          The
     S7YllAAlDARD

           A REFORMED  SEMI-MONTHLY  MAGAZINE                                          Y





     .  .  . We need to stop our work at opportune

     times in the home to give relevant spiritual
     teaching to our children. We need to inter-
     pret events and happenings of the day in the
     light of the Word of God for them . . . . The
     spiritual application and perspective of our
     life must flow forth naturally in our bonver-
     sation  with and our instruction of our chil-
     dren as we meet with various circumstances,
     trials, and afflictions, joys and sorrows.
         See ' `The Christian Family' ' e page 65


.                                                Volume  LXII, No. 3, November 1, 1985  -


~
     _
          50                                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER




                                            CONTENTS                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                                  ISSN 03624692
                                                                                                        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.
                   Honoring God's Holy Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50                Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                               Deportment Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga,  Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
                Editorials  -                                                                  D. Decker, Rev. Barry Gritters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko,
                                                                                               Rev. Ronald Hanko. Mr. David Harbach. Rev.  Iohn A. Heys, Rev. J. Kortering,
                   The Christian, South Africa, and Romans 13 . . . .53                        Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Thomas  C.  Mierima,  Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.
                                                                                               Gise J. .Van Baren,_Rev.  Herman Veldman.
                   Reformed Theology Misrepresented . . . . . . . . . .54                      Editorial Office: Prof. H:C. Hoeksema
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          MEDITATION
          Cornelius Hanko




                                            IHonoring God's Holy Name


                                 Ques. 99. What is required in the third commandment?
                                Ans. That we, not only by cursing or perju y, but also by rash swearing, must not profane or
                             abuse the name of God; nor by silence or connivance be partakers of these horrible sins in
                             others; and briefly, that we use the holy name of God no otherwise than with fear and
                             reverence; so that he may be rightly confessed and worshipped by us, and be glorified in all our
                             words and works.
                                 Ques. 180. Is then the profaning of God's name, by swearing or cursing, so heinous a sin,
                             that his wrath is kindled against those who do not endeavor, as much as in them lies, to prevent


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  51



             and forbid such cursing and swearing?
               Ans. It undoubtedly is, for there is no sin greater or more provoking to God, than the profan-
             ing of his name; and therefore he has commanded this sin to be punished with death.
                                                                                Heid. Catechism, Lord's Day 36



  Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name!                   stands out in the Old Testament as God's Name of
  May all the angels in heaven and all the saints               intimate covenant fellowship, while in the New
about the throne praise Thee continually!                       Testament the covenant Name of Father is on the
                                                                foreground.
  May the starry heavens, the broad expanse of the
oceans, the creatures that roam upon the face of the               Since these various Names can never express the
earth; may trees and plants and flowers; yea, may               fulness of God's infinite perfection, Scripture refers
all Thy wide and vast creation praise Thee forever              to this fulness with the word NAME. The Psalmist
and ever!                                                       declares, "0 Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy
                                                                name in all the earth."  And. again, "For that thy
  May Thy saints on earth praise Thee! May all                  name is near thy wondrous works declare" (Psalm
that hath breath serve to the glory of Thy matchless            8:1,  75:l).
Name!                                                              God speaks to us in the rumbling thunder, but
  And thou, my soul, above all, praise thou the                 also in the song of the wren. We hear His voice in
Lord!                                                           the raging hurricane, but also in the rustling of the
  In each of the ten commandments our God ap-                   wind in the trees. We see His Name written across
proaches closer to us.                                          the starry heavens, in the golden fields of grain, and
  In the first command He speaks to us, saying, I               in the tender flower. Do you hear it say, "Zion is
am Jehovah, thy Almighty, who delivered thee                    delivered through judgment"?
from the power of Satan and from the bondage of                   Yet we have a far richer revelation of His              .
sin and death! I am God alone! Thy only God! Love               glorious Name in God's autobiography, the holy
and serve Me alone!                                             Scriptures. There He reveals the secrets of His
  In the second command we hear Him say, I am                   heart to the objects of His love, whom He has
your Jehovah, your Almighty, the source of all your             chosen in Christ Jesus as His cherished possession
blessedness! Love and serve Me in all My fulness!               unto all eternity. He tells us His plans and pur-
                                                                poses. He makes known to us His mighty work
  Now God draws still nearer to us by giving us a               throughout the course of history as the God of our
deeper insight into His intimate covenant fellow-               salvation in Jesus Christ. He tells us of the world to
ship with His people in Christ!                                 come and the glory that abides forever!
  I have revealed My Name to you, My child!                       The most amazing revelation of Gods Name is in
  Honor thou my Name!                                          the cross of our Savior. There God's love and God's
  We are dealing with God's Name!                              justice meet together. His holy justice demands the
                                                                sacrifice of His only begotten Son as a ransom for
  Your and my name as such have very little mean-              the sins of His people. His love for us requires the
ing, except that they serve to distinguish one from             surrender of His Son into death, even into the
the other. Yet that name, just like the name of Mar-           torments of eternal hell to bring us to glory. God
tin Luther or John Calvin, is your or my name, dis-             gave His Son, and the Son laid down His life, while
tinguishing us from all the millions of people who              we were still sinners!
have lived, do live, or will live upon the earth. It
also involves our reputation, for a "good name is                 This God of our salvation dwells in us by His
rather to be chosen than riches" (Prov.  22:l).                 Spirit, bestowing on us all the blessings of salvation
                                                                merited on the cross. We receive the outward sign
  God's Names are important because they ac-                    of baptism and the inner seal of the Spirit whereby
curately describe to us who and what God is. He                we are baptized into the Name, the fulness of God
entrusts His Names to us that we may thereby                   the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
know Him, and speak to Him and of Him. Among                   We are renewed in the image of Christ in true
the many Names given to us the Name Jehovah                    knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, to know,
                                                               to love, and to serve God in love. We are made sons
Cornelius Hanko is a minister emeritus in the Protestant       and daughters by the Spirit of adoption who cries in
Reformed Churches.                                             us and causes us to cry, Abba, Father! He is our


52                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



God! Our Refuge! Our Strength! Our eternal joy               And that among those who call themselves saints!
and blessedness!                                             Shame on us!
      Holy is His Name!                                         Scripture also warns that in the church our yes is
      It tells us that God is uniquely GOD! He is the in-    yes and our no is no, and that whatever more we
finite fulness of all His glorious perfections, the          should add is sin! We have no need for the oath, not
Fountain of life, the Source of every good and               among saints!
perfect gift, God above all, blessed, adorable                 Likewise, Scripture warns against what is often
forever!                                                     referred to as the mild oath, words that have a hid-
      He is separated from all that is creature, and         den reference to God, to Jesus, to the devil, and to
from all sin, in order to be devoted to His own              heaven or hell, used in order to replace the rash
glorious perfection! He is Self-existent, Self-suffi-        oath. Some of these words sound very much like
cient, completely independent from any creature.             the Name of God or of Jesus. Some refer to heaven,
He seeks His own honor and glory in all His think-           which is God's throne. Some refer to hell, which is
ing, willing, and working. Our God lives His                 God's place of judgment. God's attributes should
blessed life in fellowship of love, for He is love. He       be too highly respected to be spoken of lightly, as in
is the source of all true love, so that to love Him is       "mercy me" and similar expressions. We are
to share His intimate communion of life. He is the           warned against the thoughtless repetition of God's
Holy One of Israel! Before Him the angels hide               Name in our prayers, which can be very offensive
their faces in worship as they present their Holy,           to the listeners in a public prayer, and certainly
Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, in adoration                  must be much more offensive to God. Prayers that
before Him. When the prophet Isaiah saw God's                bring God down to our level, speaking to God as if
glory filling the temple he cried out, "Woe is me!           He were one of us, must be strongly condemned.
for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean               But prayers must also be avoided that are mere for-
lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean         malities, a collection of platitudes. Injudgment day
lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of          we will be amazed at how few of our prayers were
hosts" (Isaiah 6:5). This is eternal life, to know Him       actually acceptable in God's sight! Our Book of In-
and to worship before Him in the beauty of holi-             struction warns us that there is no sin greater or
ness as saints in Christ!                                    more provoking to God than the blaspheming of
                                                             His Name!
      Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy
God in vain!                                                   Yet even so we have not been warned sufficient-
                                                             ly. Our Catechism speaks of sinning by silence or
      Literally we read, Thou shalt not lift up the          connivance! Holy zeal for our God must fill us with
Name of Jehovah thy Almighty to vanity!                      just wrath whenever we hear His Name abused.
      Vanity is that which is empty, corrupt, darkness,      We can be so concerned about our own name, yet
and sin  - Satan's realm! There the hatred of the            what does our name amount to in comparison with
evil heart expresses itself in blasphemy. God gives          the Name of the Holy One of Israel? Certainly those
the blasphemer over to this horrible sin to fill the         who habitually make themselves guilty of these
cup of his iniquity unto his own just condemnation.          sins cannot be our friends and companions. We
He pretends to have banished God from his life, yet          must be able to sing with a good conscience:
he cannot refrain from cursing Him. Although he                On what is base and evil I will not set my heart;
mocks with the idea. of hell, he damns everything                Transgressors ways abhorring with them I
and everyone he sees. The Lord will certainly hold                  take no part.
him guilty. God regards him as a paria, an outcast, a          No froward man or evil shall my companion be;
leper, destined for hell!                                        I will not suffer slander or pride or treachery!
      But nowhere is this heinous sin so grossly com-          That is still only the negative aspect of this com-
mitted as in the church. God gave His Name to be             mand. Positively the Lord requires of us that we
honored and we dishonor it! He entrusted it to us            use His Name "no otherwise than with fear and
for His glory and we misuse it! He comes near to us          reverence."
through His Name, that we may worship Him, and
we turn our backs to Him! We praise Him in song,               Holy fear is meant here, making us deeply con-
we curse Him in our daily lives! "Out of the same            scious of God's holy majesty and our own insignifi-
mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My                    cance and wretchedness, of God's love and our un-
brethren, these things ought not to be! Doth a foun-         worthiness, of God's abundant blessings and our
tain send forth at the same place sweet water and            utter dependence upon Him. This fear creates a
bitter?" James  3:lO. Gross swearing is heard from           God-consciousness in our lives, which becomes a
adults, teenagers, and . . . even from small children.       praying without ceasing!


