                The
          STANDARD
               BEARER
     c          A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE
f



            Coming to the Lord's Supper is not just a
          matter of acknowledging the truth that the
          death of Christ was necessitated by sin; but
          that He died for MY sins. It is not merely a
          matter of acknowledging that the One Who
          suffered and died was the Son of God, Christ
          the Lord; but that He is the Son of God,
          Christ the Lord for ME. It is not just a matter
          of acknowledging that by His death He made
          satisfaction for sin; but that by His death He
          covered in the sight of God MY sins.
                  See The Strength of Youth, - page 211

\                                                   Vol.  LXIII, No. 9, February 1, 1987  -


194                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER




                               C O N T E N T S                                                               THE STANDARD REARER
                                                                                                                      ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                           Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
   MEDITATION -                                                                            Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
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       Reconciled To God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194        Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
   EDITORIAL -                                                                   Department Editors: Rev. Ronald Cammenga,  Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Rbbert
                                                                                  D. Decker, Rev. Barry Gritters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko,
       Why Evolution? (1). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .196       Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. Kortering, Rev. George C. Lub-
                                                                                 bers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. James t
                                                                                                                                   S opsema, Rev. Gise J. Van  Baren,
   Correspondence and Reply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i98            Rev. Herman Veldman, Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
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MEDITATION
James D. Slopsema





                                               Reconciled To God

                  To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto HimseX not imputing their
              trespasses unto them . . . .
                                                                                                                          II Corinthians 5:19



Paul and his co-workers were ambassadors for                                          Because Paul and his co-workers were  am-
.Christ. Through them God spoke words of comfort,                                  bassadors for Christ, God had committed to them
encouragement, instruction and sometimes even                                      the ministry of reconciliation. As ministers of
rebuke to the church.                                                            reconciliation it was their` calling to proclaim the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                           195



great gospel of reconciliation, to wit, that God was       In that situation the Bible speaks of reconcilia-
in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not       tion between God and His people. Reconciliation is
imputing their trespasses unto them.                     to restore God and His people to friendship and
   Always we must hear in the preaching this             fellowship through the removal of offenses.
gospel of reconciliation. Only then is the preaching       Are you reconciled to God?
the power of God to salvation.                             There is nothing more important in all of life
          * * * * * * * * * *                            than reconciliation with God!
   Reconciliation is to restore someone to the favor              * * * * * * * * * *
of another through the removal of offenses.                That we may be reconciled to God, there are
   Reconciliation presupposes that there existed at      several important things we must know about this
one time a harmonious relationship between two           reconciliation. We find these truths in the summary
individuals. There were two who were friends,            Paul gives us of his ministry of reconciliation - to
who enjoyed each other's company and friendship.         wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world
But then something happened to disrupt this              unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto
friendship. One of the parties wronged and of-           them.
fended the other. Perhaps they both wronged one            First, we ought to note that we must be recon-
another. But at any rate, due to offenses committed,     ciled to God; God need not be reconciled to us.
their friendship could no longer continue. Where
there was peace and unity there is now strife and          When there is conflict between men, there is
contention.                                              usually fault on both sides. When there is conflict
                                                         in marriage or between brothers in the church,
   In that situation we can speak of reconciliation.     very seldom is one party completely to blame and
Reconciliation is to restore the unity of friendship     the other to be completely exonerated. Usually
which existed by removing the offenses that were         the fault must be shared so that both must be recon-
committed.                                               ciled to one another by the removal of the wrongs
   We can apply this idea of reconciliation to mar-      they have both committed.
riage, to brothers and sisters in the church, to           But that is not the case between God and us. Cer-
children at school. The Bible applies the idea of        tainly the situation is not that God has wronged us
reconciliation primarily to God and His people.          and we in turn have wronged God. The fact of the
   Originally there existed between God and man a        matter is that the wrong is completely ours. God as
harmonious relation of friendship and fellowship.        our Creator has properly set His holy law over us.
This was due to the very way God created man.            And this law is not grevious but good and benefi-
God made man in His own image so that there was          cial. In fact, God even gave us all the gifts necessary
found in man a human reflection of all the wonder-       to keep His law and find His friendship. But we in
ful perfections of God. As a result of this, man         our pride disobeyed. Through our own folly we lost
loved God and served Him faithfully in the garden.       the good gifts necessary to serve God according to
And God, looking down on man, was greatly                His law. We have disrupted the wonderful relation
delighted with man so that He drew near to the           of friendship and fellowship God had established
man and lived with Him in a most blessed covenant        with us. The fault is completely ours! God need
fellowship.                                              not, therefore, be reconciled to us. We must be
   But then man sinned and disrupted this wonder-        reconciled to God.
ful relationship. Man, as represented in Adam, rose        Let us humble ourselves before God, acknowl-
up in rebellion against God. As a result, he lost all    edging His goodness and our faults, that we may be
the good gifts God had given him in creation. He         reconciled to Him.
became completely corrupt and evil. He can live                   * * * * * * * * * *
only in enmity and hatred against God. He is no
longer capable of doing any good but is inclined to        From Paul's summary of his ministry of recon-
every evil imaginable. And the result is that the        ciliation we also learn that this work of reconcilia-
original friendship and fellowship that man en-          tion is not our work but God's work in Jesus Christ.
joyed with God is now no longer possible. In fact,       In fact, we contribute nothing to this reconciliation.
unless the offense of man's sins is somehow re-          From beginning to end it is God's work.
moved and man is completely turned around, God             Among men there is a certain sense in which we
will destroy man in His holy wrath.                      are able to remove the offenses we have committed
                                                         and thus reconcile ourselves to another. The man
James D. SlopSema is pastor of the Hope Protestant       who stole from his neighbor is able to remove the
Reformed Church, Walker, Michigan.                       offense of his crime by returning to his neighbor


196                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



the goods he stole. The man who slandered his               but especially at the cross. The cross stands eternal-
neighbor is often able to right his wrong by going to       ly as the foundation of our reconciliation with God.
those to whom he spread his lies and set the record           How glorious is the  cross  of our Lord Jesus
straight.                                                   Christ!
  But when it comes to removing our offenses
before God, this is not something we are able to ac-          Let us cling to that cross daily, finding there the
complish.                                                   forgiveness of our sins and sweet reconciliation
                                                            with God!
  As Paul points out in his summary of the                             * * * * * * * * * *
ministry of reconciliation, to be reconciled to God
requires that God no longer imputes our trespasses            Finally, we learn from Paul's summary of his
to us. In other words, we can be reconciled to God          ministry of reconciliation that God was in Christ
only when God no longer reckons us as sinners.              reconciling the worZd unto Himself.
Should we appear before Him with so much as one               The New Testament Scriptures speak a great deal
sin, the offense of that one sin will make reconcilia-      about the world. They reveal to us, for example,
tion with God forever impossible.                           that God loves the world (John  3:16) and that
  The removal of offenses is accomplished only              Christ, as the Lamb of God, takes away the sins of
when our sins are paid for. And sin is paid for only        the world (John 129). In Paul's summary of his
through the suffering of God's wrath against them.          ministry of reconciliation, we are told that God
Our sins are paid for and are no longer offensive to        reconciles the same world to Himself in Jesus
God only when God has vented the fulness of His             Christ.
divine wrath against our sin.                                 The world here is not, as so many suppose, every
  But who is able to make that payment? We cer-             individual of the human race. It is a simple fact that
tainly are not able! It is true that man is able to bear    God does not reconcile every individual to Himself
the wrath of God against his sin. The ungodly, for          in Christ. God's reconciliation is for His elect alone,
example, suffer the wrath of God against their sins         those whom God in His eternal good pleasure has
in hell. But the wrath of God against sin is so great       ordained to salvation. This expression "world"
that mere man is not able to bear it all away. That is      must therefore be understood on the background of
why hell is forever and the wicked in hell never            the Old Testament reality that God's people and
come to the point where they pay for their sins.            salvation were limited to one nation, Israel. But now
  What we are not able to do, God, in His infinite          in the new dispensation, God has His people in
love, does for us in Christ Jesus. This is what Paul        every tribe, tongue, and nation under heaven. In
emphasizes in his summary of his ministry of                distinction from only one nation, God will now
reconciliation  - God was in Christ reconciling the         save a whole world. And that world He reconciles
world to Himself. The meaning is that God paid for          to Himself in Jesus Christ.
our sins in Christ and thereby reconciled us to               How great is our God!
Himself. God paid the price of our sins in Christ by          May the whole world praise Him for the great
pouring out upon Christ His eternal wrath against           reconciliation He has brought in Jesus Christ!
our sins. This wrath Christ endured all his life long,
EDITORIAL



                                 Why Evolution? (11


  In a recent issue of  The Banner  (U/8/86)  the           acknowledged this, and no one has ever challenged
Q  &  A  department carried a question from an  In-         these views on the pages of our church magazine.
diana reader as follows: "Why is evolution taught           However,  Christian Renewal  (Feb. 3, 1986)  dis-
at Calvin College? More than a year ago The Banner          cussed this problem openly. What can be done


                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER                                             197



