         The
STANDARD.
         BEARER
         A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                     Y



   The doctrine of election is most often viewed as some
abstract, faraway .doctrine having no practical implications
for life. It belongs to the secret things of God, having no part
of our every day experience. For that reason it need not be
preached. In fact, it should not be preached, lest it bring
fears and doubts to the soul.
   But listen to this. God  ,has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in Christ according as He has chosen us in Christ.
He has done all this that we might be holy and without
blame before Him.
   Understand what this means and you can not help but
agree that election is one of the most practical doctrines of
the Scriptures, giving meaning, direction, and unity to all of
life.
                                             See Meditation, p. 482


                                       Vol.  LXIII, MO. 21, September 15,  1987-


482                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                                THE STANDARD  BEARER
                                                                                                                         ISSN  0362-4692
                              CONTENTS                                                      Semi-monthly,  except monthly  during June,  July, and August.
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                                                                                  Editor-in-Chief:  Prof.  Homer  C.  Hoeksema
       Richly Blessed In Jesus Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .482            Department Editors: Rev. Ronald  Cammenga,  Rev. Arie den H&tog,  Prof. Robert
                                                                                  D. Decker,  Rev. Barry  Gritters, Rev. Cornelius  Hanko,  Prof. Herman C. Hanko,
  Editor's Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .485    Rev.  Ronald  Hanko,  Rev.  John A. Heys,  Rev.            Kortering,   Rev.  George   C.  Lub-
                                                                                  bers,  Rev.  Thomas   C.  Miersma,   Rev.  James  S1 opsema,   Rev.   Gise  J.  Van  Baren,
  Editorials-                                                                     Rev.  Herman Veldman,  Mr.  Benjamin  Wigger.
       Why Evolution? (9) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .485      BditoriaI   Of/ice:  Prof.  H.C.  Hoeksema
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       More About "Evolution At Dordt College" . . . .486                         Church News Editor: Mr. Ben Wiener
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AWEDITATION
James D. Slopsema




                          Richly Blessed In Jesus Christ

                  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
               spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
                  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be
               holy and without blame before him. -Ephesians 1:3, 4


  The doctrine of election is most often viewed as                                  of God, having no part of our every day experience.
some abstract, faraway doctrine having no practical                                 For that reason it need not be preached. In fact, it
implications for life. It belongs to the secret things                              should not be preached, lest it bring fears and


