturity of the bonds is
                                                                unusually long. Because of our circumstances, should
           During the past year we have been busy working       we offer higher interest or shorter maturity for our
     on our parsonage performing some necessary repairs.        bonds we would make this whole project financially
     Our parsonage now looks very nice, with new over-          impossible for us. In offering our bonds, therefore,
     hangs on the eves and gables, new aluminum siding,         we are asking people to make considerable sacrifice of
     new shingles on the roof, and new windows. The             investment. If we were merely a business corporation,
     funds for this project were raised through the sale of     we know that it would be utter folly to think that,
     debentures in our own congregation. Most of the            there would be buyers for bonds such as we offer.
     labor was done on a voluntary basis on Saturdays.          Because of the cause that we represent and the
           We are now at the stage where we are seeking to      purpose for which we desire a building, we humbly
     raise the necessary funds for our church building. The     ask you to consider helping us.
     total cost of the whole project, including the pur-           We have drawn up a prospectus which gives all the
     chase price of the property, the repairs to the par-       details concerning our bonds. We invite you to write
     sonage, and the estimated cost of the proposed             for it.
     church building will be $2-87,OOO.OO. This is a very                                 Covenant Prot. Ref. Church,
,    large sum of money, especially for a congregation as                                 Wyckoff, New Jersey
     small as ours. We are very thankful to God for the                                    (by Rev. Arie den Hartog)
     large sums of money that we could raise from our
     own congregation. A total of $87,000.00 was raised


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                21





                                             Book Reviews


    CHRIST AND THE MEDIA, by Malcolm Muggeridge;                 this  .book to our readers. In fact, it is almost "must
   Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; 127 pp.,                  reading" for all who have a television set and who
    $5.95. (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)                          make use of it daily. If this book is not sufficient to
       Malcolm Muggeridge was formerly editor of                 frighten ardent TV watchers, there is nothing really
   Punch,  a British satirical paper which had an inter-         that will. We urge those who make abundant use of
    national circulation. For over forty years he was            television to purchase the book and read it. It will be
    active in work with the media: newspapers, radio, and        worth the time and money.
   `television. In the course of his life he has converted to
    Christianity and has spoken often in evangelical
    circles. In 1976 he was invited to give three lectures
    at the London Lectures in Contemporary Chris-
    tianity. This book contains those lectures as well as
   the script of the question and answer session held at         Treasury of the World's Great Sermons, compiled by
    the end of each lecture. The author examines the role        Warren W. Wiersbe; Kregel Publications, Grand
    of the media (especially television) in Christianity and     Rapids,  Mich. 662 pp., $12.95 (hard cover) (Re-
   the propagation of the Christian faith. He is a skilled,      viewed by Prof. H. C. Hoeksema)
   witty, and articulate writer and speaker - somewhat             This is a large volume, finely printed, and con-
    on the order of C. S. Lewis.                                 taining a massive amount of material. The sermons in
       The basic theme of this book is that the media            this volume range from the period of the church
   (and particularly television) have an extremely evil          fathers to the present. Among these 123 sermons a
   influence on our civilization. This influence will, in        very wide variety of preachers is represented.
   the author's opinion, grow worse with the passing of            A certain amount of attentive reading of worth-
   the years. Nor is there any hope that this can be             while sermons by other preachers is a very good thing
   improved because the media, being what they are, are          both for ministers of the gospel and students who are
   not neutral and therefore capable of being used for           preparing for the ministry. This volume offers ample
   good or evil; they are rather always tending towards          opportunity for such reading.
   evil and geared to promote evil. "The technical com-            Which sermons belong among the world's great
   plexities, necessity of editing, and the demands of the       sermons is, of-course, a matter of subjective judg-
   public make the television producer turn reality into         ment. My judgment and choice would certainly not in
f a n t a s y . "                                                every instance agree with that of the compiler of this
       Reality for Muggeridge is the kingdom of Jesus            volume, Warren W. Wiersbe. While there are surely
   Christ. The media can do nothing else but create a'           several very worthwhile sermons by notable preachers.
   world of fantasy which drives people away from the            in this volume, there are also sermons which I would
   true reality of the kingdom. It is for this reason that       not classify as being great; and there are preachers
   the media will only serve the deterioration of society        represented in this volume whom I would not classify
   as we have known it.                                          as great preachers. Besides, the principle of choice in
       The book is a very powerful analysis and condem-          these sermons did not become evident to this re-
   nation of all the media, but especially of television. If     viewer. Moreover, there appears to this reviewer to be
   I had a television set in my house, the book would            a lack of proper balance with respect to various
   have persuaded me to get rid of it as quickly. as             periods in the history of preaching. I made no exact
   possible. In fact; the book makes one really wonder           count, but it appears to me as though overwhelming
   whether it is good to have newspapers and news                attention was paid to sermons from the nineteenth
   magazines come into the house. Muggeridge speaks              century.
   from a long association with the media and knows                Nevertheless, one could certainly do worse than to
   whereof he speaks. While we do not know very much             spend $12.95 for a book of this kind. Recommended
   about the author's Christianity, we can recommend             with reservations.