about this?"                                                         For the simple reason that the questions were not
  This question was referred by Q & A Editor Rev.                    answered. The first question, "Why?" was certain-
W.D. Buursma to- Calvin College, and an answer                       ly not answered. Instead, allusion is made to "mis-
was furnished by Dr. Howard J. Van Till of the                       apprehension" - presumably on the part of the
department of physics and astronomy. Dr. Van Till                    questioner. And the second question evidently fell
is the author of the recently published book  The                    away in the mind of the respondent.
Fourth Day, which was sent to us for review. When                      However, the questions demand an answer.
I wrote my brief review of this book, I suggested                      It is true that  Chrisfiun  RenewuZ,  a rather in-
that I might have more to say on this subject later.                 teresting "conservative" paper under the editor-
The question raised in  The  Bunner stimulated that                  ship of John Hultink, dealt with this subject at
"more."                                                              length in more than one issue and also succeeded in
  In The Banner Dr. Van Till furnished the follow-                   ruffling the feathers of some Calvin College pro-
ing answer:                                                          fessors. Apparently, however, even  Christian
      The question to which you have invited a response              Renewal had no real answer to the question, "What
   is trivial. * Misapprehension arises, I believe, out of an        can be done about this?" And for the time being the
    extended failure to stress the importance of certain             discussion (and debate?) seems to have died down.
   distinctions. The biblically based doctrine of creation,            Frankly, I am rather surprised by the fact that
   which clearly informs us where we and the rest of the             there is any fuss whatsoever made about the teach-
   world stand in relationship to God, is often confused             ing of evolution at Calvin College. Why? Because,
   with  culturally  or  scientifically  inspired pictures of the    in my opinion, complaining about evolutionism at
   creation's formative history. And the scientific con-
   cept of evolutionary development, which seeks to pro-             Calvin College is like beating a dead horse.
   vide a description of the processes that make up                    The evolution-issue at Calvin College (and in the
   cosmic history, is often confussed with naturalistic              Christian Reformed Church officially) is a dead
   denials of the reality of God's purposeful governance             issue. It was settled long ago. Evolutionism has
   of that history.                                                  been accepted - if not by positive decision, then by
      I am fully confident that every Calvin College pro-            default. I suppose from time to time some hackles
   fessor firmly believes that we, along with the world in           are raised when a book such as that of Dr. Van Till
   which we live, are God's creation. We heartily profess            is published or when a college professor expresses
   our faith in God, who, as our sovereign Creator, is our           himself in the columns of  The Banner.  And I can
   Originator, our Sustainer, our Governor, and the                  sympathize with people who are disturbed by it.
   faithful Provider of our daily needs.                             But the issue as such is dead. It would not be possi-
      We vigorously reject the philosophy of naturalistic            ble, I dare say, to eradicate evolutionism from
   evolutionism because it denies God's governance of                Calvin College.
   "natural" processes and because it attempts illegiti-
   mately to use the results of natural science to provide             When I read Dr. Van Till's book, and later the ar-
   the appearance of support for an atheistic religious              ticle in Q &A, my thoughts went back some twenty
   perspective.                                                      years to the mid-1960s, when I delivered a series of
      Now, as responsible stewards of God's creation, we             three lectures on the subject of creation and evolu-
   are called to employ the tools of competent scholar-              tion at First Church, Grand Rapids, and wrote my
   ship in the investigation of its properties, its behavior,        little book, In The Beginning God . . . . " (now out of
   and its formative history. We scientists, therefore,              print). At that time there was concern about the
   must meaningfully engage the concept of evolution-                teaching of evolution at Calvin College, and there
   ary development (a  scientific  concept with limited              was considerable discussion of the matter. Actual-
   scope, not to be confused with the philosophical con-             ly, however, the problem goes back farther than
   cept of naturalistic evolutionism], and we must                   that. The late Dr. John De Vries (author of  Beyond
   honestly evaluate theories of development on the                  The Atom)  had as one of his avowed goals in his
   basis of their adequacy in accounting for the physical            teaching at Calvin to cure pre-seminarians, all  ,of
   evidence of creation's formative history in an orderly
   and consistent manner.                                            whom had to take some science courses, of holding
                                                                     to the doctrine of six-day creation. About the same
   *In a later issue of The Banner it was noted that this            time, Dr. Edwin Monsma (of the biology depart-
   statement should be: "The question to which you                   ment) was sometimes mocked for adhering strictly
   have invited a response is not trivial." It was also
   noted that Dr. Van Till's response was editorially con-           to the truth of creation and for opposing evolu-
   densed.                                                           tionism. The problem of evolutionistic teachings
                                                                     goes back, therefore, as far as the late 1940s. In
  Now I do not know whether the Indiana ques-                        fact, in my own high school days the period theory
tioner in The Banner was satisfied by Dr. Van Till's                 was being introduced already as a rather subtly sug-
answer; I certainly would not have been. Why not?                    gested option.


198                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



  However, just because books like that of Dr. Van        But when a synthesis is attempted, and when that
Till continue to come from the press, and just            synthesis is presented as both scientifically valid
because the doctrine of creation and the Creator is       and Scripturally compatible, then there is tempta-
wrested and denied, and just because our people in        tion to deviate from the faith. That temptation
general, but our young people in particular, and          should not be underestimated. And we should be
more specifically some of our young people who at-        equipped to overcome it.
tend institutions of higher learning, are exposed to        As to my method, I shall not attempt to parade as
evolutionistic teachings and to various attempts to       a scientist. I am not a scientist, and I freely
debunk clear the teachings of Scripture, I wish to        acknowledge that in a scientific battle of wits I
re-emphasize certain truths concerning Scripture          would go down to ignominious defeat. In fact, there
and creation, but also to expose the fallacy of these     are passages in Dr. Van Till's book that are far over
evolutionistic teachings and especially the attempts      my head.
to achieve a kind of alleged synthesis of- evolution
and creation. It is the latter attempts, perhaps,           I will base my fundamental argument in this dis-
which constitute the biggest danger to covenant           cussion strictly on Scripture and our Reformed
young people. The out-and-out evolutionist is not         creeds. And I will insist that any Christian and Re-
such a great threat; he is a professed unbeliever and     formed science must function on that basis and
can be readily recognized as such  - and rejected.        within those bounds.                           HCH





                      Correspondence and Reply


Correspondence                                            the work of regeneration is accomplished by the
  I received the following letter under date of           Holy Spirit or as Prof. H.C. Hoeksema states on
January 3, 1987, and referred it to Rev. Veldman          page 102 of this issue in "A Little Lesson In Dog-
for his reply.                                            matics" that, "God through Christ by the Holy
                                                          Spirit as the Spirit of Christ sovereignly and ef-
Dear Prof. Hoeksema:                                      ficaciously applies unto His elect people all the
  The December 1, 1986 issue of the  Standard             benefits which Christ merited for them."
Bearer, which is devoted to the doctrine of regener-        In the same paragraph on page 99, the author
ation, is very worthwhile and good for us to study.       again chose not to mention the Holy Spirit in con-
  However, concerning the leading article, "Begot-        nection with the virgin birth. It would have seemed
ten Again Unto a Lively Hope", by Rev. H.                 appropriate to give due honour to God the Holy
Veldman, I do not understand why the Holy Spirit          Spirit who overshadowed the virgin Mary and
was not specifically mentioned.                           caused her to conceive the only begotten Son of the
  After an excellent introduction, the author ex-         living God, Matt.  1:20, Luke  1:35.
plained that the author of regeneration is the              Finally, on page 100, 1st column, last paragraph,
Triune God, as the God and Father of our Lord             the author states: "This can be understood only if
Jesus Christ and that regeneration is the work of         we bear in mind that the resurrection of Christ, as
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, (page        realized in our hearts, effects our regeneration."
99, 1st column, lust puuug~$~).  Then later on in that    Then later, "when that resurrected Saviour works
same paragraph the author goes on to say that it is       in our heart, dwells there, then you have the regen-
this God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who          eration, the quickening of the people of God."
regenerates us again and from above. It is true that
we must ascribe all praise and honour to the Triune         Even though the author is referring to the con-
God. However, it would seem more clear and                scious realization of our regeneration, never the
logical to refer to the author of regeneration. as the    less, this is the result of the quickening power of
Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and that          the Holy Spirit, I John  4:13. Here again, there was


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                             199



no mention of the Holy Spirit of Christ who assures      work of regeneration is the work,. not merely of the
me of eternal life and makes me sincerely willing        Holy Spirit, but of the Triune God by the Holy
and ready henceforth to live unto him. (Heidelberg        Spirit. Concerning this, we understand, there is no
Catechism Question and Answer 1, Question and            doubt.
Answer 49).                                                 Of course, were I to preach on Matt.  1:20, Luke
  "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and          1:35 and 1 Cor. 3:16 (texts to which brother Nelson
that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you," I Cor. 3:16.    refers and which speak of the Holy Spirit) I would
  Are we to assume that this work of the Holy             surely mention the Holy Spirit. And this also ap-
Spirit is implied in this article?                       plies to Question and Answer 1 of our Heidelberg
                                                         Catechism.
                 Yours sincerely and respectfully
                 in Jesus Christ our Lord,                  Now it seems to me that we must bear in mind
                                                         that in 1 Pet.  1:3 the emphasis rests upon the con-
                 Larry Nelson                            nection between regeneration and the resurrection
                 Loveland, Colorado                      of our Lord Jesus Christ. We read here that the God
                                                         and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has begotten us
Reply:                                                   again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
                                                         Christ from the dead. I concede that I did not em-
  We wish to thank Larry Nelson for his criticism        phasize the Holy Spirit in my meditation. But is it
of my meditation in the December 1, 1986 issue of        true that He is not specifically mentioned in my ar-
our  Standard Bearer. We appreciate his interest in      ticle? Do we not read on page 11, first column, last
the  Standard Bearer and that our articles are being     paragraph: "The author of this regeneration is the
read. We also appreciate his sincere criticism of our    Triune God as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
meditation.                                              Christ?" Here I surely refer to the Holy Spirit inas-
  The brother does not understand why the Holy           much as I speak of the Triune God, although we
Spirit was not specifically mentioned in this medi-      must bear in mind that the emphasis inthis text in 1
tation. And he asks whether he must assume that          Peter 1 rests upon the connection between regener-
this work of the Holy Spirit (the work of regenera-      ation and the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
tion) is implied in this article.                        dead.
  Of course, the work of regeneration is the work           I trust that this will satisfy the brother. If not, he
of the Holy Spirit. Or, let me state it this way: the    may write again.                           H. Veldman

GUEST ARTICLE
Robert D. Decker





           The Protestant Reformed Churches
                    and Their Calling in Missions


  That the church of Christ has the calling to do         world. Amen." (Matt.  28:19, 20) This command of
mission work is plain from Scripture. Jesus said:         Christ applies to the church of all ages, for the
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing        apostles and prophets with Jesus Christ as the chief
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and       corner stone are the foundation of the church.
of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all           (Eph.  2:20) Christ promised to be with that church
things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo,          even to the end of the world. The book of Acts
I am with you always, even unto the end of  ,the          records the explosion of the apostolic church from


