     STANDARD
         BEARER
y- A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                     .
                                   As church of  Tesus
                                                            J

                               Christ in this present
                               a g e   w e         h a v e   \the
                               unique privilege and
                               calling to defend the
                               truth as God has en-
                               trusted it to us, as we
                               love and cherish it in
     our hearts.. . . The pulpit and the printed page
     must never grow weary of sounding the
     trumpet, arousing the church to battle, and
     warning her of the foes within and outside
     the gates.
      See "Contending for the Faith" - page 98
L                                 Volume LVIII, No. 5, December 1, 1981 -


98                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                   THE  STANDARD  BEARER
                                   CONTENTS                                                                                ISSN  0362-4692
                                                                                                  Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                   Published b the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
      Meditation-                                                                                       Secon6"Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                        Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
         Contending for the Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . 98           Department Editors:  Rev. Wayne Bekkering, Rev. Wilbur  Bruinsma, Rev. Arie
                                                                                        denHartog, Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma, Rev. Richard
      Editorials-                                                                       Flikkema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman  Hando, Rev. John A.  Heys, Mr.
                                                                                        Calvin Kalsbeek, Rev. Kenneth  Koole,  Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C.
         A Word About This Special Issue . . . . . . . . . . . .1                       Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James Slopsema,
                                                                                        Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman  Veldman.
         The Reformed Free Publishing Association                                       Editorial  Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                         4975  Ivanrest Ave. S.W.
            and the Standard  Bearer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101                             Grandville, Michigan 49418
                                                                                        Church  NewsEditor:   Mr. Calvin Kalsbeek
      From Your Business Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103                                         1313 Wilson Ave. S.W.
                                                                                                              Grand Rapids, Michigan 49504
      The Making of the  Standard Bearer. . . . . . . . . . . . . 104                   Editorial Policy:  Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
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      The  Standard Bearer  and Polemics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106                  Question-Box Department are welcome. Contributions will be limited to ap-
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         and Its Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108    Reprint  Policy:  Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of articles in our
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      The Making of a Book (In Pictures). . . . . . . . . . . . . 110                   reproduced in full;  b) that proper acknowledgement is made;  c) that a copy of the
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MEDITATION


                                         Contending for the Faith
                                                                             Rev. C. Hanko


                  ". . .and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto
                 the saints. "                                                                                                                     Jude  3c


      A small house stood at the outskirts of one of our                                  back from the fire. Next to the stove was a square
Midwestern cities. The steps to the back porch                                            table covered with a red and white checkered table
were well worn; the planks of the porch creaked at                                        cloth. As I took my seat between the stove and the
every step. It was customary to knock on the solid                                        table, I greeted the aged mother sitting across from
wooden door and then walk in. As I entered, my                                            me.  Her skirt, neatly protected  by  a long apron,
eye fell first on the cook stove at the far end of the                                    reached to the floor. Her black blouse was trimmed
room, with the coffee pot and tea kettle moved                                            with white lace around the collar and the sleeves,


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 99



and her hair was drawn back from her kind, wrin-         coming, in which scoffers would walk in their own
kled face in a tight knot. With the aid of her small,    lusts and ungodly men would turn the grace of God
oval glasses she had been reading a religious period-    into lasciviousness, denying our only Lord God and
ical which she received at regular intervals from        our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter had spoken before of
the Netherlands. * This daughter of the Afscheiding      false teachers who bring in damnable heresies,
(The Secession of 1834 from the Hervormde, or            making merchandise of the souls of the saints and
State Church) still cherished in her heart the truth     deceiving many within the church with their false
that had cost tears and goods back in the father-        doctrines. Jude now writes to alert the church to
land. She knew the pain and anguish involved in          the fact that these deceivers were already working
living through a reformation in the church. She had      within the church. He finds it needful to write to
experienced the scorn and reproach of being a            those who are sanctified by the Father and pre-
"secessionist." She appreciated the contact with         served in Jesus Christ, in order to urge them to con-
her fellow saints across the sea, but she also felt a    tend for the faith entrusted to them. This same ad-
strong obligation to support the cause for which         monition comes with equal, if not with greater
they had fought so bitterly. She could become quite      force today!
vehement and loquacious whenever she was called            As more often in Scripture, Jude speaks of faith
upon to co-ntend for the faith which was once deliv-     in the objective sense, just as Paul speaks of "the
ered unto the saints.                                    faith of the gospel," that is, the faith that is taught
  In 1924 a small group of men met together to dis-      in the gospel. This is the truth as it is revealed to us
cuss ways and means of publishing a periodical that      in the Scriptures, as we know it, cherish it, and con-
would serve as a banner of truth in the church           fess it. In that sense we also speak of the Christian
world that was departing from the faith of the           faith that still lives on, in spite of fire, dungeon, and
fathers as taught in our church Standards. This was      sword. To this truth we vow to be true till death.
not because of a dearth of Christian literature, for       This implies for us that the Scriptures are the in-
even then there were many and various church             fallible, inerrant, authoritative Word of God. The
papers. Among them was a periodical that was             Scriptures were "inbreathed" by the Holy Spirit
called "Religion and Culture." As its name suggests      into the hearts and minds of holy writers. These
this paper strove to bridge the gap between the          writers did not follow old wives' tales, nor did they
church and the world, between Jerusalem and              present their own theories or ideas, but they were
Athens, between the philosophies of men and the          moved, guided by the Spirit of Christ, to write the
truth of the Scriptures. The writers reasoned that as    revelation of the God of our salvation in Jesus
a fruit of God's "common grace" the world with its       Christ as sure promises to His people.
science and philosophies could contribute toward a
better understanding of the Word of God. Already           It is our abiding comfort that this is the truth
then the six twenty-four hour days of  ,Genesis 1        once delivered unto the saints. Jude could speak of
were brought into question. Already then the             that revelation as it came to the early church parti-
miracles of Scripture, such as the plagues of Egypt,     cularly through the Old Testament Scriptures.
the passing through the Red Sea and the falling of       Today we have the complete revelation of God in
the walls of Jericho, were explained as natural phe-     the sixty-six books of the Bible. After the Canon of
nomena. Besides, God's favor to the wicked ac-           Scripture was complete there is no further
counted for a general, well-meant offer of salvation,    revelation, not by an inner voice, not by speaking
whereby God desires that all men should be saved.        in tongues, nor by any other means. Anyone who
It was exactly to counteract these heresies then run-    ventures to add or detract from that full revelation
ning rampant in the churches, and to defend the          must experience God's anathema (Rev.  22:18, 19).
sound doctrine of God's Word that the  Standard          All that is necessary for us to know for our salva-
Bearer  was brought into existence. Once more em-        tion and to live to God's glory is contained in the
phasis was laid upon the antithesis between light        Bible (Netherlands Confession, article 2).
and darkness, between the church and the world,            We share that truth with the church of all ages.
as well as upon God's sovereign predestination and       Objectively, God tells us of His very Being, His
salvation solely by grace. The chief purpose of this     eternal perfections, His own intimate covenant life
magazine was and is exactly to contend for the faith     within the Trinity. He reveals to us the secrets of
once delivered unto the saints, that to God may be       His heart, His eternal thoughts, plans, and
the glory forever.                                       purposes. He unfolds before our eyes the history of
  Many more instances could be cited wherein             His covenant from paradise to Paradise. He be-
God called men to contend for the faith of which         stows on the heirs of salvation His immutable
Jude speaks in his epistle. The apostle Peter had        promises, which cannot fail. Subjectively, God
warned in his second epistle that evil days were         works through His Word and by His Spirit in our


100                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



hearts, whereby we become new creatures, sons                  As church of Jesus Christ in this present age we
and daughters of the living God, so that by faith we       have the unique privilege and calling to defend the
embrace God as our Father, are assured of His              truth as God has entrusted it to us, as we love and
promises and experience the wonder of grace that           cherish it in our hearts. To do so we must know and
we are heirs of His kingdom, sons in His House, to         maintain our Confessions, the Three Forms of
devote ourselves in love to Him, dwell with Him            Unity. We must be able to get excited about the
and adore Him forever!                                     truth as it is part and parcel of our souls. The pulpit
  This faith, as it lives in the hearts of God's saints    and the printed page must never grow weary of
and is formulated in our Confessions, is passed on         sounding the trumpet, arousing the church to
from father to son, from generation to generation.         battle, and warning her of the foes within and out-
In that common faith we experience the oneness of          side the gates. The future of the church and of our
the body of Christ, give testimony of the hope that        sons and daughters depends on our constant watch-
is within us, pass the sound doctrine of God's Word        fulness.
on to the generations following, and stand ready to           This is as much the calling of the individual be-
defend the truth over against all the onslaughts of        liever as of the church in general. Jude speaks of
the powers of darkness that seek to undermine and          this contending as a hand to hand combat, either on
destroy it. Doctrine and life go hand in hand. Con-        the battle field or as a wrestling match. The enemy
fession and walk are inseparably one.                      lurks all around us, wherever we turn. He walks
  Therefore Scripture exhorts us, even encourages          into our homes through our daily papers and other
us to contend for the faith that was once delivered        propaganda. He stands in the corner of our family
unto the saints.                                           room waiting for us to invite him in by turning the
                                                           knob of the TV or radio. He seeks access into our
  The fact is, that this faith is constantly being at-     hearts by his whisperings within, for he knows that
tacked by all the powers of darkness in this present       we are our own worst enemies. He creates a false
evil world. The devil still goes about like a roaring      complacency, so that all the watching virgins
lion, seeking whom he may devour. Especially be-           begin to doze and fall asleep (Matt. 25:5).
cause he knows that his time is running out, he is
the more determined to devise every devious plot              Therefore God spurs us on to contend  earnest@,
and to resort to any fiendish tactics, often coming        with might and main, day and night, as long as we
as an angel of light, as a preacher of the gospel, in      live. No athlete, who is out to win, will waste his
order to undermine the truth and to destroy the            body with-liquor and drugs or fail to exercise stren-
church of Jesus Christ. Never before in all of             uously. No watchman on the walls of Sion may take
history has he been so bold, so blatant in his             a nap during the night watches. God preserve you
attacks. He rallies about his cohorts within and           and me from dead orthodoxy, from cold indiffer-
outside of the church to question and deny those           ence or complacency, lest as churches we become a
doctrines that have always had absolute certainty          stagnant pool, or as individuals lose our. crown. Let
among us, such as, the infallibility of God's Word,        us with renewed determination take up the shield
the miracles, the virgin birth, the atoning death of       of faith in our left hand, and manipulate with our
our Savior, His resurrection and the signs of His          right hand the sword of the Spirit, which is the
return. Anyone who defends those doctrines is con-         Word of God. Only in doing that are we a real part
sidered "old school," or branded a "heresy hunt-           of the church militant here on earth. Only in that
er." The antithesis between church and world is            way can we be assured that we are more than con-
wiped out in an attempt to establish a universal           querors through our Lord Jesus Christ!
kingdom of Christ here on earth, in a world that
stands antithetically opposed to God and His               *This was the great, great grandmother of our present semi-
Christ.                                                    narian Barry Gritters, who comes from our Redlands  congrega-
                                                           tion.
  This is the battle of the ages, in which Satan wars
against God and His Christ. As Jude points out, the
enemy asserted himself already before the flood,                          Take time to
was evident in the sins of Sodom, manifested him-
self in the enticements of Balaam and the rebellion
of Korah. The early church suffered bitter persecu-                     read and study
tion under the Roman emperors. The church of the
Reformation experienced untold afflictions at the
hands of the Romish Church. That battle which has            The Standard Bearer
characterized all of history becomes evident in an
increasing measure as the end approaches.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                           101



