1 STANDARD
v BEARER
       A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE


   If we are content with our needs, -we will
 be satisfied when the costs of children keep
 us from possessing the good things in life.
 We will find greater delight in our children
 than in houses and lands. We will know that
 we labor for eternity when we take care of
 our children, instead of laboring for things
 which pass away with the using. And when
 we and our children are finally safe in glory
 we will praise and honor Him Who has given
 them to us.
 See "Moral Aspects of Medical Technology"
                                                 - page 425

                                           Vol.  LXII, No. 18, July 1, 1986  -


 410                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER




                                CONTENTS                                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                        ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                            Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
    Meditation  -                                                                            Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                                  Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Mich.
        Taken By Temptation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .410           Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
   Editor's Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .413    Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga,  Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
                                                                                   D. Decker, Rev. Barry Gritters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko,
   Editorials -                                                                    Rev. Ronald Hanko, Mr. David Harbach, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. J. Kortering,
                                                                                   Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C.  Miersma, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.
                                                                                   Gise J. Van  Baren, Rev. Herman Veldman.
        Synod of the Protestant Reformed                                           Editorial Ofice:  Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
           Churches,1986.........................413                                                   4975  Ivanrest Ave., S.W.
                                                                                                       Grandville, Michigan 49418
        Seminary Graduation, 1986 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , .416               Church News Editor: Mr. David Harbach
                                                                                                           4930  Ivanrest Ave., Apt. B
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  WEDITATION
  bmes D. Slopsema



                                           Taken By Temptation
                    There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God if faithful, who
                will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make
                a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
                                                                                                                           I Corinthians 10: 13

   We often find ourselves in situations where we                                    alarm. But these temptations are so powerful and
are sorely tempted by the powers of darkness.                                        overwhelming! What are we to do?
 Sometimes we are required  to struggle with these                                       We must remember that there has no temptation
 difficult temptations for a long time. And when we                                  taken  us but such as is common to man.
 do so we may find that these temptations are
 leading us further and further away f&m God. In-                                        And we must always keep before us the fact that
 stead of making progress against these temptations                                  God is faithful Who will not allow us to be tempted
 we are slowly slipping. This may cause us great                                     above  what we are able, but will with the tempta-


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              411



tion also make a way to escape.                             There are a number of things that can tempt us.
  Armed with this truth we must take God's way              There are for example the pleasures of sin. Sin
out of temptation that we may overcome and be             itself is very pleasurable, at least to the flesh. Those
victorious.                                               sins which are especially pleasurable to man are
          *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *                    the sins of immorality and drunkenness. Although
The saints in the church of Corinth had been              any sin can be the source of great pleasure to the
taken by temptation.                                      flesh. And these pleasures of sin are a constant
                                                          source of temptation to the child of God to leave the
  It would appear from the context that the saints        way of God and to follow the way of sin that he
of Corinth were especially tempted by the sins of         may enjoy sin's pleasures.
idolatry and fornication.                                   Then there are the temptations that arise out of
  The members of the church of Corinth were               the desire to have the approval of men. We ought to
primarily Gentiles who had been brought up in             be concerned only with God's approval. But we are
paganism. From childhood on they had been                 all too often concerned with what man thinks of us.
brought to the temples of Corinth to worship the          We covet the approval of our fellow man. Some will
idol gods and to partake of the feasts held in honor      do almost anything to be accepted by their peers.
of the gods. As they grew up they were also in-           And this becomes a constant source of temptation
troduced to the fornication and drunkenness that          when our "friends" and associates mock the way of
always accompanied the worship of idols.                  godliness, encourage us to follow them in the way
  But now that they had been converted to Jesus           of sin, and condition their friendship on our will-
Christ they found that it was not so easy to forsake      ingness to walk with them in every abomination
these sins of the past. For these sins were very          under heaven.
pleasurable to the flesh. Having once tasted these          We are also tempted by the difficulties and hard-
pleasures it was not so easy now to abandon them.         ships of life. When times are hard the temptation is
Besides, many of their family members and former          to take the world's way out which may not meet
acquaintances were still in the darkness of unbelief      God's approval. When we suffer we are also in-
and thus were still walking in idolatry. Turning          clined to become dissatisfied with Gods dealings with
from idolatry therefore often meant denying father        us so that we become bitter against God. Some in
and mother, brother and sister, children and              bitterness have even stopped serving God. Others
spouse. It meant a disruption of their social life as     in the midst of sufferings are simply inclined to give
they abandoned `former friends. It even meant             up on God. It doesn't pay to serve God anyway!
persecution on the part of family and former ac-
quaintances.                                                Very easily we are taken by these and other
                                                          temptations. Very easily temptation seizes hold of
  So severe were these temptations that Paul says         us and won't let us go. We find that they are so
the saints of Corinth had been "taken by tempta-          overpowering that we are falling victim to them
tion." This means that the temptations of idolatry        again and again. Time and again we vow never
had laid hold of them, had seized them and                again to fall into the sins into which we have been
wouldn't let them go. The saints of Corinth were in       led by temptation. But before we realize it, tempta-
the throes of temptation. The original indicates that     tion had led into the same shameful sins again. As
this had been going on for quite some time. All this      we are being led further into sin and away from
very strongly suggests that the saints of Corinth         God, we become alarmed. Our very spiritual ex-
were more and more yielding to these temptations.         istence is being threatened! Temptation has taken
They found the temptation to return to their old          hold of us and won't let us go! What are we to do?
ways overpowering so that more and more they                       * * * * * * * * * *
were returning to the idol temples to enjoy the
pleasures of sin. From a human point of view they           The Word of God is very comforting and reassur-
were in real danger of being led away from the faith      ing in this situation.
into sin and destruction. Perhaps the saints them-          First, there has no temptation taken you but such
selves were alarmed by it all. But they were              as is common to man.
trapped, it seemed. The temptations of idolatry
were overwhelming and they were simply being                When they are in the throes of temptation, God's
overcome by it all!                                       people often imagine that their situation is unique.
                                                          No one has faced the troubles they have. No one
  We also are easily taken by temptation.                 has had to deal with the circumstances they face.
                                                          Hence, no one has faced the temptations they do or
James D. Slopsema is pastor of the Protestant Reformed    been tempted quite so severely as they have. This is
Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.                            true of the saint who is tempted to escape life's prob-


412                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



lems with a bottle. This is true of the saint who        is completely under God's control.
struggles with bitterness against God because the          And God Who controls all will not allow His peo-
way of God in his life is very hard. This is true of     ple to be tempted above that they are able to bear.
the saint who is struggling with depression and all      Oh, He may allow them to be led astray into sin for
the temptations that accompany depression. This is       a season. But He will never allow them to be over-
true of the saint who is tempted to find an  un-         whelmed and crushed by temptation so that they
biblical solution to some problem in his life . . . .    are led eventually to destruction. Always God will
  The result of this mentality is devastating. For.if    see to it that His people are able to bear their temp-
our situation is truly unique then there is no one       tations, that is, carry them without being crushed.
who can understand, there is no one who can really         And God will accomplish this by providing a way
help, and more than likely there .is no way out. Our     of escape. No matter how overwhelming tempta-
situation is hopeless!                                   tion may be, God will always provide a way out so
  The Word of God however assures us that there          that we are able to bear it. Sometimes God's way
has no temptation taken you but such as is common        out is to change the circumstances of life in which
to man. That means that no matter what your situa-       we find ourselves so that the temptation is removed
tion is, no matter how severe the temptations are        or at least diminished in intensity. But most often
that you face, countless others have been in the         God's way out of temptation is to strengthen us by
same situation. And not only have they been in           His grace so that we can bear it. Strong as tempta-
your situation, but they have also emerged vic-          tion may be, God's grace is stronger and will even-
torious. Countless numbers of God's people have          tually give us the victory. Whichever way God
been taken with the exact same temptations you           chooses, there is in every temptation a way of
have and have overcome them!                             escape that we may bear it and not be over-
  How important this is to the saint taken by temp-      whelmed.
tation! This means that he is not alone. There are                * * * * * * * * * *
others that understand what he is going through.           When taken by temptation, let us not therefore
And there are others who can help him, others who        despair. Our temptation, severe as it may be, is on-
have been in his situation and learned to overcome.      ly such as is common to man. Countless others
But most importantly, this means that the situation      have suffered the same temptation and overcome.
in which he finds himself is not insurmountable.
The temptations that have taken him can be over-           And we too can overcome. For God in His
come. Countless others have done it!                     faithfulness will not allow us to be destroyed. He
                                                         will always provide a way of escape.
  But there is more. God is faithful. And He will
not allow you to be tempted above that ye are able,        Only let us be diligent to use `God's way out of
but will with the temptation also make a way to          temptation. In the hour of temptation let us seek
escape, that you may be able to bear it.                 the irresistible power of His grace that we may be
                                                         victorious. God's grace is to be found in the pure
  God is faithful. What a wonderful truth that is!       preaching of the Word and the sacraments. God's
That God is faithful means that He always keeps          grace is to be found in diligent study of His Word.
His promises. You can depend on God to keep His          God's grace is to be found in earnest prayer. And
Word. The promise God has given in His Word is           quite often when taken by temptation we will find
that He will keep His people in the hour of tempta-      this grace of God only through the help of our
tion. The pow.ers of darkness may assail His people.     fellow saints who bring us the Word, pray with us
But he will always keep and preserve them. And to        and for us, and carry us in their love.-    -
this promise God is faithful. He will never allow
His beloved to perish in the face of temptation.
  Consequently, God will not allow His people to             The Standard Bearer
be tempted above what they are able to bear, but
will with the temptation also make a way of escape.           makes a thoughtful
  Notice, that the Bible here speaks of what God                        gift for the
will or will not allow. This is completely in har-
mony with the rest of Scripture. God does not
tempt His people. God is not tempted with evil;                      sick & shut-in:
neither tempts He any man (James 1: 13). All temp-
tations arise out of the powers of darkness that seek         Give the Standard Bearer!
our destruction. However, God is sovereign over
temptation so that every temptation that assails us


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                            413



                                       Editor's Notes

  This issue of our magazine will be reaching you a         Here are a couple new addresses for those who
bit later than usual. It was delayed in order to          correspond with our Singaporean friends:
bring you, as soon as possible, a report on Synod of          Mr. and Mrs. J. Mahtani,
1986 and on Seminary Graduation. To make room                 #12  - 10, River Valley Close,
for the special items, some of the usual depart-              Singapore 0923,
ments have been omitted. Our August issue will be             Republic of Singapore
a special theme issue.
         * * * * * * * * * *                                  Pastor and Mrs. Lau Chin Kwee,
                                                              Blk. 240, Serangoon Ave. 2,
  When you go on vacation this summer, don't                  #11  - 61,
take a vacation from your family devotions!        '          Singapore 1955,
                                                              Republic of Singapore