200                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



 Jerusalem throughout the Mediterranean world.             the fruit of the work of Revs. Ophoff and
 This calling in missions is also plain from the fact      Hoeksema. Our first home missionary, the Rev.
 that Jesus told us that this gospel must be preached      Bernard Kok, labored from 1936 to 1941. Other
 to all the world for a witness to the nations, and        missionaries were called and labored both in the
 when this work is accomplished, Jesus said, then          States and after the war in Canada. The work in
 shall the end come. (Matt.  24:14) Revelation             Canada was among the post-war Dutch immigrants
 chapter 6 gives us the vision of the white horse and      who had their roots in the liberated churches of the
 rider going through the earth conquering and to           Netherlands. By 1950 there were 25 churches with
 conqueror.                                                nearly  6;OOO members. After the split of 1953 the
   All of this applies to our churches. In obedience       Rev. George C. Lubbers, became home missionary.
 to the command of the King and by the grace of His        For 10 years Lubbers worked in Colorado, the
 Holy Spirit we must be busy in this work. By the          Dakotas, and in Houston, Texas. The churches of
 grace of God we can preach the gospel boldly, opti-       Loveland, Colorado; Forbes, North Dakota; and
 mistically, and joyfully. We need never be ashamed        Isabel, South Dakota were organized during this
 of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for our God always         period.  .The Rev. Robert C. Harbach succeeded
 causes us to triumph in the gospel in every place.        Lubbers. The church in Houston was organized
The gospel is the power of God to salvation to every       under his preaching. Rev. Harbach also labored in
 one that believes; the Jew first, but also the Greek.     British Columbia and as a result some families have
                                                           joined our churches in Lynden, Washington, and
   In the past the emphasis in missions was on             Edmonton, Alberta. Later under the ministry of the
 church reformation. This is plain from the pream-         Rev. Bernard Woudenberg, Edmonton, Alberta,
ble of the mission committee constitution: "The            was organized.
Protestant Reformed Churches believe that, in obe-
dience to the command of Christ, the King of the              1962 marks a significant date in the history of
church, to preach the blessed gospel to all                Protestant Reformed Missions. The Lord, in that
creatures, baptising, and teaching them to observe         year, opened a door for us in Jamaica. A minister in
all things which Christ has commanded, it is the ex-       England heard the Reformed Witness Hour over
plicit duty and sacred priviledge of said churches to      Transworld Radio and liked what he heard. He con-
carry out this calling according to the measure of         tacted the Rev. C. Hanko and asked that we take
our God-given ability.                                     over the work among some twenty congregations in
   "We believe that this missionary activity in-           the hill country of Jamaica. This we have done by
cludes the work of church extension, and church            emissaries and by correspondence. Rev. Lubbers
reformation, as well as the task of carrying out the       served as missionary in Jamaica from 1970 to 1975.
gospel to the unchurched and heathen. However,             Currently the Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma is laboring on
we  ar% convinced that our present duty lies               the Island of Jamaica. Why are 1962 and Jamaica so
primarily in the field of church extension and             significant? For some forty years we were involved
church reformation. .  ." From this it is obvious that     in church reformation and extension almost ex-
our churches believe they have the calling to              clusively. Many accused us of not believing' in mis-
preach the gospel to all creatures. Belonging to this      sions and of proselytizing among the Christian Re-
calling is church extension or reformation. Our            formed. When Martin Luther was accused of this,
churches, however, believe that their present duty         he replied that he was too busy reforming the
lies primarily in church extension directed to Re-         church to do missions. That is our answer too. The
formed and especially Christian Reformed Chur-             churches needed to be established in the truth.
ches. This constitution was adopted by the Synod           Then, when they had been founded, God gave us
of  1940  and remains in force today. Under this           work in Jamaica and later in Singapore. Besides,
preamble our mission work was done for the first           Jamaica is different, in fact, decidedly different.
38 years of our history.                                   The Jamaicans are not white, but black. They are
                                                           not Dutch, but Jamaican. They are not middle
   The history of Protestant Reformed missions is          class, but poor, extremely poor, especially'poor by
interesting. In 1924 there were three churches cast        Western standards. They are not well versed in the
out of the Christian Reformed Church. These were           reformed creeds, but they are babes in the faith.
called the Protesting Christian Reformed Churches;         And all these and more differences present their
one in Kalamazoo, Eastern Avenue in Grand                  own problems. Just listen to those who have
Rapids, and Hope in Riverbend. 1931 saw the ap-
pointment of the first mission committee. By 1934          worked there. Prior to `1962 we labored among
there were 19 congregations organized largely as           groups very much like us. We labored among
                                                           peoples steeped in Dutch Reformed Theology and
Robert D. Decker is professor of New Testament and         tradition. Now we labor among people very differ-
Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.    ent from us; in different lands, in different cultures,


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               201



and with different customs and mores. But the               the blessed gospel of God's sovereign grace. We
need is the same; the life giving gospel of the              must do this by means of home missionaries, by
sovereign grace of God in Jesus Christ.                      means of the radio, the printed page, tracts and
  What then is our present calling in missions? The         pamphlets. We must continue what we are doing as
Protestant Reformed Churches have a calling to do           individual congregations and as a denomination, in
church reformation and extension. In this respect           New Jersey and Chicago and California.
the Protestant Reformed Churches have an awe-                   This work is extremely difficult. There is wide-
some responsibility. God has preserved the re-              spread ignorance among the people of the most
formed truth in our churches. We have, by His               simple truths and Bible doctrines. This is because
grace, good, solid, expository preaching and                 of the widespread apostasy in the seminaries and
catechetical instruction. Discipline is exercised and       the consequent failure of the pulpit. Even the late
the sacraments are administered according to the            Dr. J.H. Bavinck remarks about this in his book en-
institution of Jesus Christ. We have several cove-          titled,  Irgroduction Into the Science  of  Missions,
nant, Christian schools staffed by dedicated                published some thirty years ago. Truly the lament
teachers. Our churches are strong by the grace of           of  Hosea  applies to our times: "My people are
God. Thanks be to Him! But it is not time to be at          destroyed for lack of knowledge . .  ." Our home
ease in Zion. Ours is a time when the very founda-          missionaries live with this reality every day. Only a
tions of Reformed orthodoxy are being shaken and            remnant receives the gospel of sovereign grace
destroyed. Let him or that church that thinks he or         while the vast majority despise and oppose it. Our
it stands take heed lest it fall. Our calling is to         home missionaries live with this reality every day
preach and teach and give witness to the truth of           as well.

                      Protestant Reformed Outreach
    Covenant Prot. Ref. Mission              Prot. Ref. Churches  -               Ripen/Modesto  Prot. Ref.
      Church                                   Northwest Mission                    Mission
    Meeting at:  5N047                       Meeting at: Lower                    Meeting at: College Ave.
    S. Rt. 83, one mile                      Providence Community                 Baptist Church
    north of I-290                           Center, Hillside Ave.,               1539 College Ave.,
    Bensenville, IL 60106                    Trooper, Pennsylvania 19403          Modesto, California 95350
    Services: 12 N.  & 6:00 p.m.             Services: 10 a.m.  & 6 p.m.          Service: 3:00 p.m.
  Contact: Pastor Ronald                     Contact: Pastor Kenneth              Contact: Pastor Steven
      Van  Overloop                            Hanko                                Houck
    Phone: [ 3 12) 529-4676                  Phone: (215) 630-0491                Phone: (209) 576-7009
                               Call these numbers for detailed information and directions!


                      The Reformed Witness Hour  - A Distinctively Reformed Radio Program

    CJOI  - 1440 AM                          KARI  - 550 AM                       KLOH  -
    Wetaskawin, Alberta                      Bellingham, Washington               Pipestone, Minnesota
    Sunday  - 2:00 P.M.                      Saturday  - 6:00 P.M.                Sunday  - 12:00 Noon

    KLOV FM                                  KBOE  - 740 AM                       WKPR  - 1420 AM
    Loveland, Colorado                       Oskaloosa, Iowa                      Kalamazoo, Michigan
    Sunday  - 10:00 A.M.                     Sunday  -  7:30 A.M.                 Sunday  - 4:00 P.M.

    WLKE  - 1170 AM                          WFUR  - 1570 AM                      WFUR  - 102.9 FM
    Waupun, Wisconsin                        Grand Rapids, Michigan               Grand Rapids, Michigan
    Sunday  -  8:45 A.M.                     Sunday  - 4:00 P.M.                  Sunday  - 9:00 A.M.

                                             KCDR  - 91.3 FM
                                             Sioux Center, Iowa
                                             Sunday  - 6:30 A.M.


202                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



   But we must also go to the nations. We must go             work we are more than conquerors. God calls us
wherever God sends us and opens the way for us.               and God equips us to be His instruments and God
We must also continue to work in Jamaica where                gives the fruit. We need never be ashamed of the
we still have a wide-open door. There are many                gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto
needs, many sick, many weaknesses, many sins,                 salvation unto everyone that believes. As we con-
many poor. These things ought not deter us; They              tinue in our mission work let us confess with the
are all the more reason why we must preach and                apostle Paul: "Now thanks be unto God, which
teach the gospel there. Jesus told us that the poor           always causes us to triumph in Christ, and maketh
we have always with us and inasmuch as we do it               manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in
unto the least of these brothers of Christ, we do it to       every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of
Christ. We must go wherever God sends us.                     Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that
   In this work we must never be discouraged. It is           perish: To the one we are the savour death unto
God's work. The elect are in the nations. By the              death; and to the other the savour of life unto life.
preaching of the Word the Son of God will gather              And who is sufficient for these things? For we are
them into the church. And by the same preaching               not as many that corrupt the word of God: but as of
of the Word, the ungodly will be left without ex-             sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak
cuse. And when the gospel shall have been                     we in Christ." (II Cor.  2:14-17) The welfare of
preached to all the world for a witness, then, as             God's covenant and the honor of His Name are at
Jesus said, the end shall come. In no less a work             stake. This is the on-going calling and challenge to
God gives us the privilege to participate. And in this        our Protestant Reformed Churches.





                              "Good Morning, Alice"
                                                   Gise J. Van Baren





  Alice was still able to get out occasionally. She              Verses 10-11 show so beautifully that God does His
seemed to welcome the opportunity to escape the               work first in us, and verse 12 tells us how the child of
confines of her bed. Surprisingly, she could still sit        God turns to Him in prayer, and finally verses 13-14
fairly well in her wheel chair, though now for only           show how the child of God desires to seek Him and
short periods of time. She took her last, brief shop-         learn more about Him and serve Him.
ping trip on February 16 to K-mart. She found this              I chose verse 13 because it seems like that's what you
to be interesting still, but she returned home very           and I are desiring to do together.
tired. That favorite pastime of hers, shopping, had
also now come to an end.                                        Surely the verse doesn't mean that a heathen can
                                                              seek and find God by himself, but the verse is speaking
Good Morning Alice:                                           of a regenerated child of God -you and me, desiring to
  I'm afraid I should have suggested that you read            become ever closer in our hearts to God.
more than just one verse again this time.                       Because God has placed a desire in our hearts, we
  When you read verse 13 alone, you don't understand          seek Him - in searching His Word and in prayer. And
the wonder of what the text explains.                         then we too will find the joy and comfort He gives.
 `I  t
   us as the children of Israel were in captivity, we                                          With love, Your friend
were captive - dead - in our sins. Just as God turned         Please read Psalm 119:28
away their captivity, He redeemed us from our sin.
                                                                That February 16 was, we later realized, the last
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed        of Alice's "good" days. That evening friends came
Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.                              to visit Alice  - to her very great delight. She


