     The
STANDARD
e BEARER
     A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





  No, the issue was: to be . . . or not
to be Reformed..
  That issue would not go away, no
matter how hard some tried to ig-
nore it.
  And it did not go away.
See "Fundamentally Incorrect
                         Analysis' ' - page 30



                                         Vol.  LXIII, No. 2, October 15, 1986  -


26                                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER
                                   CONTENTS                                                                                  ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                   Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
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         Death: A Gain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26         Editor-in-Chief:   Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                          Department  Editors:  Rev. Ronald Cammenga,  Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
      Editor's Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29       D. Decker, Rev. Barry Gritters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko,
                                                                                          Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A. Heys,  Rev. . Kortering, Rev. George C. Lub-
      Editorials  -                                                                       bers, Rev. Thomas C.  Miersma,                          I
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MEDITATION
James D. Slopsema





                                                               Death: A Gain

                                           For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1.21




      Death is a grim reality which all of us must face.                                        Unless the Lord comes soon, each of us will also
      Everyone of us, except perhaps the very young,                                        die ourselves. The time of our death could be years
has suffered the agony of losing a loved one                                                away; but then again it could be only moments
through death.                                                                              away. No one but God knows the moment of our


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               27



death. We expect the old to die; but the young can          And there is more! Death, as we are able to
die.                                                      witness it, is also the complete destruction of the
  Death, whether it be the death of a loved one or        body. At the moment of death the body becomes
our own impending death, generally strikes fear in-       cold and lifeless. What was once warm and vibrant
to our hearts. That's because death is destruction.       becomes cold and stiff. And within a very short
With our very eyes we have seen death bring               time, as the body is committed to the grave, the
destruction to others: destruction of body, destruc-      body decays and literally returns to dust.
tion of one's total earthly existence. Death is not a       Death is a gain?
pleasant spectacle.                                         From what we are able to see of death, it would
  Consequently, God's people must constantly be           appear as though death is a complete and total loss.
instructed from God's Word concerning death. The                   * * * * * * * *  * *
Word of God has much to say about death. For                What we are able to witness of death with our
those who belong to Jesus Christ by faith, the Word       eyes is also confirmed by the Scriptures.
of God brings peace and comfort.
          * * * *        *: * * * * *                       The Bible tells us that death is the punishment of
                                                          God upon man for sin. Man was not originally
  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.        created to die, but to live. In his original state God
  The apostle Paul penned this most beautiful con-        warned man, "Of the tree of knowledge of good
fession from the prison of Rome. Very soon he             and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that
would be tried before Caesar. The possibility was         thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen.
very real that Caesar would condemn Paul to death.        2: 17). But man disregarded God's warning. In
                                                          rebellion he ate of the forbidden fruit and brought
  In this section of his epistle Paul assured the         the punishment of death upon himself.
saints in Philippi  that he was not afraid to die. He
informed them that as far as he was concerned               In harmony with this fact, the Bible also tells us
death would be a gain. It would be to his advantage       that death is the complete destruction of man.
to die. For he was confident that when he died he           Yes, the Bible confirms about death all that we
would depart to be with Christ, which is far better.      are able to witness with our own eyes; death is the
  Consequently, Paul didn't know what he would            complete destruction of man's earthly existence, in-
choose. He would like to die and be with Christ,          cluding his physical body.
which is far better. However, he knew that it was           But the Bible goes on to tell us things about death
important for the church that he remain in the flesh      that we can not observe with the eye. Death is also
for the time being . . . .                                the means God uses to destroy man's soul. Man is
  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.        body and soul. At death God separates for a time
                                                          the soul of man from his body. And whereas the
A SEEMING CONTRADICTION                                   body of man is committed to the grave to return to
  Death is a gain?                                        dust, the soul of man is cast into a conscious state of
  Certainly our experience seems to contradict            torment in hell, never to be released!
what the apostle expected from death! As we                 What a terrible destruction is death. It is the total
witness death it doesn't appear to be a gain, but         and complete loss of everything. It is the complete
rather a total and complete loss.                         destruction of man from every point of view.
  For through death a person loses all things earth-        And yet Paul writes that to him death is a gain! It
ly. He loses his earthly possessions for which he         is to his advantage to die!
has struggled all his life - his business, his invest-    A WONDERFUL REALITY
ments, his home, his car, his clothing. Besides that
he loses his family and friends. At death all the           To understand this wonderful claim of the apos-
earthly ties and relationships that have meant so         tle, we must first come to grips with the confession
much are forever severed. At death a person loses         of Paul that for him to live was Christ.
his wife (husband), his children, his brothers and          When Paul confessed that for him to live was
sisters, his friends and companions. And finally          Christ he meant that Christ was everything to him.
through death, a person even loses his name. He is        Christ was the center of his whole life. His life as he
remembered for a generation or two and then he is         lived it from day to day in this world all revolved
forgotten, even by his own descendants.                   around Christ.
                                                            If we want to be more specific, all we need to do
                                                          is turn to Paul's epistles to the churches.
James D. Slopsema is pastor of the Protestant Reformed
Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.                              There Paul informs us how he relied upon Christ


28                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



for the whole of his salvation. The most important           would, he couldn't do; the evil he would not, that
thing in life for Paul was to be right with God. And         he did. What misery this caused him. But death
that should be the chief concern of everyone of us.          would deliver him from all this. Through death his
But now Paul had learned that to be right with God           sinful nature would be forever destroyed. Through
is possible only in Christ. There was a time when            death he would be taken out of this sinful world.
Paul tried to establish a right relation with God on         Through death he would be brought to heaven to
the basis of his own works and worthiness. But he            live with Christ and to serve him in perfect joy.
had long abandoned that as completely impossible.              Through death he would depart to be with
For he had learned that he was a sinner and that the         Christ, which is far better!
only way to be right with God was through perfect
payment of sin. And he could not make this pay-                To die is gain!
ment himself. Payment for sin can be found only in           AN ONLY POSSIBILITY
the cross of Jesus. Hence, Paul no longer trusted in           Death is a gain only for those whom to live is
himself but all his trust was in Jesus alone.                Christ.
      For him to live was Christ.                              It is not possible to escape death as such. God in
      Having found salvation full and free in Christ,        His wisdom has chosen not to spare man from
Paul was overwhelmed with loving gratitude to                physical death and the destruction of all things
God. No one can taste the wonderful gift of salva-           earthly that death brings with it.
tion in Jesus Christ without being overwhelmed                 However, God has provided a way for man to
with thankfulness to God. Paul was no exception.             change his death from total destruction of body and
In loving gratitude he no longer lived unto himself          soul into a wonderful tool of salvation. It is possible
but unto Christ who died for him (II Cor.  5:14  &           that death be changed into a final escape from sin
15). Paul was no longer concerned with his own               and a passageway into eternal glory. This is possi-
desires, his own glory, his own purpose. What                ble by faith alone in Jesus Christ, Who has paid for
Christ wanted of him became all important. Paul's            sin.
goal in life was to promote the honor and cause of
Christ in loving gratitude.                                     Consequently, only when we can say that for us
                                                             to live is Christ, can we in turn confess with confi-
      For him to live was Christ.                            dence that for us to die is gain.
      Paul found that to serve Christ required a                        *  *  *  x  *  *  *  *  *  x
strength and courage he did not possess. Christ laid            For many, Christ means absolutely nothing. For
many weighty responsibilities on Paul as an apostle          them to live is wealth, fine living, partying, enter-
and required much suffering of him. Again Paul               tainment, the pleasures of sins. Consequently death
relied not on himself but on Christ. He learned to           will be for them a complete loss. They never had
rely upon Christ for all things. His confession was          Christ in their life; neither will they have Him in
that he could do all things through Christ who               death. And so they will not only lose all things
strengthens him (Phil. 4: 13).                               earthly and physical in death; they will also lose
      For him to live was Christ.                            their souls eternally in hell.
            * * * * * * *  * * *                                Death will be a total and complete loss!
      Having understood this, we can now see how                How horrible!
death could be a gain for Paul.                                 Let us rather turn to Jesus Christ by faith. In faith
      Paul would lose many things through death. He          let us cling to the cross of Jesus alone to be right
would lose his earthly possessions. He would lose            with God. Finding the free salvation of God in
all his earthly friends and associates.                      Christ, let us serve Christ in loving gratitude, find-
      But one thing Paul would not lose through death.       ing all our strength and joy in Him. May Christ be
He would not lose Jesus Christ. Nothing can take             everything to us.
Jesus away from you once you are His - not even                 Then we too can stare death fearlessly in the
death.                                                       face.
      In fact, Paul lived in the realization that through       Then we too can with all confidence claim death
death he would have more of Christ. The chief con-           to be a gain.
cern and joy of Paul, as it is with every born again
child of God, was to serve Christ, His Savior, in lov-          Then we too can look forward to departing to be
ing gratitude. But how difficult that proved to be           with Christ, which is far better.
because of sin. Paul possessed a sinful nature and
lived with that sinful nature in a sinful world. How            Read and Study The Standard Bearer.
that hindered him in serving Christ! The good he


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                29



                                        Editor's Notes


  My third editorial on the Doleantie had to be            useful. CEC is geared to the levels of grade school
delayed for one issue, due to the fact that other sub-     through high school, although some of it is of more
jects took priority for this issue.                        general interest. Subscription price is $15.00. Ad-
         *  *  *  *  *  Y  *  *  *  *                      dress: Christian Educational Computing, 1035
  How many computer users there are among our              Dallas SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49507.
readers and their grade school and high school                      * * * * * * * * * *
children, I do not know. But recently I received a           Watch for announcements of a new and enlarged
press release concerning a new paper called Chris-         edition of Herman Hoeksema's  The Mystery of
tian Educational Computing, Dr. David C. Snyder,           Bethlehem.  This book, enlarged by eight new
editor. Dr. Snyder wrote me that parents and others        chapters, will make fine devotional reading for the
interested in educational computing may find CEC           Christmas season. The price will be $7.95.