                         COVENANT PROTESTANT, REFORMED CHURCH
                                                OF WYCKOFF, NEW JERSEY

                                                      offers $164,000 in bonds
                                to finance construction of new church building


                                            Issued in denominations of $500.00 and $1000.00
                                                                     Maturity: 20 years



                                                 Complete Prospectus available. Write or call:

                                                                    Mr. Clarence DeGroot
                                                                    176 Prescott Ave.
                                                                     Prospect Park, N.J. 07508
                                                                    Ph. (201) 278-6791





                                                                             N O T I C E !
                                              The  combined   Men's   and  Ladies'  League  Mass   Meeting  for  the.Fall
                                           season   will  take  place  at  the  Southwest   Protestant   Reformed   Church,
                                           lvanrest   Ave.,   Grandville,   Ml,  on  October   10,  1978,  at  8:00  P.M.  Rev.
                                           C.  Hanko  will  be  the  speaker.   His  topic   -  "GOD'S  PROVIDENCE  IN
                                           1953  AND  OUR  CALLING  TO  INSTRUCT   OUR  CHILDREN."
                                                                                                      David  Harbach,.Sec'y.




                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                      WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   On  October   16,  1978,  the  Lord  willing,   our  beloved   parents,  Mr.              On  October   8,  1978,   our  parents,  MR.  AND  MRS.   PETER  KNOTT
and  Mrs.  Gordon  J.  Terpstra   will  celebrate   their  25th  wedding  an-           will  celebrate  their  30th  wedding'anniversary.   We,  their  children,   are
niversary.                                                                               thankful   to  God  and  to  them  for  our  covenant  home  and  upbringing.
                                                                                         We  pray  that  God   will  grant  them  many  more  years  together   and  guide
   We,  with  them,   are  grateful  to  our  Heavenly  Father   for  bringing           them  in  all  they  do.
them  together   and  blessing  them  through  these  years  as  Covenant
parents  and grandparents.                                                                  Their  children
                                                                                              Mr.  and  Mrs.  Andrew  Brummel
   We  pray  for  God's   continued   guidance   and  blessing  upon  them  in                Mr.  and  Mrs.  Donald  Offringa
the years to come.                                                                            Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robert  Knott
   Their   children  and grandchildren,                                                      and grandchildren
   David  and  Suzanne   Looyenga                                                                                    Shelly
      Lisabeth                                                                                                       Kristi
   Tom  and  Luanne   Schipper                                                                                       Julie
      Jason                                                                                                          Dennis
   Charles  and  Verna  Terpstra                                                                                     Melonie
   Todd                                                                                                              Windi
   Jeffrey                                                                                                           Jennifer


                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      23





       RFPA  PAPERBACK BARGAIN

  Believers And Their Seed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .$I.95
  Marriage, The Mystery of Christ
     And His Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .$I.95
  Whosoever Will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . .  .$I.95
  The Five Points Of Calvinism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .$I.95
  "In The Beginning God. . .  ." . .  ; .  i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .$I.00
Total price regularly: $8.80
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     (plus 5Oe shipping)
                            This is more than a 30% discount!

 Send your order (check or money order enclosed) to:
                     RFPA Publications,
                     P.O. Box 2006,
                     Grand Rapids, Michigan 49501





          SEMINARY PUBLICATIONS

  The Seminary Bookstore announces that Prof. Hoeksema's  Syllabi on Old
  Testament History  are now complete from Creation through the Conquest of
  Canaan. These syllabi are highly readable and in non-technical style and
  language, and will be helpful to Bible teachers, Sunday School teachers, and
  for Bible Study in societies. The titles and prices are as follows:
  Introduction, Creation to the Protevangel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .$5.75
  The Prediluvian Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .$3.00
  The Postdiluvian World         . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2.50
  The Patriarchal Era  - Abraham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . .  .$3.50
  The Patriarchal Era  - Isaac . . .  .' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .$4.50
  The Patriarchal Era -Jacob . . . . . . . . .  :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .$3.95
  The Bondage and Exodus . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .$3.00
  The Wanderings in the Wilderness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . .  .$6.75
  The Conquest of Canaan , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . $4.50
  Order any or all of the above (please enclose payment) by writing to:
                    Prot. Ref. Seminary Bookstore
                    4949 lvanrest Ave., S.W.,
                     Grandville, Michigan 49418


