                                                                           1
           The
     STANDARD
           BEARER
c           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                     Y





       At every opportunity, be critical of the
     Christian school teachers, the elders, and the
     pastor. Make your criticisms known to your
     children, and the ill will you feel toward
     these people. Don't . . . honor them at least
     for their office's and work's sake. This, too,
     is most effective in producing unspiritual
     young people . . . . It will . . . make it easy for
     them to leave the church later on.
     See "Ten Rules for Producing Unspiritual
                              Young People" -page  18


.                                          Volume LX, No. 1,  October  1,  1983  J


2                                                                         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  -                                                                                            SecondClass Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                              Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
        The Administration of the Sacraments. . . . . . . . . . .2                            Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
     Editor's Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .          D. Decker, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko,
                                                                                        .5    Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. J. Kortering, Rev. George C.
                                                                                              Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopse-
     Seminary Convocation Address  -                                                          ma, Rev. Gise J. Van Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman.
        God's Sure Foundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5                 Editorial Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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MEDITATION

                The Administration of the Sacraments
                                                                                   Rev. C. Hanko

                       Ques. 66 What are the sacraments?
                       Ans. The sacraments are holy visible signs and seals, appointed of God for this end, that by
                   the use thereof, He may the more fully declare and seal to us the promise of the gospel, viz., that
                  He grants us freely the remission of sin, and,life eternal, for the sake of that one sacrifice of
                   Christ, accomplished on the cross.
                       Ques, 67 Are both word and sacraments, then, ordained and appointed for this end, that
                   they may direct our faith to the sacrifice ofJesus Christ on the cross, as the only ground of our
                   salvation?
                       Ans. Yes, indeed: for the Holy Ghost teaches us in the gospel, and assures us by the sacra-
                   ments, that the whole of our salvation depends upon that one sacrifice of Christ which He of-
                   fered for us on the cross.                                                                                      .,
                       Ques. 68 How many sacraments has Christ instituted in the new covenant, or testament?
                       Ans. l%o, namely, holy baptism, and the holy supper.


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 3



  Our fathers teach us some very important                on the seashore, the crossing of the Red Sea, the
lessons concerning the sacraments in this Lord's          types and shadows of the old dispensation. There
Day. We need these lessons for our own instruc-           are the signs of the Lion, the Lamb, and of Christ's
tion, and also to appreciate the more fully this          second coming. Our own lives are dependent upon
means of grace, which God in His mercy admin-             signs. Think of highway signs, danger signs, or of
isters to us.                                             the nod or shake of the head, the frown, the smile,
  We are reminded that sacraments are signs and           the handshake. There are even signs that appeal to
seals. This truth belongs to our Reformed heritage.       our other senses, such as, odors, tastes, brail for the
Even more than that, the sacraments are  hoZy signs       blind. But the sacraments are special signs which
and seals, for they are ordained by God and ap-           have their own peculiar significance because they
pointed by Him to be administered by Christ to His        are ordained of God for that very purpose.
church.                                                     Sacraments are also seals. Seals also make up a
  Our Catechism points out that these sacraments          part of our daily lives. Business firms seal their pro-
are an added benefit, which our God, knowing our          ducts to distinguish them from imitations. The gov-
weaknesses and frailties, has added to the preach-        ernment places its seal on birth certificates, mar-
ing of the Word. They do not stand alone, inde-           riage certificates and all other official documents.
pendent from the Word. But they supplement the            We have seals that are also signs. A one hundred
preaching of the Word, so that while the Word             dollar bill is actually only a piece of paper, yet it
addresses us through our hearing, the sacraments          represents and assures us of the full value of one
speak to us as visible signs. Thus we have an audio-      hundred dollars in cash. In distinction from these
visual revelation of the promise of the gospel in         sacraments are very special signs and seals.
both the preaching of the Word and the administra-          They are  hoZy   signs and seals. This means that
tion of the sacrament.                                    God has ordained and appointed them to accom-
                                                          pany the preaching of the Word as an added means
  The fathers especially emphasize the fact that          whereby God strengthens our faith. Sacraments
these sacraments direct our faith to the one perfect      were never intended to be, nor must we regard
sacrifice of Christ on the cross as the onZy ground of    them as, the chief means of grace. The preaching of
our salvation. If we were not impressed by this in        the Word is and will always remain the chief means
the answer in Question 66, we are reminded of it          whereby God bestows His grace on us; the sacra-
again in Question 67. And if this still has not made      ments supplement the Word. The Word serves
the proper impression upon us, it is repeated in the      both to work and to strengthen our faith, while the
answer to Question 67. Three times, therefore, lest       sacraments serve only to strengthen it. Therefore
there should be any misunderstanding about that,          the Word is preached every Lord's Day, but the
reference is made to the one, only sacrifice of           fathers have deemed it wise to limit the celebration
Christ on the cross as the only and complete ground       of the Lord's Supper to special times. Yet that does
of our salvation. I like that. The fact that we are       not detract from the importance of, or from our
baptized gives no reason that we should be assured        need for, the sacraments. These signs are holy.
of our salvation. The fact that we are confessing         They are set apart by God, given to us to serve their
members of the church who partake of the Lord's           own divine purpose. Therefore the emphasis must
Supper is no basis for any assurance of being saved.      always fall on the  administration  of the Lord's
Our assurance rests solely and completely in the          Supper, instead of on the celebration. It is true that
atoning death of Christ on the cross. All other           from our point of view we celebrate the sacra-
ground is sinking sand!                                   ments. Yet from God's point of view they are ad-
   Sacraments, therefore, are holy, visible signs and     ministered. The heading above both the Baptism
seals instituted by God to be administered by His         Form and the Communion Form speaks of the  ad-
church along with the preaching of the Word as an         ministration  of the sacrament, reminding us that
added testimony of the promise of the gospel that         Christ administers Baptism and the holy Supper
rests on the only sacrifice of Christ on the cross for    through His ambassadors. This is so completely lost
all our sins.                                             from sight in our day, that the sacraments have
   Sacraments are holy signs and seals.                   become a form of entertainment for children and
                                                          for adults. The Lord's Supper is degraded to a
  They are signs. Every creature is a sign, since all     blasphemous form of fellowship. Let us never for-
things happen in parables (Mark  4:ll) Christ can         get that the sacraments proclaim to us the Name of
say, I am the true Bread, the true Water of life, the     Jehovah, His mighty works and marvelous grace as
true Vine, the great Shepherd, the Way, the Truth,        our covenant God Who keeps covenant forever.
and the Life. There are special signs in creation,
such as paradise with its tree of life and streams of        Signs and seals of the gospel promise.
water, the deluge, the stars of the heavens, the sand        Our fathers say that the sacraments "more fully


4                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



declare and seal to us the promise of the gospel."         not all Israel that is called Israel. There are those
The emphasis is on the promise. There is a general         within the sphere of the covenant who receive the
proclamation of God's particular promise in the            sign, even though they are not covenant seed. They
preaching of the gospel. God declares to all who           are baptized and instructed in God's Word, so that
hear that He promises His people, the elect, the for-      they know the truth of Christ's atoning death, yet
giveness of sins and eternal life through faith in         they despise that sacrifice, and therefore receive
Jesus Christ. This same general proclamation of the        greater condemnation. They may even partake of
,narticuZur   promise comes to all who are baptized and    the holy Supper of our Lord in unbelief, and there-
to all who celebrate or witness the celebration of         by eat and drink condemnation unto themselves,
the Lord's Supper.                                         declaring themselves unworthy of salvation. Even
     This promise is based solely on the one sacrifice     as the preaching of the Word is a savor of death
of Christ on the cross. The sacraments are visible         unto death to those who reject it, so also the general
signs of that sacrifice. The water in baptism speaks       sign of the particular promise condemns the
of the cleansing power of Jesus' blood. The broken         wicked in their unbelief.
bread and the poured out wine signify the cruci-             On the other hand, even as the preaching of the
fixion of our Savior and His complete self-sur-            Word is a savor of life unto life to those who be-
render unto death as the atonement for our sins.           lieve, so also the sacraments are the power of God
The sprinkling of the water at baptism points to the       through Christ, who administers the sacrament.
sprinkling of the blood that covers us with the            The fathers declare, that "the Holy Ghost assures
righteousness of Christ. We are under the blood            us in the sacraments that the whole of our salvation
(Exodus 1213). In the broader sense, since the             depends on the one sacrifice of Christ which He of-
word for baptism means "to dip in," this reminds           fered on the cross." Christ through the minister
us, that God takes us out of the world, causes us to       lays the sign of baptism on the forehead of the in-
die unto sin in Christ's death, to be buried with          fant. The Holy Spirit seals this sign to the heart of
Him in baptism, and to arise in newness of life            the elect child, who is regenerated, converted, and
within God's covenant as new creatures in Christ           brought to conscious faith by the same Spirit. This
(Romans  6:4). Therefore baptism is called the             conscious faith becomes evident in a child often
"washing of regeneration" (Titus  3:5). The table of       early in life in simple, child-like confidence in God
communion, the serving of the bread and the wine           and His Christ. Later, in the Lord's Supper, this
(which is official ministry of the elders as ambassa-      faith is confirmed and strengthened by partaking of
dors of Jesus Christ), the eating and the drinking, all    the signs of Christ's broken body and shed blood as
speak of the feasting at God's table, being fed by         a complete atonement for our sins, so that as surely
Christ Himself, in intimate communion of life with         as we eat of the bread and drink of the wine we are
God and with the saints, and thus eating and drink-        partakers of Christ and of all His benefits. There-
ing Christ's flesh and blood, becoming partakers of        fore in the measure that we partake of these sacra-
Christ as flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone,         ments in faith, in that measure we are also blessed.
united to Him as members of His body.                        Thus thanks be to God, who knows our weak-
     Thereby we receive two chief benefits from the        nesses and our frailties and has added the blessings
sacraments, namely, the forgiveness of sins and            of the signs and seals of the sacraments to the
eternal life through faith in Christ Jesus. Faith is       power of the Word. Yea, thanks be to God for His
that living bond that unites us to Him, the bond           unspeakable gift, Jesus Christ!
through which we receive Christ and all His bene-
fits. Baptism is the sign of the laying of that bond in
regeneration, thus of our entering into God's
covenant. The Lord's Supper speaks of the exercise
of that faith as living in covenant fellowship with            The Standard Bearer
God, feasting on His bounties, and experiencing a
foretaste of the eternal wedding feast of the Lamb.             makes a thoughtful
     This is sealed to our hearts by the Holy Spirit
who uses these means to strengthen our faith. Our                         gift for the
fathers say, "We are made partakers of Christ and
all His benefits by faith, and by faith only." Those
for whom Christ did not die cannot possibly be                       sick or shut-in.
given this assurance. Those who are not united to
Christ by the bond of living faith can never claim
this assurance. Since election and reprobation run
through the line of the generations of believers, it is