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  203



 repeatedly joined in the conversation through the            fall so far short.
 use of her spelling card. Old incidents were  re-              I am going to think for today about these verses and
: called; current news was exchanged. There was               write again maybe for the next couple of notes what my
i nothing that she enjoyed doing more than this. Her          thoughts are.
 mind was clear and sharp. Not infrequently, she
managed to correct misinformation presented by                   Why don't you set aside the next few minutes, right
 others.                                                      now, Alice, to think what these commands mean in
                                                              your own life. True, your obedience will come in com-
 Good Morning Alice:                                          pletely different ways than mine; you don't have to obey
   There is just something about Ps. 119 that makes me        a husband, or have patience with a child, but as
 turn to it often, although I can't very often say with       children of God, we must both struggle to know how
David, "I have kept Thy precepts."                            God's law applies to our lives and then obey it.
   David had such a way of looking inward and ex-                                               With love, Your friend
amining himself and giving all glory to God.
   Here in verse 28 he cries out to God of the heaviness      Please read these verses again and think
in his soul.                                                  deeply on them (Mk. 12.29-31)
   I don't know if this is right or not, but my Bible has       Helplessness: utter, complete helplessness. That's
 notes which say that "melteth" here means "to lose           what Alice now faced. She was able to do absolute-
courage" and "heaviness" means "sadness" or                   ly nothing. Someone else must wipe her nose.
 "depression. `I It certainly fits. One who knows deep        Someone else must move a stray hair from her face.
sadness or depression does lose courage in his soul. His      Someone else must shoo away the fly on her arm.
faith seems far away. But David knows the answer:             The only movement Alice could still control was
 turn to God in reading Scripture and prayer! It's all        that of her head: she could nod a "yes" or "no",
right here in a few words: "Strengthen Thou me accord-        although even then we were not certain always
ing to Thy Word. "                                            which it was. But her eyes: how these could flash or
                                                              smile! It was as though she would force us to know
   And remember,  we  have  all  of Scripture where           her thoughts through her eyes. But how discourag-
David did not.                                                ing; how depressing  - to have a mind to think,
   Once again, Alice, you and I can find together how         will, reason but a body which refuses to respond to
rich God's Word is in comforting and strengthening us!        this; a tongue which will no longer move at com-
                                 In His love, Your friend     mand.
Please read Mark 1229-31                                      Good Morning Alice:
   Alice's final trip outside her room was on March             The Lord our God is one Lord. God is God and there
2 when she went to the Muscular Dystrophy Clinic              is no one else or no other thing that we may put above
for her monthly visit. The trip and the wait in the           God..
office were extremely tiring and trying for her. Ob-            For this weak, sinful flesh, that is an impossible
viously, she was not very happy about it all, and             thing. For to be very truthful, above all else I love
was glad to be back home again and in bed. She was            myself - well, don't I? That sounds horrible, but when
ready to concede that she was losing strength and             I examine myself and be honest, whom do I think about
could do virtually nothing anymore.                           most? Whom do I desire to please most? I can hardly
Good Morning Alice:                                           wait to finish doing necessary things so I have some
                                                              time for "myself". Even if it is to do something for my
   I can go over and over these verses and never feel I've    family or others, basically I do it because it's something
touched the surface of the meaning of them in my life.        I  want to do.
   We must be careful never to stress Jesus' words over         Sure, I read Scripture - at times.
the words of John, or Peter, or Moses but remember              Sure I pray - at times; but really now, is it out ofjoy
that all is God's Word.                                       or is it something that I have to take hold of myself and
  Jesus here explains so wonderfully that all of God's        make myself do!
law is tied together in one. It is either obeyed complete-      Yes, this morning I can understand the problem of a
ly, or completely broken. And it involves the entirety of     friend: "`How can I be a child of God!?"
our lives.                                                      And yet there is that feeling, that sorrowful prick of
  The way the command begins is so striking: "Hear,           my new heart, which sorrows when I neglect God, and
child of God, Our God is One. He is over all".                then at those times, turning to God with my whole self I
  And what follows demands complete devotion of               do experience comfort and the warm realization over
heart, mind, body, and soul to God. And how often we          and over again that Christ has saved me from myself


204                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



and I am His. And then I remember what one of our             T. V. or reading or just being lazy, and I will desire to
ministers said: "In everything you do, you must ask           be near to Him often in prayer, and sing to Him in my
yourself: is the blessing of the Lord upon this?'             soul, and read His Word to learn what it will be like
  I'm sure that battling your human nature must be            soon to live with Him everlastingly.
difficult for you too, Alice. I'm sure you must have            Rejoice in this day, Alice - God is God and He is
questioned: "Why did my life have to go this way?" I'm        our God.
sure your human nature wishes to be back at your job.                                 In His amazing love, Your friend
I'm sure that every day you must wish you could care
for your own needs; and you probably have thought: "If        (more tomorrow) Mark 12:29-30
I could just talk!"                                                When peace like a river, attendeth my way
  Let's both remember in this day, Alice, that God is              When sorrows like sea billows roll,
God. Desiring to do things for myself instead of what              Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say
needs to be done, is like telling God I know better than           It is well, it is well with my soul.
He does. And your desire to be independent again is the            Though Satan should buffet, though trials should
same thing.                                                          come,
  We would never come out and say to God: "Never                   Let this blest assurance control.
mind; I'll run my own life" - and yet that's exactly               That Christ hast regarded my helpless estate
what we're doing when we wish something in our life                And has shed His own blood for my soul.
was different. It we could just keep ourselves from the            My sin - 0 the bliss of this glorious thought!
world, it might be easier. When we see a T. V. program             My sin, not in part, but the whole,
and see how the "carefree" world lives, it is going to             Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more
make us more rebellious than ever, and we will have                Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, 0 my soul!
more trouble battling that sinful nature.                          0 Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight
  This may be just a childish suggestion, but after all,           The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
we are children of our God. Let's try today, every hour-           The trump shall resound and the Lord shall
on-the-hour, to stop and remember God is God. I must                 descend
love Him above all else - and above myselfi I must not             Even so, it is well with my soul.
give in to my own thoughts and desires.                            It is well with my soul
  Then, if I can do that, I will know if what I am doing           It is well, it is well, with my soul.
is God-glorifying or not. If I am honest, I will know if I      "Hear, 0 Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And
feel sorry for myself (actually meaning God's way isn't       thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and
the best way).                                                with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all thy
  I will know if I am wasting precious time watching          strength. This is the first commandment."

ALL AROUND US
Robert D. Decker




                                       Observing The Trends
                             Empty Churches, Full Hospitals
                                   Sexually Active Teenagers



Observing The Trends:                                         ices. Some of the changes and trends Tamminga
   The Rev. Louis M. Tamminga wrote an interest-              observes in the Christian Reformed Church are:
ing article under this title in The Banner (January 5,              aA sophisticated communication system has
1987).  Tamminga is director of the Christian                     revolutionized society and daily affects the lives of
Reformed Church's Pastor-Church Relations  Serv-                  Christians everywhere.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       205



       *Many evangelical churches have developed flam-                 Liberal theology has "paved the way for empty
    boyant worship styles. In spite of some justified               churches and full hospitals," Brother Andrew claimed
    criticism, they will prove increasingly engaging to             during an international conference of Christian
    Christian Reformed people.                                      medical workers, held in Austria July 3 - 13.
       *Fear of being excluded from the economic cycle is             The Dutch-born founder of Open Doors and author
    very real among Christian Reformed people.                      of the best-selling book God`s  Smuggler,  made his
       *Divorce and family problems are becoming more               scathing attack on liberal theology during the Inter-
    prevalent in Christian Reformed circles.                        national Hospital Christian Fellowship (IHCF) Con-
                                                                    ference.
       l  A new generation is finding its own unique owner-
    ship of values  a.nd vision. Young people no longer con-          He cited the situation in Holland where he said that
    tinue in their parents' church as a matter of course.           last year there were some 20,000 cases of euthanasia
    The Christian Reformed Church can no longer take                and 50,000 abortions.
    loyalty for granted.                                              "All of this is a result of man turning his back on
       *The "baby boomers" are taking on and taking                 God's answer," said Brother Andrew, who is also an
    over leadership in local  CRCs.  Though  "institution-          International Coordinator of IHCF. "Liberal theology
    minded," they are not firmly committed to the old               has paved the way for organized unbelief and the re-
    order. They expect quality ministry from their                  jection of the divine commandments. The result is not
    leaders.                                                        only empty churches but full hospitals, crowded abor-
                                                                    tion clinics, and overcrowded psychiatric institu-
       *Increasingly, both husbands and wives are em-               tions."
    ployed outside the home. This reduces volunteer serv-
    ice and leadership talent in CRC congregations.                   He claimed that because of liberal theology, today
    Pastors more readily seek professional assistance for           much of the church has, "no influence on the quality
    their ministries.                                               of our lives."
       *The CRC membership is aging. Members have                     The Dutchman told medical personnel that they
    fewer children, and the average life span is lengthen-          had a unique opportunity to share the "Gospel of
    ing. Senior CRC members are becoming more asser-                forgiveness" with patients and fellow workers. "One
    tive . . .                                                      psychiatrist in Holland told me that if someone could
                                                                    convince his patients that their sins were forgiven
       *Local initiative in individual congregations is             then 50 percent could go home tomorrow," he said. . .
    growing, while the need and desire to be an integral
    part of denominational programs is diminishing. This          Brother Andrew, we think, is right "on target."
    already affects the flow of resources toward denomi-        When the church rejects the truth of God's infal-
    national ministries . . .                                   lible Word and the means God has provided by
       *Vacant Christian Reformed churches tend to call         which faith is nourished in the hearts of God's peo-
    younger ministers rather than older ones. Pastors           ple enabling them to "call upon his name and be
    under age forty receive about three times as many           saved, ' ' viz.,  the preaching of the Word, it incurs
    calls as pastors over age fifty. For a growing number       the judgments of God and reaps a very bitter fruit!
    of pastors, the length of their present charge is becom-    (Cf. Romans 10:13-17.) False doctrine yields ungod-
    ing problematic . .                                         ly living and ungodly living yields the effects of sin.
  There may be more than one reason or a com-                   The fact remains: "Know ye not, that to whom ye
bination of reasons for these changes in the Chris-             yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye
tian Reformed Church. This is not for us to judge.              are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or
Two questions of interest to us are: 1) What, if any,           of obedience unto righteousness? . . . What fruit
are the relationships between some of these                     had ye then in those things whereof ye are now
changes? For example, is there a relationship be-               ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But
tween the fact that many more wives are employed                now being made free from sin, and become the ser-
outside the home and the fact that divorce and                  vants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and
family problems are becoming more prevalent in                  the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is
the churches? 2) Are some, if not all, of these                 death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
changes also occurring among Protestant Reformed                Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans  6:16, 21-23).
congregations and people?                                       Sexually Active Teenagers:
Empty Churches, Full Hospitals:                                   That sex among teenagers and pregnancy among
  This, so Brother Andrew claims, is the result of              teenagers are problems of tremendous proportions
liberal theology.  Covenanter Witness  (December,               in America goes without saying. In response to the
1986) reports:                                                  problems, sex-education courses are taught in
                                                                many public schools. In some public high schools
Robert D. Decker is professor of New Testament and              there are health clinics where teenagers can obtain
Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminauy.         contraceptives, pregnancy tests, and  counselling.