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               53



  Reverence requires that we remember, declare,            will not hold him guiltless that takes His Name in
and exalt the Name of God in word and deed, in our         vain? What else could we expect but a retrogression
private devotions and in our external walk of life.        in faith and spiritual life? Every day anew we are
This is a working out of our salvation in fear and         driven to the cross, to cling to the bleeding feet of
trembling, in the awareness that it is God who             our Savior, pleading for forgiving mercies and grace
works in us both to will and to do according to His        to learn more perfectly to love the Lord our God
good pleasure. For we are His workmanship, each            with our whole being!
of us serving his own purpose toward the coming of           For whom have I, Lord, in heaven and on earth
His kingdom!                                               besides Thee? Thou art my only Good, my Hope,
  But who of us can place his hand in his bosom            my Trust, my joy and praise, my all!
and have it come forth untainted with sin? Who can           My Father in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name!
escape the terrible indictment: for Jehovah thy God

EDITORIALS




                     T:he Christian, South Africa,
                                     and Romans 13


  What should be the Christian's attitude toward           claims of such men as Bishop Tutu and the Rev.
the current situation in South Africa? This is, of         Boesak. And with respect to the latter, having read
course, a very real question for any Christian, be he      some of his writings, I have more than a suspicion;
black, white, colored, or Indian, living in that           I have the conviction that he is far from Reformed.
republic. But it is also a question for Christians liv-    Nevertheless, I freely state that I am not an expert
ing in other countries who are bombarded with              on the subject and will not attempt to pose as such.
news and propaganda and theories and opinions
concerning the current troubles in that country.             But the basic question as to what the ChristianI's
                                                           attitude ought to be is a question which should be
  No, the editor of The Standard Bearer is not about       answered in the light of the Word of God. And to
to pose as an expert on the issue of apartheid and to      that question I have an answer.
present solutions of the problems which trouble the
Republic of South Africa. There are probably far             Let us suppose a worst possible situation. Let us
too many such "experts" voicing their  long-               suppose that the apartheid policy of the govern-
distance judgments already. Nor will I attempt to          ment there is altogether wrong and unjust. Let us
sift fact from fiction, news from propaganda, reali-       suppose, further, that the anti-apartheid forces are
ty from myth, with respect to the situation there. I       altogether right. Let us suppose, too, that the
have my opinions in that respect. It appears to me         government is not serious about bringing about any
that much of what we receive through our news              changes in its policies. Let us suppose also that the
media is left-leaning. I am also automatically             anti-apartheid movement has no Marxist flavor as
suspicious of the reports and claims of religious          has been alleged. Let us further suppose that the
leaders affiliated in one way or another with liberal      current policy of the government to declare and en-
ecumenical organizations such as the World Coun-           force a "state of emergency" in twenty-six of the
cil of Churches (and the South African Council of          nation's magisterial districts is a very unfair and
Churches) and the World Alliance of Reformed               foolish and oppressive policy.
Churches. This means, too, that I have an auto-              The question is: in such a situation may and
matic suspicion of the views and opinions and              should the Christian citizen disobey the  govern-


54                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



ment, engage in civil disobedience, in public de-               Bear in mind that these words were written
fiance of government decrees, let alone participate           when the "higher powers" were the Caesars. In
in violence or in activities which he knows very              fact, it is possible that one of the worst of them,
well will lead to violence?                                   Nero, was in power when Romans 13 was written.
      It is very easy in a democratic country such as         This makes the admonition here all the more strik-
ours, which was itself conceived in rebellion and             ing and weighty.
born in revolution, to be swept along in the kind of            It is the calling of the Christian citizen to obey, to
democratic thinking which so strongly emphasizes              be in subjection, not to rebel and disobey when he
"rights" of all kinds and which by many is virtually          deems the government's laws and decrees to be un-
equated with Christianity. And when churches join             just or unfair. To do anything else is to resist the or-
in making propaganda about these rights, and                  dinance of God Himself and to invoke wrath (not
councils of churches meddle in political affairs in           the wrath of the government, but the wrath of God)
the name of Christianity, the pressures to identify a         upon himself.
certain political stance with our Christian faith can
become rather strong.                                           There is but one possible exception to this de-
                                                              mand of obedience. If the government commands
      Yet Scripture speaks very clearly as to what the        me to do that which is directly contrary to the law
calling of the Christian is with respect to the               of God - for example, to steal or to commit
government. The most extensive statement of                   adultery or to bear false witness  - then I must
Scripture is found in Romans  13:1-5:  "Let every             disobey. Even then, however, I may not rebel and
soul be subject unto .the higher powers. For there is         work to overthrow the government. I must disobey
no power but of  Gomd:  the powers that be are or-            and bear the consequences of such disobedience,
dained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the              suffering, then, not as an evildoer but for doing
power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they               right. In other words, even then I must be in subjec-
that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.            tion for the sake of conscience.
For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the
evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do             All of this, we should note, has nothing to do
that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of             with being pro-government or anti-government,
the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for           with being pro- or anti-apartheid, in the South
good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for       African situation. Nor has it anything to do with be-
he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the               ing pro-democracy or anti-democracy either here or
minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon             in South Africa. (And is it not striking that Scripture
him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be               never speaks to subjects like this?) But it has much
subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience          to do with our thinking and conduct as people of
sake."                                                        God in the midst of the world.                    HCH





               Reformed Theology Misrepresented


      In Christian News (Sept. 9, 1985, p. 12) there is an    Missouri Synod Lutheran paper.
interesting article by a Rev.  Armand   J. Boehme                In this editorial I am not so concerned about the
about the proper translation of the Greek word                translation issue, though that is in itself an in-
diatheke,  whether that should be "covenant" or               teresting and worthwhile subject.
"testament." The discussion centers especially on
the question how this term should be translated in               My concern is about the fact that in the course of
the words of the institution of the Lord's Supper. I          the discussion there is reference made to Reformed
should probably note here, for those who are not              theology, and in that reference Reformed theology
aware of it, that  Christian  News is a conservative          is misrepresented on two counts. In discussing this


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               55



subject and in arguing for the translation "testa-        Lord Jesus Christ was indeed the death of the Son
ment," the Rev. Boehme writes as follows:                 of God. Proof: Heidelberg Catechism, Q. and A. 40;
  I, . . . To accept the translation of  `diatheke' as    Belgic Confession, Article 19; Canons of Dordrecht,
`covenant' removes from the Sacrament of the Altar        II, A, 4. In the second place, Rev. Boehme is ap-
one thing that is central to it - the death of God in-    parently ascribing the Zwinglian view of the Lord's
carnate whose spiritual gifts, won by His death, we       Supper  - the memorial idea  - to the Reformed.
receive in this sacrament.                                This is not correct. For proof, I offer the following
                                                          quotations from Article 35 of our Belgic Confes-
  "The denial of the death of God is a Reformed           sion: "In the meantime we err not, when we say
argument (F. Pieper,  Christian Dogmatics, Vol. II,       that what is eaten and drunk by us is the proper
pp. 87, fn. 66; 93-94; 136-139). The Reformed             and natural body, and the proper blood of Christ."
denial of the death of God is tied to their denial of     And again: "This feast is a spiritual table, at which
the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ         Christ communicates himself with all his benefits
in, with, and under the bread and wine in the             to us, and gives us there to enjoy both himself, and
Lord's Supper. The Reformed prefer to think of the        the merits of his sufferings and death, nourishing,
Lord's Supper as a covenant meal of remembrance.          strengthening and comforting our poor comfortless
This theology is called `covenant theology' or            souls by the eating of his flesh, quickening and re-
`federal theology.' "                                     freshing them by the drinking of his blood."
  Now I do not have at hand F. Pieper's Christian           Christian  News and the Rev. Boehme should
Dogmatics  to verify this reference or to see what        make appropriate corrections on these two counts.
proof he may or may not offer for this twofold            It does not strengthen one's argument to misrepre-
claim.                                                    sent someone else's position.
  However, if the Rev. Boehme wants to make                 Meanwhile, I also suggest that it is not inconsis-
claims of this kind, he should back them up not           tent with good, sound covenant theology to speak
with F.  Pieper,  but with quotations from the Re-        of a testament and to translate the Greek term
formed confessions. This, however, he will find to        diatheke by "testament" in some instances. I also
be impossible. In the first place, our Reformed con-      point out that the Hebrew word berith (covenant) is
fessions strongly maintain that the death of our          rendered by the Greek  diatheke  many times. HCH

WALKING IN THE LIGHT
Herman Hanko





                                     Introduction (2)


  Today's world in which we live has abandoned            judges in ancient Israel: "And there was no king in
almost completely any kind of moral standard for          Israel, and every man did that which was right in
conduct. In the sphere of ethics it is, so to speak,      his own eyes."
"Every man for himself, and the devil take the               A recent issue of The Banner of Truth had a quota-
hindmost." Morality is determined today by                tion from Don Bell Reports, April 12, 1985 which il-
popular opinion without any regard to the law of          lustrates this point with startling clarity. The quote
God and the objective standard of the Scriptures.         is entitled: "The Humanism of the Textbooks."
Increasingly, every man is given the right to do
what he feels like doing, and no one is permitted to            The Mel Gablers, who do extensive re-
pass judgment on his conduct. It is in America (and           search into textbooks used in public
in the world at large) as it was in the time of the           schools, have revealed how Humanism is