EDITORIALS




             Synod of the Protestant Reformed
                                     Churches,  1986


  This year's synod met in the beautiful and com-         Tuesday afternoon each of them delivered a ser-
modious new building of the First Protestant Re-          mon on his choice of two assigned texts. All day
formed Church of Grand Rapids. By decision of             Wednesday was devoted to a thorough examination
Synod of 1985, the synod this year was scheduled          in Dogmatics. The greater part of Thursday was
to convene on Tuesday, June 10, which implied             devoted to examinations in Old Testament History,
that the pre-synodical service, under the auspices        New Testament History, Church Polity, and
of First Church, fell on Monday evening. The Rev.         Church History. Besides, the students were re-
J. Kortering, president of last year's synod, led this    quired to submit written examinations on assigned
service; his sermon, based on Joshua 1:8, 9, will be      passages for Old Testament and New Testament
included in the printed Acts.                             Exegesis. Early on Thursday afternoon they were
  On Tuesday morning synod convened. The of-              examined in  Practica by the Rev. J. Kortering.
ficers elected were: Rev. D. Engelsma, president;         About mid-afternoon the young men were unani-
Rev. J. Slopsema, vice president; Rev. B. Gritters,       mously declared candidates for the ministry in the
first clerk; and Rev. R. Cammenga, second clerk.          Protestant Reformed Churches. This was a joyous
Advisory committees were appointed, assignments           occasion for them, for their loved ones, for the
given to them, and that was the end of synod's            synod, and for the rather large number of visitors
treatment of the Agenda, except for committee             present on this occasion. Elsewhere in this issue
meetings, until Friday morning; for the next two          you will find an account of the graduation-program.
and a half days were devoted to the examination of        It was late afternoon when all of this was finished,
our three seminary graduates, Messrs. Russell             and so synod adjourned until Friday morning.
Dykstra, Steven Key, and Charles Terpstra. On               With synod being occupied with the  examina-


414                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



tions, all of the advisory committees had to do their    pore had been invited to send delegates to our
work in evening meetings. By Friday morning              synod this year. On Monday, June 16, these
Committee II, whose main assignment was                  delegates (Pastor Lau Chin Kwee and Elder Ang Le-
Theological School matters, was ready to report.         ing Huat) were welcomed and seated at synod, and
Committee I, which was assigned all mission mat-         they participated in several sessions. It was indeed
ters, was not nearly finished with its assignment.       pleasant to meet the brethren again and to enjoy
Hence, synod turned to the report of Committee II.       their fellowship. The Contact Committee reported
  As was stated, the Report of the Theological           to synod concerning a problem between us and the
School Committee was the main assignment of              ERCS regarding their attitude toward the OPC of
Committee II. This committee has more than a             Christchurch, New Zealand and their admitting to
routine report. It brought to Synod an extensive         their pulpit the Pastor of Christchurch. The visit of
plan for the school during the interim years when        the ERCS delegates also made possible a  face-to-
we will have no students in the seminary depart-         face meeting with the Contact Committee about
ment and (at present) only one student in the pre-       this matter. Synod also approved the possible send-
seminary department. Included in these plans             ing of two delegates to the ERCS, should we receive
were: 1) Advance education in their respective           an invitation.
fields for Profs. Decker and Hanko. This was ap-           4) Synod decided to establish sister-church rela-
proved by synod. 2) Plans for special courses at the     tions with the little Protestant Reformed Church of
seminary, both for ministers and the general             New Zealand in Wellington. They were also ad-
public. These were also approved. Undoubtedly            vised that as a sister church the calling of one of our
there will be further announcements and explana-         ministers belongs to the rights and privileges of
tion of these matters by the Theological School          sister-church relations. Later, however, synod re-
Committee in the future. Committee II also was           jected by an 8 to 7 vote a proposal to grant this little
assigned an overture from Prof. Hanko to correct         flock the financial aid necessary to enable them to
the translations of certain key articles of the          call a minister  - something without which they
Canons before the  Psalter  is reprinted. This over-     cannot survive, of course. Still later in its sessions
ture was approved, and a committee appointed to          synod apparently relented somewhat and in-
review the proposed changes and to report to Synod       structed the Contact Committee to try to raise the
of 1987.                                                 necessary funds (outside of synodical assessments)
  Next on the program was the report of Commit-          to help the PRC of New Zealand.
tee III. To this committee was assigned all matters        5) Synod also had before it a protest of Mr. G.
pertaining to our contact with other churches. The       Feenstra having to do with preaching in non-sister
Contact Committee had presented to Synod an ex-          churches by our representatives, Prof. H. Hanko
tensive report concerning several important items.       and Rev. D. Engelsma, during their trip to the U.K.
Let me summarize the more significant items and          in 1984. This protest was deemed legally before
the synodical decisions:                                 synod. The protest was rejected on one point, as not
  1) Synod decided to send fraternal delegates           being contrary to synodical decisions of 1978. It
(Rev. G. Van  Baren and Rev. J. Kortering) to the        was upheld on another, as being in violation of the
Bible Presbyterian Church of Larne, Northern             Contact Committee constitution. Meanwhile, the
Ireland. I will not spell out their entire mandate,      Contact Committee was also instructed to study,
but summarize it. These delegates are empowered          clarify, and, if need be, correct the constitutional
to conduct Church Visitation (if asked) along the        item involved (and, of course, report fo the Synod
lines of Article 44 of the Church Order. They are to     of 1987).
discuss and propose guidelines for discipline upon         Committee III was also assigned the matter of
the request of the BPC of Larne. They are to preach      the Psalter Reprinting Committee. This committee
and lecture, upon request, at Larne. And while they      failed to make a timely report to synod, and there-
are in the U.K., they are to contact other churches      fore nothing could be treated. Synod took
with whom we have some contact.                          cognizance of the fact that Rev. Haak is now in
  2) Synod instructed the Contact Committee to           Lynden, Washington. It decided to replace him
begin to make preparation for a conference to be         with Mr. Chas. Kregel as chairman and decided to
held with the BPC of Larne, the Evangelical              add the name of Mrs. Eunice Kuiper to the commit-
Reformed Church of Singapore, and the Protestant         tee. It is important for our churches that significant
Reformed Church of New Zealand in 1990, D.V.             progress be made on this matter before the Synod
The Contact Committee is to submit recommenda-           of 1987.
tions to the Synod of 1987.                                Meanwhile, Committee I had completed part of
  3) The Evangelical Reformed Church of Singa-           its report. In fact, consideration of the report of


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               415



Committee III was interrupted to begin considera-          ing of several other unaccounted for or un-
tion of Committee I's report. Committee I was              authorized expenditures from the Mission Commit-
assigned a disproportionately large part of the            tee. Further, synod decided:
Agenda  - all mission matters, both foreign and              1) Not to call a second missionary for Jamaica
domestic. While records are not kept on these mat-         this year, but that a minister co-worker be sent for a
ters, this committee undoubtedly must have                 period of 6 to 9 months, in accord with previously
broken all rekords for meetings of advisory commit-        decided policy.
tees. They also did thorough work and served
synod well on several difficult items. This brief            2) That emissaries not be sent to the island
report will not reflect in full the amount of work         "unless there be a clearly defined need, which need
done by the committee. They had several items              be demonstrated to the Synod of 1987."
which were not difficult and time-consuming.                 3) That the Mission Committee, the calling
Among these were the following:                            church, and the missionary shall produce "a  well-
   1) In connection with the report of the Foreign         defined plan for the Jamaican field, based on the
Mission Committee, synod decided to inform the             policy of 1983, and report to the Synod of 1987."
churches that the work of the Rev. A. den Hartog in          4) That Prof. Decker (professor of missions) and
Singapore is drawing to a close. If he has not re-         Rev. den Hartog (upon his return) be provided as
ceived and accepted a call before December 15,             advisors for the formulation of such a plan.
1986, he and his family will be brought home at              It is clear, therefore, that synod wanted the work
that time. Synod also expressed "the churches'             in Jamaica to continue, but in an orderly fashion
deep appreciation to Rev. den Hartog and family            and according to a clearly defined plan and with
for their faithful labors in Singapore, labors which       full accountability.
by the grace of God resulted in the establishment of
the Evangelical Reformed Church of Singapore." A             To Committee IV were assigned all financial mat-
provisional budget was adopted in this connection.         ters, such as subsidies, budgets, treasurer's report,
                                                           and assessments. This committee also had a large
  2) Synod decided that there is no need for               task, and can really not complete its work until all
another missionary to replace Rev. den Hartog as           other committee reports have been considered,
missionary in the near future. But it also instructed      since it must keep tab on the various expenditures
the Foreign Mission Committee to investigate, in           approved by synod throughout its sessions. In con-
conjunction with the ERCS, possible future fields of       nection with Committee IV's report we may men-
labor in Singapore and Malaysia.                           tion the following items:
  3) Synod also approved, without reservation, the           1) Synod received from Classis  West the gift of a
continuation of the mission labors in Modesto,             large estate, with the stipulation that this shall be a
California (Rev. S.  Houck),  Northwest Chicago            perpetual fund of which 70% of the earnings each
(Rev. R. Van Overloop), and Norristown, Penn-              year shall be used to subsidize the Emeritus Fund.
sylvania (Rev. K. Hanko). Later it also approved             2) Synod approved subsidies for the needy chur-
budgets for these fields, one of which (Norristown-        ches as requested.
Blue Bell) is entirely self-supporting.                      3) Synod approved a per family assessment for
  It was matters pertaining to the Jamaica Field           1987 of $434.00 - a considerable increase over the
which were the most time-consuming both for                current assessment, due partly to increased expen-
Committee I and synod. Early in its work Commit-           ditures and partly to the fact that the surplus in
tee I discovered that the report on Jamaica in the         some funds was exhausted and partly to the fact
Agenda was inadequate and incomplete, and                  that there was an under-assessment for the current
gained from synod authorization to investigate fur-        year.
ther in the Mission Committee records and to try to          Faith Church, Jenison, Michigan, was appointed
gain an accounting of various monies spent in              the calling church for 1987.
Jamaica the past year. Out of the committee's in-
vestigation and report came several negative deci-           Late on Thursday afternoon, June 19, synod
sions of synod. Synod disapproved of several               finished its Agenda. This was a very busy synod.
building projects in Jamaica as unauthorized and           After the examinations were completed, synod put
contrary to previous decisions of synod re policy in       in five full and busy days. May the Lord bless the
Jamaica. It called a halt to all building expenditures,    decisions made.
except for emergencies, and set a limit on these of          This is, of course, only a very brief and partial
$500. It instructed the Mission Committee to fur-          report, unofficial in nature, of the activities of
nish a complete accounting of the past year's              synod. For the complete report we refer you to the
building projects. Synod also required an account-         Acts, which will soon be distributed.            HCH


