STANDARD
          EARER
        REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





II .  .  . Truly to pray is extraordinarily difficult.
It is hard enough to pray in our own private
closets when we are alone with God and ex-
press before God our own personal thanks
and praise, our needs and cares, our fears
and worries. It is more difficult when some-
one else prays in our place and we are called
to make that prayer our own."
   See "My Sheep Hear My.Voice" - page 7




                                          Volume  LXII, No. 1, October 1, 1985  1

                                                                                     1


2                                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER




                                      CONTENTS                                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                                      ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                             Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                             Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
     Meditation' -                                                                                                 Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
        Serving God As He Is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2                       Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                   Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
     Editor's Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .             5     D. Decker, Rev. Barry Gritters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko,
                                                                                                   Rev. Ronald Hanko, Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. J. Kortering,
     Editorial  -                                                                                  Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.
                                                                                                   Gise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman.
        South Africa - Another Viewpoifit . . . . . . . . . . . 6                                  Editorial Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                                       4975  Ivanrest Ave., S.W.
     My Sheep Hear My Voice -                                                                                          Grandville, Michigan 49418
        Our Order of Worship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7                         Church News Editor: Mr. David Harbach
                                                                                                                           4930  Ivanrest Ave., Apt. B
     From Holy Writ  -                                                                                                     Grandville, Michigan 49418
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MEDITATIQN
Cornelius Hanko




                                                     Serving God As He Is


                       Ques. 96. What doth God require in the second commandment?
                       Ans. That we in no wise represent God by images, nor worship Him in any other way than
                   He has commanded in His Word.
                       Ques. 97. Are images then not at all to be made?
                       Ans. God neither can nor may be represented by any means: but as to creatures: though they
                   may be represented, yet God forbids to make, or have any resemblance of them, either in order
                   to worship them or to serve God by them.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     3



                Ques. 98. But may not images be tolerated in the churches, as books to the laity?
                Ans. No, for we must not pretend to be wiser than God, who will have His people taught,
              not by dumb images, but by the lively preaching of the Word.
                                                                     Lord's Day 35. Heidelberg Catechism.


   Let us bow down and worship!                               had the House of God and the presence of God in
  Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!                    the Most Holy Place, but they never saw God!
  Let us worship in the beauty of holiness! For this             Christ, the Son of God, came in the likeness of
God is our God forever and ever!                              sinful flesh, born of a virgin. The apostle John tells
                                                              us: "And we beheld His glory, the glory of the only
  To us belongs deepest humility, holy fear, loving           begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth."
devotion, trembling adoration! For He is GOD! The             Even though His glory shone forth in His words
Holy One of Israel is His Name! He is Jehovah, our            and deeds, His divinity always remained hidden
covenant God!                                                 behind His humanity.
   God commands us in the first commandment of                  At the baptism of Jesus John saw the Holy Spirit
His law: Hear, 0 My people, I am God, even your               descending upon Jesus in the form of a dove. Many
God, besides Me there is and can be no other! I am            have concluded from this that the Holy Spirit can
transcendent beyond all that is creature! I alone am          be represented by the form of a dove. Not the
the Foundation of life and blessing!                          Spirit, but the descending was like a dove descends
  Now in the second commandment He adds: I am                 upon an object.
God in all the fulness of My eternal perfections! I              There was the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on
am jealous of My honor. Love and serve Me as I                Pentecost, which was accompanied by many signs,
am!                                                           showing the presence, the power, and the working
   "Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven               of the Spirit; but no one saw any visible sign of the
image. ' '                                                    Spirit Himself. In fact, the Spirit of Christ in the
  That eliminates all the luminaries of the heavens,          church never speaks or acts on His own, but Christ
every fish and monster of the sea, every creature             speaks and works through Him. He reveals God in
upon the earth, whether it be like unto corruptible           Christ to us as the God of our salvation dwelling in
man, or to birds, or four-footed beasts, or creeping          us.
things.                                                         Even in heaven we shall not see God, except in
  Abraham saw images representing heathen gods                the face, that is, by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
already in Ur of the Chaldees. Already then these                Let this be a warning to us, lest we corrupt our-
had become a temptation in his family. Rachel                 selves by making a likeness of God, either in reality
cherished her household gods. Jacob's descendants             or in our imagination! This was done, not only by
saw the images of the gods of the Egyptians and               Aaron at Sinai, and later by Jeroboam, the first king
remembered them when they were in the wilder-                 of the ten tribes, but is also repeated today, possibly
ness.                                                         more often than before. We live in a audiovisual
  At Sinai Jehovah reminds Israel that "ye saw no             age. We not only gather knowledge by our hearing,
manner of similitude on the day that the Lord                 listening, but also at the same time by seeing. Our
spoke to you from Horeb, out of the midst of the              sense of hearing has become dulled, so that we
fire." They saw many signs. They heard the voice              want to see as well as hear. Although God has pur-
of the Lord that filled them with terror. But they            posely not preserved for us a picture of the Man of
saw no likeness.                                              sorrows, many have contrived a picture of Jesus as
  Moses did see the glory of God, while he was hid-           a very attractive, model man. Yet this is a distortion
den in the cleft of the rock and God passed by, but           of the Jesus of the Scriptures. Many hymns in our
even the glory he saw, that still shone from his face         day stress the person of Jesus, usually as a very
when he returned to the camp, was not the being of            kind and loving person, while God is rarely men-
God. No man has or can see GOD!                               tioned; and Gods righteousness and justice are  en-
                                                              tirely  ,ignored, even in Jesus. Ministers carry with
  Israel had many types and shadows which pic-                them various objects to demonstrate the subject of
tured to them the spiritual and the heavenly. They            their sermon, often distracting the attention from
Cornelius Hanho is a minister emeritus in the Protestant      the Word to the object. Worship services are made
Reformed Churches.                                            "appealing" by introducing dialogue, solos, drama,


4                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



movies, liturgical dances, all as a part of the divine        by His Spirit in  .our hearts. This Spirit of Christ
worship service that is centered upon man, rather             never testifies of Himself, but only always of God
than God!                                                     in Christ. Even as Christ speaks to us through the
     But how about us? Have we searched our souls to          infallible Scriptures, so the Spirit applies that
see whether there be any sort of image worship in             testimony to our hearts. The Scriptures are the
us?                                                           Guide, but also the content of our serving God. Not
                                                              we determine how God must be served, but God
     "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor            does, giving us His directives in His Word. Scrip-
serve them."                                                  ture knows of no conflict between God's love and
     "God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must         His justice. Even this second command warns us
worship Him in spirit and in truth!" (John 424).              that God is jealous of His honor, visiting the iniqui-
     The fact that God is a Spirit of infinite perfections    ty of the fathers upon the children unto the third
already precludes the possibility of making a visible         and fourth generation of those who hate Him. Hate
or tangible form to represent Him. Would you want             runs in generations, and so does God's justice. It
a picture in your home, purported to be a picture of          was in fear for this justice that our forefathers,
your mother, yet disguised by every resemblance to            realizing their own guilt of sin, would pray: Cut us
a woman of the world? How much less should we                 not off in our generations! If God were to deal with
attempt to give form or likeness to Him who may               us according to our sins, we and our children would
not and cannot be simulated!                                  all perish under His consuming wrath! But God in
                                                              His mercy gave Christ as our substitute, and in His
     We have the Spirit of Christ in our hearts.              justice visited our sins upon Christ in righteous
Through the Word and by the testimony of the                  judgment. God still angers upon our sins, but He is
Spirit we have the assurance of Jehovah: I love you           slow to anger and plenteous in mercy, because of
with an eternal love. I have purchased you unto               His forgiving love in Christ. God is merciful unto
Myself with the blood of My dear Son. I have                  His people, showing that mercy unto the thousands
delivered you from the realm of Satan and from the            that love Him and keep His commandments.
bondage of sin. You are Mine! To you is My prom-
ise: "I will be your God!"                                      Yet we so often question God! We complain
                                                              about the weather, about our troubles, about any-
     The righteous God, who thinks and wills and              thing we can find to raise a complaint. It is amazing
judges righteously, declares us righteous in Christ,          that God does not grow weary of our constant com-
free from sin and guilt and worthy of eternal cove-           plaining. We question His wisdom, His almighty
nant fellowship with Him forever! The Holy One of             power, and even His goodness. We often like to
Israel, who dwells in the dazzling brightness of His          treat Him like a lowly servant, whom we can tell
eternal perfections as God above all, blessed                 how to direct our lives, or whom we can ignore un-
forever, makes us in a creaturely measure like unto           til we need Him, and then He must stand ready to
Himself, saints in Christ Jesus! The God of all grace         our beck and call. We sin against Him, yet we think
adorns us with His beauty of true knowledge,                  lightly of it. Often we go to the worship services on
righteousness, and holiness. He who is Love and               Sunday without a real desire in our hearts, we sing
loves us as His own, spreads His love abroad in our           without enthusiasm, and we listen critically to the
hearts that we may love Him as sons and daughters             preaching of the Word, as if we can determine what
in His house.                                                 we shall and what we shall not accept from the
     As children of the living God we worship Him,            preaching. We listen to a man instead of asking
not with a mere form worship that expresses itself            what God through Christ is saying to us!
in moments of exuberant emotion, traumatic cries                God will be served, not by dumb images, but by
and shouts, as the heathen do, but we worship Him             the lively preaching of His Word. Our worship is
in Spirit and in truth! In faith we humbly respond            not primarily for us, but must be for God's sake, to
to Him by saying: 0 My God!                                   His glory! Our hearts must overflow, even burst
     Ours is a worship in  truth.  For God is truth. He       with joy, in thanks and praise to Him, the Fountain
reveals Himself as the true and living God in His             of life, from whom all blessings flow.
Son, Jesus Christ, who is the Word, the complete                Therefore we come together in the communion
revelation of the fulness of our God. He is the Way.          of saints on the Sabbath Day to worship. Appropri-
No man cometh unto1  the Father but by Him, for He            ately our services begin with a divine benediction
leads us into all truth. In His light we see the light.       and a doxology, and they are also concluded with
He is the source of all life, and therefore also our          blessing and praise. Many of the psalms we sing are
Life and our salvation.                                       songs of praise and adoration. It is in that attitude of
     Christ is for us the Way, the Truth, and the Life        heart and mind that we approach God as empty


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  5



vessels to be filled out of His fulness with grace for           The Dutch psalmbook has a  versification of the
grace. We come as weary pilgrims, laying aside for             ten commandments, which ends in this strain:
a moment our pilgrim's staff, to drink from the                     0 that we would keep Thy commandments,
Fountain of eternal life. We step, as it were, out of                 Show us Thy mercy, 0 Most High!
the battle zone, just long enough to find peace and                 Give Thy grace to strengthen us,
rest for our souls, that we may carry on the battle                   That we may keep them in thankfulness!
for another week. We receive so much; we always
need still more!