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 5



                                       Editor's Notes

New Volume                                                 what we write. The second is: continue to support
  With this issue we begin our sixtieth volume. We         and to promote our magazine. In connection with
do so with thankfulness to God that He has given           the latter, do not fail to promote the Standard Bearer
us the privilege, the strength, and the means to           nearest home, i.e., in your own family. Don't let
publish all these years in the interest of the goodly      edifying reading become a lost art in your homes!
heritage which He has given us. The beginning of a                               * * * * *
new volume also implies some changes. As far as
the Staff is concerned, departing from the ranks of        Seminary Convocation
our regular contributors are the Revs. W.  Bruins-
ma, D. Engelsma, R. Flikkema, K. Koole, and R.               In this issue you will find a transcript of Prof. R.
Miersma. Added to our ranks are the Revs. Ronald           Decker's significant convocation address. If you
Hanko, who will be co-responsible, with Rev. A.            were unable to attend seminary convocation, you
den Hartog, for  In  i3.s Fear,  and Rev. Thomas           can to a degree live along with the seminary by
Miersma, who will write for a new department in            reading his address. This means, of course, that we
the area of the history of doctrine. The name of the       have begun a new term on seminary hill. Three of
new rubric will be Guided Into AZZ Truth. A new and        our seminary students, Messrs. R. Dykstra, S. Key,
capable writer and a fresh approach should make            and C. Terpstra, returned to us and are beginning
for an interesting new department. Watch for it!           the second year of their  4-year program. We have
For the time being, at least, Revs. C. Hanko and H.        one new pre-seminary student, Mitchell Dick. We
Veldman will take care of our  Meditation  depart-         welcomed another student from the Evangelical
ment, with the proviso that Rev. M.  Schipper may          Reformed Church of Singapore, Jaikishin Mahtani.
return to this department any time he feels up to it.      And this year we have four students who are from
For the rest, all departments and contributors re-         the Free Reformed Church of North America,
main the same. We are also planning three special          Mssrs. Gerald Hamstra, John Schuit, Hans  Over-
issues for the coming volume-year. The first will be       duin, and Richard  Basala. Remember our seminary
December 1, when the subject will be the last of the       in your prayers!
Five Points of Calvinism. Later  - in March and                                  * * * *  *
August, D.V.  - there will be special issues on the
Covenant and the Covenant Home and Family and                Due to an abundance of copy, some of it crying
on Preaching. We are gratified at reader-response to       for publication, your editor will limit his contribu-
our special issues. Meanwhile, we ask of you, our          tion this time to these notes.
readers certain things. The first is, naturally,  read

SEMINARY CONVOCATIONADDRESS


                            God's Sure Foundation
                                              Prof. Robert D. Decker


  The Word of God upon which I base my remarks               The apostle Paul was prisoner in Rome when he
this evening may be found in II Timothy  219:              wrote to his spiritual son to encourage him in the
"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth               work of the ministry. Circumstances in Ephesus
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that         were very difficult. There were doctrinal depar-
are His. And, let every one that nameth the name of        tures, the profane and vain babblings of false
Christ depart from iniquity." The text begins with         teachers, and increasing ungodliness. Two false
the word nevertheless. This is a word of comfort           teachers denied the resurrection, overthrowing the
and assurance for Timothy, the youthful pastor at          faith of  some.  These led some out of the church,
Ephesus, and for the faithful church there. It is also     causing schism in the church. One can well under-
a word of comfort for the faithful church through-         stand that this made Timothy's work very difficult.
out the ages. It is a word of comfort for us tonight.      The young pastor might very well have been  in-


6                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



clined to despair, to give up. To him the inspired        sure, i.e., it is firmly fixed, indestructible. And the
apostle comes with this word: nevertheless.               foundation is that because it is the sure foundation
Though all these terrible things are happening in         of  God.  Only God can lay an immovable founda-
the church, Timothy must be assured, the founda-          tion. No man is able to do this. What a beautiful
tion of God standeth sure having this seal. God's         truth! God conceived of that foundation in His
church cannot be destroyed.                               eternal counsel in Jesus Christ. God laid that foun-
     Our situation is similar and even worse.             dation in time and history. From creation on,
Apostasy abounds, even in Reformed circles, both          through the types and shadows of the Old Testa-
in doctrine and in life or practice. Our churches         ment, God revealed the sure foundation. In the ful-
and seminary are tiny and of no account. What can         ness of time, in the cross and resurrection of Jesus
we do? Will we survive? We must hear tonight              Christ, the sure foundation was laid. All we await is
God's great "nevertheless." Hearing the word in           the final realization of all things in the new
faith we shall be able to persevere in the work with      creation.
confidence and joy.                                         That foundation has a seal. That seal is that by
     I call your attention to God's sure foundation.      which anything is confirmed, proved, authenti-
Notice with me, in the first place, what it is. In the    cated. The seal which God placed upon the founda-
second place, its seal. And in the third place, our       tion is a mark of ownership. The foundation be-
calling.                                                  longs to God; and we know that because it has
                                                          God's seal. The seal also certifies or guarantees the
     The text speaks of "the sure foundation of God."     genuine character of the foundation. The question
There are many views as to the meaning of this con-       is how can we be sure we are building upon the
cept. The most common are these: 1) the founda-           sure foundation of God. That's a real question.
tion is eternal election, 2) the foundation is Christ     Many claim to be building upon the sure founda-
Himself,  3) the foundation is the church. The first      tion of God. How can we be certain? Look at the
cannot be correct since the apostle mentions elec-        seal! That's the proof, the sure guarantee.
tion as part of the seal of the foundation. The third
cannot be correct because the apostle speaks of the         The seal is twofold. "The Lord knoweth them
church as a house in verse 20. Christ is the sure         that are His." This is sovereign, eternal election.
foundation of God. This is the teaching of Scrip-         From all eternity the Lord knows them that are His,
ture. In I Corinthians  3:ll we read: "For other          before the foundation of the world He chose them
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which        in Christ. In His love and mercy God gave them to
is Jesus Christ." And Ephesians 2:20 teaches: "And        Christ, the Good Shepherd. Christ laid down His
are built upon the foundation of the apostles and         life for them and took it again. These God pre-
prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corn-      served by His grace and Holy Spirit unto everlast-
erstone." In both of these passages Scripture speaks      ing life and glory.
of the church as a building or temple built upon the        This truth also implies reprobation. God does not
foundation. That foundation is Christ, the revela-        know them that are not His. These God causes to
tion of God Who is the God of our salvation. Christ,      serve His purpose in Christ and these God con-
by Whom and for Whom God made all things,                 demns in the way of their own sin to everlasting
Christ crucified is the foundation of the church.         destruction. This means that to deny the truth of
Through His shed blood and in His resurrection            sovereign predestination is to deny the seal of
from the dead the church has been redeemed from           God's sure foundation. This is precisely what
sin and death. That Christ is the foundation of God       Pelagianism, Arminianism, and Liberalism in all
means that the Word of God is God's sure founda-          their forms do.
tion. Christ is the Word made flesh. Through the
Holy Spirit God reveals Himself in Christ in His in-        But there's another aspect to this seal: "and, let
fallible Word. That's the foundation of God, Christ       everyone that narneth the name of Christ depart
as revealed in His inspired, infallible Word. Upon        from iniquity." To name the name of Christ is to
that foundation the church is built. In this context      confess Christ to be our Savior and Lord. It is to
the church as manifest in the world, the church in-       stand away from all unrighteousness, all of that
stitute is meant. The church as manifest in the           which is contrary to the will of God as revealed in
office of believer and the office of minister, elder,     Scripture. It is to hate and flee all sin; to put off the
deacon. That church must be built upon the one,           old man and to put on the new. It is to trust in
sure foundation of God, Jesus Christ, the Scrip-          Christ and love Him with all our hearts.
tures.                                                      These two aspects belong to the one seal. Sancti-
     The text emphasizes the foundation's strength.       fication is the fruit of election. One cannot have
Notice it is a  sure  foundation: firm, solid, strong,    election without sanctification, and one cannot
immovable foundation. And that foundation stands          have sanctification without election. Election is not


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   7



a cold, abstract piece of dogma. Election always im-     name the name of Christ and stand away from all
plies a calling, a responsibility if you will. That      unrighteousness. In that way those whom we teach
calling is: name the name of Christ in the way of        will see in us that we are known of God. If we
departing from iniquity. That is the seal. The Lord      speak any other word we will lead the church away
knows them that are His and by His Word and              from the foundation, for our words, the words of
Spirit He works in their hearts so that they name        mere men, are never more than vain, profane
the name of Christ and depart from iniquity. By          babblings.
that double seal we know that the foundation of             To the students God says: listen, learn the truth
God stands sure.                                          of the Word of God brought by your professors.
  What then is our calling? Obviously we must            And not only listen but receive that instruction
build on God's sure foundation. The churches need        with an obedient and a believing heart. Only men
ministers of the Word who are skilled and able to         of faith, men convicted of the truth of God's Word,
visit the sick with the Word of God and reassure          only these can build on the sure foundation of God.
them of God's love and care for them. The church-         Study, study hard that you may become a workman
es need ministers to comfort those that sorrow in         approved of God, one who knows how to divide the
the hope of the victory of the resurrection, to care      Word of truth aright. In that way you need never be
for the anxious and despairing, the lonely and            ashamed. In this work God's church may be en-
troubled among God's people, to guide those who           couraged. Viewing the ecclesiastical scene one
have difficulties in their marriages or with their        might well be inclined to despair. Many in the Re-
children. The churches need ministers. Ministers          formed tradition are no longer building on God's
are needed to help those in need and to correct and       sure foundation. They deny the truths of creation,
admonish the wayward. The churches need pastors           the fall, the flood, the miracles, the inspiration of
who reflect the compassion, sympathy, and love of         Scripture, and even the virgin birth of our Lord.
the Chief Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ. And the        And all of these denials amount to a denial of the
seminary must train students for this work.               sovereign God of truth. They reject both aspects of
                                                          God's seal. By rejecting reprobation and teaching
  But above all else the churches need  preachers!        universalism they deny election: the Lord knows
Men who are mighty in the Scriptures and filled           them that are His. By allowing all kinds of corrup-
with the knowledge of God's Word are needed.              tion (drama, dance, homosexuality) they embrace
Men who will go to the pulpit not with their own          all kinds of iniquity rather than depart from it. Be-
vain and profane babblings, but with God's Word           sides, our churches are small and they struggle.
are needed. The church needs men skilled at ex-           What do they amount to? For the first time in thirty
pounding and proclaiming the Word of God, men             years they decreased rather than increased in total
who dare to wield the sword of the Spirit and cour-       members. There are problems too in the churches.
ageously proclaim the truth against every form of         What's the use? Shall we despair?
the lie. Only in this way will the church be built on
God's sure foundation.                                      Never. Listen again to the first word of the text,
                                                          ' `nevertheless. ' ' That is God's great "nevertheless."
  Therefore to the professors God says: build on          The foundation of God stands sure and immovable
the sure foundation. We who teach must bow in             with its seal: election and sanctification. No heretic
humble obedience before the infallible Word of            ever did or ever will destroy the church built on
God. The only proper response to the Word in all of       God's sure foundation. No devil either. Not even
our study and teaching is: "I believe." To assume         the gates of hell can prevail against God's church.
the stance of the higher critic is to deny and reject     We can do our work with joy and confidence.
the sure foundation of God. We must teach the             Building on the sure foundation of God we shall
truth of Scripture in every course of study. We           never be moved. It is God's foundation, God's
must let the truth be seen over against all heresies      Christ, God's Word, God's church. And God is
and false doctrine. And God's seal of His sure foun-      GOD.
dation must be reflected in us. In our lives we must
DAYOFSHAilOWS

                    Too Much Contempt and Wrath
                                               Rev. John A. Heys
  Sin begets sin.                                         beasts, birds beget birds, and fish beget fish, sin
  As surely as man begets man, beasts beget               brings forth more sin. And on this earth, as fertile