EDITORIALS




                                       A Worthy Cause


  Elsewhere in this issue you will find an an-               In this connection I would like to call attention to
nouncement concerning financial help for a sister          the zeal and the dedication and the courage of this
church, the Protestant Reformed Church of Wel-             faraway, isolated little flock. They are worthy of
lington, New Zealand. It is not my intention to            our esteem and love and help!
repeat what that announcement says. In connec-               Some of these saints I first came to know by cor-
tion with that, I only wish to point out that while it     respondence in the late 1960s and early  197Os,
is indeed true that the over-all plan calls for help       when they were fighting for the Reformed faith in
over a period of five years, and while the average         connection with what came to be known as the
amount needed is $13,450.00  in US funds per year,         "Runia Case" in the Reformed Church of New
two things should be kept in mind: 1) They need            Zealand. I will not go into detail on that matter; you
our help for only one year at a time, just as do our       can find many details in earlier volumes of our
own needy churches. 2) The little flock in New             magazine. For the sake of the truth they were
Zealand have themselves pledged, according to the          disciplined at that time, and finally found them-
plan submitted to Synod of 1986, to contribute             selves unable to go on in that denomination. Since
more than 25% of the total amount needed - no lit-         the early 1970s some of these families have de-
tle feat for a congregation of six families on the New     pended on tape recorded sermons from our chur-
Zealand standard of living.                                ches (especially from Hope, Walker, MI) for their
  Nor is it my purpose to stress in these lines a          spiritual food. Can you imagine such perseverance?
moral obligation on our part. This could be done, of         Then in 1975 the Rev. C. Hanko and I met these
course, in the light of the fact that we have received     saints face to face in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Bob
them as a sister church and it is certainly right and      van Herk in Wainuiomata. I well remember. the
proper for a sister to help a sister. Besides, I prefer    Saturday morning meeting there. The group had in
to speak of a privilege rather than of an obligation.      mind already then to become a Protestant  Re-


30                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



formed church. We discouraged them, telling them              Miersma labored there repeatedly for extended
it was not our purpose to organize Protestant Re-             periods of time. Finally, the congregation was
formed Churches, but to encourage and help the                organized; and they immediately applied to be
Orthodox Presbyterian churches of New Zealand.                recognized as a sister church, a status which was
And we urged them to seek and maintain contact                granted them by Synod of 1986.
with the Council of those churches, and especially              In all this time, with the exception of those
with the OPC of Christchurch. Though they had                 periods when ministers of our churches came to
not much expectation of such contact, and though              lielp, their ministry of the Word consisted of
they really wanted to be Protestant Reformed, they            recorded sermons. And still today that is their only
reluctantly followed our advice. During this time,            source of preaching.
some of you will recall, the Revs. Van  Overloop
and Heys served as visiting ministers in Christ-                Meanwhile, among our sister churches, this one
church and also periodically visited the unor-                is the only one of whom it can be said that they are
ganized group in Wellington.                                  compZeteZy homogeneous with us. This is not said to
                                                              denigrate our other sister churches, but rather to
      Later Christchurch turned their back on our             help you see the little New Zealand flock in the
churches and on our proffered help, and since that            proper light.
time have gone in a doctrinal and ecclesiastical                It is also evident: 1) That no congregation can
direction away from us, a direction in which the              ultimately endure without the lively ministry of the
Wellington group did not want to go. The latter con-          Word. 2) That the flock in Wellington has little pros-
tinued to seek our fellowship and our help, and               pect of growth as long as they have only taped ser-
they continued to have as their goal to become a              mons and no minister to labor among them and in
Protestant Reformed Church of New Zealand.                    their behalf. 3) That without our help they cannot
      They became established as a "Protestant Re-            possibly afford to call a minister. To put it crassly,
formed Fellowship" and had in view ultimately, if             without our help they are in a "no win" situation.
at all possible, to be instituted as a Protestant               But the Protestant Reformed Church of Welling-
Reformed Church of N.Z.  - not part of our                    ton, N.Z. is worthy of our help and support. Pray
denomination, but a sister church. You will recall            for this little flock! And remember them generously
that both the Rev. J.A. Heys and the Rev. R.                  with your gifts!



                 Fundamentally Incorrect Analysis


      In  The  Banner  (Sept. 22, 1986, pp. 6, ff.) Dr. W.    "AK" correctly applies yesteryear's "AK' in this
Robert Godfrey, writing at the request of The Ban-            instance. That is of minor concern to me.
ner, calls the Christian Reformed Church "A House                However, Dr. Godfrey makes a fundamental
Divided" and offers the opinion that "more often              mistake in his analysis of the current state of affairs
our divisions and debates are really about whether            in his denomination. His mistake is such that
we will remain Reformed" than about "how best to              because of it he fails to get at the real reasons why,
be Reformed." In the course of his article he also            according to him, the divisions and debates are
 offers several reasons why, in his opinion, the CRC          about "whether we will remain Reformed." The lat-
 has begun to experience pressures to abandon its             ter, of course, is Dr. Godfrey's language. For my
 Reformed heritage. Meanwhile, "AK" (that's                   part, I would go farther and claim that the Christian
 Editor Andrew Kuyvenhoven) rather cleverly at-               Reformed Church has already in large measure Zost
tempts to undercut Mr. Godfrey by an appeal to a              its Reformed moorings. But that is neither here nor
 sermon by another "AK" (that's Abraham Kuyper                there; my concern is with Dr. Godfrey's analysis.
 and his farewell sermon at Utrecht on "Conserva-
tism and Orthodoxy") before the reader ever                      He writes, p. 7:
 reaches Mr. Godfrey's article.                                     In the past most of us in the CRC have faced ques-
      I will leave it to others to judge whether today's          tions such as these by drawing on our heritage - our


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                              31



   orthodox theology; our practical, experiential piety;      emphatically, on appeal, by the CRC Synod of
   our Kuyperian world-and-life view. Even then we            1926.
   have not always agreed. Our most difficult and bitter
   division came with the debates over common grace;          Item  3. The record will show that the CRC still in-
   these led to a sizable split in our church in 1924. But    sisted on this position when the dissident De Wolf
   almost all of those historic divisions have been over      Group sought admission to the CRC in the late
   how we can best be Reformed. Louis Berkhof and Her-        1950s and early 1960s. The CRC refused to remove
   man Hoeksema, for example, debated whether it was          the obstacle of the Three Points.
   more Reformed to affirm or reject common grace.              In the second place, it is surely the position of the
  Here is the point at which Dr. Godfrey makes the            Protestant Reformed Churches, and has always
fundamentally incorrect analysis which affects his            been, that the Three Points of Common Grace (in-
entire article. Because of this incorrect analysis Dr.        clusive of the doctrine of the well-meant offer) are
Godfrey fails to get at the root causes of the fact           not  Reformed, but contrary to Scripture and the
that the CRC has increasingly experienced                     Creeds. The numerous brochures and articles writ-
pressures to depart, and has departed, from their             ten especially in the years immediately following
Reformed heritage.                                            1924 testify to that. To mention just one example:
  First of all, it is the official position of the Chris-     in one of the earliest brochures after 1924, A Triple
tian Reformed Church itself that 1924 was not                 Breach,  Herman Hoeksema showed that Louis
merely a questiofi  of how  best to be Reformed but           Berkhof maintained an Arminian interpretation of
of  whether  to be Reformed  - or rather, of  what is         Romans  2:4.
Reformed.                                                       No, the issue was: to be . . . or not to be Re-
Proof?                                                        formed.
Item  1.  Classis  Grand Rapids West directly and               That issue would not go away, no matter how
literally and  Classis  Grand Rapids East indirectly          hard some tried to ignore it.
and by implication deposed ministers and elders on              And it did not go away.
the basis of the FormuZa of Subscription. The Three
Points of Common Grace were simply made a part                  Christian Reformed failure to face this issue and
of the confessional stance of the CRC. Dr. Godfrey            to return to the Reformed track has led to many
will certainly have to agree that discipline on the           subsequent problems and departures ever since.
basis of the Formula of Subscription is a matter of           Yes, there have been other contributing causes. But
being Reformed or not Reformed.                               the fundamental and initial departure from the
                                                              Reformed line was in 1924.
Item  2. These decisions of  Classis  Grand Rapids
West and  Classis  Grand Rapids East were upheld                Why not face the facts?                        HCH

THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH
Ronald L. Cammenga





                               Who Are Your Friends?


  Friendship is good. Friendship is necessary. We               This is especially true of young people. Have
have been made in such a way that it is not good for          friends they will. Be a companion of someone they
us to be alone. We have been made in such a way               will. But the question is: "With whom will they be
that we need friends. We have been made in such a             a friend? Who will be their companion?"
way that we have to be a companion of someone.


32                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



      This whole matter of the friendships of the          This unbelieving person may be a close relative, or
young people is a matter of great concern. It is cer-      a neighbor, or a classmate in high school or college,
tainly a matter of great concern to their parents and      or a fellow worker. Perhaps it is even the case that
to the officebearers of the church. It ought to be a       we are personally attracted to this individual, and
great concern to the young people themselves.              apparently have many things in common. And so
      Again and again the Bible warns against evil         we are tempted to strike up a friendship with them.
friends and admonishes the believer not to make            . Especially is this a temptation to those young
friends with the world. James writes in James  4:4         people who for one reason or another feel a lack of
that ". . . the friendship of the world is enmity with     friendship with their fellow young people in the
God; whosoever therefore will be a friend of the           church. They are left out of the conversations and
world is the enemy of God." In II Corinthians 6: 14,       activities. They feel themselves alone and isolated.
15 the Apostle Paul exhorts believers, "Be ye not          The real danger is that, needing friendship, they
unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for             will with some desperation turn for that friendship
what fellowship hath righteousness with un-                to the world.
righteousness? and what communion hath light                 The consequences of friendships with the world
with darkness? And what concord (that is, friend-          are disastrous for the Christian young person,
ship) hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he        disastrous in almost every instance. Experience as
that believeth with an infidel?" Solomon warns in          well as the Word of God bears this out. Inevitably
Proverbs 1320 that `I. . . a companion of fools shall      there is a corrupting of the believer. Inevitably
be destroyed," and in Proverbs  28:7 that  ". . . he       there is the influence of a bad example. Inevitably
that is a companion of riotous men shameth his             there is the leading away from the church, the
father."                                                   Word of God, and the commandments of God's
      The young people of the church are not to make       Law. Think of the grave consequences that came
friends with the children of this world. The estab-        upon the children of Israel because they made
lishment of friendship on the part of a believing          leagues, that is friendships, with the ungodly Ca-
young person with an unbeliever is strictly forbid-        naanites. Think of the result in the life of a believer
den by the Word of God. Parents must warn their            like Samson of his establishing friendship with an
young people against this. The preaching must ad-          ungodly Philistine.
dress this matter. The elders must confront young            Not only are there disastrous consequences to
people who, not heeding their parents and the              friendships with unbelievers, but such friendships
Word of God, do make friendships with unbe-                also expose one to the judgment of God. In Prov-
lievers. Caring, concerned young people ought to           erbs 13:20 Solomon says that a companion of fools
admonish a fellow young person who falls into this         will be destroyed, destroyed, you understand, by
error.                                                     God. James says in chapter 4:4 that whoever makes
      Those with whom friendship is forbidden are          himself a friend of the world by that very fact
unbelievers. Those with whom friendship is forbid-         makes himself an enemy of God. And woe to that
den are not only those who live a flagrantly dis-          man who is God's enemy!
obedient and carnal life. Those with whom friend-            Although friendship is good and ordinarily
ship is forbidden are not only the violent, the sex-       necessary, it may come to it that the child of God,
ually promiscuous, the drunkards and dope addicts.         concerned about his approval before God, must
But those with whom friendship is forbidden are            forgo friendship, or even experience rejection at the
unbelievers. They may very well be clean-cut, neat,        hands of his friends. Think of David who laments
polite, outwardly decent young people. But for all         in Psalm 38: 11, "My lovers and my friends stand
that they are not believers. They do not believe in        aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar
Jesus Christ or in God His Father. They do not             off." Similarly he writes in Psalm  88:18, "Lover
regard His Word, the Holy Scriptures, as the               and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine ac-
authority for their beliefs and their conduct. They        quaintance into darkness." Think of Job's rejection
are not lively members of the church. With these           at the hands of his friends. Or think of our Lord's
friendship is forbidden.                                   treatment at the hands of his friends: one betrayed
      There is a real danger that the young people         him, another denied him, and the rest forsook Him
establish friendships with unbelievers. This danger        and fled. We too, for the sake of the kingdom may
arises from the unavoidable contact that the young         be required to give up certain friendships. Then for
people have with the young people of this world.           the sake of friendship with God, which is dearer
                                                           than life itself, we let go the friendship of men.
Ronald L. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed      If we are to avoid friendships with unbelievers,
Church  of  Loveland, Colorado.                            we ought to make friends with fellow believers. As