                                               Editor's Notes


  Changes. This issue is the first of Volume 62. As            Company has published a reprint. This a very nice-
we indicated in our previous issue, there will be              ly done, hard-cover volume. The usual price is $20.
several changes introduced. Here they are: 1) Rev.             Reformed Book Outlet is making it available for
James Slopsema will alternate with Rev. Cornelius              $13.95 (plus $1.40 for mail orders). Their address is:
Hanko in our Meditation department. 2) Prof. Her-              3505 Kelly, Hudsonville, MI 49426. Presbyterian
man Hanko will be in charge of a new department,               and Reformed and Eureka  Classis  are to be con-
Walking In The Light, dealing with contemporary                gratulated on this reprint.
ethical issues; this department will appear after the                 *     *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *
final installment of  My Sheep Hear My Voice. 3)
Prof. Robert Decker will be in charge of AU Around               Book Requests. Now and then I get requests for
Us, replacing Rev. G. Van Baren. 4) Rev. Van Baren             various hard-to-get books and brochures from the
will introduce a new department,  Good Morning,                early history of our Protestant Reformed Churches.
AZice. 5) Rev. Ronald Hanko will share Taking Heed             Below is a partial list of some of the books recently
To The Doctrine  with Rev. Herman Veldman, but                 requested. If you have a copy of any of these which
will no longer write for In His Fear. 6) We welcome            you can spare, please send it to me, care of the
to our staff the Rev. Barry Gritters, who will share           Seminary: 4949  Ivanrest Ave., SW, Grandville, MI
In His Fear  with Rev. A. den Hartog. Again this               49418. Here is the list:
volume-year we hope to present three special                   H. Hoeksema, The Protestant Reformed Churches in
issues. The first is planned for December 1, and                 America
the theme will be the Antithesis.                              H. Danhof & H. Hoeksema, Van Zonde en Genade
       *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *     *         H. Hoeksema, God's Goodness Always Particular
                                                               H. Hoeksema, Calvin, Berkhof, and H-J. Kuiper
  Question Box. Our Question Box has been empty
for a long time. And though our Question Box
editor, Rev. C. Hanko, does considerable traveling                 The Standard Bearer
about our country, he is still ready to answer your
questions. In view of his travels, it is probably bet-               makes a thoughtful
ter to send your questions to me for forwarding to
him. * * * * * 0 * * * *                                                   gift for the sick
  New Publication. For a long time Ursinus's Com-
mentary on the Heidelberg Catechism has been un-                                 and shut-in.
available, except in hard-to-get used copies. Recent-
ly, through the urging of the Eureka  Classis,  Re-
formed Church in the U.S. (German Reformed                          Give the Standard Bearer!
Church), Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing


6                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



EDITORIAL




              South Africa - Another Viewpoint



     Both in the secular and in the religious press      ground communist agitators inside the country,
South Africa is very much in the news at present.        aided and abetted by the Rev. Trouble Makers,
Almost unanimously the white minority  govern-           Bishop Tutu and Dr. Alan Boesak. Both of these
ment is condemned for its apartheid policy and for       gentlemen proclaim themselves true leaders of
its recent actions in suppressing terrorism and          their people, but in fact their following is very small
rebellion on the part of those who have chosen           indeed. But they are experts in inflammatory
these means of attempting to bring an end to apart-      speeches and rabble rousing. The furthest thing
heid. The Standard Bearer has not commented sub-         from their thoughts is the calling of men and
stantively on the whole matter, but has only hinted      women to repentance and faith in Christ."
from time to time that we were not hearing the           He then sheds light on the tribal situation in S.A.
whole story about South Africa in our press.             which makes it plain that the situation there is by
Besides, we have criticized and expressed our dis-       no means the same as with the racial (black vs.
agreement in book reviews of the stance taken by         white) situation in our own country in the integra-
various Reformed churches and leaders and writers        tion struggle. He writes as follows:
with respect to apartheid and the alleged "heresy"
of apartheid.                                              "What many outside S.A. fail to understand is
                                                         the fact that we have about 13 main tribal group-
     Recently Prof. Hanko shared with me a letter        ings who speak different languages and have differ-
which he had received from a South African reader        ent cultures. Among these tribes there are many
of both our Standard Bearer and our Protestant Re-       responsible men who are the truly elected leaders
formed TheoZogicaZ  JournaZ, a man with whom Prof.       of their people, (but) known to the outside world as
Hanko has occasional correspondence. I may add           stooges of the Pretoria regime (the  Botha govern-
that this correspondent is not one of the "Dutch"        ment, HCH). This, of course, is typical left-wing
South Africans. Because this letter is personal and      jargon which clouds the issues. I often think it is
was not intended for publication, I will not mention     strange how little notice is taken of Chief Buthelezi,
the correspondent's name, nor quote the entire let-      the leader of the Zulu nation, which is the largest
ter. However, he makes some very interesting com-        group in S.A. A man of high integrity and, as I
ments about the situation in South Africa; and in        understand it, a Christian. Believe me, he is very
doing so he furnishes a different viewpoint. I           critical of many aspects of affairs in this country,
thought our readers would be interested in his           but nevertheless is willing to cooperate and work
viewpoint.                                               towards solutions that will do away with many of
     His comments begin as follows:                      the difficulties."
     "It has been very interesting to note some odd        Our correspondent has this to say with respect to
(i.e. occasional, HCH) comments on the situation         the integration situation:
here in South Africa in the Standard Bearer. Quite in      "We hear strange comments from people who
contrast to the anti-South Africa stance taken by the    profess to be experts on S.A. For example, it seems
media (which in my opinion is very nearly 100%           that it is widely believed that we cannot use the
left-wing throughout the world). The violence that       same shops, that we cannot use the same restau-
is occurring in S.A. today is without doubt insti-       rants and so on. All this is, of course, nonsense.
gated from outside the country, but with  under-         Restaurants are open to whoever can afford to pay;


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    7



most hotels are open to all again for those who can           the S.A. government has declared in perspective, as
afford to pay; there is no restriction on shopping.           follows:
Most sport is open to all races; for example, soccer            "It may interest you to know that this `state of
is totally integrated; athletic meetings always have          emergency' that everyone seems to be so hysterical
people from all races . . .  ."                               about affects 26 magisterial districts out of 200-odd
  With respect to the real problem he writes:                 magisterial districts in the country. The trouble by-
  "All these things are really superficial. The main          and-large is black against black; in Durban they
problem, as far as I am concerned, in S.A. is the             (the black agitators) infiltrated the Indian areas; and
desperate slide into humanism and the consequent              the latest, in Cape Town, have infiltrated the  col-
blatant materialism that can be seen on every hand.           oured areas. So you can see the authorities have an
The splendid Calvinistic heritage that this country           enormous task to maintain law and order, which is,
has is being thrown overboard at an alarming pace.            or course, the prime function of government. Dr.
The Reformed churches are riddled with dead or-               Alan Boesak has now been arrested, and he has
thodoxy, holding to the form - and in many cases              been asking for this for a long time. This govern-
not even that  - but no real belief. The only true            ment will not lock up anybody for disagreeing with
Christian university is Potchefstroom, with Stellen-          their policies either publicly or privately; but they
bosch, in Cape Town, a pretty long way behind.                will not tolerate people who go out of their way to
But otherwise the universities are homes for                  undermine government, tell blatant lies, and
pathetic liberal theologians who propagate their              deliberately cause trouble."
strange ideas almost in step with the humanistic                A different viewpoint, and a different picture!
philosophers who propagate their doctrines of                   But there is another matter involved here to
d e s p a i r . "                                             which we will call attention next time.          HCH
  Finally, he puts the "state of emergency" which

MY SHEEP  IIEAR MY VOICE
Herman Hanko





                             Our Order of Worship



  In previous articles  `we discussed the role which          prayers which the congregation makes through its
the minister has in the worship services. We no-              minister we discussed in the last article.
ticed that sometimes he speaks on behalf of Christ,             In connection, with these prayers we discussed
as Christ's ambassador, saying authoritatively what           various subjects: when and how often these prayers
he has been given to say in Christ's name. Other              ought to be made in the worship services, whether
times he speaks to God on behalf of the congrega-             it is preferable to use form prayers or free prayers,
tion assembled to worship. Especially this latter             whether confession of sin and absolution ought to
function of the minister is our interest now.                 be included in the prayers, and what is the proper
  The minister speaks to God on behalf of the con-            posture in prayer.
gregation when he speaks the votum, "Our help is                We turn now to the question of the content of
in the name of the Lord . . .  ," when he reads the           these prayers.
Apostolic Confession (when the congregation does                While it is certainly true that no hard and fast
not recite it in unison), and when he prays. These            rules can be laid down for these public prayers in
Herman Hanho is professor in the Church History and New       the worship service, there are certain principles
Testament departments at the Protestant Reformed Seminary.    which ought to be remembered by all those upon


