 The
STA~NDARD
 BEARER
  A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                     Y





 "For unto you is born this day
 in the city of David a Saviour,
   which is Christ the Lord. "
                                      -Luke  Z:II


                                 Vol.  LXIII, No. 6, December 15, 1986  -


122                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER




                               CDNTENTS                                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                      ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                          Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
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       Caesar Augustus and Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122             Editor-in-Chief:   Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
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       "Sex" or Fornication? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125        Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. . Kortering, Rev. George C. Lub-
                                                                                 bers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. James  S opsema,
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MEDITATION
Cornelius Hanko




                              Caesar Augustus and Christ

                  "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree fi-om Caesar Augustus, that
               all the world should be taxed."                    Luke 2-1



  Strange!                                                                        ring to a decree from the head of the Roman empire!
  Surpassingly strange, it might seem, that the holy                                  Actually Caesar Augustus knew nothing about
writer under the guidance of the Holy Spirit should                               this Jesus, whose coming had been announced and
begin an account of the birth of the Savior by refer-                              awaited for four thousand years. And he could not


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                             123



care less.                                                  ing to the Scriptures! And had not the angel said at
   Daniel had spoken of the Roman empire as the             the time of the announcement of Jesus' birth, "He
fourth best arising out of the sea of the nations. He       shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the
had described it as a beast, dreadful and terrible,         Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto Him the
and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth;        throne of His father David; and He shall reign over
it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the            the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom
residue with the feet of it; and it had ten horns."         there shall be no end?"
   Had Augustus searched through the annals of the            Thus they made their plans to leave Nazareth, to
past, he might have found the record of Nebuchad-           take with them their necessary belongings, and to
nezzar's dream of a glamorous image, with a head            make their future home in David's city.
of gold, breast and arms of silver, loins of brass, and       Perfect timing!
legs and feet of iron and clay. He might have                 God's clock is never too early nor too late. It is
discovered the Stone  cut'without  hands from the           exactly on time, and that without fail!
mountainside, rolling down upon the image that
tottered on the unstable legs and feet of the Roman           At the appointed time Joseph and Mary arrived
empire, grinding it to powder, so that the wind             in the little town of Bethlehem. Evening had
would carry it away. He still would not have                already settled upon the land. Many other descen-
known that the time had come for the great Stone to         dants of David had arrived in the city before them.
make its appearance and to begin its task here on           Some had gone to relatives and friends, others had
earth. These things were hidden from him. Nor did           filled the town's inn to capacity. The "no vacancy"
he care.                                                    sign stared the weary couple in the face. Not far
                                                            away was a cave that served as a cattle stall, which
  Caesar Augustus was concerned about the affairs           God had appointed as the birth place for His Son,
of his great world empire, about the taxation and           the promised King! It was there that Joseph and
the revenue, and therefore he had issued a decree           Mary found shelter, and there that Mary's Child
that, though he did not know it, would greatly af-          was born!
fect the lives of an engaged couple in Nazareth of
Galilee!                                                      This was most opportune for the shepherds, who
                                                            had eagerly awaited the coming of their promised
  Marvelous!                                                Deliverer, even as they watched their sheep, and
  How wondrous are the ways of God, unfathomed              now waited through the weary night outside of
and unknown!                                                Bethlehem. It was entirely proper that God should
  In His providence God employs a decree issued             send His angel to them to bring the glad tidings that
in Rome to bring Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem!              caused heaven to burst forth in jubilant praise,
                                                            even as many hearts would be filled with "joy
  And that at such a time as this! One would say            unspeakable and full of glory!"
that the announcement of the decree came at a
most inopportune time for Joseph and his espoused             How proper that the wisemen, who saw the star
wife to make the long journey from Galilee to               in the East, should come by way of Jerusalem to
Judea.                                                      worship the new-born King. How proper that
  When the report first came to them, their reac-           Herod  should be informed and tremble, and that
tion likely was one of consternation. For to be prop-       the scribes should hear and turn a deaf ear! They
erly enrolled for taxation they would be compelled          could never say that they did not know!
to go to the city of their father David, since they           Deep humiliation!
both were of the house and lineage of David.                  The vital statistic read: Born, a male, 4 B.C. Legal
  But how could they undertake such a difficult             son of Joseph,  Bar-He& and of Mary, daughter of
journey when Mary was approaching the time for              Jacob, both formerly of Nazareth, in Galilee. Name:
her to have her Baby? Even though they would pro-           Jesus.
ceed cautionsly along the caravan route, the prob-            Records show that this Jesus made His first ap-
lem still remained that the Baby would be born              pearance in the temple at twelve years of age,
while they were away from home!                             where He amazed the scribes with His intelligent
  Gradually God gave them to see that this decree           conversation concerning the law and the prophets.
was controlled by a higher Hand than Caesar's.                He was a willing subject of the Roman govern-
Gradually they realized that the promised Heir to           ment. The Herodians and Pharisees plotted
David's throne was to be born in Bethlehem, accord-         together to trap Him with the question whether it
Cornelius Hanho is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    was legal to pay taxes to Caesar. If He said that they
Reformed Churches.                                          should pay taxes, He would be setting up the