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                            33



much as the Word of God admonishes us against            young people in the church. This is simply their
wrong friendships, it encourages us to friendship        calling, an important aspect of the exercise of the
with God's people. The alternative to friendship         communion of the saints. Then, too, they must be
with the world is nof no friendships at all. But the     true and faithful friends, friends who have a gen-
alternative is friendship with the children of God.      uine spiritual concern for each other.
  How highly we ought to esteem our friendships            Such friendships God will bless. Such friend-
in the church! What can compare in value to the          ships will bring great joy and immeasurable
treasure of true friendship!                             rewards. There will be fellowship, encouragement,
                                                         exhortation. These are the things that friends are
  Think of the friendship between David and              for. There will be someone with whom to share our
Jonathan. We read in I Samuel  20:17, "And               struggles, someone to confide in, someone to turn
Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he         to with our disappointments, someone to look to
loved him as he loved his own soul." Think of the        for counsel, someone from whom we can receive
friendship of Daniel and his three friends,              the word of needed correction.
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. How God used
that friendship for their mutual encouragement and         There is a saying that goes like this: "Tell me
strength in the midst of the temptations of Babylon.     who your friends are, and I'll tell you who you
Solomon says in Proverbs 18:24 that ". . . there is a    are." That's a true saying. Because they are
friend that sticketh closer than a brother," a friend    children of God, may the young people of the
who is a friend through thick and thin. The              church seek their friends among other children of
psalmist writes in Psalm  119:63, "I am a compan-        God. The prophet asks the rhetorical question of
ion of all them that fear thee, and of them that         Amos  3:3, "Can two walk together, except they be
keep thy precepts." Not only was it the case that        agreed?" That's what friends do: they walk
the psalmist was not a friend of those who did not       together. We could paraphrase the word of the
fear God and who did not keep God's command-             prophet, "Can two be friends, if they are not
ments. But positively he was a companion, and ex-        agreed?" The obvious implied answer is: "No."
erted himself to be a companion, of all those who        The foundation of agreement, agreement in the
did fear God and keep His commandments.                  worship of God, belief on His Son, and ac-
                                                         knowledgement of His Word and commandments.
  Not only must we warn our young people against         May this be the foundation of the friendships of our
evil friends and running with the world, but we          young people!
must encourage them to be friends of their fellow





           we need to muhe time to read and study
                                the Standard Bearer.

    Do something nice for yourself and your fatiily,
                study the Standard Bearer together!


34                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



WALKING IN THE LIGHT
Herman C. Hanko





         Moral Aspects of Medical Technology (9)



In Vitro Fertilization                                               with children? Is it a morally acceptable means of
      In our last article on this subject we introduced              using medical technology to realize a deeply
the subject of in vitro fertilization (IVF). This is the             cherished goal of covenant couples?
process by which conception takes place outside                        We noticed in our earlier article that the Scrip-
the womb of the mother in a test tube or petri dish.                 tures do not speak directly to this issue. We look in
It is a technique used for married couples who have                  vain in God's Word for guidance and instruction on
exhausted every medical means of having children                     this use of a rather recent medical advance. The Bi-
and remain childless. By this method ova are taken                   ble neither approves nor disapproves in any direct
from the wife, sperm from the husband, and the                       and explicit way this method of having children.
ova of the wife are fertilized in the laboratory.                    This ought not to come as a surprise to us. The Bi-
When fertilization is accomplished, the fertilized                   ble is not a textbook on Ethics and does not speak
ovum is placed in the womb of the wife where it is                   directly to every moral problem which arises in the
supposed to grow to term and result in the birth of a                life of a child of God. This is especially true of
child.                                                               modern ethical questions brought about by recent
      This technique has proved successful in a                      medical advances. But we may not conclude from
number of cases. John Jefferson Davis writes in his                  this that the issue before us has to be decided on
book, Evangelical Ethics:                                            purely pragmatic grounds  - as if the Bible is no
                                                                     help at all. God gave His Word to His church as the
          There are at least 100 clinics performing in vitro         rule of faith and life. God knew, when He gave the
       fertilizations in 11 different countries, and at least 200    Scriptures, what problems His people would face in
       children around the world owe their births to such            the future. God knew that in vitro fertilization
       "test tube" fertilizations (p. 83).                           would also be such a problem, and He gave His
      Without a doubt, the world has accepted this                   Word in the full awareness of the need for Biblical
method of providing childless couples with                           guidance in the lives of God's people who desire to
children, and there is nothing which can be done to                  walk in the ways of God's commandments and
stop this practice. We may expect that this pro-                     who look to His Word as a "lamp unto their feet
cedure will continue and that the techniques used                    and a light upon their pathway." The Bible sets
will be refined in the future. More and more "test                   forth principles of moral conduct within which all
tube" babies will be born in our world. The ques-                    these ethical decisions have to be made. We may
tion is: may people of God make use of this tech-                    expect, therefore, that the child of God who
nique? Is it morally acceptable? Is it a practice which              earnestly desires to do God's will will also find help
falls within the accepted moral guidelines of the                    for this problem in what God has said.
Scriptures? May covenant husbands and wives look
to this practice to enrich their homes with covenant                   We must remember, however, that this in itself
children when God has not blessed such homes                         implies an important principle. Those who are not
                                                                     fundamentally and principally interested in doing
Herman C. Hanko is profeisor of Church History and New               that which God requires of them will be able to set
Testament at the Protestant Reformed Seminary.                       forth seemingly plausible arguments which justify


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                           3 5



their conduct. The sinner can always find an ex-              In some instances, these fertilized ova (and we
cuse for his sin  - and even justify his sin on the         must remember, on the basis of Scripture, that
basis of Scripture. The Scriptures will speak, and          these are all conceived children, persons, new
speak clearly, only to those who bow in humble              human beings) are frozen and stored for future use.
willingness before God and ask themselves in good           Sometimes these frozen children are saved for the
conscience before God's face: "Lord, what wilt              original mother in case the first attempt fails.
thou have me do?" In humility and reverence, in             Sometimes these frozen children are implanted in
the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of              the wombs of other women so that they can have
wisdom, the believer will find an answer to his             children, though not of their own. In the
question.                                                   December, 1985 issue of  Trowel and Sword  the
   Understanding this, we are convinced that IVF            author writes:
(in vitro fertilization) is an unacceptable procedure             The process of freezing embryos, though certainly
and that it can only bring upon the one who makes               increasing the success rate and decreasing the cost of
use of it the wrath of God and His sharp and con-               subsequent transfers, again leads to the problem of
demning displeasure.                                            what to eventually do with unused embryos. This is
                                                                clearly illustrated by the recent situation when a
   Why is this?                                                 Chilean couple died, leaving their frozen embryos as
   We find, in answer to this question, two lines of            heirs to a fortune.
argumentation. The first has to do with various                   In IVF, the couple chooses whether excess embryos
practical considerations. The second has to do with             are frozen for later transfer if the first attempt fails,
principle objections. We discuss the practical con-             disposed of, used in experimentation, or donated to
siderations because, while they in themselves do                another couple.
not make IVF wrong, taken together they clearly               D. Gareth Jones in Brave New People writes:
show how evil this practice is and add weight to our              The embryos not placed in the mother's uterus or
arguments against it.                                           preserved by freezing are discarded, or are used ex-
   Turning then to these various practical consider-            perimentally. Not surprisingly this is where con-
ations, it is important to note (though often over-             troversy comes to the fore. These are the "spare" em-
looked) that the ability of scientists to bring about           bryos. Frozen embryos can be returned to the
fertilization outside the womb is a necessary step in           mother's uterus if another embryo has been aborted,
various other techniques and lines of experimenta-              in an attempt to ensure a subsequent pregnancy. Em-
tion which are horribly wrong. It must be                       bryos stored in this way can be kept for decades,
                                                                although a limit of 10 years has been imposed in some
remembered that IVF is a procedure developed by                 countries. Pregnancies have resulted following the
ungodly men who consider a fetus to be nothing                  transfer of embryos stored in liquid nitrogen at -200
else but a glob of tissue - whether now that fetus is           degrees C for periods of around four months.
formed through the natural means of intercourse or                Alternatively, spare embryos may be donated to
through the technique of IVF. Because the fetus is              another woman, they may be discarded or used for
nothing else but a glob of tissue, it is considered to          research purposes. Experimental work which has
be no different from any piece of tissue, whether               been carried out has been aimed at determining how a
taken from the skin, the lungs, or the heart;                   normal embryo may be recognized. This entails de-
whether taken from a child, a rat, a rabbit or a                tailed microscopic studies of the cells. If they have
monkey. It is a laboratory specimen to do whatever              already stopped growing, sectioning presumably does
the scientist in charge of it wishes to do.                     not kill them - as they are already dead. If they are
                                                                still growing, these procedures inevitably destroy
   This view not only is a direct conclusion from               them (pp. 86, 87).
evolutionary theories of man's development, but is            This experimentation upon "spare" embryos
the reason why abortion is so widely accepted.              (children) is very common and is justified on the
Evolutionism stands behind the whole developed              grounds that it unlocks the secrets of human devel-
procedure.                                                  opment and opens up the possibility of dealing with
   Because this is true, all sorts of things can be (and    diseases which are inherited.
are being) done with these fertilized ova. You see,           We must insist that these embryos are indeed
in order to make IVF work, a number of ova must             children. Every moral sense in the Christian rebels,
be taken from the mother and a number of fertil-            against such procedures which freeze children for
ized ova are the result when the sperm of the male          later use or which use children for experimental
are introduced into the test tube. Only one to three        purposes. That it follows inevitably from an evolu-
fertilized eggs are actually planted in the womb of         tionary viewpoint is clear; that it is abhorrent to the
the mother, and the question is, what to do with the        child of God and contrary to the Scriptures is equal-
rest.                                                       ly clear.