416                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



                      Seminary Graduation, 1986





       Graduating, 1 to r: Jaikishin Mahtani, Russell Dykstra, Charles Terpstra, Steven Key.
  For the delegates to synod the Seminary Gradua-           The main item on the program, which featured
tion Program on Tuesday evening, June 17, was a           several special musical numbers, was the gradua-
refreshing change of pace; and for the large au-          tion address by Prof. Decker, "The Minister's
dience, in which all the area churches were               Great Joy." You will find a transcript of his address
represented and which more than filled the auditor-       elsewhere in this issue. A special feature of the pro-
ium of First Church, it was a most enjoyable eve-         gram was a presentation by the two delegates from
ning.                                                     Singapore, Pastor Lau Chin Kwee and Elder Ang
  For the graduates, of course, this evening              Leing Huat. They presented to the seminary a
marked the achievement of the goal for which they         beautifully inscribed, decorative pewter plate. The
had been striving for several years.                      inscription is as follows: "Presented To The PRC
  There were four graduates: from our own chur-           Seminary In Appreciation Of The Excellent
ches, Messrs. Russell Dykstra, Steven Key, and            Ministerial Training To Our Brothers Lau Chin
Charles Terpstra, who received a regular diploma,         Kwee  (`80-`82),  Jaikishin Mahtani  (`83-`86)  From
and who were the first graduates from our  four-          The Evangelical Reformed Church of Singapore,
year program; and from the Evangelical Reformed           17th June 1986."
Church of Singapore, Mr. Jaikishin Mahtani, who             May the Lord bless our graduates and soon pro-
received a special three-year diploma.                    vide them a place of labor in His church!       HCH

SEMINARY GRADUATION ADDRESS
Robert D. Decker




                    The Great Joy of the Ministry


  The life of a minister of the gospel is not easy. In    each week is no small task. Catechism classes must
fact, it is very difficult. The ministry involves a       be taught and Bible study societies must be led.
great deal of hard work. Sermon preparation takes         There are various pastoral labors which must be
much time and effort. To prepare two good sermons         done: visiting the sick, comforting the sorrowing,


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                           417



family visitation, etc. The minister is called upon to         minister. And while it is a difficult, even frustrating
chair consistory meetings, serve on committees, do             work sometimes, there is a unique joy which the
a certain amount of work for the denomination. In              faithful minister experiences. It is to that greater
addition there is the work of writing for various              joy that I wish to call your attention.
church magazines and a certain amount of lectur-               In  What Does This Greater Joy Consist?
ing.                                                              The Apostle John speaks of this greater joy in the
   All of this work must be done while the minister            fourth verse of his Third Epistle: "I have no greater
and his family live in the proverbial "glass house."           joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."
There are always people who carefully watch the                The Apostle regards Gaius (cf. vs. 1) and the saints
minister's every move. Some are quick to criticize.            as "my own children." They are his own children
Pastors are sinners like everyone else. They display           because the Apostle is their minister. He taught
all kinds of weaknesses. Some take advantage of                them the truth of the gospel and he loves them in
this.                                                          Christ, cares for them, leads them in the truth, ad-
  There are all kinds of disappointments and                   monishes and disciplines them when they wander.
griefs. Always there are those who oppose the truth            He comforts them and encourages them. John is
of the gospel. Discipline often results in people              their spiritual father and they are his own children.
leaving the church. Numerical growth can be                    In the deeper sense, they are his own children
frustratingly meager. Some of the youth leave for              because they are GOD'S children: elect in Jesus
other churches.                                                Christ, washed in Jesus' blood from all their sins;
  All of this, along with the everyday trials of his           born of the Spirit. God's beloved, precious children
personal life, must be borne by the minister. The              they are, and God has entrusted them to the care
Apostle Paul, who suffered far more than any of us             and nurture of the Apostle. The Apostle is, there-
probably ever have or will, spoke of this:                     fore, accountable to God for the spiritual care of his
                                                               own children.
    Are they ministers of Christ? [I speak as a fool) I am
    more; in  labours  more abundant, in stripes above           John is deeply conscious of this. Notice, the letter
    measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of       is addressed to ". . . the wellbeloved Gaius, whom I
    the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.     love in the truth." Gaius is John's "beloved" (cf.
    Thrice I was beaten with rods, once was I stoned,          vss. 1, 2). Just who this Gaius is we do not know.
    thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have      Probably he was an elder in one of the churches of
    been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of       Asia Minor. The Apostle wishes him prosperity and
    waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own        good health both physically and spiritually. And,
    countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils            the Apostle rejoices to hear the testimony of the
    in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils        brethren that Gaius walks in the truth [vs. 3). In
    in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weari-      fact, the Apostle confessed, "I have no greater joy
    ness and painfulness, in  watchings  often, in hunger
    and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.      than to hear that my own children (all of them,
    Besides those things that are without, that which com-     R.D.D.) walk in truth." John puts it negatively for
    eth upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is    emphasis, "I have no greater joy." Nothing makes
    weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I            him happier than this that he hears that his dear
    burn not? (II Corinthians  1123-29)                        children are walking in the truth. This is his great
But all of this you who graduate will experience               joy-
soon enough.                                                     His children are walking in the truth. The truth is
  I wish to stress the JOY of the ministry. The                reality over against the lie. The truth is that which
ministry of the gospel is after all the highest calling        is real, the very opposite of what is unreal. That
to which a man can aspire. To pursue that calling in           which is unreal is the lie. The truth always opposes
college and seminary; to pass the oral examinations            the lie, that which is false. Then too, the  t.ruth is
before the Synod and be declared a candidate for               always the faithful presentation of reality, and that
the ministry of the Word; to have the call of Christ           too with respect to all things: God, Christ, the
confirmed by one of the congregations and to be or-            church, the world, the past, present, future,
dained into the office of the ministry of the Word;            heaven, earth, all things.
that in itself affords great joy. That God should use            This means God is the truth. Scripture says, "He
you and me - weak, sinful, earthen vessels - that              is the rock, his work is perfect . . . a God of truth
in itself is a great blessing, a wonderful gift of grace,      and without iniquity, just and right is he" (Deut.
a great joy. But there is a greater joy for the                32:4). Truth is one of the virtues of God; it belongs
                                                               to His divine being. That God is the rock means He
Robert D. Decker is professor of Practical Theology and        is unchangeable, and that too in justice, for "just
New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.             and right is he." The truth, therefore, is the  un-


418                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



changing, ever faithful, just God. God is the eternal       gladly suffer and even die for the truth. And, these
reality before all things, the Creator of all things.       saints lived the truth. It was manifest in all of their
God is the truth because He never changes, never            daily life.
denies Himself or contradicts Himself. Always God             All of this applies to the minister. Christ gives
remains the same. The Lord Jesus Christ is the              pastors for the care of the church (Eph.  4:11-16).
truth. He is the Word, the eternal, only-begotten           Just as God gives children to the care of their
Son who came in the likeness of our flesh. Jesus is         parents and calls parents to train and provide for
the reality of all the types of shadows of the Old          those children, so God calls pastors to teach,
Testament Who gave Himself to the cross for our             govern, discipline, and care for His children in
sins. Christ is the complete, perfect revelation of         Christ. The people of God are, in this sense, the
God as the God of our salvation. He Himself said:           spiritual children of their pastors.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life." The Holy
Spirit is the truth. As the Spirit of Christ poured out       The pastor's great joy consists not in the real or
into the church He comforts us by leading us into           wrongly perceived honor the office of the ministry
all the truth. He is the Spirit of truth Who imparts        affords, nor in a big salary, a beautiful parsonage, a
to us the life of Christ.                                   prestigious pulpit, or in being wined and dined by
                                                            his parishioners. His great joy consists in that he
  That eternal truth is revealed in Scripture. Holy         hears that his children are walking in the truth.
Scripture is the inspired (God-breathed) revelation         This is his greatest joy. Nothing gives him greater
of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Not mere-         satisfaction. He has no greater joy!
ly is Holy Scripture the account of men's religious
experiences or encounters with God, nor is it the           How Is This Joy To Be Attained?
witness of men to God, but Holy Scripture is the              To attain this joy a pastor must be a faithful
very Wovd of God. Scripture is, therefore, the truth,       minister. This means he must be a man of God. The
the whole truth, the truth about everything, the            pastor himself must walk in the truth. He must
truth about all of reality. Scripture is the only truth.    know the truth, believe the truth, and live the
There is no truth apart from Holy Scripture. Scrip-         truth. He must be at pains not to contradict the
ture is the only source of the truth. Everything            truth he preaches by an ungodly life. He must be an
apart from Scripture is of the fallen creature and is,      example of godliness to the believers. In this way
therefore, distorted and corrupted by the lie.              the pastor will experience this great joy. The joy of
Because Holy Scripture is all of this it may not be         salvation will flood his own soul. He will be at
contradicted. All that speaks against Scripture is the      peace with himself because he is at peace with
lie. Nor may Scripture be doubted. We do not ap-            God. There is joy and peace in believing and in
proach the Bible to see whether it is true. Nor do          nothing else! To be a faithful minister the pastor
we approach Holy Scripture in the spirit of the new         must be a man of prayer. Gods faithful ministers
hermeneutic to see what is true and what is not. We         are men of prayer, much prayer. The chief
approach Scripture in the faith that everything we          Shepherd, Jesus, needed much prayer. How much
fin&-in it is the absolute truth of God in Jesus            more don't we?! Ministers must pray without ceas-
Christ.                                                     ing for grace to do the work, to preach and teach,
  The truth of Holy Scripture is summed in the              for wisdom to shepherd the flock of God.
Reformed Confessions: the Heidelberg Catechism,
the Belgic Confession of Faith, and the Canons of             A pastor must be a man of the  Word.  He must
Dordrecht. These Confessions systematically set             always bring the Word of God. God's people who
forth the truth of the Bible. This is the truth. The        are in affliction whether of body or mind need
truth is, moreover, the truth of Scripture as set           God's Word and the "prayer of faith" of the pastor.
forth in the Confessions as taught by the grace of          Only the Word of God can fill the terrible void
God in the Protestant Reformed Churches and in              caused by the death of a husband, wife, parent,
those churches of like precious faith with us.              child, or dear friend. The Word of God must be
                                                            brought to the wayward, for only the Holy Spirit of
  The Apostle's spiritual children were walking in          Christ through the Word can convert the sinner. A
the truth. Walking means, literally, regulating their       pastor must bring the Word to the families of the
lives and conduct in the sphere of the truth. The           congregation and to individuals who need answers
truth governed their lives. This implied that they          to life's perplexing problems.
knew  the truth. They knew what the Scriptures
taught. They were knowledgeable in the doctrines              In all of this remember that just because we are
of Holy Scripture. They beZieved the truth. The truth       ministers of the gospel who are college and
was in their hearts. They were convinced of the             seminary graduates does not mean we have all the
truth; it meant everything to them. Nothing was             answers. We do not! But God's Word does! Search
more important to them than the truth. They would           the Scriptures prayerfully and daily!