206                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



The  Bannev (December 29, 1986) in its  "World-                           Sex education and school-based ,health  clinics are
wide" column carried a story on this subject:                        not the answer to these problems. Parents must
                                                                     teach their children that God commands us to live
         It is said that in America alone are more than 11           chastely both within and outside of holy marriage.
       million sexually active teenagers. More than a million        (Cf. The Heidelberg Catechism, Lord s Day 41.) All of
       teenagers become pregnant each year. But people are
       questioning whether sex-education programs or                 us are to avoid and detest promiscuity not merely
       school-based health clinics are the answer.  Washing-         because of the risk of contracting venereal disease
       ton Post  columnist William Raspberry says, "Try this:        or AIDS, not merely because of unwanted  preg-
       a high school principal tells his assembled students          nancies, but because God says: "Thou shalt not
       that shoplifting is risky,, both for its moral  implica-      commit adultery." This is what our children must
       tions and because of the prospect of jail, and he             be taught. Let us be aware too of the fact that Satan
       wishes they wouldn't do it. But if you think you might        tempts our teenagers with the lusts of the flesh.
       shoplift anyhow, we have a visiting team of experts in        Covenant parents ought frankly discuss these mat-
       Room 301 who will tell you how to avoid getting               ters with their children and point them to the Chris-
       caught.' . . . When it comes to sex, the only acceptable      tian walk of thankfulness so sharply delineated in
       instruction the adult can offer to adolescents is:            God's Law of Liberty. This is the liberty with which
       `Don't.' "                                                    Christ has made His covenant children free!
WALKING IN THE LIGHT
Herman C. Hanko





             Moral Aspects of Medical Technology
                                                                   P3)


  In the last article we wrote on this subject we                          rangement, it is the wife who is reminded by the
began an evaluation of the various procedures                              presence of the surrogate child of her biological in-
which modern science has begun to use to give                              adequacy, while the man's potency is affirmed.
children to infertile couples. These procedures in-                          This  asymmetry  in the adoptive parents' relationship
clude artificial insemination, surrogate mother-                           to the child is the factor that distinguishes the surro-
hood, and the use of frozen embryos. We were                               gate case morally from simple adoption. In a normal
busy discussing what other Christian ethicists have                        adoption, both parents bear the same biological rela-
to say on this question; and we were examining par-                        tionship to the child - none. The possibilities for ten-
ticularly the views of John Jefferson Davis in his                         sion and conflict that exist in the surrogate arrange-
book  Evangelid Ethics.  We quoted him last time                           ment do not arise in the same way.
with respect to the legal problems which are in-                          In the second place, he points out that secrecy
volved. We turn now to his discussion of the moral                   and deception accompany surrogate motherhood.
issues which these techniques bring up.                                      Should  a child be told the truth about`his biological
  He points first of all to the fact that "a third party                   origins? If so, when? Does the child have a legal right
intrudes both biologically and emotionally into the                        to know the identity of his biological mother? Should
sanctity of the marriage bond.:' He writes:                                the surrogate tell her family and friends the true cir-
                                                                           cumstances of her pregnancy? Should the adoptive
         One marriage partner, but not the ,other,  is biologi-            parents tell their family and friends the whole story?
       cally fulfilled through the process. In a surrogate ar-
                                                                          In an earlier article we mentioned the fact that
Herman C. Hanko is professor of New Testament and                    the incident of Abraham and Hagar is sometimes
Church History in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.                  cited as proof for the Biblical validity of surrogate


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          207



motherhood. But Davis points out on the one hand                  ing to the article, especially true of surrogate
that all the incidents of Scripture were not ap-                  parenting.
proved by God and on the other hand that this was
not a case of surrogate motherhood, but of con-                         These procedures dehumanize prenatal care for in-
cubinage.                                                             fants and open up a realm of commercialization of
                                                                      parenting [leading inevitably to "wombs for rent"). In
   Finally, Davis argues that the wrong of surrogate                  the end these new reproductive alternatives hold the
motherhood is to be found in the mercenary aspect                     prospect of "turning the marriage bed into a
of it.                                                                chemistry set."
          Then also, surrogate arrangements bring mercenary         A third objection is to be found in the fact that,
    considerations into the generation of human life. That        according to the article, Scripture speaks of two
    may not seem problematic when the child is born               spheres in human parenthood: the unitive and the
    healthy, but the case of the unfortunate Christopher          procreative. "These are tied together by the union
    Stiver brings the problems to light. From the time of         of sexuality, love, and procreation." The idea is that
    his birth on January  ,lO, 1983, Christopher was re-          the communication of love and the bringing forth
    garded "as a piece of inferior merchandise, an im-            of children are united in one act. "Artificial repro-
    perfect creature come into the world as damaged               duction frequently separates these functions and
    goods," observed Roger Rosenblatt. Surrogate parent-          thus poses a potential threat to the completeness
    ing can degenerate into commerce in human souls,              God intended for marriage."
    and that, among other reasons, is sufficient to make it
    an illegitimate solution to one's infertility.                  Finally the article argues that surrogate mother-
  In the January-March, 1986 issue of  BibZiotheca                hood blurs the true relationship between procrea-
SCXYU  the same issues of surrogate motherhood                    tion and parenthood. And "these genetic advances
were addressed. Introducing the moral implica-                    pose a threat to the stability of the family."
tions, the article states:                                          In an article in the  ,CuZvary Baptist  TheoZogicaZ
          Moreover, what about the moral questions. Has           Journal of Spring, 1986, Helmut Thielicke is quoted
    adultery taken place? Has something immoral hap-              as saying:
    pened?                                                              Every human fellowship bears its purpose within
          Answers to these questions are difficult because the       itself. The divine commission given to marriage in
    meaning of human parenthood is now changed in                    creation is to the effect that both are created for each
    such a profound way that standard societal and                   other (as a polar unity, Gen. 1:27) as "one flesh"(Gen.
    biblical categories are blurred. The slide from this             2:23,24)  and that in this oneness they are to satisfy the
    relatively plausible scenario down the slope toward              command, "Be fruitful and multiply." The personal
    more fearful ones is quite possible.                             unity of man, wife and child would therefore be rup-
  After the article advises childless couples to seek                tured by any isolation of the biological act of pro-
help solving the problem of their fertility, it warns                creation (The Ethics of Sex, p. 251).
against other scientific techniques:                                The article quotes further from Bruce Anderson:
          Couples often want to use artificial reproduction to          But the Bible teaches that marriage embraces the
    circumvent or manipulate the will of God. In the Old             wholeness of two people  - body, spirit and mind.
    Testament, Hannah sought the Lord for a child (I Sam.            Children are part of that unity, the expression of those
    1); today couples seek a fertility clinic. They should           two individuals and their commitment to one another.
    recognize instead that God is sovereign over pro-                Bringing in a third party - a sperm doctor or surro-
    creation.                                                        gate mother - rips apart the fabric of the union. The
  Raising various theological problems involved in                   covenant of parenthood is destroyed in order to make
these techniques, the article points out that these                  parents ("Would You Pay", p. 51).
are a "threat to the basis for the sanctity of human                Many of the arguments raised against surrogate
life." This is true in three ways. There is a potential           motherhood are also legitimate arguments against
loss of human life because many fertilized ova-are                various forms of artificial insemination, either AID
destroyed. There is the general practice of destroy-              (artificial insemination by donor) or AIH (artificial
ing fertilized ova if they appear abnormal. There is              insemination by husband).
the problem of "hyperfertilization;" i.e., the prac-                Davis in EvungeZicaZ  Ethics argues that AIH is per-
tice of fertilizing many ova and discarding the ones              missible while AID is not. He demurs from official
not used. "Until protection of the unborn child can               Roman Catholic teaching which forbids artificial
be guaranteed, Christians must question these                     techniques in conception on the grounds that such
practices."                                                       techniques are not the expression of the natural
  A second objection is the separation of the                     conjugal act between the husband and the wife,
"physical dimensions of sexual intercourse from                   and because they involve an act of masturbation.
the emotional and spiritual ones." This is, accord-                 In his arguments against AID he states:


208                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



         While AID does not, strictly speaking, involve an                   The unity of love-making and life-giving facets of
       act of adultery, since no act of intercourse is involved,       marriage constitute the heart of the Christian concep-
       and both husband and wife consent, it nevertheless              tion of marriage. Technological inroads into repro-
       does involve the intrusion of a third party into the in-        ductive control pose a threat to this unity, in that they
       timacy of the marriage relationship. This intrusion             make separation of them a feasibility . . . .
       may be effected by rather impersonal means, but                       In the case of AID . . _ the introduction of an extra-
       nevertheless, the presence of a third party in the mar-         marital element means that the technological inroads
       riage is a reality in both the biological and the emo-          themselves have ethical implications, and these, on
       tional realms. The biblical understanding of man does           balance, appear to me to be foreign to a Christian view
       not separate the "personal" from the physical, as AID           of the marriage bond (pp. 128-130).
       does by its very nature; man in Scripture is a psycho-
       physical whole . . .  (p. 72).                                 In  The  Banner of September 9, 1985, Lewis
                                                                    Smedes responds to a question concerning AID in
         AID introduces an imbalance into the relationship          the following statement:
       between the husband and the wife. Her maternal
       functions have been fulfilled, but his paternal func-                 1. I do not know of a biblical or moral law that ex-
       tion has not. The AID child remains as a constant               pressly forbids AID.
       reminder of his biological failure, and the shadow of                 2. I believe that both the husband and his wife
       an anonymous third party clouds the relationship.               need to ask themselves some very tough questions:
       The deception that may be involved concerning the
       child's true origin  - involving parents and friends,                 a. Are they sure how each of them will feel later
       the parents and the child, and the child and his sib-           toward a child who is biologically from only the
       lings - can introduce unhealthy and even destructive            mother? Things can be hard enough when parents
       currents into the family relationship . . . . AID en-           share being adoptive parents. They can get sticky in-
       dangers the one-flesh unit (Gen.  2:24)  that God has           deed when one has a different birth relationship to the
       willed for human marriage (p. 73).                              child than the other has. Do these two people really
                                                                       know themselves well enough to know how they will
  Dr. Gareth Jones in his book, Brave New People,                      respond later on in times of crisis?
gives qualified approval to AIH - i.e., he approves
of it provided that the motives are right. But he                            b. Are they sure how they will feel toward one
warns against the use of AID.                                          another when troubles come into their family? AID is
                                                                       made to order for hidden jealousies, covered shame,
         Enormous care must be exercised before approving              suppressed resentments; the shadow of the unknown
       AID. Its simplicity and innocuous appearance are                donor is never far away. Do the husband and wife
       deceptive. We should not accept the view that human             know themselves well enough to know how they will
       beings can do anything they wish, and can solve all             feel toward each other when their beloved child
       problems confronting them. Perhaps one of the                   creates a crisis in their home?
       supreme virtues is the ability, on occasion, to accept                c. Is the husband's concern really a disguise for his
       loss, inadequacy and suffering . . . .                          own personal and private doubts?
         By contrast [to adoption), AID introduces into the           Smedes refuses to condemn AID out of hand and
       family unit only half an outsider, namely a child car-       on any principle ground, but simply raises various
       rying the wife's genes but not the husbands. In this         practical objections, mostly of the psychological
       regard, the child is more a part of the family than is       kind. Thus AID would be permissible if the
       the adopted child. However, in order to accomplish
       this, a biological bond between the husband and wife         psychological problems could be overcome.
       has been severed. AID involves a radical separation            We shall continue our discussion at a future
       between the sexual and reproductive functions of the         time.
       marriage relationship, between marriage and parent-
       hood. . . .