36                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



      From this practice arise other evil practices. If                   bryos for genetic and/or chromosomal defects, and the
these embryos can be manipulated outside the                              repair of genetic defects. Even more futuristic vistas
womb, it is entirely possible, of course, to deter-                       include ectogenesis (the maintenance of embryos  in
                                                                 _
mine also the sex of the child. In the January                            vitro  beyond the implantation stage, and perhaps
-March issue of BibZiotheca  Sucra (p. 63) the author                     ultimately throughout the whole gestation period), the
writes:                                                                   use of ectogenesis as a source of embryo parts for
                                                                          transplantation into children and adults, cloning, and
         Suppose a wife wants a child but she wants to                    the creation of human-animal hybrids.
       specify its sex and physical characteristics. If she
       wants a boy, sex selection procedures enable  physi-             The issue of Bibliotheca  Sacva  referred to above
       cians  to separate X-sperm (which will produce a girl)         speaks of this:
       from Y-sperm (which will produce a boy]. There is no                 This in face was the central premise in the novel
       technological reason why this cannot be done; so most             Brave  New  World  written by Aldous Huxley in 1932.
       people say, Why not?                                              His vision for the future was a dystopia (the opposite
      Perhaps worse than this is the fact that already                    of utopia). He feared that technology, especially
scientists who busy themselves in this area are                          genetic technology, would create a world of tyranny.
speaking of developing techniques which will                             He envisioned a world dominated by and controlled
enable them to grow a fetus to maturity outside the                      by genetic engineers who created future generations
womb. D. Gareth Jones  (op.  cit.,  p. 88) writes:                        in their own image and forsook the traditional forms
                                                                          of human procreation and parenting. Certainly some
         More futuristic (plans) include various forms of                 of these new forms of artificial reproduction move us
       genetic engineering prior to implantation such as the             closer to that possibility.
       sex determination of embryos, the screening of  em-

THE DAY OF SHADOWS
John A. Heys





                                             Grace for Grace



      In the book of Jonah there are more miracles                    the gourd which in one night sprang up to such pro-
recorded than we are apt to concede. There is the                     portions that it gave Jonah shade and comfort in the
miraculous sleep of Jonah, the landlubber, during a                   midst of the burning, scorching heat of the sun.
storm that was so violent that seasoned, expe-                        And then came its sudden withering, and the
rienced seamen were frightened, and sleep was im-                     removal of this protection.
possible for them. There is the miracle of Jonah be-                    Sad to say, that is where we are inclined to draw
ing snatched from the jaws of death by the jaws of a                  the line. Doing so we ignore and overlook the
fish which God prepared and sent, and then used to                    greatest miracles recorded in the book. There is the
keep him alive for three days and three nights in a                   conversion of Jonah, followed by the conversion of
sphere where death, because of lack of oxygen, has                    the Ninevites. We, because of our flesh, think first
come to thousands upon thousands of men. There                        of material, fleshly advantages. The salvation of our
is the spewing out of Jonah on dry land rather than                   bodies from the curse and its pain is uppermost in
on the bottom of the sea. Coming yet, in the                          our thoughts. But the all-controlling, ever present
chapters we purpose, the Lord willing, to treat, is                   yearning that ought to be foremost in our souls is
                                                                      salvation from the power of sin. Did Jesus not call
                                                                      us to seek first the kingdom of God and  its
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant
Reformed Churches.                                                    righteousness?


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                37



  We do well to remember that miracles are                when His elect turn from His commandments, as
manifestations, pictures and symbols of the break-        Jonah did, He often ceases to show them evidences
ing through of God's grace, so that the curse, which      of His mercy and grace. It is there  alright, and it
is upon the world because of sin, is pierced, and         will bring them back. But in that very mercy and
blessings come down upon God's people instead.            grace He, as He did with Jonah, sends distresses
The miracle of all miracles, the wonder of all            and troubles, to teach them and bring them back
wonders is the coming of the Second Person of the         from their waywardness.
Holy Trinity into our flesh. Born without a human           Merely giving material gifts is no sign of grace.
father the infinite Son became finite, the Creator        Taking these away can be an evidence of His grace.
became a creature, the Independent One came to            Jonah was stopped in his sinful way by a fierce
dwell in a nature that depended upon a father and         storm sent in God's  grace.  When God polishes us
mother to care for it and provide for it, upon food       and refines us by afflictions, it is not a suspension
and drink, oxygen, rain, and sunshine. And He             of His grace. It is a gracious work on His part.
came down piercing the curse and showering down           Similarly, when He gives the wicked earthly things
blessings out of heaven upon His church.                  which their hearts desire, it is not grace, for it only
  This does not mean that each individual who is          supplies them with more means wherewith they
materially, physically benefited by a miracle             earn for themselves a deeper place in hell!
receives a blessing out of heaven. All Israel               The miraculous saving of Jonah's earthly life was
benefited that way in the wilderness through the          a breaking through of God's grace. For God did this
miracle of manna, which God provided for Israel           to bring him to the confession of his sin, of which
for forty years. This was not an act of "common           confession we read in Jonah 2:1-4. Yes, he had
grace." Hebrews 3:7-11 declares that many saw             already told the mariners that he had tried to flee
God's works for forty years, but He was grieved           from God. He had even said that he feared the
with that generation and said that "they do  alway        Lord, the God of heaven which had made the sea
err in their hearts, and have not known my ways."         and the dry land. But take note of the fact, first of
And He sware in His wrath that they should not            all, that this was forced out of him., and that he
enter into His rest. Plainly it was not His grace to      could not escape it, because the lots clearly single
this erring people, but an act of providence. He was      him out as the one because of whom this terrible
grieved with most of those Israelites. His grace          storm raged. But also take careful note of the fact
would have made them thankful, and to know how            that he confessed this fo men. And we live in such a
to walk so that they would be in His way, that is, be     dreadful age today that criminals boast of their evil,
in the sphere of His law, rather than be erring in        readily confess it before men, and even want the
their hearts. And that He swore in His wrath that         credit for their vile deeds. Now, however, here in
they would not enter into His rest means that they        Jonah  2:3, 4 he confesses his sin before God and
would not taste the smallest part of His grace. They      acknowledges the fact that he deserves this as an
did not enter into His grace to the slightest degree.     evil doer. That means a whole lot more. After all,
He is Jehovah, the Unchangeable One. He did not           did not Judas Iscariot confess before men that he
give a "common grace" for a little while and then         had betrayed innocent blood? Jonah now prays to
change His mind and decide not to give them His           God and acknowledges the fact that God cast him
rest. His grace is an eternal, unchangeable virtue.       into the deep, and that all His billows and waves
And on what legal basis could He Who is holy con-         passed over him. And this he does without com-
tinue to give His. grace for forty years to those that    plaint. It is not the most open confession of his sin,
err in their hearts?                                      but is a confession that God is punishing him for his
  Romans  8:7, 8, as pointed out last time, teaches       disobedience, and in that sense it is a confession of
us that the carnal mind cannot be subject to the law      his sin..
of God, and that they that are in the flesh cannot           Still more, Jonah expresses his confidence in the
please God. Can the hoZy God then find pleasure in        blessedness of the forgiveness of his sins, and of be-
such, so that He deals with them in grace? He can         ing dealt with in grace. He states, "I shall look again
and does with those who belong to Christ, because         toward thy holy temple." This was preceded by the
Christ's holiness and righteousness are legally           confession, "I am cast out of Thy sight." Saved
theirs, since they are members of His body by             from death, he is sure that he is saved from his
God's eternal, unchangeable decree of election.           guilt, for he shall look again toward God's hoZy tem-
  And does He not Himself in His law declare that         ple. He will again enjoy God's covenant fellowship,
He will not hold them guiltless that worship anyone       as undeserving as he is in himself. Plainly this is
but Himself? Yea, He is a jealous God and shows           what he desires also. And that seals his confession
mercy  - and thus also grace  - only to those that        as being sincere. When all we want is to escape the
love Him and keep His commandments. And even              punishment we deserve, we are no more spiritual