8                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



soil, sin develops until, as Paul writes in II             the king said was not based on a conviction of what
Thessalonians  2:3, it has brought forth the man of        Peter and John said in Acts 5:29, "We ought to obey
sin, the son of perdition. Or, if you will, and as John    God rather than men." No, she had contempt for
calls him in I John  2:18, the Antichrist, who will        this drinking husband of hers, who, with a heart
appear and bring sin to its horrible climax.               merry because of wine, ordered her to show her
     There was an antichrist  - a forerunner of the        beauty. And she hated this man! She hated him not
Antichrist to come, the man of sin in his final,           simply for this demand, but had no love for him
dreadful form  - in the day of shadows that saw            long before this day.
Esther as queen through a series of sinful deeds.            Vashti was a proud woman. Consider that excep-
That antichrist was king Ahasuerus, and his sins set       tional gifts, that is, natural gifts of God's provi-
the stage for another antichrist whose name was            dence, whether that be a fair countenance, musical
Haman, and who did all in his power to seek to             abilities, athletic prowess, mental brilliancy and the
keep the Christ from being born, and to wipe the           like, because of our depraved natures make us
Church of Christ from off the earth. Let us take           proud. Instead of being filled with thankfulness
note of this series of sins as sin thrived and brought     and of striving to use that gift to the utmost to God's
forth abundant fruit in the realm of the Medes and         glory, we elevate ourselves above those given other
the Persians.                                              talents, as though we got these by our own strength
     King Ahasuerus, moved by the spirit of alcohol,       or wisdom. A woman with physical beauty, there-
ordered his wife to display her beauty to the men          fore, likes to display it and welcomes opportunities
whom he was entertaining. The sin of intoxication,         to get the praise, the looks and the oohs and aahs of
even though it did not cause him to lose his ration-       men, and even the jealous looks of other women.
ality, did affect him enough to stir him to an act he      To be the best, the most talented, the most beauti-
would not have committed had he not imbibed. We            ful among others, our flesh wants, and not to hide
read of that in Esther  1:lO. "When the heart of the       but to display. (Yes, to be the most popular, or best-
king was merry with wine he commanded" his                 liked preacher also throbs in the breast of those
seven chamberlains to bring Vashti the queen "to           called to be humble servants to God and of His
show the people and the princes her beauty." She           people.) We may, therefore, believe that Vashti,
must, according to the king's command appear               with all that exceptional beauty, delighted in
with the crown royal. 0, yes, all must see that this       having it seen and in having the applause, if not
beautiful woman was his possession. The sin of             even loud murmurs and  cryings of approval and
taking too much wine leads to an open display of           praise.
sinful pride and gratification of his fleshly ambi-          She enjoyed being queen. That was one redeem-
tions.                                                     ing feature of being the wife of this man whom she
     There is no evidence that he demanded any im-         despised. The rich clothing, the luxuries of her
moral display of her body. Verse 11 says that she          palace were not to be frowned upon but to be en-
was fair to look on. And this can be translated "of a      joyed by the flesh. The word contempt can be
good countenance." And wearing the crown royal             translated loathe, despise. And the word wrath can
certainly suggests that she had queenly apparel on         be translated, and is so translated in Deuteronomy
above and beyond that crown. We had better not             29:28, as indignation. Put the two together and you
read into the passage what is not stated or sug-           see what her attitude was toward her husband, the
gested.                                                    king. She loathed him and was indignant about past
                                                           deeds. This request, and opportunity to get the
     Therefore, although the king's sins set the stage     praise of men, did not bring such strong feelings
for Vashti's sin, we must not try to defend Vashti,        toward a man she loved and respected. One request
when Scripture gives no indication that she refused        would not bring such vehement reaction. And love
in order to walk uprightly. We do well to look at          would have excused him because he was "merry
what is stated, and thus at what those said who            with wine," or at least have done his bidding  -
were present at the time, and lived in that day. The       since she was not concerned with God's law - and
king's wise men called her deed one of contempt            at the first opportunity requested him never to do
and wrath. And they were not afraid that the               such a thing again.
women in the land, hearing of Vashti's deed, would
become too chaste and spurn all sensuous ad-                 The king likewise was proud. And is not the sin-
vances.                                                    ner, no matter who he may be, always a proud
                                                           creature? Sin is an act of pride. It always is. In every
     Scripture declares that it was her facial beauty      sin, without exception, man exalts  ,himself above
that the king wanted revealed to the people and            God, and in every sin man reveals himself to be so
princes. And we must conclude that Vashti was not          haughty that he dares to disobey and defy the living
concerned with sin before God. Her refusal to do as        God! The proud, whom God sees afar off and  re-


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                9



sists, according to James  4:6 and I Peter  5:5, in his    with branches, leaves, and fruit. For there is more
sinful acts declares that there is no God, and that        coming out of that sin. Mordecai and Esther are
He Who claims to be God is not in actuality. The           drawn into this chain of sinful deeds. Be patient
God upon Whom he depends for every breath of               and we will show that. But their sin sets the stage
life, and on Whose earth he walks, he denies and           for Haman to plan his dastardly deed of having the
defies. Is that not pride? Conceit of the worst sort?      Jews killed, and in that way to prevent the birth of
Before men that sinner may be meek and humble,             the Meek and Humble Saviour of mankind. No,
but before God he is proud. In his proud mind the          Haman did not have that in mind. But that would
sinner says, "He Who calls Himself God is wrong.           have been the fruit of his sin.
He has forbidden me a good thing. He has no right            But to return to the line of the story. Too much
to deny me this pleasure. I may do this that He calls      contempt and wrath? Is there an amount that is al-
evil. What He does not want me to do, I may do;            lowed? It does sound as though Vashti had shown a
and to show you that He is not God,.1 will do it!"         measure of contempt and wrath before this time.
He says that also in his sinful deed. Is that not          There may have been previous nasty encounters
pride? But remember that you say that in every sin;        between the king and the queen. Contempt could
and I reveal it in every transgression of God's law.       have been building up while the king had his one
Though men may call us meek and humble, the                hundred and fourscore days of feasting; and wrath
question is, "What does God say of our thoughts            may have been building up by his celebration and
and works?"                                                boastful display of his majesty. In all this she was
  And king Ahasuerus responded in a proud way              given no part. And now for his satisfaction, with his
to Vashti's act of pride. He did not respond in a          royal crown, she must display her beauty before his
righteous indignation, claiming that she went con-         drunken friends?!
trary to the Fifth Commandment and dishonoured
one whom God placed over her. Humility would                 At any rate, there was too much contempt now.
have moved him to reconsider his request of her,           And there always is too much contempt when man
and driven him to search the Scriptures to see             sins. There was too much when Adam committed
whether he had sinned against the living God. But          his first sin. One sin is too much! For just that one
pride does not do that. Pride always says, "I can do       sin God sent forth a world of curses and prepared a
no wrong. The other fellow is wrong." And as I             lake of everlasting fire. It was not after a multitude
pointed out a moment ago, that is what we say              of sins that God drove Adam out of paradise,
about God every time we sin. We think He is wrong          among thorns and thistles and away from the tree
in demanding of us that we conform to His law. We          of life. And we must not deceive ourselves today
in our deeds say that He is not sovereign and has no       into thinking that one sin is not too bad. One sin is
right to demand this or that of us. If we believe He       too much contempt of God and too much hatred
is God, then in humility we say, "Teach me, 0              towards Him!
Lord, Thy way of truth." We echo the words of                But consider that Satan is at work here. He had
Jesus, "I come to do Thy will, 0 Lord." And                been at work for a long time before this incident.
Ahasuerus did not do that. In pride he ordered his         Through the years he has had a bumper crop of sin.
wise men to advise him as to what must be done to          Esther and Mordecai find themselves in Shushan,
Vashti, not what confession Ahasuerus must make.           and not in the land of Canaan, because Satan suc-
That too, of course, is pride, to refuse to confess sin    ceeded in leading the Kingdom of Judah into idol-
and to demand a confession from those against              atry. And God brought the nation into captivity.
whom you sinned.                                           While the seed of Abraham is under the rule of
  And so we see that the sin of drinking too much          heathen nations, Satan's devilish plan to prevent
wine moved the king to a sinful command for his            the birth of the Christ seems on the threshold of
wife. This led to a sinful reaction on her part. The       being fulfilled. He, who in heaven was filled with
king continues to walk in his sin and seeks advice         pride (I Timothy  3:6),  seems on the verge of suc-
from sinful men to maintain himself in his evil            ceeding in the proud work of keeping God from ful-
way. Step by step he proceeds until he takes that          filling His promise to His church, namely, The Seed
clearer step of sin in that he divorces his lawful         of the woman Who would save us from Satan's
wife, who was not guilty of adultery, and for whose        power.
divorce he can find absolutely no Scriptural                 And why is this history recorded and preserved
ground. But then pride does not want to look for           for us? As we saw in that opening statement of the
God's will, and know what pleases Him. Soon it is          book, all things come to pass out of God's counsel.
the next sinful step that he marries another woman         And although there is too much contempt and
and lives in adultery with her. That little seed of sin    hatred against God in the world, He has too much
consisting in drinking that brightly colored wine in       mercy and sovereign grace in His Son to let Satan
such a graceful drinking vessel has sent forth a tree      succeed. God Himself has too much contempt and


10                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



hatred of Satan and his evil works to let him  suc-       Son'in  the weakness of our flesh, and pretty soon in
teed in keeping His elect church under his evil           the glory of His kingdom. All will work together for
rule. He has too much love for His own to let the         good to those that love God, because God eternally
abundance of evil in the world keep Him from              loved them.
saving all His elect, and reveals this by sending His

GUESTARTICLE


                      The Wonder of Adoption (3)
                                               Rev. Ronald Hanko


  In previous articles we have seen that our adop-        is so great and so wonderful that only God Who
tion as the children of God is predestinated from         planned it and prepared it can give it to us, enable
eternity by God the Father and prepared and sealed        us to understand it, and fill us with the assurance
in time through the work of Christ, the First-begot-      that we are and forever shall remain His dear
ten Son. Now we turn to the third phase in the reve-      children.
lation of the wonder of our Sonship,  the work of the       The work of the Spirit as the Spirit of adoption
Holy Spirit as the Spirit of adoption. It is through      was revealed prophetically already in the Old
the Spirit of adoption that the adoption of sons is       Testament. In Isaiah 44:3-5 the prophet says:
possessed  by the children of God.                              For I will pour water upon him that is
  We must understand, of course, that our empha-             thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I
sis on the Spirit in this aspect of our adoption does        will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My
not mean that the Holy Spirit is not active in the           blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall
predestination or preparation of our  sonship. We            spring up as among the grass, as willows by
know that also election is of the Father, through the        the water courses. One shall say, I am the
Son, and by the Holy Spirit; and Hebrews 9:14 tells          Lord's; and another shall call himself by the
us that it was "through the eternal Spirit" that             name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe
Christ offered Himself in our behalf. Nevertheless,          with his hand unto the Lord, and surname
it is in the application of adoption that the work of        himself by the name of Israel.
the Spirit stands on the foreground.                      Notice two things in connection with this remark-
  In the application of adoption the Spirit gives to      able passage: first, that through the Spirit the
us the blessings and benefits of  sonship that are        children actually "spring up" as living plants in a
earned for us through Christ's bloody sacrifice and       barren land; and secondly, that for these children
sealed to us in His resurrection. The result of the       this involves a new consciousness of their  sonship
work of the Spirit, then, is that we come into con-       so that they begin to call themselves by the names
scious possession of our  sonship, have the assur-        of God's children, "Jacob" and "Israel."
ance of an incorruptible inheritance, and receive           From this prophecy of Isaiah we see, therefore,
the calling to live as sons of God in a wicked world.     something that is more clearly revealed in the New
  The importance of this work of the Spirit is clear-     Testament, that the work of the Spirit of adoption
ly seen by returning to the earthly picture  for. a       has two aspects: the bringing forth of sons, and the
moment. When we adopt a child we do not leave             giving of the assurance of adoption. There are
that child at the adoption agency but we take him to      several New Testament passages which speak of
our home and into our own life, otherwise he              this twofold work of the Spirit, notably II Corin-
would never know  canything of his  sonship, nor          thians 3: 18 and Galatians 4:6 and 7.
would he profit one whit from his adoption. The             The first work of the Spirit of adoption, there-
work of Christ on the cross lays the legal basis for      fore, is the bringing forth of sons. This is a very
our sonship, but does not deliver us from the house       great miracle. When we adopt children and take
of the devil. It is through the Spirit that we are re-    them into our homes and hearts, for all the love we
ceived into the family of God and are made par-           show those children, they never become our own
takers of all the goodness of His house.                  flesh and blood. The great wonder of our adoption
  This work of the Spirit also teaches us once again      as God's children is that we are reborn as the sons
that here, too, our sonship is a great work of God. It    and daughters of the living God. The result of this