8                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



whom falls the responsibility of praying on behalf        ries. It is more difficult when someone else prays in
of the congregation.                                      our place and we are called to make that prayer our
     But before we enter into this subject, there is      own.
one other matter which ought briefly to be treated.         We need, in such instances especially, the power
I refer to the fact that, though the minister makes       of the Spirit in our hearts so that we may pray as we
these prayers, they are nevertheless the congrega-        ought and that our prayers may be heard by Him
tion's prayers made through the minister. In a way,       Who sits on the throne of His grace and hears the
this part of the worship service is the most difficult    prayers and cries of His people. But we ought also
part for the child of God who sits in the pew. While      to remember, not as an excuse in our sins, but as
he is singing, he actively, takes part in the worship.    encouragement in our weaknesses, that the Lord is
While he listens to the sermon, he appropriates the       mindful of our needs, our weaknesses, our frailties:
words of the minister by faith as the very Words of       Mindful of our human frailty/is the God in Whom
His Shepherd Who speaks to him. When he brings            we trust; He Whose years are everlasting/He re-
his gifts and offerings he does so in the conscious-      members we are dust. As our merciful Father He
ness that he actively supports the causes of God's        bears with our infirmities and hears us even when
kingdom with those material possessions which             we are least deserving of it.
God has given to his care. But when the minister            In discussing what are the general requisites of
prays, there are really two acts which he must per-       congregational prayers, it might be well if we bear
form, and that at the same time. On the one hand,         in mind, first of all, a few "don'ts." A minister's
he must listen to what the minister is saying, agree      prayer ought not to be vainly repetitious. No prayer
with it, express his "Amen" to what is being said;        ought to be that. But sometimes in the inner closet
and on the other hand, he must make what the              we struggle in prayer and wrestle with the Lord.
minister is saying his very own in such a way that it     This sometimes requires many repetitions and we
becomes his prayer before God. He stands con-             strive in prayer for strength to go on, peace for our
sciously in God's presence during the time of             troubled hearts, and courage to bear the burdens
prayer and what the minister says, he consciously         our Lord places upon us. But these are not vain
utters himself.                                           repetitions. A minister especially ought to avoid
     This is not always so easy. There is the abiding     repetition in his prayer.
temptation, of course, to let the words of the              In the second place, congregational prayers
minister enter his consciousness so that he is aware      ought not to be courses in theology. This is not to
of what the minister is saying, but hardly makes          say that prayers must not be theologically sound;
these expressions his own. And, if he does only           nor even that deep Biblical truths cannot be ex-
this, he may find that easily his mind begins to          pressed in prayers; but a minister must not use his
wander. He may begin to think about the implica-          prayers to instruct in theology. The sermon and the
tions of what the minister is saying so that his mind     Catechism room are the places for this.
is involved in this rather than in making the words
of the minister his own. And if he allows this to           In close connection with this, prayers ought not
happen, he will find that his mind soon travels into      to be used to reprimand the congregation. This
entirely other paths far from prayer or from the          ought never to be the case with prayer, under any
things he ought to be praying about. The result is        circumstances. I recall from my own childhood a
that, while the congregation prays, he may be             parent who would use family prayers as the time to
thinking about all kinds of worldly things, evil          reprimand each one of his children for all the sins
things, problems and troubles, lusts and pleasures        of the day. This is inappropriate at the dinner table;
- all of which not only keep him from praying, but        it is also inappropriate on the pulpit.
also are a kind of blasphemy in God's presence.             In the third place, a minister ought not to give a
                                                          preview of his sermon in his prayers. I have heard
     This is true, of course, of all public prayers in    this done. By the time the congregational prayers
which one prays for others. It is true at family devo-    are over, I knew pretty much what the minister
tions around the supper table; it is true when            was going to say in the sermon. The whole basic
prayers are made at various programs; it is true          sermon was there already in the prayer; the sermon
even when the elders of the church come to visit us       itself was only a broadening out of the prayer.
on our sickbeds and pray over us. But it is also true
in the worship services. Truly to pray is extra-            From a positive point of view, congregational
ordinarily difficult. It is hard enough to pray in our    prayers, as well as all prayers, ought to contain the
own private closets when we are alone with God            "requisites" of true prayer. These requisites are
and express before God our own personal thanks            beautifully set forth in the Heidelberg Catechism in
and praise, our needs and cares, our fears and wor-       Q & A   1 1 7 :


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 9



    Q. What are the requisites of that prayer,           whole. The congregation as a whole worships in
    which is acceptable to God, and which he             corporate unity. The congregation as a whole has
    will hear?                                           weaknesses and sins which characterize  her and
    A. First, that we from the heart pray to the         mar her life as the people of God. Prayer must take
    one true God only, who hath manifested               this into account.
    himself in his word, for all things, he hath            5) Prayers must be made especially for the wor-
    commanded us to ask of him; secondly, that           ship service. The needs of the congregation in the
    we rightly and thoroughly know our need              hour of worship must be brought to God. The con-
    and misery, that so we may deeply humble             gregation must ask for grace for the minister, and
    ourselves in the presence of his divine maj-         for herself that she may submit to God's Word in
    esty; thirdly, that we be fully persuaded            faith and receive that Word as the food of her soul.
    that he, notwithstanding that we are unwor-          This is an important part of congregational prayers,
    thy of it, will, for the sake of Christ our          and must not be overlooked. This is why the con-
    Lord, certainly hear our prayer, as he has           gregational prayers are not the time for personal
    promised us in his word.                             prayers, either on the part of the minister or the
  In other words, true prayer must always be             members of the congregation. Only those personal
Biblical, not in the  sense  of including expressions    needs which affect the corporate life of the congre-
directly found in Scripture (although this is good),     gation are proper in congregational prayers.
but in the sense that it is based in form and content      6) The needs of the congregation must be
on the Word of God.                                      brought before the throne of God. These needs dif-
  This means that all congregational prayers ought       fer from week to week, from year to year. The
to include the following elements always. 1) Con-        minister must be spiritually sensitive to these needs
gregational prayers ought, especially in the morn-       and bring them before God. These needs are deter-
ing service, to be adapted to leading the congrega-      mined by the circumstances in which the congrega-
tion consciously into the presence of God. I say, "in    tion finds itself. They are needs that arise because
the morning service especially" because the con-         God has sorely afflicted her through the loss or suf-
gregation often is not spiritually ready to worship      fering of one of her midst, because the congregation
God. Especially in our day this is lacking. There is     finds itself in persecution, because sin has crept in-
no true preparation in many homes on Saturday            to the congregation with the need of discipline,
night and Sunday morning for worship. While this         because the congregation is reduced to poverty,
is to be deplored, the minister has the added            because the threats of materialism or false doctrine,
responsibility of leading the people into such a         etc. have influenced her life. These and many more
spiritual frame of mind in the worship service. He       affect the congregation as a whole and these needs
can best do this by emphasizing in His prayers the       must be brought to God.
great glory of God, our unworthiness, and the great        7) Dr. A. Kuyper says somewhere in connection
wonder of His grace in condescending to have fel-        with the worship services that no prayer ought to
lowship with us through Jesus Christ.                    be made in the worship services which does not in-
  2) In connection with this, it must be made clear      clude a prayer for the whole of Christendom. This
to the congregation through the prayers that our on-     surely includes prayers for the denomination of
ly access to the throne of God's grace is through the    which a given congregation is a part; but it
blood of our heavenly Mediator, Jesus Christ our         recognizes the fact that God's church is found
Lord.                                                    throughout the world, that we are a part of it, and
  3) There must be time in the prayers for thanks-       that the needs of God's church everywhere are our
giving and praise. Prayer is never only petitional.      needs. Never must a congregation become narrow
Prayer is not only a time to bring our needs before      and parochial so that her concerns and interests are
God's throne. It is a time for thanksgiving for all      exclusively bound up in her own congregational
that God has given; and it is a time to express our      life. This happens sometimes, but is to be deplored.
praise to Him Who alone is worthy of all praise and        It is evident from all this that the minister
2m-Y.                                                    assumes a great responsibility when he prays in the
  4) Although I have briefly referred to this            name of the congregation. He must assume this
already, prayer must be a time for confession of         responsibility carefully and prayerfully and
sins and for seeking forgiveness for sin at the          prepare before the service for his prayers as he does
throne of grace. This must not only be a confession      for his sermon. When he does this, the congrega-
of sin so that each individual saint has opportunity     tion will also be blessed in this part of its worship.
to confess his sins, but also a time for a confession       Read and study the Standard Bearer!
of those sins which belong to the congregation as a


IO                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



FROM HOLY WRIT
George C. Lubbers





           Believing All the Prophetic Scriptures


                      Chapter XXII                                Quite obviously we are here dealing with the two
The Mystery of the Seventy Weeks in Daniel 9                    aspects of Christ's work and of our salvation. It is
"IT IS FINISHED" TO THE UTTERMOST - can't.                      the removal from sin and guilt and granting us the
                                                                free gift of righteousness and life. Hence, the first
      It is really quite noteworthy that the Hebrew in-         three infinitives refer to the removal of guilt and sin
finitive Zecallee  = to shut, restrain, finish is translated    in Christ's atoning suffering and death, and the lat-
with the Aorist infinitive in the Septuagint. The Pie1          ter three refer to Christ's work as the living Savior
degree in the Hebrew suggests that this transgres-              in glory. Here we have the glad truth that if we
sion was finished  vev, very much! The Aorist in-               have been saved, while we were legally enemies,
finitive expresses completed action, pointedly com-             by the death of God's Son, much more being recon-
pleted action. The great transgression which was                tiled we shall be saved in His life (Rom. 510). Fur-
perpetrated by the one man in Adam, and as this                 thermore, we should also notice that in the first
passed on as sin and guilt and corruption to all men,           three infinitives there is a certain broadening and
was all taken away once and for all at the end of the           expansion of thought. The most basic concept is
ages by one man, Jesus Christ. The infinitive con-              "The Transgression." It is the very conscious trans-
struct here looks  -at this mediatorial, sacrificial            gression of the commandment of God. The next
work as one which in its totality was "a finishing of           speaks of "sins." These are the sins which are  alI
transgression." The definite article in the Hebrew              implied in the transgression. And in the term "ini-
underscores the blessed and grand fact that this                quity" we see the sinfulness of sins and of the trans-
was the well-known, central transgression which                 gression. God's law is very wide. Here we see the
had to be removed by Christ in such a way that, if              fulfillment of the law of God in its length and
by the trespass of the one, death reigned by the one,           breadth, height and depth. And hence we see what
much more shall they that receive the abundance                 it means that Christ, having loved us, loved us even
of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life            unto the end (John 13: 1). Behold, the manner of the
through the one, even Jesus Christ (Rom.  512-21).              love of God. God has divinely commended His own
      At this point it may be of benefit for a proper           love to us when we were yet sinners!
understanding of the entire verse to notice the
grammatical construction (verse 24).                              But there is more here!
      We must then observe that we have here placed               When we look carefully at the last three infini-
before us six different infinitives. These are                  tives we see that here we get a glimpse of the power
translated from the Hebrew as follows:                          of grace. We see somewhat what it implies that we
      1. "To finish the transgression"                          are no longer "under law" but "under grace." For
      2. "To make an end (seal) of sins"                        here we see what it means that we receive from the
      3. "To make reconciliation (to purge away) for            fulness of Christ grace for grace. The law was given
         iniquity"                                              by Moses, but grace and truth became through
      4. "To bring in everlasting righteousness"                Jesus Christ (John  1:16).  Here Gabriel tells it to a
      5. "To seal up vision and prophecy"                       trembling and thankful Daniel: "To bring in ever-
      6. "and to anoint the most holy"                          lasting righteousness, to seal up vision and proph-
                                                                ecy, and to anoint the most holy" (Dan.  9:24).
George C. Lubbers is a minister emeritus in the Protestant
Reformed Churches.                                                Choice words of life and comfort for God's


