           The
  STANDARD
 BEARER
  .


             A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                      \\



       Judge not Providence in little pieces; it is
                                       I
a  grand mosaic, and  must  be  seen  as  -a
whole.  Say  not  of  any  one  hour,  "This  is
dark,"  - it  may  be  so,  but  that.  darkness
will  minister  to  the  light,  even  as  the  .ebon
gloom  of  midnight  makes  the  stars  aLppear
the  more  effulgent.  Trust  ye  in  the Lord
for  ever,  for  in  the  Lord  Jehovah  is  ever-
lasting strength.

                 See  - "God's People Encouraged
                 in Flooding Judgments' - page 32



                                                                                         /
                                                 Volume LV, No. 2, October 15,  1978-
                                                          ISSN 0362-4692


        26                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


                                                                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                              Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                                       Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
                                      C O N T E N T S :                                   Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                          Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma,
                                                                                          Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. Robert C. Harbach,
                                                                                          Rev. John A.  Heys, Rev. Mark H. Hoeksema, Rev. Meindert Joostens,
        Medi.tation -                                                                     Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma,
                                                                                          Rev. Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,
              Satisfaction . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -26      Rev. Ronald Van Overloop. Rev. Herman  Veldman,  Mr. Kenneth G.
                                                                                          Vink.~
        Editorials -                                                                      Editorial Office:  Prof. H.C. Hbeksema
                                                                                                                4975 lvanrest Ave. S.W.
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              Vote No! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29                                                   49418
                                                                                          Church News Editor:  Mr. Kenneth G. Vink
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              Playground or Battlefield? . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . .30                                        Grand Rapids, Michigan 49507
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        MEDITATION




                                                                        Satisfaction

                                                                               Rev. C. Hank0




                   "Ques. 12. Since, then, by the righteous judgment                                  ?A. By no means; but on the contrary we daily
                of God, we deserve temporal and eternal punishment,                                 increase our debt.
                is there no way by which we may escape that                                            "Ques. 14. Can there be found anywhere, one,
                punishment, and be again received into favor?                                       who is a mere creature, able to satisfy for us?
                   "A. God will have his justice satisfied: and there-                                 "A. None; for, first, God will not punish any other
                fore we must make full satisfaction, either by our-                                 creature for the sin which man hath committed; and
                selves, or by another.                                                              further, no mere creature can sustain the burden of
                   "Ques. 12. Can we ourselves then make this                                       God's eternal wrath against sin, so as to deliver others
                satisfaction?                                                                       from it.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                             27



      "Ques. 15. What sort of mediator and deliverer         be called thy son." In essence, it is the need for
   then must we seek for?                                    reconciliation.
      "A. For one who is very man, and perfectly
    righteous; and yet. more powerful than all creatures;    Satisfaction.
    one who is also very God."                                Satisfaction is the key word in this Lord's Day. It
                          Lord's Day 5, Heid. Catechism.     is the only possible answer to the sinner's plea; the
                                                             only way of reconciliation. Literally satisfaction
Reconciliation.                                              means "to make full." A settlement must be made; a
  Reconciliation is a beautiful word. That is espe-          debt must be paid. We have raised the question, How
cially true for us at this moment, for it answers the        can I be restored into favor with my God? The
cry of the anxious soul that seeks peace with his God.       answer is given, "God will have his justice satisfied."
  Reconciliation is often defined as "the renewal of         We must not regard this, "God will have . . .," as an
friendship after a disagreement or enmity." In our           arbitrary whim of the Most High, as if He could just
present use of the word, it implies that there was           as well have ignored the offence against His justice.
once an intimate bond of friendship and fellowship           We have already confessed in Lord's Day 4, that "sin
between God and us. Moreover, we are now deeply              which is committed against the most high majesty of
aware of the fact that we have disrupted this bond of        God, (must) be punished with extreme, that is, with
friendship, so that there exists a barrier of enmity         everlasting punishment of body and soul." Sin is
between God and us. The bond of friendship which             transgression of God's Law. After all, God is God. He
God established between Himself and our  first               has the right to demand of us that we love Him with
parents in paradise has been disrupted by Adam's fall,       our whole being. Not to do so offends God, dishonors
and is disrupted even now by our transgressions. We          His Name, defies His authority. Failing to fulfill our
long for the assurance in our own hearts that all is         obligation we become indebted to God. Debt is
well between God and us. We need that assurance              intolerable, inexorably exact. We realize that even
renewed, not once, but repeatedly, as long as we live.       when we are burdened with a money debt to our
  Notice how that word reconciliation stands out in          fellow man. We pay, and pay, and pay some more;
the first question of this Lord's Day. "Since by the         month after month, possibly year after year, until
righteous judgment of God, we deserve temporal and           finally the debt has been brought down to the last
eternal punishment. . . ." Soon after the Catechism          penny. Only then can be written across ours account:
was composed the Arminians raised the objection              Paid in full. Our debt to God is tie debt of sin. Ours
that this question is too coldly doctrinal, too severe.      is not the debt of a single sin, maybe some grievous
The guilty sinner .who has restlessly tossed' about on       transgression; nor is it the debt of hundreds of sins,
                                                             nor mere thousands, but rather millions upon
his bed at night, hiding his face in his tearstained         millions, which we increase and multiply as often as
pillow, must wonder how anyone can call this ques-           the clock ticks off its  seconqs.  Our debt is that
tion cold and severe. This is our confession, born out       mountain of guilt that stands between us and God,
of the work of grace in our hearts, arising from our         cuts off our prayers, makes us utterly miserable, so
condemning conscience, as we stand before the                the "the sorrows of death compassed me, and the
tribunal of a righteous God. We confess that we              pangs of hell gat hold upon me, I found trouble and
deserve God's righteous judgment upon us, even unto          sorrow." (Psalm 116:3). We cry out, "If Thou, Lord,
everlasting torment of hell, because of our sins. We         should&  mark iniquities, 0 Lord, who shall stand?"
ask: "Is there no way out?" We do this, not like a           (Psalm  130:3) Scripture tells us, confirmed by our
condemned criminal in his death cell, who ponders            own experience, God's justice must be fully satisfied.
how he may frustrate the cause of justice, but rather        The debt must be paid. Atonement must be made.
like the publican who pleads, "God be merciful to me
a sinner." We need to escape punishment, because we
long for God's favor, w+ich means more .to us than           Atonement.
life itself. With the Psalmist we cry, "As the hart            Here we have another significant word. Atonement
pants after water brooks, so panteth my soul after           (notice the at-one-ment) means literally, `to be at one
thee, 0 God." It is the anxious plea of those who            with,' or, `to be set at -one.' The sin barrier between
were pricked in their hearts on the day of Pentecost,        God and us must be removed. God need not be
who could not wait for Peter to finish his sermon, but       reconciled with us (He never changes). But we need
interrupted him with their, "Men and brethren, what          to be reconciled with Him. The debt of sin must be
shall we do?".It is the determination of the prodigal        paid; peace and fellowship must be restored.
son who says, "I will arise and go to my father, and           There is only one way in which our debt can ever
will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against             be paid, the punishment commensurate with our sin
heaven and against thee, and am no more worthy to            debt must be borne. The soul that sins must die. Sin


28                                             TH'i STANDARD BEARER


against the most high majesty of God must be                 some other man? Moses expressed the desire to be
punished with everlasting torment of hell. No, even          blotted out of the book of life, if thereby God's
those who suffer the anguish of hell never atone for a       honor could be maintained among the heathen and
single sin. In order to bear the wrath of God against        His covenant realized in His people. Paul, in that
sin, and to bear it away, we must surrender ourselves        stirring introduction of Romans 9, declares that he
willingly under the wrath of God, in love, in willing,       could wish to be accursed from Christ for his
obedient suffering. Every sinful, rebellious "NO"            brethren according to the flesh, if that could bring
must be replaced with a loving, submissive, "YES,            their salvation. But the very desire implies the hope-
LORD." God is just in all His ways and works. Only           lessness of one man's atoning for the sins of another.
perfect obedience of love in atonement for every sin            How can God ever punish another creature for the
which we have committed can satisfy God's just               sins that you and I commit? That would be contrary
demand. Only the assurance that our debt has been            to God's justice. How can a mere creature, no matter
paid, our sins have been blotted out, can create in us       who or what it may be, bring the sacrifice of perfect
the peace of forgiveness. That we know and confess.          obedience for our sins? All the blood that spurted
                                                             from the slain beasts that were sacrificed in the
Substitution.                                                temple day after day, could not atone for sin in any
      Our Catechism, almost surreptitiously, introduces a    way. How can a mere creature ever merit anything
new thought here. It speaks of full satisfaction, either     with God? Much less, how can a mere creature attain
by ourselves or by another. By another means substi-         for us that which he does not possess, eternal life in
tution. Substitution is a marvelous word, for in this        covenant fellowship with the living God?
context, as we shall see, the word was born in the             What can wash away my sins? As far as I or any
eternal bosom of God, an integral part of God's              other creature is concerned, NOTHING! What can
eternal plan and purpose in Christ Jesus.                    make me whole again? NOTHING, if that depends in
      Of course, if that were possible, we ourselves         any way on me or on any other creature.
should make satisfaction for our sins. If we have a
money debt, it- is our obligation to pay that debt. No       The Wonder.
one else can be held responsible for any debt incurred         Here we see the breaking of the dawn into the dark
by us. Before the .tribunal of God, I, and I only, am        night of our sin and  misery. That which is eternally
accountable for the guilt of my sins. Before my              impossible with man is possible with God. God in His
consciousness, I deserve eternal death.                      eternal, sovereign power, wisdom, and grace, has
      Yet I cannot make the necessary satisfaction. I am     prepared Himself as our Substitute in Christ Jesus. A
overcome by the power of sin and death; desperately,         Man, a righteous Man, Who is also very God.
hopelessly lost in sin. I may bathe myself under a             Adam as our representative head in paradise was a
shower until my skin tingles; I may wash my hands            figure of the last Adam Who was to come as flesh of
until they sting, but the blot upon my soul remains          our flesh, in order to stand in our place as our
unchanged. All my tears and confessions of sorrow            representative Head and bear the wrath of God
cannot atone for a single sin, no matter how small           against our sins.
that sin may appear to be. All my love and devotion,           When God gave His promise, "I will put enmity
all my works wrought by the new man in Christ can            between thee and the woman, and between thy seed
never undo the sins that cleave to me. Even if I could       and her seed," God already declared His promise of
attain to perfection, so that from this hour until I die,    the birth of One Who had to be.without guilt, born of
no sinful desire, thought, word, or deed ever blotted        a virgin.
my soul, I still would be an unprofitable servant who
did no more than his duty. Yet, 0 wretched man, I              When God gave the sacrifices in the old dispensa-
only increase my debt every day, every hour, every           tion, He was repeating His promise of His own Son,
second of my existence.                                      Immanuel, Who could stand under the consuming fire
                                                             of God's wrath and still not be consumed. God had to
      Does this suggestion of a full satisfaction  by        be in Christ, reconciling us unto Himself, never to
another imply that I may possibly be able to summon          count our transgressions against us.
a substitute to my aid? My sinful pride would like to
seek outside aid to my rescue. An angel possibly? Not          What can wash away my sins? Nothing, but the
as if I have anything to say about the angels, but           blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
angels are sinless. They have no debt to pay to God.         Nothing, but the blood of God. (Acts 20:28).
Could one of them assume my debt and bear it away?             Reconciliation! God brings His rebellious, unfaith-
Or some animal? Scripture speaks of the sacrifices           ful, wandering friend servant back to Himself by
tha.t were brought in the old dispensation accompany-        satisfaction, atonement, through His own wonderful,
h3 confessions of sin and pleas for forgiveness. Or          glorious Mediator, Jesus Christ. Hallelujah!