  EDITORIALS
  Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


                      A Word About This Special Issue

    As you will soon discover when you page                 inform you as to how our various publications
  through this issue, it is a special one, devoted this     come to see the light of day and reach your hands
  time to the subject of our distinctively Reformed         and are read by your eyes. But it is our hope that a
  publications. In the main, we aim in this issue to ac-    better understanding of these things will enhance
  quaint you, or to acquaint you more thoroughly,           your appreciation of these publications, your use of
  first, with the publication of our  Standard Bearer,      them and your support of them. It is not our inten-
  and, second, with the publication of our R.F.P.A.         tion to brag. But there is a tremendous amount of
  books-the two main branches of the work of the            time and effort expanded in order to bring the Stan-
  R.F.P.A. But when we were planning this issue             dard Bearer  to your mail-box twenty-one times per
  several months ago, we were mindful of the fact           year, as well as to make our attractively published
  that there are a good many other publications             books available to you. And most of that time and
  efforts in the circle of our Protestant Reformed          effort is strictly volunteer and unremunerated.
  Churches. We have in mind particularly the                There is also a large amount of money involved in
  various efforts of the local evangelism committees        paying for the production of these publications. We
  in many of our churches, committees which in              feel that a better understanding of what is involved
  many instances not only distribute appropriate lit-       should serve to induce your continued and in-
  erature but also prepare and publish it. And we de-       creased support. And I am not referring merely to
  cided to ask Prof. Decker to gather material and          financial support; that, too. But I am thinking first
  information in that area and to write about it. He        of your support of those involved before the throne
  soon discovered that there was an abundance of in-        of grace, and, secondly, of your support by reading
  formation-more than enough for one article; and           and making faithful and avid use of the literature
  so only the first of his articles on that subject will    which we make available.
  appear in this issue.                                       We hope you enjoy this special issue.
    The reason for this special issue is not merely to



                      The Reformed Free Publishing
             Association and the Standard Bearer

    Do you know that the  Standard Bearer  is older         collected $425.00 at their first meeting, and decided
  than the Protestant Reformed Churches by a few            to underwrite the publishing of the booklet  men-
  months?                                                   tioned above?
    And do you know that the R.F.P.A. is about a              Such was the beginning of the Reformed Free
  half year older than the Standard Bearer?                 Publishing Association and of our Standard Bearer.
    And do you know that not the  Standard Bearer             It was the time of the common grace controversy
  was the very first publication of the R.F.P.A., but a     in the Christian Reformed Church. The columns of
  Dutch booklet entitled  Langs  Zuivere   Banan  @long     De Wachter  and  The Banner  had been closed to the
  Straight Paths)?                                          Revs. H. Danhof and H.  .Hoeksema,  so that they
    And do you know that the Reformed Free Pub-             could not defend their views and reply to those
  lishing Association was begun by a group of just fif-     who promoted the common grace theory among
~ teen men from Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo who              the churches. Mind you, this was months before
  constituted themselves a Publishing Committee,            the Synod of 1924 and still more months before the


102                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



ousting of Danhof and Hoeksema and of the Rev.            case. Common grace and the Three Points was the
George M. Ophoff, who, before the end of the year,        issue of the hour. It was  the  subject of discussion,
had cast his lot with the opponents of the common         not only among the clergy, but among the member-
grace theory. And in the Foreword of the booklet          ship at large. This was the issue which went to the
mentioned above, the officers of the newly formed         very survival of the purely Reformed faith and a
R.F.P.A. explain that they organized this new             sound world-and-life view. And it was on this mat-
organization to offer the two ministers, Danhof and       ter that instruction and explanation were sorely
Hoeksema, "support in their battle for the truth          needed at that time. It was small wonder, therefore,
with every honorable means."                              that the Standard Bearer was controversial. (Cf. also
  At the same time they announced that the first          what Prof. Hanko writes in this issue on the subject
brochure would soon be followed by a second, be-          of "The  Standard Bearer  and Polemics.") But it is
cause they wanted "to enlighten and inform as             striking, nevertheless, that in those early volumes
fully as possible all who love the truth, love purity     of our magazine our first leaders were broad in a
of doctrine, and seek the good of the church, con-        healthy sense. They certainly saw that the church
cerning the weighty doctrinal points at issue among       could not be fed and instructed on mere negatives.
us."                                                      They discerned that there was a great need for posi-
                                                          tive development of the truths of sovereign grace
  In that same foreword they announced their in-          and God's eternal covenant of grace, that there was
tention to publish in the near future a monthly           need for positive development of the truths of our
magazine. This would be "a periodical which               confessions, for positive and sound instruction in
would in a simple and understandable manner in-           Scripture, and for correct perspectives as to our Re-
struct and assist all those interested in the develop-    formed world-and-life view. And so you will dis-
ment of the truths of Holy Scripture according to         cover a wealth of instruction in that positive sense
firm, genuinely Reformed lines, without desire for        already in the early volumes of our magazine. Be-
all kinds of erring sidetracks."                          sides, from the outset the Standard Bearer interested
  And so it came to pass that in October of 1924 the      itself in the Reformed scene the world over. Its out-
Standard Bearer  was born. First it appeared once         look was never narrowly parochial, limited to the
per month, but soon it became a semi-monthly              Christian Reformed and Protestant Reformed
magazine. In those early years, the language was          scene. American Presbyterianism, the English
mostly Dutch. The twenty-four-and for a while,            scene, ecclesiastical affairs in the Netherlands-all
thirty-two-pages were filled by just a few men,           these received attention in our magazine.
whose numbers were reduced even further when                Of course, there were changes. English gradually
the Danhofs defected from our movement. But it            became the prevailing language and finally the only
was that Standard Bearer  especially which played a       language. More writers joined the staff. Later still,
large part in the origin of our Protestant Reformed       our magazine began to become departmentalized,
Churches. First of all, the Stundard Bearer was to no     as it is today. And, as you know, in the 1960s our
little degree the "straw that broke the camel's           original editors died and had to be replaced.
back" as far as the deposition of Danhof,  Hoek-
sema, Ophoff, and their consistories was con-               But over the years the purpose and the character
cerned. When it became plain that these men               of our magazine, thanks be to God, have remained
would not be silenced with respect to the Three           the same. Basically, that purpose as stated by the
Points of Common Grace, but would even publish            publishing committee in 1924: "a periodical which
their convictions abroad, the determination to oust       would in a simple and understandable manner
them became final. And, secondly, the  Standard           instruct and assist all those interested in the devel-
Bearer  lifted up the standard of the truth through-      opment of the truths of Holy Scripture according to
out the denomination, with the result that many in        firm, genuinely Reformed lines, without desire for
other places were attracted to the truth of sover-        all kinds of erring sidetracks." True to that
eign, particular grace and joined hearts and hand         purpose, we of the Staff seek to inform, to instruct
with those who soon were to become the Protestant         and guide, to warn and to call to reformation.
Reformed Churches.                                          The  Standard Bearer,  however, is also unique in
  From the outset the  Standard Bearer  was faithful      its structure and organization. Permit me to men-
to the purpose which the Publishing Committee             tion a few items.
announced and which I quoted above. To be sure,             First in importance is the fact that it is published
especially in those early years there was a large         by the Reformed FREE Publishing Association.
amount of attention paid to the common grace con-         People have often asked me about the meaning of
troversy; and there was a large part of the magazine      that "Free." Historically, it refers to the fact that
devoted to polemics. That was in the nature of the        our magazine is completely free from any  ecclesi-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  103