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                              II



spiritual rebirth or regeneration is that we, in a          however, for the testimony of the Spirit is
creaturely way, reflect the nature and glories of our       addressed not only to the outward man, but, as we
heavenly Father and of His Only Begotten Son.               read in Romans 8:16, "The Spirit itself beareth wit-
  In Romans  8:29 this work of the Spirit is men-           ness,  with  our spirit,  that we are the children of
tioned. There we are reminded that the purpose of           God." God writes the assurance of  sonship on our
God in predestination is "that we should be con-            hearts, something that we as earthly parents cannot
formed to the image of His Son, that He might be            do.
the firstborn among many brethren." In II Corin-              The Scriptures speak of this testimony of the
thians  3:18 Paul specifically mentions the Spirit, in      Spirit also in Galatians  4:6: "And because ye are
this connection when he says that "we all, with             sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into
open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the          your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Notice that
Lord, are changed into the same image (that of the          Paul simply speaks here of a testimony of the
Lord's glory, R.H.) from glory to glory, even as by         Spirit, whereas in Romans 8 he speaks of a twofold
the Spirit of the Lord." Peter says that there "are         testimony, that of the Spirit with our spirit. The
given unto us exceeding great and precious prom-            reason for this is that in Romans 8 Paul is emphasiz-
ises: that by these ye might be partakers of the            ing the strength of that assurance; thus he teaches
divine nature" (II Peter  1:4; cf. also John l:lO-13,       us that "in the mouth of two or three witnesses"
3:13-18,  II Cor. 5:17, I Peter 1:23, I John 3:9, etc.).    every word of God concerning our sonship is estab-
                                                            lished. In Galatians 4 the emphasis is rather on the
  This spiritual rebirth involves the restoration of        fact that the assurance of sonship is a gracious work
the image of God in us. In Colossians 3: 12 Paul tells      of God through Christ and so the testimony of the
us that our great glory as those who are risen with         Spirit with our spirits is not mentioned.
Christ (vs. 1) is that we have "put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of              Galatians  4:6 is valuable, however, because it re-
Him that created him" (cf. Also Eph.  4:24 and He-          minds us that the Spirit is the Spirit of the Son. That
brews  12:lO). John, however, reminds us that this          means three things: that He is given to the Son in
marvelous renewal of our nature in the image of             His exaltation (Acts 2:33), that He is poured out by
our Father in heaven is not complete until at last we       the Son upon the church (John  16:7), and that He
appear before Him in glory: "Beloved, now are we            speaks only of the Son (John  15:26, 16:13, 14). That
the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we         is important because it is only as the Spirit of the
shall be: but we know that when He shall appear,            Son that He can give us the assurance that we are
we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."       sons. He testifies of our adoption as sons and
John is saying that our glory as the sons of God is         daughters of God, by testifying of God's Only
not yet  visible  and will not be visible until the ap-     Begotten Son. The two, our  sonship and His, can
pearing of the Lord Jesus. Then "the Saviour, the           never be separated even in the work of the Spirit of
Lord Jesus Christ . . . shall change our vile body,         adoption.
that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious               Through the work of the Spirit, then, an intimate
body, according to the working whereby He is able           relationship of love and friendship is established
even to subdue all things unto Himself" (Phil. 3:20,        between God and His people in Christ. Not only
21).                                                        does the Spirit testify of God's love toward His
  The second part, then, of the Spirit's work as the        people, but the Spirit as the Spirit of adoption also
Spirit of adoption is that of giving the assurance of       awakens in the hearts of the children a response of
sonship to God's children. Thus it is that the truth        love toward God. Of this we read in Romans 8: 15b:
of adoption becomes a matter of comfort and joy to          "Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby
each of God's sons and daughters. Here the earthly          we cry, Abba, Father." In that cry all of the love of
picture holds true once again. When we adopt a              God's children for their Father is expressed, as well
child, then we show that child our love by taking           as a complete dependence upon Him, and a longing
him into our home, caring for his needs, protecting,        to dwell in His heavenly house.
helping, and instructing him. Thereby we prove                Once again the earthly picture serves us well.
our love to him and show both in word and deed              Adoption becomes a legal reality for us when all the
that he is a son not only before the law but also in        papers are signed, but it does not become a living
our hearts.                                                 reality until first our adopted child in response to
  Through the Spirit God proves His love to us.             our love and care cries for the first time, "Father,
Through the Spirit He gives good gifts to His chil-         Mother." And as much and much more than we de-
dren (Luke  11:13, I Cor.  12:7-111,  helps and com-        light in the cries of our children, our heavenly
forts them (Rom.  8:26, John  14:16-18, etc.), teaches      Father delights in all those who cry to Him. But
them (John  7:37-39,  etc.), and cares for all their        here also the earthly reality falls short, for we may
needs. The earthly picture falls short of the reality,      be disappointed in those adopted children, finding


12                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



them unthankful and sullen; but our heavenly                as dear children" and to "walk in love, as Christ
Father is never disappointed, for it is His almighty        also hath loved us" (Eph. 5: 1,2).
grace working in His children through the Spirit               So it is that through the Spirit we are rooted and
that elicits this response from them-every one.             grounded in love and are able to comprehend and
      And this response of the children of God is some-     know with. all the saints what is the breadth, and
thing that is not only treasured up in the secret           length, and depth, and height of the love of God in
places of their hearts, but becomes their confession        Christ which passes knowledge. Yea, when Christ
both in word and deed. We are called to be "blame-          as the Son of God dwells in our hearts through the
less and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke,         Spirit and by faith, then we are filled with all the
in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,              fullness of God our Father and look forward to the
among whom (we) shine as lights in the world"               day when we shall dwell in His presence and in His
(Phil.  2:15). We are called to be "followers of God,       house forever.

SPECIAL REPORT

                              Report From Singapore
                                                 Rev. A. den Hartog


      Greetings to our beloved churches in the U.S.A.       people, who came to us from other churches in
who have called us and support us continually in            Singapore, also joined our church by making public
the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ on the mission        confession of their faith. In the midst of this we
field. It is our joy to report to you again of how the      were all reminded of how the young people here
Lord has blessed His church here and added unto             have to stand for their faith in face of severe perse-
her such as must be saved. The Lord continues to            cution in their own homes. One of the sisters, a uni-
reward all those who have given and supported this          versity student, who had earnestly desired to be
cause. As your missionaries we daily give thanks            baptized on that day was locked up by her parents
that the Lord has given to us the great privilege of        in her room to prevent her from being baptized.
being involved in the work of missions and wit-             Her mother came to her in tears urging her not to
nessing how the Lord prospers this work in Singa-           be baptized. Her father threatened to disown her
pore. All the glory belongs unto the Lord alone Who         entirely if she went ahead with baptism. Another
performs great and wonderful deeds in our midst.            one of the sisters who was baptized has ever since
  In our last report in the Standard Bearer we told         suffered severe persecution in her home. Her
you about all the weddings we were having in the            father has pressed her very hard, trying to make her
church. These are now history and we are experi-            promise never to go to church again. By the grace of
encing the blessings of all the new Christian homes         God she has refused to do this. Whenever she
in our midst. The highlight of all these weddings           comes to church now she must do this without her
was the triple wedding on June 25. This was a-very          parents knowledge or she will get into trouble.
large wedding. There were more than 700 people in           How precious the Lord makes faith in Him in situa-
attendance. Pastor Lau officiated. I was asked to           tions such as these.
preach a short sermon on Joshua 24. It was quite an            The Lord continues to add to His church here in
experience preaching from this passage where                a wonderful way. On July 31 we started another
Joshua exhorts Israel to put away their idol gods           pre-baptism and membership class. I was asked to
and worship the only true God of heaven and earth.          teach this class again, something which fills me
As I was standing there preaching I was profoundly          with great joy and excitement. We were very
aware of the fact that a large majority of the audi-        thankful to the Lord and excited when 16 young
ence was heathen and idol worshiping. Before this           people signed up for this class. Most of these are
audience the three couples were vowing together             seeking baptism in the church. The others are com-
with Joshua to serve the Lord the true and living           ing to us from other churches in Singapore and are
God.                                                        seeking to become members of our church. As
  Another very great event took place in our                usual this class will continue for about  20  to  25
church on July 9. On that day nine young people             weeks. We are meeting every Lord's Day afternoon
made confession of their faith and received Adult           at our apartment.
Baptism. Besides these nine another six young                 During the month of June the church had its


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 13



annual Bible camp similar to our young people's         once again to have two meetings in connection with
convention in the U.S.A. Pastor Lau was the key         the celebration of Reformation Day. I have been
speaker for the camp. He gave five messages on the      asked to speak on a subject related to the Reformed
theme, "Be Thou My Vision Lord." It was again a         Faith. We will be renting a Presbyterian Church for
blessed camp that served very much for the spiritu-     the meetings. Much work is already being done to
al enrichment of the lives of those who attended. I     publicize these meetings. These meetings have also
was asked to give one message at one of the evening     become yearly affairs for the church and the Lord
meetings as well as be involved in a number of the      has blessed them greatly in past years.
other activities of the camp.                             The church here continues to face great
  On July 28 and 29 the University students in our      problems as far as obtaining a new building is con-
midst sponsored two lectures especially for Univer-     cerned. In the past months, building in Singapore
sity students at a place near to the campus. We had     has been a little slower because of the recession.
these last year too. Pastor Lau was asked to speak      Presently it is picking up again. This means that our
on the Reformed Faith. His theme for the first          present place in River Valley could soon be demol-
evening was, "Why Does God Save Some and Not            ished to make room for re-development. We are ur-
Others?" The theme for the second evening was,          gently in need of another place. Besides this, our
"Today's Gospel, Authentic or Synthetic?" It never      present meeting place is again filled to capacity. Re-
ceases to amaze me how many people come out for         cently we were able to expand the seating capacity
events such as this in Singapore. We were happy to      a little again. But that is all filled up again and there
see quite a number of new university students at        is no more possibility of expansion. We face many
both meetings. These meetings also serve as the be-     great problems in connection with obtaining a new
ginning of a new school year and of another year of     worship place. The greatest problem is of course
weekly Bible study meetings for the University stu-     coming up with the huge sum of money necessary.
dents. Over the years the Lord has brought a            It is very unlikely that we will be able to get any
number of students into our church through these        bank loans. Then too there are really very few
activities.                                             places available in overcrowded Singapore. It is
  The church here is excited about the fact that        very unlikely that we would ever be able to pur-
they have another young man from here training to       chase a place big enough to hold our present con-
become a minister. This is another very significant     gregation. We would have to get a place that would
development for the future of the church here. We       have seating capacity for at least two hundred al-
ought also to rejoice that the Lord uses our Protes-    ready now. We are therefore looking for an old
tant Reformed Theological School in this manner.        house that could be converted to be used as a
  There have been in the last months some very in-      church meeting place. Then we would probably
teresting develoments with our contacts with breth-     have to have at least two or more services in the
ren in Trengganu Malaysia. In the month of May          morning to accomodate the people and another ser-
we were invited to come up to preach for the            vice in the evening. Even such a place would cost a
church there. There is a group of brethren there        very great deal more money than we can afford pre-
who love the Reformed Faith and desire earnestly        sently. Besides this, we are presently in grave dan-
to see the Reformed Faith established in the church     ger of losing the place we are now using for our Toa
there. We had an opportunity to preach in a church      Payoh Mission services. There is a question about
there and also to have a blessed time of fellowship     the legality of holding our services there. This may
with the brethren. One of the brothers, Joseph Tan,     mean that we will have to stop our Toa Payoh Mis-
has for a number of years been getting books and        sion services, which would be very sad indeed. To
materials from our P.R. churches. He is really zeal-    find another place will be very difficult if not im-
ous for the Reformed faith and has his own book-        possible. We trust, however, that the Lord knows
store where he sells Reformed books. Another            our need and that even as He has always done in
couple who has become very dear to us is earnestly      the past so He will provide for our future needs.
trying to promote the Reformed Faith in the Baptist     The Lord is able to do things beyond our knowledge
Church where they belong. These brethren really         and expectation.
need our prayers. Since the time of our visit up          Today I am giving personal catechism instruction
there the brethren have earnestly requested more        to a young girl. This has been going on for several
help. Last month one of our elders and his family       weeks. She is from a Buddhist home that is strongly
went up there to give spiritual counsel and encour-     against her being a Christian. She is able to come se-
agement. There is much talk about future involve-       cretly to the worship services on most of the Lord's
ment in the work there. We are waiting for the          Days. However, she cannot manage to come to the
Lord's direction as to how we can help those saints.    pre-baptism and membership class. She earnestly
  At the end of October the church is planning          desires to join our church. She formerly was  at-