1 2 4                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



authority of Caesar over against God, and if He said     was upon Him, and we now experience the healing
that they should not, He would be guilty of oppos-       power of His stripes!
ing the Roman government. But Jesus escaped their          We know assuredly that God hath made that
snare by answering. "Render unto Caesar the              same Jesus, whom we have crucified, both Lord
things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things        and Christ, Acts 2:36.
that are God's."                                           Wherefore God hath also highly exalted Him
  At the age of thirty three He was accused of           with all power in heaven and on earth! He has
blasphemy by the Sanhedrin, because He declared          received a Name which is above all names; before
that He was the Christ, the promised King. There-        Him every knee must bow and every tongue must
upon He was accused before Pilate of treason             confess that He is LORD, to the glory of the Father!
against the Roman government for trying to estab-        He is the eternal King of kings and Lord of lords!
lish His own earthly kingdom. The evidence
brought against Him was still fresh in many minds,         Why do the nations rage, and the modernists, the
for the Sunday previous to this He had allowed the       atheists, the humanists, and the defenders of all
multitudes to lead Him triumphantly into                 kinds of "isms" imagine vain things?
Jerusalem as their promised King!  Herod   ldressed        Why should the antichristian world power still
Him up as a mock King. The mob shouted loudly:           try to lift its vile head against the Most High God
"We have no king but Caesar." Pilate condemned           and His Christ? And why should all the peoples of
Him to be crucified according to the Roman law,          the earth unite themselves with Satan in a last
placing the accusation over Him: "Jesus of               desperate attempt to wipe out the name of God and
Nazareth, King of the Jews!"                             of His cause from the face of the earth?
  Herewith the records of Caesar were closed. Ex-          Why should the church of Jesus Christ be filled
cept that there was still a notation that in spite of    with fear and anxiety at the thought of this power
the fact that His grave was sealed and guarded, the      exalting itself against God and Christ? These are but
rumor still persisted that He was risen and' seen of     instruments in the hands of the Almighty to carry
His followers!                                           out the counsel of His will unto the coming of the
  Highly exalted!                                        kingdom of His dear Son and the glory of His
                                                         Name!
  The heavenly record carries on!                          Why should we stand amazed, as if some strange
  "The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers       thing befell us, when the Lord of heaven and earth
were gathered together against the Lord, and             sends earthquakes, floods, famines, and other
against His Christ. For of a truth against Thy holy      forms of judgment, in which we plainly hear the
Child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both               footsteps of our Lord as He hastens to return?
Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and
the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to       Why should we fear when lawless terrorists
do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel deter-            carry out their wicked threats, contrary to all law
mined before to be done," Acts  4:26-28.                 and order, or when rumblings of warfare are heard
                                                         from every part of the earth? These are the begin-
  We all, without exception, stood before the            nings of birth pangs, whereby God is preparing to
choice: Caesar or Christ! With Caesar we associate       make all things new!
the treasures and pleasures, the pomp and splendor         Our God has already set His King upon the holy
of this present world! With Jesus we must associate      hill of Zion as Lord over all!
the Man of sorrows, the suffering Servant of God,
who declares: "If any man will be My disciple, let         He will soon return to judge the nations in
him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow          righteousness and the people in justice!
Me!" Caesar's kingdom is visible, tangible, appeal-        He tells us: "Fear not, little flock, for it is your
ing to the flesh; Christ's Kingdom is spiritual,         Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom!
heavenly, and can be embraced only by a true and           God is for us; nothing can be against us! More
living faith! The two stand antithetically opposed to    than conquerors are we! For He will soon come,
each other! The one excludes the other! It is always:    and not delay!
either . . . or; never: both . . . and. By nature you
and I always choose the earthly, the tangible,             And we shall be saved!
which appeals to our flesh. Only grace can change
that!                                                             Give a gift of the
  Truly He has borne OUY griefs and OUY sorrows. He
was wounded for  OUY transgressions, and bruised                  Standard Bearer!
for  OUY iniquities. The chastisement of  OUY peace


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                           129



     island. Singapore is a very clean and beautiful city        may have made it just a bit cooler. But we did not
     with many islands of greenery tucked away be-               sweat as much in preaching and speaking as we
     tween the crowded buildings. We were even able to           often do in our own churches on Lord's Day eve-
     spend several hours in Malaysia to enjoy the oil            nings in the summer.
     palm plantations, the rubber tree plantations, and            It is becoming increasingly common for some of
     some of the spectacular scenery. The saints there           our people to travel overseas on vacations. We
     were warm in their friendship, and it was but a few         highly recommend that, if possible, our people con-
     days before it seemed to us as if we had known              sider visiting our fellow saints in Christ half way
     them a very long time. This too is part of the com-         around the world. It will give you a greater appre-
     munion of saints in which we are one in our Lord            ciation for the richness and beauty of the catholic
     Jesus Christ. Amazingly, the heat bothered us very          church to which we belong.
     little, although the time of the year was the begin-
     ning of the monsoon season with its rains, which              May God continue to bless our relations with our
                                                                 brethren and sisters in Singapore.
     IN HIS FEAR
     Barrett L. Gritters





                                            Whv Catechism?
                                                       L





       That is a good question. Why have Reformed                catechism classes every week for a good part of the
     churches always had a high view of catechism?               year, for 12, 13, and sometimes even 14 years.
     Why are parents spending so much time making                         * * * * * * * * * *
     sure their children know their catechism, in order            Consider that most of our children already
     that sometime during the week their pastor or               receive training in the Christian day schools, a good
     possibly an elder can ask them to recite the ques-          deal of them with thoroughly Reformed teachers
     tions? Or, more basically, why do covenant parents          who train them in the Scripture. Consider, too, that
     send their children to catechism?                           many of our children weekly receive instruction
        On evening, while washing dishes after a hard day        from Sunday School teachers. More yet, concerned
     and looking up against a hectic evening, Mom had an         as well about their children's inner growth as their
     idea. Drying her hands, she went to the dining room         outer, godly parents spend time at home telling Bi-
~    desk, opened the drawer, and pulled out New Testa-          ble stories, and spend time around the table with
     ment History for Juniors catechism book. This would         family devotions, drawing out Biblical truths that
     be the way, she hoped, Every evening would have a           apply to their children's lives.
     short period of time when they could go over the lesson
     for next week's catechism class - while washing and           God forbid that anyone think this to be an excuse
     wiping the dishes.                                          for not putting much work into, or not sending
                                                                 their children to, catechism. Nevertheless, the
       Why does an idea like this come to the mind of a          question is, "Why catechism if we have all this
     covenant mother? Why do we send our children to             already?"
     catechism? Thankful that we have this (very prop-
     er) tradition, we ought to review why our  consis-            That we have a good'reason is critical in this age
     tories call parents to send their children to               when almost all Reformed practices are rejected
                                                                 wholesale. When many churches are either
     Barrett L. Gritters is pastor of the Protestant Reformed    eliminating catechism or giving it less time and at-
     Church  of Byron Center, Michigan.                          tention, you and I need to equip ourselves for the