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                29


EDITORIALS
ProJ: H.C. Hoeksema





                                               Vote        No!


  Some months ago we reported to you about a new             On September  28 The Grand Rapids Press  in an
attempt in the State of Michigan to bring about            Associated Press dispatch reported that a group called
parochiaid, that is, state funding of non-public           the Council Against Parochiaid had taken to the
schools. The proposal, promoted chiefly by the same        Michigan Supreme Court "11 specific objections in its
forces (including Christian School men) which              lawsuit over whether the proper petition form was
formerly tried to legalize parochiaid, was a kind of       used and whether it was circulated properly." It
two-edged sword. On the one hand, it proposed the          should be kept in mind that this was not a lawsuit
elimination of property taxes as the chief source of       concerning the constitutionality of the proposal
school revenue; and it would require the state govern-     itself, but only a suit as to the propriety of the
ment to provide some other means of tax support (at        proposal's place on the November 7 ballot.
state level) to fund the schools. In this day of
so-called "tax rebellion" this was, of course, the           On September 29 it was reported  in The Grand
"candy" which was designed to attract votes. On the        Rapids Press that the lawsuit by the Council Against
other hand, it proposed a voucher system, according        Parochiaid was rejected and that the proposal will
to which every school-age child would receive a            indeed appear on the November 7 ballot.
tuition-voucher which could be turned in at any              What the outcome in the November election will
school, public or private, to pay for his education.       be is difficult to predict. There is a profusion of
  In earlier editorials we called this nothing but a       proposals on the ballot, including more than one
thinly disguised parochiaid proposal, although the         about taxes. This might tend to work against Proposal
forces promoting it tried not to leave this impression     H. It could, however, also have the opposite effect.
on the public and even called their organization by a      The fact that loud voices are being heard about the
name which would not hint at parochiaid, "Citizens         necessity of cutting taxes may also work in favor of
for More Sensible Financing of Schools." We were           Proposal H. That, however, powerful and large forces
not the only ones to recognize this as a parochiaid        oppose Proposal H is also a fact; and these could well
proposal. The traditional foes of parochiaid among         succeed in their efforts to defeat it at the ballot box.
the public school forces also recognized this, and the
"Council Against Parochiaid" has been actively               Even a favorable vote, of course, should not affect
opposing the new proposal.                                 the attitude of our schools and people. If parochiaid is
                                                           principally wrong and dangerous  - and it is  - then
  It is not our intention at this time to offer further    we cannot accept it even if it is available.
critique of the proposal, but to report on progress
made in the effort to get the proposal on the ballot in      But if it is principally wrong, then we should also
the November election which will soon be held.             take advantage of the opportunity to express our-
                                                           selves in the voting booth. We should vote No, not for
  On September 9 The Grand Rapids Press reported           the reasons which public school supporters put forth,
that the petitions to place this proposal on the ballot
apparently had enough signatures and that the Board        but for our own reasons of principle.
of State Canvassers had decided that the proposal was        We urge our Michigan readers to vote on November
to appear on the November ballot as Proposal H.            7, and to vote NO!


30                                              THE STANDARD BEARER





                             Playground or Battlefield?


      It does not require keen powers of observation to       tional; then compare the hours upon hours devoted
detect that we live in the midst of a hedonistic              purely to entertainment. Or turn on your radio.
culture. Perhaps that word "hedonistic" is, by reason         Exclude the few all-news stations  or. all-religious
of its very foreignness, a euphemism, i.e., a nice            stations. What do you find when you turn the dial?
sounding word for a very evil and ugly reality. Simply        Station after station which does virtually nothing but
put, a hedonistic culture is a culture in which men are       din rock music, country-western music, or just plain
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. And             jazz into your ears.
please note: I do not say, "more than lovers of God."         Item  - Observe the fact that most of our legal
That would make it a matter of degree. But I say,             holidays have been moved to Monday-observance.
"rather than lovers of God." That makes it a:matter           Why? To provide a three-day weekend which can be
of antithesis, a matter of either . . . or.                   devoted to more pleasure-seeking.
      Without difficulty one can enumerate many items         Item  - Observe the fact that labor is pressing for a
which point to the truth of this proposition. The             four-day work-week. Why? To provide more free time
trouble is, perhaps, that we ourselves become so              which may be devoted to pleasure-seeking.
accustomed to living in such an environment and such
a culture that we frequently do not stop to consider            Items such as these may be multiplied. These I
it and to evaluate it.                                        enumerated offhand.
                                                                 I have mentioned them, bear in mind, not because
Item - Stand at the intersection of Torrence Avenue           I intend to discuss the right or wrong of any of the
and Interstates 80 and 94 on a late afternoon on              forms of entertainment mentioned above. I have
Friday. Observe the thousands of cars streaming out           mentioned them as symptoms, evidences, of a certain
of metropolitan Chicago bumper-to-bumper and three            mode of life, a certain attitude, a certain madness
abreast. Where are they going? To Michigan, to seek           `which characterizes our culture and which infects all
pleasure. You can observe the same phenomenon on              of life in our country. That I mention our country
the Tri-state  Tollway northbound or on the North-            does not mean that I exclude others which could fall
west  Tollway, except that there the thousands of             under the same judgment; but I know our own
hurrying and impatient vehicles will be driving toward        country from firsthand and extended observation. I
Wisconsin. Forty-eight hours later you can observe            would hazard a guess that the same thing could be
them streaming back toward Chicago at the latest              said of many other lands: their culture is charac-
possible moment, sated with a weekend of pleasure.            terized by pleasure-madness, and that, too, usually in
Item - Count, if you can, the hundreds of thousands           direct proportion to the degree of affluence.
who jam the football stadium of a large university or           What, we may ask, are the characteristics of this
a smaller college on a Saturday afternoon. Or add up          pleasure-madness?
the millions who throng to the Sunday doubleheader               In the first place, this is their religion. Just as the
of the big league baseball teams throughout the               people'of God are lovers of God, these worldlings are
summer. Or tally up the millions of fans (that's an           lovers of pleasure. Pleasure  - all the pleasures that
abbreviation for "fanatics") who walk  .through  the          life and the world have to offer  - is their god, and
turnstiles to see a professional football team in             pleasure-seeking is their religion. They love pleasure.
action. Add to this the millions who have their eyes          They set their heart on pleasure. They aim at plea-
glued to the television screen or their ears to the radio.    sure. They strive after pleasure. They do all in their
Item  - Check the schedule of your local television           power to obtain pleasure. They cannot rest until they
station. Add up the hours devoted to news programs            obtain it. And when they have obtained it, they want
or programs which can at all be classified as educa-          always more and more.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  31



  In the second place, they view the world as a               If he can possibly manage, he will arrange, too, for an
playground, as their playground. If it does not in its        early retirement - again, with adequate pay - so that
natural state offer them enough variety of pleasure,          then he can devote all his time to enjoying life; to
they will use it and bend it and shape it, employ its         pleasures.
powers and its resources, as well as the inventive              Such is the striving of the wealthy and of the
genius of their fellowmen, all in order to achieve one        middle class.
goal: more enjoyment of a greater variety of plea-
sures, all for the satisfaction of their carnal, pleasure-       Such is also the striving of those who live at the
mad nature.                                                   so-called poverty level. The haves want more. The
                                                              have-nots want to graduate to the class of the haves.
  This is real!                                                 What is your attitude, child of God?
  Ask the child of the world what he wants out of
life, what he aims at. He will tell you that he wants           No, I am not first of all interested in the legitimacy
enjoyment. He certainly does not look at his job as           or illegitimacy of certain forms of pleasure. I surely
being a God-given station and calling in life. He does        would not deny that there is a proper place in the life
not even look at it as a mere means to provide daily          of a child of God for recreation and relaxation.
bread for himself and his family. No, he wants more,            But my concern is with attitudes,  with your out-
much more. He wants some enjoyment out of life. He            look on life.
wants a good, comfortable home. He wants a car. He              Do you view the world as a playground? Well, a
wants a recreational vehicle. He wants a boat. He             playground is for play. And if you view the world as a
wants a summer home. He wants sufficient money to             playground, then your life in the world `will be
go on a long and expensive vacation-trip. He wants,           characterized by pleasure-seeking.
wants, wants  - always more. And he wants time to
enjoy all these things. He is compelled to work, at             Or do you view the world as a battlefield in which
least enough so that he can adequately finance his            a spiritual battle is waged? Well, a battlefield is for
pleasure-seeking. But his work is not in any sense the        battle. And if you view the world as a battlefield,
main thing. It is secondary: it stands in the service of      then your life in the world will be characterized by
his pleasure-seeking. That explains the fact that he          the spiritual battle of faith  - even in your times of
clamors for a shorter work-week - with the same, or           enjoyment and relaxation and recreation.
higher, wages, of course. That explains the fact that           It is plainly evident that such an attitude will make
his union-contract must stipulate a goodly number of          a radical difference.
paid holidays, as well as an ever longer paid vacation.          More about this later.