astical control. I know, frequently the  Standard           upon everything connected with publication and
Bearer  is referred to as the Protestant Reformed           distribution and is responsible to see that the maga-
paper, and even as the magazine of the Protestant           zine gets published.
Reformed Churches. This is understandable, in the             Still more. Every department editor is free. Once
light of the fact that it has always been closely asso-     per year the Staff meets, makes its decisions con-
ciated with our Protestant Reformed cause; and it           cerning the contents, and appoints staff members.
will be, too, as long as both the Standard Bearer and       But from that point on, each department editor is
the Protestant Reformed Churches remain devoted             free to write for his department. That means, of
to the Reformed faith. Nevertheless, legally and            course, too, that each editor is also re.sponsibZe indi-
formally the Standard Bearer is not the paper of the        vidually for what he writes. If, for example, he
Protestant Reformed Churches. No Protestant                 writes heresy, he himself must answer for that
Reformed consistory,  classis, synod, or  synodical         heresy, not the editor-in-chief or the staff as a
board or committee has any say-so over the  Stan-           whole.
dard Bearer.  A church paper must serve an ecclesi-
astical structure, and it must bow to the demands of          Finally, let me also point out that the  Standard
the church which owns and operates it. That was             Bearer  is free in another sense, though that has
what led to the stifling of discussion and the at-          nothing to do with the name R.F.P.A. I refer to the
tempted muzzling of Hoeksema and Danhof in                  fact that the Standard Bearer is published strictly
1924. The  Standard Bearer,  however, bows to no            through volunteer labor. The hours and hours of
church authority.                                           labor by the Staff are free. And let me assure you
                                                            that hundreds and thousands of hours have been
  Still more. The  Standard Bearer  is unique, too, in      devoted by many of our men over the years to in-
that it is completely free from any domination by           sure that your magazine reaches you twenty-one
its supporting organization; the Reformed Free              times per year. Do you know-to speak of quantity
Publishing Association, or its Board. True, we              alone-that it requires between 50 and 60 pages of
could not publish without the R.F.P.A.: and if they         typewritten copy for every issue? And there have
decided not to publish the  Standard Bearer,  that          been hundreds of hours of volunteer labor by
would be the end of it. But as far as actual opera-         Board members, by my editorial assistant, Mr. D.
tions are concerned, the Staff and the Board operate        Doezema, and by our faithful Business Manager,
in complete independence. The Staff controls and            Mr. Henry Vander Wal.
decides upon the contents of the  Standard Bearer
and is responsible to take care that there is a maga-         A question: do you value and faithfully read our
zine to publish. The Board controls and decides             Standard Bearer?


                     From Your Business Manager
                                              Mr. Henry  Vander Wal

  There is absolutely no doubt about the fact that          compiled while mailing the October 15, 1981 issue:
the Editorial Staff of the  Standard Bearer  is the pri-    Domestic Mailing:
mary and most important department in the pre-
paring of each issue of our publication. However,              To Western Michigan: 785 copies
without the assistance and cooperation of the Board            To the remainder of Michigan and other states:
of the R.F.P.A., the proofreader, the printer, and             761 copies
other business men, the presentation of our paper           Foreign Mailing:  165 copies
would be impossible. Also, filling a small role in            Canada: 40 (20 copies to Edmonton via 1st class
distributing each issue, is your Business Manager.            mail), New Zealand: .30 (via air mail), Australia:
His duties include the mailing of each issue, the             35 ( 13 via air mail), Singapore: 10 ( 1 via air mail),
mailing of renewal notices each month, and collect-           United Kingdom: 19, Jamaica: 7, South Africa: 5,
ing the mail from P.O. Box 6064, Grand Rapids,                India: 1, South America: 1, Netherlands: 8
MI 49506. They also include collecting the mail of
the Publications Committee at P.O. Box 2006,                Cost of Mailing 1711 copies:
Grand Rapids, MI 49501, and shipping and deliv-               Western Michigan: $14.92
ering of books to various addresses.                          Other domestic mailings: $27.40
   The following statistics concern the mailing of            Foreign mailings: $58.57
our  Standard Bearer.  These figures have been                Total mailing costs for one issue: $100.89


104                                         THE STANDARD BEARER


              The Making of the Standard Bearer
                                                              ._

                                                          The purpose of this account is to tell you, in words and
                                                     pictures, how your magazine reaches you twenty-one
                                                     times per year.
                                                          First of all, each year, usually during June, when many
                                                     of us are together at Synod, the Staff holds its annual
                                                     meeting. At that meeting all staff members are up for re-
                                                     election or replacement. At that meeting, too, plans are
                                                    made for the new volume-year, which, as you know,
                                                    begins on October 1. If there are to be new departments, if
                                                    old departments are to be eliminated, who is to write for
                                                    which department, who will be asked as guest writers-all
                                                    these matters are decided upon at that meeting. After that
                                                    your Editor-in-Chief must draw up a master schedule for
                                                    the entire volume-year, and must inform each department
                                                    editor of his assignments and of the dates on which they
                                                    are due to be published. This takes place during the
                                                    summer months. The rule is that every department editor
                                                    must have his material in the Editor's mail-box one month
                                                    in advance of publication. This is to allow time for proof-
                                                    reading and editing of articles as well as for the actual pub-
                                                    lishing process.
                                                          And, so long before each  Standard Bearer goes  to press,
                                                    there are department editors and guest writers slaving over
                                                    their books and typewriters, striving to get their copy to
  Writing                                           the Editor by the deadline.

  As the copy comes in, it is forwarded to the
editor's assistant, Mr. Don Doezema. His job is,
first of all, to correct and edit all the copy; so he
reads each Standard Bearer before anyone else does.
Then, a day or two before sending it to the printer,
he must plan each issue, prepare copy for the
cover, and make decisions in case of surplus copy,
or put in an emergency call to the editor in case of a
shortage of copy. On the second and the sixteenth
of each month he delivers the copy for the coming
issue to our typesetting service.



                                                            Editing



                                                              Our typesetting service, at this time Commercial
                                                           Printing Co., is responsible for four steps in the pro-
                                                           duction of the Standard Bearer. No. 1 is typesetting.
                                                           The second step is proof-reading and correcting.
                                                           The third step is preparing the paste-up of all the
                                                           pages of the Standard Bearer. And the fourth step is
                                                           photography: plates must be prepared for the offset
                                                           printing process.

  Typesetting


                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                           105





Paste-up                                              Plate-making

  From Commercial Printing Co. the  Stun&~-d
Bearer goes to Wobbema Printing Co., on the far
southeast side of Grand Rapids. There the actual
printing of the  Standard Bearer is done on large,
high-speed offset presses. From the press our
magazine goes to the folding, stapling, and trim-
ming machine.





                                                          Mailing

Printing                                                Finally the  Standard  Bearer  is "ready. Henry
                                                      Vander Wal's phone rings, and he goes to  Wob-
                                                      bema Printing to take care of the huge task of
                                                      mailing. A filing cabinet with all the addressograph
                                                      plates is in an upstairs room at Wobbema's. Every
                                                      copy is addressed. All the copies are separately
                                                      grouped and packaged according to zip codes,
                                                      copies for overseas are prepared and placed in
                                                      envelopes, and off to the main Post Office in down-
                                                      town Grand Rapids they go,. Another issue is in the
                                                      mail and will soon (?) reach readers all over the
                                                      world.


106                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


                 The Standard Bearer and Polemics
                                                     Prof. H. Hanko


  The Standard Bearer is in its 57th year of publica-             less they want "The Standard Bearer" to
tion. This is a span of time greater than that of most            lead the way in this difficult strife.
religious publications. For this we have to be thank-            These words were written in the heat of the
ful to God Who has preserved our "Paper" through               "common grace" controversy, indeed, before the
all these years.                                              Protestant Reformed Churches came into exis-
   Characteristic of the  Standard Bearer  throughout         tence.
all these years is its "polemical" writings. The                 The controversy over common grace arose in the
Standard Bearer  has engaged in more controversies            Christian Reformed Church in connection with the
over the years than I would care to count. It has              "Jansen Controversy." Dr. Jansen, professor of Old
attacked anti-Scriptural views which appeared in              Testament in Calvin Theological Seminary, had in-
this country and abroad. It has exposed heresy in             troduced into his teaching certain higher critical
other denominations and in our own. It has set                views of Scripture. For this he was condemned by
forth the truth of Scripture over against false               the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church.
doctrine whenever that false doctrine appeared.               Because Dr. Jansen had appealed to the idea of
  This is not to say that the  Standard Bearer  has           common grace in support of his position, that idea
been exclusively polemical. Countless pages of the            became a center of debate, discussion, and contro-
volumes which stand on my shelf have been devo-               versy.
ted to a positive development of the faith; innum-               From the early minutes of the R.F.P.A. we learn
erable articles were written to guide the people of           that Revs. Hoeksema and Danhof were co-editors
God in their calling in the world; times without              with several other ministers of a paper called,  The
number the  Standard Bearer  has commented upon                Witness.  Revs. Hoeksema and Danhof wanted to
current events in the history of the nations. Think           write in this paper on the issues of common grace
of all the writing in these volumes concerning                to show how the views, then being widely taught in
Christian education. Call to mind the fact that all of        the church, were contrary to the teaching of Scrip-
Triple Knowledge  and  Behold, He Cometh  first ap-           ture. The editorial staff of  The Witness  could not
peared in the Standard Bearer.                                agree on editorial policy in this matter. Further, The
  Yet without any doubt the Standard Bearer is po-            Banner and De Wuchter would not open their pages
lemical.                                                      to the writings of Revs. Hoeksema and Danhof. The
  This was the original intent of the Standard Bear-          result was a new publication, The Standard Bearer.
er, in fact.                                                     And so the paper was born out of the need for po-
  In an editorial which appeared in the very first            lemics. It is not surprising that this has continued to
number in which Rev. Henry Danhof explained the               characterize the paper until the present.
reason for the publication of this new periodical,               Strange to say, there is some difference of opinion
we find these words:                                          about whether the Standurd Bearer should be doing
         The members (of the R.F.P.A.) feel that              this. There are those who think it should not. That
       there must be a striving for the cause of the          such objections arise outside of our Churches is not
       Lord not only against the enemies who stand            surprising. We live in an age when "tolerance" is
       outside their own church fellowship, but,              the watchword. Denominations are increasingly
       under the present circumstances, no less                "broad-minded" enough to include within their fel-
       against the enemy within the gates. There-             lowship almost any deviation of thought and doc-
       fore, they want men to raise the "standard"            trine. Tolerance of every conceivable religious
       and instruct and lead the people of God in             viewpoint is all but made a mark of true Christian
       the strife which is inevitable and which               love. A polemical magazine strikes a discordant
       must be fought. A need is felt for leadership          note, is an anomaly among current publications. It
       in ecclesiastical questions, points of doc-            bucks the tide, does things which  arei no longer
       trine, prevalent speculations, and the practi-         polite and acceptable in contemporary ecclesiasti-
       cal application in life of the principles out of       cal circles. It is a freak which attracts curious
       which people live. And although they do not            people, but which finally becomes the object of
       plan to limit themselves in this struggle to           scorn and ridicule.
       the publication of this periodical, neverthe-             Sometimes objections against a polemical  maga-