130.                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



defense of our practice of sending out six  (5?) to       especially two things. First, in Matthew 28, the
eighteen (21?)-year-olds  an hour a week to be taught     Lord gives the apostles,  as representatives  of  the
by their pastor. Why catechism?                           church, the mandate to go into all nations "baptiz-
FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF DUTY                                        and teaching them. . ." (vss. 19,20). Surely,
                                                          Etause of the truth of the covenant, the calling of
  Why do you send your children to catechism?             the church is to teach the children as well as the
That the Scripture teaches the  parent's  responsi-       adults. Second, Deuteronomy  6:6-9, quoted above,
bility to teach their children is well known in most      which says, "Thou shalt teach them diligently . . ."
Reformed circles. Because we know that well, we           is addressed  to the nation  of Israel as the church.
have (if possible) our own Christian day schools          The singular is used in that passage. The passage is
which are  parental  instead of  parochial  (church       not speaking first of all to parents, but to the nation
run). But why, then, do Reformed believers main-          as a whole (to "Israel," "thou"). The calling of the
tain the  church's  duty to teach Bible truths to the     church is to teach its children the wonderful works
children of believers rather than, or in addition to,     of the Lord. This Reformed churches do in
the parents and their parental schools?                   catechism.
  The background for catechism training  by the             This does not mean that parents do not have the
church is the truth of the covenant. Take away this       duty to teach the catechism to their children. No
great Bible truth, or distort the covenant into an        more does catechism at church relieve parents of
agreement between God and man, and catechism              their duty to teach them Bible truths at home, than
becomes a work of the mission or evangelism com-          Christian schooling relieves parents of their duty to
mittee rather than the consistory. But understand         teach their children obedience at home. The Synod
this truth well, and catechism becomes not only a         of Dordt was so impressed with this duty that it ad-
necessary, but a wonderfully blessed necessity for        vised consistories to supervise the catechetical in-
the church along with covenant parents.                   struction that parents gave to their children at
  We need not show extensive Scriptural proof for         home. The church instructed the parents what they
the parental duty with children's education. None         ought to teach their children and supervised this in-
would deny this. To quote only two: "For I                struction with periodic visits.
(Jehovah) know him (Abraham), that he will com-             Parental instruction in Bible (catechism) lessons
mand his children and his household after him and         is not only necessary, but is a great blessing to the
they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice        church. The preacher or elder who sees nothing but
and judgment . . ." (Genesis  l&17-19). "And these        blank stares when he asks about the present lesson
words, which I command thee this day, shall be in         becomes both discouraged and does not get very far
thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently         in applying the truth to their lives and driving home
unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou       the great themes of the Bible during the short time
sittest  in thine house . .  ." (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)  -    he has. But what a blessing for the pastor who can
not to mention all the others, especially in Prov-        teach the truth to children who have already heard
erbs.                                                     the basics at home from their father or mother.
  The reason the Lord wills that parents teach their      Rather than be disappointed because he feels the
children is not first of all that the children might      parents stole his thunder, the teacher is thrilled to
become saved in the narrow sense of the word              hear little Billy say, "Yes, daddy told us about that
(although this instruction is part of the  process  of    already . .  ." or, "Mom explained that to us
their salvation). Rather, God wills parents to teach      before!"
their children because these  are  children of the          When both the church and the parents carry
covenant. Our babies are not baptized in order to         their load, children  greatly  profit. The duty is the
bring them into the covenant of God. But because          parents' as well as the church's.
they are members of the covenant, God calls us to         FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF THE GOAL
baptize them as a sign of that covenant. Now, since
they are members of Gods covenant, God wills                Why do we have the practice of sending children
that parents teach them the truths and obligations        to catechism? Because the parents as well as the
of the covenant of grace.                                 church have the duty to nurture them spiritually.
                                                          But there is another way to ask the question: "Why
  So far the parents' duty.                               catechism?" That is, "For what purpose are parents
  But this duty also falls on the church. When you        and the church called to teach the children?" Or,
and I bring our children for the sacrament of bap-        "What is the goal in catechism?"
tism, we believe that God has given those children          One danger that parents and consistories face in
not only to parents, but to the church. The duty to       catechism is having a  wrong  goal  - the mere in-
teach is also the church's. That is plain from            tellectual superiority of their children over children


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               131



in other churches, the mental ability to split theo-       learn from and desire what they have.
logical hairs from one end to the other. This is a           An outstanding landmark on this (never ending!)
cold, mechanical approach to God's calling for us          road to spiritual maturity is the public confession of
and our children.                                          faith. Basic in all goals for catechism is this goal.
  Our goal for covenant children is their spiritual        With their hearts young men or women believe un-
maturity. This demands increase in mental capaci-          to righteousness and with their mouth confession is
ty of Biblical truths, surely. This calls for              made to salvation (Romans  1O:lO). Would to God
knowledge of theological terms and controversies.          that our young people would be impressed with the
But the goal not to be lost sight of is the  spirifuaZ     importance of this great text from Romans. My
maturity of the child, so that he can take his (her)       heart's desire and prayer for the young people of
place in the office of believer in the church, so that     our church is that they might confess their faith to
he truly knows God and Jesus Christ whom he has            salvation. Here is the first goal of catechism train-
sent (John 17:3).  This we long for, pray for, lead our    ing: confession of the faith God gave them through
children toward, and rejoice over when it comes.           the  meuns of faith. At this happy landmark the
The attainment of spiritual manhood and woman-             "man of God" (I Tim. 6: 11) testifies that the truths
hood of our children is the greatest thrill for cove-      he has spent years learning are  his  truths to be
nant parents. No greater joy has any man than this,        bought and defended at all costs, that the way of
that his children walk in the truth!                       godliness presented in the Scriptures is his resolve,
  Perhaps we as parents can examine our own                that the daily conversion for which his parents
lives here. We honestly desire that our children ex-       have prayed and longed is his prayer.
perience the blessings of salvation and truly have           Always catechism sets its sights on this goal, the
catechism mean something in their own lives. But           spiritual growth and maturity of the children which
do we personally know what that means? Does our            climaxes (though does not stop) in their public con-
spiritual maturity bubble over to our children, so         fession. Much is involved in this spiritual maturity:
that they desire to have the same spiritual joy and        the ability to understand and defend truths of the
maturity that they see we possess? Is it maybe the         Bible, the desire to assume the duties and privileges
case that we satisfy ourselves with learning for           of confessing members, and a godly resolve daily to
learning's sake, worshiping for intellectual stimula-      be turned to the life of the new man in Christ. God
tion, studying for argument's sake? Perhaps parents        grant that our catechism might be blessed with this
need to pray that their lives be changed and their         fruit, to His glory and the strength of His Church.
maturity be increased so that their children might         Next time: "Catechism  - What do they learn?"

ALL AROUND US
Robert D. Decker




                                         Preaching Passe?
                                     The Church in China
                                        A Victory in Court



Preaching Passe?:                                          time, it is no secret that there is a great deal of
                                                           criticism of preaching coming from the pews in
   Many say it is. Preaching, so it is alleged, is a       many denominations. This is true not only of the
very poor method of communicating the Gospel.              more liberal, mainline churches, but of the more
There are other and better ways to convey the              conservative churches in the Reformed tradition. It
message of the Gospel. Preaching is an out-moded           is no secret that there is criticism of and  dissatis-
form of communicating the Good News of  salva-             faction with preaching in our own churches. Some
tion by grace through faith, God's gift. At the same       are saying preaching in our churches "just isn't