C O R R E S P O N D E N C E



Prof. H.C. Hoeksema                                           included. I have, frankly, allowed my strong disagree-
4975 Ivanrest Ave. S.W.                                       ment with Dr. Taylor in areas of theology to become
Grandville, Mich. 494 18                                      far too personal and this may have, in fact, distorted
Dear Prof. Hoeksema:                                          my own views of the way in which he handled
                                                              himself, though I am not prepared to admit that in a
  In my recent article concerning the General                 total way. I still feel that Dr. Taylor has led the
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, I             PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL into positions at odds
made certain critical remarks about the moderator of          with Reformed truth. Concerning that, one has only
the Assembly, Dr. G. Aiken Taylor, which remarks I            to read for himself and decide on the basis of his own
feel were out of place. I am speaking specifically of         understanding. For the rest, however, the personal
my comments on the way in which Dr. Taylor                    remarks were out of place and for them. I herewith
conducted himself as moderator. I should point out            apologize to you, your readers, and Dr. Taylor, and
that what I wrote was based on personal feeling. It           ask that this be printed at the earliest'possible date in
should be obvious that there is some problem in               the STANDARD BEARER.
establishing an objective basis on which to judge
arrogance. Others, and I am sure Dr. Taylor, felt that                                     Cordially,
his conduct was appropriate. That I did not, and do                                        E. C. Case
not, for whatever reasons, should not have been


3     2                                       THE STANDARD BEARER


STUDIES IN ISAIAH





                            God's People Encouraged
                                 in Flooding Judgments

                                               Rev. Robert C Harbach





     The previous article dealt with "The Sign of           flows from the throne of God will receive the over-
Isaiah's Son" (Isa. 8: l-6), under the headings:            flowing flood waters of judgment. The world has its
                                                            Minne-ha-ha, Laughing Water, or its Sault, Dancing
     A. Foretelling Destruction of Confederated Syria       Water, but the Church has its Waters of Shiloah. The
and Israel by Assyria (l-4).                                tiny rill of the gospel should mean more to us than
     B. Revealing Desolations Made by Assyria in Israel     the grand rapids or great powers of the ungodly
and Judah (5-8).                                            world. Churning rapids are dangerous, especially
       1. The sin of distrust and misplaced trust on the    when formed by the mad jumble of ecclesiastical
part of Judah (5-6), and now,                               streams crammed into one ecumenical channel. It all
                                                            leads to enslavement under an Assyrian tyrant and all
       2. The flood of God's judgments for these sins.      his earthly glory.
"And therefore (because the people had distrusted
God's protection and had relied on the success of             But, say modem men, you are behind the times.
their application for help from one of their enemies),      We have no patience with your waters of quietness,
behold, (take note of what is about to come upon            your golden thread of election, or your scarlet thread
you), Adonai brings up upon them the waters of the          of atonement and imputed righteousness. We live in a
river, the mighty ones (waters) and the great ones          fast-paced age and must keep up with the times. We
(waters), even the king of Assyria and all his glory,       require more advanced thought in this enlightened
and it shall go up over upon all its channels, and it       age of titanic oil spills at sea, and other grand
shall go over all its banks (submerging Israel and          improvements; and  ,we have discovered that the
finally inundating Judah). And it shall come on             universe made itself. So we  can' not afford to lag
against Judah;.it shall overwhelm and pass over even        behind the cognoscenti, but must head for an atomic
to the neck; it shall reach and (there) shall be the        smash, like other people.
expansion of its wings (to) the fulness  of the breadth       But as people of God, we may well wait patiently
of Thy land, 0 Immanuel!" (v. 7-8).                         for Him, knowing, as one man put it, that "the day
     Judgment against Syria and Israel is also to extend    will come when the worldly-wise will not only be
to Judah, which turned away from the waters of              called fools by. others, but will confess themselves so
Shiloah, the waters flowing softly in mercy. For this,      in endless despair."
Judah then will not have the quiet waters of Shiloah,         Now the flood waters are up to the neck. The
but the mighty, sweeping, damaging waters of the            enemy has gotten Judah (the kingdom of Christ) by
Euphrates. For men who will not have the river which        the throat. So it is not even a matter of "sink or


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                33


swim." Judah is going down. But God can keep the            distant- from Israel are evil. Well, then, says God
head of the remnant of His people above water. Yet          through His prophet, Be evil! as evil as you please! Be
punishment for their despising the Lord and His             bad! Be the worst you're capable of! You think your
kingdom is upon them and cannot be avoided. The             might is sovereign and independent? There is no
wings of the Assyrian military shall spread over the        power but of God! But do your worst; you shall be
breadth of Judah, Thy land, 0 Immanuel! Where               shivered to pieces. Gird yourselves (like a wrestler
Palestine is said to be Immanuel's Land we have the         tightly bound about the waist, like a boxer with
assumption and implication of the Messiah's heavenly        hands taped, an athlete with taped wrists, feet, and
origin, His Davidic descent and royal authority. Isaiah     ankles, or like a hoplite who puts on full armor from
prophetically addresses Christ, the promised Messiah,       head to footj, but you will be shattered to pieces. We,
to hold out to the elect remnant a remnant of hope.         too, have seen our arch-enemy and those enemies, our
Their comfort is that He shall yet come, and that in        sins, broken, overthrown, as God had promised it
order that He may come, they then must be returned          would be, according to the mother-promise (Gen.
to Immanuel's Land, where Immanuel must be born,            3: 15). But gird yourselves for the worst you can do in
out of Judah's tribe.                                       rebellion against God. For all your pain and rage, you
                                                            will be shattered. For God is just. Do not imagine
           Sweeter sounds than music knows                  that He will not punish sin in time as well as in
             Charm me in Immanuel's name;                   eternity. The records of divine history bear this out.
           All her hopes my spirit owes                     Our first parents, for one sin, were driven out of
             To His birth and Cross and shame.              Eden. The violently wicked world He drowned with a
                                   - John Newton            flood. Fire from heaven fell on Sodom. This tells us
                                                            God is just and will now punish sin. The open mouth
God was saying, as Calvin put it, "Nevertheless, the        of the earth, swallowing up Korah, Dathan, and
land shall be  Thine, 0 Immanuel; in it Thou shalt          Abiram, loudly warns you that God will not spare the
have Thy residence and abode." The land, and the            guilty. The overthrow of Egypt in the Red Sea, the
Jews, shall be overrun, but cannot be destroyed until       destruction of 185,000 of  Sennacherib's  men, tell
Immanuel, the virgin's Son, be born there, live there,      you God justly judges in time. Is it out of place to say
preach, work miracles, and die there. Isaiah is so          that there are judgments of God also in our days?
refreshed by the name and sight of Christ as to forget      Many a sinner who boasts himself against the Al-
all distresses, and in Him "to triumph over Satan and       mighty is broken in pieces. We have seen empires
over enemies of every description." There is comfort        collapse, tyrants fall, despots fade away and the
in the name Immanuel, God with us, to  ~a11 who             heathen dashed in pieces like a potter's vessel.
receive the promises of God by faith. For it is only by
faith that we know God is with us.                           o So God says to the Church's enemies (v. lo), Take
                                                            counsel all you please, but "My counsel shall stand,
                                                            and I will do all My pleasure" (46: 10). There is no
  C. Encouraging God's People in the Destruction            counsel against the Lord. Who is he that saith, and it
(9-22).                                                     cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
   1. Their enemies shall not prosper against them.         Christ's Church fights boldly and remains on the field
"Be evil (Ger., bose), peoples, and ye shall be broken      (Calvin). The Church has infallible counsel. The Lord
in pieces, and give ye ear, all from distant lands; gird    further challenges the enemy: Speak the word (or
yourselves (for attack and battle against God's             decree). Make your decrees, but behind them is the
people), and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird             decree of God determining whatsoever comes to pass.
yourselves and ye shall be broken in pieces. Counsel        He works all things according to the counsel of His
ye, counsel, and it shall come to nought (be frus-.         own will (Eph. 1: 1  l), while the decrees of God's
trated); speak a word, and it shall not stand (be           enemies shall not stand, for - Immanuel! God is with
carried out); for with us (is) God" (v. 9, 10). Judah's     us! God's enemies exult when things go their way.
enemies are destined to fail. Their conspiracies are        They despair when things go badly for them. But
not the most to be feared (v. 12) Jehovah is to be          God's people are safe in His hands both in good and
feared (v. 13). He is for the elect a sanctuary, but for    bad times. The plots, plans, and decrees of the wicked
the reprobate a stone of stumbling (v. 14-l 5).             are war against God and His people. But if God be for
  Here, in v. 9, the heathen nations are addressed.         us, who against us? Their counsels shall be annulled,
They, the breakers in pieces, shall themselves be           blotted out, and the hail of the fiery darts of their
broken in pieces. In every age the nations of the           enemies, too, shall sweep away the refuge of their
world are shivered to pieces on the rock of the             lies.' Enemy waters shall overflow their hiding places
Church. The Church, the spiritual Israel, -is as a rock,    (28:17, 18).
for "God is with us"! The nations surrounding and             "The enemies of the Church of God, and of His


34                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


people, can never do more than the Lord permits;              of craft. `He taketh the wise in their own craftiness,
they cannot go a hair's breadth beyond the divine             and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.' "
license, and when they are `permitted' to do their            (C.H. Spurgeon).
worst, there is always some weak point about all that           2. Their enemies not to be feared, while they take
they do, some extreme folly which renders their fury          refuge  in God  (1 l-14) "For so spoke Jehovah unto
vain: The wicked carry about them the weapons of              me in the being strong of the hand (of God impelling
their own destruction, and when they rage most                me  - Tregelles), and (under the influence of divine
against the Most High, the Lord of all brings out of it       inspiration, Ezek. 3 : 14) dissuaded (disciplined) me
good for His people and glory to himself. Judge not           from going in the way of this people, saying," (v. 11).
`Providence in little pieces; it is a grand mosaic, and       The word of the Lord comes to His people through
must be seen as a whole. Say not of any one hour,             His prophets, and comes by the separating hand of
`This is dark,' - it may be so, but that darkness will        God, withdrawing His people and His prophets from
minister to the -light, even as the ebon gloom of             those who trust in men and ally with the world
midnight makes the stars appear the more effulgent.           (God's enemy). It is dangerous to be allied with
Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah        unbelief and with those who despise the promises of
is everlasting strength. His wisdom will undermine the        God. So the prophet and his disciples are protected
mines of cunning. His skill will overtop the climbings        from the infections of infidelity.