56                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



       written into these books. For example.               article which appeared in the  U.S. News  &  WorZd
         On Sex: "Everyone must develop his own             Report. This article was a "conversation with James
       set of principles to govern his own sexual           Q. Wilson, a professor of government at Harvard
       behavior" (Psychology for Living, McGraw-            University." His field of expertise is crime and he
       Hill/Webster).                                       discussed in this article how genetic traits
                                                            predispose some to criminality. He claims that
         On Drugs: "Your decision about mari-               various studies of genetic traits have proved that
       juana is important to you. You should be the         "despite claims of some social scientists, environ-
       one to make it."  (Good Health for You,              ment is not the only factor in whether people
       Laidlaw).                                            become criminals." Now this is an amazing state-
         On Situation Ethics: "If a situation pres-         ment. He apparently accepts the studies of social
       sures a person to act in a certain way, that         scientists that, at least in some cases, environment
       person is not likely to be judged as the cause       determines whether a person becomes a criminal.
       of the act." (Experiencing PsychoZogy,  Science      While, of course, there is an element of truth in
       Research Associates). "Let each pupil                this, the assumption of social scientists is that en-
       decide for himself about each. Emphasize             vironment alone determines this. Sin plays no role
       that this is not a test, and there are no `right'    because, according to the learned social scientists
       or `wrong' answers."  (Man and Society,              of our day, there is no such thing as sin. But while
       Silver Burdett) .                                    Dr. Wilson holds that environment plays a role in
         On Moral Values: "The moralistic value             some cases, genetic traits also determine criminali-
       system remained firm in the rural areas and          ty. Crime, or a predisposition to it, is inherited.
       small towns of America until World War II.              It is the claim of this learned scholar of crime
       Since World War II rural and small-town              that studies of twins prove his point. "Studies of
       America began to pass into history. Today            twins and adopted youngsters are the best evidence
       urban America, with a changing set of                of the genetic basis for the precursors of criminali-
       values, is taking over. Protestant evangelists       ty." He claims that "Adoption studies . . . find that
       continue to crisscross the land attempting to        if the biological parents of a boy were criminals, he
       revitalize the old religion, the old culture.        is more likely to be a criminal than if his parents
       They preach the old values, the old stan-            were not lawbreakers  - even though he never
       dards, the `old-time religion.' . . . But now        knew them or was cared for by them. This is the
       they represent a waning culture." (Perspec-          case regardless of what his adoptive,parents would
       tive in American History, Field).                    like."
         On Sexual Permissiveness: "Activity C . . .           Going on to explain this, the doctor relates
       1. Have students write a one-sentence state-         behavior to hormones and finds that boys have a
       ment on `Why sex urges can be fun for an             greater disposition to crime than girls because of
       adolescent' . . . `What are some of the values       hormonal influences early in life.
       of communal living?' " (Finding My Way,                 The conclusions of this are evident. For one
       Bennet).                                             thing, it ought to be possible at some time in the
         On Religion: "Anthropologists studying             future to predict with some accuracy what children
       human customs, religious practices, ritual-          are predisposed to criminality. Then, of course,
       ism, and the priestcraft came to the conclu-         these children can be properly treated so that
       sion that men created their own religious            criminal behavior will be avoided in the child's
       beliefs so that the beliefs answered their           later life.
       own special needs. To the anthropologists              Woe to the child who falls into the hands of the
       religions were functional; they  serbed              know-it-all scientists who are determining whether
       men's needs, and they were clearly  man-             a given child has criminal predispositions and who
       created" (Perspectives in U.S. History, Field).      will then subject the child to the prescribed treat-
         For more on Humanism in textbooks,                 ment which such predispositions require.
       write the Gablers, P.O. Box 7518,  Long-               The connection is obvious. If there is in this
       view, TX 75601.                                      world no objective standard of right and wrong, if
      From a different perspective, this same view of       God has not told us in clear and unmistakable
ethics was presented in a striking way in a recent          language what is good and what is bad behavior,
                                                            then there is no such thing as sin. There is, of
Herman Hanko is professor in the Church History and New     course, "criminality." But what is criminality? It is
Testament departments at the Protestant Reformed            only what society at any given time in history
Seminary.                                                   decides to be unacceptable behavior. At one time,


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 57



not so long ago, homosexuality was considered                so far as possible, be discussed and examined in the
criminal behavior; this is not so any longer. But a          light of Scripture. It is this which we purpose to do.
few years ago selling pornographic magazines and               It ought to be stated at the outset that there are
songs was criminal behavior; now it is considered            not always easy answers to the many questions
an exercise of the rights one has under the First            which we face. If I may be permitted but one exam-
Amendment. There was a time when gambling was                ple: modern medical technology has advanced to a
criminal behavior and punishable by law; now                 point where it is now possible to prolong the life of
those who are entrusted with the responsibility of           a person almost indefinitely. There are machines
enforcing the law have decided to make use of                which can breathe for a person so that his brain
gambling to bring money into the coffers of govern-          continues to receive oxygen and his lungs to func-
ment. Society's opinion of "criminality" changes as          tion..There  are machines which can keep his heart
easily as a chameleon changes color.                         beating when it can beat on its own no longer.
  However that may be, once having decided what              What is the calling of the child of God in situations
particular conduct is criminal behavior, apparently          such as these? Does he refuse the use of such
scientists, particularly that dastardly breed known          machines? Does he, when they have once been em-
as social scientists, will have to study children to         ployed, have the right before God to have the plug
see whether their genetic make-up and their hor-             pulled so that the person supported by the machine
monal balance predispose them to such behavior as            dies? Or does he have the responsibility to continue
society finds unacceptable. If they should latch on          life as long as it is humanly possible?
to one such child, woe is him. Because it is now               These are not only abstract questions which are
within the power of scientists to alter the genetic          nice to discuss in a Men's Society for an after-recess
structure of living creatures and because these              program. These are excruciating decisions which
techniques will certainly be refined and developed           people of God face in their life.
as the years go by, the poor child will have to have
his genes altered. Because his hormonal makeup                 Because these questions are not always very easy
predisposes him to crime, he will have to undergo,           to answer, we are not suggesting in any sense of the
at the hands of those who have all the answers,              word that we have all the answers to these difficult
treatments of one sort or another which will pre-            problems. If our readers are expecting cut and
vent his criminal predispositions from forcing him           dried and easy to follow answers to these complex
to do what society disapproves.                              problems, I am afraid that this rubric is going to be
                                                             a disappointment.
  It is not too hard to imagine that the day will
come when the kind of conduct required by the                  But there is one thing of crucial importance.
Scriptures will be considered "criminal." It was             When the child of God stands face to face with
this way already with our Lord. He was sentenced             these questions, it is absolutely essential that these
to die because He was found guilty of various                questions be answered and these problems solved
"crimes." We have no reason to doubt that the                in the light of the Word of God. Society does not
same will some day,happen  to the people of God. It          determine what is right or wrong. Majority opinion
will be "criminal" according to the standards of             cannot make sin holy and criminal conduct accept-
society to confess and worship the God of the Scrip-         able behavior. Not even the courts of the land
tures. It will be a crime, by society's decision, to         (though they may legalize abortion) can make up
condemn abortion, to bring forth children, to raise          the mind of the child of God on moral and ethical
one's voice in protest against evolutionism, etc.            issues. There is only one standard: the holy and in-
And, of course, these crimes will be explained in            fallibly inspired Word of God. That is the light
terms of environment, genetic make-up and hor-               which shines in the darkness of this night of sin.
monal influences. And so such a person will have             That is the rule of faith and life. That is the will of
to be "treated." The times are evil indeed.                  God for us.
                                                               And if you object and say that the Word of God
  But, however all that may be, it is not the pur-           does not provide answers to all these complex ques-
pose of this rubric, at least in the first place, to deal    tions and difficult problems, though you are, in a
with the decline of morals in this country. It is our        sense, correct, it nevertheless remains a fact that
purpose to discuss various moral and ethical prob-           Scripture, because it is the Word of God, is just as
lems which the believer faces as he seeks, humbly            relevant for Twentieth Century America (and
before his God, to walk in the ways of the light of          Europe) as it was for First Century Palestine and
Scripture.                                                   Asia Minor. And because it is just as relevant for us
  There are many problems and issues which con-              today as it was for the saints in the church of
front the child of God in this complex age in which          Apostolic times, we may expect to find in Scripture
we live. It is well that these problems and issues, in       principles and truths in the light of which we may


58                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



and can come to God-pleasing decisions in the prob-         is, we may try to find the solution to these difficult
lems of life. There are unchanging principles and           and complex problems of life by constructing and
abiding truths within the framework of which all            imposing a system of laws which govern every
our decisions have to be made. It is of essential and       aspect of the believer's life, and rules which will
critical importance that we be willing, above all, to       give him guidance in every step which he takes.
bow in humility and reverence to what God tells             The trouble is that once you start making rules,
us.                                                         there is no end to it.
      This must never be forgotten. It is so easy in our      But the real error of legalism is that it defines the
day to forget that God's Word is still a "lamp unto         calling of the child of God in negative terms: Don't
our feet and a light upon our path." We cringed in          do this; you mayn't do that; this is forbidden; that is
horror at the thought of abortion when years ago it         wrong. The life of the child of God is hedged about
was made legal by the Supreme Court. But millions           with fences of laws upon which fences are tacked
of murdered babies later, we become hardened to             signs, all of which read in capital letters "Don't!"
its monstrous character and insensitive to the terri-         No solutions to life's problems can be found
ble evil of it. That which becomes common does              along this pathway. It is a maze, a labyrinth, that
not shock. That which is almost universally ac-             leads nowhere. And it will never serve in any sense
cepted does not stir our moral indignation.                 of the word as a guide for our conduct.
      More than this, as our spiritual sensitivities are      God's Word is very clear on one fundamental
deadened and calloused, we begin to look at the             point: our calling is the positive calling to love the
problems of life, no longer from the viewpoint of           Lord our God with all our hearts and minds and
God's Word, but with the same biased and wicked             souls and strength. Love! Love God! There you
perspective which the world uses. Here too an ex-           have the key.
ample will illustrate what we mean. It is common
thought in the world that the mere prolongation of            The child of God does not face life with the
life is desirable. Whatever can prolong life is good.       never-ending question on his lips: May I do this?
However the age-span of a man can be increased,             Why may not I do that? What is wrong with this? If
this is something to be sought and cherished. Never         that is his approach to life, he is sunk before he
mind the why - why life ought always and under              starts. The child of God understands that he is in
all circumstances to be prolonged. Never mind the           this world, as a child of the light, to live in humble
problems which are created. Prolonging life is good         and obedient service to his God. His concern is and
(though terminating life through murder of unborn           must be, How best can I live faithfully before my
infants is also, strangely enough, good). It is possi-      God? How can I serve Him in the station and call-
ble and a great temptation to get so caught up in           ing in life in which He has placed me? Not, What
this way of thinking, to accept so uncritically what        mayn't I do? but, What may I do? Not, What is
the world sets as its goal that the believer forgets all    wrong with this? but, What is right before God? To
about the fact that "to me to live is Christ, and to        bump incessantly against legal fences of do's and
die is gain."                                               don't's will turn us away from God. We must turn
                                                            around with the question on our lips and in our
      It is exactly the need to examine- carefully all      hearts: Lord, what wilt thou have me do?
moral and ethical questions in the light of Gods
Word that brings us to the solemn realization that            This requires willing hearts, submissive to the
God's *will for His people is something very posi-          Word, obedient to God, ready to serve Him always.
tive. What I mean to say is that we can, if we are          And this leads to light in the most difficult prob-
not careful, fall into the great evil of legalism. That     lems of life.


                   The Standard Bearer makes a
          thoughtful gift for the sick & shut-in.
               Give the Standard Bearer today!!