132                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



what it used to be." For some the preaching is too                 of the minister. Consistories must also see to it that
dqctrinal,  for others too polemical, for others too               the pastor has the necessary time to prepare his ser-
practical,, for others too deep or too shallow. Some               mons. 3) Those in the pew must also insist on good
blame the seminary and others blame the preachers                  preaching, pray for their pastors, encourage their
and others blame both for this.                                    pastors, and not burden their pastors with unneces-
   Jean Shaw, in a recent issue of the  Presbyterian               sary interruptions or demands. 4) Professors must
]ouunaZ (Nov. 2,  1986),  has something to say about               stress the necessity of good preaching and in all
all of this. Shaw, it must be remembered, writes                   their teaching must strive to train "faithful men
from a Presbyterian perspective and this means                     who are able to teach others" in the art of
some of what she says may not apply to us. Her                     preaching. 5) All of us must fervently pray that God
point, however, is well taken:                                     will give us men to study and prepare for the
                                                                   ministry of the Word. We must also fervently pray
         Granted that we expect good preaching every Sun-          that God will preserve among us the pure, faithful
       day of the year, do we see it as a priority? Would we       preaching of the Word.
       vote for the sermon as the single most influential ac-
       tivity of the church? Or are we tempted to see our          The Church in China:
       building as that which will appeal to the world and           Are the churches affiliated with China's govern-
       draw its people to a saving faith? How about all those      ment-approved China Christian Council (CCC)
       programs designed to lure recalcitrant fish into our
       congregational sea? . . . Christ emphasized the             authentic representatives of Protestant Christianity
       message. So did Paul, who speaks over and over again        in that country? There is difference of opinion on
       about preaching and proclaiming. If the early church        this question. Christianity Today (Nov.  21, 1986)
       had programs, he must have left them in the hands of        recently interviewed two "China experts" one of
       Rufus, Tryphena, and Tryphosa . . . . Paul preached.        whom answered "yes" and the other of whom
       There was power in the Word. There is power in the          answered "no." Ralph Covell, professor of mis-
       Word today. We can easily concentrate on secondary          sions at Denver Conservative Baptist Theological
       issues, de-emphasizing preaching, and pressure our          Seminary and a former missionary to China was
       pastor to neglect his sermon preparation for all kinds      asked:
       of other worthwhile, but less important things. We
       can expect him to be present at every meeting in the           Why do you maintain the CCC authentically represents
       church and also represent us  in the community. We             F'rotesfantism  in China?
       interrupt his studying with`phone calls that could easi-         CCC churches stand doctrinally in the tradition of
       ly wait until after lunch. We peck away at the time in         orthodox Christianity. They worship and preach the
       the worship service reserved for the sermon with all           Word, and there  is evidence of the Holy Spirit's
       kinds of announcements and special events, and then            presence.
       chastise the preacher for daring to extend the time to         But aren't they controlled by the government?
       65 minutes . . . . Another part of our problem is the
       lack of conviction that preaching really is the special          I have seen no proof of that, and I think it's a myth.
       way in which the Holy Spirit speaks to us. We need to          These churches have a great deal of autonomy. Their
       be refreshed with study of the many New Testament              leaders are chosen by people in various areas who
       passages which speak forcibly  on this subject.                meet as the church . . . .
       Without a strong Biblical defense we fall pray to all          Are official churches free to cany out the mission of the
       the alternatives practiced in the worship services of          church - to evangelize, for example?
       every church around town. We install twin quadra-                I can't imagine how the church in China could "be
       phonic speakers and a mixer like the Baptists. We              the church" more than it is. But it's not like the
       become liturgical like the Episcopalians. We beg for           church in America. Remember, this is a Marxist socie-
       "openness" like the  Pentecostals . . . .                      ty. Christians may not hold open-air meetings or pass
   Scripture and our Reformed  ConfessionS  make                      out tracts. To be wise as serpents and harmless as
clear the fact that preaching is the chief means of                   doves seems to mean evangelizing within the limita-
grace. Christ gathers, defends, and preserves His                     tions. There is no lack of freedom to talk with friends
church by means of the preaching of the Word.                         or family about Jesus. I visited a church in China last
This means: 1) Our preachers must make preaching                      summer and asked the pastors, "Are you able to do
their chief task. They must spend the -time and ef-                   evangelism?" They said, "We'll let you judge. In 18
fort week in and week out to make two good, ex-                       months we baptized 400 people."
pository sermons. 2) Consistories must insist on                      But is there freedom to worship outside official churches?
good preaching, and where preaching is deficient                      Aren't those who do so subject to persecution?
the elders must take the necessary steps to rectify                     I don't deny there is persecution. But it is a local
the situation even to the point of formal discipline                  problem, not a result of government policy. A strong
                                                                      leftist element remains in China from the Cultural
Robert D. Decker is professor of Practical Theology and               Revolution of 1966-77. It is trying to block the in-
New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.                    novative policies of the current leadership in the


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       1.33



   political, economic, and religious arenas. It's not sur-        Is persecution of the unofficial church a major problem?
   prising that leftists give Christians a hard time . . . .         Yes, especially in the countryside. In every prov-
  This testimony was contradicted by Jonathan                      ince in central China there are evangelists in prison.
Chao, founder and director of the Chinese Church                   I know of 21 in just one section of a province. Persecu-
Research Center in Hong Kong, who was asked:                       tion has softened in the last few years because the
                                                                   government is attempting to establish a peaceful en-
  Why do you contend the CCC is not an authentic repre-            vironment in order to attract foreign investment. But
   sentative  of Protestantism in China?                           the government continues to scrutinize any independ-
      Most of the personnel of TSPM (Three-self Patriotic          ent Christian activity . . . .
   Movement, an organization that represents the official         We, of course, have no way of knowing officially
   church in China to the government) and C.CC are the          or by first hand experience which of the above "ex-
   same. In effect, the two organizations are identical.        perts" is correct. We are inclined to believe that
   TSPM, by its own definition, is not a church, but a          Chao gives the better picture of the actual situation
   Protestant political movement, organized by the              of the church in mainland China. Many Christians
   government. The church submits to Christ, not the
   state, as its Head.                                          there are persecuted severely for their faith and
                                                                many more are underground. They need our
   Aren't CCC churches autonomous? Don't they choose            prayers.
   their own leaders, for example?                              A Victory in Court:
     There is not proof of that. Even CCC pastors say
   they were appointed, not chosen, by local Christians.          In the same issue Christianity  Today reports that:
   Are CCC churches free to carry out the mission of the        "Fundamentalist Christian parents in Tennessee
   church?                                                      who objected to some of the textbooks their
     They are not able to function according to the Bible       children were required to read in school have won
   without interference. Official government policy per-        their federal court case. The parents maintained the
   mits freedom of religious belief, but this means only        books advanced ideas contrary to Christian teach-
   that people are free to worship in official churches. It     ing . . . . Federal District Judge Thomas Hull ruled
   does not permit voluntary evangelism outside the             that the parents may allow their children to skip the
   church building or by people other than recognized           reading class, provided they learn to read  ,at
   pastors. Pastors are forbidden to preach on certain          home . . .  ." While this is encouraging, public
   doctrines, such as Creation and the second coming of         schools ought not be viewed as an option for Chris-
   Christ. If someone teaches modalism or some other            tian parents. If we are to be obedient to the Lord's
   heresy, there is no church court to exercise dis-            covenantal obligations we need our own parentally
   cipline . . .                                                controlled Christian Schools.