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                            107



zine arise within our own Churches. This is                part to each chapter. Think of how the Belgic Con-
strange. It ought not to be so. It arises out of a mis-    fession warns against the heresies of the  Anabap-
conception of the purpose of the Standard Bearer;          tists. Even our sweet Heidelberg Catechism calls
or, worse, a misunderstanding of the calling of God        the popish mass, "an accursed idolatry."
to us to contend earnestly for the faith which was           Our Church Order and Formula of Subscription
once delivered unto the saints.                            require of all officebearers that they engage in pole-
  It might be well, briefly, to explain once again         mics: "To ward off false doctrines and errors that
why polemics is necessary. We must understand              multiply exceedingly through heretical writings,
these things.                                              the ministers and elders shall use the means of
  There are  Scriptural  reasons why polemics is           teaching, of refutation, or warning, and of admoni-
necessary. Polemics is implied in the text of Jude         tion..." (Art. 55). "We declare, moreover, that we
which I quoted above. If one is to "contend" for the       not only reject all errors that militate against this
faith, one must fight for the faith. But if the defense    doctrine.. . , but that we are disposed to refute and
of the faith involves a fight, there has. to be an         contradict these, and to exert ourselves in keeping
enemy. The enemy is false doctrine. False doctrine         the Church free from such errors" (Formula of Sub-
must be exposed, must be shown to be wrong, must           scription).
be condemned. This is part of contending for the             There are also  spiritual  reasons why polemics is
faith.                                                     necessary.
  Scripture reminds all officebearers that this is           False doctrine is not just a matter of intellectual
their calling. Ezekiel (33: l-7) describes  officebear-    error. It is not like the error 2 x 2 = 5. If you make
ers in terms of watchmen on a city wall. They are          an error like that, you might get a "B" in your math
posted there to watch for the enemy and to warn            assignment instead of an "A." And, if you really do
the people of God down below of the coming of the          not know any better you might be cheated in the
enemy. If they do not do this faithfully, the blood of     grocery store. But that is about the worst that can
the people will be required by God at the watch-           happen. False doctrine is a corruption of the truth
men's hands. They must do this even when the               concerning God. It is a violation of His holiness. It
people shout from down below: "Please don't dis-           is a slap in His face. It is mud thrown at Him Who
turb our sleep by blowing all the time on your             makes the heavens His throne and the earth His
trumpets."                                                 footstool.
  Jesus also did this when He ruthlessly exposed             The child of God cannot tolerate that. Love im-
the false teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees.        pels him to come fiercely to the defense of God's
We must do no less.                                        honor. More than his defense of the good name of
  The apostles repeatedly did this in their writings       his wife whom he loves and whose name is being
which are all incorporated in the Scriptures. Their        slandered by lecherous enemies, does he rush to
writings are our example.                                  the defense of the Name of His God Whose truth is
  This is also part of the  antithetical  life of the      so carelessly bantered.
Christian. God always calls His people to live anti-         This is his salvation, for the Name of his God is a
thetically in the world. That means that the calling       high tower, a refuge, a defense. To stand idly by
of God's people always has a "No" and a "Yes."             while that Name is denied is to deny his own salva-
God's people must say "No" to sin and must say             tion.
"Yes" to righteousness. They must turn away from             What is true of the individual Christian is true of
the devil and turn towards God. They must, in dis-         the Church as a whole. Faithfulness in this present
gust and horror, turn their backs upon all that is         world requires polemics. If the Standard Bearer is to
contrary to God's will and, with love and adoration,       be faithful, the Standard Bearer must be polemical.
turn their faces towards Christ and His Word. It is
impossible to say, "Yes" without first saying "No."          This does not mean that the Standard Bearer must
                                                           be exclusively polemical. It has not been in the
   This is also true of doctrine. To speak the truth       past; it is not now. It must never be that. It must de-
requires that the Christian denounce the lie. To           fend the faith. It must also develop it.
defend the truth involves shooting at the lie. To
contend for the faith implies destroying the lie. It         The  Standard Bearer must not always be hanging
can be no different. One will not say "Yes" to the         out the dirty wash of the neighbors if there is evil
truth without first saying "No" to the lie.                within our own Churches. We must defend the
                                                           truth within and without. Both are dangers, the for-
   There are also confessional reasons for polemics.       mer even more than the latter. This is not an invita-
   Our confessions are, themselves, polemical              tion to "heresy-hunters" to poke in every corner of
treatises. Think of how the Canons have a negative         the denomination hoping to uncover some slightly


108                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



off-color remark. But Paul warned the Ephesian           do not mean, either, anger, bitterness, sarcasm,
elders of grievous wolves which would enter the          "low blows," and innuendo. Meekness and fear
sheepfold. They still do that today.                     mean that we wage our polemics in the conscious-
  The  Standard Bearer  must not attack persons. It      ness that it is God's grace and mercy which con-
must attack false doctrines. Our battle is not with      tinually preserves us in His truth. Every part of us
individual men or their persons; our battle is on be-    pulls mightily in the direction of error. God's grace
half of the truth of God and against every lie.          is a leash to hold us back.
  The Standard Bearer must be ready always to give         The  Standard Bearer  has not always done this.
an answer to those who ask a reason for our hope.        These are sins which we confess to God at the foot
This is true polemics and apologetics. But Peter re-     of the cross. Weakness is with us and against it we
minds us to do this "with meekness and with fear."       must be on our guard.
Meekness and fear do not mean hesitancy, shame-            But the Stundard Bearer must continue to contend
facedness, compromise, wishy-washy thinking and          for the faith. If God is gracious to us, it will
writing, and sentimental slop. Meekness and fear         continue to do this.



          The R.F.P.A. Publications Committee
                                          and Its Work

  The permanent Committee for the Publication of         from a business point of view one of the least likely
Protestant Reformed Literature (P.C.P.P.R.L.) is the     books with which they could have begun. It was a
official name of that branch of the R.F.P.A. respon-     large book. Because of the foreign languages, es-
sible for publishing our books. Our first book was       pecially the Greek and Hebrew, it would be expen-
copyrighted in 1966. By the end of 1981 we will          sive to print. And because of its contents, it would
have an even two dozen books listed in our  cata-        necessarily have a limited market. But a beginning
logue.                                                   was made. Some funds were collected and  pledged-
  How did all this have its beginning?                   enough to begin the work. A committee was ap-
                                                         pointed to inquire as to how to proceed. And the
  How does this organization operate?                    project was under way. At that point it became evi-
  The beginning, like the beginning of the R.F.P.A.      dent that we had to have some kind of permanent
itself, was very small. A group of brethren from our     organization: after all, the book had to have a publi-
Grand Rapids churches, at first without any organi-      sher and a distributor. However, rather than multi-
zation, began to discuss and to work toward the          ply organizations, this group decided to follow the
publication of the late Rev. Herman Hoeksema's           course of becoming the book publishing branch of
Reformed Dogmatics.  Originally, they had no inten-      the R.F.P.A. And with the approval of that organi-
tion of becoming involved in the publishing business.    zation, they became such a branch of the R.F.P.A.
Their aim was to get one of the local publishing         That explains the fact that all our books are copy-
firms to undertake the publishing of Reformed Dog-       righted by the Reformed Free Publishing Associa-
matics. They soon discovered, however, that no one       tion, a non-profit corporation. It also explains our
was willing to publish this book; presumably the         name as a "Publications Committee."
reason was that there was an insufficient market
for such a book, and that therefore publication            At this point I would like to emphasize, however,
would be unprofitable.                                   that we are not a "committee' in the ordinary sense
                                                         of being  appointed  by the R.F.P.A. I think there is
  The group of men was not discouraged by this,          probably some misunderstanding on this score in
however. Their reaction was, "If no one else will        the popular mind when they see bulletin announce-
publish the  Dogmatics,  let's do it ourselves!" No      ments about a meeting of the Publications Commit-
money, no organization, no encouragement from            tee. It should be clearly understood that this is not
experienced publishers, no assurance that the book       an appointed committee, but an organization which
would have a market! But they went ahead!                is open to membership by our people and which
  It so happened that  Reformed Dogmatics  was           would welcome members who are willing to put