TAKINGHEED TO THEDOCTRINE





                               The Reformed Doctrine
                                         of Reprobation
                                                Rev. David &tgelsma





      In the eyes of Reformed Christians, the doctrine of     should, therefore, be excised from the Reformed
 double predestination, election and reprobation, has         confession. It hinders missions and casts dark
 always been the heart of the Reformed faith and,             shadows of doubt over the souls of God's people. It is
therefore, they have boldly confessed and stoutly             the reason why many preachers fail to preach elec-
 defended it as a most precious truth. In the eyes of         tion. In traditional Reformed theology, election is
the enemies of the Reformed faith, this doctrine has          accompanied by reprobation. But preachers today
ever been odious - a stone of stumbling and a rock of         feel an aversion to reprobation and cannot preach it.
offence, with the result that they have made it the           Since they regard election as inseparably connected
 object of fiercest attack.                                   with reprobation, they are silent on election, also.
                                                              This, say the present-day foes of reprobation within
      At the present time, predestination comes under         the Reformed churches, is-a sad state of affairs, for
heavy fire within the Reformed churches themselves.           election should be preached. Election, they contend,
This is taking place in our own country, in Holland,          is a vital Biblical truth, but reprobation is not part of
and in many other places in the world. The form of            the gospel. Reprobation is only a logical construction,
this attack is a denial of reprobation. It is alleged that    originating in the minds of Reformed thinkers of the
reprobation is detrimental to the Reformed faith and          past.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                35


  Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that the              reprobation. We intend to do this, focusing on the
doctrine of reprobation is Reformed. Even the most          ongoing attack on reprobation in the Reformed com-
outspoken enemies of the doctrine have to admit this.       munity.
It is not so much that every Reformed and Presby-             It is wise, at the outset, to guard against certain
terian theologian from Calvin on has taught it, as it is    misconceptions men might have concerning a defence
that the creeds of the Reformed churches teach it.          of reprobation. It is a misconception to suppose that
This is a problem for the opponents. They recognize         we have an interest in reprobation independently of
that the creeds teach it. They are bound by a vow           election. We concentrate on reprobation, because it is
"diligently to teach and faithfully to defend" repro-       this which is under attack today. Nevertheless, our
bation "without either directly or indirectly contra-       concern for reprobation is due to our love for
dicting the same, by . . . public preaching or writing";    election and our desire that election be maintained by
in fact, they are sworn to "refute and contradict" any      the Reformed Church. It will become plain that in
teaching that opposes reprobation (Formula of Sub-          the attack on reprobation, election is at stake.
scription).                                                  I In a brochure `that he wrote  in  1927,  "De Plaats
  This is the reason for the agitation today to do          der Verwerping in de Verkondiging des Evangelies"
away with the Formula of Subscription and to under-         (`.`The Place of Reprobation in the Preaching of the
cut the binding authority of the creeds, especially the     Gospel"), concerning which Berkouwer has written
authority of the Canons of Dordt. The close relation-       that he does not "know of any attempt to penetrate
ship between the denial of reprobation and the effort       more deeply into the counsel off God" (Divine Elec-
to nullify the authority of the Canons is clear in an       tion,  p.  208), Herman Hoeksema warned "that we
article by G. C. Berkouwer,  "Vragen Rondom De              must have no isolated sermons on reprobation . . . It
Belijdenis"  ("Questions Concerning The Con-                is the antithetical shadow-side off election. It belongs
fession"), in  Gereformeerd Theologisch Tijdschrift,        with election. It can be understood only in the light
February, 1963. Berkouwer has difficulties with (in         of election. It shall certainly have to be presented,
fact, disagrees with) a certain teaching of the Canons.     therefore, always in connection with election"
That teaching is eternal reprobation  (". .  .men kan       (P.  23).
concreet zeggen dat zich deze strijd concen treert in          It is also a misconception to suppose that the
de vragen van de verwerping tan eeuwigheid' "). The         defenders of double predestination are hardhearted
teaching of the Canons in I, VI, "That some receive         persons who take delight in always preaching reproba-
the gift of faith from God, and others do not receive       tion. In the little work just referred to, Hoeksema
it proceeds from God's eternal decree,`.? "makes it                               "
                                                            went on to say: . . . reprobation must not be
impossible to distinguish predestination from fate."        preached with a certain delight fvoorliefde). Whoever
Berkouwer judges both of the texts which the Canons         is always preaching on reprobation shows thereby not
quotes in support of its teaching, Acts 15: 18 and          only that he has a hard and cruel nature, but also that
Ephesians 1: 11, to be inadequate for this purpose;         he has not understood God the Lord in His works."
neither teaches what the Canons claim it does ("een         Paul begins the 9th chapter of the Romans with the
onjuist Schriftberoep'%                                     statement that he has great heaviness and continual
  But Berkouwer does not feel himself guilty of             sorrow in his heart and that he could wish himself
violating his vow of the Formula of Subscription. He        accursed from Christ for the Israelites - about whom
does not even feel constrained to lodge a gravamen          he will say that God hardened them and blinded
against the teaching which he opposes. For he is, not       them, according to His reprobation of them. In a
bound by this element of the Canons. It is not              booklet entitled, "Predestination  Revealed,~ not
authoritative for him. Berkouwer distinguishes be-          Hidden nor Confused," Hoeksema wrote: "one
tween the "central intention" of the Canons  ("cen-         cannot very well speak of the subject of God's
trale bedoeling,  " "grondmotief")   and the "frame-        sovereign rejection of the reprobate . . . without
work" ("`kader, "  "structuur"]  by which this "central     feeling to an extent the same heaviness, the same
intention" is expressed. The central intention of the       continual sorrow for them which the apostle here so
Canons is unmerited election and the sovereignty of         emphatically declares to feel in his heart. No cold-
grace. This is binding. The framework is a view of the      blooded rejoicing in the damnation of our fellow men
sovereignty of God as the cause of everything. To this      may characterize our contemplation of God's
belongs the notion of an eternal decree of reproba-         sovereign dealings with the children of men" (p. 5).
tion. All of this is part of the "human and fallible        This is in the spirit of John Calvin's calling reproba-
character" of the confession. This is not binding.          tion the "awesome decree."
Opposition to reprobation motivates the attack on              Reformed men and Reformed churches proclaim
the confession.                                             and defend reprobation because of two spiritual, not
   We are bound to defend the Reformed doctrine of          natural, characteristics. Reformed people bow  unre-


36                                                THE STANDARD BEARER



servedly to the authority of Scripture; and Reformed            are present in the mind of God as unfallen, but as
people have a zeal for the glory of God, both in His            those who were to fall into sin.
sovereignty in the saving of the elect and in His                 A certain confusion concerning the relationship
soveriegnty in the damning of the reprobate.                    between the infra  - supra debate and the struggle
                                                                now going on over the Reformed doctrine of reproba-
      Divine reprobation, or rejection, is the eternal          tion must be cleared up. Sometimes, the enemies of
decree of God which appoints certain, definite per-             reprobation present their attack on that doctrine as
sons to everlasting damnation for their sin. It is a part       an attack on the supralapsarian view of reprobation.
of God's predestination: He determines beforehand               On the other hand, Reformed people have sometimes
that, the eternal destiny of some, particular persons           suspected infralapsarianism as a weakening of the
shall be hell.                                                  doctrine of reprobation. Both of these notions are
      In trying to grasp this truth, Reformed men have          equally wrong. A battle is  .raging within Reformed
differed as to whether the objects of reprobation               churches. It is an outbreak of the war of all the ages
appeared in the mind of God as fallen or unfallen               over the faith and gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. At
men. This is the debate between infralapsarianism               issue is the Godhead of God and the sovereignty of
(also known as sublapsarianism) and supralapsarian-             His grace. The bulwark of the truth that the foes are
ism. This debate concerns the order of the decrees in           determined to pull down is the doctrine of reproba-
the eternal counsel of God. Infralapsarianism holds             tion. The conflict is not between infralapsarianism
that God's decree of predestination follows His                 and supralapsarianism, but between those who deny
decree of the Fall, so that the objects of election and         reprobation and those who confess reprobation,
reprobation are present in the mind of God as sinful            whether in an infra or in a supra manner. All
men and women. Supralapsarianism holds that God's               Reformed believers agree on the essentials of reproba-
decree of predestination precedes His decree of the             tion.
Fall, so that the objects of election and reprobation                                   (to be continued)

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE




                                        Letter  .to Timothy



                                          October 1, 1978

Dear Timothy,                                                   Article 23 of the Church Order reads:
      In our last letter we discussed the election of elders        The office of the elders, in addition to what was
to their office and the importance of spiritually                said in article 16 to be their duty in common with the
qualified elders for the Church of Jesus Christ. In this         minister of the Word, is to take heed that the
letter we will discuss the particular work of the elders         ministers, together with their fellow-elders and the
in the Church.                                                   deacons, faithfully discharge their office, and both
      Before we discuss this matter as such, it might be         before and after the Lord's Supper, as time and
well to quote here the pertinent article in the Church           circumstances may demand, for the edification of the
                                                                 churches, to visit the families of the congregation, in
Order and the pertinent passage in the Form for                  order particularly to comfort and instruct the
Ordination so that we have clearly before our minds              members, and also to exhort others in respect to the
what our "minor confessions" have to say about this.             Christian religion.


                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                37


   The pertinent part of the Form for Ordination                      diligently to search the Word of God, and continually
reads :                                                               be  meditating on the mysteries of faith.
           Therefore, in the first place, the office of elders is,      That rule is first of all over the ministers. They
    together with the ministers of the Word, to take the              must take heed "that the ministers faithfully dis-
    oversight of the Church, which is committed to them,              charge their office," and must "have regard unto the
    and diligently to look, whether every one properly                doctrine and conversation of the ministers of the
    deports himself in his confession and conversation; to            Word." There are two,sides to this matter. On the one
    admonish those who behave themselves disorderly,                  hand, ministers sometimes tend to forget that they
    and to prevent, as much as possible, the sacraments               are under the supervision of the elders. They act like
    from being profaned: also to act (according to the
    Christian discipline) against the impenitent, and to              little popes in their congregations and simply rule
    receive the penitent again into the bosom of the                  single-handedly and authoritatively without any
    Church, as doth not only appear from the above                    regard of this injunction of the Church Order and the
    mentioned saying of Christ, but also from many other              Form. The elders have almost nothing to say in the
    places of Holy Writ, as I Cor. chap. 5, and II Cor.               Consistory meetings or in the afffairs of the congrega-
    chap. 2, that these things are not alone intrusted to             tion. All is done by the ministers. This is a very great
    one or two persons, but to many who are ordained                  evil and will result in the spiritual deterioration of the
    thereto.                                                          congregation. On the other hand, elders must not be
           Secondly. Since the apostle enjoineth, that all            afraid to exercise their rule also over the ministers.
    things shall be done decently and in order, amongst               They must insist that the ministers submit to their
    Christians, and that no other persons ought to serve              rule. Upon them is this responsibility.
    in the Church of Christ, but those who are lawfully
    called, according to the Christian ordinance, therefore             This rule which the elders must exercise over the
    it is also the duty of the elders to pay regard to it,            ministers of the Word is particularly in connection
    and in all occurrences, which relate to the welfare               with the preaching. The Form speaks of the "conver-
    and good order of the Church, to be assistant with                sation" of the ministers, but this is not to be
    their good counsel and advice, to the ministers of the            interpreted as meaning that the life of the ministers
    Word, yea, also to serve all Christians with advice and           can be separated from their office. There is, of
    consolation.                                                      course, a certain sense of the word in which the elders
           Thirdly. It is also the duty particularly to have          supervise the life of the minister in the same way in
    regard unto the doctrine and conversation of the                  which they supervise the life of all the members of
    ministers of the Word, to the end that all things may             the congregation, but a minister's life is always
    be directed to the edification of the Church; and that            closely connected to his office. He always walks in
    no strange doctrine be taught, according to that                  the congregation as the shepherd of the sheep. Every
    which we read, Acts 20, where the apostle exhorteth               part of his life stands related to his calling. He cannot,
    to watch diligently against the wolves, which might               even for a moment, say: "Now I am living apart from
    come into the sheepfold of Christ; for the per-                   my office and I must be  cofisidered  as an ordinary
    formance  of which, the elders are in duty bound
    diligently to search the Word of God, and continually             member of the flock." He is always the minister, the
    be meditating on the  mysteries of faith,                         shepherd, the pastor.
   From all this it is evident that the main task of the                The Church Order speaks of this supervision in
elders is that of supervision, or government, or rule.                terms of taking "heed that the ministers faithfully
This is in `keeping with the nature of their office, for              discharge their office"; and the Form speaks of the
they  riflect in their office the kingship of Christ.                 calling of elders to have regard to the ministers so
Christ rules over His Church by His  Word and His                     that "all things may be directed to the edification of
Spirit. And this rule is particularly exercised through               the Church; and. that no strange doctrine be taught."
the office of elders.                                                 This implies a number of things, only a few of which
 ti It ought to be stressed once again that this rule is              we can mention here. In the first place, the elders
always by means of the Word of God. We have talked                    must see to it that the Word is purely preached in the
about this before, but it bears stressing. In the final               worship services on the Lord's Day. This is why, after
analysis, it is the Word of Christ which rules in the                 the service, the elders shake hands with the minister.
Church. For all who are under the rule and govern-                    By  this handshake they indicate that they put their
ment of the elders are under the rule and government                  approval on the work which the minister performed.
of the Word of Christ. His rule is the rule of all faith              And seeing to it that the minister preaches faithfLllly,
and life through His Word. The elders must, there-                    they must be sure: 1) that the truth of Scripture alone
fore, come always with that Word. They have no                        is preached. There must be no heresy or false doc-
other power or authority than the Word of the                         trine. 2) That the whole counsel of God is preached.
Scriptures. It is also for this reason that the Form                  There are many times when a minister does not
emphatically states that elders are in duty bound                     necessarily preach heresy, but he.fails also to preach