GUIDED INTO ALL TRUTH
Thomas C. Miersma





     Scripture and the Post Reformation Era



  With this article we begin to direct our attention              In the first place, the Reformation laid down the
to the doctrine of Scripture and its development                fundamental principles of sound Biblical  interpre-
following the period of the Reformation. There are              tation and the doctrine of Scripture. As reformed
two basic elements which necessarily  shapes any                believers this forms our starting point. The re-
consideration of this period in the development of              formed doctrine of Scripture was elicited from
the doctrine of the Word of God.                                Scripture itself. It is Scripture's own doctrine  con-


134                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



cerning itself, God's Word concerning His Word.             ciple that Scripture interprets Scripture and is its
We take our stand therefore upon that foundation,           own interpreter answers any questions concerning
for its doctrine and principles are the doctrine and        the means by which Scripture is to be interpreted
principles of Scripture itself. This does not mean          and eliminates any other standard of interpretation,
that every aspect of the doctrine of the Word of            whether that be philosophy, archaeology, modern
God was spelled out with perfect clarity by the             psychology, or modern social-political thought.
Reformation. New questions would arise after the
Reformation which the reformers had not fully                 The period following the Reformation, to the pres-
dealt with, as they were not issues which they con-         ent, to which we will turn our attention in coming
fronted directly.                                           articles, can therefore be characterized as one of
                                                            refinement and defense of the truth on the part of
  The fundamental issue the reformers confronted            those who held and do hold fast to the heritage of
was that of the authority of God's Word as the only         the Reformation. It is at the same time a period of
rule for faith and life, over against Rome's elevating      departure from the truth of God's Word, a period of
the church and her decrees and pronouncements to            apostasy,  ,of subtle corruption of the truth, and
the seat of supreme authority. The reformers,               serious error. The assaults upon the reformed truth
therefore, when speaking of the inspiration of              of God's Word have been many. They have taken
Scripture and while holding the same organic view           on different forms, come from different quarters,
of inspiration which we hold, also used language            and have been directed at different aspects of the
which at times appears to reflect a more                    truth. The trustworthiness of Scripture has been
mechanical conception of inspiration. The doc-              the object of attack, that is, its accuracy and  iner-
trines of infallibility and inerrancy were also not         rancy. That it is God's Word and not man's word,
direct issues at the time of the Reformation. Thus          that it is a unity, that it is its own reliable and in-
the reformers, when speaking of Scripture, were             fallible interpreter have all been called into ques-
free to use language which we would today avoid             tion. Man has sought to place his reason, his emo-
because these truths are under attack. This free-           tions, his experiences, and his science above that
dom of the reformers when speaking of Scripture             Word of God.
has also been used repeatedly by the enemies of the           Therein lies the second element. In many
reformed doctrine of Scripture to read back into the
reformers' writings views which they did not hold           respects also the fundamental issues over which
and would have repudiated.                                  the reformers had to contend with Rome are still
                                                            the issues over which the battle is currently being
  In spite of this occasional lack of clarity or preci-     waged. The Church of Rome at the time of the
sion in the reformers' writings when judged in the          Reformation not only sought to maintain its own
light of modern controversy, the reformed doctrine          authority to make the Word of God subject to its
of Scripture may be said to have reached its essen-         decrees, but it had also fostered the climate of
tial completion with the close of the Reformation           philosophy and free thinking which was found in
era. The Post-Reformation era has been one not so           the Renaissance. This might at first appear to be a
much of development as of refinement and clarifi-           contradiction, but such is not the case. Rome
cation of the doctrine of the Word over against             separated faith and reason as two distinct kinds of
heresy, error and assaults upon the truth of God's          revelation. According to Roman Catholic teaching,
Word. The reformers laid down two basic prin-               faith is a matter of revealed theology which itself is
ciples concerning God's Word, which are funda-              a matter of Scripture and tradition, which in turn is
mental. The first is solu scripture,  Scripture alone as    a matter of church dogma. Reason however, pro-
the sole source and,standard-of authority. The sec-         ceeding from the creation or general revelation, in-
ond concerns the interpretation of God's Word.              dependent of God's Word, produces natural
namely that Scripture interprets Scripture. In these        theology by human wisdom, and is found even in
two principles is comprehended the whole of the             the pagan philosophers. Rome maintained that
reformed doctrine of the Word of God. They                  reason or natural theology alone was insufficient of
answer the questions concerning Scripture's in-             itself, but made it the servant of revealed theology.
fallibility, inerrancy, trustworthiness, and also the       Rome thus attempted by her tradition to marry the
nature and extent of its authority. Scripture alone         Word of God and the pagan Greek philosophies of
as that which possesses sole authority for faith and        Plato and Aristotle. Thus we find that although the
life, the Word of God and His rule for the church,          Church of Rome was rigid and unyielding in
leaves no room for a Bible which is part man's              church dogma (particularly against the Reforma-
word and part God's Word, in any form. The prin-            tion which represented a threat to the church's
                                                            wealth, power and worldly influence) during this
Thomas C. Miersma is pastor  of  the First Protestant       same period, `worldly and dissolute popes fostered
Reformed Church of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.               the pursuit of the pagan art, culture, and


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                              135



philosophy which was the preoccupation of the             addition to addressing the various errors within the
Renaissance. Many of these popes also encouraged          church, we will also have to say something about
the new humanism which was rising in Italy, with          the history and development of modern philosophy
its delight in the pleasures and lusts of the flesh.      and its effect upon the church.
  The reformers however, severed the bond be-               At the same time the reformed doctrine of the
tween revealed and natural theology and liberated         Word had to be and must still be defended against
theology from this false union to bring theology          Rome, the influence also of various other sects
wholly into subjection to the Word of God, and in         arose at the time of the Reformation. This means
the light of that Word also to bring all things into      that the struggle to maintain the truth of God's
subjection to the will of God. The Reformation had        Word is one which has been and is being fought on
no place for a separate natural theology apart from       a number of different fronts at the same time. So
God's Word.                                               often the church, in defending the truth from one
  The Reformation however had also this conse-            foe has been tempted to swing to another extreme,
quence, that the power of the Roman Church over           equally in error, which for a time appears as an at-
life across Europe and its hold upon the thoughts of      tractive solution to the problems before her and
men was also weakened. In the breakdown of                with which she contends. This is no less true in
Rome's power and control over men, the seeds of           contending for God's Word.
worldly philosophy which were already present in            Nor can the struggle to maintain the doctrine of
the Church of Rome were also given room to grow           the Word of God be separated or completely
and develop independently as a separate force out-        isolated in our consideration from other assaults
side the control of the church and church dogma.          upon the truths of that Word. Arminianism, to use
The result was that in its development, worldly           but one example, by its denial of the sovereignty of
philosophy and the revived humanism of the                God constitutes not only an attack upon the doc-
Renaissance now became increasingly an open               trines of grace and salvation but also upon the doc-
power in opposition to the gospel and the Word of         trine of Scripture, for only by human reasoning can
God.                                                      the truth of God's sovereign grace, plainly set forth
  Thus the Reformed Church in its struggle to             in the Word of God, be resisted and rejected. Armin-
maintain the truth of God's Word, must contend            ianism exactly because it sets itself against God's
not only with error within the church, false doc-         Word in this matter, brings into the study of that
trine and apostasy from within, but also with the         Word the principles of worldly wisdom and ration-
rising and powerful influence of modern                   alism. The God Who sovereignly gave His Word,
philosophy. That is especially the case as the world      set down in the Scriptures, is the same sovereign
by means of its philosophy seeks to re-enter the          God in salvation. Deny the one and the other also is
church to overthrow it. That means for our con-           destroyed. To these things then we will turn our at-
sideration of this Post-Reformation period that in        tention, D.V., in future articles as we consider
                                                          Scripture in the Post-Reformation era.
THE DAY OF SHADOWS
John A. Heys