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                419



   If you, who graduate tonight, wish to attain this                walk in the truth. Many will not. The Word of God
great joy you must be  preachers of the Word. The                   has that effect too. It is a savour of death unto death
Word of God you must preach. Do not come into                       in them that perish. But God's children will walk in
the pulpit with your own word or the words of                       the truth. They will know the truth, believe the
mere men. The words of men are vain, empty,                         truth, and live the truth. NOTHING affords a
futile. They are of no effect. Only God's Word can                  minister greater joy! How can one describe the joy
save. This is Scripture. Hebrews 4: 12 teaches: "For                the minister experiences when he is given the firm
the word of God is quick, and powerful, and                         handshake of the elders after he has preached the
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even                     word?! How can one describe the joy the minister
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the              experiences when he observes the children grow-
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the                        ing in grace under his preaching and teaching and
thoughts and intents of the heart." Likewise we                     when he sees the youth standing before the congre-
learn from II Timothy 3:16, 17 that "All scripture is               gation to confess their faith in Jesus Christ?! How
given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for                  does one describe the joy the minister experiences
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction              when he brings the word of Psalm  4:8 to the lady
in righteousness: That the man of God may be                        facing major surgery: "I will both lay me down in
perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."                  peace and sleep: for thou Lord, only makest me
Because this is what the Word of God is, the Apos-                  dwell in safety." She was so fearful that she was
tle goes on to say, "I charge thee therefore before                 visibly shaking, but her husband tells the pastor
God, and the Lord Jesus Christ . . . Preach the                     that she did not even need a sleeping pill that
word . . .  ." This is your calling.                                night?! How does one describe the joy the minister
                                                                    experiences when he brings the Word to the saint
   This means you make a colossal blunder if you                    whose body is wracked by the pain of cancer and
ignore what you have been taught: the original                      he dies in peace?! How does one describe the joy
languages of Holy Scripture (Hebrew and Greek),                     the minister experiences when he hears of God's
Hermeneutics and Exegesis, Homiletics,                              people walking in the truth in their homes, at the
Catechetics, Dogmatics, the history of God's                        job and in all of life?! There is NO GREATER JOY
church and of the dogma of the church. Not only do                  for the minister.
you make a colossal blunder if you ignore these
studies, you commit a heinous sin. Study! Work at                     Finally, I leave you with the admonition the late
it! Make it your own. Give yourselves wholly to the                 Rev. Gerrit Vos left me in a personal letter which I
task. Yes, it is hard work. There is little or no                   received in the first year of my ministry: "Of all the
glamour in the study. It takes a great deal of  self-               things I counselled you, my son, remember this: Be
discipline.                                                         humble. There is a humility which is feigned.
                                                                    That's abominable in God's sight. Be humble from
  The fruit of this work will be that the congrega-                 the heart and God's people will bear.you up in their
tion, your spiritual children, God's children will                  arms."

CORRi3SPONDENCE AND REPLY
Glare De Graaf




                    Crusade Evangelism, Alive `85,
                                         and Arminianism


(In response to two, separate recently published articles in The    September of 1985, which was sponsored by 146
Standard  Bearer,  by Professor Decker and the Editor, Rev.         churches of which 104 were Reformed or Christian
Hoeksema).                                                          Reformed.  As chairman of the ALIVE `85  commit-
   Much has been said in this publication about                     tee, I would like to address some of the concerns
ALIVE `85, the evangelistic crusade held in                         expressed    by Professor D e c k e r   a n d   R e v .


420                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



Hoeksema.                                                           After the meetings every "inquirer" was given
  First, Dr. John Guest, the evangelist of ALIVE                  material to help them to mature in their faith and
`85, confirmed in writing prior to his being invited              given the Book of John. Every inquirer was also
to speak that he agreed completely with the                       referred to a pastor of a participating church for fur-
teaching expressed in the Heidelberg Catechism,                   ther instruction which included explaining to them
the Canons of Dordt, and the Belgic Confession,                   that God had planned their attendance and their
and that he believed and taught the doctrine of                   response, and that they should praise their Heaven-
God's sovereignty in election.                                    ly Father for such love. No Arminianism. Pure
  Secondly, we do not believe that crusade                        Gospel and pure Calvinism.
evangelism and altar calls are inherently Arminian.                 There is, however, an inherent danger in crusade
In Acts 2:37 when Peter finished his great evangel-               evangelism which Rev. Decker and Rev. Hoeksema
istic sermon on Pentecost, the crowd responded                    correctly alluded to. That is in the area of follow-up
with these words:                                                 and aftermath. Are we absolutely certain that each
       Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart,       person clearly understood the truth of God's choos-
       and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,            ing them? Did many not seek further instruction?
       "Brethren, what shall we do?" And Peter said to            Was that instruction incomplete or unclear? The
       them, "Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the       answer to those questions is that, although we
       name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins      made every reasonable effort to do so, we praise
       and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."        God that the miracle of rebirth and salvation is not
It is important to note that Peter did not attach as a            dependent on the completeness of our teachings or
condition for baptism and salvation that they                     follow-up, but that He has provided Holy Scrip-
believe in the doctrine of election, or point out to              tures, His church, and the Holy Spirit to teach the
them that their question: "What shall we do?" was                 truly regenerated person all that is necessary to live
Arminian in nature. We have to believe that these                 a Christ-centered, fruitful life. Rarely does a week
new believers at the time they were baptized                      go by that we do not hear from pastors or inquirers
(which was the same day they heard God's call to                  of how lives have been changed, professions of
repentance) knew only the basic gospel story and                  faith made, and Bible studies flourish because God
yet we read that 3,000 souls were added that day.                 worked through the ministry of ALIVE `85.
Later in that chapter we read that "they devoted                    What about those who came forward recommit-
themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellow-                  ting their lives to Christ? Nearly one-half of all in-
ship. . .  ." I think it is safe to assume that it was &eu        quirers professed to be Christians already, so for
their salvation that they were taught the deeper                  them it was publicly stepping forward to say that
truths of Scripture and grew to understand that -                 they desired to live lives more in accordance with
in fact, they had not chosen Christ or salvation, but             what they knew to be God's will. Did they need to
that God had chosen them before the world began.                  do this publicly? Most whom I have met have said
   Using this great example, John Guest called peo-               that their going forward closed and sealed a life of
ple to acknowledge their sin and the fact that they               apathy and lukewarmness in the exercise of their
could not save themselves by their own merit, and                 faith. Were they choosing God? No, God had
to believe that Jesus Christ was the only way to                  moved them to recognize the barrenness of their
eternal life. The people who desired to make that                 lives, they desired to make public that confession,
commitment publicly  - like the believers on                      and rededicate their lives so that they could be
Pentecost who were baptized that day  - were                      molded and used to build His kingdom on earth.
asked to come forward as an expression of their                     In closing - when I speak to inquirers six months
desire to follow Jesus. However, one very impor-                  after ALIVE `85 and see the joy, excitement, and
tant difference must be noted: the Holy Spirit                    growth in their lives; their hunger for the Word;
speaking through the author of the Book of Acts                   and the praise they give God for their new life in
confirmed that 3,000 souls were saved that day but                Christ, it convinces me with absolute certainty that
at ALIVE `85 we cannot know for a certainty the                   the benefits far outweigh the dangers, and confirms
number of true conversions that took place. In fact,              that God moves people in ways we still do not fully
those who came forward were called "inquirers"                    understand and uses methods with which we some-
because we might never know for certain whether                   times feel uncomfortable, to carry out His great
they were just inquiring or whether they had truly                plan of reconciliation.
been moved by the Holy Spirit to a saving faith. We
never publicized figures as to the number of "deci-                            Reply to Mr. De Graaf
sions" made, or people "saved." Our joy was to                      This reply was written in consultation with Prof.
proclaim Christ, not count bodies.                                Decker, who twice wrote about "Alive `85" (cf.
Mr. De Graaf was one of the organizers of Alive `85.              issues of Dec. 15, `85 and Feb. 15, `86). My editorial


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                             421



(April 15, `86) was not a critique of "Alive `85," but     Arminian language. Let me repeat just one exam-
of  The  Banner's editorial characterization of John       ple, quoted from The Banner, Oct. 28, 1985: "Some
Guest's return visit to Shawnee Park Christian             of you are going to make a decision tonight that
Reformed Church as "Reformed Revival." Just a              could change your life, help you change your
few comments in response:                                  church, and help your church change the world.
  1) If John Guest subscribed to the Three Forms           That's the order [in which] it has to happen . . .
of Unity, he is doubly dishonest. First of all, he is a    Come and give your life to him. Do not leave this
dishonest Episcopalian: no true Episcopalian could         place without surrendering your life to him." This
subscribe to our Reformed creeds. And, secondly,           is obviously Arminian language. Is it OUY decisions
he is a dishonest evangelist: for he obviously con-        which change our lives? It is Reformed to say that
tradicted our creeds in his crusade evangelism. See        sovereign, irresistible grace changes men's (elect
below.                                                     men's) lives. Cf. Canons of Dordrecht, III, IV,
                                                           10-12.
  2) It borders on blasphemy to speak of Peter's
preaching on the day of Pentecost as a "great                5) Neither Prof. Decker nor I criticized crusade
evangelistic sermon" in the current sense of the           evangelism in the area of follow-up, as far as I can
term "evangelistic" and to suggest that John Guest         tell in rereading our articles. Rather do we maintain
followed Peter's example. In Peter's sermon you            that crusade evangelism is per se to be condemned
will find nothing of man and what man must do,             as Arminian in nature and historically Arminian in
but everything of God and God's work and of the            its roots.
exalted Christ and of His pouring out of the Spirit.         6) Finally, I remind you once more that this in-
Nor do you find anything in verse 37 in the nature         road of crusade evangelism into the Christian
of a plea or an altar call: only the demand of repen-      Reformed Church is the fruition of the general
tance and baptism.                                         grace doctrine and its general, well-meant offer of
  3) John Guest stands condemned by the com-               the gospel which was adopted in 1924 by the Chris-
pany he keeps: Billy Graham, Luis Palau, Leighton          tian Reformed Church. Some in the CRC may still
Ford.                                                      criticize it, but they have no solid ground for doing
                                                           so in the light of 1924.
  4) As Prof. Decker has pointed out, Guest speaks                                                        HCH