38                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



the whole counsel of God. He leaves out the sharp            is done as carefully and faithfully as possible. Family
doctrines of Scripture. He avoids the truths which, in       visitation belongs to the work of elders as well as the
his opinion, might offend. He steers clear of doctrines      minister, and, for that reason, either two elders or an
which emphasize the truth of sovereign grace. The            elder and the minister make these calls. It is my
elders must see to it that this is not done, and must        conviction, however, that the elders, when they
admonish their minister when he fails in this respect.       accompany the minister, ought to take a more active
3) That the warnings and admonitions of Scripture            role in these labors. It is, however, in the area of
are brought to the attention of the people so that not       pastoral labor that little, if any,  supervision.is exer-
only are believers comforted, but also that "it is           cised. Usually the pastor is pretty much on his own in
declared and testified to all unbelievers, and such as       this work. In a certain sense, this is almost bound to
do not sincerely repent, that they stand exposed to          be the case. The elders cannot accompany the min-
the wrath of God, and eternal condemnation, so long          ister on all the calls he makes. Emergencies arise when
as they are unconverted." (fieidelberg Catechism, Q.         the pastor is called suddenly to come to the help of
and A. 84).                                                  one of the sheep. Pastoral  counselling  is often re-
      To accomplish this, it is well that from time to       quired on a regular basis at times when an elder
time the minister and the elders consult together            cannot accompany the minister. Nevertheless, here
concerning the preaching so that the minister and the        too supervision must be exercised. It seems to me
elders together may discuss whether these obligations        that the best way to accomplish this is for the pastor
of the minister's calling are being carried out. This        to submit, at each Consistory meeting, a report of his
will give the minister opportunity to discuss his            pastoral activities. There are several advantages to
ministry with those who have supervision over him,           this. In the first place, in this way the elders can
and it will give the elders opportunity to discuss with      indeed exercise supervision of his work. In the second
the minister the needs of the congregation which they        place, if there are specific problems in the congrega-
perhaps know far better than a minister - especially         tion with which the minister is dealing, the  Con-
if the minister has not been long in a given congrega-       sistory will be kept abreast of them. In the third
tion.                                                        place, the minister can consult with the elders on
                                                             problems and gain their advice as to how to proceed.
      But belonging to the office and calling of the         In the fourth place, the elders can act as a certain
ministers is the work of Catechetical instruction, of        "check" tipon the minister. It is so easy for a minister
family visitation, of pastoral calls. Over all this Work.    to become too personally involved in a problem so
too the elders must exercise supervision. Usually, to        that he loses his objectivity and allows his sentiment
supervise the Catechetical instruction, elders period-       to overrule his judgment. The elders can be a helpful
ically visit the Catechism classes; and this is as it        corrective to this.
should be. But the.minister ought to consult with his
elders periodically concerning the material he intends          In all these ways, the elders perform their work of
to use in Catechism so that they may approve of that         supervision over the minister. We must continue to
material and have opportunity to offer suggestions.          discuss this work of supervision, but this will have to
Nor must the elders feel that the work of Catechetical       wait for a later letter.
instruction  iS better left in the hands of the pastor
who is supposed to be an "expert" in this field. They                                     Fraternally in Christ,
must labor closely with the minister so that this work                                    H. Hanko



                                       Vital Issues for Reformation Christians
                                 (A series of public lectures from the Word of God).
         - "The Inerrancy of Scripture" - Prof. Herman Hanko (Thursday, October 26)
         - "Women in Church Office" - Prof. Robert Decker (Monday, October 30)
         - "Reprobation - Is It Reformed?" - Rev. David Engelsma (Wednesday, November 1)
      The speeches will be given in the auditorium of Illiana-Christian High School, 2261 Indiana Ave., Lansing,
Illinois, at 8:00 P.M.; they are sponsored by the Evangelism Committee of the Protestant Reformed Church of
South Holland, Illinois.
      "For the defense and promotion of the Reformed faith in the Chicago-land area."


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          39


ALL AROUND US





                            Women as Deacons
                                           in the C.R.C.
                                                  Rev. G. Van Baren





  Those who have kept up with the decisions of               matter over the thousands of years of the church's
Reformed church bodies, must be aware that now the           existence? At least one essay on the subject admits:
Christian Reformed Church can have women or-                 "As you travel through the history of the church, the
dained as deacons provided "their work is dis-               man's role in the church is never questioned. Jesus
tinguished from that of elders." That last clause is,        was a man, the disciples were men, the leaders of
perhaps deliberately, ambiguous. The work of                 Israel through the ages were mainly men." (Calvinist
deacons has ever been distinguished from that of             Contact, July 14, 1978, p. 7)
elders  - why make that specification in connection            From the Calvinist Contact mentioned above, we
with women deacons?                                          learn the following:
  The reports in the  Banner,  the  Outlook,  and the              The day was Wednesday, June 21, 1978. The topic
Bulletin of the A.C.R.L. all indicate great confusion           was a report entitled: "Hermeneutical Principles Con-
at the  CR. Synod when the above was adopted.                   cerning Women in Ecclesiastical Office." At about 5
Some have, I believe correctly, questioned the legality         p.m. that day, the Synod of the Christian Reformed
of the decision in light of violations of the  Church           Church made the following declaration: "That  Con-
Order.  Others, again I believe correctly, have ques-           sistories be allowed to ordain qualified women to the
tioned the decision in light of its incompatibility with         office of deacon, provided that their work is dis-
                                                                tinguished from that of elders."
Scripture.                                                         Women in office. That is something with which
  At the same time, both those pleased with the                 the church has struggled throughout the 1970's. In
decision, as well as those who are very unhappy about            1973, after receiving a  report  from its study com-
it, are agreed: this is only the beginning. It seems that       mittee that concluded that "the practice of excluding
hardly anyone in the C.R.C. believes that all of this           women from ecclesiastical office cannot be con-
                                                                clusively defended on biblical grounds," synod
will stop with the ordination of women deacons. This             decided to refer the entire report to the churches for
is but the prelude for the final approval of women as           study and reaction.
elders and then also as ministers. It's just a matter of           A new study committee was appointed at that
a few years before the C.R.C. follows the practice of           time to receive those reactions and to continue to
other denominations in our land and in other lands. It           study the question. In its report to the 1975 Synod,
will, I suppose, take a few years yet before Scripture           this committee concluded "that biblical teaching is
will become clear to them on the subject of women as            not opposed in principle to the ordination of women
elders or ministers, and a few years yet before the             to any office that men may hold in the Church."
Spirit leads them into a better understanding of the               However, in the light of the majority report of its
calling and task of the woman in the church. Such is            advisory committee, the 1975 Synod declared that, in
the implication of some of the study-committee                  its judgment, "sufficient biblical grounds have not
reports.  On'e wonders: did the church never under-             been advanced to warrant a departure from our
stand the Scriptures during the past 2000 years? And            present practice of excluding women from the
did not the Spirit truly guide the church in this               ecclesiastical offices recognized in the Church Order."


 40                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


          In  1975 synod appointed a committee to study              According to De Koster, the synodical committee
       the hermeneutical principles which are involved in the     of pre-advice proposed "that consistories be per-
       proper interpretation of the relevant Scripture pas-       mitted to ordain qualified women to the office of
       sages, to apply these principles in an exegetical study    deacon as delineated in the Church Order. Article
       of the relevant passages, and to present synod with        25." This was substantially what the majority study
       the results of their study."                               committee proposed. A minority study committee
          A lot of words but it all comes down to this: three     recommendation was substantially the same accord-
       study committees have looked at great depth about          ing to the spokesman for that committee. Now - this
       the Biblical principles for women as elders and dea-       was first voted on by voice vote, then by a show of
       cons, and with all three studies the conclusion has        hands, but the vote was so close that it could not
       been the same - the Bible is "unclear" when it comes
       to the role of women as elders tid ministers but it        definitely be determined whether the motion passed
       seems to be a bit more clear in the case of women as       or failed. Then a vote was taken by roll-call of the
       d e a c o n s .                                            delegates. This showed that the motion passed by one
                                                                  vote (followed by applause from the audience). But
          Synod, in adopting that recommendation which
       will allow women to be ordained as deacons, backed         then someone claimed an error in the tally - which
       up their decision with two main grounds: "There is         proved to be the case. There was actually one fewer
       some evidence in the Bible for opening the office of       vote in favor and one more opposed than previously
       deacon to women. At least two passages in the New          suggested. All this meant was that the motion actual-
       Testament (Romans 16:l and I Timothy 3:ll) in-             ly failed (no applause from the audience).
       dicate that women may serve as deacons." And "the
       headship principle in which the woman (wife) is to be         Does all that sound sufficiently confusing? But the
       subject to the man (husband) is not violated as long       end was not yet. Now there was a motion from the
       as the office of deacon is expressed in terms of           floor proposing the recommendation of the minority
       assistance and service."                                   study committee. This recommendation was, "That
          Synod was careful .in adopting its stand on women       consistories be allowed to ordain qualified women to
       deacons. The provision that "their work is dis-            the office of deacon, provided that their work is
       tinguished from that of elders" proved to be a very        distinguished from that of elders." Only the last
       strong force. . . .                                        clause made this motion slightly different from that
       0 The denomination has, for years, sent missionaries       once defeated. The rules of the  CR. Synod suggest
       around the world to proclaim the Word and ad-              that "a main motion is not acceptable: if it is verbally
       minister the sacraments. Among them have been              or substantially the same as a motion already rejected
       several women. We at home allow women to be sent           by synod." So some reminded the chairman, but his
       to Nigeria to preach to the natives and to baptize         recognition of the motion was sustained by the
       them but we are threatened when they ask for the           members of Synod by vote. Remember: the spokes-
       same rights at home. There seems to be an in-              man of the minority study committee had already
       consistency there.                                         agreed that their proposal was substantially the same
          In any event, women may be ordained as deacons          as the originally proposed motion. So, when the
       in your church if you are ready for it. May they be        original motion was defeated, there was no moral or
       blessings for the churches they serve.                     legal basis for submitting a similar motion.
  The last paragraphs of the above quote indicate                   Yet the second motion passed by some 15 votes to
indeed there has been an "inconsistency" in the place             spare. It is highly questionable whether this second
of women in the church at home vs. their place on                 motion was in order  - at least De Koster seems to
the mission field. Sadly, this "inconsistency" has                suggest that it was not.
been resolved not by remedying the wrong on the                     Another complication comes in. The motion
mission field, but by increasing the wrong by in-                 approved was and is contrary to the adopted church
corporating it into the life of the church at home.               order of the C.R.C. That church order states in
  The last paragraph also appears very misleading.                Article 3, "Confessing male members of the church
The Church Order of the C.R.C. has not yet been                   who meet the Biblical requirements for office-bearers
officially changed, and will not be till 1979 Synod -             are eligible for office. . . ." Further, Article 48 states,
so officially women can not legally be placed in. office          ". . . No substantial alterations (to the church order
until that is properly done.                                      and creeds) shall be effected by synod in these
  The report in the  Banner,  July 14, 1978, in an                matters unless the churches have had prior oppor-
editorial by Dr. L. De Koster, suggests what appears              tunity to consider the advisability of the proposed
to have been great confusion on the floor of the                  changes."
synod. The confusion was such that there is legiti-                 Thus the synod adopted a change which was
mate reason to question the legality of the decision              contrary to the church order and before the church
finally taken.                                                    order was altered, or could be altered. Fact is, the