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         59



' ALL AROUND US
 Robert D. Decker





                                   The Wiles of the Devil



   In that well-known passage, Ephesians  6:10-16,                  carries yet more dangerous perils. Thirty years ago,
 the Scriptures admonish us to put on the armour of                 Vance Packard explained that advertisements weren't
 God in order to be able to stand against the wiles of              just selling a product, they were marketing answers
 the devil. The devil is subtle, tricky, and will use               for hidden human needs. He catalogued  a number of
 every means at his disposal to deceive the Chris-                  those needs, including a reassurance of worth, ego
 tian. I was reminded of this when I read a Guest                   gratification, and a sense of power.
 editorial on the subject of TV advertising in the                     The electronic packaging and many of the products
 September 20, 1985 issue of Christianity Today. The                have changed since then, but today's TV ads aim at
 editorial was written by Gregg Lewis, Senior Editor                those same basic human needs. A commercial that
 of  Campus  Life  magazine, under the title, "TV                   tells viewers, "You deserve a break today," reassures
                                                                    them of their worth as persons just as surely as "Have
 Advertising's Double Threat, How to be a better                    it your own way" offers them decision-making power.
 materialist in 60 seconds."                                        And the ad that comments, "You never looked so
   TV ads can be amusing, cleverly done, even                       good," tries to gratify the ego even as it attempts to
 downright funny. But what is the message behind                    sell cosmetics to make viewers look even better.
 them? What do they really sell? Here is what Mr.                      Hardly any felt need or human problem escapes the
 Lewis had to say: (We do not endorse the  Armin-                   attention or use of some television commercial. If
 ianism of the last paragraph.)                                     trouble is brewing at home, Mrs. Olson's coffee is
                                                                    guaranteed to perk up the marriage. One sip of her ter-
       I recently heard about a father who critiques (and           rific brand and everyone's smiling again.
     sometimes ridicules) the commercials his family
     watches on T.V. He often asks his kids: "Can this pro-            Next time you spend on evening with the tube, con-
     duct really do that?" "Is that really true?" "What             duct your own personal survey. Jot down product
     emotional need are they appealing to there?"                   names and the promised benefits - stated or implied.
                                                                    You'll discover that in selling salvation for everything
       This dads got a good idea.                                   from heartburn to social insecurity, TV commercials
       Many people - not just conservative Christians -             promise love, happiness, personal fulfillment, and
     complain loud and long about sex and violence on               nearly every other human desire. Never mind the
     television. But most of us just accept the commercials.        price: a $2.00 greeting card or a $12,000 car will bring
       Our modern, sophisticated lack of concern stands             bliss.
     in stark contrast to the attitudes of the ancients. About         What do TV commercials preach? The gospel of
    2250 B.C., the Code of Hammurabi made selling                   materialism: Products solve our problems.
     something to a child or buying something from a child             God's gospel says, "Deny yourself," "Die to self,"
     without power of attorney a crime punishable by                and "Seek ye first the kingdom of God." But the
     death. Today, we hardly seem to notice that our                60-second signals we receive at every station break
     children are exposed to 350,000 television commer-             encourage us to indulge: "You, you're the one," and
     cials by the time they reach the age of 18.                    "You only go around once in life, so you have to grab
       The commercial exploitation of our children should           all the gusto you can get."
    be reason enough for resistance. But TV advertising                The basic appeal of the materialistic gospel works
                                                                    so well, but it's hardly a new technique. It is the oldest
 Robert D. Decker is professor of Practical Theology and            temptation in the Book. Satan himself could easily
 New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.                 have built his first advertising campaign around the


60                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



        slogan, "Try it, you'll like it."                                   hose, and the threat of embarrassing foot odor pro-
          Today's television commercials have merely                        duce fear and trembling among TV's true believers.
        embellished and glamorized the age-old appeal, accord-              The danger for viewers, especially Christian viewers
       ing to educator Roy Truby. Testifying before a PTA                   who know the Truth, is that our emotional and
       hearing on television's impact, Truby, then Idaho's                  spiritual concern can be channeled away from press-
       superintendent of public instruction, said, "There is                ing human needs and problems.
       what we might call a `theology of television' develop-                     Beware TV advertising's dual threat: If it doesn't
       ing as a prevailing influence on American society. The               lure us into accepting the false values of materialism,
       ads constantly tell us to seek greater pleasure through              it may convince us actually to care whether or not we
      . more consumption. Philosophers down through the                     can see our reflections in our everyday china.
       ages, since Aristotle, have rejected this theology as a                    I'm not sure which would be worse.
       way of life. But somehow the ads make us feel that to
       have anything less than too much is non-American."                         In either case, the world's most important message
                                                                            - Gods gospel  - may go unheard. The most sensa-
          That effect is intentional. People in the advertising             tional offer of all time may be lost in the commercial
       industry know just how to motivate and manipulate.                   clutter.
       In a CHRISTIANITY TODAY article on TV's impact
       on viewers [Feb. 16,  1973),  D.G. Kehl quoted Ernest               Well may we take to heart the exhortation of
       Dichter, president of the Institute of Motivational              God's Word: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in
       Research: "One of the main jobs of the advertiser is             the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the
       not so much to sell the product as to give moral per-            whole armour  of God, that ye may be able to stand
       mission to have fun without guilt."                              against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not
          That is merely the first punch of a dangerous one-            against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
       two combination: At the same time the gospel of                  against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
       materialism allays all guilt over selfish indulgence, it         this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
       creates new false guilts and anxieties.                          places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour
          Ring around the collar, bitter coffee, and dingy kit-         of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil
       chen floors replace sloth, envy, and gluttony on the             day, and having done all, to stand." (Ephesians
       list of cardinal sins. Water-spotted crystal, baggy panty-       6:10-13)





                                    Good Morning, Alice (3)
                                                             Gise J. Van Baren





      Alice attended the weddings of two of her                         first wedding she herself drove; for the second one,
nephews in September and October. She had                               she rode with cousins. She could still drive a car,
always shown great interest in her nieces and                           but already it was becoming increasingly difficult
nephews  - every year giving a Christmas present                        to walk. And to stand for any length of time re-
to each (until they graduated from high school).                        quired some sort of support as leaning against a
Now she attended the weddings of the first two of                       wall. Eagerly she attended those weddings, but it
her nephews to be married. That required, of                            demanded a great effort on Alice's part.
course, travel from Illinois to Grand Rapids. For the                   Good Morning, Alice:
Gise j. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed                    I'm late this morning! The second load is in the
Church  of  Hudsonville, Michigan.                                      washer, the kids are coloring at the table, and I better


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     61



get going and get this in the mailbox or you won't get it      take this last test  - but then relented. Yet she in-
tomorrow.                                                      sisted that this was at least as bad as the first test
   After all my "heavy" thinking about myself because          she had taken.
of Cal. 3:11-15, I've chosen Ps. 103:19-22 to get my              Good Afternoon, Alice:
thoughts on God.                                                 After a busy Saturday morning, I have a little quiet
   I find myself centering on myself way too often. Even       time to read and write and think; and, thanks to you,
in my prayers - too much of the time is spent on               I'm filling it with Scripture instead of something else.
myself I guess it's because you know yourself and                 "Lean not unto thine own understanding." What a
there is so much you have to bring to God. But I have          difficult thing! And in all my ways acknowledge Him?
learned that the praise of our God must come first. I            I guess I often think: I can do this, or I can handle
guess that's why I found Psalm 103:19-22 for us today;         that, while vs. 5 tells me this isn't so, but that I have to
to get off myself and just bless my God. He hath               trust in the Lord.
prepared His Kingdom and He rules. You can't even
look out ofyour window without seeing proof that God             But more - in all my ways acknowledge Him? Do I
ruleth over all.                                               acknowledge God when things don't go right with the
                                                               kids, or do I take them into my own hands? Do I
   I have to get busy, but I'm going to try to keep that in    acknowledge God when I do not submit (willingly) to
my mind today - and you can too, Alice. "Bless the             my husband?
Lord, 0 my soul!"                                                I almost think we could carry on with this text for a
                                  With love, Your friend.      week in order to examine ourselves. Maybe both you
Please read Lamentations 3:21-23                               and I can try more to acknowledge Him in all our
   A special treat was in store after that first wed-          ways, Alice, and realize that means in everything - in
ding in September. Alice was taken on a boat trip              our sorrows, our trials, and our frustrations. Then we
with some family members through several of the                will experience the promise more fully too. He shall
northern Michigan lakes. It was a time for relaxa-             direct our paths and we will be more content in His way
tion, even joking - yet wondering how one can still            for us.
laugh while knowing that death is so near at hand.                                                    Love, Your friend.
Good Morning, Alice:                                           Please read Rom. 12:12
  I chose this card this morning because while I was
doing dishes, I saw five beautiful cardinals flitting             The diagnosis at Mayo was the same. What else
around our little tree in the back yard.                       could be expected? It was grasping at straws. But
                                                               one doctor, Dr. Mulder, was especially helpful and
  Lamentations 3:21-23 is one of those passages that           encouraging. There was no known treatment or
can speak to any child of God in almost any cir-               cure, he said, but there were means of helping the
cumstance. It has comforted me in different ways at dif-       patient to make use of limited muscle strength. And
feren t times.                                                 aids were available, such as a foot brace and a cane
  I have hope because I remember this promise. My              to assist her in walking with the one lame leg. This
trial cannot consume me because out of my Jehovah's            doctor referred Alice also to the University of
unbelievable mercy, His compassion for me never                Chicago (where an ALS clinic was recently estab-
fails. But because of His great faithfulness, He has new       lished) and to Dr. Ante11 who headed this clinic.
compassions for me every morning.                              Alice was encouraged to use a wheelchair when-
  And, Alice, I am experiencing those compassions              ever practical to conserve her strength. Of course,
more and more since I've been looking up Scripture to          the return home was a somber affair. There was
share with you. It is my hope that every morning you           now no doubt - the original diagnosis was correct.
experience His new compassions.                                Good Morning, Alice:
                                  With love, Your friend.        It's Monday morning already, and do you know
Please read Prov. 3:5-6                                        we've shared 13 passages together already? Do you
                                                               have a favorite? I think mine is either Isaiah 12 or
  It was the hope that perhaps, just perhaps, the              Lamentations 3:21-23.
diagnosis of Alice's illness was wrong, or at least to
see if there were some new ways of providing help,                The verse I found this time is really just a tiny part of
that led to an appointment at Mayo Clinic at                   a whole list of things a child of God must strive for. One
Rochester, Minn. With three of the family, Alice               could really spend a lot of time examining himself on
went for a three-day series of tests  - including              each verse.
again the "needles" with their electrical charges to              Verse 12 of Romans 12 is maybe both the easiest and
determine muscle response. At first she refused to             at the same time the most difficult. What could come