 38                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



 than the devil. If we do not love God and want to be      hands in innocency. Imagine! There is a grace that
 holy and serve Him in His temple, we are carnal,          God gives to the wicked and keeps from His
 self-centered and not interested in glorifying God.       church! The believers do not prosper materially.
 But Jonah is, and his confession is sincere.              They are often in trouble and plagued (verse 5). God
       This also explains the statement in Jonah  3:1,     has a grace that is only for the wicked!
 "And the word of the Lord came to Jonah the sec-            Not so, Asaph finds when he goes to God's
 ond time." That too was a breaking through of             house. For then he understood their end. He saw
 God's grace. Indeed, that Jonah is called the second      that instead of being the objects of God's grace, the
 time to do what he would not do, when first com-          wicked were set on slippery places BY GOD! (See
 manded to do so, is a miracle. Our God is a consum-       verse 18.) And surely grace does not do that!
 ing fire (Hebrews  12:29)  and as such He smote             We do well then to listen to what John wrote in
 Ananias and Sapphira who lied about the money             John  1:16, "And of His fulness have all we re-
 they got for their land. This God had sent that terri-    ceived, and grace for grace." We, the believers,
 ble storm, of whose waves and billows Jonah               receive grace, and mind you, receive grace for
 spoke. Yet He saved Jonah from His fierce wrath,          grace. We even need grace to receive grace. The
 and now comes the second time with a call to go to        Greek preposition is anti, which can mean over
 Nineveh.                                                  against, in opposition to, as it does in such words as
       Jonah is not given a second chance. Our God         antichrist and antichristian. But here it means in
 does not give chances. He is no gambler, nor does         addition to, grace in addition to grace already
 He arrange for sinners to gamble with their salva-        received. It does not mean grace that displaces
 tion. He had good works eternally decreed for             grace, grace that takes away grace, but grace and
 Jonah in His grace. And He had the salvation of the       more grace, an abundance of grace. New mercies
 Ninevites eternally in His mind in His grace. And         and new grace are ours every day.
 now that Jonah may do that work, and the
 Ninevites might be brought to faith, God works His          And it simply is a fact that we need grace to
 miracle of blessing His elect with sorrow for sin,        receive grace. We need grace not only to know that
 repentance and confession of sin.                         we are the objects of God's grace. We need grace to
                                                           be able to confess that we are saved one hundred
       Our old man of sin does not think that conver-      percent by grace. Without God's grace we will
 sion is a blessing, and it finds no joy even in the       boast to one degree or another of our works and
 thought of serving God. In fact it hates those who        abilities. It takes grace to reject the theory of a "free
 reveal a converted life. Yet man was created to           offer" that maintains  - or at least implies  - that
 serve God, and the new man in Christ does con-            we can act before we have received the beginning of
 sider conversion a blessing, yea a miracle of God's       salvation in us, in the sense that we can desire to be
 grace. He also understands that man is given life,        born again before we have received such a birth in
 food and drink, clothing and shelter, not as a gift of    God's grace.
 "common grace, " but to do as Solomon declares in
 Ecclesiastes  12:13, namely, "to fear God and keep          No, grace must be there before we hear the
 His commandments." He understands the truth of            preaching, or we will not receive it as God's word.
 Psalm  l:l, 2. Note that the psalmist in this Psalm       And it was God's grace that brought Jonah to con-
 makes a contrast between the believer and the un-         fession of his sin, and unto willingness to go to
 believer. The believer is blessed. The unbeliever is      Nineveh. God's grace turned him; and he did not
 "like the chaff which the wind driveth." Plainly          turn of himself in order to obtain grace. God made
 the psalmist knows no grace that God shows to the         him, and makes us, say that all of our salvation,
 wicked.                                                   from the desire for it to the fulness of it in heavenly
       Asaph in Psalm 73 likewise saw no "common           glory, is of the Lord.
 grace" upon the wicked. It looked that way to him
 for a time. He saw that their eyes stood out with
 fatness. They prospered materially because God                      The Standard Bearer
  sent them an abundance of rain, and the right
 amount of sunshine to make them prosper                        makes a thoughtfrul gift for
 materially. 0, it seemed that God was so good to
 them. He sent them such a measure of "common                         the sick and shut-in.
  grace" that Asaph became envious of them, so much
  so that his feet were almost gone, his steps had               Give the Standard Bearer!
 well-nigh slipped. He had big questions about
_- God's grace, because it looked to him as though he
  had cleansed his heart in vain, and washed his


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   39



I    FROM HOLY WRIT
     George C. Lubbers





                         Believing All The Scriptures -
                  The Hope of Heaven and Earth (4)



     FROM PARADISE TO PARADISE (Gen. 3:16)                            made to be under law (Gal. 4:4). And we make bold
        If we believe all of the Scriptures we receive                to assert that they who do not read of this Son of
     them as an organic unity, written by one Author,                 God in Genesis 3:16 fail to believe aZZ  of the Scrip-
     containing one central message concerning the                    tures. Such have indeed thrown away the "key of
     Christ of God, and inspired by one Spirit. For all               knowledge"; yea, they take the key of knowledge
     Scripture is given by inspiration; it is God-breathed            away from the hungry people of God. Not reading
     (II Tim.  3:16). Besides, the Scriptures are often               of the Christ in Genesis  3:6, all they can read is
     designated as being "the Scripture" (Mk. 12: 14;                 about divine judgment, without grace. Such
     John  2:22;  5:39;  7:38, 42;  10:35;  13:18;  17:12;  19:24,    teaching is fatal; for then the Scripture is a closed
     28, 36, 37;  20:9; Acts  1:16;  8:32; Rom.  4:3; Rom.            book. God gives the book to them and says,
     9:17;  1O:ll; Gal.  3:8, 22;  4:30; I Tim.  5:18; II Tim.        "Read." In the entire Old Testament they then can
     3:16; James  2:8, 23;  4:5; I Pet.  2:6; II Peter  1:20).        only find "law, " and this Old Testament is for them
                                                                      not the revelation of the covenant of grace, under
        In perusing all these many, many passages from                types and shadows, but it is pure law. Such inter-
     Scripture it becomes quite evident that the Bible is             preters must needs ever teach explicitly, or always
     a unique Book. Although it was written during                    and again have the overtone of "law" in their ser-
     many centuries by holy men, yet it has but one                   mons, which law then ceases to be a pedagogue un-
     Author. God who spoke of old time unto the church                to Christ. Here the words of Isaiah are apt, where
     through the prophets has in these last times spoken              we read "therefore shall the word of the LORD be
     unto us in His Son (Heb.  1:2). Furthermore, God                 unto them precept upon precept, line upon line:
     even spoke in all the law and the prophets concern-              here a little, there a little" (Isaiah 28: 13). I almost
     ing  (peri)  His Son. Says Jesus to the unbelieving              dread to quote the remainder of this verse, which
     Jews, "For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe                adds "(In order) that they may go and fall back-
     Me  (emoi in Greek); for He wrote of (concerning                 ward, and be broken, and snared and taken."
     Me).                                                               Unless God  reveaZs  the Gospel of the Cross here
        Now these instructions and this rebuke we had                 in Genesis  3:16, there is no hope for heaven,
     better take to heart; they should penetrate deeply               neither is there hope for earth. And, we may be cer-
     into our hearts!                                                 tain, there will be no fulfilment of the beautiful
        Yes, we must take these words seriously, as ex-               words of Genesis  2:4: "These are the Generations
     egetes of Scripture.                                             (toZedoth) of the heavens and of the earth . . . ." For-
        We believe with all our heart that also in Genesis            soothe, there will not be a hope for heaven nor for
     3:16 Moses is, at  bottom,.writing  about the Son of             the earth, no joy of the angels in heaven, who
     God, as He was born from a woman, and as He was                  always behold the face of their Father, and no song
                                                                      of redemption for the sons of men. The great and
     George C. Lubbers is a minister emeritus in the Protestant       glorious judgments of God in heaven and hell will
     Reformed Churches.                                               not be an accomplished fact in the "ages to come,


40                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



when heaven and earth shall all be united under               men out of one blood (Acts 17:24-28; Heb. 2:10, 11).
one head" (Eph. 1:7-10). We would ever be driven              The natural is first and then the spiritual (I Cor.
from Paradise by the flaming swords of the keepers            15:46).
of the most holy place, the Cherubim.                           We do well to notice the following particulars in
      There would be no "from Paradise to Paradise,"          the text.
the history of salvation which leads up to the birth            The dark and painful and sorrowing side of Eve
of the "SEED of the woman" and which leads from               the mother of the living will be "multiplied ex-
the incarnation, cross, resurrection and ascension            ceedingly." Such increase of sorrow is of the LORD
to the glorious revelation of Christ, the last Adam,          (Jehovah) and serves His redemptive purpose, as
in the great salvation of the cosmos (John  1:29).            well as the eternal condemnation of the Serpent,
THAT BEAUTIFUL GOSPEL TEXT IN GENESIS                         the old Dragon, Satan, the Devil. However, the sor-
3:16                                                          rows are real. The Hebrews text here is very ex-
      We do well to quote this well-known Scripture.          pressive. The terms for "greatly multiply" are real-
                                                              ly literally translated "causing to multiply I will
      It reads as follows:                                    multiply." We read the same grammatical con-
      "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply        struction in Genesis  2:17,  ". . . for in the day that
thy sorrow (pain) and thy conception; in sorrow               thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Here too
(pain) shalt thou bring forth children and thy desire         we have "Dying thou shalt die."
shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over                 It is a very dark and painful side to the life of the
thee."                                                        mother of the living. And it is the word of Jehovah,
      There are here various elements to which we             which He will certainly fulfill in strictest justice:
must call attention, elements which are emphatical-           "dying thou shalt surely die." The woman, Eve,
ly stated and underscored by the speaker, Jehovah,            who had been translated out of death to life, is
the covenant God of Israel.                                   translated thus in the very world in which she was
      In the first place we ought to notice carefully that    created into the world of the kingdom of Jesus
the One speaking here is called in Genesis 3:9 and            Christ - through death and hell unto life and glory.
13 "Jehovah God." He does not really have three               It is the way in which the seed of the serpent will be
separate and disjoined messages here to Satan, the            utterly bruised under the heel of the seed of the
woman, and the man (Adam). It is one message of               woman (Rom. 16:20). Note the beautiful promissary
two parts: eternal destruction of the serpent and             word to the church; the seed of the woman, "And
salvation for Eve and for Adam in the deep way of             the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet
sin and  grace!  In this message God really sets the          shortly."
seed of the serpent and the Seed of the woman in                Yes, even through this prediction of gloom,
eternal and perpetual warfare. It is the battle of the        viewed in light of all the Scripture, there are shin-
ages.                                                         ing light-beams of grace and glory. God made all
      Secondly, we ought to observe that the predic-          things by Christ and unto Christ (Col. 1: 16). Here in
tion to Eve was given by the LORD (Jehovah)                   Eve's sorrows, by faith in the Scripture, we detect
within the framework of the PROTEVANGEL.                      the joy which one day shall be eternally full. There
Does not Adam as God's prophet, in the Spirit of              is deep meaning and deep and comforting pathos in
Christ (I Peter l:ll), call his wife, the woman, with         the words of Jesus to His disciples, "A woman
a new name? It is a name which she could only bear            when she is in travail hath sorrow because her hour
within the framework of the promised SEED,                    is come; but when she is delivered of the child, she
spoken of in Genesis 3:15! Prior to the fall she can          remembereth no more the anguish, for the joy that
only be known as the one "taken out of the man."              a man is born into the world" (John  16:21).
Here we see the marriage as it was from the begin-              Yet this sorrow is real and terrifying for the
ning (Matt.  19:4-6).  They are made unto one flesh           woman.
by God's creative act. Here we see the mystery of               And it is God's judicious and righteous verdict.
marriage, only in part. Even as Adam was a
"figure" of the Christ-Adam to come, so their mar-              Let us take a little look at the "sorrow" of Eve as
riage was a prefiguration of the higher celestial             here predicted and as fulfilled, even in all godly
marriage of Christ and the sanctified bride of all the        women throughout the ages. I believe that Eve may
redeemed of all ages. However, in good prose, in              be called a "case-study."
direct discourse, Jehovah here sets the woman, as               First of all, she is the first mother who ever con-
she is in the marriage-state,. to serve greater things        ceived and gave birth to a child. She would ex-
to come. Through the pain and sorrow of mother-               perience labor, a grievous thing. The term in the
hood Eve, the woman, must serve to bring forth all            Hebrew is employed in Genesis 6:16, 17 as well as