          Protestant Reformed Young People's
                                   Convention: 1986
                                               Rev. David Engelsma





  The 46th annual Protestant Reformed Young                the Protestant Reformed Church in South Holland.
People's Convention, hosted by the young people            Activities are planned in the area for the evening.
of South Holland, IL will be held from Monday, Ju-         The young people will spend the night in the homes
ly 28, through Friday morning, August 1, in South          of the Congregation.
Holland and on the campus of Valparaiso Universi-            On Tuesday morning, the Convention will move,
ty, in Valparaiso, IN.                                     by bus, to the campus of Valparaiso University.
  All Conventioneers will register at the Protestant       Valparaiso University is located at U.S. 30 and
Reformed Church in South Holland (16511 South              Route 49 in Valparaiso, IN, some 40 miles south-
Park Ave.) on Monday, from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM.            west of South Holland. This large (310 acres), lovely
The first speech will be given in the auditorium of        campus, associated with the Lutheran Church, has


422                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



all the facilities necessary for a Convention  -                      again. We are planning certain activities for them,
modern residence halls; meeting rooms; a chapel;                      by themselves, as well as separate discussion
and -leisure. time facilities, including those for ten-               groups for them.
nis, basketball, softball, bowling, billiards, swim-                    Everyone attending the Convention, without ex-
ming, jogging, and many other activities.                             ception, must register. A pre-registration form can
  The Convention theme is "Being Reformed in                          still be obtained by calling us at (312) 895-8549, or
1986: Heritage and Calling." Our purpose is that,                     (312) 596-3113.
by God's mercy, the young people will be re-                            Adults who might desire to stay in the area dur-
minded of their glorious heritage - the. Reformed                     ing the Convention are invited to call us, to try to
Faith - and will be stirred up to an energetic carry-                 arrange lodging for them (campground, motel, etc.).
ing out of the calling that comes to them with this                   We will do what we can to help.
heritage. Rev. M. Kamps, Rev. B. Gritters, and Rev.
J. Slopsema will develop and apply the theme in                         Our one, great goal with the Convention is the
three speeches on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday                       glory of our Holy God, in Jesus Christ. Therefore,
evenings. By means of discussion groups, the                          we require all who come to have this purpose in
young people will be able to respond to the                           their hearts. We expect godly behavior of every
speeches and to learn from each other.                                Conventioneer. Everyone must know and be deter-
                                                                      mined to keep the few, basic rules that appear on
  We are making a special appeal this year to our                     the pre-registration form; and parents ought to im-
older young people (young adults)  - high school                      press upon their sons and daughters that they obey
graduates and older, into the 20's  - to attend the                   them.
Convention. Many (unfortunately, we think) have
dropped out of Young People's Society and the                           See you in South Holland?
Convention; and we are urging them to "drop in,"

TRANSLATED TREASURES
Dr. A. Kuyper





                          A Pamphlet Concerning the
                           Reformation of the Church


(Kuyper has been talking about the role which the magistrate            This is a false idea.
must take in the work of church reformation. Inthe  last para-
graph he spoke vehemently against Article 36 of our Belgic              Reformations are always happening, even if not
Confession which gives to the magistrate the right to exter-          as thoroughgoing or as significant in consequences
minate heresy. Although Kuyper does not deny that the                 as the Reformation which is connected to the
magistrate is called to enforce both tables of the law, he insists    names of Luther and Calvin,
that the magistrate has not the right to punish the heretic with
capital punishment.)                                                    Attention must be given to this.
63. Concerning Reformations Which Already                               If people are accustomed to consider the Refor-
       Exist and Their Distinct Character.  !              L          mation of Luther as the only real Reformation, this
   Because the Reformation of the sixteenth century                   then is the consequence: "Reformation" is re-
is usually considered to be  the  Reformation, many                   garded as something which happened only once
live under the impression that there is no mention                    and there is nothing further to say about it. If, on
made either in Holy Scripture or in history of other                  the other hand, one realizes that "reformation" has
reformations.                                                         been a constant phenomenon in the history of


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                              423



Jesus' church so that again and again, after error          3) In Israel the king was not only a citizen but
and degeneration have crept in, recovery by refor-        also an ecclesiastical figure who, as a ,bearer of the
mation is tried and is often successful, then the idea    Messianic image, possessed an office in the church
of reformation begins to live again for us, speaks to     just as much as the priest or prophet. Also this has
us, and of itself poses the question: "Can my             fallen away because Jesus Himself is now King of
church also be raised by reformation from her deep        the church. All the conclusions for our magistrates
fall?' '                                                  which one.would want to draw from the work of
   This in turn impels us to look at the distinct         David and Solomon, of Josiah, Joash, and Hezekiah
reformations which Holy Scripture and history             are therefore defective.
mention and at the same time to point out the               4) In Israel men could shed in streams the blood
character, to shed light upon the significance, and       of idolatrous heretics, as Elijah did. They could
to bring out the earmark which each of these refor-       employ capital punishment against teachers of er-
mations bore.                                             ror as often as God the Lord gave a direct command
   To accomplish this we speak separately, first of       for this, as He did to Elijah and Moses. The
the reformations which are preserved in Holy              theocratic character of laws made this absolute
Scripture and, after this, of the reformations which      punishment necessary and at the same time
are mentioned in the history of the church.               justified it. Now that both this direct giving of the
   This distinction must not be neglected. This is        law andthis  direct command are absent, the imita-
true because in our opinion even our best histor-         tion of Elijah's way of treating the  Baa1 priests
ians, overlooking this distinction, actually have         becomes a horrible injustice.
brought about not a little confusion in the ideas           Those of our brethren who wish to appeal in the
concerning reformation.                                   future to the Old Testament as an example and
   Indeed, who will deny that the danger is very          directive for church reformation shall have to
real to take as a standard for our reformation of the     reckon with this fourfold distinction. Indeed, they
church that which is mentioned of reformation in          must' bear in mind that as Franciscus Junius ex-
Holy Scripture? But this would be erroneous. For          pressed it: "The maintenance of a shadow image,
example, in the instance where the maintenance of         after the reality itself has come, is not only in-
the Mosaic political, social, ceremonial, and family      advisable and purposeless, but in fact is sin." [Cf.
laws are required to be kept by everyone, we would        Junius,  The Observance  of  the Mosaic Law,  in ed.
err if we explained the whole of this series of laws      Anst. 1882, p. 336-392.) To continue to offer heifers
(even though they are in Holy Scripture) as still         and rams after Golgotha is to minimize Jesus'
binding on us in any literal sense. We should insist      unique offering. Thus it also detracts from the
upon the fact that distinction must be made be-           sovereign kingship of Jesus over His church if one
tween the principle ideas of these laws and their         grants to an earthly magistrate the same power over
special application, and thus between their moral         the church as David's successors possessed, who
and ceremonial implications. First of all, holy           were only  :predecessors  of Christ, Who is now
discretion is required so that the question is asked      ascended into heaven and exercises divine and
in connection with these reformations of Holy             continual administration from heaven.
Scripture: which elements of these reformations             After these preliminary observations our summa-
are connected with Israel's own peculiar life as peo-     tion of Biblical reformation can be short.
ple of revelation, and which elements bear a
general character  - in order then to choose only           Already before Israel appeared as a people, we
this latter as a rule of conduct for ourselves.           hear of four incidents in which the church of God
                                                          was reestablished after a decline, or was kept from
   Four elements ought especially to be pointed out       total degeneration through separation.
in these reformations of Holy Scripture.                    The  first-of these reformations happened by the
   1) As long as such a revelation still continued,       separation of the children of Seth from the sons of
some men of God received a direct communication,          Cain. In the days of Enoch, so we read, men began
an assignment and calling from heaven in a sense in       to call upon the name of the Lord.
which such an assignment and calling no longer
come to anyone.                                             The second tremendous reformation worked by
   2) In the Israelite state the giving of the law was    God Himself, took place by a deluge when all the
of direct divine origin so that transgression of the      corrupted people drowned in the flood, and only
law even in the smallest respect concerned sin in an      the ark, with its precious treasure of the church of
absolute sense, while now ecclesiastical regulations      the Lord, floated and after a short time returned the
have their origin in human insights and thus lack         church to the earth.
that absolute character.                                    The third all-controlling reformation came about


424                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



through Abraham when he, at God's command,               mations was a rooting out of the wrong, a spiritual
brought out the church of God from the genera-           awakening of the people and a forceful victory over
tions of Terah which had become idolatrous and           unrighteousness. Yet it was again and again
transferred the church to the land which God             wrought by men of God who have received a par-
would show him.                                          ticular mandate to do this.
  Finally, the fourth reformation was carried out          The reformations which were brought about by
by the separation of Jacob and Esau. Also Esau was       the kings are seven in number: those under  Asa,
born in the church of God and received the sacra-        Jehoshaphat,  Joash, Hezekiah, and Manasseh in
ment of the covenant of his body. But evil crept in      Judah, under Jehu, and under Ahab through the
and the church of God would have degenerated en-         work of Elijah in Israel.
tirely if the Lord had not, by separating Jacob and        These reformations were repeatedly brought
Esau, pushed away the Edomites in their sins in          about by the terrible outbreak of idolatry and god-
order to free His church with Jacob.                     lessness among the people. What Scripture informs
  All four of these reformations came about in           us concerning this defies description. Sometimes
such a way that they bore less the character of          the sacraments were not administered for years. All
something done by man than the character of God's        keeping of the law fell into disuse. All kinds of
own work. They are reformations which therefore          idolatrous worship were openly perpetrated in
cannot serve as examples for us because mankind          villages and cities, even in Jerusalem. Moral cor-
no longer, as then, coincides with the church.           ruption knew no bounds. Holy things were
God's administration takes other paths than it did       mocked. God's faithful servants were killed.
at that time.                                            Reckless corruption penetrated even into the tem-
  After these four reformations which came before        ple and the priesthood.
Israel, the reformations which happened in the na-         And against these horrors the kings rose up five
tion of Israel took place and they can be divided in-    times: Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Manasseh,
to two categories according to whether they fall         while also Asa's and Joash's  names are mentioned
before or during the kingly administration.              with thanksgiving and honor.
  Those reformations in Israel which came before           In Israel Jehu was the only king who rose up
the kingly administration are four in number.            with Hezekiah's zeal against the corruption of the
  First, the deliverance of the church of God from       church, while the reformation under Ahab did not
the doom with which Egypt's government                   proceed from the king, but from Elijah and was ac-
threatened it and by the transfer of the entire          tually against the king.
church from the land of Goshen to the wilderness.          In connection with these seven reformations
  Secondly, the reformation by Moses brought             which pretty well bear a similar character, it is
about after the establishment of calf-worship by         worth noting that they did not lead to a break with
Aaron.                                                   the existing church, but happened by the lawful,
  Thirdly, the different reformations which were         God-ordained offices of the church. They did not
wrought in the nation by Gideon, Jephthah, Sam-          lead to a renewal of the form of the church or a
son, and the other judges.                               change of the worship, but extended exclusively to
  Fourthly, the reformation which Samuel pursued         a rooting out of idolatry, a checking of immorality,
and which he in part brought about.                      and a restoration to honor of the neglected church
                                                         worship.
  The character of the last three mentioned refor-


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                    Remember your family and friends
                 with a gift of the Standard Bearer today!