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  483



     doubts to the soul.                                           Son, this day have I begotten thee,' " Acts 13.:32, 33.
      But listen to this. God has blessed us with all              In other words, when God exalted Jesus through
     spiritual, blessings in Christ according as He has            the resurrection, He begat Jesus so that  Jesus
     chosen us in Christ. He has done all this that we             became His Son in a very special sense.
     might be holy and without blame before Him.                     It was at this exaltation of Jesus into glory that
       Understand what this means and you can not                  God blessed Jesus with all the blessings of salva-
     help but agree that election is one of the most prac-         tion. The glory that Christ has received at His ex-
     tical doctrines of the Scriptures, giving meaning,            altation is nothing less than the spiritual blessings
     direction, and unity to all of life.                          which He had earned at the cross.
                 * * * * * * * * * *                                 This is also why God is called here the God of
                                                                   Jesus. This is the language of the covenant. God
       Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus             promised to establish His covenant with Abraham
     Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual bless-         and his seed for an everlasting covenant to be a God
     ings in heavenly places in Christ!                            unto Abraham and to his seed. (Genesis  17:7) God
       These spiritual blessings are all the blessings of          is called Jesus' God exactly because God exalted
     salvation. By the blessings of salvation we mean all          Him as the Seed of the covenant and blessed Him
     that is necessary to deliver us from the wrath to             with all the spiritual blessings of the covenant.
     come and to bring us to the bliss of heavenly glory.            But now the point is that by blessing Jesus, God
     These are the blessings that Christ has earned for us         blessed us!
     at the cross. Oh, how we need these blessings. We
     have all sinned and made ourselves worthy of the                There is the closest possible relation between us
     wrath to come. We are hopelessly lost in sin. To at-          and Jesus Christ. This union is expressed by
~    tain the bliss of heaven, we need all these blessings         various figures. Christ is the head; we are His body.
     of salvation.                                                 Christ is the vine; we are the branches. Christ is the
                                                                   bridegroom; we are the bride. The reality expressed
       God has blessed us with aZI these spiritual bless-          by these and other figures is that God has placed us
     ings.                                                         in such a,close relationship with Christ that we are
       What a striking statement!                                  one with Him and share all things with Him. Scrip-
       For the meaning is not that we have already been            tures go so far as to say that we are in Christ and He
     blessed with some of these spiritual blessings and            is in us.
     more will come. The meaning is rather that God                  Consequently, when God blessed Christ in
     has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing          heavenly places with all the blessings of salvation,
     He has for us.                                                He blessed us. And through the inner working of
       To understand how this can be true we must                  the Holy Spirit we even now are enjoying the begin-
     bear in mind that God has blessed us with these               nings of these blessings. We find in Jesus the for-
     spiritual blessings in heavenZy places in Christ]esus.        giveness of our sins. We have a new life in Christ.
     This means that God has blessed Christ in heavenly            We have the hope of life eternal . . . .
     places with all the blessings of salvation. And by              Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
     blessing Christ, He has also blessed us.                      Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual bless-
       The viewpoint of this Word of God is that Jesus             ings in heavenly places in Christ!
     Christ is our exalted Lord in heavenly places or                           *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
     regions.                                                        God has blessed us in Christ according as He has
       This, by the way, is why God is called here the             chosen us in Him.
     Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is the Father of           Notic.e, God has blessed us in Christ. And now
     Jesus exactly because He has taken Christ from the            we find that God has chosen us in Christ. The
     humiliation of death and the grave and raised Him             meaning is very clear. God has chosen Christ and
     to heavenly glory. This is evident from the apostle           He has chosen us in Christ.
     Paul's sermon to the Jews in the synagogue of An-               To what has God chosen Christ?
     tioch of Pisidia, "We declare unto you glad tidings,
     how that the promise which was made unto the                    He has chosen Christ to be His Son.
     fathers, God hath fulfilled that same unto us their             Jesus is eternally the Son of God, the second per-
     children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it        son of the trinity, equal with the Father and the
     is also written in the second psalm, `Thou art my             Spirit. Hence, God determined to send His Only
                                                                   Begotten into our flesh to be His Son in a very unique
     James D. Slopsema is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    sense, inheriting all the blessings of salvation.
     Reformed Churches.                                            And according to His wisdom, God also determined


484                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



that Christ should receive this inheritance only on        ing without blame before God. One who is without
the basis of the perfect righteousness and obe-            blame was pictured in the Old Testament by the
dience of the cross.                                       sacrificial lamb that was without blemish. To be
  And God has chosen us in Christ.                         without blame is to be without the spiritual
                                                           blemishes of sin and evil. And this is an essential
  This means that He has chosen us to share in this        part of holiness. One who defiles himself with sin is
glory of Christ. He has chosen us to share in the          not consecrated to the service of God. One is
spiritual blessings He has determined to give to           devoted to the service of God in holiness only when
Christ.                                                    He walks without blame before God in obedience
  To that end God has also appointed Christ to be          to His commandments.
our Mediator so that we will be one with Christ in            This is the purpose of God in choosing and bless-
all things.                                                ing us in Christ.
  God has so chosen us in Christ before  the founda-          God will glorify Himself through a people that is
tion of the world.                                         wholly consecrated to His service in holiness.
  There are two possibilities. Either God chooses             To that end He has chosen us in Christ to be His
us in time, during the course of our earthly life, or      people. And according to that election He has
He chooses us before the foundation of the world.          blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ in
Should God's election be in time, His election is          heavenly places. For of ourselves we are no dif-
based on us. God chooses us because of what we             ferent from the world. We are profane and evil,
are. Should election be from eternity, however, our        devoted to self, defiled with sin. But with the bless-
works and worth have nothing to do with the basis          ing of God in Christ we are wonderfully trans-
of election. Then election is strictly a matter of         formed, able to be holy and without blame before
God's good pleasure.                                       God  - principally now and perfectly in glory.
  God has chosen us from before the foundation of            In this light election gives direction and meaning
the world. We are no more worthy than any one              to the whole of life.
else. Of ourselves we share equally with all man-
kind in the. spiritual ruin of the fall. But God in His      Have you received the blessings of God in Jesus
sovereign good pleasure has chosen us in Christ.           Christ? Then you can not help but be overwhelmed
                                                           with gratitude to God. As you seek to express your
  And according to this election God has blessed           gratitude, you are confronted by the fact of your
us.                                                        eternal election. God has chosen you to these bless-
  This means that the basis of the blessings we            ings in Christ exactly so that you should be holy
have and enjoy is God's election. We have the              and without blame before Him. And so you are
blessings of salvation not because through our own         called by your very election to a life of holiness and
works we have made ourselves worthy. Nor do we             purity before God. And in your election you find
have these blessings because we decided to claim           the very motive you need to live in holiness before
them in Christ. These spiritual blessings of salva-        God.
tion are ours only because God chose us in Christ to         Let us live daily in the reality of our election in
receive them.                                              Christ that we may find meaning and direction for
  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus          our life.
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual bless-
ings in heavenly places in Christ!
           *  * * * * * * * *  *                               The Standard Bearer
  God has chosen us in Christ and blessed us in
Christ that we should be holy and without blame                    makes a thoughtful
before Him.
  To be holy before God means to live a life of con-                      gift for the
secration and devotion to God. Those who live in
holiness before God are not concerned first of all                      sick  & shut-in.
with their desires, their convenience, their honor,
their earthly advantage. Their concern is God's
honor and glory. Their chief desire is the promotion                     Give a gift of the
of God's cause. To that end they are willing to                         Standard Bearer!!
sacrifice, if needs be, all things.
  Being holy before God is further explained by be-