                                                                                                                     I


14                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



tached to a cult. The Lord brought her away from                    ings. Both Pastors are giving special instruction to
this cult and to our church through one of the mem-                 the young man who is also a full-time worker in the
bers of our church.                                                 church. We have session meetings almost every
      As you can gather from the above there is still               week. Some of these meetings last till the early
much work for us to do as your missionary in                        hours of the morning. There are very few evenings
Singapore. Even though the church here has its                      ever when both Pastors are not involved in church
own Pastor there is enough work for two Pastors to                  work. We are thankful that the Lord has given us so
keep very busy. Besides all of the above, there is                  much work to do and continues to use our churches
much visitation and pastoral work. Both of us are                   for the work of missions here in Singapore.
involved in leading Bible Study groups and speak-                   Continue to pray for us and for the church of Jesus
ing regularly for such meetings as Adult Fellowship                 Christ here in Singapore.
and Youth Fellowship and the many special meet-
ALLAROUND US
Rev. G. Van Buren



                                     The "Turn of the Screw"

      Perhaps the following hardly seems newsworthy                    down the road. Fred Graham, legal reporter for CBS
anymore since it was an event which occurred                           News, said that new lawsuits are already in the works
several months ago. Yet, because it will likely have                   on the basis of alleged religious and sexual discrimina-
a real and devastating effect on Christian schools                     tion by churches and schools.
and even on churches, it is worthy of continued at-                      Further, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has
tention. I refer to the ruling of the Supreme Court                    reportedly been pressuring IRS to apply Title IX regu-
on May 24, 1983 concerning the denial of tax                           lations on sexual discrimination to all private schools.
exemption for Bob Jones University. You have like-                     Such pressure, some observers speculated, prompted
ly read of it. The Presbyterian Journal, June 8, 1983,                 President Reagan, immediately on the heels of the Su-
quoted from the rules of Bob Jones University as                       preme Court decision, to fire three members of the
stated in their student handbook:                                      Civil Rights Commission and replace them with con-
                                                                       servatives to his own liking.
       There is to be no interracial dating                              The argument of BJUs attorneys that the issue is ul-
         1. Students who are partners in an interracial mar-           timately one of religious freedom was rejected by the
       riage will be expelled.                                         Court, which admitted that "denial of tax benefits will
         2. Students who are members of or affiliated with             inevitably have a substantial impact on the operation
       any group or organization which holds as one of its             of private schools, but will not prevent those schools
       goals or advocates interracial marriage will be ex-             from observing their religious tenets."
       pelled.
         3. Students who date outside their own race will be             Instead, said the Court, "The governmental interest
       expelled.                                                       at stake here is compelling....The Government has a
         4. Students who espouse, promote, or encourage                fundamental, overriding interest in eradicating racial
       others to violate the university's dating rules and reg-        discrimination in education. . . . That governmental in-
       ulations will be expelled.                                      terest substantially outweighs whatever burden de-
                                                                       nial of tax benefits places on petitioners' exercise of
      This same periodical explains the ruling of the                  their religious beliefs."
Supreme Court:                                                        Dr. Carl  McIntire wrote, as quoted in  Christiun
         In an 8-1 ruling, the Court said that to warrant ex-       News, June 6,1983,
       emption under the IRS code, an institution must not               The United States Supreme Court decision in the
       only fall under one of the categories listed in Section         Bob Jones University case,... denying them IRS tax ex-
       501 (c)  (3), but also "demonstrably serve and be in            emption, concedes that it actually is a denial of reli-
       harmony with the public interest, and the institution's         gious liberty. The court said, "On occasion this Court
       purpose must not be so at odds with the common com-             has found certain governmental interests so compel-
       munity conscience as to undermine any public benefit            ling as to allow even regulations prohibiting religious-
       that might otherwise be conferred."                             ly based conduct." The Bob Jones case is another such
         . ..That fear, of course, is what drives some religious       occasion. There the religiously based conduct is a ba-
       and educational leaders to speculate what could lie             sis for severe tax penalties which the Court conceded


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          15



   will injure the school. How many other "occasions"           Schools which forbid dating and "marriage"
   will we now have? The door is open for many more,            between those of the same sex could likewise be
   based on the court's clearly stated statement for its in-    said to "discriminate" and therefore not be entitled
   terpreting of the Constitution.. . .                         to tax exemption. To forbid dating and marriage be-
          What will now be done by the courts to sustain the    tween a Christian and an atheist could also be dis-
   civil rights of homosexuals because of rules in Chris-       criminating. To refuse to have an atheist or homo-
   tian colleges and churches against them, their dating        sexual as teacher could be regarded as basis to deny
   and the like? This can not be dismissed. Tax exemp-          tax exemption.
   tion could be denied on their behalf some day. In an
   increasingly secular humanistic society, all religious         Secondly, the I.R.S. has already attempted in the
   tax-exemption could eventually go. An open-ended             past (and thus far has failed because of the tremen-
   Constitution can be used to do this very thing in the        dous outcry against their ruling) to insist that the
   future under such a court as exists today,                   absence of blacks in a school is per se proof of dis-
          This now opens to government penetration a new        crimination. The I.R.S. tried to insist that each
   area in the whole religious world. Basically it becomes      school  must  have an active recruitment policy to
   the rule of men, not the law, the supreme law.               bring blacks into their school-or they were dis-
  We might respond, "So what?" Bob Jones Uni-                   criminatory and would be denied tax exemption.
versity represents a school which hardly sets forth             This effort will likely now be renewed. It could
Calvinistic, much less Protestant Reformed, truths.             conceivably be extended to include a demand for
We would want to set ourselves far from them. Yet               active recruitment of homosexuals or atheists for
the Supreme Court decision against them is                      teachers as proof of non-discriminating positions.
extremely disturbing - alarming, in fact.                         Thirdly, what is true for schools and their  tax-
  Whatever one might say about the rules of B.J.U.              exempt status, can as easily be applied to churches.
concerning interracial dating and interracial mar-              Those that deny women officebearers, those that
riage, the fact is that these rules were adopted by             condemn and discipline homosexuals, those that do
B.J.U. out of their religious convictions. It was not           not have sufficient blacks-would be judged
even a matter of discrimination. B.J.U.  does  admit            discriminating and not eligible for tax-exemption.
blacks in the school. There are black students on                 Finally, there is but one short step between de-
the campus. These voluntarily enter this school in              nial of tax-exemption because of "discrimination,"
full knowledge of the rules. These students, as far             and denial of right-of-existence. The Supreme
as I know, have never complained about discrimi-                Court could well state in the future (as it did in the
nation.                                                         present instance), "The governmental interest at
  And though we might convince ourselves that                   stake here is compelling.... The Government has a
we have no such similar rules, and therefore are                fundamental, overriding interest in eradicating
not affected by the Supreme Court ruling, let me                racial (and sexual?) discrimination.. .  ." The Court
remind you of what one can expect if this Court                 then could well conclude that any organization
ruling is applied consistently.                                 which is not in harmony with this "governmental
  First, the courts of the land have also spoken of             interest," may not continue to exist. Indeed, a tre-
the "rights" of homosexuals. Apply, if you will, the            mendous blow was struck against "religious free-
ruling of the Court to the situation of homosexuals.            dom."


                                           God our Father (?)

  The "in" thing today seems to be the attempt to               the Banner, Aug. 29, 1983, in "Soapbox," written
remove any "sexist" language from Scripture. One                by Dr. Hendrik Hart. He states in conclusion to his
expects this from the wild-eyed liberal. For exam-              article:
ple, the National Council of Churches is consider-                   I'm pretty well convinced that thinking of God as
ing the following revision of John 3:16, "God loved                 mother is not wrong. Just strange and different. And
the world, loved it so much that the beloved Child                  if that's the case, I do not have the rig&  to forbid this
of God was given to the world, and all who trust in                 novel and unusual usuage to those who find  more
this unique being will never perish but have eternal                comfort in it, more faith, more meaning. That would
life."                                                              be unpastoral. Just as it would be unpastoral to force
                                                                    others to say "mother" to God. So I'm fairly con-
  But one is shocked to find something similar in                   vinced that we have to make room, also in our worship


16                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



       service, for those who are growing up with the won-                 clever argumentations notwithstanding. Does a
       derful message of God as their mother. I'm nearly                   child who has two horrible, cruel parents, who
       convinced that if we don't, we will be wrong.. . .                  finds affection only in her little dog, therefore ad-
      The writer bases this strange claim on this:                         dress God as, "God our Dog"? The reasoning, it
         Jesus, the Bible, the Lord's Prayer, our confessions,             seems to me, is as logical as that which Hart pre-
       doctrine, tradition, songs, and the organization of our             sents-but it is blasphemy. When the earthly type
       faith can be said to be circles which have "God the                 is corrupted by sin, as inevitably it is, this does not
       Father" as their center. Still, for a person whose his-             change the reality. It's a question of maintaining
       tory has made "father" a source of anguish rather                   the teaching of infallible Scripture. Jesus taught  us
       than comfort, betrayal rather than trust, enmity rath-              to pray, "Our Father...." Never in Scripture is He
       er than love, we have no doctrine which  commands                   presented as "mother." May we ever seek to
       the use of that image.                                              improve on the prayer Jesus taught us to pray-or
      This article is in line with a recent report I heard                 use language contrary  to the concept of the "Father-
of a minister (Reformed) who spoke of the Second                           hood" of God? Scripture gives to God other names
Person occasionally, though not consistently, as the                       -but never "Mother." The churches ought to cut
"daughter" of the First Person.                                            out such evil foolishness quickly and emphatically.
      All the above appears blasphemy to me, all the                       To do otherwise is to deny the infallible Scriptures
                                                                           and to lose one's Reformed heritage.