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  11



weary saints, looking for the city (Psalm 107:33-36)!       sins,  and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Daniel hears the fulfillment of the oft sung Poet:          Yes, Christ is the Lamb of God, Who carries away
"He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and  water-           the sin of the worZd, the one great "world-sin," so to
springs into a thirsty ground . . .  ." Yes, but also:      speak. But He does so in such a way that each of
"he turneth a wilderness into a pool of water" (II          our "sins" is sealed in His blood as blotted out
Kings 3: 17). And here he maketh the hungry to              forever, so that He may come the second time
dwell, that they may prepare a city of habitation."         "without sin" to them that wait for Him unto salva-
Ah, who can forget this city of which the people            tion (Heb.  9:28)!
sang at the Red Sea, the Song of Moses, "Thou wilt            The third matter, the third duty to which the
bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of            Messiah is appointed of God is "to make reconcilia-
thine inheritance, the place, 0 Jehovah, which thou         tion for iniquity." Here we are brought into the
hast made for thee to dwell in, the sanctuary, 0            very holy of  holies of the Old Testament typical
Lord, which thy hands have established. Jehovah             sanctuary. Here we stand in the great feast of atone-
shall reign for ever and ever"? Yes, this is the city       ment when the high priest went into the most holy
and the sanctuary which Abraham saw from afar               place, not without blood. Here we are reminded of
and rejoiced, the city whose Builder and Maker is           the two goats, which were used to signify this
God!                                                        typical reconciliation from sin, and the sprinkling of
  In the spotlight of the prophetic word, which             the blood upon the mercy-seat. It was sprinkled on
shines like a beacon-light across the ages of the Old       the mercy-seat. It was sprinkled on the mercy-seat
Testament history, Daniel sees Calvary; he sees the         above the tables on the law. Here mercy and justice
dying Christ hanging on the accursed tree. There he         kissed each other. The verb which is in the in-
hangs, the Man of sorrows. There the veil was rent,         finitive form (a verbal) really means:  to cover.
and the Holy Spirit proclaims clearly and strongly          When sin is covered, it is not "put under the rug"
that the way into the most Holy is opened! Amen!            but it is covered before the eyes of a holy and just
  Yes, it is all fully finished.                            God, so that these sins are forever, removed, and
                                                            the sinner, the guilty, damnworthy sinner is
  Let us see this step by step. Each stone is laid          justified before God. It means to restore into the
very carefully here in the text. Let him that reads         favor of God, the sinner, who once stood in the
understand. Thus speaks Jesus while upon the                pristine beauty of being able to have the right to be
earth in His utter humiliation in this dark hour at         God's servant. Thus man was created. He did not
the doorstep of Calvary. He sees the utter desola-          need to attempt to hide from God. He could have
tion of the earthly Jerusalem to bring in forever, by       boldness to talk with God, as a son  - to God, the
one sacrifice, the heavenly and the better city.            Father of all creation. But he fell. He became ZeguZZy
  Secondly, He "came to make an end of sins."               an enemy of God; he is accounted an enemy. He
Seventy weeks are determined upon God's people              "dying he must die" in the just judgment of God,
and upon the holy city. In the seventieth "seven"           until full and complete satisfaction for sin has been
this last and only Cornerstone shall be laid in             brought. And when "sin is covered" it means that
Christ's blood. Yes, He came to save His people             the sin is so paid, that God no longer sees it as sin
from their sins. His name is JESUS, the MESSIAH.            which must be punished as an offending of the
The infinitive (verbal)  "Zeckatkeem" means: to set         highest majesty of God!
the seal upon sins. He will so remove them that it            For the sin which must be covered is what the
has the seal of God's approval. Sins are no more            text calls "iniquity." This means that the sinner
upon the statute books of God against us. God does          acts crookedly. It is a breaking of the justice of God.
not reckon them any longer to our account. He sees          The noun "iniquity" as the translation of "awoon"
no sin in us any more, nor iniquity in Jacob. And no        occurs some 218 times in the Old Testament. When
Balaam or any of all the hosts of hell can any longer       the sinner comes to heart-felt sorrow for his sins by
accuse us properly in God's court. Jesus seems to           the enlightening and quickening grace, which
allude to this when He says in John  5:27, "Work            makes his refractory will pliable and willing, then
not for the food which perisheth, but for the food          he confesses the  iniquity  of  his sins  (Psalm  32:5)!
which abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of           Hear David speak of this in the well-known peni-
man shall give unto you: for him the Father, even           tential Psalm, the fifty-third: "According to the
God, hath  seaZed."  The Messiah is sealed in God's         multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my trans-
appointment and anointment! No man can defrock              gressions; wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity,
Jesus, nor make His work and word void, Amen!               and cleanse me from my sin." 0, the sinfulness of
And notice the plural "sins." One thinks here of            both adultery and murder! Yes, murder to attempt
the well-known words of I John 1:9, "If we confess          to cover up before men the sin of adultery! Yes,
OUY sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our    David learned from and by the law the sinfulness of


12                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



sin (Rom. 7: 13). Notice some very striking usages of              upon the willows, and when they cannot sing the
the term "iniquity" in Isaiah 5O:l; 59:2; 53:5, 6, 11.             Lord's song in a strange land. This is very painful.
Did the Lord not cause the iniquity of us all to be                What a passionate plea of a Daniel who must have
the ground for the bruising of the Christ at                       joined in with the weeping- Israel, "Let my tongue
Gethsemane and at Calvary?                                         cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I remember thee
      And now Gabriel tells Daniel of the dying Christ             not, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy."
to come. As we said earlier, the spotlight of proph-               Yes, let Edom say, "rase it, rase it, even to the foun-
ecy shines very brightly in a dark and dismal situa-               dation thereof" (Ps.  137:6, 7). But God hears the
tion in Israel's history and sorry state. Behold, the              prayer of the righteous man, Daniel, which cries,
morning-star is seen arising!                                      "0 Lord, hear, 0 Lord do; defer not, for thine own
                                                                   sake, 0 my God, because thy city and thy people
      But here and here only we are given the real                 are called by thy name."
answer to Daniel's deep cry for God to look down
upon His holy city. Was this not the cry of every                    And the Son, the Messiah said: Behold, I come to
child of God when he left the temple in the Old                    do thy will, 0 God! I long with great longing for
Testament? But, 0 when they hang their harps                       that moment at Calvary. There I will cry and cry
                                                                   until it is "finished." Amen.

ALL AROUND US
Robert D. Decker




      As our readers know, for the past several years              church generally. We will concentrate our efforts
this rubric of our Standard Bearer has been capably                especially on the churches which are nearest to us,
edited by the Rev. Gise Van  Baren. His  contribu-                 those of the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition.
tions were informative, well written, and often pro-               Critique, suggestions for improvement, news  wor-
vocative. The undersigned will try to maintain the                 thy items from you, the readers of  The Standard
same high standards for "All Around Us" in future                  Bearer, are welcome. Send them to the undersigned
issues. Our intention is to keep our readers  in-                  at the Seminary address.
formed concerning what is happening in the




                                                     Alcoholism


      The Grand Rapids Press recently published an in-                This alleged disease of "alcoholism" is said to be
teresting article on this subject in its editorial sec-               epidemic, afflicting at least 10 million Americans and
tion. This article firs-t appeared in the  Los  AngeZes               those close to them.
Times. While its authors, two university professors,                    These behavioral "illnesses' are seen as medical
do not write from a Biblical perspective, they do                     problems despite the lack of any evidence of
maintain that classifying alcoholism as a disease is                  pathological causes. This deludes the public, and it
at least open to question. Here are some of their                     allows so-called ill people to avoid moral, and some-
comments:                                                             times legal, responsibility for their behavior.
                                                                        Often, the labeling of a person as an alcoholic or a
         Today many, if not most, of those in the mental              drug abuser as one suffering from the sickness of drug
       health professions are willing to call virtually any de-       abuse is a refuge from accountability. Celebrities
      viant or excessive behavior an "illness" or an "addic-          often go from shame to lionization when they publicly
      tion"  - including violent crime, gambling, jogging,            explain (usually called "courageously admitting")
      sex, work, eating and, especially, drinking alcohol.            their professional and-or personal failings as the con-
Robert D. Decker is professor of Practical Theology and               sequences, not of lost ability or irresponsibility, but of
New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.                    alcohol or drugs . . . . Is there any validity to the no-


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                               13



    tion of alcoholism as a disease? The answer is com-          Scripture does not forbid the moderate use of
    plicated.                                                  alcoholic beverages. Even Jesus changed water into
      "Alcoholism" means different things to different         wine at the wedding feast at  Cana  and this is
    people . . . . This confusion over definition leads to     termed the "beginning of miracles" (cf. John
    confusion and dispute over the causes and cures of         21-11). Scripture also warns us in no uncertain
    alcoholism. The media report, frequently and uncriti-      terms against the sin of drunkenness. (Cf. Proverbs
    cally, that there is a consensus among medical "ex-        23:21; Romans  13:13; I Corinthians  5:ll.) Scripture
    perts" that inborn biochemical factors are the cause of    also assures us that no drunkard will inherit the
    alcoholism, or at least predispose alcoholics to their     Kingdom of Heaven (I Corinthians 6:lO).
    condition (an argument that, again, begs the question
    of what alcoholism is).                                      It cannot be denied that drinking to excess leads
      But Harvard psychiatrist George Vaillant (who sup-       to physical and psychological dependence.
   ports the disease metaphor), in his landmark study on       Habitual drunkenness also results in the destruc-
   alcoholism, argues that people are not psychologically      tion of the body. While all this is true, drunkenness
   disposed to become alcoholic, and says that a bio-          itself is not a disease, but a terrible sin. The cure,
   chemical cause will likely never be found: "I think it      therefore, is the grace of God in Christ Jesus.
   would be as unlikely as finding one (biochemical
   cause) for basketball playing."





                 Making Merchandise of the Church


  Among the signs of the coming of Christ and of                 "Electronic evangelist Jim Bakker, of the `Praise
the end of the world is the fact that many false               the Lord Club,' is building a $56 million luxury
teachers and false Christs shall come and deceive              hotel in South Carolina that will feature `world
many. Jesus said: "Take heed that no man deceive               class' accessories like a shopping mall, spa, and
you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am              custom made furniture.
Christ; and shall deceive many . . . . And many false            "The complex is necessary, says Bakker, because
prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many . . . .            existing religious-retreat centers are `run-down,
Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is                tacky, and falling apart . . . . We're using better bait
Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise        to win people to Jesus Christ'."
false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show
great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were               "Oral Roberts, the 67 year-old evangelist whose
possible, they shall deceive the very elect" (Mat-             ministry heals the sick and raises $60 million a
thew  24:4, 5, 11, 23, 24). Scripture warns us con-            year, is about to unveil another miracle in Tulsa,
cerning false teachers: "But there were false proph-           Okla., where he founded a university and a
ets also among the people, even as there shall be              hospital. The next project is a seven-acre attraction,
false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in           called a Healing Center, that will cost $15 million
damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that                  and will be able to accommodate up to 2 million
brought them, and bring upon themselves swift                  visitors a year. Exhibits and special effects are be-
destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious            ing designed by Peter Wolf Concepts of Dallas,
ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be              which has done work for Broadway shows and
evil spoken of" (II Peter 2: 1,2). These false teachers        world fairs.
are motivated by covetousness and "with feigned                  "Besides shops, restaurants, and a television
words make merchandise of you . . ." (II Peter 2:3).           studio, the park will offer a `Walk Through the Bi-
In other words the false teachers make money,                  ble,' where tourists will witness God's creation of
often a great deal of it, off God's people. They use           the world, the parting of the Red Sea, and Moses'
the gospel and God's people to make a fortune for              receiving of the Ten Commandments. The exhibits
themselves. The Banner in its August 26, 1985 issue            will attempt to create the illusion of real miracles.
reports on two well-known and rich evangelists:                `Journey into Faith' will depict the life and  faith-


     14                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



     healing ministry of Oral Roberts.                              One cannot help wondering how long the Lord
           "`Providing people with fun is not our sole pur-      will tolerate such flagrant blasphemies. One thing
     pose,' said a Roberts spokesperson. But Jeffrey Had-        is sure, in the light of Scripture, our Lord's return
     den, a sociology professor and author of  Pn'me  Time       cannot be too distant. Let us, when we see these
     Preachers, calls the park a `last-ditch effort to try to    things, not be deceived. Let us, rather, be sober and
     save Oral's shaky financial empire.' (Grand Rapids          prayerfully watch for Jesus' coming. Indeed, the
     Press) ' '                                                  end of all things is at hand.