62                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



easier than rejoicing in hope, which to the child of God      weeks Alice would begin to cry while trying to do
means that expected certainty of life everlasting with        her work. Often she needed to take off several
our heavenly Father, seeing and knowing Him through           hours from her work in order to rest. And the
our Savior Jesus Christ.                                      whole office, sympathizing with her, would be
      Add then (God adds) next: "patient in tribulation";     upset. There was a measure of relief at the office,
how difficult - to be patient - with a quiet soul en-         therefore, when Alice asked for this leave of
during that difficulty God has placed on His child to         absence. Her family was sure that Alice would not
refine him for everlasting life.                              return again to her work.
      But  God so wisely adds, "continuing instant in         Good Morning, Alice:
prayer, " and thus gives us the means of enduring that          I think all young children who know Bible stories are
tribulation - that we may experience the joy of that          always interested in Peter walking on the water. But, of
hope. As much as we remain close to God in prayer, we         course, as with all scripture, there is a real depth of
will experience that joy which enables us to be patient.      meaning for the child of God.
      Yes, God is good to us. He not only explains in His       Rev. J. Kortering in his summary of Matthew in. the
Word how we must live, but He also gives us the desire        Standard Bearer  labelled this section, `power  f7ows
and ability to remain close to Him.                           from Jesus to Peter as he walks on the water. "
      God bless you today, Alice, in your stedfastness in       God gives us power to live a life of faith as long as we
prayer, your patience in your trial, and your rejoicing in    keep our eyes on Him. But when we worry about things
your hope.                                                    in our life, and let earthly, physical things dwell in our
                  In Him for Whom we wait, Your friend.       minds, we push our realization of the power of God
                                                              away and the troubled waters easily rush about us. But
Please read Mutt. 14325-31                                    notice in verse 31, Jesus immediately stretches forth
      On the way back from Mayo, Alice took a                 His hand. God is always near to lift us up.
month's sick leave from work. But she was re-                    The more we learn to keep our eyes on God, the
solved to return at the end of the month. She had             more we realize His power and the power He gives us.
worked at Stauffer Chemical for many years - and                I know that troubled waters surround you, Alice,
had continued to work until now in spite of grow-             and though they are a different kind, a busy "`easy" life
ing physical limitations. Alice wanted, above all, to         has its own undertow of waters always pulling me away
be able to take care of herself both physically and           too.
financially. Though she could hardly now use her
left hand and leg, and had fallen several times                 Let us both pray for each other and strive to keep our
recently, she was sure she could resume her work              eyes on God and realize and use the power He gives us
at the end of the month. But all was not well at the          to love and serve Him.
office. Alice was well-liked, and had a sense of                                               With love, Your friend.
humor that all enjoyed. But often during the past             Please read Hosea 2:19-20

TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE
Herman Veldman





                               The Apostles' Creed (41


           Our Faith In The Triune God (2)                    Day 8, specifically in Question and Answer 25. We
      God, besides being one in essence, is also triune.      read, in answer to Question 25: "Since there is but
This truth of the Trinity is held before us in our            one only divine essence, why speakest thou of
Belgic Confession, in Articles 8 and 9. And our               Father, Son and Holy Ghost?" "Because God hath
Heidelberg Catechism speaks of this truth in'lord's           so revealed Himself in His word, that these three


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                63



distinct persons are the one only true and eternal         strictly divine. The Trinity, of course, is  the
God." This answer, obviously, is very short. Yet, it       mystery. It constitutes the very life of the living
is very complete. We read, first of all, of  three         God. However, God has revealed it to us. We,
distinct  persons. And, then, of these three persons       although unable to fathom it, must know it and
we read that they are the only true and eternal God.       bow in worship before it. In fact, we know it exact-
  First, what is a person? This question is impor-         ly as utterly unfathomable and incomprehensible
tant. After all, the doctrine of the Trinity speaks of     to us.
the three persons of the divine trinity. A person as         God is triune. The Lord is not essentially three.
among men presupposes a moral-rational being.              We do not believe that there are three gods - this is
We may speak of individual flowers, plants,                Tritheism. We do not believe that the Godhead is
animals, such as dogs, horses, etc. But we cannot          divided into three equal parts, Father, Son, and Ho-
speak of these creatures as persons  - we do not           ly Spirit. We believe that there is only one God, one
and cannot speak of a dog, etc., as a "he" or a            divine essence, one divine nature and mind and
"she," a "him" or a "her." A person presupposes a          will and being. But we do believe that God, essen-
moral-rational being, a being that has an under-           tially one, is personally three. This implies, first of
standing of and always reacts for or against               all, that God is eternally conscious of Himself. God
spiritual things. Hence, among men we would                is a personal God. He is not wisdom, power, etc., in
define a person as an individual existence of a            the abstract sense of the word. He knows Himself.
moral-rational nature. We identify our person with         God is God, also consciously; He loves Himself,
our use of the personal pronoun "I." I sleep, walk,        seeks Himself, maintains Himself, judges and will
talk, etc. And whatever happens to us, as young,           judge all men and spirits in the light of Himself.
middle age, old age, in sickness or death or in the        And that God is personally three implies, in the sec-
resurrection, our I, person, remains the same - the        ond place, that this divine consciousness, or, this
same person that has become old and dies, was              eternal divine essence and fulness is lived in a
once young. Hence, we are personal beings because          threefold way. In the one spiritual being or nature
we are conscious of ourselves as moral-rational be-        of God there are three that say "I." In God are
ings, as responsible beings, and that in distinction       three subjects, three persons who are distinct from
from all other human beings. I know who and what           one another, so that the Father is never the Son, the
I am. I am responsible for and the aurhor of my own        Son is never the Father or the Spirit, and the Spirit
walk and all my works  - never can I throw my              is never the Father or the Son. The fulness of God
responsibility upon another for my sin. I will ap-         or the Godhead is loved by each Person in His own
pear in the Judgment and answer for myself. That           personally distinctive manner.
marvelous, indescribable something which enables
me to know myself, also in distinction from all              Secondly, we must call attention to the relation
others, is my person. And that I am a personal be-         of the three persons to the one Godhead or divine
ing also means that I know who and what God is             fulness and essence. Now this must not be under-
and that I am answerable to Him.                           stood as if each of the three divine persons lives a
                                                           part of the divine essence or fulness  - this would
  God is a personal being. Here we stand, of               be Tritheism, the theory that there are three gods.
course, before an unfathomable mystery. Now a              Neither must this be understood in the sense that
mystery is not a contradiction, that God, for exam-        one of these persons is more important than the
ple, loves and hates the same person at the same           others, and that the others are, therefore, sub-
time and in connection with the same things. This,         ordinate unto Him  - this, too, would lead to the
we understand, is the mystery of the theory of             doctrine that there are three gods, one great God
Common Grace. If we ask the exponents of this              and two lesser gods. But the relation of the three
theory how God can love and hate the same person           persons to the one Godhead is that each Person
at the same time they will tell us that this is a          lives the entire fulness in His  .own personal way.
mystery. However, if this be a mystery, it can             This relationship is indicated by their names. The
never be known. Neither is a mystery, funda-               Father is the origin, source; the Son is the image,
mentally, an unfathomable profundity, however              the eternal image; the Spirit (according to the name:
true it may be and is that God is unfathomable. But        breathed out) proceeds, therefore, from the Father
a mystery is something that is hidden, that must be        and the Son.
revealed. So, the Trinity is a mystery, although
surely unfathomable, because it is essentially hid-          Hence, the first Person is the Father of the God-
den, lies beyond the scope of all human life, is           head; He generated the Son, eternally. The Father
                                                           is the Subject of all the divine life, and of all the
Herman Veldman is a minister emeritis in the Protestant    divine works, as Father; He thinks, wills, loves,
Reformed Churches.                                         counsels, decrees, creates, saves as Father, never as


64                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



the Son or as the Holy Spirit. The second Person is        the Trinity in Lord's Day 8. In answer to Question
the Son of the Godhead. He is willingly, eternally         24: "How are these articles divided?" we read: "In-
generated by the Father. The Son is the Subject of         to three parts; the first is of God the Father, and our
the divine life, never as the Father or as the Holy        creation; the second of God the Son, and our re-
Spirit. And, of course, He is eternal as is the Father;    demption; the third of God the Holy Ghost, and our
one can never conceive of the One without the              sanctification." These twelve articles whereof we
other. And the third Person of the Trinity is the Ho-      read in Question 24 were set forth by our Heidel-
ly Spirit. His name is Spirit, and this denotes Him in     berg Catechism in Question 23 of the preceding
His personal activity. As Spirit, He is breathed out,      Lord's Day. We do well to understand this twenty-
proceeds, also eternally, from the Father and the          fourth answer correctly. Viewed superficially, the
Son.                                                       correct interpretation appears to be very simple.
      We, therefore, confess one divine essence, one       Obviously the Catechism refers here to the three
divine nature, one divine mind and will, one divine        divisions of our Apostolic Confession, our Apostles'
life. In that one divine essence and nature there are      Creed. And apparently, we would be inclined to
three that think, will, love, and live, each in His        say, each of the three divine Persons is distin-
own distinctly personal manner. Hence, we confess          guished and described here. The first Person of the
the life of the Godhead to take place, eternally, out      Trinity is our Creator; the second Person is our
of the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy            Redeemer; and the third Person of the Trinity is our
Spirit.                                                    Sanctifier. The Father (the first Person) creates and
      Thirdly, we must also call attention to the rela-    ,does not redeem and sanctify; the Son redeems and
tion of the three Persons to one another, We have          does not create or sanctify; the third Person, the
already noted that these three divine Persons are          Holy Spirit, sanctifies and does not create or
not unequal in rank, as if the one were subordi-           redeem.
nated to the other - they are all co-eternal and co-         However, it must be clear that this cannot be the
equal. The relation of the three divine persons to         correct interpretation of Answer 24 or of the
one another is a relation of perfect and infinite          Apostolic Creed. First, to teach this would be to
friendship. Friendship, we must understand, is             teach the heresy of Tritheism. On the one hand,
possible only on the condition of two requirements.        does not Scripture ascribe the creation of the world
On the one hand, there must be essential unity.            to the Son? The apostle Paul, in Colossians 1: 15 and
Friends must surely think and purpose alike  - if          16, speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of
this be not the case, then not friendship but conflict     His church, writes: "Who is the image of the invisi-
must and will invariably follow. And, on the other         ble God, the firstborn of every creature: For by
hand, there must be personal distinction. The op-          Him were all things created, that are in heaven and
portunity must be there to reveal the fact that we         that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they
are truly and essentially one. Hence, we must each         be thrones, or dominions or principalities or
be distinctive, have our own personal duty and task        powers: all things were created by Him and for
to perform. Personal distinction and essential unity       Him." Paul, in this verse, obviously writes that the
are basic requirements for a life of true friendship.      Son of God is the Creator of the world. And the
How true this is of the living God! The persons are        same truth is set forth by the apostle John in his
personally distinctive. Never does the one encroach        gospel, John l:l-3, 14: "In the beginning was the
upon the other; never does the one perform the             Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
function of the other two - always the Father is on-       was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
ly Father, the Son is only Son, and the Holy Spirit is     All things were made by Him; and without Him
only Holy Spirit. This is true, not only within the        was not anything made that was made. And the
essence of God Himself, but also in all His works.         Word was made flesh (verse  7), and dwelt among
And yet, although personally distinct, they are            us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only
essentially one. They live, each in His own personal       begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
manner, the same mind, will, desire, etc.; hence,          Besides, the Father, according to Scripture, surely
they are never characterized by conflict, dissen-          sanctifies  - see John  17:17. On the other hand,
sion, discord of any nature. The three divine Per-         however, God is triune in all His works: the triune
sons are perfectly and eternally and infinitely            God creates, the triune God redeems; the triune
divine friends. They live and dwell with one               God sanctifies. In fact, it is not even true that in cer-
another in the sphere of infinite and eternal love         tain works the one Person stands upon the fore-
and friendship and communion. Indeed, our God is           ground more than the other, performs a more prom-
a covenant God.                                            inent role. The three Persons of the Trinity are co-
            *  *  *  *  Y  *  *  *  *  d                   equal and co-eternal. They are always engaged in
      Our Heidelberg Catechism treats the doctrine of      all the works of God's hands, the Father as Father,


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 65



the Son as Son, and the Holy Ghost as Holy Ghost.             tutes the. possibility of our faith in this triune God.
He is always the triune God.                                  And we must also call attention to the significance
  The Lord willing, we will continue with this                of this truth. Is it not remarkable that our  Heidel-
discussion in our following article. God is the               berg Catechism, subjective and practical as it is,
triune God. This is so important because it  consti-          devotes a Lord's Day to the doctrine of the Trinity?