BIBLE STUDYGUIDE

                      Philemon - Counsel Concerning
                                               a Runaway Slave
                                                                Rev. J. Kortering

      This little gem was written by Paul to a rich man                    lationship between Paul and Philemon, as evi-
who -was instructed by Paul to receive his slave                           denced in the terms of endearment used ("dearly
who had run to Rome, but was converted there by                            beloved") and the special request that Paul makes
Paul's preaching and instructed to return. As such,                        of him, namely, to receive his runaway slave back
it contains many implications on the fruits of the                         home.
gospel.                                                                       The name of this slave was Onesimus. He evi-
PHILEMON AND ONESIMUS                                                      dently had done something wrong. It is suggested
                                                                           that he stole money from his master  - "which in
      Philemon was a member of the church at Colos-                        time past was to thee unprofitable" (vs. 11). Along
se, perhaps even an office bearer, addressed as "fel-                      with this crime he ran away to Rome, for there a
low laborer" (vs. 1). In all likelihood Philemon was                       slave could become lost in the obscurity of the mil-
among the converts when Paul worked in Colosse                             lion and a half people who lived there. While in
during his third missionary journey. You recall that                       Rome he contacted Paul, who was imprisoned in a
during this journey Paul stayed about three years in                       house. Some suggest that Onesimus knew Paul
Ephesus, from which he travelled to cities in the                          from the time he labored in Colosse, and when he
area, Colosse included (Acts 19: 10). Philemon's                           heard that Paul was in prison, looked him up with
wife was Apphia (vs. Z), and his son was Archippus                         the desire to be right with God. Others suggest that
(vs.  2), who was a leader, perhaps minister, in the                       it was the need for money (he spent the stolen
church of Colosse (Colossians  4:17). This may ex-                         money and became desperate) that prompted him
plain why all three are addressed, and why men-                            to turn to Paul. Whatever it was, God used the
tion is made of the "church in thy house" (vs. 2).                         preaching of Paul to lead Onesimus to conversion
We may also conclude from this that they were                              and to faith in Christ: "my son whom I have begot-
people of material means, known for their hospi-                           ten in my bonds" (vs. 10). Paul and Onesimus be-
tality and generosity on behalf of the gospel. They                        came dear friends: "mine own bowels" (vs. 12).
had a house large enough either to hold the servi-
ces, or to accommodate several members. They had                           DATE, AUTHOR, AND OCCASION
slaves and they cared about the material needs of                             The immediate occasion for writing this letter
the saints (vss. 5-7). Evidently there was a close re-                     was Paul's desire that Philemon receive Onesimus


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 17



back as a slave and forgive him for running away.        implies wisdom (vs. 9). He beseeches him as a pri-
  Let's try to construct in our minds the sequence       soner. to receive Onesimus, the slave (vs. 9). He
of events. Paul is in prison in Rome. The years of       points out to Philemon that he would prefer to keep
his early imprisonment were A.D. 61-63. During           Onesimus with him in Rome and use him for the
this stay, he was held prisoner in a house. He was       gospel's sake, but he realizes it is his duty to return
able to have his friends stay with him. Colossians       him [vs. 13, 14). Finally, he points out that Onesi-
4: 10 mentions Mark, Aristarchus, Justus, Luke, De-      mus is now a brother in Christ, and must be treated
mas, and others. This letter to Philemon mentions        as such (vs. 16). He asks Philemon to receive Onesi-
specifically    "Ephaphras, Marcus, Aristarchus,         mus as if Onesimus were Paul himself (vs. 17). Paul
Demas, Lukas" (Philemon vss. 23, 24). When Ones-         even offers to repay anything he may have stolen if
imus appeared in Rome and was converted, Paul            that is necessary (vs. 18, 19).
and Onesimus realized that duty demanded that              In summary, we can see that the message of Paul
Onesimus return to his master. At the same time,         to Philemon has many important implications.
Paul heard from  Epaphras about the evils taking           First, the spiritual principle of repentance and
place in the church of Colosse. If a person would        forgiveness is basic to all Christian experience.
travel to Colosse to bring them a letter, he would       Tenney in his  Survey writes, "In this letter are
likely go there by way of Ephesus. Since the Ephe-       found all the elements of forgiveness: the offense
sian church needed counsel, Paul sent Tychicus,          (11,  18), compassion  (lo), intercession (10, 18,  19),
who was at Rome with him, to Colosse by way of           substitution (18,  19), restoration to favor  (15), and
Ephesus. Tychicus took with him Onesimus to be           elevation to a new relationship (16). Every aspect of
returned to Philemon, and three letters, one for the     the divine forgiveness of sin is duplicated in the for-
Ephesian church, one for the Colossian church, and       giveness which Paul sought for Onesimus. It is a
one for Philemon, a member of the church of              practical lesson in the petition of the prayer, `For-
Colosse.                                                 give us our debts as we also have forgiven our
  There is no doubt but Paul wrote this letter to        debtors.' "
Philemon. In verse one he identified himself as the        Second, the question arises whether the counsel
writer and called himself "a prisoner of Jesus           of Paul to Onesimus eradicates the former relation-
Christ." The date is the same as that of Ephesians       ship, that is master-slave. Some writers suggest that
and Colossians: A.D. 62 or possibly 63.                  "as you receive me" (vs.  17), and "Having confi-
THE MESSAGE                                              dence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee knowing
  The preaching of the gospel had a saving effect in     that thou wilt also do more than I say" (vs. 21), are
the heart and life of Onesimus. As was true for his      suggestions to Philemon that he free Onesimus
master, Philemon, when Paul preached in Colosse          from being a slave. This is highly speculative. One
during his third missionary journey, so now was          does not read in the New Testament exhortations to
true for this runaway slave. Onesimus must have          change the social structure. Rather, it is more cor-
responded so well to the gospel preached that Paul       rect to see that in this letter, Philemon (master) and
calls him "my child who I have begotten in bonds"        Onesimus (slave) are to deal with each other dif-
(vs. lo), "my own bowels" (vs.  12), and "a brother      ferently. Faith does not abolish older structures, it
beloved, specially to me, but now much more with         does affect how we act in them. By this epistle, Paul
thee both in the flesh and in the Lord" (vs. 16), and    exhorts Philemon to deal with Onesimus as a Chris-
finally, "faithful and beloved brother" (Col. 4:9).      tian must deal with a brother in Christ, even if he is
                                                         a slave, and a runaway at that. Similarly, Onesi-
  Paul desired that Philemon receive Onesimus            mus, as a brother in Christ, must return, respect,
back into his home as a slave. The sin that stood        and serve his master in the Lord. This is a note-
between Onesimus and Philemon had to be re-              worthy example for all social relationships as the
solved. The only way that that could be done was         Spirit works in our hearts by the holy gospel.
for Onesimus to confess his sin against the fifth
commandment (he rebelled against the authority of        A BRIEF OUTLINE
his master),` and prove his confession by returning         1. Salutation (vss. l-3). He, Paul, identifies him-
to Philemon and submitting to his rule. Philemon         self as the author, being a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
was to forgive him in Christ and show the sincerity      He also mentions the fact that Timothy is with him
of this by reinstating him into his former position.     (vs. 1). He addresses Philemon as dearly beloved, a
  It is interesting to note how urgently Paul rea-       fellow laborer, mentions his wife Apphia and son
soned for Philemon to receive Onesimus. He does          Archippus, and includes the church that meets in
not command, though he could have, but                   his house (vss. 1, 2). He expresses the apostolic
beseeches for love's sake to receive him (vs. 9). He     greeting (vs. 3).
reminds Philemon that he, Paul, is aged, and this          2. He expresses gratitude for Philemon's charity


18                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



(vss. 4-8). Paul prays for Philemon (vs. 4), he heard        QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
that Philemon loves Christ and the saints, he re-              1. Reflect upon the evidence that we have as to
joices in this and encourages him to continue (vs.           who Philemon `was,. Is there any indication of his
8).                                                          wealth, his charitableness?
       3. Paul mentions his desire that Philemon re-           2. Show from this letter that both Philemon and
ceive Onesimus back and forgive him (vss. 9-21).             Onesimus were dear friends of the apostle Paul.
He requests that Philemon consider this as coming
from Paul, both older and a prisoner (vss. 9, 10). He          3. What do we know about slaves in this New
informs Philemon that Onesimus is more than a                Testament period? It could be that Onesimus was a
runaway slave, he is a brother in Christ and now             captive taken by the Roman army and subsequent-
profitable for both of them (vss.  12, 13).  He also         ly sold as a slave. Do you think Onesimus had a
asks Philemon to receive him willingly with a view           hard life as slave of Philemon?
to retaining him and using him as a brother in                 4. Show from the Bible that both Philemon and
Christ (vss. 14-16). He asks him to do this as a part-       Onesimus were converted by the gospel preached
ner of Paul; and if money stands in the way, Paul            by Paul.
will repay it all (vss. 17-19). He tells him that by           5. Point out from this letter that the spiritual
doing this, Paul will be lifted up and encouraged by         message is repentance and forgiveness.
the evidence of this fruit in the gospel (vss. 20,21).       6. Do you think that Paul wanted Philemon to
       4. Paul asks Philemon to prepare a lodging place      free Onesimus from being a slave? Is there any indi-
because Paul expects to travel there soon (vs. 22).          cation? Does the New Testament gospel forbid slav-
       5. Closing salutation (vss. 23-25). He sends along    ery?
the greetings of others who are in Rome with him,              7. What lesson is there in this letter for instruc-
Epaphras, Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas (vss.            ting the church. in how to deal with one another,
23,24). He closes with a benediction (vs. 25).               whether one is a master and another a slave?

STRENGTH OF YOUTH

                              Ten Rules for Producing
                            Unspiritual Young People
                                                  Rev. Ron Cammenga


       In any great undertaking there are certain basic        Rule  #l. Parents should take little or no interest
rules or principles which need to be followed if the         in the spiritual education of their children and
endeavor is to be capped with success. The pilot             young people. They should not be involved in
must know the principles of aeronautics; the drafts-         teaching their children their catechism, their Sun-
man the principles of engineering; the surgeon the           day School material, or their Bible material for
principles of human physiology. Such is also the             school. The best excuse to use in implementing this
case in the great enterprise of producing unspiritual        rule is that you are too busy; after all, you've got to
young people. Here, too, one's goal is most easily           put food on the table. Instead of seeing to it that
achieved, and success guaranteed, when these                 your children are prepared for school and  cate-
basic rules are taken into consideration. Applica-           chism, just assume it. It doesn't hurt either to take
tion of these time-tested laws, either singly or in          the position that Christian education isn't really
any combination, is sure to bring about the desired          necessary, and that public school training is ade-
goal. Any consistency in applying the rules is sure          quate. In carrying this rule out, parents should see
to make the Devil cheer and the world applaud. By            to it that their evenings are so filled up with other
the same token the Holy Spirit will be grieved and           activities that they simply have not time for their
the cause of Christ's church in the world dealt a            children. Careful application of the rule is sure to
severe blow.                                                 produce spiritually ignorant young people, young
       What are these rules, the practice of which is        people who neither know nor are interested in the
most effective in producing unspiritual young                truth.
people, a virtual serpent"s brood?                             Rule  #2. Beginning already when the children


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                             19