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            425



WALKING IN THE LIGHT
Herman C. Hanko





     Moral Aspects of Medical Technology (7)



  Contraception has become so common that the                         woman today will have an average of only 1.8
whole practice is hardly called into question any                     children, 52 percent below the peak years of the baby
more. Even in the one denomination which forbids                      boom and too low to maintain the current population.
the use of contraception, the Roman Catholic                             The so-called birth dearth is even worse in Europe.
Church, over half of the members are reported to                      West Germany has the lowest birth rate, with an
practice it. For many years it has been hailed as a                   average of fewer than 1.3 children per woman.
major medical breakthrough, which will succeed in                This will, according to  U.S. News and World
curbing the earth's population. It has been                    Report, create all kinds of problems. For one thing it
rigorously promoted as a valuable tool of popula-
tion control. The doomsayers who have bombarded                       is likely to have dramatic consequences for the
                                                                      economy. Without more children to follow the baby-
us with propaganda about terrible times of over-                      boom generations, the "Graying" of America will ac-
crowding and famine on our planet have looked to                      celerate with 1 out of 5 people 65 or older by 2035.
contraception as the answer to the world's woes.                      Social Security and private pensions funds will be
  Recently, however, especially among Western                         severely stressed. By then, according to one estimate,
countries, an entirely different note has been                        there will be only 1.5 workers to support each Social
sounded. So successful has contraception been,                        Security beneficiary - compared with 3.4 workers to-
along with legalized abortion, that now leaders in                    day.
Western countries especially are beginning to fear                       Certain industries will feel the effect of a shrinking
that their efforts have gone too far. In the                          pool of young people much sooner. . . . This will slow
December 16, 1985 issue of  U.S. News and World                       the rate of home building.
Repor#   this whole matter was discussed at some                         A similar situation confronts firms that manufac-
length. The article begins by saying:                                 ture desk-top computers. They also look to young peo-
                                                                      ple coming into the workplace to expand sales.
     A growing "baby bust" that is destined to reshape
   the nation well into the  21st century is now generating              Shortages of young workers may even curb innova-
   intense controversy over the politics of fertility.                tions . . . .
     Never have U.S. birth rates been so low in this             And worst of all, if present trends continue,
   decade. If present trends continue, deaths in the U.S.      America will cease to be a world power. Not only
   will exceed births by the year 2034 and the population      will a shrinking pool of young men be sufficient to
   will decline sharply  - a development that some ex-         keep the armed forces at their necessary strength,
   perts fear will jeopardize the nation's economic and        but
   political might around the world.                                  when you have a smaller tax base, it is more of a strain
     The 3.7 million children born in the U.S. last year              per capita to provide for the national defense, par-
   represented a slight increase over 1983 because of the             ticularly if you have an adversary whose population is
   large number of women of childbearing age. Yet a                   growing and whose per capita tax burden for weapons
                                                                      is consequently diminishing.
Herman C. Hanko is professor in the Church History and           How true it is that wicked men can never do
New Testament departments at the Protestant Reformed           anything right when they flaunt the law of God.
Seminaw.                                                         But all of this presses upon us the question of the


426                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



place of contraceptives in the life of the child of          the realm of Christian liberty and the rightness or
God.                                                         wrongness of it must be judged on the basis of the'
  We have pointed out in an earlier article that             motives in the hearts of those who make use of
some forms of contraceptives are wrong in the                these methods.
nature of the case, because they are not in the                We all know that liberty can easily become licen-
truest sense of the word contraceptives, but are             tiousness. Paul speaks of this in Galatians  5:13:
really instruments of abortion. This is true of  so-         "For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty;
called intra-uterine devices, which, while not               only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but
preventing conception, prevent the implantation of           by love serve one another." Liberty becomes an oc-
the fertilized ovum in the uterus of the mother. The         casion to the flesh when young people outside the
result is that the fetus is aborted, though this takes       marriage state engage in fornication, but use con- .
place very shortly after conception. The same thing          traceptive methods to avoid the consequences of
is true of the "morning-after" pill. It is designed,         pregnancy. This is an abomination to the Lord, and
not to prevent conception, but to prevent the newly          no fornicator can enter the kingdom. Liberty
conceived baby from developing in the womb of                becomes an occasion for the flesh when married
the mother. These must be condemned out of hand              people engage in adultery and use contraceptive
as part of abortion techniques. And since we have            methods to prevent pregnancy. This too is an
discussed this subject in other articles, we will not        abomination to God and will surely bring upon the
speak of them here.                                          sinner God's just wrath.
  By contraception I refer to whatever means are               But even within the marriage state the use of
used to prevent the conception of a child. This may          contraceptive methods can be and is judged by God
range from various types of materials used to pre-           to be wrong and sinful when their use is for the
vent conception, through sterilization procedures,           wrong motives. Those motives may be many and
to what is usually called the rhythm method.                 we mention only a few of them. It is part of the
  There are three points which need to be made at            "climate" of our sophisticated age not to have large
the outset. The Scriptures give us no warrant to             families. I myself well recall how shocked some
condemn the use of contraceptives or contraceptive           people were when I or my wife told them we had
procedures out of hand. This is evident from two             eight children. Besides, children are a bother and a
considerations: 1) Various contraceptives, such as           nuisance. It is not fun to have howling babies in the
"the pill," can be used for medicinal purposes to            house, to have to get up in the middle of the night to
correct various malfunctions of the body, even               feed them, to mop up their vomit when they are
though they, at the same time, make conception               sick, to put up with their incessant demands, to
impossible. 2) There are circumstances when                  rinse out their dirty diapers, etc. There are people
parents have no choice but to make use of contra-            who do not want to have children because the
ceptives, especially when the life of the mother is          "strain" of bringing them up is too great. There are
threatened by pregnancy.                                     people who do not want children because they are
                                                             too expensive to feed, clothe, educate, and prepare
  The second point that needs to be made is that             for life. There are parents who do not want to have
God's  ,people  are called upon to live consciously          children because children keep them from vaca-
and responsibly before God in every area of their            tions, parties, skiing holidays, bowling, and all
life, including marriage and bringing forth                  kinds of pleasure which their Souls crave. There are
children. People are not to breed as animals, by in-         parents who do not want children, at least not very
stinct; they are to use marriage and sex within mar-         many, because the mother wants to work. The
riage as gifts of God to His glory, consciously seek-        parents like the extra income because it enables
ing the honor of God's name also in this important           them to buy the good things of life. All these
part of their life.                                          motives are sinful and God hates them. To use con-
  The third point is that intercourse itself is a gift of    traceptives for such purposes is evil and brings
God to be used by husbands and wives within the              God's disapproval.
marriage state as an expression of their love for              The Bible takes quite a different view of life than
each other. It can be and is an expression of love en-       this. The purpose of marriage is to bring forth
tirely apart from the conception of children. This is        children; specifically, the purpose of a covenant
clear from the fact that to hold to a different posi-        marriage is to bring forth covenant children. While
tion would simply mean that husbands and wives               God does not always make that possible because
who are unable to have children or who are beyond            some parents are prevented from having children,
the age of child-bearing would then not have the             nevertheless, the institution of marriage is for that
right to engage in intercourse.                              very reason. When God joined Adam and Eve in
  All of this means that contraception belongs to            marriage, He added this word to the institution:


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                             427



"Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the              and spiritual reasons, abstinence is the honorable
earth."                                                    way. You will say that this does not always work
   Covenant parents bring forth covenant children.         and is by no means "safe." That is true. But the
Covenant parents are deeply impressed with their           believer stands in the consciousness of the fact that
calling and obligation, not only to bring up their         God gives us our children, and that ultimately each
children in the fear of the Lord, but to bring forth       child fashioned in the womb is a work of God
children, for God has given them the great privilege       delicately and carefully done according to God's
of bringing forth the church of our Lord Jesus             own counsel and will.
Christ. In a wonderful and mysterious way, God               There are times when other methods must be
uses covenant parents to bring forth that number of        used. When the believer faces these times, he does
elect whom He has chosen from all eternity, whom           so prayerfully and carefully, asking always, "Lord,
He has given to Christ, who are redeemed through           what wilt thou have me do?" He is clearly con-
the blood of the cross, and who are destined to live       cerned about the approval of God. Husbands and
in covenant fellowship with God through Christ in          wives know that God's blessing on their marriage is
the new heavens and  Uhe new earth. God will, of           indispensable and they live in the great fear that
course, see to it that His church is born. He has His      they will find themselves displeasing to God in this
own elect number, engraved on the palms of His             important and blessed part of their life. But they
hands. Not one shall.fail to be born, to be saved and      know that when they decide that God has so ar-
to be brought to heaven. Covenant parents, con-            ranged the circumstances of their life that they
scious of this and conscious of the privilege of           must put off having children or refrain altogether,
bringing forth this church, understand that mar-           God will bless their decision.
riage is the institution which God has provided for          Pharaoh attempted to impose birth control upon
this church to be brought forth.                           the Israelites while they were in Egypt when he
  Godly parents, therefore, consider children to be        commanded all the baby boys to be drowned in the
a great blessing. How different this is in the world,      river. Israel refused to obey the king in this respect
where children are a curse and a bother. Children          and did all they could to continue to have children
are a heritage of the Lord, and blessed is he whose        and to hide them from the king when the children
quiver is full of them. In the covenant family,            were born. The mid-wives cooperated in this. And
children are like olive plants round about our tables      God blessed them. The bringing forth of children
and the parents who are blessed see their children's       was more important than the king's command.
children and peace upon Israel.                              It does `indeed cost a lot of money to have
  So true is this that in the Old Testament we have        children, bring them up, and educate them in the
many instances of godly women who saw their bar-           fear of the Lord. But we easily put a higher priority
renness as a curse and who prayed earnestly for            on earthly possessions than we do on children; and
children. They did this in the consciousness that in       then' we sin. Paul urges upon the church: "But
having children they would have a part in bringing         godliness with contentment is great gain. For we
forth the  Chri$, Who would be their Savior. This          brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we
has not changed in the New Testament. A woman              can carry  .nothing  out. And having food and  rai-
is still saved through child-bearing. None of us can       ment let us be therewith content" (I Tim. 6:6-8).
be saved unless all of God's people are saved. The         The Lord has promised us that He will provide for
whole body of elect goes to heaven, or none goes.          all our needs. His promise has never failed. If we
Christ will not return until the last elect is born and    are content with our needs, we will be satisfied
brought to repentance, as Peter teaches in II Peter        when the costs of children keep us from possessing
3:9. In eagerness for the return of Christ and the         the good things in life. We will find greater delight
full salvation of heaven, God's people bring forth         in our children than in houses and lands. We will
children. And they do so, greatly in awe that God          know that we labor for eternity when we take care
has given them such a wonderful privilege.                 of our children, instead of laboring for things which
  In the light of all this must contraceptive              pass away with the using. And when we and our
methods be considered and used. It is, you see, a          children are finally safe in glory we will praise and
matter of the motive; but God knows the heart and          honor Him Who has given them to us.
judges every man according as he does things out of
a true faith, in keeping with the law of God, and to                    Take the time to
God's glory.                                                           read and study the
  There are times when contraception is
necessary. When parents, in deciding when to have                      Standard Bearer!
a child or another child, want to wait a bit for good