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                             109



their shoulder to the wheel and help along with this      our books on a much larger scale, the work of our
important work. Sometimes our meetings are so             Publications Committee would be made much
small that we almost begin to fear that our organiza-     easier financially. This is one of the reasons why
tion is dying. We need as much help as we can get.        we have been trying to promote the R.F.P.A. Book
So when you see a meeting announced in your               Club. If the Book Club membership would increase
church bulletin, come and join us!                        to about one thousand members, the costs of pub-
  But let me return to my story.                          lishing a book would be just about guaranteed in
                                                          advance, and the work of publishing could proceed
  In our early years all our work was  volunteer-         at a much faster pace. At present our Book Club,
labor. None of us knew anything about the techni-         however, has a membership of less than 400. This
cal aspects of publishing, however; and so we were        is disappointing to us, and also reason for concern,
fortunate to obtain the services of Mr. Robert  Kre-      because it is an indication that many of our own
gel of Kregel Publications, who advised us and who        people are not buying and are not reading R.F.P.A.
handled for us the entire process of publishing.          books. How about you?
Since that time there have been some changes,
however. Kregel Publications still handles the              In the third place, neither the Publications Com-
marketing of our books to the general public, but         mittee nor the Standard Bearer have any facilities of
we have our own Managing Editor-at present,               their own. The Publications Committee rents stor-
Mrs. Eunice Kuiper-whose duties are to take care          age facilities, and the  Standard Bearer  has storage
of the entire publishing process, from the time we        space at First Church. We also have no office facili-
receive an author's manuscript to the time when           ties. We operate out of a post office box and a base-
our finished books are finally delivered to our           ment office in the home of our Business Manager,
rented storage facility.                                  Mr. Henry Vander Wal, who, `by the way, is
                                                          Business Manager for both the  Standard Bearer  and
  Permit me to'mention a few more interesting and         the Publications Committee. Some day some of
pertinent facts about this work.                          these arrangements will probably have to be
  First of all, we are a non-profit organization. This    changed, due to the fact that especially the work of
means that all the proceeds from sale of our books        the Publications Committee has expanded beyond
are plowed right back into the publishing work. If        anyone's expectations. But at present we operate,
we are to publish new books, this can only be done        you will see, with the lowest possible overhead
with the funds which we receive from the sale of          costs.
our already published books. At times this has              Finally, I would like to stress the fact that the
slowed our publishing efforts considerably. There         Lord our God has greatly prospered our work.
have been times when we were ready to publish             When we began in the  mid-1960s, we often won-
books, but we had to wait because funds were not          dered whether our very first publication would
available. In fact, right now we have projects which      ever see the light of day. We have been privileged
could proceed more rapidly if only we had more            not only to publish many books in less than twenty
money. It should be kept in mind that the costs of        years, but we have also seen these books go to
publishing just one new book may run from a few           many, many readers, all over the world. And this
thousand dollars all the way up to thirteen or four-      means that the truths that are dear to our hearts,
teen thousand. We have one project at present-a           the truths of the Reformed faith, have through this
children's Bible story book-which is going to cost        means of the printed page been spread abroad
even more than that.                                      throughout the world and to the instruction and
  This brings me, secondly, to another pertinent          edification of many souls. Thanks be to God for His
fact. If our own people would purchase and read           unspeakable grace!



       Know the standard
              and follow it.
   The Standard Bearer


1 1.0                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



                   The Making of a Book (In Pictures)

                                                                   Once a manuscript is ready and the Publications
                                                                 Committee has decided to print it, it goes `to the
                                                                 Managing Editor. She is responsible for overseeing
                                                                 and coordinating the entire publishing process.
                                                                 First of all, the manuscript is edited and corrected
                                                                 by her, bids on typesetting and printing are ob-
                                                                 tained, and the production process begins.





Editing





           The next step is typesetting. Recently almost all of our
         books have been typeset by Mrs. Judi Doezema,  who does
         this work on a part-time basis in addition to her teaching.





                                                                             Typesetting





                                                          While this is going on, the wheels are set in motion to
                                                        prepare the cover (if the book is a paperback) or the dust-
                                                        jacket (if the book is hard cover). Mr. Jeff Steenholdt, a
                                                        commercial artist and member of our Kalamazoo Prot. Ref.
                                                        Church, has done all of the artwork for the last few years.
                                                        We think he does excellent work in preparing attractive
                                                        and artistic covers and dust-jackets. By the way, he is also
                                                        hard at work on the art-work for our projected Bible story
                                                        book.



   Artwork


                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                                111





  Once our typesetter has prepared the page-proofs, the
Managing Editor and her assistant do a thorough job of
proof-reading-striving to eliminate all typographical
errors. Then the work goes back to the typesetter for final
corrections. At last the "camera-ready" pages are finished.
These are then shipped to one of the large lithography
firms in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Here the camera work is
done, plates are prepared, and the actual printing is done.
Usually two or three thousand copies are printed.





                                                                   Plate-making



Printing





                                                      Collating

                                                               If the book is a paperback, the entire process is
                                                         finished in Ann Arbor; and the books are shipped to
                                                         our rented warehouse facility. If the book is cloth-
                                                         bound, the printed folios are shipped to John H.
                                                         Dekker  & Sons Bindery. There the binding takes
                                                         place, dust-covers (printed locally in Grand Rapids)
Gluing                                                   are added, the books are shrink-wrapped for pro-
                                                         tection against dirt and moisture, and then shipped
                                                         to our warehouse.


112                                    THE STANDARD BEARER





                                             Shrink-wrap

       Setting

                                                    supplying books to our wholesaler distributor,
  From that point on, the work belongs to Mr.       Kregel Publications, as well as for mailing (and
Henry Vander Wal, who operates out of a basement    billing) books to R.F.P.A. Book Club members, to
office in his own home. He is responsible for       others of our  Standard Bearer  readers who order
                                                    them, and to various overseas book dealers.





                                                     Henry Vander Wal at work in his office.




 Storage


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               113


                             The Making of a Book
                                                                      ::.
                                         Eunice Kuiper, Managing Edztor



  "A motion is made, supported, and carried to             formed, for lines of type that are slanted or uneven,
authorize the editor to proceed with the publishing        and for margins that are not straight. If the author
of...." So each new R.F.P.A. book has its beginning        wants a textual index, I make it now. I write each
at a meeting of the Publications Committee. As             reference and page number or an index card. Then
soon as I receive the typewritten manuscript, I set        I sort the stack into the various books of the Bible
to work. Every afternoon when my two young                 and order them by chapter and verse. When I finish
children nap, I collect the manuscript, dictionary,        proofreading, this copy goes to a second proofread-
manual of style, Bible, and red ink pen, and settle        er, usually Jeanette Clason from Kalamazoo. Then
down to proofread. An editor must read with an             back it goes to the typesetter for corrections.
eye for many details. All punctuation and grammar            Meantime, I tie up many loose ends. I have been
must be correct. As a guide I follow  A  Munual  of        assembling the material for the front pages. The
StyZe, published by the University of Chicago. This        large type for the titles, the ISBN and catalog card
book also shows the proofreader's symbols for              numbers for the copyright page, a preface and dedi-
making corrections, proper form for footnotes and          cation from the author, and the table of contents
bibliographies, proper format for front pages, and         are all sent along to the typesetter. When she
just about anything else one needs to know about           finishes, I check the corrections once more for mis-
publishing a book. My dictionary is consulted              takes.
when I doubt spellings and word divisions. I  dou-
blecheck Bible passages that are quoted for accura-          By this time Jeff has sent a rough draft of the art-
cy, especially as to punctuation. I check, too, for        work for my inspection. It passes with flying
typographical errors. Perhaps the most difficult as-       colors, and I mail it back with the printed material
pect of proofreading a manuscript is watching for          that appears on the back cover or dustjacket. The
consistency. An author or typist may begin, for            Publications Committee meets again to decide
example, by spelling murveZZous with two Z's. Sever-       whether the book will be hardcover or paperback,
al chapters later I find  marvezous.  Both are accept-     how many copies to print, and what price to
able spellings. The same is true of punctuation,           charge. In accordance with their decisions I mail
capitalization, and footnote form. While watching          the typeset manuscript and the artwork to the
for these mechanical details, I also must read for         printer. We use two printers in Ann Arbor,
sense. A "not" inadvertantly omitted could make a          Michigan, who cater to customers with jobs of our
heretic of the most Reformed theologian! Finally, I        size-Malloy Lithographing and Cushing-Malloy
must correct technical details-margins and                 Lithographers. The pictures of the printing process
spacing have to be even; and long, quoted passages         in the following article were taken at  Cushing-
must be indented and reduced. When I finish, I             Malloy.
check with the author if I have any questions about          The printing process involves making negatives
clarity or if I make major changes in wording.             from our photo-ready copy, printing the specified
  Next I consult with the typesetter, Mrs. Judi            amount of copies (sixteen pages on a sheet), cutting
Doezema, who does most of our typesetting. We              and folding these sheets into sections or folios, and
decide on page size, the kinds and sizes of types,         gathering and stitching the folios. For paperback
how much space to leave for margins and between            books they also bind, pack, and ship the books. For
lines, and format for each chapter. While she is           hardcover books they pack the folios and send
typesetting, I take care of correspondence. I must         them to Dekker and Sons Bookbinders in Grand
fill out and mail a form for the Library of Congress       Rapids. Dekkers binds the books with the cloth I
Catalog Card Number, which appears on the copy-            select, stamps the title on, puts on the dustjackets
right page. I send off requests for prices on printing     (which I get printed locally and deliver to Dekkers),
the book. And I ask our artist, Jeff Steenholdt from       and shrinkwraps each volume with a plastic
our Kalamazoo congregation, to begin the artwork           wrapper. From there the books are stored in a rent-
for the cover.                                             ed self-storage warehouse.
  Soon chapters start trickling back from the type-          But I'm not finished yet. Review copies and
setter. Again I proofread, this time especially for ty-    author's copies must be distributed. Library of Con-
pographical mistakes. And since this is the final,         gress gets a copy also. Two copies and a completed
photo-ready copy, I check for letters that are  mis-       form go to the Copyright Office. A file must be