                                         The Standard Bearer
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                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                            209



TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE
Herman Veldman





                           The Apostles' Creed (12)                                              _



   We concluded our preceding article with the             and they have more than their heart could wish.
remark that God is and remains sovereign. We               Yet, all this prosperity is held before us by the
would conclude this series of articles by calling at-      psalmist as "slippery places," and it was of the
tention to this sovereignty of God in connection           Lord Who had set them upon them. In Psalm 92 we
with the truth of God's providence. Our remarks            read of the brutish man that he springs as the grass,
will be brief.                                             and that he flourishes. But this occurs, we read,
   There are certain scriptural passages that are          that he may be destroyed for ever. It is the Lord
very pertinent in the treatment of this subject. We        Who causes him to prosper and to flourish, but in
read in Psalm 73: 18: "Surely Thou didst set them in       order that he may be destroyed for ever. There is
slippery places: Thou castedst them down into              surely no grace of God in all his prosperity. This
destruction." Another text is Psalm  92:6-7: "A            sovereignty of the Lord is also emphasized in Isaiah
brutish man knoweth not; Neither doth a fool               6:8-10. Isaiah is sent by the Lord to make the heart
understand this. When the wicked spring as the             of this people fat, make their ears heavy, shut their
grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do             eyes. The prophet is not sent by the Lord with a
flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever."    general, well-meaning offer of salvation. God sends
In Isaiah 6:8-10 we read: "Also I heard the voice of       him to harden them, make their ears heavy and
the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will          shut their eyes. They must not be converted, they
go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And He         must not be healed. This is God's sovereignty. And
said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but        how vividly this truth of God's sovereignty is held
understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive            before us in Acts  2:23. Mind you, Christ was
not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make           delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-
their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see       knowledge of the Lord. The crucifixion, therefore,
with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and             was planned and sovereignly willed by the alone
understand with their heart, and convert, and be           living God. God is truly absolutely sovereign in all
healed." And a final passage is Acts 2:23: "Him, be-       the ways of the wicked.
ing delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-           Secondly, however, we should also notice how
knowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked             these same passages hold before us the truth that
hands have crucified and slain." Let us now look at        man is a moral-rational, responsible being. When
these passages somewhat in detail.                         we read in Psalm 73 that the Lord sets the wicked
  Notice, in the first place, how the truth of God's       upon slippery places, this, we understand, does not
absolute sovereignty is emphasized in these                mean that these wicked are set upon these slippery
passages. In Psalm 73 the psalmist informs us that         places as stocks and blocks. The Lord never
the Lord did set them in slippery places. To be sure,      violates man's moral-rational nature, never causes
of the wicked we read that they are prosperous,            that sinner to act contrary to his own inclinations
have no bands in their death, their strength is firm,      and desires. Of these men who are set upon slip-
are not in trouble as other men, are not plagued as        pery places, according to Psalm  73,  we read in
other men, that their eyes stand out with fatness,         verse 6 that pride compasseth them about as a
                                                           chain, that violence covers them as a garment. This
Herman Veldman is's pastor emeritus in the Protestant      is their sin and responsibility. It is true that the
Reformed Churches.                                         Lord sets them upon slippery places, but we must


210                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



always bear in mind that these wicked also them-          the alone sovereign God, the wicked are but chess
selves choose these slippery places, and that this is     pieces, moved and controlled by God even as He
controlled and directed by the sovereign will of the      wills. Now we understand that not a hair can fall
living God. This is also applicable to Psalm 92. It is    from our heads without the will of our heavenly
true that the wicked spring as the grass and that the     Father.
workers of iniquity flourish in order (God's pur-                    * * * * * * *  * * *
pose) that they may be destroyed forever, but we              Our Faith In Our Lord Jesus Christ (1)
must again bear in mind that the wicked spring as                    * * * * * * * * * *
the grass and that the workers of iniquity flourish.
The Lord does not set innocent people upon slip-            Article II of the Apostles' Creed reads: "And in
pery places. He does not fatten innocent people for       Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord."
the day of slaughter. And the same is true, of            This article begins the second part of the Apostles'
course, also of Isaiah 6. It is true that the prophet     Creed, and the part of this creed which concerns
here speaks of the sovereign, wholly unconditional        our faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Incidentally, our
work of the Lord, that Isaiah is commissioned by          Heidelberg Catechism discusses this second part of
Jehovah to make the hearts of the people fat, make        the Apostles' Creed in the Lord's Day 11-19. Lord's
their ears heavy and to shut their eyes. It is true       Day 20 begins to discuss the third and last part of
that, according to Isaiah 6: 10, they must not be con-    this creed, concerning the doctrine of the Holy
verted and healed. However, we must bear in mind          Spirit and, in connection with the Holy Spirit, the
that their hearts are made fat, their ears are made       doctrine of the Church.
heavy and their eyes are shut. And this implies that        It is well to bear in mind that in this second part
the Lord, although working sovereignly (this is           of the Apostles' Creed, the church of God speaks of
always true of the Lord), works sovereignly               its faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have already
through the sinner as a moral-rational being. That        called attention to the fact that the first article in
their hearts are fat, their ears heavy and their eyes     this creed does not refer to the Father as He is the
shut does not mean that they do not hear and              first person of the divine trinity. In our discussion
understand and see intellectually, but that they do       of this first article of the Apostles' Creed, and as ex-
not understand, hear and see spiritually. They are        plained in Lord's Day 8 of our Heidelberg
sinners, responsible sinners, but absolutely con-         Catechism, we warned our readers against the error
trolled and directed by the alone sovereign God.          of tritheism, that there are three gods. We do not
The sinner is always responsible for all his actions.     read in this creed of our faith in God the Father, in
This is everywhere taught in the Word of God.             God the Son and then in God the Holy Spirit. But
Reprobation we would define as that absolutely            we read of our faith in God the Father, and then of
sovereign decree of God whereby He wills a sinner         our faith in Jesus Christ and finally of our faith in
who perishes because of his sin. Condemnation             the Holy Ghost. The name, God, is mentioned only
rests upon sin. One can condemn only a violator of        in the first article of this creed. This first article
the law. Reprobation, however, never rests upon           speaks of  God,  the Father, and this refers to the
sin. Indeed, we read in Romans 9: "Jacob have I           Triune God. Hence, the Apostles' Creed speaks of
loved and Esau have I hated," before either did           the Triune God, revealed as our Father in the work
good or evil. And finally, this also applies to Acts      of creation, and then revealed as our Redeemer in
223. To be sure, we read here that Christ was             Christ Jesus and finally revealed as-our Sanctifier in
delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-            the Holy Spirit. Hence, this also suggests and
knowledge of God. However, we also read that the          means that the second article in this creed does not
Lord Jesus Christ was taken by wicked hands and           simply refer to the Eternal Son as the second person
slain. That the world (Jew and Gentile) crucified         of the Trinity. In this second article, however, the
the Lord of glory was surely because they delighted       church confesses its faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
in it. This was their sin and for it they are held ac-    It is true that we read here of this Lord Jesus Christ
countable. Indeed, God's providence and sin are so        as God's only begotten Son. But this merely serves
related that the sinner remains a moral-rational be-      to emphasize that only Gods only begotten Son
ing, but always under the sovereign control of the        could become and be this Lord Jesus Christ. That
alone living God.                                         this second article of the Apostles' Creed refers to
                                                          our Lord Jesus Christ, the Head and Saviour of His
  What a wonderful comfort this is! Now we know           people, is abundantly evident from what follows
that the church of the living God, and, of course,        about Him in this creed: we read of His conception,
every child of the Lord is always safe in the midst       birth, suffering under Pontius Pilate, and death,
of the world. Yes, viewing the sinner subjectively,       resurrection, and exaltation into the right hand of
he always acts in harmony with his own personal           God, and His return to judgment upon the clouds of
will and desires. However, viewed in the light of         heaven.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            211



  This second part of our Apostles' Creed covers              we are instructed with respect to Christ's state of
Articles 2-7 of this creed, and, as we have stated            glorification or exaltation, His sitting at the right
above in Lord's Days 11-19 of our Heidelberg                  hand of God, and His return, bodily and visibly,
Catechism. In this part of the creed the following            upon the clouds of heaven, in all his glory and maj-
doctrines are treated: the doctrine of our Lord Jesus         esty.
Christ is discussed in His Names, Offices, Natures,             We understand, I am sure, that this treatment of
and States. His names, offices, and natures are               the doctrine concerning our Lord Jesus Christ is
treated in Lord's Days 11-13. Lord's Day 11 calls at-         very brief. Yet, it is surely also very complete. The
tention to the name Jesus. Lord's Day 12 calls our            fathers had a remarkable ability to express much in
attention to the name Christ, and also asks the               few words. This is also evident here, in this
question: why art thou called a Christian? And in             Apostles' Creed. To this truth, now, and other
Lord's Day 13 the catechism calls our attention to            truths concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, we will
the name Lord. In Lord's Day 14-16 we are  in-                call attention in subsequent articles. We also plan
strutted in regard to Christ's state of humiliation,          to show the distinctive character of these truths as
although in Lord's Day 14 our attention is also               set forth in this creed and as held before us in the
directed to the truth of the incarnation of our Lord          scriptures, the Word of God.
Jesus Christ. And, finally, in the Lord's Day 17-19

THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH
Ronald L. Cammenga





                                 Confession of Faith (2)