428                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



                             Good Morning, Alice (12)
                                                    Gise J. Van Buren





  It was in August of 1981 that additional help was            and more you are turning into a listening post for my
obtained for Alice. Though each family member                  spiritual needs rather than my encouraging  you! Don't
had a day of the week to assist, that no longer was            use my little devotion as yours, because you probably
sufficient. The demands on John's family were                  need something entirely different than I do, and not
becoming too great again. So a nurse was obtained              knowing you, I can't fill that need.
who could come two days a week. The nurse was                    Do spend time alone searching God's word and you
Barb - one could not have asked for a better - and             will find so much comfort!
Alice enjoyed her help and presence (though at first
she refused to concede a need for a nurse). Often it                                             With love, Your friend
was Barb who would read the notes of Alice's                   Please read Heb. 4:15.-
"friend," and would read with her the passage of                 Any sort of speaking was now almost impossible
Scripture listed on the bottom of the note. Thus,              for Alice. For one who loved to talk, this was a real
together these would be encouraged for whatever                problem and extremely frustrating. Alice had to
would arise in that day.                                       repeat herself again and again to be understood -
Good Morning Alice:                                            but at times it was even then, impossible to know
  It's Saturday morning again - where do the weeks             what she was trying to say. Two nephews managed
                                                               to program a small computer so that, with the
go? This morning there's a slight drizzle outside. I hope      bump of a button, a letter of the alphabet could be
it's not slippey and freezing over; I have some driving        selected. Or she could select certain phrases ("I'm
to do!                                                         thirsty"; or "How are you?" etc.) with the same
   You know, Alice,  after  that text we talked about          button. Alice did use this for entertainment a few
yesterday, we really need a Psalm like this one. When I        times, but she refused to use it regularly. Either it
truly examine myself and realize my great sin, I know          was perceived as too complicated or it required too
that without Christ I am in the depths; and when I             much effort. Perhaps if it had been simplified even
know that God would hold those sins against me, I              more for her, this could have proved useful.
know I could never stand.                                      Good Morning Alice:
  God graciously guided David to write this knowledge            I'm sorry I got this mail mixed up - now you'll get
in Psalm 130 and then to go on and explain God's               two notes in one day!
forgiveness in verse 4 and then the result  of  that
forgiveness - David's yearning for God in verse 5 and            It's later again this morning, and beautifidly  sunny.
6. So often when I read the Psalms, I think: how could         Do you ever just sit and really look outside? That's one
David know just how I feel? Here he says so plainly            way I'm afraid I do waste a little time! This morning,
that when I see my sin, I long for God's forgiveness and       the sun is shining on the new snow and it looks like
yearn for His nearness. It's at those times that I feel        diamonds sparkling. How could a little six-pointed
very near to God and that I "wait" for Him and it is my        fleck of white sparkle like a diamond? And when you
desire to "`see" God.                                          stop to think that the two feet of snow and three-foot
                                                               drifts are all made up of only those six-pointed flecks,
  The beautiful thing about the Psalm is that David            and every one individually different, you can't help but
doesn't stop at his 0~11 needs and his own salvation,         see how great our God is.
but desires that salvation for all Israel. Do I yearn for
the salvation of all God's elect?                                Although I've never experienced a great trial, the
                                                               verse for today always makes me feel `comfortable."
  I've found in a new way just today that when I do            Our high priest is touched with every infirmity that we
that, the petty little things I have against a person seem     have ever had. He knows how I feel. He knows my
to slip way into the background.                               temptations because He was tempted Himself He
  Again, thanks for being you, Alice. I'm afraid more          knows my sorrow - He sorrowed over Lazarus. There
                                                               is nothing that I experience that I may say no one else
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant, Reformed        has had to suffer this! He bore all our suffering and we
Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.                               may come to Him at any time with any need and He


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   429



understands. Nothing is too little to bring to Him if we     could not surely live long on the little that she did
come in sincere need - and when we come, we will             manage to swallow.
find grace to help.                                          Good Morning Alice:
                                 In His love, Your friend      I almost feel nothing can follow yesterday's verse. If
Please read Zephaniah 3:17                                   we could only keep that in front of our minds, we would
  Moving Alice from her bed was also becoming an             be much more thankful, whatever comes our way. I
increasingly great problem. John had had his own             guess the verse I chose for today is, for me, kind of a
back problems. Yet he bore the greatest share of the         response to yesterday/s.
task of moving Alice from her bed to the wheel-                My God is here near me; He is mighty; He rejoices
chair. He did know how to do this best of us all. But        over me. That is not something that is just a known fact
Alice was becoming simply a dead weight. For                 to me, but a living experience. Now what my I'esponse
some time, a Hoyer Lift had been available. But as           would be is described perfectly in Psalm 71:16. Now I
with the other innovations, Alice at first refused to        will go in the strength of the Lord. I will make mention
have it used: Perhaps she considered it one more             of His righteousness.- I will really strive to go into this
concession that she was losing strength. But the day         day with that strength in my mind.
came when the lift had to be used. The first time it            When I do that, I will not be impatient when my son
was in fun. We managed to place the canvas sup-              wants help for the third time when I'm trying to write a
port under Alice and made a big production of                letter. Then I will be patient and loving when my hus-
hooking this up to the chains of the lift. Slowly,           band asks me to get something when I'm doing the
slowly, it was raised  - until Alice was swinging            dishes and I think he can much easier get it himself
freely above the bed. Then she was raised higher and         Then I will resist reading a book I know wouldn't be
moved about the room. Now the younger children               right.
must be called! Alice could "show off" to them in
her new "swing." After that, Alice was willing to               Then I will not be lazy in being strict with my
have the lift used regularly.                                children even though it's the easy way out. Then I will        ,j
                                                             not waste my time as I so easily tend to do, but will go
Good Morning Alice:                                          in His strength, in joy, to do those things I know God
  I've spent some time looking over the verses we've         commands me to do. Above all, in His strength, I will
shared together, and as I thought, many of them are          desire to come to Him more often in prayer to continue
porn the Psalms. They are so comforting. But since I've      to receive that strength.
been writing you, I've found so many verses all through        I know these things don't fit your life, Alice, but
Scripture that are just bursting with comfort and joy.       when you put this note down, think for a while of the
Quite often they are right after admonishment or warn-       ways you can go in the strength of the Lord in this day.
ing. If you read all of Zephaniah 3, you will see this. I    In the strength of the Lord, you can give every effort to
especially like verse 17, but maybe another verse            help those helping you even when it seems to take too
speaks more to you.                                          much effort. You can share a joyful smile even when it
  God is in the midst of us, Alice. He is here with us at    hurts.
all times. And not only that, but He rejoices over us           You can learn. more of your heavenly Father by
with joy. Can you imagine? This is just beyond my            reading and reading His Word even when it's so much
understanding, sinner that I am, but nevertheless it is      easier to do other things. You can, in His strength,
there. He rejoices over us with joy.                         have patience with your loved ones even when they
  Oh, if we could. only always keep that in mind, we         can't understand your needs and desires.
would surely be closer to God, closer to each other, and        Go with me today, Alice, in the strength of our Lord,
know that there is nothing that we lack.                     remembering He is near and He is mighty.
  May you feel that joy of the Lord today, Alice.                                         With all my love, Your friend
                           In Him with you, Your friend      Please read Psalm 119:71
Please read Psalm 71:16                                         Even such a "little" thing as drinking was af-
  We were becoming increasingly concerned about              fected. Alice was not getting all the fluids she
Alice's eating difficulties. Frequently, she now             needed. She could no longer drink from a glass or
would have a choking spell with even the smallest            cup. She had always so enjoyed her single daily cup
pieces of food. In early November she was still go-          of coffee. But now she was able to do this only with
ing out occasionally for lunch (she had even been            great difficulty through a straw. The cup had to be
taken out for supper by friends from Illinois), but          in exactly the correct position, the straw adjusted in
she hardly dared to eat anything. She was afraid of          a specific way, then she might eventually manage
triggering yet another episode of choking. But she           to suck up a little of the fluid. It was painfully evi-


430                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



dent that this was not adequate. There were times                       Have you thought about the verse I wrote you to
when, after a half-hour of effort, Alice had not ob-                  read? (Ps. 119:71).
tained more than a swallow of liquid. One would                         At first when I read it, I thought it would make more
watch the fluid rise in the straw - half-way, three                   sense if it would be that I learn Thy grace or mercy. But
quarters of the way, and finally, if all went well,                   then I remembered the beautiful explanation Rev. J.
some trickled into her mouth. But when surgery                        Heys once gave of the law of liberty. I may share that
was mentioned to have a tube put into her stomach,                    with you later, but the thrust of it was that only in obey-
Alice so dreaded the idea that she made an extra ef-                  ing the law are we free.
fort to take in a little more food and, liquid by
mouth - yet it was not enough.                                          I think that fits this verse beautifully. It is good for
                                                                      me to be afflicted because it has taught me to turn to
Good  Afternoon  Alice:                                               God more and more and abide in the blessed freedom of
  The kids are napping and I have a few quiet minutes                 obedience to Him.
to write you. There was just no time this morning                       May you, in your affliction, experience that freedom
because we all overslept a little and had to rush just to             today, Alice.
get necessary things done. Not a nice way to begin the
day.                                                                                                       With love, Your friend
                                                                      Please read Luke IO.%?