IN HIS FEAR
Arie den Hartog





                               The Christian Family:
                   Nurturing Children in the Lord



   The Lord has given to parents the great respon-            requires the full-time presence of the mother. But it
sibility of nurturing their children in the love and          also demands much diligence, much time and ef-
fear of His name. When we as parents in the prov-             fort and devotion on the part of the father. Perhaps
idence of the Lord bring forth our children, our              this has not been said often enough in our day.
task has just begun. Our children come into our               Father may not leave this responsibility to mother
homes as helpless babes totally dependent on their            to perform all alone. She cannot do it alone.
parents. They need physical nourishment. They                 Furthermore scripture repeatedly addresses the
need the care and protection of a warm, loving, and           father of the home when it exhorts parents to nur-
concerned Christian home. Their personality and               ture their children in the Lord. It must be said on
character must be molded. They must be brought                the basis of scripture that the chief responsibility of
to spiritual maturity so that by the grace of God             raising the children still lies upon the father and
they grow up to become faithful servants of the               head of the home. The mother is also in this a help
Lord in His kingdom and for His glory.                        meet to her husband.       .
   God has given the responsibility of raising                  As Reformed Christians we believe that raising
children to parents. No other institution or persons          our children for the Lord is our covenant responsi-
can perform this task instead of the parents.                 bility. We hold very dear the blessed promises of
Though our Christian schools and our church can               God's covenant which state that the Lord will be
render parents assistance they cannot take over the           our God and the God of our children after us. We
responsibility which God has given first of all to the        also know however that throughout scripture these
parents. Both father and mother have a calling to             covenant promises are joined together with the
fulfill. Children need the influence of both father           Lord's commandments and exhortations to parents.
and mother for their healthy physical and spiritual           When God spoke of His covenant purposes to
development. We believe that "scripture clearly               Abraham He said concerning Abraham, "For I
teaches that raising the children which the Lord              know him, that he will command his children and
gives must be the full-time occupation of the                 his household after him, and they shall keep the
mother in the home. She has no time to pursue a               way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that
career out of the home at the same time. The task             the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He
the Lord has laid upon her is far too demanding and           hath spoken of him" (Genesis  18:19). Never is the
far too serious to give her time and energy to work           Almighty Sovereign Lord of heaven and earth
outside of the home. The proper raising of children           dependent upon man for the realization of His
                                                              covenant purposes. Yet He is pleased to use man
Arie den Hartog is a missionary of the Protestant Reformed    and to give to man a calling and responsibility
Churches, working currently in the counv of Singapore.        before Him in all things. We reject entirely the no-


66                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



tion that God saves children of believers simply by       response or action. Our children are so much more
virtue of the fact that they have Christian parents       than animals because they were created with a per-
without regard to whether or not those parents            sonal spirit with a spiritual nature and calling in
teach and instruct and nurture those children in the      life.
fear of the Lord. We reject every notion of presup-          The nurture of our children is therefore a truly
posed regeneration that assumes that every child          tremendous task. It is a task that has many dimen-
born to covenant parents will be included in the          sions to it. We can only in this article suggest some
kingdom of God even though they grow up to be             of the main principles. The Word of God tells us
ungodly. Parents who are not faithful in this very        that we must instruct our children in the truth of
serious calling to raise their children in the fear of    God. We must do this both formally and informal-
the Lord, and parents whose great concern for their       ly. We must instruct our children objectively about
children is only that they grow up to be rich and         God, about His sovereignty, His greatness, His holi-
famous in the world for the pride of their parents,       ness and righteousness, His love and mercy. We
can expect only to reap the wrath and judgment of         must tell our children about the great and wonder-
God and the bitter consequences of children that          ful salvation of our God through His Son Jesus
grow up to be rebellious, worldly, and ungodly.           Christ. We must instruct our children about the
      As Reformed Christians we are also deeply           great truth of God that this world and all that is in it
aware of the fact that our children are conceived         is the Lord's, and we must tell them about the call-
and born in sin. They are born with totally de-           ing and responsibility of every man and woman in
praved natures. This has tremendous implications          this world. We must tell our children about sin,
for their training and nurture. We do not therefore       what it is, how awful it is in the presence of the ho-
approach the matter of the training of our children       ly God, the need of repenting from sin and confess-
with the foolish notion that they are basically good      ing that sin before the Lord. We must tell them
in themselves and we need only to let them develop        about the only way of salvation from the judgment
on their own with  minimal parental interference          and condemnation that our sin deserves in the Lord
but only to guide them a little and to guard them a       Jesus Christ. We must teach our children the holy
little from the evil influences of the world.             law of God and the great importance of keeping this
                                                          law in all our life. All of this is recorded in the Word
      Our only hope in the nurture of our children is     of God, the Bible. We need to teach our children
the grace and Spirit of God. Our children too must        about the absolute infallibility and authority of the
be regenerated by the Spirit of God. This is not          Word of God in our life. We must teach them that
something they inherit from their parents. We must        the Word of God is "profitable for doctrine, for
earnestly pray for them. They need to be admon-           reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous-
ished and rebuked in their sin and called to repen-       ness: that the man of God may be perfect, through-
tance. Our children need to be nurtured in faith          ly furnished unto all good works" (II Timothy 3: 16,
and godliness and in doing this we can only depend        17).
upon the grace and Spirit of God working in their            We must teach our children this formally in our
hearts and lives.                                         homes. There must be a system of instruction from
      As Christian parents we understand that our         the Word of God in our homes. It is true that the
children were born as personal, moral, rational,          church and the Christian school gives us tremen-
and responsible creatures with a soul as well as a        dous help in doing this. But this does not absolve
body. `They cannot therefore be trained with regard       parents from their responsibility. We must have
only to their physical and psychological well-being       regular times of Bible reading and instruction from
and without regard for their spiritual nature and         the Word of God in our homes. It is tragic that this
responsibility. We believe that our children stand        is being crowded out in many Christian homes by
in a spiritual relationship with the Lord their God.      the busyness of secular life. We must have regular
They need to be taught to know and acknowledge            times of family devotions. Not only must the Word
Him in all their life. They need to be taught to love     of God be read, it must also be regularly explained
Him with all their heart, soul, strength, and mind        and applied to the lives of our children. We may
and their neighbor as themselves. They need to be         not as parents simply assume that as long as we
taught that there is a spiritual dimension to all of      read the Word of God in our homes our children
life and that in all of life they must serve and obey     will somehow of themselves understand that Word
the Lord their God and bring glory to His name.           of God and of themselves apply it to their lives. For
Training our children is therefore not merely a mat-      some Christian families the Word of God remains
ter of outward behavior, as the behaviorist im-           very abstract, and it is not truly lived in the ex-
agines. It involves much more than applying a             perience and day-to-day happenings in the home
system of rewards and punishments to get certain          because parents do not take time to explain and to


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               67



apply the Word of God to the real-life situation of      of the Christian life. Much of this training we must
the home.                                                do by giving them a godly example to follow. If we
  Much of this instruction is done informally in the     as parents walk in sin ourselves we can only expect
home. It is done informally in the very situation        that our children will follow us. Usually children
and time when it is applicable. This is certainly the    will develop further in the sins of their father and
meaning of the beautiful passage in Deuteronomy          mother. Children need to see in us a pattern of god-
that speaks of the instruction of children in the        liness and spirituality. If we are materialistic and
homes of God's children. "And these words, which         worldly in our home and in our life in general we
I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:        can expect our children to grow up to be worse.
and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy            Children have the ability to pick up the attitude and
children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in    spirit that we display in our life. Do our children
thine house, and when thou walkest by the way,           see us sorrowful over our own personal sins and
and when thou liest down, and when thou risest           humbly confessing and repenting before the Lord?
up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine       We cannot teach them to do this if we do not do this
hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine       before them in a practical and spiritual way. Do our
eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of        children see us as proud and arrogant and uncaring
thy house, and on thy gates" (Deuteronomy 6:6-g).        and unloving? They will probably grow up to be
We need to stop our work at opportune times in the       worse. Do our children see love and respect be-
home to give relevant spiritual teaching to our          tween father and mother and each faithfully striv-
children. We need to interpret events and happen-        ing to fulfill his role in the home? This is the exam-
ings of the day in the light of the Word of God for      ple they need to follow. How do our children see
them. That is often far more effective than sitting      their parents reacting to various events and cir-
down for a long session of instruction with our          cumstances in life? What do we do when we
children. The spiritual application and perspective      become sick? Do we become depressed and com-
of our life must flow forth naturally in our conver-     plain and murmur against the Lord or do we show
sation with and our instruction of our children as       our children by example to trust in the Lord and
we meet with various circumstances, trials and af-       how to bear adversity? How do we react to crisis in
flictions, joys and sorrows. This is one of the great    the home? When we are afraid do we turn to the
reasons why mother must be home all day with the         Lord, cry out to Him in prayer and find our refuge
children. Mother must live with her children and         in Him? What are the things that really bring us joy
constantly be guiding and instructing them accord-       and satisfaction? Are they merely material things or
ing to the Word of God, as they play and work            are they the things of the Lord? What attitude do
together and as they interact with one another. This     we reflect concerning the church of God? Do we
kind of instruction cannot be given in abstraction       love His church and is our.whole  life centered in it?
from the situation of life that gave opportunity for     Do we love God's people, often seek their fellow-
it, some time after work when mother comes home          ship, and when we speak of them do we speak the
all exhausted and worn out.                              truth in love or do we gossip, slander, and back-
  The nurturing of our children involves much            bite? Our children will learn from all these things.
more than merely objectively teaching them the           If we are hypocrites our children will see it,
truth of the Word of God. We must train them ac-         because they see our life as it really is in the home.
tually to live the Christian life. We must show them       A very important part of the nurturing of our
what it means to love the Lord and keep His com-         children is discipline. We must be faithful to
mandments. We must admonish them, exhort                 discipline our children. We must not follow the evil
them, rebuke them, encourage them to live as             and foolish permissiveness of the world. Solomon
Christians, we must compel them, motivate them,          in the book of Proverbs repeatedly exhorts parents
urge them on. We must foster in them a proper            to discipline their children. "He that spareth his
spiritual attitude concerning themselves. We must        rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him
encourage them when they are discouraged and             chasteneth him  betimes. " "Foolishness is bound in
help them through periods of depression and sor-         the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall
row. We must teach them to live as mature re-            drive it far from him" (Proverbs  13:24,  22:15).
sponsible Christians on their own, build them up in      Discipline must be administered in love and for the
such a way that they are able to make moral judg-        purpose of correction. It is not to be administered
ments and discernments on their own. We must             in exasperation and anger because a child has of-
warn them of the serious consequences of sin and         fended us or because he has caused shame to us.
teach them to fear the holy and righteous God in         Discipline must be administered in such a way that
the way of obedience before Him. We must com-            it teaches our children the seriousness of sin and
municate to them the hope and joy and assurance          the fear of the Lord. Discipline must be  admin-