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       41


 synod proposed on the floor a change of the church          today because of this and other developments in the
 order to be finally approved by the synod next year.        C.R.C. It is no wonder that Rev. P. De Jong writes in
 That change reads: "Article 3 ; a. Confessing male          the Oti tloo k:
 members of the church who meet the biblical require-                  -Must we (1) for the present remain in the
 ments are eligible for the offices of minister and              denomination to fight more uncompromisingly and
 elder. b. All confessing members of the church who              militantly for the Reformed faith and against  anti-
 meet the biblical requirements are eligible for the             biblical and anti-Reformed decisions and policies we
 office of deacon. c. Only those who have been                   see coming out of our Synod and church institutions?
 officially called and ordained or installed shall hold          Must we (2) leave our denomination to seek fellow-
 and exercise office in the church. Supplement, Article          ship with some other denomination or denominations
 3, Women as Deacons: The work of women as                       which are trying to maintain and promote the
 deacons is to be distinguished from that of elders."            Reformed faith and life? Or must we (3) move
                                                                 toward a secession and union of Christian Reformed
   A motion was then adopted that "this wording of               churches who are determined, by the grace of God, to
 Church Order Article 3 and its Supplement be ratified           maintain the historic Reformed faith and practice?
 by the Synod of 1979." This meets the technical
 requirements of the Church Order that the churches             One can sympathize with the agonizing of soul of
 be given first the opportunity to study the proposed        many within the C.R.C. One would be tempted to
 change before final adoption.                               provide them with some answers. But I would only
                                                             suggest concerning proposal 1: while one remains to
   All of this suggests that the study on women in           fight, how long will it take till one's children and
 office and the decision on women serving as deacons         grandchildren succumb to these false teachings which
 was, strictly speaking, out of order on the basis of the    are presented in catechism, schools, churches? And
 reading of the Church Order of the C.R.C. And since         there is the question of corporate responsibility: all
 this proposed change in the Church Order will not be        those in the C.R.C. are part of the body which
ratified before the synod of 1979, it would surely           already holds many positions contrary to Scripture
 seem incorrect to say, "women may be ordained as            and the Creeds. As long as one remains in the body,
 deacons in your church if you are ready for it." That       he can not escape the fact that these decisions  are
can not be done until the Church Order is finally            also his  by virture of the fact that he is member of
 changed.                                                    that body. This would be an extremely troubling
   There are some very unhappy people in the C.R.C.          reality, it seems to me.

 BIBLE STUDY GUIDE



                                     Family Worship -
                                  A Reformed Heritage
                                                  Rev. J. Kortering





   A few weeks ago, I walked into a Christian book-          fore his mind our family discreetly eating the vener-
store and informed the clerk that I was interested in        able pages of King James. I quickly put his mind at
buying a King James Bible for table use. There came          ease and rephrased the request, a King James Bible
the most puzzled look over his face. It still makes me       for family devotions: good size print, hard cover, a
smile to recall it. Politely, he replied that he did not     few study helps, and such like. We were glad to find
understand. I suppose the poor chap envisioned  be-          such a Bible.


42                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



      The experience did leave its impression upon me. It       Daniel prayed three times a day in Babylon. Mind
made me think, why do we have devotions about the            you, this was not a heathen custom. The King Darius
table at the time we eat? Is this something particular-      had listened to his princes and made a law that none
ly "Dutch"? I recall those times when I had the              in the kingdom could ask any petition of any god,
privilege of being guest in homes of families that were      save the king. Daniel refused to pray to the king; he
not Dutch, nor Reformed in church affiliation, and           prayed to his God! Of this we read, "Now when
they did not have family devotions as we think of it.        Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into
At best there. was "grace" at the beginning of the           his house; and his windows being opened in his
meal and that was it. In other homes they had                chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his
evening devotions in the family room while the entire        knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks
family was gathered for reading the Bible, discussing        before his God, as he did aforetime," Dan. 6: 10. We
it, and having family prayer.                                can be sure that the aforetime did not only refer to
      Almost instinctively, my thoughts wandered back        the days prior to the king's decree, but to the days of
to the Bible. Is there any mention of family worship         his youth. He was trained in daily prayer while he was
there?                                                       still at home with his parents.
      In early Old Testament times we read of this. In          Turning to the New Testament, we learn that the
Genesis 4:26 mention is made that during the days of         Bereans searched the Scripture daily. They read God's
Enos, the son of Seth, "then began men to call upon          Word each day in their homes, more than likely with
the name of the Lord." This would have taken place           their children. With this knowledge, they were in a
within the sphere of the family, since there was no          position to judge whether Paul's preaching was in
formal church established. Whether they did this with        harmony with the Scriptures.
more than one family is uncertain. In all likelihood it         One other significant passage is found in I Tim.
was on an individual basis, much like the sacrifices of      4:4,5. "For every creature of God is good, and
Cain and Abel, Genesis 4:3,4, and of Noah, Genesis           nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiv-
8:20. The sacrifices represented part of their devo-         ing; for it is sanctified by the Word of God and
tional life with God.                                        prayer." This is mentioned in the context of eating.
      There are other references. In Genesis 18: 19 we       Some leaders commanded the people to abstain from
read of Abraham, "For I know him, that he will               meats which God had created to be received with
command his children and his household after him,            thanksgiving, verse 3. The emphasis here is this, we
and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice       are blessed in our eating of food if we are able to do
and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abra-             so in the light of the Word of God and prayer.
ham that which he hath spoken of him." Such                    Probably, family worship about the table at meal-
exhorting of children by Abraham would involve               time is "Dutch." Gladys M. Hunt makes this observa-
many serious moments of rehearsal of God's promises          tion in her book  Focus on. the Family:  "My grand-
and the calling they had to be a peculiar people.            father was a Dutch immigrant with ten children, and
                                                             he took seriously his responsibilities for the Word of
      Moses spoke on behalf of God when he said to           God in the lives of his children. It was family custom
Israel, "And these words, which I command thee this
day, shall be in thine heart; and thou shalt teach them      that the Scripture be read at the close of every meal
diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them         for which the family gathered. He didn't check out
                                                             the psychological effect of this on his children; it
when thou  sittest  in thine house, and when thou
walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and            never occurred to him to stop the practice because
when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a          the children wiggled. He did it because it was right
sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets         and he was responsible. Because he obeyed, my father
between thine eyes, And thou shalt write them upon           learned to be a faithful Christian father to us and
the posts of thy house and on thy gates," Deut.              carried out the same pattern. In our home no one
6:6-9. What a beautiful picture of the family at             thought of leaving the table after any meal until we
worship.                                                     had read the Scripture. We had food to nourish us
                                                             physically; then we had food to nourish us spiritually.
  Did not Job do likewise? His sons feasted in their         It was built into life as part of our daily nourishment,
houses and we read, "And it was so, when the days of         like a spiritual dessert," page 66.
their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and              The Reformers, especially Luther and Calvin,
sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and         placed great emphasis upon the Word of God, its
offered burnt offerings according to the number of           reading and study. They translated the Bible so that it
them all; for Job said, It may be that my sons have          could be in the homes of the people. They spent time
sinned and cursed God in their-hearts," Job  1:5. Is         in prayer and meditation. Surely, Geneva stands as a
that not a father interceding for his children?              noble testimony that Calvin had great interest in the