114                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



made for all the data which has accumulated. Pic-                      The work has its frustrations-delays, lost art-
tures must be taken for the catalog.                                work for reprints, running out to pick up copy, to
  Am I finished? The telephone rings, and Mr.                       mail packages, or to pick up dustjackets when I'd
VanderWal tells me we need more catalogs. As                         rather stay home. (My boys never seem to mind;
long as they need to be reprinted anyway, I include                 they've made friends at each stop.) However, the
new and upcoming publications. This involves                         rewards far outbalance the complaints. I enjoy the
several trips to Wobbema Printers to check layout.                   challenge of the job and the interest outside of
Mr. VanderWal adds that we are running low on                       homemaking it provides without taking me away
some of our books. As soon as the committee gives                    from my children. But far more rewarding is the
its okay, I'll have to set the wheels in motion to get               opportunity I have to read, not once but two or
those reprinted.                                                    three times, the writings of our Protestant Re-
                                                                    formed theologians. Never can I say, when the pat-
  Finished now? No, the phone rings once more.                      ter of little feet signals the end of an afternoon's
My father informs me that Mrs. Meyer has several                    proofreading session, that I did not grow in the
chapters typed on the next manuscript. I can pick                   grace and knowledge of my Lord and Savior.
them up any time.




                        Our Publications and Missions
                                                       Pastor Ron Van Overloop



         [I want to acknowledge and express public appre-            called to be busy in this work, expending the very
       ciation to Mr. Thomas Miersma for his thoughts and           best of our efforts and using all the means available
       expertise on this subject. Tom, who is a senior in our       to us. One of these means is the printed page. In
       seminary, has worked for Baker Book House and is             this article we have been asked to consider the rela-
       currently serving on the Permanent Committee for             tionship which exists between missions and the
       the Publication of Protestant Reformed Literature.)          publications of our churches and of the R.F.P.A. To
  It is good that we set the proper perspective for                  help us we will also consider what the function is of
such an article.                                                    printed material on the mission field.
  It is the Almighty and Holy God Who maintains                                   *     *       *      *      *
and defends the truth. He gave the truth to His                        What is the function and purpose of literature in
people in the Scriptures ("Thy Word is truth" John                   mission work?
17: 17) and in Jesus Christ ("I am . . . the truth" John               In general, the purpose is either to introduce the
14:6).  It is God Who defends and preserves the                      reader to the knowledge of the truth of God's Word
truth in all of its purity from the beginning to the                 or to encourage and assist in a growth and develop-
end of time. And it is our Lord Jesus Christ Who, as                 ment of the knowledge of that truth. Besides this,
the King and Head of His Church, gathers, defends,                   our literature specifically serves the purpose of
and preserves unto Himself a Church.                                 making contact with the reader and introduces him
  Therefore, we must not think that our efforts,                     to our churches. This introduction and contact we
programs,        committees, funds, and literature                   desire because, with the bestowal of the truth, God
accomplish this work. The work is the Lord's. He                     gives the awesome responsibility of dispensing and
only can and will gather His Church and maintain                     upholding it.
His truth.                                                             In the first place, pamphlets and books serve as a
  But God is pleased to use instruments. The                         means of making an initial contact. God opens the
Church is set up by God to maintain and defend the                   door for us to speak to someone of the truth when
Truth (I Timothy  3:15). Also He has given to the                    He puts them in our pathway. As an initial contact
Church officebearers in order to equip the saints                    the opportunities to speak of spiritual things are
for the work of the ministry, with a view to the edi-                limited, and so a piece of literature serves well. The
fying of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4: 12). And                   person may not be looking for anything in particu-
God has commanded each of His children to know                       lar, but here is an opportunity for contact on a spiri-
the truth and to give witness to that truth. We are                  tual level. Our concern at this point of the relation-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               115



ship is to get to know that person, to develop an          another the majority of these do not contact or join
interest in their spiritual well-being, and to develop     our churches, but the truth is being furthered, ad-
in them an interest for the truth. We desire to lead       vanced, and preserved without our being aware of
this one to a fuller knowledge of the truth, as God        it. We must become more conscious of this effect of
has given that to us. In this initial contact we want      literature. In other words, the effectiveness of our
to stimulate their interest in the truth and hopefully     literature in particular and of religious literature in
and prayerfully to develop the contact into an op-         general cannot and MUST NOT be evaluated in
portunity to meet again and to speak about things          terms of mere statistical results. (Insofar as that
more fully and in depth. The purpose of a tract,           kind of thinking enters into  any.aspect  of our lit-
pamphlet, or book is to extend the contact so the          erature publication and mission work, it is destruc-
person goes home with something which will draw            tive! We have only the calling to preach and to give
his attention to the truth and to the Scriptures, first    witness to the truth, and we must leave the in-
of all, but secondly which will also draw his atten-       crease to the Lord.) The God of all providences uses
tion to us. Literature which deals with current            mysterious (to us only) ways to spread literature
issues or with matters which are always relevant           all over the world. The sovereign and electing God
(e.g., the home and family) is suitable for this.          puts it into the hands of His people. The blessed
  Secondly, the function of literature is to instruct      God uses it to enrich souls and to develop them in
more fully on a specific aspect of the truth. Having       the truth. The convicting God can use it to point out
a relationship established with someone on a spiri-        sins and lies. Pray to this God that He will continue
tual level, you want to lead him to develop in a par-      to use and bless what we have feebly produced.
ticular area of his knowledge of the truth. You have         More specifically now, let us consider the books
talked with him and have a good idea of what he            and pamphlets listed in the R.F.P.A. catalogue. One
believes and where the door seems open for help            must say that, although these pieces of literature
and instruction. This person may have shown some           are all good as far as their content is concerned, and
interest, and while he is firm in certain points and       are useful in many ways, they are not designed to
unwilling at the time to listen seriously and discuss      any great extent for mission work. There are some
those points, nevertheless he is willing to listen and     reasons for this.
receive instruction on another point. The purpose            Many of the books and pamphlets are directed to
of the contact is to build on the truth that he holds      Protestant Reformed people. This is evident from
and develop it. Because the truth of God is one            the fact that many are but printed copies of lectures
organic whole, development in one area will under-         directed to Protestant Reformed people. These are
mine that which is erroneous in another area. In           very good and useful in instructing our people in
this contact, literature serves to supplement what         the truth of God's Word, but they are not intended
you have said.                                             for mission work and therefore have limited value.
  In light of the functions listed above, it is evident      This is equally true of the pamphlets which were
that literature is but the means to establish or to        written for our mission work of years ago. They
continue personal contact and spiritual conversa-          were directed to people who were of the denomina-
tion. Literature leads to and complements personal         tion out of which the Protestant Reformed denomi-
contact and witness. As individuals we must                nation came. The nature of our mission work is
always be conscious of this opportunity and re-            changing as we find ourselves working more and
sponsibility and not hesitate to give witness to the       more with non-Dutch  p,eople and with those who
truth we love. *         *     *      *                    are not of the same Reformed background and heri-
                                                           tage. Consider some of our current fields: Singa-
  Let us now consider what function our maga-              pore; Jamaica;         Lansing,     Michigan;      and
zine, books, and pamphlets are performing in the           Birmingham, Alabama.
area of mission work.                                        Closely related are those pamphlets which are
  We speak generally first of all. Our books and           current, but are directed at issues which are alive
magazines have been instrumental in bringing a             among Reformed churches. Their value is great,
number of people to our churches, as well as open-         but it diminishes when they are considered in light
ing some doors for mission labor. However, there is        of most of our current mission work.
an effectiveness of our printed material which is            Another reason why it is said that our current list
equally important and much broader than bringing           of literature is not designed to a great extent for
people into the Protestant Reformed Churches. Our          present mission work is that today doctrinal know-
literature has received positive blessing from the         ledge is slim. The exceptions are trained  office-
Lord in touching and enriching the spiritual lives of      bearers and an occasional layman. A greater
people of God all over the world. For one reason or        number may be acquainted with some theological