68                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



istered justly and according to the Word of God not        much we need the grace of God to help us. Nurtur-
in such a way that we break the spirit of our              ing children takes a tremendous amount of pa-
children and cause them to become bitter towards           tience and perseverance. We are sinful ourselves.
us and discouraged about living the Christian life.        Our children are sinful. Very often we must wrestle
Discipline must give to our children order and             both with our own sins and weaknesses and those
structure in their life which by the grace of God          of our children. We must not despair, however, nor
they learn to abide by. This will be for their good        must we become bitter against our children and for-
and salvation. An undisciplined child will cause           sake them or cast them away. We must trust in the
chaos in the home, and bring grief and despair to          promises of God and we must continue in faith and
his parents, but it will also make the child himself       prayer with all perseverance. Our great purpose
miserable and wretched. Children need discipline           must be to raise our children for the glory of God
to drive away sin and bring them to spiritual              and not merely for our own glory. The purposes of
maturity.                                                  the Lord will not fail. He is faithful to His promises,
      Who is sufficient unto all of these things? How      for the glory of His own name.

THE STREiVGTH OF YOUTH
Ronald L. Cammenga





                                         The Moonies


      The 20th century will undoubtedly go down in         the parking lot of some supermarket. Or perhaps
the annals of church history as a unique era. Some         you have even been confronted by the Moonies and
of the peculiar religious characteristics that future      been the object of their proselytizing efforts. In this
generations will mention when referring to our             article and in the next we want to discuss the
times will be: the apostasy of the Reformed church-        history, basic beliefs, and methods of this wide-
es in our day, the ecumenical movement,  Pente-            spread and influential cult.
costalism, the development of the social gospel, the         The Moonies are the followers of and derive their
spread of the gospel through modern means of               name from the founder of their organization, the
communication to nearly every part of the world,           Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Sun Myung Moon was
and the women's movement within the church.                born in a small town in North Korea in the year
      But certainly one outstanding feature of 20th        1920. He was the son of Christian parents, baptized
century church history is the rise of the cults. No        and brought up by them in the Presbyterian
other period of church history has witnessed the           Church. Moon claims that on Easter Day in 1936,
appearance of so many and such diverse cults as            when he was 16 years old, he received the first of a
the period of the 20th century. At no other time in        series of direct revelations. Jesus Christ appeared to
church history have so many religious groups               him on a Korean mountainside and informed him
separated themselves from mainstream Christiani-           that God had called him, Moon, to accomplish a
ty and organized themselves in competition to the          great work. That work was to be the restoration of
Christian religion.                                        mankind started by Jesus Himself nearly two thou-
      One of these recent cults is the "Moonies." Un-      sand years earlier. Through Moon's labors, the
doubtedly you have heard of the Moonies. Perhaps           church was to be revived and brought to embrace
you have seen the Moonies selling flowers in the           people of all Christian denominations.
lobby of one of our nation's airports, or candy in           It was this experience, according to Moon, that
                                                           led him to devote himself to long hours of Bible
Ronald L. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed    study and prayer. Subsequent to this initial revela-
Church of Loveland, Colorado.                              tion, Moon claims to have received numerous addi-


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                69



tional revelations. In these revelations he claims to     tion Church is represented in most major cities
have talked to several Bible characters, as               across the nation. The members of the cult actively
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, Peter, Paul,        recruit new members, and can be seen confronting
and John the Baptist, as well as important men in         passers-by on busy downtown streets or knocking
church history, and the founders of other world           on doors. Good targets for the Moonies are young,
religions including Muhammad, Confucius, and              inexperienced Christians who have not received
Buddha.                                                   solid Biblical training. An important part of the life
  It was in 1945 that Moon received revelations           of the Moonies is their fundraising efforts. Each in-
that convinced him that he had been chosen by             dividual Moonie, and each local organization of
God to be the absolute ruler of heaven and earth. It      Moonies is expected to bring up a certain amount of
was then that he adopted his present name, which          money each month for the parent group. Great
means "Shining sun and moon," and founded the             pressure is put on the local organization and upon
Broad Sea Church in Korea. Because of his radical         the individual Moonie to meet his quota. This is the
departure from the Scriptures, the Presbyterian           reason why the Moonies can often be found selling
Church of Korea excommunicated Moon in 1948.              flowers or candy, or asking for donations.
  Meanwhile, in 1946 Moon was imprisoned by                 Some of the peculiar views of the Moonies are
the communists. Moon claims that his arrest was           the following.
due to his anti-communist position and was a                First, the Unification Church teaches that Moon
religious persecution. In 1950 Moon was released          is the Messiah of God come down to earth in order
from prison by advancing American forces. Five            to create a perfect race..This  perfection is supposed
years later he was back in prison for a short time,       to be accomplished by the mass marriages that
accused of draft-dodging and immorality. He was           Moon conducts, as well as through a principle
released when the -prosecution could not prove its        called "indemnity." Indemnity is a means of pay-
case.                                                     ing God back for sins committed by oneself or one's
  1954 was a significant year for Moon. It was in         ancestors. It is important to notice that a funda-
this year that he founded the Holy Spirit Associa-        mental element of Moon's theology is his teaching
tion for the Unification of World Christianity, now       that the original sin was a sexual sin. The first sin
known commonly as the Unification Church or the           consisted of Eve's being seduced by Lucifer. When
Moonies. It was also at this time that Moon became        God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the
a very successful businessman and began to                Garden of Eden, according to Moon, it was His in-
become wealthy. Moon still carries on interests in        tention that they should marry, have sexual rela-
the pharmaceutical industry, tuna fish, ginseng tea,      tions, and become the True Parents of the perfect
and air rifles, alongside his religious activities. It    family. This divine plan was frustrated, however,
was also in this year that Moon divorced his first        by Eve who allowed herself to be tempted into sin
wife. He explains that his first marriage broke up        by Satan. That sin was not the eating of a piece of
because his wife could neither understand him nor         forbidden fruit. That's symbolic and mythical. That
accept his religion. We don't find that at all hard to    sin was actually that she had sexual intercourse
believe.                                                  with Satan, a fallen angelic being. Thus Moon and
  In 1960 Moon married his present wife, Hak-Ja           his followers account for the presence of evil in the
Han. Together they claim to be the True Parents           world.
whom Moonies are expected to call Father and
Mother, who have produced eight children of their           Moon and his followers go on to teach that God
own, but who are believed to be the progenitors of        sent Jesus Christ to be the second Adam, to ac-
a far greater family, the Divine Family, consisting       complish what the first Adam had failed to do. His
of all those who embrace Moon's teachings.                calling was to raise up a perfect humanity through
                                                          marriage and procreation. As the second Adam He
  In 1972, in response to another of his many             was expected to marry a second Eve and with her
divine revelations, Moon moved his headquarters           produce a race of sinless children. If this had hap-
from Korea to the United States. He settled into a        pened, according to Moon, Jesus and His wife
mansion in Irvington, New York from which he              would have become the True Parents. But this did
oversees the entire organization of the Unification       not happen. Once again, God's plan was frustrated,
Church. If you read the newspapers, you will know         for before Jesus could marry He was crucified.
that Moon has recently served a prison term for tax       What Jesus therefore was prevented from doing he,
evasion. This imprisonment too is regarded by him         Moon, has now come to do. Moon refers to himself
and his followers as religious persecution.               as "the Lord of the Second Advent." Moon and his
  With Moon's move to our country, the Moonies            wife are the True Parents, the progenitors of the
have spread across the United States. The Unifica-        perfect human race.


70                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



      Secondly, what distinguishes the Moonies is          be a female spirit. There is no place in the teaching
their appeal to a book called The Divine Principle.        of the Unification Church for the orthodox Chris-
The Divine PrincipZe is a 536-page book composed           tian doctrine of the Trinity. God is single,  uni-
by one of Moon's Korean followers sometime in the          personal, not triune. Moon's theology is basically
early 1950's. It is based on the revelation of Jesus       deistic.
Christ that Moon claims to have had on Easter Day,           Next time we hope to examine these teachings of
1936. The Divine Principle claims to be the "new,          the Moonies, as well as our calling with respect to
ultimate, final truth." Moonies, while they don't          an organization like the Moonies.
deny a place to the Bible, appeal to The Divine Prin-
ciple  as the final authority for what they believe.         In the meantime, here are some books that you
Moon himself criticizes the Bible as being vague           might want to consult for a more detailed treatment
and ambiguous, filled with symbolic teachings that         of the Moonies.
cannot be understood in themselves. The Bible              Burrell,  Marice  C. The  ChaZlenge  Of  The Cults.
could never stand alone as setting forth the way of          Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1981.
salvation but is itself in need of an authoritative in-    Elkins, Chris.  What Do You Say To A Moonie?
terpretation, which of course The Divine PrincipZe is.       Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 1981.
      Thirdly, the Unification Church distinguishes        Enroth, Ronald. Youth, Brainwashing, and the Ex-
itself by its peculiar doctrine of God. The main             tremist C&s. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publish-
theme of the Unification Church concerns Gods                ing House, 1977.
will to establish one perfect earthly family. God          Kemperman, Steve.  Lord  Of  The Second Advent.
Himself is believed to be the perfect Father. But a          Ventura: Regal Books, 1982.
family also needs a Mother. In Moon's teaching this        Levitt, Zola. The Spirit Of Sun Myung Moon. Irvine:
position is filled by the Holy Spirit, Who is said to        Harvest House Publishers, 1976.