                                 A Timely Warning



  When one's earthly life comes to an end, an end         and life, so that one's sin here below is terminated
comes at once to ,one's use of this present world and     in the most absolute sense of the word. This is true
all that it contains. This then brings an end to one's    for both believer and unbeliever.
ability to misuse one's time, talents, possessions


136                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



   But there is another way which God uses, one He         since he was called the first time makes it clear that
uses in His grace and on His elect children; during        he not only must be reminded of his first call, but
their pilgrimage here below, that takes from them          also that he must be cautioned and warned not to
even the desire to walk according to the lust of their     say as much as one word of his own. He'was told to
flesh. By His word and Spirit God turns His elect          preach "the preaching that I bid thee."
child away from the sin into which he has fallen              What a timely lesson this is also for us in this day
and is  walkmg.  In this instance He does not use          and age! The inclination of our flesh is always to go
physical death but instead instills spiritual life, or     in one wrong direction or another, or to demand
quickens a spiritual life that had been implanted in       that the preaching on our pulpit go in one wrong
the past and was not asserting itself. Thereby He          direction or another. It is not only the preacher who
enables this child to walk in love to God and to the       needs to be warned. Many a preacher comes with
neighbor.                                                  that which is contrary to that which God bids His
  Now Jonah, who had been walking in the sin of            servants to preach, because of pressure from the
refusing to go to Nineveh at God's command, and            congregation, the  Classis,  or the Synod. It is so
to preach unto its inhabitants, did not have his earth-    tempting to say less than God bids us to say, or to
ly life ended in physical death, even though he            say more than He commands us to preach. Certain
deserved it, and had come very, very close to it. For      doctrines go strongly against our flesh, especially at
not only did God have more work for him to do on           a given moment. These we let go  - or insist that
this earth, but as an elect child of God, his sins         they be let go  - and on our pulpits they become
were eternally blotted out by the cross of Christ,         covered with dust. Philosophies of men, worldly
which is eternally in God's counsel and in His             ambitions, social advantages rather than spiritual
thoughts. In this instance God used that way of            matters push sin, shame, repentance, the cross, the
grace, and by His word and Spirit He moved Jonah           holy wrath of God, the antithesis, and spiritual
to rise up and go to Nineveh.                              values off the pulpit. Often when they are rightly
  Jonah still did not understand God's way. He             preached, there are violent reactions, not only from
understood that God wanted him to preach to these          the pew but also from other officebearers. Yes it
Gentiles in this city that was such a fierce and           did happen, but not in one of our churches, and for
powerful enemy of the people wherein God was               that we may be thankful. In a discourse which we
gathering His church. But this time he did not try to      had about the "foolishness of preaching," of which
flee away from his calling but rose up to go and do        Paul speaks in I Corinthians 121, it was stated that,
what he was bidden to do.                                  rather than by the preaching, we should gather the
                                                           church by hospitality. Preaching must be subser-
  This does not mean that Jonah no longer had to           vient to and take a back seat to hospitality. Con-
struggle with his flesh. Just read the last chapter in     demn no false doctrine, speak not of God's hatred
the book of Jonah, and you will see how his flesh          and wrath against sin but only of His love. See and
again asserts itself. He still had lessons to learn. He    preach some good in the unbeliever. Soft-pedal sin.
must learn to bow before God's will no matter what         And even though Paul in II Timothy 3:16, 17 men-
He decrees. He must cease ascribing folly to God,          tions doctrine first, as that which makes the man of
or questioning Gods love. He is indeed in need of a        God perfect, thoroughly furnishing him to all good
timely warning. He must heed the command to go             works, the less doctrine you preach, the less we
and preach. But he must also be warned to preach           really know about God and sin, the more
only that which God bids him to preach. He must            hospitable and friendly our church will be; and we
not speak one word of his own. He must not color           will grow! Grow in numbers but not in spiritual
the message by his own evil feelings. His eagerness        life.
to see Nineveh destroyed must not surface in his
.preaching.                                                   No, today there is such a clamoring for entertain-
                                                           ment, amusement, a sermon that can make you
  For Jonah to preach that in forty days Nineveh           laugh, not cry about sin. And where today, in what
would be destroyed was not difficult for his flesh,        are called Reformed circles, do you hear of total
even though that flesh would rather preach that the        depravity, sovereign, eternal, double predestina-
destruction would come in ten days or less. Subse-         tion, truths which God bids us to preach? Instead of
quent history reveals how badly he wanted the              being warned by God to preach what He bids us,
whole city destroyed, and how greatly he was dis-          men are warned by other men that such preaching
appointed when it was spared of this devastation.          is not hospitable and friendly, and that you are with
Surely Jonah must be warned. All his behavior              that kind of preaching going to drive men away
                                                           from your church. Numerical growth means all,
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant      and spiritual growth is pushed into the background,
Reformed Churches.                                         if it is considered at all. How timely then for us is


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                             141