  At the end of our last article, we were busy dis-           take  *of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, the
cussing the basis for public confession of faith. We          church sins and because of this gross neglect falls
saw that the responsibility to make public confes-            under the judgment of God. This responsibility of
sion of faith is based, first of all, on the general call-    the church is spelled out in the Heidelberg
ing of the believer to confess Christ's Name in the           Catechism.
world. Confession of our faith is something to                         Q. 82. Are they to be admitted to this supper, who,
which the Word of God everywhere calls us. It is                 by confession and life, declare themselves unbeliev-
simply an integral part of the Christian life.                    ing and ungodly?
  A second reason why Reformed churches have                           A. No; for by this, the covenant of God would be
always insisted on a public confession of faith by               profaned, and his wrath kindled against the whole
the young people is the duty of the consistory to                congregation; therefore it is the duty of the Christian
guard the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The Lord               church, according to the appointment of Christ and
has entrusted the sacraments to the church. The                  his apostles, to exclude such persons, by the keys of
church is called to administer the sacraments.                   the kingdom of heaven, till they show amendment of
Besides, the church has been given by God the                    life.
responsibility to protect the sacraments from abuse             Since the time of the Reformation, Reformed
and desecration.                                              churches have exercised supervision over the
                                                              Lord's table by means of public confession of faith.
  I Corinthians  11:17-34 teaches clearly that if the         By insisting on a public confession of faith prior to
church knowingly allows profane persons to  par-              admission to the sacrament, the consistory makes
Ronald L. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed       sure that those who partake do so worthily.
Church of Loveland, Colorado.                                   The third basis for the responsibility of the young


212                                          THE  STANDARD BEARER



people to make public confession of faith has to do        young person may put off confession because he is
with the responsibility to partake of the Lord's Sup-      mistakenly waiting for some special sign from God,
per itself. In instituting the Lord's Supper, Christ       some special occurrence in his life, that would in-
said, "Take, eat, this is my body. Drink ye aZZ of it."    dicate to him that now the time is right to make
It ought not to escape our attention that these            confession of faith.
words of Christ are a command, imperatives:                  Needlessly putting off making confession of faith
"Take! Eat! Drink ye!" Christ obligates every adult        is also a danger to be guarded against, although it
believer to partake of this means of grace, the            may be said that quite often the reasons given by
Lord's Supper. As much as we are obligated by God          the young person for doing so at least indicate that
to hear the preaching of the gospel, so we are             he is taking confession of faith seriously.
obligated to partake of the sacrament. Young peo-
ple, you must be impressed with the duty that is             This matter of putting off confession of faith
yours before God to use the sacrament. And being           seems to be a trend in our own churches. It seems
impressed with your duty to use the sacrament,             that in the past several years young people are mak-
you cannot but also be impressed with the atten-           ing confession of faith at an older age than was
dant duty of making public confession of your              common in the past. Whereas in the past many
faith.                                                     young people made confession of faith in the mid-
                                                           dle and late teens, it is common for young people to
TWO DANGERS IN REGARD TO MAKING                            make confession of faith today in the late teens to
CONFESSION OF FAITH                                        the early and mid twenties. It is doubtful that this is
  There are at least two dangers that must be              a good trend. As parents and officebearers we
guarded against with regard to making confession           ought to do what we can to reverse this trend. The
of faith. The first is the danger of making confes-        responsibility of officebearers to  ,work with young
sion of faith recklessly and insincerely. Some young       people who may be needlessly putting off making
people make confession of faith only because               confession of faith is brought out in the questions
everybody else is doing it, and they don't want to         that are asked of the consistory at the time of the
be the odd man out. Or they make confession of             annual church visitation. One of those questions is,
faith so that they can quit going to catechism. They       "Do the children of the congregation, when they
have probably gone through the Essentials                  come to years of discretion, seek admission to the
catechism book a couple of times, are tired of             Lord's Supper? And if they are remiss, are they
memorizing questions, taking notes, and writing            pointed to their obligation and treated as the need
tests, and so make confession of faith. Others make        requires?"
confession of faith because they have married
someone in the church, and confession of faith is          WHEN TO MAKE CONFESSION OF FAITH
viewed by them simply as a way of "joining the               Obviously, no hard and fast rules can be laid
church." They do not make confession of faith be-          down as to when a person ought to make public
cause they personally and heartily agree with              confession of faith. The Scriptures lay down no set
I, . . . the doctrine contained in the Old and New         age at which a young person in the church ought to
Testaments and in the Articles of the Christian faith      be partaking of the Lord's Supper. One ought to
and taught here in this Christian church . . . ." But      make confession of faith when he has come to
they simply make confession of faith for the sake of       spiritual maturity. Just as physical and psycholog-
a husband or a wife.                                       ical maturity take place at different ages in different
                                                           people, so does spiritual maturity. Undoubtedly
  This is wrong! Those who make confession of              there are some 12 or 14 year olds who could make
faith for these sorts of reasons sin grievously. Those     confession of faith, while others ought to wait until
whose confession with the mouth does not have its          their later teens or even their early twenties.
source in the heart, make a mockery of confession
of faith. Better not to confess at all, than to make         The basic requirement for making confession of
this kind of confession.                                   faith and for partaking of the Lord's Supper is laid
  But besides this danger, there is also the danger        down by the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians  11:28,
of wrongly putting off confession of faith. There          29: "But let a man examine himself, and so let him
may be reasons for this. It may be that undue              eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that
pressure is being exerted by parents or pastor, and        eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and
the young person balks at making confession of             drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the
faith lest he be making confession simply because          Lord's body."
of this outside pressure. Or it may be that a young          The basic requirement for confession of faith and
person puts off making confession of faith because         for partaking of the sacrament is "discerning the
he feels that he just does not know enough. `Or a          Lord's body." The man or woman who does not


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                            213



"discern" Christ's body, partakes of the sacrament       was necessitated by sin; but that He died for MY
to his or her condemnation. Whoever partakes dis-        sins. It is not merely a matter of acknowledging that
cerning the Lord's body, partakes worthily.              the One Who suffered and died was the Son of God,
  What is it to discern the Lord's body? Discerning      Christ the Lord; but that He is the Son of God,
the Lord's body is not simply a matter of under-         Christ the Lord for ME. It is not just a matter of
standing that the bread of the Lord's Supper is a        acknowledging that by His death He made satisfac-
sign of the body of Christ, and the wine a sign of       tion for sin; but that by His death He covered in the
His blood. Discerning the Lord's body in the sacra-      sight of God MY sins. It is not just a matter of
ment is understanding the meaning and signifi-           acknowledging that His death was a limited atone-
cance of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ as      ment; but that I personally belong to the number of
that suffering and death are set forth in the Lord's     those for whom He died. It is not merely a matter of
Supper. Discerning the Lord's body is discerning         acknowledging that the calling of those for whom
the reason for the suffering and death of Christ,        He died is to live thankful and obedient lives; but
which is the sins of His people. It is discerning the    the personal conviction that this is MY calling, on
One Who suffered and died - the very Son of God          account of My salvation.
Himself in human flesh. It is discerning the nature        This personal element stands out in the Lord's
of His suffering and death, that it was satisfaction     Supper. The one who approaches the Lord's Table
to God for all those on behalf of whom He died. It is    does so with the words of the psalmist on his lips,
discerning the extent of His death, that His death is    "0 God, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee:
a limited atonement or a particular redemption. It       my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for
is discerning the efficacy of that death, the truth      Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is,"
that by His suffering and death the sins of all those    Psalm 63:l. A young person about to make confes-
for whom He died are actually forgiven. It is dis-       sion of his faith must be able to take on his lips the
cerning the calling that comes to those for whom         opening statement of the Heidelberg Catechism:
He died to live thankful and holy lives in the world.          That I with body and soul, both in life and death,
All this is involved in discerning the Lord's body.         am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior
  And it is a personal matter. Discerning the Lord's        Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, hath fully
body is a matter of  personal  discernment. It is           satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the
precisely for this reason that in the same text in          power of the devil; and so preserves me that without
which he calls us to discern the Lord's body before         the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall
                                                            from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient
we come to the Lord's Supper that the Apostle says,         to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he
"Let a man examine himself . . .  ." Coming to the          also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincere-
Lord's Supper is not a matter of mere head knowl-           ly willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.
edge, that you know in your mind all the truths            The young person who discerns the Lord's body,
connected with the suffering and death of Jesus          who discerns the Lord's body in this personal,  ex-
Christ. But in partaking of the Lord's Supper and        perieniial-way  ought to make confession of faith.
making confession of faith, this personal, subjec-       You have no reason to delay! No reason to put if
tive element is on the foreground.                       off! Confess your faith! Partake of the sacrament!
  Coming to the Lord's Supper is not just a matter       In this way honor the Lord whom you love! In this
of acknowledging the truth that the death of Christ      way experience His rich blessing!



                                      Book Reviews


THE FOURTH DAY, Howard J. Van Till; Wm. B.                     In this comprehensive and rigorously argued book,
Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids,  Mich.;               Howard Van Till draws on both scriptural evidence
286 pp., $9.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Prof. H.C.              and scientific investigation to construct a theologically
Hoeksema)                                                    sound and scientifically coherent perspective on the
                                                            nature of the cosmos.
  The publisher's blurb makes some big claims for              Van Till begins with the premise that neither the
this book by a Professor of Physics and Astronomy           biblical nor the scientific view of the cosmos is  com-
at Calvin College. It states:                                plete in itself. While scriptural exegesis indicates that