116                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



terms and expressions, but they have little or no           a variety of subjects. We are not to assume that lit-
idea what they mean. Besides this, each group of            erature on a specific subject will cover all people.
churches tends to have its own peculiar theological         For example, reference from the Three Forms of
expressions. The phrase "the counsel of God" con-           Unity, our creeds, are good, necessary, and  under-
veys much significance to some, but to others little        standable to those who are of the Reformed  heri-
or nothing. Our pamphlets and books have many of            tage. However, such references have little meaning
these and similar expressions. This makes them dif-         for those outside of that heritage.
ficult to understand if these terms, phrases, and             Also, a good pamphlet must be clear and simple
concepts are not simply and clearly explained. To           in its language and use of terms. It must be under-
the extent that these are not explained, and their          standable to people who have but little doctrinal
meaning and significance is assumed, the literature         knowledge or whose terminology differs from ours.
loses its value when used outside the sphere of our         We need more publications which can communi-
denomination.                                               cate readily to those who are not theologically
  Again, let me say, that this does not decrease the        knowledgeable. Such pieces of literature will have
overall value of these publications. They are of            to engage in educating the reader. That is one of the
great worth within our churches and with those              functions of literature on the mission field.
already close theologically. All that is being said           Also, a publication for a general audience should
now is that this decreases their value on the mis-          present itself in a proper tone. That tone must not
sion field.                                                 be violent or vehement; nor must it be wishy-
  Considering the book publication of the R.F.P.A.          washy; it must be firm and clear. Preaching must
we find that we can loosely categorize them into            be antithetical and so must our literature.
three groups: theological, expositional, and histori-       However, there is a difference between treating the
cal. The last group is of highest interest for the `Pro-    non-Calvinistic reader as a  Baa1  prophet or as an
testant Reformed Churches and for those interested          erring sheep or as a possible elect who is yet uncon-
in the history of the Protestant Reformed Churches.         verted. It is not a good idea to beat someone over
These have little value for mission work except for         the head with a theological club when you first
historical information. Those books of a theological        meet him. There is a proper place for tact, espe-
nature are very useful in spreading the truth and           cially when directed to a general audience. The
have been means by which an initial mission con-            average pewsitter, though wrong and sinning in his
tact is created. Initially they draw only the theologi-     error, needs gentle leading and correction because
cally-minded. On the mission field they can be used         he does not have either the knowledge or under-
for the purpose of introduction. Those books of an          standing. The presentation of the truth must be
expositional nature are of the most value in mis-           firm, but a firmness mixed with patience and com-
sions. Generally in the South there is good interest        passion.
in preaching, and these works are welcomed. The
value of expositional books is enhanced if the ter-           Closely related is the method of the presentation
minology is not prohibitive as mentioned above.             of the truth. I refer now to the presentation of the
                                                            negative refutation of the error along with the set-
  Generally speaking, the same holds true for the           ting forth of the truth positively. Most common in
Standard  Bearer. Many articles are written specifi-        our publications is the refutatiop of the error before
cally to the people of our own denomination. The            the presentation of the truth. This can be a good
meditations, Biblical history, and issue-oriented           method where the audience already believes the
rubrics are of value on the mission field. The value        truth. On the mission field it is much better to
of this periodical increases as a relationship is es-       follow the method of the Canons of Dordt, i.e., first
tablished in the field.                                     proclaim and develop the truth, and then bring in
                 *         *    *      *                    the error and refute it in light of the truth. Thus the
  Permit me to make some observations as to the             emphasis is in the presentation and explanation of
make-up of a piece of literature which would be             the truth rather than on the rejection of the lie. The
directly useful on a mission field.                         rejection is absolutely necessary, but should not re-
                                                            ceive the emphasis in the presentation of the truth
  The most useful pamphlet for any mission field            to a general audience.
would be the one that is directed to a general audi-
ence. We have a booklet on the Five Points of Calvi-          A useful publication must be Scriptural. This is
nism that is the printed copy of lectures given to a        especially necessary with a general audience. The
Protestant Reformed audience. We need another               presentation of the truth must be well supported
publication on the same subject for a general audi-         with Scripture quotations and references. When
ence which is without a Reformed background or              Scripture is used in the right manner it will speak
even without a church background. This is true for          loudly and clearly and with the authority of the


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                117



Word of God. Then the reader will be driven to his        congregations have in the past and are continuing
Bible to study it. Then in the mind of the reader         the printing of materials: Hope, Kalamazoo, Love-
God is the One Who sets -forth the truth and Who          land, South Holland, and the Reformed Witness
contradicts his error. In this connection, sometimes      Committee in Northwest Iowa, to name only some.
mere quotations are not sufficient and some expo-         These varied sources of literature are good and as it
sition is required. The meaning of a particular pas-      should be. I am not asking for a denominational
sage may be clear to one group of believers because       super-structure which does all the publication and
of previous interpretation, but may not be so             distribution. Rather, there is the need for the
understood by others.                                     gathering of all the materials produced so that a
                 *       *    *      *                    complete listing of all materials is made available.
  Some observations of needs with regard to litera-       Then all could benefit from each other. On a regu-
ture and missions.                                        lar basis someone or some organization should
                                                          glean the work of each congregation and pastor for
  Along with and besides pamphlets there is the           the benefit of the broader group.
need for tracts-a leaflet of four pages, which                            *       *     *       *
would present one aspect of the truth. Years ago
the Mission Committee began a series of tracts en-           In conclusion, literature can and should play a
titled, "Do You Know." A pamphlet has its place,          supportive role in mission work, but not in mission
but something which could be read in five or ten          work alone. We all should be ready to use various
minutes would be a better tool for mission work.          pieces of literature as means to create interest in the
Their purpose is not to give a complete exposition        truth of God's Word.
of a truth, but to present it in such a way that it          The list of current publications by the R.F.P.A. is
arouses further interest and contact.                     a substantial list. However, we should be ever con-
  As a missionary who is seeking to use the publi-        scious of the need to produce new materials. This is
cations available, I have found the need for some         necessary as the object of our mission work
organization of our literature, especially the            changes and it is necessary in our ever-changing
pamphlets. The R.F.P.A. has attempted to do so            world. We are thankful to the Lord for the litera-
with a list of pamphlets in their catalogue, but for      ture available. We thank Him for the positive bless-
the most part this list consists only of those pamph-     ings He has given to it in the area of missions. Pray
lets published by the Sunday School of First              that the Lord will continue to use them for the fur-
Church in Grand Rapids. However, many of our              therance and defense of His Truth and Church.


                 Protestant Reformed Evangelism
                                             Prof. Robert D. Decker



  We are pleased to report that seventeen of our          extremely beautiful location; she has a reputation
churches responded to our request for a resume of         also for being very active in the work of evange-
their evangelism (church extension) efforts. In this      lism. This has not been without positive fruit. In
and perhaps succeeding issues we shall report on           1965 Lynden numbered some five families; today
each of these churches. We hope not only that this        there are forty-six families. Lynden has its own
will make for interesting and informative reading,        Christian School as well. Their work of evangelism,
but also that these articles will be of benefit to the    initiated by Rev. Bernard Woudenberg, is being
various evangelism committees and church exten-           continued under the leadership of Rev. D. H.
sion committees. Perhaps various churches will            Kuiper. Rev. Kuiper writes: "The congregation
gain new insights and ideas concerning this all im-       sponsors the broadcasting of one of the regular wor-
portant work.                                             ship services over a local radio station. This is ac-
Lynden                                                    tually aired one week later by means of tape. We
                                                          have had enormous response to this program. Some
  We shall begin the survey in the West. Our              families have moved to Lynden and joined our
Church in Lynden, Washington is nestled between           church due to this contact. We hear of many, many
the snowcapped Cascades and the Pacific in the far        people in Lynden as well as in far off places who
Northwest corner of the country. Lynden is not            are listening. A few send in contributions, which
only known in Protestant Reformed circles for its         are never asked for." Lynden mails approximately


118                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



twenty cassettes per week, each containing two ser-        paper. Edmonton also sponsors public lectures
mons. Some of them go as far as California. Work           upon occasion.
has been begun in the Mt. Vernon and Monroe,               Doon, Hull, Iowa and Edgerton, Minnesota
Washington areas (a bit south of Lynden). Pastor
Kuiper has lectured there on various topics and also         We report on these churches together because
conducted a weekly Bible study class. Lynden is            most of their church extension work is done by a
calling a home missionary to labor there. Their            committee of the three churches. This committee,
hope and prayer is that this work will bear fruit in       which had its origin in the stormy days of the split
the establishment of a Protestant Reformed                 of 1953, is called the Reformed Witness Commit-
Church. Lynden's church extension committee also           tee. Its constituency consists of three members
operates a small "bookstore" in the church.                from each congregation with the three pastors serv-
According to Pastor Kuiper there is a good turnover        ing as advisors. The committee prints and distri-
of our literature, both books and pamphlets.               butes a pamphlet entitled, "The Reformed Wit-
                                                           ness." The committee has been concentrating its
Redlands, California                                       efforts recently in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota
  The Hope Church of  Redlands sponsors the Re-            area. There has been, however, very little positive
formed Witness Hour each Sunday over a station             reception to the work in this city. The churches in
out of Riverside, California. Once each month the          part sponsor the Reformed Witness Hour over a
Evangelism Committee mails literature to                   Sioux Falls station and the station of Dordt College
approximately seven hundred fifty addresses. Five          in Sioux Center.
hundred of these are first time mailings. These are          Doon  is the calling church for the mission in
sent a pamphlet, "Is The Christian Faith Easy?"            Singapore. This of course consumes a great deal of
written by Rev. J. Kortering. The remaining two            time and effort. Hull has its own lecture committee
hundred fifty are those who have shown interest            which sponsors a Spring lecture.
and requested to be on Redlands' permanent mail-
ing list. To these, Redlands  mails articles written by    Houston, Texas
Rev. B. Woudenberg, as well as various  Standard             The Trinity Protestant Reformed Church of
Bearer  articles.  Redlands  also mails approximately      Houston is very active in Evangelism. Trinity also
twenty sermon tapes (Cassette) each month.                 uses some different methods from which other of
Loveland, Colorado                                         our churches might profit. Rather than try to sum
                                                           the material sent we will simply quote Pastor
  Loveland too is active in Church Extension. The          Wayne Bekkering's letter: "1) We have given a
pamphlet or folder mentioned above, written by             Reformation Day lecture each year. This is not unu-
Rev. Kortering, is mailed to some five hundred
addresses each month. The folder, it seems to the          sual for our churches, but in Houston there is very
undersigned, is very attractive. It answers in sim-        little emphasis on the Reformation so this gives us a
                                                           good opportunity to emphasize our distinctives.
ple, direct language three basic questions: What is a
Christian?; Are You A Christian?; and What We              The attendance at these lectures is good with about
                                                           20 visitors each year. 2) We have used newspaper
(Loveland) Can Do To Help. There is ample refer-
ence to the Scriptures, a brief description of our         ads and articles with varying success.... 3) The
doctrinal basis, and a detachable portion which the        Reformed Witness Hour has been aired in Houston
                                                           from the beginning of our work here. The results
reader can send to Loveland. Other of our churches         have been disappointing. Presently we are develop-
might wish a sample copy for possible use in their
work. Loveland also sponsors the Reformed Wit-             ing radio sermons that use 28 minute excerpts from
ness Hour over one of the local stations. They are         sermons that are preached in the congregation. 4)
contemplating changing to a much larger station in         We have worked to get our books out in two basic
Denver so as to cover more of the state.                   ways. First we got five bookstores in Houston to
                                                           carry seven of our titles. Secondly, we have given
Edmonton, Alberta Canada                                   away a number of books to interested persons. We
  There is more than rich oil fields in Edmonton,          believe that books are a good long range extension
much more! There is the First Protestant Reformed          means. For over a year we have had a Christian
Church and its clear, faithful witness to the              Discount Book Center. This organization carries
Reformed Truth. Every Sunday morning Edmon-                most of our books as well as other good solid Calvi-
ton's pastor, Rev. R. Moore, expounds the Scrip-           nistic materials. This bookstore has also given away
tures on a fifteen minute broadcast. To this there is      many of our pamphlets. Presently we are working
some response. A letter containing a brief summary         to get this chain to market some of the sermon and
of the Reformed Faith is mailed to five hundred            lecture tapes of our churches. 5) We have used trial
homes each month. The worship services are ad-             subscriptions of the  Standard Bearer  as a means to
vertised in the weekend edition of the local news-         have others become better acquainted with us. 6)