                                 Seceders or Schismatics?


           An article under this title appears in The Banner     upheld, and propagated? Are deviations from that
     (August 26, 1985). The writer, Dr. John H. Bratt,           doctrine strongly disciplined?
     asks: "Yet, because of sin, a time sometimes comes             "If a church jeopardizes, waters down, com-
     when the `faithful remnant' is forced to separate           promises, or repudiates that doctrine, that church
     from the church. When does the breaking point               lapses into the category of being a false church.
     come?' ' Bratt's answer is: "It comes when the              Unless that falsity is rectified, secession must
.    parent body retrogresses to the point that it loses its     follow in order to preserve the faith."
     claim to be the true church of Christ and demotes
     itself to the level of a faZse church. It happens when         We certainly agree with Dr. Bratt that schism is a
     the church descends to that level of falsity which          terrible sin. Our Lord's Supper form lists it among
     distorts or scuttles the biblical doctrine of salvation:    those sins which bar one from the table of the Lord.
     vicarious atonement, redemption through the                 We and all Christians do and ought to deplore the
     blood of Christ on the cross, and salvation by grace        sin of schism. We also agree that when a church
     through faith." After citing four examples from             denies the doctrine of salvation by grace alone
     church history to support his contention (Calvin's          through faith in Jesus Christ, it can no longer claim
     calling the Roman Catholic Church the false church          to be a manifestation of the true church of Christ.
     because "it had allowed and provided for the intru-         The faithful remnant must come out of such a
     sion of human merit into its concept of salvation,"         church. This after all is the material principle of the
     the  Afscheiding  of 1834, the  Doleantie  Kerk  under      16th century reformation, the  soZa fide  principle.
     the leadership of Abraham Kuyper in 1886, and the           Nevertheless, we have two questions the answers
     formation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in            to which ought to be self-evident. 1) Is not Armin-
     1936 under the leadership of J. Gresham  Machen)            ianism because "it allows and provides for the in-
     Bratt deals with what he calls "The Key Question.           trusion of human merit into its concept of salva-
     What about the pivotal doctrine of `salvation by            tion," a legitimate ground for secession? Or are the
     grace alone' (along with the related doctrines of the       Canons of Dordt meaningless? 2) When the formal
     deity of Christ, the virgin birth, his physical resuri      principle of the 16th century reformation is denied,
     rection, and his second coming  - doctrines which           the  soZu  scriptzm  principle, is not  that  a legitimate
     Calvin calls non-negotiubZe)? Is that doctrine taught,      ground for secession?


                       Th.e Standard Bearer makes a
               thoughtful gift for the sick & shut-in.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                15





                                Good Morning, Alice
                                                  Gise J. Van Buren





  (AZice Van Buren: b. .August 12, 1935; d. March 24,        two-year average life span with increasing debilita-
1982; after suffering for two years with ALS. She was a      tion  - resulting finally in complete helplessness.
Zife-Zong member of the South Holland, III. Protestant         Certainly, then, with such an incurable and ter-
Reformed Church. The Zast two years of her Zife she          minal illness, cards and letters, prayers and  visits,
spent at the home of her brother John in Grand Rapids,       from saints of God take on a wonderful meaning.
Mi.)                                                         It's the expression, "We know. We care. In a little
  We tell this story, not so much of a sickness, a           way, we are suffering with you." The special set of
terrible and fatal sickness - though this too  - but         cards Alice received totaled 98, and each wonder-
of communion of saints. Even that must be told but           fully assured of God's nearness and great love.
in part, for words can not express the whole, with           Later, about a year and a half after the diagnosis,
.the prayer that the "part" may be of great encour-          these cards began to arrive daily. None identified the
agement and help to others.                                  writer. The cards were simply signed, "A friend."
                                                             We first joked about this "friend" to Alice. We ex-
  One could show a sizable box, still in our posses-         amined with her the postmark  - trying to make
sion, filled with cards: sympathy cards, birthday            our guesses who would be sending these comfort-
cards, Christmas cards, "I'm just thinking of you"           ing messages. But Alice never had any idea who the
cards sent to one grievously ill - all sent within a         person was - and we believed that she preferred it
span of less than two years. One could mention               that way. In a real sense, the cards did represent, as
many visits, many gifts, many flowers, many                  the writer expressed, all of her many friends who
prayers during this same period of time. Truly the           were thinking of her and praying for her. How she
wonder of communion of saints is known in afflic-            looked for the next card each day! The first three
tion. Here we must limit ourselves to one set of             cards were ordinary greeting cards, signed simply,
cards - cards which came almost daily during the             "Your friend." The fourth and later cards differed.
last three months of Alice's life. It's the story of         The fourth card had a Scripture text written on the
cards which uniquely comforted and assured  -                bottom: Isaiah  40:27-31.
and we present them here for the comfort of many
others.                                                        The next card, received the following day,
                                                             revealed the reason for the text. It was a personal
  It was at the end of June, 1980, that the call came        note of hope and encouragement based on that
to my study. A cousin from the Chicago area was              Word of God.
on the line. She had accompanied Alice to the doc-           Dear AZice:
tor's office that day to hear the diagnosis of tests           I hope you were blessed by reading Is. 40:27-31.
Alice had recently taken. The doctor informed                Even though I have never faced a trial such as yours,
Alice that she had ALS; it was incurable, but (so he         these verses speak to me in my Zife too.
assured her) she would not die of the disease. This
cousin was very sure that Alice didn't fully under-            Sometimes in raising our chiZdren, and battling my
stand yet the seriousness of the disease. It was             own flesh, it seems my way is hidden from the Lord.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or more commonly              But oh how true: that when I "wait upon the Lord, my
known as "Lou Gehrig's disease." The prognosis: a            strength is renewed. " Ah, but then why can't I, or
                                                             won't I, wait more upon Him . . . .
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed                                                   Your friend
Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.                             PZease read Ps. 34:6-lo-


     16                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



           We heard Alice complain of a numbness in her             help you somehow; maybe read from God's Word to en-
     left hand and later also in her left leg as early as           courage you.
     March 21, 1980. In April, she had fallen as she                   I'm going to continue to be just "your friend"
     walked up a flight of stairs at the office where she           because I want to represent all the "friends" of yours
     worked. She had cut her lip in falling - requiring a           who don't know you well, and yet often remember you
     number of stitches. At the time, none thought this             in prayer to God.
     was anything but a "normal" tripping. In retrospect,
     we realized that this fall likely was caused by muscle            But you know, Alice, now that I've been writing you,
     weakness at that time already. But by May, Alice               (and the first couple notes were not easy) I think I'm
     increasingly mentioned the growing numbness and                continuing it just as much for myself as for you! I look
     weakness of her arm and leg. We also noticed that              forward to saying "Hello" and I look forward to finding
     she could never mention this without becoming ex-              a verse in Scripture for us. So you see, God has used
     tremely upset. Obviously, she was concerned that               you to bless me.
     something was wrong  - perhaps a tumor some-                      I guess Phil. 4:19 really "fits" today. It has always
     where? Only later we realized that one of the symp-            been a favorite verse, but this morning it hits home a lit-
     toms of ALS was an inability to control one's emo-             tle more. Only my God supplies all my needs out of His
     tions well.                                                    boundless riches only through Christ's sacrifice.
           What a comfort, then, much later, was the card              May you feel God's blessing today, Alice, and fill all
     that came:                                                     your needs out of His riches.
     Dear Alice:                                                                               "See" you soon, "Your friend"
                                                                    Please read John 17.20-26
           Good morning. I hope and pray that it is a good
     morning for you, and that you are feeling God's                   Several of the family took Alice to St. Luke's
     nearness. I guess that's why I wanted you to read Psalm        Hospital on Sunday, June 8, 1980. Alice was hardly
     34:6-10: "They that seek the Lord shall not want any           able to answer necessary questions at the admitting
     good. `I                                                       office  - she would choke up and tears copiously
                                                                    flowed. Finally, with great effort, and much pa-
           Seek the Lord! That's the answer. The "good" is          tience, the forms were filled out, and Alice was
     always there, but it's when .we seek the Lord that we          taken to her room. Alice had difficulty talking
     understand that we lack nothing.                               about her fears - but she nodded her head in agree-
           The good I desire may be one thing, the good you         ment when we discussed the grace of God that is
     desire may be another. But when we live seeking the            sufficient for every need - whatever God's will for
     Lord with all our hearts, He gives us the peace that His       us might be. We read together from Psalm 46 and
     way for us is good and lacking nothing. May you ex-            prayed for that necessary grace now.
     perience that peace in this day, Alice.                        Hi, Alice:
                                              Love, Your friend
     Please read Phil. 4:19                                            What a beautiful sunny morning!
           It was at this time that Alice was scheduled for           Although I haven't seen the little bird on this card,
     an annual physical at her regular doctor. The father           our pine tree is "home" to many, many birds; and I'm
     of this doctor had, years before, died of ALS. And             hoping the cardinal stays here this year too.
     her doctor, shortly after diagnosing Alice's disease,            I've read over and over again Jesus' prayer in John
     himself came down with it. Although he said                    17. It is really hard for me to comprehend what I know
     nothing at this time, he surely suspected the diag-            is true - that Jesus here is praying for me.
     nosis  `- and sent her immediately to St. Luke's                 Jesus loves us so, that He desired us to be with Him
     Presbyterian Hospital in Chicago for tests.                    everlastingly, and willingly suffered to make that possi-
           The next note, then, was particularly encour-            ble.
     aging under those kinds of discouraging circum-                  And more, He makes it known to us so that His love
     stances. Oh, to have  .the reminder of fellow saints           may be in us.
     in time of need:                                                 Hard to understand, but wonderful comfort!
     Good Morning, Alice:                                                                            In His love, Your friend
           I know it may not be morning as you read this, but it    Please read Gen. 39:1-3
     is 8:00 as I write this to get it in my mailbox and off to
     you - so - I'll say: "Good morning!"                            Take the time to read and study
           Before I started writing you, I had wished there was
     something I could do for you. You don't know me at all,                  The Standard Bearer!
~    and I've only seen you twice, and yet I had a desire to