are very young, parents should give them anything         destructive to our goal as the consistent and loving
that they want. Satisfy their every whim. Always          application of discipline. When it comes to your
buy them the very finest. See to it that they always      attention that your son or daughter is guilty of some
have new toys. Dress them in the finest clothes. As       wrong-doing, minimize the seriousness of their
soon as they can drive, buy them a new car. Lavish        deed. And at all costs, protect them, even if they're
them with every extravagance possible. This is a          in the wrong. Cover for them and give excuses for
most effective means of producing unspiritual             their bad behavior. Make sure the teachers in the
young people. It is sure to make cross-bearing and        Christian school are aware of your disapproval of
self-sacrifice, things which are absolutely necessary     their disciplining the children. And if their bad be-
to the Christian life, repulsive to them. When their      havior continues, don't go to the pastor or the
faith requires of them self-denial, or even requires      elders to seek their help. If the church should
them to endure suffering, they are sure to deny           sooner or later become involved anyway, become
their faith. When it becomes plain to them that the       angry and attempt to stand in the way of the
way into the kingdom is always a way of tribulation       church's work. This rule, carefully followed, is
(Acts 14:22), they will want no part of it.               sure to produce young people who are unholy and
   Rule  #3. Cultivate in your young people a love        wicked.
for pleasure and entertainment. Tell them that,             Rule  #6. At every opportunity, be critical of the
after all, we only live once, and so we ought to get      Christian school teachers, the elders, and the
the most out of life that we can. You can best do         pastor. Make your criticisms known to your chil-
this by madly pursuing pleasure yourself. Instead         dren, and the ill will you feel toward these people.
of impressing upon them that life is a battlefield,       Don't hide your feelings toward them, and don't
tell them that life is a playground. Enjoy yourself       honor them at least for their office's and work's
with sports, or entertainments, or vacations. And if      sake. This, too, is most effective in producing un-
they should become involved in worldly amuse-             spiritual young people. It will encourage the same
ments, so much the better. Their attending the            critical spirit in them. It will cultivate a low view of
movie or going to dances will only further your           the church and the members of the church, and
cause. Consistent application of this principle is        make it easy for them to leave the church later on.
sure to produce young people who are "...lovers of        And this is what usually happens. Once out of the
pleasures more than lovers of God" (II Tim. 3:4).         church and separated from the means of grace and
   Rule  #4. Set before your young people an incon-       the preaching of the truth, they are fair game.
sistent example. You know the old addage, "Do as I          Rule  #7. Allow them to make friends with un-
say, not as I do. " This is sure to work confusion and    believers, or at least do not strongly disapprove of
discourage the young people from living a life of         their establishing these friendships. After all, you
obedience to the glory of God. Some examples. Tell        can reason, they can be a good and effective wit-
your children that they must go to church regular-        ness to these unbelievers in this way. Don't stop
ly, but be irregular in your own attendance. Tell         them from running with these other young people
your children to obey those in authority over them,       who have no concern to live a holy life and no inter-
but you be quick to become angry at the boss, the         est in spiritual things. When they are with these
policeman, or the elders. Tell them that they may         worldly friends, don't be concerned where they are
not go to the movie, but you watch the movies and         or what they might be doing. After all, they're old
drama that come over the TV. Tell them that they          enough to know better, and they can make their
must live chastely, but you read dirty novels and         own decisions. We all know the influence a Delilah
watch filthy television programs. This kind of life is    had on Samson. We all know that Israel's making
sure to be offensive to the young people. They'll         leagues and friendships with the ungodly Canaan-
notice the inconsistency immediately, and your            ites was instrumental in bringing about their
example will speak louder than your words. This is        apostasy from the Lord God. A most effective
an especially old and time-tested rule, that over the     measure!
years has met with a great deal of success.                 Rule  #8. Don't take any interest in the dating or
   Rule  #5. When your children do break one of           courtship of your young people. This rule stands in
God's commandments, be sure that you don't dis-           close connection to Rule  #7. Don't warn them
cipline them, at least not severely. You may, per-        against being yoked together with an unbeliever.
haps, scold them; but nothing more. You know              Don't point out how this angers the God of mar-
what Solomon says, after all, in Proverbs 23: 13, 14:     riage and is destructive to the purposes He has
"Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou      ordained for marriage. Take a light view of their
beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou          leaving the church for the sake of a marriage part-
shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his        ner. Don't point out their calling to maintain mem-
soul from hell." There is scarcely anything so            bership in a true church, and don't point out the


                                             ,-

20                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER



importance of this for their children in the future.            themselves fully, occupy themselves completely
History has proved the effectiveness of this rule.              with getting rich. You know what Jesus said, that
Just call to mind the outcome of the sons of God                it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
marrying the daughters of men prior to the Flood,               needle than for a rich man to enter into God's king-
or the result of the children of Israel marrying the            dom (Matt.  19:24). You know what happened to
ungodly Canaanites prior to the time of the Judges.             Achan in the Old Testament. The Apostle Paul says
Applied consistently, this rule will surely have the            in I Timothy 6:9, 10: "But they that will be rich fall
outcome that the young people are weaned away                   into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish
from the church, their spiritual home and the                   and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction
source of the nourishment of their spiritual life.              and perdition. For the love of money is the root of
      Rule  #9. Point out to your young people the im-          all evil: which while some coveted after, they erred
portance of earthly success. Get them to see that               from the faith, and pierced themselves through
they must succeed in life and establish a name for              with many sorrows." In the parable of the sower,
themselves. Their career has got to be the main                 Jesus speaks of the seed that fell among the thorns
thing. In the case of the young women, don't set                as ". ..he that heareth the word; and the care of this
before them the blessings of establishing a godly               world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the
home and being a joyful mother of children. Tell                word, and he becometh unfruitful" (Matt.  13:22).
them that they ought at least first find fulfillment in         This is a particularly timely measure to employ in
some secular pursuit. Have the young men see the                our affluent society.
importance of success and advancement in the                      These are the ten basic rules to be followed in the
world. Their work must come first, the church and               production of unspiritual young people. There's
family, the things of the kingdom of God, must take             nothing difficult or complicated about any of them.
second place. Once they have made spiritual things              You might say, they come naturally. Apart from the
second place in their lives, it's only a short step to          intervening grace of God, their results are guaran-
giving them no place at all.                                    teed.
      Rule #lo. Set before your children the goal of be-          Now test yourself. How many of the rules have
coming rich. Get them to see that money means                   you been following?
power, and that money talks. Have them exert

TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE


                        God's Providence and Sin (7)
                                                      Rev. H. Veldman


      As we stated in our preceding article, we, as Prot-         The call to repentance and faith which must be
estant Reformed Churches do not believe in Hyper-               addressed seriously to all who hear the preaching of
Calvinism. That God is sovereign and has surely                 the gospel does not negate either God's counsel of
willed sin does not annul our calling to demand of              double predestination, or the sinner's total inabili-
all who hear the preaching of the gospel to repent              ty to turn from his evil way unto the living God. We
and believe. Continually we are admonished as                   are aware of the fact that we are often charged with
people of God unto-faith and repentance because                 the error of not being able, seriously, to demand of
the truth stands sure that God does all things, but             all sinners repe.ntance  and faith because of our em-
also that He causes us to stand in His grace. If it is          phasis upon  tlhe  Calvinistic doctrines of God's
God Who worketh in us the willing and the doing,                double and sovereign predestination, Christ's
we then, as the result of that work of God, must                particular atonement, the sinner's utter inability to
will and do. And as far as the wicked are con-                  do any good, and the irresistible efficacy of divine
cerned, who refuse to walk in the way of God's                  grace. However, we surely subscribe to what we
commandments, who reject the living God because                 read in our Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 4, ,m
Christ saves from sin and they love sin, they will be           answer to Question 8: "Doth not God then do injus-
held accountable for the fact that they loved dark-             tice to man by requiring from hin in His law, that
ness rather than the light and walked in the ways-of            which he cannot perform?", and we quote the
iniquity because they hated the living God.                     answer of the c'atechism:  "Not at all; for God made


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 21



man capable of performing it; but man, by the              Would it not have been far better for you and me to
instigation of the devil, and his own wilful disobe-       enter into glory without the way of sin and grace?
dience, deprived himself and all his posterity of          But, we must understand, this present night of sin
those divine gifts." Notice, please, that God              and darkness and death is no accident. Although
requires of man that which he cannot perform. In-          the infralapsarian begins in God's counsel with the
deed, the demand of repentance and faith is not            phenomenon of sin, and declares that God has
nullified by the sinner's inability to do what is          sovereignly elected and reprobated out of a fallen
good. Pelagianism and Arminianism are not the              human race, the supralapsarian position has never
answer to the possibility of preaching the gospel to       been condemned. And the infralapsarian himself
all its hearers, demanding of them repentance and          concedes that he does not do justice to certain
faith.                                                     strong Scriptural passages. Hence, would it not
  How wonderfully comforting is the truth of               have been better for God's people to enter into
God's Providence and Sin to which we have been             glory without the way of sin and grace? 0, it is
calling attention in these articles. God is absolutely     indeed true that this truth is comforting from the
sovereign. This can never be emphasized too                viewpoint of the church of God in the midst of the
emphatically. We may well ask: what do you pre-            world. Indeed, all things are under our God's sover-
fer, that God is in absolute control or that the devil     eign control, also this present night of sin and
is in control? Somebody must have control. The             death, this valley of the shadow of death.
sinner surely does not control things. The affairs           However, this is not all. We must also maintain
and development of them in the midst of the world          that the eternal glory of the alone living God is my
are certainly not in his hand. They are controlled         comfort. On the one hand, this conception of God's
by a power or powers outside of him. So, the ques-         sovereign control over all things, including sin and
tion is all-important: who is in control?                  darkness, maintains God as God. We must face the
  This truth of God's absolute providence, also as         reality of iniquity. To cause sin to have its origin
governing the reality of sin, is comforting, first of      apart from God gives the church of God no com-
all, from the viewpoint of the position of the church      fort. Shall we maintain the truth of Isaiah  45:7: "I
of God in the midst of the world. Now this is pri-         form light, and create darkness: I make peace, and
marily the viewpoint of our Heidelberg Catechism           create evil: I the Lord do all these things"? We
in Lord's Day 10. Our Heidelberg instructor dis-           realize that when we read in this passage that the
cusses in Lord's Day 10 the providence of God.             Lord creates darkness and also that He creates evil,
This providence of the Lord had already been men-          this does not negate the truth that the Lord is never
tioned in Answer 26 of Lord's Day 9. We read in            the author of sin; or, to express it positively, it does
Question 28: "What advantage is it to us to know           not teach that God is the author of sin and darkness
that God has created and by His providence doth            and evil, and it surely does not negate the truth that
still uphold all things?" Now it is evident that the       the Lord willed sin as committed by man who is a
Catechism here refers also the wicked world. He            moral-rational, responsible creature. Nevertheless,
speaks in Answer 26 of "whatever evils He sends            if God be not the sovereign Creator of evil and
upon me." We read in Answer 28: "since all crea-           darkness, (Isaiah  45:7), then this night of sin and
tures are so in His hand, that without His will they       evil must be ascribed to the devil. Then all this
cannot so much as move." And we also read in               night of sin and evil is of that evil one. Can we
Answer 27 that the providence of God is the                possibly prefer this? It is either or, God or the devil.
almighty and everywhere present power of God               Do we prefer to have the devil in charge? Then we
whereby, as it were by His hand, He upholds                lose God. However, to know God as the only true
and governs heaven and earth and all creatures. In-        God is eternal life (John 17:3). It must be and surely
deed, this power of God also controls the wicked           is the desire and longing of my heart that God re-
world. Now this comfort is very apparent. If all           main God. And the Scriptures declare that He alone
things are controlled by Jehovah, the church is            is God, that there is none beside Him. That He is
surely perfectly safe in the midst of the world.           God,  .Whom I love, that He works all things, that
Then no harm can possibly befall us. No devil, then        He holds the reins of all things in His hand, is of
can do me any harm. Fact is, all things are in the         supreme importance and comfort to the child and
hands of my almighty Father. In His constant care          church of God. The church cannot possibly live
we, of course, are perfectly safe.                         without this truth. It is the rock of all my salvation
   This, however, is not the only comfort which we         and comfort.
may derive from the truth of God's Providence and            And this is not all. God did not simply will sin as
Sin. It is surely true, of course, that the Lord causes    such. More can and indeed must be said. God must
all things to work together unto my good. But of           be God, yes, but He must be God also as the omni-
what benefit is it to me that the Lord has willed sin?     scient and holy One. Now we know that the sinner