ing to be the crown of Christ; and the Classes ought         possesses the right to consider these matters and to
to issue an invitation to come together by means of               decide concerning them in the name of the Lord.
delegates on the grounds of the Formulae of Unity
in better Synods. Through these Synods the refor-                 65. Concerning the Matter Of Taking Over The
mation of the church federation as a whole ought to                    Classical and Provincial Committees.
be taken in hand.                                                   The way of taking possession of Classical and
           * * * * * * * * * *                                    Provincial committees is something which seems to
   In the fourth place, concerning the magistrates:               others to be desirable but is something which I ad-.
                                                             vise against. It is not a preferable way because it is a
   1) The magistrates ought to retract the royal             way of opportunity by means of which principles
decisions of 1815 and 1852, so that the fiction                   lose their golden lustre. More importantly, to sit in
disappears that in 1852 the churches were free to                 such a committee under this Church Order is an ex-
regulate their own future; something which is false               ercise of a power which belongs, not to us, but to
because the ruling which came into effect in 1852            Jesus our King. Further, even if one succeeded with
was entirely governed by influences that resulted            the help of dissenting brothers, and thus without
from the decisions of 1815 and had penetrated into           the firm ground of a confession, to take over church
the church.                                                       committees, he will ultimately have to separate
   2) The magistrate must take the necessary steps                even from these, and he will once again find
to remove from the Constitution Article 168 as soon          himself in the same old struggle. Finally, what our
as possible. This article concerns the financial ties        brothers do not consider with sufficient seriousness
of the government to the local churches. The                 is this: that one who goes through church reforma-
government ought if possible to pay back to the              tion in such an unspiritual way and replaces the
local churches in one sum or in regular payments             wonderful power of penance before God and the
what rightfully belongs to these churches.                   nobility of prayers with political calculation cannot
   3) The magistrate ought to grant to those chur-           be blessed.
ches which have completely broken with the State                    If however, many of our brothers intend to at-
Church the privileges promised to them in the law            tempt to do this, we do not wish to judge them and
of 1853 which recognized various denominations,              we give over the result of the struggle to Him
i.e., as long as Article 168 is in force in the Constitu-    without Whose higher inspiration all reformation
tion. l                                                      fails.
           * * * * * * * * * *                                      But what other or better way than the one we
   In the fifth place, concerning the separated chur-        have suggested is chosen by others for the reforma-
ches, we observe the following:                              tion of our churches, one thing must be avoided by
                                                             all the brethren of the faith with quiet earnestness
   1) These churches have to emphasize more em-              and holy urgency. That is this: the spiritual stream
phatically their independence as local churches so           which begins in confession of guilt and comes to
that every remnant of the Collegiate system is               manifestation and conversion of life must not flow
vanished.                                                    away under the cold ice of church political
   2) They must maintain fellowship with other ag-           maneuvering. The impulse for reformation by
grieved churches which desire this.                          members or office bearers must never be restrained
   3) As soon as the original churches have won              by an antinomian theory of concentrating on petty
back their freedom of action by spiritual reforma-           differences. It must never rest until all things in the
tion, by getting rid of unworthy elements, and by            church of God are once again done according to the
freeing themselves from every wrong church con-              rule of His Word. Finally, in connection with the
nection, these aggrieved churches have to                    zeal for the Name of the Lord, even when  one.
amalgamate again with these churches into one                brother must testify against another, a better love
local church even if that is in separate parishes.           must not dry up in any of us but must blossom in
                                                             every heart on the grave of our own ego.                    -
   In this entire church political part of reformation
our churches will have to put themselves on the                   1 The matters to which Kuyper refers in these paragraphs are
basis of Gods Word according to the Confession                    matters that affected the reorganization of the State Church. In
which is found in our Three Forms of Unity. These                 1815 this State Church was reorganized during the time of
Formulae can never be  equalled  to the Scriptures;               Napoleon. In 1852 various changes were made in the Constitu-
for that reason gravamena which might be brought                  tions of the Netherlands' government in connection with the
                                                                  Separation which took place under Van Raalte and de Cock.
against a creed on the ground of Scripture must be           I                                                                        6
brought, not to a particular person, nor to an office
bearer, but only to the churches gathered in a legal                   Read the Standard Bearer!
Synod. This is true because the Synod alone


142                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



                                         Book Review


EVERYTHING IS POLITICS BUT POLITICS IS                    tian works for salvation, cooperates with the world
NOT EVERYTHING,  A Theological Perspective                in its endeavors, and does all he can to secure the
on Faith and Politics, by H.M. Kuitert (translated        salvation of "well-being."
by John  Bowden);  Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing               Furthermore, when he gets around to talking
Co., 1986; 183 pp., $8.95 (paper). (Reviewed by           about the business of the church, i.e., the kingdom
Prof. H. Hanko)                                           of heaven, he is extremely vague and dissatisfying.
  This is a very strange book. It is strange, first of    If you would ask me what Kuitert's view of the
all, because it just does not seem right for a book on    kingdom `of heaven is, I would have to respond: I
politics to emerge from the pen of a systematic           simply do not know. Sometimes he seems to be
theologian  - Prof. Kuitert is professor of               speaking of a second coming of Christ and the
Systematic Theology at the Free University of             establishment of that kingdom when a new order is
Amsterdam; although this may simply be indicative         introduced. Other times he seems to think also of
of the theological trends in the Gereformeerde            the kingdom of heaven in some kind of earthly
Kerken. It is a strange book, in the second place,        terms. There are even points at which he seems to
because Kuitert is, according to his own testimony,       shrug his shoulders as if to say that he has no idea
backing off a previously held position and now ad-        of what the kingdom of heaven is all about. And
vocating that the church does wrong when she              this latter may be closest to the truth, because he
becomes involved in politics.                             gives far greater priority to laboring in the kingdom
                                                          of this world than "seeking the kingdom of heaven
  It must be clearly understood that Kuitert means        and its righteousness." By this means the church is
by this, not a denunciation of individual Christians      almost shoved into a dark and useless corner  -
getting involved in politics, but the church as           although Kuitert is at some pains to disavow his in-
church, i.e., as institute. It must also be understood    tent to rob the church of her significance. But
that by politics he means not only involvement in         reading the book, this is really the only conclusion
the political processes of a nation, but he means         one can come to. All of this leaves no room for the
participation in seeking peace on earth, aiding the       true antithesis and the calling of God's people as
hungry and poor, fighting alongside those who seek        citizens here and now of the kingdom of heaven,
deliverance from economic and political oppres-           while walking as pilgrims and strangers in the
sion, etc. In these things the church ought not to in-    earth.
volve herself; this is a realm only for the individual      There are other things in the book which are bad.
Christian.                                                For example, here and there his obvious denial of
                                                          Scripture's divine origin comes through loud and
  One could, at least in some respects, hail this         clear. He will even make an exception to his
change of mind on Kuitert's part, especially              general principle, that the church ought not to in-
because he pleads for the church to limit herself, to     volve itself in politics, in the case of an emergency
her calling to preach the gospel of peace and recon-      - as is now true in South Africa. And it is a bit silly
ciliation. His defense of this position is convincing     and hardly worthy of a theologian to make an ob-
and sometimes even eloquent.                              vious bow to the feminist movement by speaking
  The difficulty is that Kuitert takes this position      repeatedly of "the sisterhood of mankind." (It
for the wrong reasons and on the wrong basis. We          seems to me that "sisterhood" is as discriminatory
cannot go into the whole matter in this book              and sexist as "brotherhood" and that Kuitert, in the
review, but a few points ought to be made. The real       interests of being fair, ought to speak of "the
basis for his position lies in what he calls his  two-    neuterhood of all mankind.")
kingdom theory. The church has to do with the               The book is hard going. I would suggest that
kingdom of heaven; but this world is also a               unless someone is rather thoroughly acquainted
kingdom. In that latter kingdom is to be found an         with political and economic theory, it would be bet-
abundant measure of the grace of God, even to the         ter to skip the first three sections of the book and
extent that salvation is found in this latter kingdom     start with Section IV. Chapter XIII is the key
- although such salvation is "well-being." It is in       chapter, although the chapters which follow this
this kingdom in the world that the individual Chris-      one are also more or less important.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                143