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                            485


                                      Editor's Notes


  Please!  Send all announcements, obituaries, in           This issue is the last of our current volume-year.
memoriams, and anniversary notices to our                 You will find in it the annual index: To make room
Business Office (see masthead), not to me. The            for the index some departments, including News
chances are good that if they are sent to me, they        From Our Churches, have been omitted.             HCH
may be misplaced and/or delayed. Accompany
such notices with proper payment.

EDITORIALS



                                 Whv Evolution? (9)
                                         L





  In our previous editorial on this subject we were       history. Without events, there can be no interpreta-
trying to discover what Dr. Howard Van Till means         tion of events and their significance.
by "primeval history." You will recall that he              It ought to be plain, therefore, that for Van Till
classifies the first eleven chapters of Genesis, in       Genesis l- 11 is simply not a historical record. And
distinction from the subsequent part of Genesis, as       the use of the  expression"`primeva1 history" is a
"primeval history." However, he fails to offer a          deceptive term which is employed to make the
succinct definition of primeval history. The reader,      denial of the historicity of Genesis  l-11  somewhat
therefore, is left to his own devices to discover this    more palatable to those who are gullible enough to
meaning from the several paragraphs which Van             swallow Dr. Van Till's poison.
Till devotes to this subject.                               Further, I challenge Dr. Van Till, or anyone else,
  It became very plain last time that the "stories"       to make it plain on the basis of the Bible itserf (i.e.
of primeval history (Dr. Van Till repeatedly speaks       following the principle that Scripture is its own
of "stories") are not true. That-is, they are not true    interpreter) that this entire notion of "primeval
in the sense of being fuctud. According to Van Till,      history" has any validity whatsoever. I assure you
these "stories" may illustrate and convey truths          that this is impossible.
about various things. But as Van Till himself makes
plain: the events mentioned in these "stories" may          The rest of Dr. Van Till's explanation of so-called
or may not have actually happened. Further, ac-           primeval history involves a comparison with
cording to Van Till, one must not even be con-            parables. First of all, he writes:
cerned whether or not the events happened. To be            "The truth of a concrete story in ancient Hebrew
concerned is to follow a sidetrack which "sends us        literature does not necessarily lie in its specific
down a dead-end spur."                                    details but rather in the eternal verities it il-
  Now I submit that all history is concerned about        lustrates. When we modern Westerners read a
events and facts. Without such facts and the record       story, we expect it to be written as an answer to the
of such facts, it is impossible even to conceive of       question "What happened?" [Incidentally, what do
history (primeval history or any other kind of            parables tell, except "What happened?" HCH] But
history). There is absolutely no difference between       the stories of primeval history are much more like
Eastern history or Western history in that respect.       parables than like journalistic reports of events.
Without facts and the record of facts, there is no        They illustrate the identity and character and status