THE STANDARD BEARER            - - - - - -   --.~_
                                                 _      _
          P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506




                                                              1
                                        -               -2

24                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


                             News From Our Churches
      Candidate Wilbur Bruinsma has accepted the call              Protestant Reformed Truth! Now past is a  catechet-
he received from our Faith Church in Jenison, Mich-                ical. season in Old Testament History in which we
igan, to become their pastor. We can probably assume               taught 8 children with an occasional visit of 4 other
that Candidate Bruinsma has declined the call he                   children. These catechumens studied and learned
received from Southeast Church. The trio of South-                 `enthusiastically, and parents are most thankful for
west Church consisting of Candidate Bruinsma, Rev.                 the instruction, some benefits of which `became ap-
Arie den Hartog and Candidate Michael De Vries has                 parent in the children's increased knowledge.
now been reduced to a duo.                                         "Also completed was a class of 5 adults and 2
      The editor of this column was looking forward to.            young people in a very detailed study in `Essentials of
some help in filling this page in the form of a Classis            Reformed Doctrine.' This Thursday Bible study class
Report. Classis West has been postponed until Otto-                was always lively with the asking and answering of a
ber 18 due to a light agenda and in the expectation                continual flow of pertinent questions and spon-
that a classical exam will have to be administered.                taneous discussions which often continued for two
Classis Eastwas scheduled  `to meet on September 13.               hours and more.
Classis East will have to meet again soon in order to                "In Clearbrook, B.C., not far from Lynden, Wash-
examine Candidate Bruinsma before he can be in-                    ington, we taught a class in Reformed Essentials. This
stalled as pastor of Faith Church. With three of,our               class consisted of 4 to 8 people in the Reformed
churches still without a minister it may well be that              Community and 2 or 3 couples of the Lynden P.R.C.
more special classical meetings may have to be called              This class met every other Monday, closing for  the
in order to administer classical exams to our candi-               season with a lecture on "Keys Given the Church."
dates.                                                               "In 32 sermons we went through I Timothy, verse
      The following rather interesting note was received           by verse. In 37 Lord's Days we have gone to that
from our Home Missionary, Rev. Robert Harbach,                     point in the Heidelberg Catechism bringing truth such
now laboring in Victoria, Vancouver Island, British                as the little group never heard before.
Columbia, Canada. "Seldom, if ever, is it that there is
any really earthshaking news to report. But now t&at                 "We try to publish a two-page Calvinist Contender
is literally the case. Earlier in the summer, during one           about every other month, which goes out to a few in
of our worship services, there was an earth tremor                 the area and elsewhere across the land."
which shook the building (reminiscent of Acts 4:3 l),                In response to various requests from the congrega-
to some, quite noticeably. However, the preacher                   tion, the consistory of our church in Loveland,
himself was oblivious to the event, filled as he was,              Colorado, has decided to change the doxology sung at
with the sermonic seismic activity of his own mind                 the close of the Sunday evening service with the
and heart. Then, just a few weeks back, another                    singing of `May the grace of Christ the Saviour.' This
earthquake occurred, unknown to us, but felt by                    doxology is also used by other of our churches.
some of our people a few miles north of us. The                      The Sunday School teachers in the Michigan area
latest, this week, was, for us, quite a startling tremor.          planned to gather for their annual Fall Mass Meeting
Shaking the whole apartment building, it caused a                  at Hudsonville Church on September 19. Rev. C.
sound like a muffled explosion internal to the prem-               Hanko was the scheduled speaker.
ises. All this serves to comfort us, in the most
practical reality, with our Lord's long-prophesied and               A Thought For Contemplation from the South
now occurring signs of His sure, quick coming. In this             Holland bulletin - from the pen of John Calvin:
Blessed Hope, we continue to preach the glorious                     ". . .the first part of prayer is consent to the will of
soul-stirring Gospel!"                                               the Lord, who is by no means bound to follow our
      The following report  con&rning Rev. Harbach's                 desires. We must, therefore, pray to God to reg-
work was printed in our Hope Church Bulletin. "It is                 ulate our prayers according to His will, if we would
wonderful to still be busy preaching and teaching the                have them accepted by Him."
                                                                                                                     K.G.V.