       214                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



              the cosmos is creation - the handiwork of God, who             Basically, there is nothing new about this book,
              creates, preserves, governs, and provides for it  -          therefore. The attempt made in this book has been
              scientific investigation indicates that the cosmos is a      made many times before.
              complex of material systems that behave in
              reasonable, predictable ways. Taken together, these            Evolutionism (It is an  km!)  and creation can no
              two accurate and compatible views form a unified vi-         more be mixed than fire and water.
              sion of the cosmos.                                            My concern is that our young people who attend
                Since evolution and creation deal with distinctly          Calvin College may be deceived by this sort of
              different questions, says Van Till, both concepts can        thing. They must be on their guard! Perhaps for this
              be taught with integrity in schools  - not as alterna-       reason I shall, if the opportunity arises, write more
              tives, but as complementary views of the universe and        extensively about this in our editorial columns.
              its history. Van Till's high respect for Scripture as the
              authoritative revelation of God and his thorough ac-         THE JEWISH RECLAMATION OF JESUS, An
              quaintance with contemporary science makes this              Analysis & Critique of the Modern Jewish Study of
              book a valuable contribution to current debates over         Jesus, by Donald A. Hagner; Zondervan Publishing
              the relation between Christianity and science.               House, 1984; 341 pp., $9.95 (paper). (Reviewed by
         One could, of course, write many an article, or                   Prof. H. Hanko)
       even a whole book, in response to a book like this.                   I found this book by the professor of New Testa-
         Actually, however, the issue addressed in this                    ment at Fuller Theological Seminary to be a
       book is very simple. The entire book is a thinly                    fascinating book. I presume that its fascination for
       veiled attempt at harmonizing Scripture and evolu-                  me was its description of a development among
       tionism. Dr. Van Till believes that cosmic history                  Jewish scholars of which I was unaware.
       extends over more than 10 billion years. (How                         The author informs us that within the last cen-
       often and how vastly these figures have changed in                  tury many Jewish scholars have begun to study the
       my lifetime! "Science" is always adjusting them                     gospel narratives (especially the synoptics)  in an ef-
       upward!) He also claims to believe the Bible, and                   fort to understand the work and ministry of Jesus
       claims that evolution and creation can very well ex-                with the final goal of claiming Jesus as their own.
       ist side by side and can be taught as complementary                 Of course, in order to do this, Jewish scholars want
       views.                                                              Jesus as their own only as a Jewish rabbi and
         By what magic does he think to achieve this syn-                  teacher, not as the Messiah. They claim that the
       thesis?                                                             Messiahship of Jesus is a perversion of the gospels,
         By getting rid of the Scriptural account of crea-                 foisted on the church especially by Paul.
       tion.                                                                 It ought to be evident, of course, that these
         How does he do this? First of all, by adopting the                Jewish scholars cannot do this by dealing honestly
       view that the first eleven chapters of Genesis are a                with the gospel narratives either. And so the author
       kind of primeval history - really not history at all.               shows how higher criticism has opened the door to
       Secondly, by adopting the theory of a framework                     this effort of Jewish scholars by making all the
       hypothesis with respect to Genesis 1, so that this                  miraculous in the gospels unhistorical.
       chapter does not really teach a creation in six days.                 It was this interest of Jewish scholars in Jesus as
       Writes he, p. 84:                                                   a great rabbi and Pharisee which resulted in the
                                                                           split among Jews between orthodox, conservative,
                The seven-day chronology that we find in Genesis 1
              has no connection with the actual chronology of the          and reform Jews. But the Jews who are most intent
              Creator's continuous dynamic action in the cosmos.           on claiming Jesus as their own, show that Jesus was
              The creation-week motif is a literary device, a frame-       completely within the Jewish tradition in His
              work in which a number of very important messages            teachings. Where the gospels contradict this, the
              are held. The chronology of the narrative is not the         obvious solution is to employ higher criticisms to
              chronology of creation but rather the packaging in           take these words out of Jesus' mouth and put them
l ,           which the message is wrapped. The particular acts            into a misled and misguided church.
              depicted in the Story of the Creator are not the events
              of creative action reported with photographic realism          The book makes it very clear that it is possible to
              but rather imaginative illustrations of the way in           understand Jesus' teachings only on the basis of His
              which God and the Creation are related.                      being the Son of God. And this, of course, no
         How does the author arrive at such conclusions                    Jewish scholar will grant.
       about Genesis? Surely, not by exegetical processes                    A long chapter is devoted to a discussion of the
       and by listening to the testimony of Scripture itself.              Pharisees of Jesus' day and the disagreement be-
       He simply allows his "science" to rule his under-                   tween modern Jews' conception of the Pharisees
       standing of Scripture.                                              (mostly favorable) and the testimony of the gospels.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                215



A first century Jew would not have found anything             his own position, though that of a conservative
novel in Jesus' teachings, and what is novel in the           Christian, is also critical.
gospel narratives is not authentic but a Christian in-          Although the author is certainly not satisfied
troduction into the narrative of Pauline Christiani-          with the Jewish position, his willingness to sur-
ty-                                                           render to higher criticism is dismaying and seems
       The great problem of the book is the author's          to us to cut out from under the feet of the church
own willingness to make concessions to higher                 her basis for doing missionary work among the
criticism in the interests of conceding to Jewish             Jews.
scholars all he can. The author himself admits that




                           News From Our Churches
                                                      Ben Wigger





                                        February  1,1987      organized in 1958. Rev. H. Kuiper became their
       The history of our congregation in Loveland, Col-      first pastor. He faithfully cared for the small flock
orado, goes back to the time when many of the peo-            which numbered 17 families at the start until his
ple who now make up the membership lived in Sut-              death in November, 1961.
ton, Nebraska, and attended the Free German                     After Rev. Kuiper's death the church was
Salem Reformed Church.                                        without a pastor for almost two years until Rev.
       After the death of their pastor, troubles arose and    David Engelsma graduated from the seminary. He
many of the people moved out west, settling in the            was installed in October 1963, and served until
area around Loveland, Colorado. Here they began               1974. In 1965 the congregation built a new church
their search for the truth and joined the Reformed            at a cost of $13,000. The first service was held June
Hoffnungs Gemeinde.                                           27, 1965. The-church was built with a basement sit-
                                                              ting partway out of the ground to accommodate the
       In 1954, Elder George Kitzman, who was visiting        school. In 1975 the dream of a separate school
friends in South Dakota, attended the German                  building became a reality. And the school continues
Reformed Church in Isabel. Rev. Mensch, the                   to play a large and important place in the `life of the
pastor of this church, heard of Kitzman's interest            congregation. The present enrollment is fifty
and decided to check into the matter. He came to              students in grades `l-9, plus several kinder-
Loveland and visited with the elders of the church            gartners.
and preached for the congregation. It was through
this contact with Rev. Mensch that the congrega-                In 1974 the old parsonage was sold and a new
tion was advised to contact the Protestant Re-                parsonage was built in front of the church.
formed Churches. Rev. Mensch contacted Rev.                     After Rev. Engelsma left in 1974, Rev. G. Lanting
Lubbers and together they visited with the  con-              came and served until 1979. When he left, Rev.
sistory, which resulted in their requesting the Prot-         Kortering, formerly of Redlands, California,
estant Reformed churches to send a missionary. In             became Loveland's-next pastor. He left to take up
answer to their request, the Protestant Reformed              his labors in the newly organized congregation in
Churches sent Rev. Lubbers and Rev. C. Hanko to               Grandville, Michigan, in June of 1985. In October
look into the situation. In 1955 Rev. Lubbers                 of that same year, Rev. Ronald Cammenga took up
started working in the Loveland area. The work of             his labors and serves there at the present time.
Rev. Lubbers in 1955-57 resulted in a request being             The most exciting development in the last year
sent to' the 1958 Classis  asking to be instituted as a       has been the erection of their new church building.
Protestant Reformed Church.                                   The building was built for the most part by
       Their request was granted and they were                volunteer labor out of the congregation.
Ben Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed               Loveland's Church Extension Committee recent-
Church of Hudsonville, Michigan.                              ly has been very encouraged by interest shown on


                                                                                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                       P.O. Box 6064
                                                                                                                Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516





216                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


the part of several people in the city of Denver.                        mittee plans to sponsor a course on  The Office of
   As far as the make-up of their congregation is                        Deacon,  to be taught by Prof. H. Hanko beginning
concerned, most of the men are employed in areas                         February 5. The first  t.wo or three weeks he hopes
connected to the construction industry: carpenters,                      to lecture on the principles of the office and work,
builders, construction workers, realtors. They have                      and in the weeks to follow, to answer questions.
only one farmer any longer in the congregation.                          This means the course will be as practical as possi-
                                                                         ble, directed primarily to helping deacons under-
   There are six catechism classes and five Bible                        stand their work.
study societies. Society life is especially active,
many of the members belonging to two societies.                             Rev. and Mrs. Dykstra and family were blessed
                                                                         with the birth of a baby boy, Jordan Lee, on
   This history is unique when compared to most of                       December 15.
our congregations. The congregation is not of a
Dutch but rather a German background. And                                   The congregation of Hope, Walker, Michigan
although there has been an influx of various other                       gave a welcome program for Rev. Slopsema and
elements, the German influence remains strong.                           family on the night of December 18. Included in
                                                                         the program were numbers by the Choral Society
   In other news: Rev. D. Engelsma was invited to                        and Sunday School. There was also a cornet solo
attend the meeting in Chicago of the International                       and a couple of numbers sung by a male quartet.
Council on Biblical Inerrancy. The I.C.B.I. is a
council of Evangelical theologians, preachers and                           Refreshments and a time to get acquainted were
laymen devoted to the defense and application of                         provided for after the program.
the inerrancy of Holy Scripture. This year's con-
ference concentrated on the application of the Iner-                                    RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
rant Scriptures to doctrine and life.                                       The members of the Senior Mr. and Mrs. Society of the
   In order to develop courses at the seminary when                      Southwest Protestant Reformed Church, Grandville, Michigan would
there areno students, the Theological School Com-                        like to express their sympathy to the Timmerman family, and in par-
                                                                         ticular to our fellow members, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Timmerman and
                                                                         Mr. and Mrs. Ike Kuiper, in the death of MR. JAMES TIMMERMAN.
                           NOTICE! ! !                                      "I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God; in
  The Hope Protestant Reformed Christian School of Walker, Michi-        Him-will I trust." (Psalm 91 :2)                                . .
gan, is in need of a teacher/administrator for the forthcoming 1987-     Dr. R. Kreuzer, Pres.
1988 school year.                                                        Jo Anne Bult, Sec'y.
  Any teachers interested in applying for this position please write
the school at 1'545 Wilson Avenue, Grand Rapids, Ml 49504; or con-                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
tact Clare  Tinklenberg  (616) 457-3212, or Rich Van  Baren  (616)
531-8048.                                                                   The Consistory of the  Pella Protestant Reformed Church ex-
                                                                         presses its Christian sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Andrew P. Van Zee in
                                                                         the death of their son, LEON L. VAN ZEE at the age of 35 years.
                ATTENTION TEACHERS!!!                                       "The Lord will give strength unto His people; the Lord will bless
   Hope Christian School of Redlands, California is in need of a         His people with peace." (Psalm 29:l 1)
teacher for Grades K-3 for the 1987-1988 school year. Teachers           Rev. Charles Terpstra, Pres.
and prospective teachers interested in applying for this position        Carl Van Donselaar, Clerk
please write to: Hope Christian School, 1309 E. Brockton, Redlands,
CA 92374, or phone Ed Karsemeyer (714-793-7166 home) or
(714-793-1504 school), or Bill Feenstra (714-793-3597).                                               NOTICE!!!
                                                                            Heritage Christian School will need an additional teacher beginning
                           NOTICE!!!                                     in September of 1987 to teach in grades 6-8. If interested please
                                                                         write to the school at the address below. You may also call the school
   Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet, the       (616-669-l 773) or the Administrator, Gerald Kuiper  (616-669-
Lord willing, in Hull, Iowa on Wednesday, March 4, 1987, at  8:30        5427).
AM. Material for the Agenda must be in the hands of the Stated Clerk               Heritage Christian School
30 days before Classis convenes.                                                   4900 40th Ave.
                                    Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk              Hudsonville, Michigan 49426