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                        41



in Job  9:28; Psalm  164; Proverbs  1O:lO;  15:13. (See      with the righteousness of the saints. No, the joy of
also I Chron.  4:9; Is.  14:3.) The term expresses in-       the firstborn must wait till a babe is born to the
expressible weariness and labors, vexing pains and           virgin Mary, the seed of the woman, which was not
sorrows accompanying motherhood in the history               by the will of an earthly "Adam" (Luke 1:35, Matt.
of sin and grace.                                             1:18).
  Think for a minute of the very sorrowful ex-                  Also the Gospel spoken to Eve concerning the
perience of Eve as a mother of Cain. She thought             sorrows of her conceiving children awaits its fulfil-
that she had given birth to a "man, received from            ment in the birth of Jesus Christ.
Jehovah." This one would fight the Lord's battles,              However, here the sorrows are such that Mary
as of the party of the living God against Satan and          will see that her firstborn Son will be set for a fall-
all his hosts. But, alas, her firstborn son, would be        ing and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign
from a spiritual point of view dead in trespasses            which shall be contradicted. Yes, in this fruit of the
and sins, truly conceived and born in sin, without           womb we will see that the Israel of the election in
the new birth. He would be what John calls "a                the Old Testament is glorified, and that he will be
murderer, " "out of the Evil One." He would be in a          for a light to the Gentile world.
sense the father of the serpent's seed in his genera-
tions. He would not be reckoned in the "genera-                 Truly Genesis  3:16 is a beautiful Gospel-text!
tions," the toZedoth,  of the heavens and of the earth.         Blessed are the mothers in Israel who believed,
He cares not for the blood of the covering of skins,         walking continuously in faith and love and sanctifi-
pointing to the blood of Christ, and to be clothed           cation with sobriety.

ALL AROUND US
Robert D. Decker





                             Divorce and Remarriage



  The Banner recently focussed its attention on the                     Today we don't have many such "separated" peo-
rising problems of the break-down of family living,              ple in our churches. We do have a growing number of
divorce and the remarriage of divorced persons,                  divorced people. One week we are shocked to hear of
sexual promiscuity and how these phenomena are                   the marriage breakup of our friends. A couple of mon-
affecting the church. We do well to pay attention to             ths later they file for divorce. We hear that she has
                                                                 gone to live with another fellow. And within a year
these problems, for they affect Protestant Reformed              the former husband comes to church with another
people, families, and churches too. Editor Andrew                woman. And we say, Is this really happening? Is this
Kuyvenhoven writes:                                              our church? Then we think, Let's be happy that he
     When a friend of mine was very young, she knew              still comes to church, with his kids; we should get to
   there was something unusual about the life of the             know the woman.
   church organist. She knew that he did not have a wife.               CHANGING MORES. One of the church fathers -
   Years later she learned that his marriage had turned          I believe it was Augustine  - tells of a woman who
   sour and that he and his wife had separated from each         committed adultery. Burdened with shame and full of
   other. That man always lived alone; he was never              repentance, she spent seven years in cloistered
   divorced.                                                     penitence. That's even stranger than the case of the
                                                                 separated organist.
Robert D. Decker is professor of Practical Theology and                 Were they exaggerating or have we lost some feel-
New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.               ings that are essential to a Christian esteem of sex and


4 2                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



        marriage? Have we become estranged from the holi-                couples in such a relationship eventually do get mar-
        ness of Christian living and the sacredness of the               ried, although precise numbers aren't available. On
        marital covenant? It is not impossible . . . .                   the whole, the institution of marriage has become
          When it comes to sex and marriage, evangelicals are            more fluid and changing than before.
        tempted to imitate the world but translate the con-                In Europe and North America the intense stigma
        cepts into their own jargon. The evangelicals' answer            attached to "living together" began to lessen in the
        to the feminist movement is a sexually very attractive           1960s because of a broader change in sexual mores
        package of perfection: the full woman, the  femme                that enticed a majority of young men and women to
        fatale,  and the go-getter of Proverbs 31 all in. one            have sexual intercourse before marriage. This prom-
        beautiful born-again person. Our burgeoning                      iscuity allowed all types of sexually transmitted
        evangelical-books businesses stock many shelves on               diseases to run rampant. Although AIDS is getting the
        the enjoyment of sexuality, and much of this material            most publicity because its victims die, other diseases
        consists of a recent evangelical adaptation of humanist          such as herpes, chlamydia, and genital warts are
        insights.                                                        much more prevalent, along with such well-known
          Of course, all evangelicals are shocked by and con-            venereal diseases as gonorrhea and syphilis . . . .
        cerned about the decay of families - the crumbling of              DIVORCE. In addition to the problem of sexual
        the bricks that make up society's edifice. More than             promiscuity, an increasing number of divorces is tak-
        50 million of us have watched the Dobson films so                ing its toll on family life. Until World War II, the
        that we may get a better hold on the problem and be              United States had a relatively low rate of divorce
        on the side of the solution. And all denominations and           (about two per 1,000 population) . . . At present it is
        Christian publishers are producing materials on fami-            about five per 1,000 population, which means that for-
        ly values.                                                       ty to fifty percent of all marriages will eventually end
          THE POISON WITHIN. Yet, running through all                    in divorce. At least fifty percent of American children
        evangelical thinking is a philosophical current that is          today will spend some time living in a single-parent
        basically friendly to divorce and sexual license: it is          household.
        the gospel of prosperity, vitality, happiness,  self-               Clearly, a humanistic, existential emphasis on self-
       fulfillment. These goods are constantly sold by                   fulfillment is gaining wide acceptance, and therefore
        evangelical people whose own good looks and obvious              marital conflict often quickly ends in divorce . . . five
        success seem to back up what they claim as gospel                out of seven Americans now believe it's socially per-
       promises.                                                         missible for a married couple to get a divorce when
          The only reason why the organist of my friend's                they can't get along, even if they have children.
        youth did not get a divorce was that he did not know             Religious constraints are playing a diminishing role.
        the gospel of self-fulfillment. He did not do much                 Consider the results of all this. Current evidence
        thinking about life enrichment. He knew only the                 says that at least a third of all American children from
        hard-to-travel path to the narrow gate, taught by the            single-parent homes will suffer continual psychiatric
        Calvinist school of obedience. And with sweaty palms             trauma. Over half of these children never see their
        behind the organ and nightly pain, he tried to keep              father . . . Society has moved from a model of mar-
        looking forward, not around . . . .                              riage based on permanent commitment, self-sacrifice,
       Dr. Henry Holstege, a professor of sociology at                   and agape love to a model that views marriage as a
Calvin College, comments in the same issue:                              temporary situation that lasts only as long as one finds
                                                                         personal satisfaction. One's own self-actualization and
          In the Christian family God has given us a beautiful           destiny take precedence to those of the marriage.
        model of how life ought to be lived. It is a model that
        God blesses and that we should earnestly seek to                   Throughout the world the reports are similar: the
        follow and defend. Unfortunately, it is also a model             rate of divorce is higher than in the past. The Chris-
        that today's society threatens to undermine and                  tian community must realize that this change is not
        weaken.                                                          merely the result of structural changes such as in-
                                                                         dustrialization and urbanization; to a great extent, it is
          Profound changes are taking place in the North                 the result of new ideological emphases . . . .
        American family. Some of these changes run counter
        to God's model of family life. Christians ought not to          Holstege goes on to comment on the fact that the
        be embarrassed to label such changes as sinful and            current birth rate has fallen well below the 2.1
        harmful and unacceptable while at the same time ex-           births per couple that constitutes "zero population
        tending love to those who are the victims of these            growth."
        changes.
          Let's look at several areas of change and their im-           A few comments about all this: 1) The Biblical
        pact on the family.                                           teachings concerning marriage are plain and easy to
                                                                      understand, but impossible to observe except by
          SEXUAL PROMISCUITY. On a worldwide basis,                   the grace of God. According to Ephesians  522-33
       nonmarital cohabitation has increased and is much
        more tolerated than it used to be. For many people,           and other passages, marriage is a picture of Christ
        "living together" has become part of the courtship            and His bride, the church. The calling of husbands
        process. Apparently a considerable percentage of              is to love their wives just as Christ loved the church


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                              43



and gave Himself for it. Wives are to submit to their       the one who marries the spouse who was put away
own husbands just as the church submits to Christ.          commits adultery. Matthew  19:3-12 and related
Where, by the grace of God, Christian husbands              passages make this quite clear. 3) Marriage is a
and wives are obedient to these their respective            bond between one man and one woman  fork life.
callings one finds happy, blessed marriages in              Only God Who creates the bond may sever the
which difficulties and conflicts are prayerfully            bond, which He does by death. 4) Our churches
resolved in the way of confessing one's faults to           must never compromise these clear Scriptural
each other and to God. The love of God in the               teachings. If we do we shall reap a very bitter fruit
hearts of Christian husbands and wives is the very          indeed! 5) Our pastors and elders and all of us in the
opposite of the world's concepts of "self-fulfill-          office of believers must insist on obedience to these
ment" and "self-satisfaction". God's love in us is a        truths. Pastors and elders must preach and teach
love of self-denial which finds it more blessed to          these principles publicly and from house to house.
give than to receive. 2) Divorce is sin. Except for the     The churches must discipline and excommunicate
cause of fornication no one may put away his or her         all unrepentant adulterers and adulteresses and
spouse. The one who does commits adultery and               whoremongers.