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 43


spiritual strength of the home and community as it          "(5) Is family worship faithfully and profitably con-
was brought under the power of the Word of God.             ducted? This of course requires ideally that the father
Some of this can be seen in the concern that our            leads in audible prayer, reads the Scriptures reverent-
Calvinistic forefathers in the Netherlands had for the      ly and if possible comments on the significance of the
spiritual well-being of the family. Handed down from        passage for the family. Likewise the elders should
many generations ago, we have our Church Order. It          know whether every member of the family, even the
includes Article 23, part of which states, "The office      younger children who have learned to read, are in
of the Elders . . . in common with the Minister of the      possession of a Bible and make diligent use of it for
Word . . . before and after the Lord's Supper, as time      themselves."
and circumstances may demand, for the edification of          From this consideration, we may conclude that it
the churches, to visit the families of the congregation,    is Biblical and certainly part of our "Dutch" heritage
in order particularly to comfort and instruct the           to have family worship. Generally, our forefathers
members, and also to exhort others in respect to the        have connected this with the time of eating the
Christian religion." The main thrust here is that the       family meal.
consistory, office bearers in the church, are to be
vitally concerned about the well-being of the family.         Hence, we return to our King James for table use.
One of the earliest assemblies of the Dutch churches          It was suggested at our Standard Bearer staff
met in the Wezelian Convention, 1568, and ruled that        meeting, that there is legitimate concern on the part
such home visitation be done every week. A later            of many of our people, elders, pastors, and parents
convention, 1586, explained that those visits should        that this family worship is suffering.
include inquiry whether the father, "conduct the
duties of godliness in the faithful instruction of their      It is of course difficult t,o determine to what extent
                                                            it may be suffering. I suppose that the weakening of
households in the matter of family prayers,` (morning       family worship takes a definite course. A beautiful
and evening prayers) and such like matters."                and significant heritage can become mere tradition.
  In his book, Taking Heed to the Flotk, Dr. P.Y. De        Family devotions instead of being moments of
Jong gives some details as to the emphasis that was         spiritual worship, degenerate into a pious formality.
placed upon family visiting and more particularly the       No family cares to continue a parody of piety, so the
concern for family worship. He makes reference to           whole idea of reading the Bible and praying together
the Synod of Glasgow in Scotland, 1708, in which a          at mealtime is abandoned or sorely neglected.
certain procedure was adopted for "ministerial visita-        In other cases, however, it may not be so drastic.
tion" to the families of the church. Such visits            Family devotions probably fall victim to so many
included this: "After the minister has spoken to the        other pressures that seem to prevail. Parents and
servants and children, he must address himself              children know the importance of them, but somehow
especially to the master and mistress of the family
about their personal obligation to God and their care       other things win out.
for the salvation of their souls; their duty to promote       The Lord willing, we like to analyze a bit what is
the true religion and worship of God in their home,         involved in family worship and consider in our next
opposing and punishing sin, promoting true godliness,       article some suggestions as to how it can be more
and honor the day of the Lord. Here it is also proper       effectively conducted.
to admonish the fathers to see to it that in the daily        All of this leads us to the purpose of this new
family worship the Lord is served in prayer, thanks-        rubric of articles in our Standard Bearer.
giving, and Scripture reading," page 76.                      We are going to concern ourselves with preparing
  He. also makes reference to "Questions which the          brief study guides of the books of the Bible. The idea
Elders of the Church at Utrecht are to ask the              is that they can be used in conjunction with family
members of the congregation at the time of family           devotions, to help open up the Scripture, summarize
visitation." This includes the following: "Whether the      the teachings of the many chapters, and in general
head of the family faithfully leads the family in           help one keep his direction while reading the Bible at
prayer and in teaching them the Word."                      the table.
  After surveying this history, Dr. De Jong makes his         This custom is a worthy heritage.
own suggestions on pages 78-82. Among the ques-
tions that should be considered, he offers this one:          May we not neglect it nor depart from it.

                             Know the standard and follow it.
                          Read  The- Standard Bearer


44                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


SIGNS OF THE TIMES'


                                    Signs in Society (3)
                                         Homosexuality
                                                Rev. Mark Hoeksema


      Last time we began to examine some of the factors      opportunities and asserting their rights to equality
which are helping to produce social unity, and               under the law. Opposing the homosexuals was a
pointed out that the women's liberation movement is          coalition of conservatives, including many church
one social factor that has done much to strengthen           leaders. Well-known entertainer Anita Bryant
the trend toward this unity. We concluded that this          emerged as the spokesman for this conservative
movement is one of the signs of the times in the area        group. After a protracted and sometimes bitter
of society, and that the result of this phenomenon           campaign the ordinance was upheld by a vote of the
(and others) will be the antichristian kingdom.              people and the gays went down to defeat. A similar
      Another social trend is the recent emphasis upon       event took place shortly after in Minneapolis, with
the rights, or lack of rights, of homosexuals. This          the same result, and the same outcome is generally
emphasis, sometimes called the gay rights movement,          predicted wherever the rights of homosexuals are
is of recent date. It was only a few years ago that the      contested across the country.
subject of homosexuality was very rarely discussed,
never written about in any respectable publication,          aNow all of this has affected not only our society in
and mostly ignored in the hope that it would go              general, but also the church. The church has become
away. Whether from ignorance of its nature, or               involved in the issue of homosexuality. Without
because of aversion to the unpleasant subject, the           passing judgment on the correctness or wisdom of
whole matter was not visible to any great extent.            such involvement, and without expressing opinion
  But all of that has changed. No longer hushed up           concerning the sincerity of the people involved, I
or avoided, homosexuality today is openly discussed          merely note the fact as such. Homosexual marriages
and written about. With the rise of the gay rights           have taken place, some with the blessing of clergy. A
movement in the last few years, homosexuals have             so-called "Metropolitan Church" has arisen, com-
been demanding what they consider to be rights and           posed primarily of and ministering to homosexuals.
privileges that have traditionally been denied them.         According to reports, its membership runs the gamut
They want acceptance by and in the community, and            from radical liberals to conservatives or  evangelicals
the end to discrimination against them in the armed          who profess faith in the fundamentals of the Chris-
forces, and in many positions of social responsibility,      tian faith. In addition, several major denominations
such as the teaching profession. They press for equal        have faced the issue on the synodical level, including
treatment in matters of employment, and, even more,          the United Presbyterian Church. A task force assigned
for public recognition that their life-style is a legiti-    to prepare a report to the Synod agreed that society
mate and viable alternative to that of the rest of the       should not discriminate economically against homo-
more conventional society. There have even been              sexuals, and urged the repeal of laws governing sexual
attempts to have homosexual marriages recognized in          behavior of consenting adults. The task force also
the eyes of the law, so far unsuccessfully.                  agreed that homosexuality was not a matter of
                                                             conscious choice, but arises instead from a complex
  The whole issue of homosexuality (and the                  of psycho-social forces that are difficult to analyze.
church's involvement with it) came to the fore within        The majority of this task force endorsed the accep-
the last year by means of national publicity. In an          tance of practicing homosexuals into the offices of
effort to maintain community standards, officials in         the church, basing their position on a rejection of
Dade County of Florida passed an ordinance that              Romans 1: 18-32 as being merely the teaching of St.
restricted homosexuals in employment opportunities,          Paul conditioned by time and place. The minority,
particularly in the educational field, thus in effect        however, rejected such ordination as being contrary
discriminating against them. The gay rights movement         to God's intentions for man, though they urged the
fought this ordinance, claiming denial of their rightful     church to accept and work with homosexuals. The


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                45


General Assembly adopted this minority report by a           clearly condemned in God's Word, they also assert
good majority, reflecting the sentiments of the              that the factors which go into producing a homo-
members of the United Presbyterian denomination.             sexual are very complex and that the individual
   How did all of this come about? While the causes          cannot be held wholly responsible for what he is.
or origins of any trend or change in society are very        There is disagreement on this point of responsibility,
complex, a couple of major factors can be pointed            for the matter of social conditioning does not make
out. As far as society in general is concerned, the gay      the matter of homosexuality wholly involuntary, but
rights movement is a delayed result or corollary of          must include choice as well; where the line must be
the sexual freedom movement of the 1960's,  delayed          drawn has not been determined by a consensus of the
because even the radicalism of the 1960's did not            Christian community.
extend quite so far as homosexuality. And in more              What then must we say about all of this? As far as
recent times the so-called human rights movement has         society at large is concerned, this movement is un-
lent impetus to this phenomenon. After all, if the           doubtedly part of the "levelling" effect of which we
racial minorities and economically underprivileged           have spoken before. It is necessary to the success of
can press for and obtain more rights, why not                antichrist that society as much as possible be made
homosexuals? And in our technological society the            one. Most people would probably agree that if there
media soon spread the word from one end of the               is a fringe of society (at least regarding popular
nation to the other. The gays, after all, are but a small    attitudes), the homosexuals constitute that fringe. It
minority of our society. The latest and best figures         is then a mark of the progress of the development of
place their strength (both males and females) at             antichrist that already now attempts are being made
between four and seven percent of the population.            to incorporate this group into an integrated society.
But a vocal minority they have become, and society           But at the same time, in light of the failure of this
has reacted both encouragingly and discouragingly, so        movement on the whole, it is also clear that the
that the issue has become highly visible and contro-         uniformity of antichrist has not yet been achieved,
versial.                                                     and that his time is not yet. How long it will be
   The church has become involved in the controversy         before a homogeneous society comes to pass is a
mostly in reaction to what has taken place in society.       matter of speculation; but that the clear signs are
Predictably, the response of the church has varied           present is beyond doubt.
widely, depending on who is responding. Some wish              As far as the church is concerned, it is necessary to
to take the historical stand against homosexuality in        observe that, to the extent that the church justifies
any form, interpreting traditionally and literally such      and supports this social trend, it is wrong and is
passages as Genesis 19, Leviticus 18 and 20, I Corin-        proceeding down the road of apostasy toward
thians 6:9-10, I Timothy  1  :lO, Jude 6-7, and the          amalgamation with `the world as the false church.
clearest passage of all, Romans 1: 18ff. They point          How the church can justify and support the homo-
out that we must believe and accept the Bible for            sexual movement in the face of the clear teachings of
what it says and clearly means, and that practicing          Scripture is impossible to understand, except to, say
homosexuals are therefore excluded from member-              that the church has tom loose from its Scriptural
ship in the church and surely from its offices. Others       moorings. The Scriptures are so clear and explicit in
take exactly the opposite view, insisting that this sin      the condemnation of homosexuality, both the prac-
is no worse than others which do not bar one from            tice and the condition that to teach otherwise defies
membership or the office, and argue away the clear           comprehension.
teachings of Scripture by operating under the assump-
tion that these are time-bound and culturally condi-           Our obligation as Reformed Christians is then to be
tioned, and hence not binding on the church today,           aware of what is transpiring in the world around us so
which has a much better understanding of such                that we can read intelligently the signs of the times.
matters than did the Biblical writers. They rely upon        But our obligation is also never to be swayed by the
the findings of modem psychology and proclaim that           flood of publicity and arguments against the teach-
homosexuality is the result of social conditioning,          ings of Scripture, and not to become callous or
and that the individual is not responsible for what he       indifferent to the sins of the world just because we
is. Still others attempt to find a middle ground. They       hear so much about them. Homosexuality is sin, and
condemn the practice of homosexuality, and insist            in the eyes of God it will remain so until the end of
that those who do practice it are ineligible at least for    all time. And as both an incident and a result of sin
the offices of the church, and perhaps for member-           (according to Romansl), it and the society that
ship in it. But they also distinguish between the            allows it will fall under the wrath of God. Let us
condition and the practice of homosexuality; while           therefore be aware of the coming of the end, and in
condemning the latter, they are sympathetic to the           faithfulness to the Scriptures, keep our garments
former. While they feel that the practice is sin, and is     unspotted from the world!