                                         Book Review
THE TRANSLATORS TO THE READER, the                         this sorry neglect we are the poorer, since it is a
Preface to the Authorized Version; published by            well argued  defence of King James' translation in
Covenanter Press,  P-0. Box 48, Strathpine North,          particular and of Bible translation in general, and a
Australia, 4500; 38 pp., $2.95 (paper). (Reviewed by       fine piece of writing besides."
Prof. H. Hanko)                                              This edition is taken from a 1639 edition of the
  This book has been made available to the public          AV and was checked against an edition of 1611. It
because, as the publishers state in the Introduction:      includes a very valuable appendix which explains
"The Preface here published used to be included in         all the foreign words, the difficult words, and the
editions of the Authorized Version along with the          names mentioned in the body of the document.
Epistle Dedicatory to King James. Now the latter             It is an important historical document and will
only sometimes appears, while the former has not           be of great interest to all those who still love and
(to my knowledge) been printed in any standard             cherish the King James Version of the Bible. We
edition of the Authorized Version this century. For        recommend its purchase to our readers.



                        Annual Secretary's Report
                                       of the R.F.P.A.

  With joy in our souls we give thanks to our God          use this paper to gain knowledge of our God, as our
for His goodness in giving us another year of pub-         Editor-in-Chief stated in his March 1, 1985
lishing the Standard Bearer. It is only because of His     editorial: "May we read it, teach our youth to read
covenant faithfulness to us as churches that we can        it, digest it, learn from it, and become established in
publish a paper that is true to His Word. May we           the truth."


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                71



  Our Business Manager reports that again in this          in this paper. We realize that they are busy men,
year we had 1950 copies printed for each issue. He         and their time is important, but may they
send 765 outside of the West Michigan area, 804            remember that great is the reward of those who
copies in the West Michigan area, and 165 copies to        labor diligently in the Word.
foreign countries. Each year 150 copies are kept             We have again received many contributions. We
and used for bound volumes.                                are thankful for these, because without them the
  Because of the sale of First Prot. Ref. Church of        price of the Standard Bearer would have to be in-
Grand Rapids, the Board has had to move all the            creased. We received a good sum of money from
Standard Bearer material. Our days of free storage         the churches; but there are many individuals who
have come to an end. We now rent a room at "Extra          give freely of the abundance God has given them.
Room Storage." The Board thanks First Church for           This year we received a nice sum of money from an
the use of the building for these many years.              estate also. We ask that each of you continue to
  A special word of `thanks is extended to our             remember us in the year that lies ahead.
Business Manager, Mr. Henry Vander Wal. Be-                  We are grateful to those members of the Board
cause of the diligent labors of this man, our Board        who are now retiring  - Vern Casemier, Stu
has had little to do. It is because of his work that we    Looyenga, James Koole. May God watch over these
subscribers receive our magazine on time. It is our        men in the days that lie ahead.
prayer that God may continue to watch over him
and bless him in the year ahead.                             Last, but by no means least, we ask each of you
  We would like to thank our Editor-in-Chief, Prof.        to pray for those who contribute to this paper, the
Hoeksema, for his diligent labors. By God's grace          Editor-in-Chief, the assistant Editors, and those
he has again in this year made sure that the truth is      who labor to keep this paper going. May we not just
defended from all the false doctrines that surround        praise God in lip service, but may He be praised
us. May he never weary of his task and look unto           from our heart, mind, soul, and strength, that all
his Heavenly Father, from whence  cometh his               the glory may be God's alone. "For of him, and
help.                                                      through him, and to him are all things, to whom be
                                                           glory for ever." Rom.  11:36
  We would also thank all the ministers who write                                     (w.s.)  James Koole, Secy.




                        News From Our Churches


   There has been a change in the speakers for the         dress, please send your letters to: Rev. Joostens, c/o
conference on the subject of "Marriage: For Better,        Rev. Bruinsma, Ferris Heights, Cave P.O.,  West-
For Worse." The speakers will be Rev. Jason                moreland, Jamaica, West Indies. It is obvious as
Kortering, Rev. D. Engelsma, and Rev. J. Slopsema.         churches that we do take good care of and are con-
Each of these ministers will speak twice. The meet-        cerned for all our missionaries.
ings will be held at the Holiday Inn, Elmhurst, Il-          Rev. den Hartog has a new telephone number -
linois. Registration forms will be forthcoming. The        (01 l-65-224-8577). This is a direct dialing number
conference, which will be held November 22 & 23,           to Singapore.
is sponsored by the Northwest Chicago Mission
Field and South Holland's Evangelism Committee.              Synod of 1985 instructed the Mission Committee
Plan now to attend this instructive and enjoyable          to seek contributions from the churches in an
conference.                                                agreeable amount of $10,000 to cover the medical
                                                           needs of Missionary Houck and his family through
   How are Rev. Joostens and his family doing in           the remainder of 1985. If each family in the
Jamaica? As was expected, they stayed with the             denomination were to give $8.20, the $10,000 goal
Bruinsmas until they obtained a house for their            would be easily reached. May God bless us that we
own use. They are able to get around with a cheap-         may give of what is His to support our missionary
ly rented car. But until they have their own ad-           and his family.


     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                                       -~-- --~ - - ._ -___
                                                                             mp--p-Fp
                      P . O .   B o x   6 0 6 4
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                                                                                                        psz%J%-.;

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    72                                                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


          I received a copy of a letter from the Evangelism                                                                         agined. Thanks to the work of Mr. H. Van Hattem
    Society of Southeast Church, Grand Rapids, Michi-                                                                               (remember `Van, the Radio Man,' on WFUR?) our
    gan that was written to their congregation. There                                                                               pamphlets are currently placed in forty-two area
    are several items worth sharing with you that you                                                                               businesses.
    will enjoy reading. "To begin, our radio program                                                                                   I, . . . A Christian Reformed minister in  Grand-
    has just completed its first year of operation and, as                                                                          ville (Michigan, DH) tells us that he takes copies of
    evidenced by listener response and your continued                                                                               Rev. Hoeksema's God is Our Refuge along with him
    wholehearted support, the Lord has clearly blessed                                                                              when he visits the sick.
    this work. The manager of WMAX tells us that                                                                                       I,
    based on calls into the station, our program is one                                                                                      . . . We recently learned that Pastor Haak's
    of the two most popular in WMAX's lineup.                                                                                       pamphlet,  Our  OnZy Comfort,  is being distributed to
                                                                                                                                    the female inmates of a Virginia state penitentiary
          I,                                                                                                                        by the prison chaplain's wife."
                .      .     .    A special thanks to all who have made a
    point of taking and distributing radio program                                                                                     Rev. Van Overloop  will have visited Southeast to
    cards.                                                                                                                          speak about "Mission Methods and Congregational
           I, . . . Our literature distribution efforts have been                                                                   Evangelism" the evening of October 17. Who
     very successful, more so than we could have  im-                                                                               knows, maybe a tape will be produced of this meet-
                                                                                                                                    ing. It is certain that God has blessed the work of
                                                                                                                                    our many evangelism societies and church exten-
                                                            Y.s_pauIsrrk.
                                  STATEMENTOF  OWNERSHlP  MANAGEMENTANOCIRCU~~ION                                                   sion committees over the years.
                                                        Rm"ihdbY39  Lls.c 3685,
,LTITLEOFP"BLIc.TTIoN                                                              IS. P"BLIWTION  NO.    2. DATE OF FlLlNG            Grandville Church, Michigan, is seeing the
           THB  SMDABD  BBASWB                                                        5 1         s s 0 S!APPT..  28. 191:
3. FREO"ENCIOF  lS"E                                                         SI\.B~~~~:~~ESP"BLIDIllD  3B.y4~lpLS"BSCRImON          building of the church's parsonage moving at a
  SIWI-MXPI'BLI  U2XCEPT JUSS,  JULY. AlJGUSl')                                                 23              slo.50
,.COMPLETEMI\ILINGI\D~RE~SDF  KNOWN  OFFICEOFPUBLICATION  ,smrr.ary. Cou",~,S,.,~.ndUPIC,~~,~~"~",                                  steady pace. As one young member of the congre-
  1047 11110 AVE.. S.B.,  GRAND SAPIB,~!&  YTCEIGAR 49507                                                                           gation put it, "That hole was huge. It must be a big
5.COUILETEMIIlLlNGLIOORESSOFTHEHEI\OO"IRTERSOF(iENERI\LBUSlhlEnOFF,CU.OFTHEP"BL,PIlER,No,~r(",~,                                    house." Because of the emphasis on God's cove-
  1947 AL'X)  AVE.. S.B.. GRAND SAPIDS. HICHIGAR  49507
B.F"LLN*MES/\W~mMPLETE"~ILIHG(\D~RESSOFP"BLISHER.EDIT~R.I\ND~NI\GING  EDITORmYl,~~UVSPn=*~~~"~,
PUBUSHER ,thrnlmd  Com~,ram!lLw.4d*m,,                                                                                              nant, there is something special about building a
  SEFORWBD  FFSE PUETJZXISG  ASS'%. P.O. BOX 6064, GSASD SAPIDS. MI 49506                                                           parsonage for a minister's possibly large family,
EDlTOR ,Nnrn~~MC~~~lr,~~,~,~"~~-,
  PROF.  Ii.C.mluLsswA.  4975 IvAiisBs!c  S-W.. GmiiDvmB. UI 49418                                                                     First Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a
MANACIINGEOITOR  ,Nunr~MC~~,~,~rM~~~,~,
  H.                                                                                                                                beautiful church to visit while in the G.R. area.
       VANDEB  WAL.  1047 AU0 AVE.. S.E..  GSAND BAPIDS, MIOBIGU  49507                                                             Work on the inside is progressing at a rapid rate, so
                                                                                                                                    that the rooms downstairs are taking shape. The
                                                                                                                                    high peaked roof in the sanctuary reminds me of
                                                                                                                                    praying hands.

                                                                                                                                    David Harbach is a teacher at Adams St. Prot. Ref.
                                                                                                                                    Christian School, Grand Rapids, Michigan.


                                                                                                                                                        IN LOVING MEMORY
                                                                                                                                       On August 21, 1985, it pleased our Heavenly Father to take unto
                                                                                                                                    Himself our beloved father, grandfather, and great-grandfather,
                                                                                                                                    PETER M. HOEKSTRA, at the age of 92 years. We rejoice that he is'in
                                                                                                                                    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-
                                                                                                                                    standing.

                                                                                                                                       "So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts un-
                                                                                                                                    to wisdom." (Psalm 1  16:15)

                                                                                                                                    Martin and  Stella  Hoekstra        Florence and Ray Brunsting
                                                                                                                                    Eunice Brummel                      John and Nelva Hoekstra
                                                                                                                                    George and Greda Hoekstra           Peter and Sharon Hoekstra
                                                                                                                                    Donald and Margaret Hoekstra        Dorothy and Al Mulder
                                                                                                                                    Ted and Myna Hoekstra               Henry and Hildred Hoekstra
                                                                                                                                    Bernice  and Bert Van Maanen              69 grandchildren
                                                                                                                                                                              149 great-grandchildren