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                              17



BIBLE STUDY GUIDE
Jason L. Kortering





                      Genesis - The Beginnings (1)



   The title of the first book of the Bible, Genesis, is    of creation was well known to Adam, Seth, Enoch,
derived from the opening word,  Bereshith,  which           Noah, Shem, Abraham, etc. Through Moses, this
translated means, beginning. Hence, it sets forth           knowledge assumed a permanent record which
the keynote of the whole book, the beginning of all         became the basis for subsequent copies which were
things. This is further expanded by the Septuagint          preserved in various forms until our present day.
Bible which uses the Latin word,  geneseos,  origin,        Through the wonder of the Holy Spirit's inspira-
generations, and applies it to the generations men-         tion, we have today the record of God's Word
tioned in subsequent chapters.                              revealed to Moses concerning creation and subse-
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BOOK                                quent history.
   In a real sense, the approach we take to this first         We conclude from this, that the content of
book of the Bible will determine how we read the            Genesis is historical revelation. The details of the
entire Bible. Recent controversy in the churches,           creation days are recorded by Moses under divine
the Reformed churches included, on the subject of           direction as events that took place on successive
what the Bible says about the origin of the universe        days. The narrative of the fall, including the speak-
is significant. Too many people are willing to cast         ing serpent, is a record of an event that took place
aside the teaching of the Bible for evolution, even a       in the Garden of Eden. This is true of the flood, the
so-called Theistic evolution or progressive creation-       call of Abraham, the journey of Egypt, and all the
ism, by simply saying, "What's the difference?              rest.
Everyone is entitled to his opinion. The Bible                By doing this, we follow the example of others
doesn't tell us how God created, it only tells us that      who took this approach under God's guidance. Paul
fact of creation." If we concede this point, such dif-      referred to the creation of Eve as taking place after
ferences will be tolerated in our dealing with the          the creation of Adam, the significance being impor-
rest of the Bible. We can interpret all the miracles        tant for the headship  of the husband over the wife
in different ways, even the virgin birth of the Lord.       (I Tim.  213).  Jude referred to Enoch as being the
The crucial point is this: method of interpreting           seventh from Adam (vs. 14). Christ called those
Genesis will affect our method of interpreting the          who promoted the true faith, "sons of Abraham"
whole Bible and will greatly affect our belief in all       [Luke 19:6).  He also mentioned that the flood was a
that God says in His Word.                                  pre-figuration of the end of the world when the
   We accept the account of Genesis as the revela-          wicked would be complacent in their sins (Matt.
tion of God written by Moses. We must be careful            24:38, 39). Surely, we are in good company when
to distinguish God's revelation that was given to           we accept the historicity of the Old Testament
Adam and Noah and others from that given to                 events from creation to Malachi.
Moses. Certainly there was revelation given by God            The real importance of doing this is that we also
long before Moses wrote it down. The difference is          bow before the message that God is bringing to us
that, prior to this, all revelation was oral and            through sacred history. Acceptance of the wonder
became tradition by word of mouth. Here for the             work of God in creation as a historical fact, brings
first time it took on written form. Hence, the truth        us face to face with a wonderful God! Even creation
Jason L. Kortering is pastor of the Protestant Reformed     itself testifies of God (Romans 1:20). By faith we ac-
Church of Grandville, Michigan.                             cept the wonder of it all (Heb. 11:3). Our Reformed


18                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



fathers explain it as bowing before our Heavenly           Christ's coming  (3:14, 15); God declares the con-
Father, Who by His power made all things and               sequence for Eve and all women  (3:16) as well as
upholds it all by His power, and thereby is qualified      for Adam and all men  (3:17-19); Adam names his
to care for us (Lord's Day 9 of the Heidelberg Cate-       wife Eve; and God clothes them with the skin of an
chism). Through the fall of Adam and Eve into sin,         animal (3:20,21).  God drove them from the garden
death reigned from Adam to Moses (Romans 514).             and placed a cherubim with flaming sword
The only hope for man is the promise of Christ             (3:22-24). Eve gives birth to Cain and Abel (4: 1, 2);
Who will come as the seed of the woman (Genesis            they bring offerings to God and God receives Abel's
3:15). Christ Jesus is the golden thread woven             lamb, but not Cain's produce; Cain rises up and
throughout the fabric of the Old Testament. By             kills Abel  (4:3-8).  God pronounces His curse upon
name and by prophetic type He appears upon every           Cain and places a mark upon him  (4:9-15).  The
page, and we do well -to read these pages looking for      family of Cain is described: son Enoch built a city
His presence. Even then, God is a discriminating           and in his generations Lamech is born who had two
God. His salvation is not available for all, nor in-       wives and three sons, all inventors, but evil men
tended for all. God's sovereign purpose of election        (4: 16-24). Seth is born to Adam and Eve (4:25, 26).
and reprobation shows itself immediately upon the
pages of Holy Writ. The hearts of Adam and Eve                3. The generations of Adam  (5:1-6:8). God
are saddened by the murder of Abel by Cain. In the         created Adam in His likeness (5: 1, 2); Adam lived
flood, God reveals both salvation and judgment.            930 years and begat Seth and others  (5:3-5);  Seth
Jacob is distinguished from Esau. The nation of            lived 912 years and begat Enos and others  (5:6-8);
Israel is set apart from the other nations of the earth    Enos lived 905 years and begat  Cainan and others
as God's special people. God is a God of the an-           (5:9-11);   Cainan  l i v e d   9 1 0   y e a r s   a n d   b e g a t
tithesis, of spiritual separation, and of particular       Mahalaleel and others  (5:12-14); Mahalaleel lived
salvation. This becomes clear to us as we consider         895 years and begat  Jared and others  (5:15-17);
the contents of Genesis in outline form.                   Jared lived 962 years and begat Enoch and others
                                                           (5:18-20); Enoch lived 365 years and begat
A BRIEF OUTLINE                                            Methuselah and others; Enoch walked with God
      Besides the detail of the creation, Genesis men-     and did not die, but was translated  (5:21-24);
tions ten distinct generations (beginnings) and we         Methuselah lived 969 years and begat Lamech and
will follow them in our outline.                           others  (5:25-27);  Lamech lived 777 years and begat
      1. The narrative of the creation  (l:l-2:3).  The    Noah and others (5:28-31); Noah was 500 years and
great summary statement begins it all, "In the             begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth  (5:32).  The sons of
beginning, God created . .  ."  (1:l). Then follows a      God intermarried with the daughters of men and
description of the chaos which God created  (1:2),         God became displeased with them. Giants were
the creation of the first day  - light  (1:3-5),  the      born to them and they became very wicked (6: 1-4).
second day  - firmament  (1:6-8),  the third day  -        God resolved to destroy all flesh except Noah who
dry land and herbs  (1:9-13),  the fourth day  -           found grace in the eyes of the Lord (6:5-8).
heavenly bodies  (1:14-19),  fifth day  - fowls and          4. The generations of Noah (6:9-9:21). Noah was
fish  (1:20-23),  sixth day  - animals and Adam and        a just man and walked with God in the midst of a
Eve including the instruction to be fruitful. God          corrupt people who even resorted to violence. God
gave His evaluation of the entire creation: it was all     informed Noah of the impending flood (6:9-13).  He
very good (1:24-31). The seventh day - rest (2: l-3).      instructed Noah to build the ark  (6:14-16). He told
      2. The generation of the heaven and earth            him the waters of the flood would destroy all life
(2:4-4:26). God formed the plants and watered them         whose breath was in its nostrils. His covenant is
by a mist (2:4, 5). God formed Adam out of the dust        with Noah and his family (6: 17, 18). Noah is to
and breathed into him the breath of life  (2:6, 7).        bring two, a male and female, of each species of
Details are given of the Garden of Eden  (2:8-14).         animal and fowl into the ark and also food for all
Adam is placed in the midst of the garden and in-          (6: 19-21). He is to take seven of all the clean
structed to care for it and not to eat of the tree of      animals, three pair and one extra  (7:1-3).  He told
knowledge of good and evil (2:15-17). Eve is created       him,that  in seven days the water would come and
from the rib of Adam and partakes of his own               continue for 40 days and nights and destroy all life
nature (2: 18-23). Instruction is given concerning         on earth (7:4). Noah was 600 years old at this time.
marriage  (2:24, 25). The history of the fall follows:     He and his family were in the ark and all the
the serpent approaches Eve (3:1-5), Eve eats the for-      animals came unto them, by twos and sevens, so
bidden fruit and gives to Adam  (3:6, 7); God calls        that on the seventh day all was ready and the Lord
them to account and they make excuses  (3:8-13);           shut them in (7:5-10).  The waters of the flood were
God speaks to the serpent, including the promise of        great. The fountains of the deep were broken and


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 19



the windows of heaven were opened. All in the ark          ceived it  (8:20-22).  God instructed Noah that wild
were safe as the waters lifted them up, even above         animals would endanger them. He could now eat
the highest mountain  (7:l l-20). All flesh was de-        meat as well as herbs, only they had to drain the
stroyed as the waters prevailed 150 days (7:21-24).        blood first. They were not to kill their fellow
God remembered Noah and his family and all the             human beings (9: l-7). God renewed His covenant
animals in the ark. The rain stopped and the waters        with Noah and all flesh and gave the rainbow for a
receded (8:1-3).  The ark rested on the mountains of       sign of that covenant  (9:8-19).  Even though God
Ararat. Noah used a raven and dove to determine            destroyed the world by a flood, sin was not
whether the waters were dried up. The raven did            destroyed; it still lurked within the heart of man.
not return; the dove did. A week later he released         The sad history of Noah's drunkenness tells us of
the dove again and she returned with an olive              this  (9:20,  21), as well as the mockery of Noah by
branch. A week later it did not return at all. After       Ham and evidently by his son Canaan  (9:22, 23).
375 days, they came forth from the ark  (8:4-14).          Noah pronounces a curse upon Canaan and blesses
God instructed them to go forth and breed abun-            Shem and Japheth for their act of covering him up
dantly  (8:15-19).  Noah offered a sacrifice to God,       (9:24-27). Noah lived a total of 950 years and he
the extra one of the clean animals, and God re-            died  (9:28, 29).

THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH
Ronald L. Cammenga





                           The Christian and Drama



  Almost from the time of its introduction, the            In another place, addressing himself to the question
Christian church has been opposed to drama and             whether or not an actor or acting teacher may be
the theater. The immorality and violence of the            permitted membership in the church, he answers:
theater, as well as acting in itself, have always              This, I think, neither befits the divine maj-
called forth the church's condemnation.                        esty nor the discipline of the Gospel, that
  The ancient church father, Cyprian (c. 200-258)              the modesty and credit of the Church
was an outspoken critic of theater-going. He wrote:            should be polluted by so disgraceful and in-
       But now to pass from this to the shameful               famous a contagion.
    corruption of the stage. I am ashamed to tell          Also the church fathers John Chrysostom (c.
    what things are said; I am even ashamed to             347-407) and Augustine (354-430) were vehement
    denounce the things that are done  - the               in denouncing the theater.
    tricks of arguments, the  cheatings of                    More and more, drama and theater-going
    adulterers, the immodesties of women, the              become a problem in the church. Many churches
    scurrile jokes, the sordid parasites, even the         permit and even encourage the members to attend
    toga'd fathers of families themselves, some-           dramatic productions. Several church magazines
    times stupid, sometimes obscene, but in all            regularly feature movie reviews, which almost in-
    cases immodest. And though no individual,              variably find, in the worst productions, some
    or family, or profession, is spared by the             "redeeming value" which justifies viewing by
    discourse of these reprobates, yet every one           Christians.
    flocks to the play.                                       In our own churches there appears to be a grow-
Ronald L. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed    ing acceptance of drama and the theater. Reports
Church  of  Loveland, Colorado.                            are heard of more and more of our youth attending


20                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



movies. There is the fact, observable to every elder         especially the case when the actor is an unbeliever
and minister who has ever gone on family visita-             of the vile sort that populate Hollywood.
tion, that the great majority of our homes have a              In the case of the dramatization of sinful things,
television in them. Talk among the children at               the result is that sin is compounded. That sinful
school and by parents when visiting often concerns           deeds will be acted out on the stage is inevitable.
the TV programs recently watched. Women share                Drama is the reproduction of life. And the one reali-
over coffee the latest scandal in their favorite after-      ty of life is sin. It is simply unavoidable that sin will
noon soap-opera.                                             be acted out on the stage. That sin is in fact acted
      For our young people especially the theater poses      out in the theater cannot be questioned by anyone
a temptation. Many of their friends are allowed to           who even infrequently glances over the movie
go to movies. They are confronted by drama in                advertisements in the daily newspapers. But to act
many of the high schools and colleges that they              out sin is itself sinful, and therefore forbidden the
must attend, where courses are offered in drama              child of God.
and where they are encouraged to participate in
dramatic productions.                                          This, to my mind, is perhaps the most compelling
                                                             and forceful argument against drama, The point is
      In light of this situation, it's good for us to re-    that to go through the motions of a sin, to act out a
mind ourselves of the arguments that have been               sin, is to make oneself guilty of that sin. An actor
used by the church in the past against drama and             who takes God's name in vain, lies, cheats, rebels
against theater-going. It's good for us as young peo-        against authority, commits fornication on the stage
ple to understand these arguments so that we do              cannot justify his actions by saying that he was only
not become corrupted by the filth of the theater.            acting and that by his acting he was attempting to
It's good for us as parents to understand these              teach his audience a worthwhile moral principle.
arguments so that when we prohibit our young peo-            This is rationalization of the worst sort. In reality,
ple from going to the theater we are also able to give       by his acting, the actor made himself guilty before
them good solid reasons for this prohibition.                God of the sins he acted out. And those who watch
      There is, first of all, the argument against drama     this and are entertained by this fall under the con-
based on the impermissibility of impersonation.              demnation of the Apostle Paul in Romans  1:32,
Drarna and acting necessarily include impersona-             "Who knowing the judgment of God, that they
tion, the assuming and acting out of the personality         which commit such things are worthy of death, not
of another, whether a real or fictitious character.          only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do
This is not permitted the Christian. This argument           them." This, all by itself, makes drama an illegiti-
is developed at length in the pamphlet "The Chris-           mate art form. And this explains why the theater
tian and the Film Arts," by Prof. H. Hanko. The              has always been an instrument of iniquity and why
argument runs like this. Acting involves the assum-          it has always been in the control of wicked men.
ing of the person and personality of another. This is        This is simply God's judgment on an institution
a violation of the 9th Commandment, is the living            that is in itself depraved.
of the lie, the pretending to be what you are not and          It is especially in this respect that drama is to be
what God has not made you, and this for purposes             distinguished from novel writing and novel
of entertainment.                                            reading. Now, no one would deny that it is possible
      This we believe to be a valid argument. It is in-      to read in the wrong way. No one would deny that
teresting that even worldly psychology recognizes            in reading novels it becomes very easy to become
the serious consequences of impersonation, the               sympathetic with the hero or heroine, even in their
damage that this does to one's own person.                   sins. Then we are reading in the wrong way. Then
      In the second place, there is the argument against     we are not reading objectively and judging what we
drama based on the content. The content of the               read and the works of those about whom we are
theater must be either that which is holy or that            reading in the light of the standard of God's law.
which is sinful. Every subject dealt with must fall          But in novels no one is actually acting; no person is
into either one of these two categories.                     going through the motions of sin and therefore
      The result when holy things are dramatized is          making himself guilty of sin. The characters in a
                                                             nova1 are fictitious and in our mind. That
hypocrisy and blasphemy. The holy would include              distinguishes novels sharply from drama.
the life of Christ, some Bible character, or some
Christian. It would include various acts of worship            In the third place, our argument against the
as well as good works which are the product of               theater concerns the message of the theater. By its
sanctification. To perform these in an empty, for-           message, its general tone, the theater presents a
mal way, and then solely for the purposes of enter-          false view of life. That false view of life is that a life
tainment, is an abuse and a blasphemy. This is               of sin is the good and happy life. You can sin and


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                               21



get away. with it. There is joy and happiness in a life         in such a way not only to entertain people with
of disobedience to God's commandments.                          these vile activities, but to entice people to commit
  But this is a distortion of life. The fact of the mat-        them.
ter is that a life of sin is not the good and happy life.         How can we ever justify allowing our young peo-
The fact is that the life of the impenitent sinner is a         ple to view the corruption of the theater? How can
life of misery and woe. The fact is that God                    we young people justify to ourselves the watching
punishes sin and the sinner in this life already. Men           of modern drama in which every one of God's com-
do not get away with sin, not even here and now.                mandments is broken, and broken repeatedly?
When men divorce their wives and marry someone                  How can we parents allow ourselves and our
else it's not the case that everything turns out all            children to be entertained hour after hour, night
right in the end. Instead it is the case that the               after night by the violence and debauchery of the
adulterer experiences in this life already the judg-            television? And if we do this, do we suppose that
ment of God. When men murder other men it's not                 there will be no harmful consequences for us?
the case that everything turns out all right in the end.          We must reject drama and the evil of the theater.
Instead it is the case that the murderer experiences            We must separate ourselves and our children from
in this life already the judgment of God. No one,               its evil influence. Jude calls us to "hate even the
especially the youth, must be fooled by the lying               garment spotted by the flesh" (Jude 23). We ought
message of the theater.                                         to make our resolve that of the psalmist in Psalm
  Not to be ignored as an argument against movie                101:3, "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes:
attendance is the source and substance of the                   I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not
modern-day movies. The source is godless Holly-                 cleave to me." Our prayer ought to be the prayer of
wood. The participants are immoral movie stars.                 the psalmist in Psalm  119:37, "Turn away mine
The substance of the movies, with few exceptions,               eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me
is violence and sex. And the movies are presented               in thy way."

GUEST ARTICLE
Rev. Philip Rawson





              Brief History of the Measbro Dyke
              Congregation in Barnsley, England


(This is the substance of a speech delivered by Rev.  Rawson       Barnsley is an old town going back to the days
while in Kalamazoo, MI at a Missionary Conference sponsored     when the mighty Roman Empire's borders ex-
by that congregation.)                                          tended to the British Isles. Around Barnsley have
   I believe The Holy Catholic Church, The Com-                 been found evidences of Roman occupation, for ex-
munion of Saints. In Barnsley, England that church              ample, the site of an altar dedicated to the god Mars
of Jesus Christ is to be found.                                 by the Emperor Augustus. The town's oldest
   First of all, let me tell you something about my             building is the "Monk Brethren Priory," founded
home town. Barnsley is a town of some 250,000                   in 1154, falling into ruin during the Reformation
souls. It is almost in the center of the British Isles,         struggle at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in
and in the midst of the largest coalfield in England.           1538.
                                                                   That seems by the way to have been the extent of
Philip Rawson is the pastor of Measbro Dyke Evangelical         the Reformation in the Barnsley area.
Church at Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England.                      The history of the Measbro Dyke Church goes


22                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



back over one hundred years. At first a few people               You young people have a very rich heritage for
met for worship in a building belonging to a brick-           which you must surely give thanks to God. That
works. In 1897 the present church building was                rich heritage in the witness and literature of your
erected.                                                      churches is being used of God to encourage and
      The past one hundred years have witnessed the           keep alive the testimony to the Reformed faith in
widespread departure from the historic Biblical               many places of the earth.
truth in England. There is no mainline denomina-                 Some of God's faithful servants are in very lonely
tion that is not well down the road of apostasy.              and isolated situations here in England. Part of my
Maximum coverage is given by the media to clergy-             ministry is to make known the literature of the
men (especially Anglican bishops) who vie with one            R.F.P.A. in England. Over these past months I have
another to see who can be the most outrageous in              received several requests for the literature and now
their denial of Biblical doctrine.                            correspond with several who truly love the Re-
      It is against this background that the church of        formed truth. One man writes concerning the liter-
Measbro Dyke, Barnsley separated from the                     ature of the R.F.P.A.: "It is a ministry very much to
Wesleyan Reform Church, which was very                        my taste"; and another: "I continue to be im-
ecumenically involved. In 1975 we were recon-                 pressed and encouraged by the testimony of the
stituted as an Evangelical Church. As such we were            Protestant Reformed Churches and the clarity of its
just a small part of what was happening throughout            literature."
England in the 1900's  -  1970's. It was in 1972 that            It was for our congregation a joy and a privilege
the writer of this article became the first pastor of         to welcome into our midst Rev. D. Engelsma and
the Measbro Dyke Church. Since 1980 I have been               Prof. H. Hanko on their recent visit to the British
fully maintained by the congregation.                         Isles, a report of which has already appeared in The
      Neither the church nor its Pastor have their roots      Stundard  Bearer. Their warm and faithful ministry
in the Reformed faith. Our roots are those of                 did much to instruct and encourage us in the truth
Wesleyan Arminianism.                                         of God. Indeed over several years a number of peo-
                                                              ple from the Protestant Reformed Churches in
      By God's grace the Pastor was brought to a              America and the Protestant Reformed Fellowship
knowledge and love of the Reformed faith. Not that            (now church) of New Zealand have visited and  wor-
this has been easy, for even today we have bitter             shipped with us. In the Spring of 1985 it was my
disappointments and opposition to the doctrines of            great privilege to pay a brief visit to Kalamazoo and
God's sovereign grace. Much still needs to be done            Grand Rapids. I saw at first hand the churches and
if we are to become a truly Reformed church.                  seminary and schools, and met so many brethren
      Over these past eight years the writer of this arti-    and sisters in our Lord Jesus. You have much for
cle has received much encouragement and help                  which to be thankful. I pray God will keep you
from correspondence with ministers in the Protes-             steadfast in this truth, that Ne will continue to use
tant Reformed Churches, and the literature pro-               you to His glory in the great work to which He has
duced by the R.F.P.A.                                         called you in His kingdom.