46                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


Dear Members and Friends of the R.F.P.A.,                                       ous financial support and covets your prayers in
      We give thanks unto our Faithful Covenant God in                          supporting this means of proclaiming the Reformed
this the 54th year of publishing the Standard Bearer,                           Truth. It is through these generous donations and
for He has provided us the strength and an open door                            gifts that our printing and mailing costs are met.
to publish our magazine. The following information is                               The board has a committee along with a committee
witness of His many blessings to us.                                            of the Permanent Committee for Publication of
      We are still printing, as of August first, 1900 copies                    Protestant Reformed Literature still continuing work
of the Standard Bearer, two hundred of which are                                in obtaining a tax exemption letter to become a
kept for bound volumes, while forty are kept for                                non-profit organization. Progress is being made as will
reprints. By the way, bound volumes now cost fifty                              be evidenced by another amendment needing to be
cents more. The last issue of the Standard Bearer                               made to our constitution.
mailed out totaled 1660 copies, the same number                                    The' board gratefully acknowledges the hard work
mailed out as last year. To subscribers in the Grand                            of our business manager Mr. Henry VanderWal.  Hem-y
Rapids area, 385 copies were mailed out, plus another                           also handles the mailing of our books. We also thank
381 copies to subscribers in other parts of Michigan                            Mr. Gerrit Pipe for his efforts in helping to mail the
for a total of 766. In Michigan, both Jenison and                               Standard Bearer and Mr. John Bishop for helping Mr.
Hudsonville continue to be a great outlet of the                                Pipe while our business manager was on jury duty.
Standard Bearer where together, 162 subscribers re-
ceive a copy of our magazine. In comparison, 152                                   How good our Covenant God is to us in that, by
                                                                                his Grace, He has guided and sustained our editors.
copies go to Iowa, 111 copies are mailed to Illinois
and 82 copies are mailed to California.                                         By His Spirit He has enabled them to write faithfully
                                                                                concerning the Reformed Truth. Indeed, thanks be to
      The Standard Bearer is mailed to forty states. The                        God for our faithful Editor-m-chief and department
only states that do not receive copies are: Alaska,                             editors.
Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Dist. of Columbia,                                We sincerely thank the following members of the
Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Rhode Island and                                  board over the past three years who are now retiring;
Utah. We also mail copies to far away places for                                Leonard Dykstra, Leon Kamps, and Fred Ondersma,
instance: Australia, Brazil, Germany, Hungary,                                  for their untiring efforts and dedicated labors. Thanks
Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore and                                  be to God for supplying these men who have faith-
South Africa. Indeed the Standard Bearer reaches to                             fully labored for the cause of God's kingdom.
the far corners of the earth.                                                      The Staff and Board of the Reformed Free Publish-
      The Membership, Education, and Information                                ing Association continue to covet your prayers and
committee reports that we are still continuing the ten                          support of this Kingdom work. We conclude our
issues for two dollars program, with our hope that                              report with a question. Recently a new subscriber in
many of these will become regular subscribers. We                               Iowa enclosed a short note along with the seven
have also started a new program whereby each sub-                               dollar subscription fee. He expressed his interest in
scriber to the Standard Bearer may, with his renewal,                           our Standard Bearer and wished us the Lord's bless-
send ten free issues to a new subscriber. We urge                               ing. He included this note: "It amuses me that you
those who know of someone interested in subscribing                             call your organization the Reformed "Free" Publish-
to the Standard Bearer to take advantage of the ten                             ing Association, when I have to pay seven dollars for
free issue offer.                                                               a years subscription." That is an interesting thought.
      The board continues to acknowledge gifts of ten                           Do you know why the word "Free" is used?
dollars or more by means of a thank you letter. Gifts
this year totaled  $10,038.88. Church collections
totaled  $5,913.01  and individual gifts totaled                                                               THE BOARD OF THE R.F.P.A.
$4,125.87. The board greatly appreciates your gener-                                                                 David Harbach, Secretary


                            IN  MEMORIAM                                                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
      On August 2, 1978, our beloved husband and father, MAURICE                   The Martha Ladies Aid Society of the Hull, Iowa Protestant
KLOP  was called to his eternal home.                                           Reformed Church hereby expresses its sincere sympathy to one of its
      "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." (Psalm    members, Mrs. John Boer, in the sudden death of her grandson, JOHN
116:15).                                                                        DOUGLAS BOER, at the age of 24 years.
                                     Genevieve Klop                                May the Lord comfort the sorrowing and grant them peace in the
                                     Ed and Mary Lotterman                      knowledge that  - "All things work together for good to them that love
                                        and children                            the Lord." (Romans  8:28a).
                                     Jonathan and Jayne Kiop                                                     Rev. Mark Hoeksema, Pres.
Kalamazoo, Michigan                                                                                              Mrs. Nellie Brummel, Sec'y.


                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                   4 7




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                                            The Mysteries Of The Kingdom
                                               (An Exposition of the Parables)

                                           Peaceable Fruit
                                               (For The Nurture of Covenant Youth)

                                            God's Covenant Faithfulness
                                               (50th Anniversary of the Prot. Ref. Churches)

                                            Therefore Have I Spoken
                                               (A Biography of Herman Hoeksema)


 !ach of these books usually sells for $5.95. If you order before November 15, you can obtain all four  folr
 ; 15.00, plus $1 .OO for shipping. That's almost 40% discount!

 Jrite to: RFPA Publications, P.O. Box 2006, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49501. (Enclose your check or money
 rder for $16.00).




                                                       - NOTICE OF LECTURE  -
       On October 19, 1978, at 8 P.M., in The First Protestant Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, our annual
   Reformation Day Lecture will be given. Rev. Bernard Woudenberg of our Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed
   Church will speak on the topic - THE REFORMATIGN AND THE PREACHING. Plan now to attend and
   urge others to hear this interesting lecture.
                                                                                  The Lecture Committee




                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                 IN MEMORIAM
   On November 1, 1978, the Lord willing, our parents MR. AND                 The Consistory of the Kalamazoo (Michigan) Protestant Reformed
MRS.  GERRIT  BRUMMEL, will celebrate their 35th wedding anni-             Church wish to express their sympathy to Mrs. Genevieve Klop in the
versary. We are grateful to our heavenly Father for keeping them for       loss of her husband, MAURICE KLOP.
each other and for us their children and grandchildren. We are thankful       "The Lord knoweth the days of the upright; and their inheritance
for the Christian love, guidance, and home given us by them. Our           shall be forever." (Psalm  37:18).
prayer is that our Covenant God will continue to bless them in the
years which are yet to come.

   "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon
them that fear Him, and  .His righteousness unto children's children."
(Ps. 103:17).                                                                                    I N   M E M O R I A M
                                                                              The Adult Bible Study Class of the Kalamazoo (Michigan) Protes-
  Andrew and Mary Brummel                Jerry and Marilyn Brummel         tant Reformed Church wish to express their sympathy to Miss Berdena
     Shelley, Kristi, and Julie             Jessica                        Rust in the loss of her mother, MRS. SENA RUST.
  Peter and Judy Brummel                 Allen and Florence  Driesen
     Stacy, Gary, Lane,                     Jeremy and Rebecca                "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." (Psalm
     Kevin, and  Allisa                  John Brummel                      116:15).


                                         .-
 THE STANDARD  BEARER                                                                                -,il
          P.O. Box 6064             ,
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                                         iGRAND RAPIDS, MICH.



                                               .___-                                 --A.'
48                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


                                                        REPORT OF  CLASSIS EAST
                                                           September 13, 1978
                                                          Hope Prot. Ref. Church

      Classis `East met in regular session on September                  was adopted: FAITH: October 8  - Joostens;
13, 1978 at Hope Church. Rev. J. Heys led in opening                     SOUTHEAST: October 1  - Heys, October 22  -
devotions; Rev. M. Joostens chaired this session. Each                   Woudenberg, November 5 - Van Overloop, Novem-
church was represented by two delegates.                                 ber 19 - Joostens, December 3 - Van Baren, Decem-
      The two matters put in the hands of study com-                     ber 17 - Woudenberg, December 3 1 - Van Overloop,
mittees were treated at this session. The first was the                  January 14 - den Hartog; SOUTHWEST: September
request from three brethren in Skowhegan, Maine for                      24  - Van Overloop, October 15  - Van  Baren,
the organization of a Protestant Reformed church                         October 29 - Heys.
there. The  classis decided that organization was not                       Classis elected Rev. Heys and Rev. Woudenberg to
feasible at this time. These brethren were advised                       serve on the Classical Committee. The Finance Com-
either to contact the Mission Committee and request                      mittee submitted expenses of $442.56.
that some kind of labor be done in their area or to                         Faith Church informed the  classis that Candidate
determine if one of our congregations would consider                     W. Bruinsma had accepted the call to be their pastor.
the Skowhegan area as its mission project.                               A special meeting of classis will be held on October
      The second matter concerned the request of Hope                    25th at Hudsonville for the purpose of examining
Church for advice on how to proceed with the                             Candidate Bruinsma.
membership papers of children of divorced parents.                          The next regular meeting of the classis will be held
Classis decided that this matter was out of order since                  on January 10, 1979 at Southwest Church.
it had not been finished in the consistory.                                                          Respectfully submitted,
      Classical appointments were requested by Faith,                                                Jon J. Huisken
Southeast, and Southwest. The following schedule                                                     Stated Clerk
                             .Wews From Our Churches
      Classis East of our churches has scheduled a special              igan, has already given their pastor permission to be
session on October 25 in order to examine Candidate                      absent for eight or nine months. You may recall that
Wilbur Bruin&a who has accepted a call to our Faith                      Rev. Van Overloop  just returned after spending nine
Church in Jenison, Michigan. Candidate Richard                           months in `Christchurch.
Flikkema has accepted his call to our church in                             Rev. B. Woudenberg and Elder Clare Prince spent
Isabel, South Dakota. Classis West has postponed its                     about ten days during the end of September in
fall meeting to October 18 in Doon, Iowa. Candidate                      Jamaica, evaluating the mission field there.
Flikkema will receive his Classical exam during. this
meeting. Our Southwest Church in Grand Rapids has                           The Evangelism Committee of our church in South
called Candidate Michael De Vries. Should Candidate                      Holland, Illinois, is sponsoring a series of three lec-
De Vries accept this call, he too will be examined by                    tures on October 26, October 30, and November 1.
Classis East on October 25. Faith Church plans. to                       These lectures are intended for the defense and
install their new pastor on the evening Classis meets.                  promotion of the historic Reformed faith in the
                                                                         Chicagoland area. In order, they will be: "The  In-
      At a congregational meeting held on September 25,                  errancy of Scripture" (Prof.  H. Hanko); "Women in
Southeast Church extended a call to Rev. Ronald Van                     Church Office" (Prof. R. Decker); and "Reprobation
Overloop. The Southeast trio also included Candidate                     - Is It Reformed?" (Rev. D. Engelsma).  ,All three
De Vries and Rev. Arie den Hartog.                                      lectures will be held in the auditorium of Illiana
      Sometimes news seems to leap long distances with                  Christian High School.
greater speed than it crosses town. Bulletins in Ran-                       Southwest Church met in their new building for
dolph, Wisconsin, and Redlands, California, both                        the first time on Sunday, August 27. A dedication
carried the news that Rev. John Heys is making plans                    program for the new building was held on Friday,
to go to Christchurch, New Zealand as an emissary.                       September 15.
He is, however, experiencing some difficulty in get-
ting his visa. Rev. Heys' consistory in Holland, Mich-                                                                   K.G.V. .