                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                      119



We have, from time to time, held Fellowship Pic-                             busy in church extension.
nics. We invite those who have attended our lec-                               There was one more response to our request
tures or who have shown interest in other ways.                              from  Classis  West, South Holland. We will include
The next picnic that we have we are planning a                               South Holland in our next article.
Singspiration in our church in the evening. 7) Last
year for the first time we had what we called, for
lack of a better name, a `Mid-Winter Faith Refresh-                                                         NOTICE!!!
er.' It was a conference to discuss Reformed Evan-                                     Hope Protestant Reformed Church,
gelism. Rev.  VanOverloop and Rev. Woudenberg
were here to help us. We invited various men to                                                         Redlands, CA.
our discussions during the day and we held  .three                                  Offering $50,000 in notes to finance the
evening meetings that were open to the public. We                                         construction of our sanctuary.
had good interest and participation in this venture.                                                 10 years - 10%.
8) We have also tried to extend the witness of our
church in our area by going from house to house to                                      (Issued in multiples of $1000.00;
introduce our church and to invite people to visit.                                                interest annually.)
From time to time we have very nice opportunities                               For further information call (714) 793-5461
to discuss God's truth with people. We always                                            or write: Otto Gaastra
leave a brief statement concerning our church with
the location and time of worship."                                                                          9 17 Campus Ave.
                                                                                                            Redlands, CA 92373
   The Fellowship Picnic and going from house to
house are two ways of reaching people and witnes-                                   We ask that you give this prayerful con-
sing seldom used in our churches. From Pastor                                  sideration.
Bekkering's letter it appears that they have borne                                                                     Yours in Christ,
fruit. However that may be, one thing is sure, the                                                                     Jake Jabaay, Sec'y.
little band of saints in Trinity Church is certainly


                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                      WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   The members of the Hope Protestant Reformed Church Men's                     We announce the joyous celebration of 50 years of holy
Society of Walker, Michigan, express their Christian sympathy to Mr.         matrimony for our parents and grandparents, MR. AND MRS. GUS
Milo De Wald and Mr. Alvin Rau in the death of their mother and              HUBER, on December 12, 1981. An open-house for family and
mother-in-law.                                                               friends will be held Saturday, December 12, 1981, from  I:00 P.M.
                                                                             to 4:00 P.M. at the Village House of New Amsterdam Village, 7905
   "Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another,            Cottonwood Dr., Jenison, Michigan.
even as also ye do." (I Thess.  5:l  1)
                                                                                We thank the Lord for His watchful eye and covenant faithfulness.
                                           Home Church Men's Society
                                           Mr. D. Engelsma, Pres.            Vern and Doris Huber                       Henry T. and Jane Heemstra
                                           Mr. J. Dykstra, Jr., Sec'y.       Wayne and Delaine Lanning                     and 16 grandchildren
                                                                             William and Carol Huber                          2 great-grandchildren

                                                                                "The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shall see the good
                                                                             of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.
                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                        Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon
                                                                             Israel." (Psalm  128:5,  6)
   The members of the Men's Society of the South Holland Protes-
tant Reformed Church were saddened in the loss of their  fellow-
member, MR. ARTHUR DE JONG. We express our sympathy to our                                  EXPRESSION OF SYMPATHY
fellow-members, Arthur H., William, Homer, Lewis and Kenneth De
Jong in the loss of their father.                                               Prayerful thoughts on our high calling. (Phil.  3:141
   "The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance             With loving hands have the fellow-Elders of ARTHUR DEJONG laid
shall be forever." (Psalm  37:18)                                            his earthly remains to rest. We, with the family and the congregation
                                                                             now comfort our hearts in the hope of the resurrection (I Thess.
                                                   Everett Buiter, Sec'y.    4:14).

                                                                                Our faithful Pastor, Rev. David J. Engelsma, preached a funeral
                                                                             sermon on Rev.  14:13: "And I heard a voice from heaven saying
                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                     unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from
                                                                             henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors;
   The Ladies Aid Society of Hope Prot. Ref. Church in Grand Rapids,         and their works do follow them."
Michigan wishes to express their Christian sympathy to Mrs. Milo De             May our brother's deliverance  (Psa.  91:14; Joel  2:32; Col. 1  :13)
Wald, Mrs. Alvin Rau and Mrs. John Kuiper, Jr. in the death of their         now serve the purpose, under God's blessing, that the family and the
mother, MRS. ELLA DE WALD.                                                   saints in South Holland press on in their Christian calling. (Phil. 3:10-
   "The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance          21)
shall be forever." (Psalm  37:18)                                                                           THE COUNCIL
                                                 Rev.  R. Flikkema, Pres.                                   South Holland Protestant Reformed Church
                                                 Eilene Terpstra, Sec'y.                                    Edward Stouwie, Clerk


  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   _ _   - - - -                                                 SECOND CLASS a:
        P.O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                                           POSTAGE PAID AT
                                                                                                  GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.





120                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER




                                 News From Our Churches

  "We must derive our goal from our basis of                          over and help us" to Rev. Houck,  missionary pastor
Christian education: the covenant of God with                         in Lansing, Michigan.
believers and their children. The foundation                            Upon completion of their family visiting for the
determines the completed structure that stands on                     year, our Southeast Church in Grand Rapids,
that foundation. On the foundation of a  chicken-                     Michigan announced their thankfulness to God for
coop you do not build the Sears Tower. Our aim in                     the evidence of "a spirit of unity in the faith of our
Christian education must be that contained in and                     Lord Jesus Christ." In that bulletin announcement
expressed by the covenant-command of Jehovah to                       they included this quote from John Calvin's writ-
believing parents."                                                   ings concerning our calling to endeavor to keep the
  We hope the above tidbit taken from chapter five                    unity of the church: "This means that no increase is
of the monograph, Reformed Education, written by                      of use which does not correspond to the whole
Rev. Engelsma will serve to stimulate those  ,of us                   body. That man is mistaken who desires his own
w-ho have copies to reread it, and those who do not                   separate growth. For what would it profit a leg or
have it to obtain a copy. The monograph is a result                   an arm if it grew to an enormous size, or for the
of a "mini-course" taught by Rev. Engelsma to                         mouth to be stretched wider? It would merely be
Protestant Reformed teachers back in 1975. For                        afflicted with a harmful tumor; so if we wish to be
those who might be interested we include the                          considered in Christ, let no man be anything for
chapter headings:                                                     himself, but let us all be whatever we are for
1. "The Covenant-Basis of Christian Education"                        others. This is accomplished by love; and where
2. "Scripture in the Schools"                                         love does not reign, there is no edification of the
3. "Reformed Education and Culture"                                   church, but a mere scattering."
4. "The Protestant Reformed Teacher"                                    Further concerning house visiting, from the
5. "The Goal of Reformed Education"                                   bulletins I receive it becomes clear that there are in
  The reason we include this information in the                       our churches different ways of scheduling house
Standard Beaver news is to get the news out that this                 visitation: while some conduct their visits for all
valuable monograph is once again available.. .                        their members in the fall of the year, others visit
thanks to the people who see to the publication of                    one fourth of the congregation just prior to each
our young people's magazine, the  Beacon Lights.                      celebration of the Lord's Supper, and still others
Copies can be obtained by sending $1.50 plus $.60                     seem to have it continuously.
for postage and handling to: Reformed Education,                        It's too bad all of our readers do not have the
1490 Burton, S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506.                      opportunity to see the bulletins from around the
  Incidentally, while you are sending to that                         country that are sent to me. Quite a treat it is to
address anyway, you might just as well send along                     look them over and see what's happening in our
another $1.50 plus another  $.60 for more postage                     churches from New Jersey to California and from
and handling and obtain the monograph by Rev. C.                      Edmonton, Canada, to Texas. Even some of the
Hanko,                                                                envelopes that the bulletins come in-are interesting
           Leaving Father and Mother.  Hopefully the
title gives away the subject of this one.                             -like the one bearing the burden of  four postage
                                                                      stamps (each of different value) that I recently
  About one of our calling churches we learn that,                    received. Obviously some of us are finding it diffi-
following Rev. Bekkering's decline of their call,                     cult to keep up with those postal rate increases.
Isabel, South Dakota has extended a call to "come                                                                          CK