22                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



loves sin, but to the Lord this sin is an abomination.      babies into endless perdition. The Lord casts sin-
And we do not hesitate to say that we rejoice in the        ners into hell, also as far as those little babies who
fact, in connection with the presence of evil in the        perish are concerned. Indeed, He did not will sin
midst of the world, that the good and holy God has          for sin's sake. Sin is an abomination to the Lord.
willed it. No, we do not rejoice in the fact of sin it-     But He willed sin for His own Name's sake; He
self, or in its presence in the world. But we do re-        realizes the glory of His Name in the way of sin and
joice in the fact that the good and holy God has            grace. Darkness must serve the light. Even as a
willed it. If the devil held the reins of history in his    diamond shines so much more brilliantly~upon  the
hand I would not have a moment of peace.                    background of a coal pile, even so sin and darkness
Imagine, if you please, that he were in control! Or,        must serve the power and glory of His grace and
imagine that an accident took place in Paradise             the Lord's own adorable sovereignty. All things
when Adam fell, which would imply that it oc-               shall unite in the glory of Jehovah, positively in
curred outside of the Lord's control and jurisdic-          heaven, but also in hell as the everlasting manifes-
tion. This would imply that all things would be "re-        tation of His adorable holiness and righteousness. A
pair work." Imagine that as far as God is con-              remnant is being saved that cannot possibly save it-
cerned, Adam could have earned or obtained for              self. The people of God must suffer for Jesus' sake,
the whole human race eternal life in the way of             in His behalf, that the ages to come may declare
obedience. Imagine that we and all men could have           forever His faithfulness and the power and glory of
attained unto life everlasting! And now Adam sins           His grace. Well may we say, how truly we may and
and the entire human race lies in the midst of sin          do abhor all evil: 0, Lord, if this sin, all this dark-
and death. Now the Lord is attempting to salvage            ness must serve the light, what and how great shall
what He can. He is as it were "picking up the               the light be, the eternal glory of Thy Name! Indeed,
pieces." He offers His salvation to all those who           what depths of the wisdom of God! Who, 0 Lord,
hear the gospel. What a shame it is, then, that the         hath been Thy counsellor? None, and none could
church does not reach more men with this general            possibly be that cousellor. All things shall glorify
well-meaning offer of the gospel. The Lord, Who             His Name. We may, therefore, praise Him, always
would have all men be saved, must now be satisfied          realizing that our covenant God is realizing His
with a mere handful. What a pity! Indeed, what a            glory sovereignly, and this throughout the ages.
pity in the light of the possibility that the whole         What a wonderful truth and confession this is, pro-
human race could have been spared this terrible             claimed by the church of God throughout the ages.
night of sin and darkness and death!                        "For who hath know the mind of the Lord? or who
      Shall we endorse this view? God forbid! The Lord      hath been His counsellor? Or, who hath first given
is unchangeable sovereign, irresistible and                 to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto Him
almighty, also as far as sin and all the powers of          again? For of Him, and through Him, and unto Him
darkness are concerned. Indeed, no accident oc-             are all things: to Whom be glory for ever. Amen."
curred. Never does the devil hold the reins of              (Rom.  11:34-36). With this majestic, inspired word
history in his hand. God indeed willed sin. And             of the apostle we conclude these articles. Our God
now all is well.  AZZ  is well. Sin must indeed serve       reigneth, our almightyand sovereign God reigneth,
the highest glory of God's everlasting Name. 0, the         and He is our God, now and forever. The enemy
Lord did not will sin for sin's sake. It is not so, as      may fume and rage at this truth, but we will cleave
the Arminians would have us believe, that the Lord          to it, our only comfort in life and death, now and
throws people into hell, casts, as they say, little         even forevermore.


                                         Book Reviews

THE NEW CENTURY BIBLE COMMENTARY,                           the book, "a standard commentary on the Revised
I  & II Thessalonians, by Howard Marshall; Wm. B.           Standard Version that is balanced and up-to-date in
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983; 340 pp., $6.95.              terms of both its scholarship and its reflection of
(Paper) (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)                        the contemporary relevance of the biblical text."
  This new set of commentaries, edited by Ronald              Each book contains a rather lengthy introduction
E. Clements (Old Testament) and Matthew Black               which is helpful to one desiring a detailed study of
(New Testament) has added this volume to its list.          the book, but both the introduction and the
It is, according to the information sheet sent with         commentary itself are written from the viewpoint


                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                   23



of higher criticism. Nor are the volumes meant par-                          by systematic revision. This volume includes the
ticularly for laypeople; they are geared more to one                         Beginner's Course, the Intermediate Course, and
familiar with the Greek text and with the intrica-                           several appendices, including a student's guide, a
cies of higher critical thought. While these com-                            teacher's guide, and a Greek vocabulary and
mentaries are useful to those who are interested in                          index."
more modern scholarship, they are not of great                                  The Grammar follows generally what is known
value to one who desires to have an aid in the un-                           as the inductive method. This means that the
derstanding of Scripture.                                                    approach is basically different from historical and
LEARN TO READ THE GREEK NEW TESTA-                                           traditional ways of learning a language. The tradi-
MENT,  by Ward Powers. Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub-                                  tional way is to learn the gramrnar first and then
lishing Co., 1982; 336 pp., $19.95 (Reviewed by                              read the language; the inductive method is to begin
Prof. H. Hanko)                                                              immediately reading the language and learn the
   This new volume is an interesting book on Greek                           grammar as it appears in what is read. This induc-
Grammar, interesting because it follows a new ap-                            tive method can be used in the teaching of any lan-
proach in the teaching of Greek. The following  in-.                         guage and has been successful in teaching modern
formation is given with the book: "The Powers                                languages, especially if the goal is to teach a lan-
method was developed in the classroom and has                                guage to speak it. But the inductive method is not,
been proved highly successful. It applies the prin-                          in this reviewer's opinion, as successful in an an-
ciples of linguistic science to the analysis of New                          cient language where the goal is not speaking, but
Testament Greek and to its teaching and learning.                            reading. Its weakness is its failure to emphasize
The method is based on six principles: framework                             grammar sufficiently to give a solid foundation for
learning; natural language acquisition; immediate                            later use.
introduction to the target material; low threshold of                           However, the book is exceptionally well worked
utility; morphological analysis and pattern recogni-                         out, is, for the most part, lucid in its presentation,
tion (with rote learning of basic paradigms kept to a                        and has abundant helps in the appendices for both
minimum); and progressive presentation followed                              the student and the teacher.
                                                                                The author intended that this book could also be
                   WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                       used by those who wish to teach themselves Greek
   On October 8, 1983, the Lord willing, MR. & MRS. PETER KNOTT              so that they have at least a passing acquaintance
will celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary. We, their children and
grandchildren, are thankful to our Lord and Father for the years we          with the Greek New Testament. It is my judgment
have had them and for all the guidance and help He has provided              that for such purposes the book is ideal. One can
through them.                                                                profit more from this approach than from the tradi-
   "The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion; and thou shalt see the good       tional approach if one is not interested in a
of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's
children, and peace upon Israel." (Psalm 128:5, 6)                           thorough mastery of the grammar of Greek. But the
Andy & Mary Brummel                                                          old saying ought then also to be observed: "A little
   Shelley, Kristi, Julie, & Mike                                            learning is a dangerous thing. . ."
Don &Jackie Offringa
   Dennis, Melonie, & Wendi
Bob & Kathy Knott                                                                            LEAGUE MEETING NOTICE
   Jennifer, Katie, &Aaron                                                     The Fall Meeting of the League of Eastern Men's and Ladies'
                                                                             Societies will be held, the Lord willing, on Tuesday, October 11,
                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                      1983, at 8:00 P.M., at the Hope Protestant Reformed Church. Mem-
                                                                             bers and friends are invited to attend.
   The Martha Ladies' Aid Society of the Protestant Reformed
Church of Hull, Iowa, expresses its sincere sympathy to Mrs. Ralph              Rev. C. Hanko will speak on "The Need for Special Education for
Brummel in the loss of her mother, MRS. PETER HOEKSTRA.                      the Handicapped."
   "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dis-       Gwen Van Kampen (Mrs. Joe)
solved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,                Secretary
eternal in the heavens." (II Cor. 5:l)                                                       CELEBRATING 15 YEARS OF
Rev. Cammenga, Pres.                                                                           COVENANT EDUCATION
Mrs. Henry Hoksbergen, Sec'y.                                                  You are invited to help celebrate 15 years of history at Covenant
                                                                             Christian High School on Saturday, October-8, 1983. The activities
                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                      will begin in the early afternoon with games for the young people and
   The Martha Ladies' Aid Society of the Hull Protestant Reformed            children. A light supper will be served followed by an early evening
Church takes this opportunity to express sincere sympathy to one of          program. If you are interested in participating in the Alumni Choir and
our members, Mrs. John Boer, in the loss of her brother, MR. DAN             Band numbers, call Mr. Vern Huber, (616) 669-9863 or the school,
HOEKSTRA.                                                                    (616) 453-5048. Those not able to attend may get a copy of a com-
                                                                             memorative booklet being prepared, by contacting the school, 1401
   "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."           Ferndale, S.W., Grand Rapids, Ml 49504. A special invitation is ex-
(Psalm 1 16:15)                                                              tended to all our 580 alumni to use this happy occasion to fellowship
Rev. Cammenga, Pres.                                                         together and to renew their friendship. Ours is a "-goodly heritage
Mrs. Henry Hoksbergen, Sec'y.                                                marked out with a gracious care."


      THE STANDARD BEARER
          P.O. Box 6064                                                                   1 G~PEzJk&F&"m /
Grand Rapids, Michigan 4.9506





24                                          THE STANDARD BEARER




                               News From Our Churches
                                                   October 1, 1983

      First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand                The Annual Meeting of the Reformed Free Pub-
Rapids has chosen Rev. R. Miersma to receive the             lishing Association was held September 22, at
call to be missionary on the island of Jamaica.              Southwest Church. Rev. C. Hanko spoke on the
      Rev. den Hartog travelled to Kuala Trengganu,          subject "Contending for the Faith."
Malaysia. Part of the June 27, 1983 letter printed in          Randolph Protestant Reformed Church had this
the August issue of Across the Aide, the newsletter          information in their August 14, 1983 bulletin:
of First Protestant Reformed Church, reads, "There           "There is a newsletter in the bulletin rack from the
are a group of young Christians there who are keen           Randolph Protestant Reformed Christian School
on the Reformed Faith. They are few in number but            Society. The school board intends to print monthly
very zealous and devoted. One young couple Kiah              newsletters in which the need for a Protestant
Siang and his wife Suat Tian are very much the               Reformed Christian School is spelled out." I hope
leaders in the small Baptist Church there. They are          someone on the board will also send me a copy of
very much desirous of bringing the Reformed faith            these newsletters.
to this young church.. . . We do not know if some              The  Classis East has given permission for the
day the Lord will open the door for us to do some            organization of the church in Byron Center.
work there. It is however rather doubtful that a             Further information will be provided in the report
Western missionary could stay in Malaysia for any            from Classis East. Classis West met on September 7
length of time because of the governmental policies.         in Edgerton, Minnesota.
      "We were quite encouraged by the attendance at           The Reformed Witness Hour will no longer be
the  Toa  Payoh Mission last week. We saw a                  heard over WJBL, as of the end of September. In
number of visitors who came because of the  tract-           addition, WJBL is no longer a religious broadcasting
ing done in the area. So we can see that the Lord is         station. The religious broadcasting of the RWH has
blessing the work there. We may be in danger how-            been moved to another station, WWJQ, until the
ever of losing the use of the premises there because         end of September. The reasons for this change are
the government has just drastically increased the            dual coverage, lack of response, and the need to cut
rents of such places. -. ."                                  costs. The RWH can be heard over WFUR-AM at 4
      The August 28, 1983 bulletin of First Church           p.m. Sunday.
read in part, "At the General Consistory meeting               Last time I reported that Mr. Mahtanis showed
held Monday evening, it was decided that hence-              slides at Loveland Protestant Reformed Church. In
forth the following designations will be used: 1. the        August, Mr. Mahtanis also showed slides for the
body of Deacons will be called "The Board of Dea-            congregation of Covenant Protestant Reformed
cons'; 2. the body of Elders will be called the `Con-        Church in Wyckoff, New Jersey. His efforts are
sistory'; 3. the body of Deacons and Elders sitting          greatly appreciated.
together will be called the `Council.' "                       I leave you with this quote from "Profitable
      The building committee of First Church "has            Diversity," by Rev. Meindert Joostens, "As the
come to the conclusion that it will be better to wait        carefree days of Summer rapidly draw to a close,
until Spring to start construction" on the new sanc-         we find ourselves caught up in various congrega-
tuary. They also decided to "provide our own co-             tional and school activities.. . .
ordinator" who would "take bids on all the sub-
contractors and equipment. This would permit us                "Our spiritual gifts are God-given for the benefit
to use our own people as much as possible." "An              of the whole body of Christ. Each of us has gifts and
organ committee has also been appointed...to in-             with them the responsibility to exercise them. Then
vestigate both pipe and electronic organs."                  we shall grow together and increase!"            DH