                                                     Book Reviews


THE GREAT  REVERAL,  Ethics and the New                                  tradition of the church, surveying proposals for the
Testament, by Allen Verhey; Wm. B. Eerdmans                               use of Scripture, identifying the critical methodolog-
Publishing Co., 1984; 246 pp., $13.95 (paper).                            ical questions, and defending a "modest proposal" for
(Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)                                              the use of Scripture.
   It does not come as a surprise that Verhey, in his                   A couple of brief quotes from his "modest pro-
analysis of the ethics of the New Testament, adopts                   posal" will illustrate what higher criticism does to
a higher critical approach, because he has made his                   ethics.
higher critical views public for several years. This,                       One may pass, for example, from Scripture to moral
of course, makes the book of little value to one who                      claims concerning dispositions and intentions ap-
receives the Scriptures as God's infallible rule for                      propriate to the eschatological unity of male and
faith and life.                                                           female in Christ. One may not, according to the pro-
                                                                          posed authorization, move directly from Paul's rule
   The blurb accompanying the book reads:                                 concerning the silence of the Corinthian women to
          There is no denying, writes Allen Verhey, that                  action-guiding claims concerning the behavior of
        churches today are called to discern the shape and                women in congregations today. Such a use would be
        style of life "worthy of the gospel of Christ" in the             inconsistent with Paul's own discernment and with
        twentieth century. Even in the face of changing situa-            the authorization proposed. Paul's concrete moral
        tions and new moral problems to address,  the'contem-             conclusions may still be the right ones today, but they
        porary church stands self-consciously in a tradition of           may not be claimed as right simply because they are
        which the New Testament is a normative part.                      found in the New Testament. They must be shown to
                                                                          be right by a contemporary calculation of means and
          In this major new study of New Testament ethics,                consequences under the aegis of the Christian identity
        Verhey examines first of all the ethic of Jesus, for it is        and perspective, under the governance of dispositions
        there that the tradition begins. He then analyzes the             and intentions and principles that cohere with the
        different forms in which the early church handed                 ,reign  of God disclosed and guaranteed in the resurrec-
        down the memory of Jesus' words and deed in the                   tion and are known in and through the New Testa-
        development of a moral tradition. Next he deals with              ment. (p. 185).
        the tradition as it came to canonical expression in the
        New Testament writings.                                         The gobbledegook aside, Verhey is simply saying
                                                                      that the New Testament is not our norm for life.
          In the last part of the book Verhey focuses on the
        use of the New Testament in the continuing moral                The conclusion of the matter is:


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                            431



      1. Only if the use of a Scripture passage is coherent      Kregel Publications has begun a new series of
    with its intention is that use in moral argument           books entitled, "Kregel Classic Sermons Series."
    authorized.                                                Three books have. been published in this series: the
      2. The use of Scripture in moral argument a) is not      volume now  ,under review, one entitled, "Classic
    authorized with respect to claims concerning an            Sermons on Suffering," and another entitled,
    autonomous, impartial, and universal ethic; b) is          "Classic Sermons on Prayer."
    authorized with respect to claims concerning Chris-
    tian moral identity and its perspective, dispositions,       In this volume;  .m- some of the better known
    intentions, and principles at the ethical-principle and    preachers whose sermons are used are, Alexander
    post-ethical levels of moral argument; and c) is not       Maclaren, G. Campbell Morgan, D. Martyn  Lloyd-
    authorized with respect to claims at the moral-rule        Jones, Martin Luther, John Henry Jowett, and John
    level of moral argument.                                   Wesley. There are twelve sermons in all.
      3. If and only if the use of Scripture is coherent
    with the message that God has already made His               It stands'to reason that in such a variety of ser-
    eschatological  power and purpose felt in raising Jesus    mons from so many different preachers, the quality
    from the dead, is it authorized.                           of the sermons also varies considerably. Some of
      4. Only if the moral claim is consistent with justice    the sermons are excellent, some only so-so, and
    is the movement from Scripture to moral claim              some of little value. Nor are all the sermons, by any
    authorized. (p. 196).                                      means, faithful to the Scriptures. Nevertheless, the
                                                               good sermons in the book make the purchase of
CLASSIC SERMONS ON FAITH AND DOUBT,                            this book worthwhile, and certainly the general
compiled by Warren W. Wiersbe; Kregel Publica-                 subject (Faith and Doubt) is of considerable in-
tions, 1985; 152 pp., $7.95 (paper). (Reviewed by              terest.  The.book  makes nice devotional reading.
Prof. H. Hanko)

                                 Report of Classis East

  Classis  East met in regular session on Wednes-              adopted: (1) The appellant was sustained in his
day, May 14, 1986 at Holland. Each church was                  position that "the marriage of divorced person(s) is
represented by two delegates. Rev. M. Joostens was             marriage before God and the Church, and though a
the chair of this session.                                     sinful marriage, it is a legal union established by the
  The main item of business at this meeting was                State, which is the servant of God." The grounds:
the consideration of an appeal from a brother who              (a) The Lord God has given to the State the authori-
had protested a consistory's decision concerning               ty and is His means to join persons in marriage. (b)
the remarriage of a divorced person. The  con-                 The Lord God recognizes as marriage when the
sistory's position (summarized) was that since the             State even sinfully joins in marriage divorced per-
person in question had been married to a divorced              sons. (There were appended references to scrip-
person, the marriage was no marriage at all but an             ture, the Church Order, and the marriage form.) (2)
adulterous relationship. The only legitimate mar-              The appellant was sustained in his position that a
riage is the first marriage; any other "marriages,"            man divorced from a woman previously married
even though conducted by the state, are to be con-             and divorced has not the right to marry another for
sidered adultery and no marriage. If the person,               he is married and a proposed marriage would con-
then, confesses the sin of adultery, that person is            stitute remarriage while one's spouse lives. The
free to marry. The appellant contended that the                grounds: (a) The marriage of divorced persons is
consistory erred in allowing the person the right to           adultery. (b) The appellant's interpretation of John
marry. The appellant's position was that the person            4 is correct, viz., that the sixth man was not her
was indeed married, he was married legally by the              husband but this has no bearing on her relationship
state, which has the authority to marry, and there-            to the other five. Authoritative commentators  -
fore, the person must be considered as married,                Calvin,  Lenski, Edersheim, Hendrickson, Meyer  -
though sinfully, and now has the status of being               all take this position. (The grounds are more
divorced. The scriptures are clear, argued the ap-             lengthy, containing scriptural references, etc., so
pellant, that divorced persons may not remarry.                the above is to be considered as summary and
Classis  East sustained the appellant. At the risk of          should not be quoted.)
being too brief, the following (summarized) was


  THE STANDARD BEARER
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432                                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R



   In other items of business,  Classis  heard reports                                                                        NOTICE!!!
from the Stated Clerk and the Classical Committee.                                        Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet in
Southeast and Covenant requested classical                                             Houston, Texas on Wednesday, September 3, 1986, at  8:30 A.M.,
appointments and the following schedules were                                          the Lord willing. Material for the Agenda must be in the hands of the
                                                                                       Stated Clerk thirty days before  Classis  convenes. Delegates in need
adopted: COVENANT: May 25, June 1  - Rev. G.                                           of lodging or of transportation from the airport should inform the
Van  Baren; June 8  - Rev. K. Hanko; June 15, 22  -                                    Clerk of the Houston Consistory.
Rev. M. Kamps. SOUTHEAST: May 25  - Rev. B.                                            Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
Woudenberg, June 1  - Rev. R. Miersma, June 8  -                                       Classis  West
Rev. R. Flikkema, June 15  - Rev. W. Bekkering,                                                              WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
June 22  - Rev. M. Joostens. Both consistories were
advised to seek supply from students, the                                                 O n   J u n e   2 4 ,   1 9 8 6 ,   o u r   p a r e n t s ,   M R .   A N D   M R S .   R A L P H
                                                                                       PASTOOR celebrated their 60th  wedding  anniversary. As children,
seminary, or other available ministers for the sum-                                    grandchildren and great-grandchildren we are grateful that we are
mer months.                                                                            blessed with God-fearing parents. Our prayer is that He will continue
                                                                                       to bless and keep them in His care.
   Expenses amounted to $738.72. Classis  will meet                                       "For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth  en-
next on September 10 at Kalamazoo.                                                     dureth to all generations." (Psalm  100:5)
Respectfully submitted,                                                                Bob"`and Joan Noordyke                              11 grandchildren
Jon Huisken                                                                            Bob and Evie Pastoor                                14 great-grandchildren
                                                                                       Jim and Mary Gerritsen
Stated Clerk
                                                                                                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                    On June 26, 1986, our parents, MR. AND MRS. ARTHUR BULT
                                                                                       celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. We rejoice with them and
   The Consistory of the Loveland Protestant Reformed Church, on                       are thankful to our Lord for covenant parents who sought to teach us
behalf of the congregation expresses sympathy to the Albert Griess                     the way of God. We pray that they will continue to experience the
family in the death of their daughter, sister, and aunt, MRS.  LENNIE                  blessings of our faithful God in the years that He may give them.
HENDERSON.
                                                                                       Nancy Groot                                            Charles and Joanne Bult
   "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil.  `I  :21)                    John and Nancy  Bult                                             23 grandchildren
Rev. Ron Cammenga, Pres.                                                               Arthur, Jr. and Janet  Bult                                      1 1 great-grandchildren
Frank Van  Baren,  Clerk                                                               Gordon and Elaine Ondersma


                       46th Annual Protestant Reformed Young People's Convention
                                                           July 28 - August 1, 1986
                                            On the Campus of Valparaiso University
                                                                Valparaiso, Indiana
                                                    (Junction of Indiana 49 and U.S. 30)
                          Theme: "Being Reformed in 1986: Heritage and Calling"
                    Speakers: Rev. M. Kamps, Rev. B. Gritters, Rev. J. Slopsema
                            Registration at South Holland Protestant Reformed Church
                                      A SPECIAL INVITATION TO YOUNG ADULTS
                                     [For information, call (3 12) 895-8549 or (312) 596-31131