                                            Book Review

THE EPISTLES TO THE COLOSSIANS, PHI-                          volume is literally an entire rewriting of the older
LEMON AND EPHESIANS  (New International                       commentaries.
Commentary), F.F. Bruce; Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub-                   It is, in the judgment of this reviewer, one of the
lishing Company, 1984; 442 pp., $18.95. (Reviewed             better works of Dr. Bruce, especially because it
by Prof. H. Hanko)                                            does not give evidence of the influences of higher
      The New International Commentary Series is dif-         criticism to the extent that some of Bruce's other
ferent from other series because the volumes of the           works did.
set are periodically rewritten. The original volume             It is really not a helpful volume for Gods people;
on Ephesians and Colossians was written by E.K.               it is rather technical and is written with the
Simpson and F.F. Bruce, while the original volume             minister in mind, although a great deal of the
on Philemon was written by Jac. J. Muller. This               technical material (such as textual criticism, Greek


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               23

                                                                   .
                                                             .     .
words and their meaning, references to scholarly          to grips with the. text. itself and explaining it. In
works by others) has been relegated to the foot-          close connection  with"this,  one looks in vain for a
notes. Those who are more than passingly ac-              careful development of concepts, concepts with
quainted with New Testament scholarship can prof-         which Colossians and Ephesians are loaded. One,
it by the commentary and ought to have it on their        e.g., never finds any clear definition of such great
shelves. It gives insights on occasion into the text      truths in these epistles as election, adoption, recon-
which are helpful and interesting. And Dr. Bruce is       ciliation, etc. And in close connection with this, the
a scholar who must be taken into account in New           historic theological terminology of the church,
Testament studies, whether one always agrees with         developed over many centuries, is rarely used, in
him or not.                                               an attempt to be contemporary. The result is that
  Nevertheless, there are some things about the           the truths these terms set forth are no longer clearly
commentary which trouble me greatly. In the first         defined and expressed. By doing this, one cuts
place, there seems to be more emphasis in the com-        himself off from the church of the past not only,
mentary on dealing with interpretations of others         but loses a precious heritage of the truth without
(often going back to the early history of the New         which we cannot live. Perhaps this is the result of
Testament Church and giving interpretations of            rewriting commentaries in an effort to keep them
those who really were part of sects) than in coming       up to date.


                           Report of Classis West
                                             September 11, 1985

  Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Chur-          through their delegates,  Classis  judged that the
ches met in Loveland, Colorado on September 4-6.          churches should proceed with discipline.
Ten ministers and fourteen elders were present, to           The following classical appointment schedule
do the work of the churches in the West. Rev. M.          was adopted for Trinity, Houston: Oct. 6  & 13  -
Kamps, president of the previous  Classis,  opened        Kuiper; Oct. 20  & 27  - Koole; Nov. 10  & 17  - De
the sessions with a devotional exposition of I Peter      Vries; Nov. 28, Dec. 1 & 8 - Miersma; Dec. 22 & 29,
1:17-21. Rev. K. Koole presided over  Classis.  Rev.      Jan. 5 - supply to be sought from the Seminary; Jan.
M. De Vries (Edgerton) and Elder J. Van Oort              19  & 26  - Slopsema; Feb. 2  & 9  - Moore; Feb. 23  &
(Doon)  were delegated to  Classis  for the first time    Mar. 2  - Lanting; Mar. 16  & 23  - Kamps.
and signed the Formula of Subscription.                      Concerning the use of the inheritance willed to
  Working through the largest Agenda in recent            Classis West by the late Mr. C. Van Der Molen,
memory, if not in all its history,  Classis labored       Classis decided to give this bequest and ac-
three full days and nights, either by committees or       cumulated interest to the Protestant Reformed
in full session. Most of the work was done in closed      Churches in America on the condition that the gift
session.                                                  be placed in a perpetual fund invested in govern-
                                                          ment insured securities whereby the principal re-
  Classis  heard the reports of a special committee       mains intact and only the annual earnings be used
and of the Church Visitors concerning work done,          exclusively to subsidize the denominational
on behalf of the  Classis,  in churches where there       Emeritus Fund.
have been special difficulties.                              Classis  appointed a committee to bring recom-
  With sorrow,  Classis  received the information         mendations to the next  Classis regarding rules on
from the Trinity, Houston Church, that the Rev.           the length of protests and appeals so that  Classis
Jon Smith resigned as Pastor of the Trinity Protes-       does not again have such a large Agenda. This com-
tant Reformed Church and withdrew the member-             mittee is also to bring recommendations regarding
ship papers of himself and his family from the Con-       the necessity of reading aloud large appeals in their
gregation. Rev. R.  {Cammenga  was appointed              entirety on the floor of Classis.  The committee con-
Moderator of Trinity, Houston until they receive a        sists of Rev. D. Kuiper, Rev. M. Kamps, and Elder J.
Pastor.                                                   Van Den Top.
  Three churches asked  Classis' advice regarding           Classis  meets next in South Holland, IL, on
the discipline of members, according to Article 77        March 5, 1986, the Lord willing.
of the Church Order. Having heard and considered                                         Rev. David Engelsma
the information presented by the Consistories                                                      Stated Clerk


          THE STANDARD BEARER
                   P.O. Box 6064                     _____.__~_ --~-_.-~-
        Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                                                               . . `:,,
                                                                                         -                                        ..T  <I
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          24                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER  -


                                                                                NOTICE!!!
                 Plan now to attend the Lecture sponsored by The Protestant Reformed Lecture Committee.
                      THE SUBJECT: "PSALM SINGING  - A REFORMED HERITAGE"
                      THE  SPEAKE:R: REV. JASON L. KORTERING
                      THE DATE: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1985
                      THE  TklE: 8 P.M.
                      THE PLACE: SEVENTH REFORMED CHURCH
                                         950 LEONARD ST., N.W.
                                         GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN
                                                                                                   Protestant Reformed Lecture Committee

                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
            On October 17, 1985, our parents, MR. AND MRS. BEN
          MEELKER will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.                                                                                 IN MEMORIAM
            "And he said unto him, `If thy presence go not with me, carry us                                     The Consistory of the Hull Protestant Reformed Church hereby ex-
          not up hence."' (Exodus 33:15)                                                               presses its sincere sympathy to a fellow member, Elder Henry
                                                                                                       Hoekstra, in the loss of his father, MR. PETER HOEKSTRA.
         Their children'                     Henry and Karen Meelker
          Bernie and Anna Mae Meelker        Roger and Hilde Gritters                                            May our God, who is gracious, comfort the bereaved in their  sor-
          Hilda Meelker                      Dan and Anna Bodbyl                                       row.
                                                                                                                                                                Rev. R.G. Moore, Pres.
         Their grandchildren:               Gerrit Meelker                                                                                                      B. Gritters, Vice-Pres.
         Tom and Gretine Bodbyl             Bert Meelker
          Berend and Janine Meelker                 end their 10 great-grandchildren
                                                                                                                                   LEAGUE MEETING NOTICE!!!
                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                 The Fall Meeting of the League of Eastern Men's and Ladies'
                                                                                                      Societies will be held, the Lord willing, on Tuesday, October 22,
                On August 4, 1985, our beloved, parents, MR. AND MRS.                                  1985, at 8:00 P.M., at the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church.
          EVERETT VAN VOORTHUYSEN celebrated their thirty-fifth wedding
          anniversary. We humbly thank our faithful Father for keeping them in                                   Rev. Barrett L. Gritters will speak on "What Constitutes True
          His care, and for graciously leading them to raise their children in His                    Preaching?, Who Preaches, and How Sent?"
          fear. Our oraver  is that our Lord will keep them in health and strength                               Members and others interested in the topic are urned to attend.
          that they'mai continue by their exampie to lead and counsel us &-                                                                                     Elsie Kuiper, Secretary
          cording to His Word.
          Their children:
          Mr. & Mrs. Cory Koot                                                                                                     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
          Mr. & Mrs. Ken Kamps                                                                                   The Martha Ladies Aid Society of the Hull Protestant Reformed
          Mr. & Mrs. Ron Van Voorthuysen                                                              Church expresses its sincere sympathy to our fellow members, Mrs.
          Mr. & Mrs. Ron Schut                                                                        Bert Van Maanen, Mrs. Ray Brunsting, Mrs. Ted Hoekstia and Mrs.
                and 1 1 grandchildren                                Redlands, Calif.                 Henry Hoekstra in the loss of their father and Mrs. John Boer in the
                                                                                                      loss of her brother, MR. PETER M. HOEKSTRA.
                                 IN LOVING MEMORY                                                                "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints."
                                                                                                      (Psalm 1 16: 15)
                On August 21, 1985, it pleased our Heavenly Father to take unto
          Himself our beloved father, grandfather and great-grandfather,                                                                                  Rev. R. Moore, Pres.
          PETER M. HOEKSTRA, at the age of 92 years. We rejoice that he is in                                                                             Mrs. Tom De Jong, Sec'y.
          Glory with his Lord and we pray that Jehovah, our Covenant God will
          uphold us by His Grace and give us peace that passeth all under-                                                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
          standing.
                                                                                                                 On September 18, 1985, our parents and grandparents, MR. AND
                "So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts un-                      MRS. BERT  MARING celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. We
          to wisdom." (Psalm 116:16)                                                                  are grateful to our Heavenly Father for them and their covenant in-
          Martin and Stella Hoekstra                 Florence and Ray Brunsting
                                                                   ._-                                struction. May God guide and keep them in the years He may give.
          Eunice Brummel                             Peter and Sharon Hoekstra                                   "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations."
          George and Greda Hoekstra                  Dorothy and Al Mulder                            (Psalm 90: 1)
          Donald and Margaret Hoekstre               Henry and Hildred Hoekstra
          Ted and Myna Hoekstra                         69 grandchildren                                                                                 Gene and Ruth Ann De Boer
          Bernice and Bert Van Maenen                   147 great-grandchildren                                                                            and 6 grandchildren