BIBLE STUDY GUIDE
Jason L. Korteving





                                              Leviticus -
            Reconciliation Through Sacrifice (2)



  2. The priestly consecration with its warnings            sacrificed for the people  (9:15-22). In response to
for violations  (8:1-10:20). Aaron and his family           this, the glory of the Lord appeared to the people
were presented to the Lord in the presence of the           and fire consumed the offering on the altar  (9:23,
congregation. Aaron was dressed in the proper               24). Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, violated their
clothes of the priest, a robe, an ephod (cape), breast-     trust as priests and offered strange fire on the altar.
plate, mitre, and crown. Moses took the oil and             The fire of the Lord killed them before the altar.
anointed the tabernacle, including its contents, and        Mishael and Elzaphan were instructed to take their
also anointed Aaron (8: 1-13). A bullock of sin offer-      bodies and bury them without the camp, and the
ing, a ram of burnt-offering, and a ram of consecra-        people were instructed to mourn before the taber-
tion were slain after they had laid their hands upon        nacle (lO:l-7). The priests were forbidden to use
each of the heads. The blood was sprinkled and              wine  whe$ they served in the tabernacle  (10:8-11).
used as consecration. They remained in the taber-           Their portion of the sacrifice consisted of the
nacle for seven days for a period of consecration           shoulder and breasts of the offering which was to
(8: 14-36). On the eighth day, Moses instructed             be eaten by the priests and their families in
Aaron and his sons to bring a calf for a sin offering,      specified places ( 10: 12-20).
a ram for a burnt offering, and come to the taber-
nacle. The people were instructed to come with                3. The laws for purification (11:1-X:33).  We find
their goats as sin offerings (9: l-7). Aaron offered his    the distinction made between clean and unclean
sacrifice before Jehovah  (9:8-14),  after which he         animals. The clean ones for food are those that have
                                                            a cleft hoof and chew the cud (they must have both
Jason L. Kortering is pastor of the Protestant Reformed     and not one of the two,  ll:l-8), among the fish
Church  of  Grandville, Michigan.                           they are to have fins and scales (11:9-12),  among the


44                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



flying creatures that are unclean are the vultures,        or pigeons which the priest will sacrifice as a sin
and those that go on four feet (except the locust,         and burnt offering  - as an atonement  (15:1-15).
beetle, grasshopper, 11:13-28). A list is given of the     The semen of copulation required the washing of
creatures which creep and which go about on paws           garments and bathing (15: 16-18). The same applies
which are unclean as well as all items which               to a woman with an issue of blood. She and any
become contaminated by contact with such                   man who contacts her is unclean, as well as any
unclean animals (11: 13-47). Instruction is given          bed or garment that she touches. Upon the ending
concerning the purification of a woman after child-        of such an issue, she is to go to the priest and also
birth, she is unclean for 40 days for a male and 80        offer two turtledoves or pigeons (15: 19-33). Finally,
days for a female, at the end of which she is to offer     this section closes with details of the great day of
a lamb and a young pigeon or turtledove. If she is         atonement."This instruction is given after the two
poor and cannot bring a lamb she is to bring two           sons of Aaron have died and Aaron is told that he
turtledoves or two pigeons (12: l-8). Laws concern-        cannot enter into the holy of holies except when the
ing leprosy are now given. It is the duty of the           cloud appears. He then was to dress in his priestly
priest to determine whether it is leprosy or some          garb, take two goats for a sin offering and a ram for
scab. Careful distinctions are given as to color and       the burnt offering. The ram is to be sacrificed for a
affect upon hair, in order to be sure it is the dread      sin offering, but he is to cast lots over the kids of the
leprosy. If the priest has any doubt, the person is to     goats. The one goat is to be sacrificed in atonement
be placed in hold for 7 or even 14 days to be sure. If     while upon the other goat he lays his hands and
he is judged to have leprosy, he is banned from the        confesses the sins of the people upon it after which
camp and has to tear his clothes, keep his head            it is driven into the wilderness. All this is to be ac-
bare,' put a covering on his upper lip and cry out         companied with washings and sprinklings. The
"unclean!" (13: l-46). The priest was also able to ex-     statute of keeping this day annually is given
amine the garments of the victim and specific in-          (16:1-34).
struction is given in how the evidence of leprosy in         The next chapter introduced the second main
the garment itself would help to determine if the          part of the book of Leviticus. In this section we see
person had it. If so judged, the garment had to be         how God's people enter into fellowship with God
burned  (13:47-59): The possibility of healing and         through sanctification by means of sacrifice. This
restoration of the leper is treated next. The priest is    section covers chapters 17-27.
to go out of the camp and examine the leper. If he is
healed a sacrifice of birds and sprinkling of their          4. The use of the blood of animals in sacrifice is
blood is to follow. For seven days he lives in the         spelled out  (17:1-16).  The oxen, lambs, and goats
city, but not in this house, having washed and             which may be killed in the camp or outside the
shaved himself. Then he is to shave off all his hair,      camp must be brought to the tabernacle so the
wash his clothes, sacrifice lambs and the priest is to     priests may offer them as peace offerings. Failure to
anoint him with blood and oil before the taber-            do this would result in being cut off from the con-
nacle. Provision is made for the poor to take one          gregation (17: l-9). Any eating of blood was forbid-
lamb and two turtledoves or pigeons  (14:1-32).            den and would result in being cut off since the
Finally, the houses of the lepers had to be dealt with.    blood represents atonement, for the soul of animal
The owner of the house had to report to the priest         is in its blood. If a person ate an animal that died of
the contamination. It had to be emptied before the         itself or was killed, and the blood was not properly
priest inspected it. If he found evidence of leprosy       drained, he had to wash himself and his clothes as a
having corrupted it, the house was sealed for seven        covering for that sin  (17:1-16).
days and after that time if it was opened and the            5. Various laws dealing with ethical morality in
blocks had to be removed and scraped until all             Israel ( 18: l-20:27). Sexual morality is introduced as
evidence was destroyed. If evidence  *of leprosy           God's law in contrast to the doings of Egypt from
recurred, the house had to be destroyed. At the            which they came (18: l-5). Sexual intercourse was
end, the priest had to pronounce the house clean.          forbidden between relatives, father, mother,
Anyone who came into contact with it had to wash           father's wife, sister, daughter-in-law, aunt, uncle,
carefully and the clean house was sprinkled with           sister-in-law, step-parents and children. Sexual rela-
blood  (14:33-57). The priests also had to deal with       tions were forbidden during menstruation.
certain unclean issues from the body of both men           Adultery, human sacrifices, homosexuality,
and women. The first section deals with issues             beastiality or any evil practice by the heathen na-
from men. These secretions contaminate anything            tions around them, were forbidden. The impenitent
he lies upon or sits on and requires cleansing. After      was to be cast out from among the people (18:1-30).
the issue stops, he must go to the priest and when         Then follows a repetition of many laws previously
declared clean must take a bath and wait seven             mentioned, prefixed by the command to be holy.
days. On the eighth, he must take two turtledoves          These have to do with sabbaths, idolatry, proper


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                              45



sacrificing, harvesting of fields, stealing, swearing,      beard or cut his flesh. Keeping the body manifests
robbery, respect of persons, gossiping, holding a           holiness  (21:1-6).  The priest may take a wife only
grudge, breeding of cattle, fornication with a bond         she.may not be a whore or a woman put away from
woman, planting and harvest of trees, eating                her husband. If the daughter of a priest plays the
anything with blood, defacing of the body, giving           whore she shall be burnt with fire. The high priest
daughters to prostitution, familiar spirits, the honor      must observe various rules, including taking a
of the aged and strangers, and cheating with                virgin to wife, not a widow, divorced, or profane
measures (19: l-37). Still more precise detail is given     woman. (21:7-15).  Priests that have physical
on some of the above prohibitions. Human                    blemishes are forbidden to offer sacrifice in the
sacrifices to Molech are strongly forbidden. One            temple. These included things as blind, lame, flat
turning to familiar spirits will be cut off. Cursing        nose, broken foot or hand, dwarf, crooked back,
father or mother will result in death. Adultery             blemish in the eye, and diseases of various sorts.
likewise will result in death for both the man and         These all had to stay out of the temple (21:16-24). If
the woman. Death for homosexuality, beastiality,           any of the priests had some uncleanness, such as
and adultery with family relatives will result in be-      leprosy, of if they  thouched something unclean,
ing cut off and remaining childless; the whole point       they were not to practice the priesthood. Positively,
being that God wants His people to be different            they had to live lives of godly example before the
from the nations about them. Holiness unto the             people  (22:1-16).  Added to this is the command of
Lord requires sanctification in all of life  (20:1-27).    God that the offerings of cattle, sheep, and goats are
  6. Specific duties of the priests: how they are to       to be without blemish, as perfect specimens as
express their holiness unto the Lord  (21:1-22:33).        possible. Offerings of animals were not to be taken
The priests are not to defile themselves by touching       from the mother for sacrifices before the 8th day.
the dead, but a priest may touch a relative such as        Thank offerings were to be eaten the same day
mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister. He         (22:17-33).
must not cut off his hair to be bald nor trim his




                 Annual Report of the Secretary
                                    Reformed Free Publishing Association

                                                September 18, 1986


  At the close .of volume-year 62, the Board reports          As you have probably read, Mr. Vander Wal has
on its activities in the past year. We thank God for       resigned. We thank him again for his labors on our
His faithfulness to us in continuing to allow the          behalf. He has been helped in this past year by Mr.
R.F.P.A. freely to publish the Standard Bearer.            John Veldman and Mr. Peter Koole. These men
  During the past year the Publication and Book            assisted in the mailing of the Standard Bearer. The
Committee investigated new machinery to address            Board expresses its appreciation to them for their
the magazines. At our February meeting, the com-           assistance.
mittee recommended that we purchase an Address-              Another noteworthy item is the progress on the
ograph Electronic Addresser with a Direct Impres-          index. The committee publishing the index reports
sion Printer. The Board approved this recommend-           that it is being printed and should be ready for
ation. The electronic addresser is a small computer        distribution soon. The Board would like to thank all
which stores all our addresses on  s2 floppy discs.        those responsible for this monumental task. The in-
The addresses can be sorted by zip code and many           dex will certainly be a useful tool for many.
other ways, one of which is by the month in which
a subscripture is due. We plan also to address our           We also note with appreciation the labors of our
subscription notices with the machinery. Our old           editor, the writing staff and guest writers. Without
equipment is very out of date, but was kept work-          their work, we wouldn't have a magazine.
ing by Mr. Vander Wal. He coaxed many mailings               The retiring Board members are Tom Bodbyl,
out of the old machinery.                                  Charles Kalsbeek, and Robert Pastoor. On behalf of


46                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



the Association, the Board thanks them for their           and as churches continue to remember the cause of
labors in the past three years.                            the Standard Bearer and continue your support of it
      At our last meeting in August the Board agreed to    in the years ahead. May we never take this
help in planning a storage building with the Perma-        privilege for granted.
nent Book Committee.                                                                               Yours in Christ,
      The Board asks that you as members, readers,                                       Jim Van Overloop, Sec'y.