                             Report of Classis West
                                                November 24,1986




  Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Chur-            thanked Rev. Slopsema for his work in the  Classis
ches met in special session on November 19, 1986            the past twelve years, and wished him God's bless-
in South Holland, Illinois, to examine Mr. Charles          ing in his new pastorate.
Terpstra, according to the requirement of Article 4                        Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
of the Church Order. The examination was re-                               Classis  West
quested by the Pella, Iowa Protestant Reformed
Church, whose call Mr. Terpstra had accepted. Mr.                         Take the time
Terpstra successfully sustained the examination.
Classis  advised Pella to proceed with Mr. Terpstra"s
ordination into the office of the ministry of the                       to read and study
Word and Sacraments.
  Classis  also approved the "Ministerial Certificate               the Standard Bearer
of Dismissal and Testimonial" of Rev. James
Slopsema, of Randolph, Wisconsin, who has ac-                this busy holiday season!
cepted the call to Hope, Walker, Michigan.  Classis                                                               J

                        News From Our Churches
                                                    Ben Wigger



                                                December  15,1986


  Candidate Charles Terpstra very successfully              "With arrows is his quiver stored who joys in
passed his examination at Classis  West on Wednes-          children of his youth. And blest the man whose age
day, November 19; and then on Friday the 21st he            is cheered by stalwart sons and daughters fair."
was ordained and installed into the office of               Psalter #359.
minister of God's Word at Pella, Iowa. May God                The congregation of Randolph scheduled a fare-
richly bless Rev. Terpstra and the congregation at          well program for Rev. Slopsema and his family for
Pella as he begins his labours.                             November 28.
  Rev. Arie den Hartog writes that as the time of                 Tentative plans were for the Slopsemas to arrive
their departure draws nearer, everyone is asking            at Hope Church in Walker, Michigan the first week
them over for one last time. It looks as if they are        in December, and for Rev. Slopsema to be installed,
going to be kept very busy for all the rest of the          the Lord willing, December 7 during the evening
time they still have in Singapore as missionary and         service.
family. The den Hartogs intend to return to the
United States on December 23, the Lord willing.               Rev. Lubbers was hospitalized recently at
                                                            Ferguson Hospital in Grand Rapids for two
  Rev. and Mrs. Engelsma were blessed with the              surgeries. The first, an exploratory surgery, re-
birth of a daughter and Rev. and Mrs. Slopsema              vealed scar tissue on the prostate gland. A second
were blessed with the birth of a  son, Gerrit James.        surgery on the prostate was successful. He covets
                                                            your prayers that God will give him grace to be pa-
Ben Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church    tient in this affliction and, if possible, return to
of Hudsonville, Michigan.                                   work in the churches. We can surely add to that the

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





144                                       THE STANDARD BEARER


prayer that all of God's suffering saints may find      with a combined age of sixty or less were both eligi-
their daily strength in the all-sufficient power of     ble and welcome to join.
God's grace.                                               The Fund Raisers of Heritage School in Hudson-
  Rev. David Engelsma was the featured speaker at       ville, Michigan sponsored a travelogue on Canada
the Fall Lecture Series recently sponsored by the       by Karl Van Oostenbrugge. This was the first time
Mid-America Reformed Seminary. Rev. Engelsma            anyone had seen this newest of Karl's travelogues,
spoke on the subject "The Reformed View of              and he presented it free of charge. Those who filled
Church Unity" at the First Christian Reformed           Heritage's gym enjoyed traveling from Ottawa to
Church of Rock Valley, Iowa. While he was there         Vancouver B.C., seeing the Changing of the
he also spoke at the Mid-America Seminary, giving       Guards, Niagara Falls, the Algoma Train, the Cana-
three lectures on some aspects of the life and work     dian Rockies,  Butchart Gardens, and much much
of Martin  Bucer, the important reformer in             more.
Strassburg, Germany.                                       Rev. Van  Overloop  writes that the Northwest
  Adams St. School in Grand Rapids held what            Mission has conducted a futile search for another
looked like an interesting Fall P.T.A. meeting. The     meeting place so that the group there can worship
evening's topic was centered around children and        at more "normal hours". After an exhaustive
drugs. A very informative speech entitled "Drug         search it was decided to stay put. They are now
Awareness" was given.                                   able to worship at 12:00 noon and 6:00 P.M. This is
  The Free Christian School in Edgerton  held their     working out well.
Fall P.T.A. recently as well with Rev.  DeVries
speaking on the topic "Parent  - Teacher Cooper-                            WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
ation."                                                    On December 19, the Lord willing, PROF. AND MRS. HOMER C.
                                                        HOEKSEMA will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. We their
  Although the 1987 Protestant Reformed Young           children thank our heavenly Father for our parents and for the cove-
Peoples Convention to be held in Loveland, Col-         nant heritage we have received through them. Our prayer is that the
                                                        Lord will continue to prosper them in their way and to give them joy in
orado seems like a long way off, some young             Thee.
peoples' societies are already busy raising funds to    Mark and Ruth Hoeksema
help defray the expenses of that convention.               Stephen, Michael, Sarah, and Philip
                                                        Ken and Eunice Kuiper
  The young people in Edmonton, Alberta, recent-          Jonathan and David
ly sponsored their second annual Remembrance            Carey and Lois Kamps
                                                           Matthew, Timothy, Kyle, and Anna Lynn
Day Car Rally. The rally started at  11:30 in the       Candace
morning at church and ended in the late afternoon
with a supper of soup and buns.                                       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
  The young people of Edgerton, Minnesota, re-             The Ladies Aid Society of the South Holland Protestant Reformed
cently invited their congregation to enjoy a hearty     Church expresses its Christian sympathy to Mrs. Joanne Van  Baren
                                                        and family in the death of her mother, MRS. AGNES DE VRIES, at the
soup and Bar-B-Q supper and a time of good fellow-      age of 79 years.
ship.                                                      "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."
  Hope School in Walker, Michigan presented             (Psalm 1 16: 15)
their annual All School Program the night of            President - Rev. George Lanting
                                                        Secretary - Elaine Van Der Noord
November 21. The theme for this year was "The
Singing Church."                                                                    NOTICE!!!
                                                          TO ALL TREASURERS OF OUR PROTESTANT
  A new society was recently organized in  Doon,
Iowa, under the name "Christian Fellowship Socie-        REFORMED CHURCHES AND THEIR SOCIETIES
ty" for the purpose of studying Scripture. Anyone          All collections taken and gifts given to the Mission Committee for
                                                        the Jamaican Mission Field should be sent to: MRS. CLARE PRINCE,
single and under the age of thirty-five or couples      7435 PINE GROVE, JENISON, Ml 49428.