                                          Book Review


CONTENDING IDEOLOGIES IN SOUTH                             in this troubled country since the beginning of its
AFRICA,  edited by James Leatt, Theo Knefel and            history. The book discusses Capitalism, Liberalism,
Klaus Nurnberger; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing,              Africaner nationalism, African nationalism, Black
1986; 318 pp., $10.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof.          consciousness, Socialism, Marxism, Communism,
H. Hanko.)                                                 and Social democracy. The book makes an effort,
      This book is an effort to explain the deep racial    for the most part successful, to remain objective.
conflicts in South Africa from the viewpoint of the        While it is rather heavy going, it will help immense-
many ideologies which have jostled for supremacy           ly to understand the present conflicts there.




                     From The Contact Committee


      The Contact Committee of our Protestant Re-          shared equally by all our families. Many of our peo-
formed Churches in America, in behalf of our               ple bear extremely heavy financial responsibilities
Synod, brings to your attention the financial need         to our churches and our Christian schools. Our
of the Protestant Reformed Church of Wellington,           Synod was very sensitive to this reality of life.
New Zealand.                                                 However, our people have always shown them-
      The readership of this publication is undoubted-     selves willing and generous when called upon to
ly aware that a very small, struggling, and inde-          give for various kingdom causes. Therefore, we ask
pendent church at Wellington, New Zealand has              those who can to give from the heart for the sup-
asked for and has been granted sister church rela-         port of the ministry of the Word in the Protestant
tionship with us.                                          Reformed Church of Wellington, N.Z.
      This Protestant Reformed Church of six families        In addition, we invite those faithful readers of
requested $13,450.00 in aid per year for five years.       this publication who are not members of our chur-
Presently and for the past decade or more these            ches to help us in this labor of love.
saints have been without a shepherd of their own
and have had to make do with sermon tapes for                Send your gifts to Mr. Richard Teitsma, our
their spiritual food and guidance. The aid requested       synodical treasurer. Please be careful to designate
would enable them to support their own  under-             for which fund (the New Zealand Fund) your gift is
shepherd, whom they would call from one of our             sent. Mr. Teitsma's address is 4830 Green Moor
churches.                                                  Ct., Hudsonville, MI 49426.
      Synod judged the request of these brethren justi-                                  In the love of Christ Jesus,
fied. But Synod did not consider it proper to add                                               Rev. M. Kamp
this amount to our synodical assessment which are                                    (for the Committee of Contact)


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  47





                       News From Our Churches
                                                     Ben Wigger

                                                October 15, 1986




  On October 3 and 4 the young people in the west           who was granted his emeritation (or retirement) at
Michigan area held a Fall Retreat at Crystal Springs        the  Classis  West meeting in September. Rev.  Lan-
Camp in Dowagiac, Michigan. The theme for this              ting was ordained October, 1953, and served as
year's Retreat was "Fighting the Good Fight of              pastor in five different congregations during his 33
Faith." Besides discussions centered around this            years in the ministry which ended in our church in
worthwhile theme, there were other activities, in-          Pella, Iowa. We extend to him our thanks for all the
cluding organized games, an outdoor pool, and               years he has given our churches, and pray that. God
                                                                                                          .~
canoeing-.                                                  will bless him in the future.
  By now Rev. Bruinsma and his family have been               The Lecture Committee in the Grand Rapids area
back in Jamaica for almost a month. Rev. and Mrs.           has scheduled the annual Fall Lecture for October
Bruinsma, along with their family, spent an enjoy-          30, a Thursday night, at 8:00 p.m. at the First
able and perhaps very busy furlough of 5 weeks              Zeeland Christian Reformed Church with Rev.
back home in the U.S. They arrived in Grand                 Kamps as speaker.
Rapids, Michigan, the evening of August 11, and               From Byron Center we learn that the congrega-
while here spent much time with family and                  tion projects that it will be self-supporting by 1987.
friends. Rev. Bruinsma also had time to preach on           In light of that, no  Synodical aid was applied for.
several Lord's Days in Faith Church in Jenison,             Byron Center is also moving ahead with their
First Church in Grand Rapids, and South Holland             building plans. Their consistory has been informed
in Illinois. He was also able to acquaint some of us        by the Future Building Committee of progress be-
with a detailed account of his labors in Jamaica by         ing made. The committee is waiting for working
means of a short speech and slide presentation on           plans from the architect which will be used for
the churches that he has contact with in Jamaica.           estimating costs.
All of us would do well to remember Rev,                      From Grandville Church Publication Committee
Bruinsma and his family, as well as all our mis-            we find that the publication of Rev. Harbach's com-
sionaries, daily in our prayers. We can only begin          mentary on Genesis is nearly a reality. The book is
to imagine the difficult labors that these men of           expected some time in October, and will go on the
God face. And a letter or just a note to each of them       market at a price of $21.95, quite a deal for a 900
once in a while would mean so much.                         page cloth bound commentary. To order, send a
  A lot has happened to candidates Steve Key and            check payable to the Grandville Church Publishing
Russ Dykstra since graduation from our Seminary             Committee for the amount of $23.45 (includes the
in June. Both were extended calls and both ac-              $1.50 postage and handling) to: Mr. Dennis
cepted those calls. They were examined by  Classis          Dykstra, 3228 Chestnut, Grandville, Michigan
East and West in the first weeks of September. And          49418.
both were installed shortly thereafter: Rev. Key in           And from Lynden, Washington, we find that
Southeast in Grand Rapids on September 18, and              they introduce the theme for the year's family
Rev. Dykstra in Doon, Iowa, on September 12. We             visitation by means of a sermon dealing with that
thank the Lord that He has provided a place for             theme. This year's theme is "Walking in the Truth"
them in His church.                                         based on III John 3: 1-4. It seems that this could on-
                                                            ly lead to a very profitable spirit, and that the visits
  While these two men are beginning their labors            would be used of God for the strengthening of the
as ministers in our churches, another has reached           faith.
the end of his.  We. speak of Rev. George Lanting             Rev. Van  Baren and Prof. Hanko, along with
Ben Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed           their wives, will be leaving toward the end of this
Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.                            month for a visit to the Evangelical Reformed


                                                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                      P.O.  Box 6064
                                                                                            Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





48                                         THE STANDARD BEARER

Church of Singapore. They will be there the Sun-                       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
days of Oct. 26 and Nov. 2. As you might expect,            The Consistory of the Doon, Iowa, Protestant Reformed Church
they will be kept very busy with all sorts of church-    hereby expresses its heartfelt sympathy to our brother Consistory
related activities, including preaching. While they      member, Deacon Marvin Mantel in the loss of his mother, MRS.
                                                         JOHN MANTEL, SR.
are there, they will also take part in the ordination       May our God abundantly comfort the brother by His Word and
service for Jaikishin Mahtani.                           Spirit and strengthen him in the hope of the saints.
      Hope Church in Grand Rapids had a farewell         The Consistory,
program for Rev. Flikkema and his family on the -        Rev. R. Dykstra, Pres.
                                                         Edw. Van Egdom, Clerk
night of Sept. 26. Rev. Flikkema and his family
planned to leave for Covenant Church in New                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
Jersey on October 1.                                        The Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Society of Hope Church, Walker, expresses
      Hope has formed a trio consisting of the           its Christian sympathy to Carole Reitsma and her children, David,
                                                         Jonathan and Philip in the death of their dear husband and father,
Reverends den Hartog, Slopsema, and Van  Over-           DALE REITSMA and to members James and Barbara Huizinga in the
loop.                                                    loss of her brother.
                                                            "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."
                                                         (Psalm 116:15)
                                                         President: Rev. H. Hanko
                                                         Secretary: Helen Hop

                                                                            WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                                                            On October 17, 1986, the Lord willing, our parents and grand-
                                                         parents, MR. AND MRS. JOHN E. BODBYL will celebrate their.40th
                                                         wedding anniversary. We rejoice with them and thank our God for
                                                         their patient covenantal instruction and constant love. Our prayer is
                                                         that God will continue to bless them and keep them in His care.
                                                         George and  Marylynn Postmus             Thomas and Gretine Bodbyl
                                                           John, Nathan and Cathy                   Maria, Lorissa and Joel
                                                         George and Jayne Bodbyl                  Daniel and Anna Mae Bodbyl
                                                           George, Marcella, Monica and Emily       Amananda and  Tina
                                                         John and Jane Bodbyl                     John and Joan Mulder
                                                           Jennifer, John, Jason,                   Elizabeth
                                                           Jeremy, James and Julia

                                                                            WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                                                            On October 26, 1986, our parents, MR. AND MRS. HARRY
                                                         KAISER, will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. We give
                                                         thanks to our Covenant God for the years He has given them together
                                                         and for the Christian love and guidance they have given us. We pray
                                                         that God will continue to bless and strengthen them in the years
                                                         ahead.
                                                            "The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this
                                                         time forth and even for evermore." (Psalm 121:8)
                                                         Bern and Linda Zandstra             Doug Kaiser
                                                           Benjamin, MeriBeth               Tim Kaiser
                                                         Dan and Julie Kaiser

                                                                                     NOTICE!!!
                                                           Adams Street Christian School is in need of an administrator/
                                                         teacher, beginning in September of 1987. Applicants may address
                                                         letters of inquiry to the chairman of the Education Committee:
                                                                        Mr. John Flikkema, Jr.
                                                                        1444 Worcester N.E.
                                                                        Grand Rapids, Ml 49505