486                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



of God, humanity, and nature. They were never in-         about the creation, about Adam and Eve, about
tended to answer questions about precisely what           Cain and Abel, about Enoch, about Lamech and his
happened; rather, they were designed to answer            sons, about Noah and his sons, about the Flood.
questions about the character of the chief par-           This so-called primeval history is noteworthy for
ticipants in the human experience and the nature of       what it lacks  - history. Read the paragraph for
their relationship. In typically Eastern fashion,         yourself and ask the question: what is left of
primeval history answers these questions with il-         Genesis l-l  l?
lustrative stories that share many features with the
parables we find elsewhere in Scripture." (p. 83)            "Unlike parables, primeval history does refer to
                                                          a historical past with a character essentially the
   But again I emphasize: history answers the ques-       same as that illustrated by the narrative. Though
tion "What happened?" or it is not history, whether       actual history and the primeval narratives may dif-
Eastern or Western. Van Till's "primeval history"         fer vastly in detail, they belong to the same genus.
is not history.                                           Primeval history is not simply early history or
   Next Van Till wants to do away with what he            prehistory; it is a collection of narratives that pro-
calls the "packaging." This necessarily leaves him        vides the conceptual framework necessary to
with even less history.                                   understand all of history. [But no facts and events.
   "Primeval history and parable can both serve as        HCH] Primeval history sets the stage on which ac-
vehicles of truth  - important truth. In both cases,      tual human history is played out; it provides the
the concrete details of the story constitute the          framework in which history is to be experienced.
packaging in which that truth is conveyed. In both        Its stories apply not merely to specific events or in-
cases the content of truth is of infinitely greater       dividuals but to all of history and all of humanity.
value than the vehicle or packaging in which it is        Primeval history is as much our experience as it is
carried. In either case, if we attempt to consume         anyone's. Primeval history tells us as much about
both the content and the packaging, we may en-            our God, our selves, and our world as it tells about
counter significant difficulty in chewing, swallow-       the God, the person, and the world of Abraham, or
ing, and digesting the combination. Those who             Moses, or David long ago. Though it is not to be
want to feed on the truths of Scripture must take         taken literally, it is to be taken seriously." (p. 83)
care to differentiate between food and packaging."           From all that I have written on this subject, it is
(P.  83)                                                  plain that there is but one way of making room for
   Frankly, I have much more difficulty "chewing,         evolution and its billions of years: Get rid of the Bi-
swallowing, and digesting" what is left after Van         ble and its plain testimony!
Till has stripped the packaging away. It is difficult       This is what Dr. Van Till does in his book,
to chew on nothing!                                       though he claims to harmonize creation and evolu-
   His final paragraph on this subject makes it plain     tion. His God is too small!                      HCH
that Van Till has no history left. It tells us nothing

       More About "Evolution At Dordt College"

   At this time I will not comment at length on this      change matters.
matter. I prefer to wait until I have received the          3) Theoretically it may be true that one can
decision of the Dordt College Board of Trustees.          adopt the "old earth creationist" (or "progressive
My comments at this time are as follows:                  creationist") position without adopting evolution-
   1) The tape recording of the entire debate was of      ism. In Dr. Hodgson's case, however, it is plain to
poor quality, having been made from the audience.         me, not only from the quotations made in my June
Yet I went over the parts quoted very carefully and       1 editorial but also from the rest of his remarks and
repeatedly (and with help and confirmation from           from other sources, that he teaches evolution. The
others) and even with equipment by means of               reader may review for himself the evidence cited in
which I was able to slow down the playing of the          our June 1 issue. I do not see how anyone can deny
cassette. I assure the reader that my transcription is    the facts here.
accurate in every essential respect.                        But we will await the Board of Trustees' deci-
   2)  Dr. Hodgson's insertion of the word  micro  at     sion.                                            HCH
one point in the quotations does not essentially


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                               487



FROM HOLY WRIT
George C. Lubbers





                      Believing All The Scriptures (8)



ADAM DRIVEN OUT OF THE GARDEN OFEDEN                            -Hence, God so directed Moses that He infallibly
- UPON HOPE (Genesis  322, 23)                                writes the divine "must" of Adam's having been
   It is of the utmost importance that we read the            driven from the holy place of the garden of Eden as
sacred text carefully. It reads as follows:                   representative of the entire human race. By one
                                                              man all men fell, and by one man all were driven
   "And the LORD God said, Behold the man is                  from Eden's glory!
become as one of us, to know good and evil. And,
now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the            In Adam, the entire human race once lived in
tree of life and live forever: therefore he drove out         Eden. Small wonder that men write concerning
the man from the garden of Eden to till the ground            "Paradise Lost". And lost that former blessedness
iron1 whence he was taken" (Gen. 3:22, 23). ,                 of Eden's garden is forever. And this truth is a
                                                              guidepost to and gives direction to all believing
  Thus writes Moses in the Sacred Scripture. He               thinking.
records the act and verdict of God. It is the verdict,
however, of JEHOVAH God, the covenant God of                    In this judicial act God changed the legal status of
Israel. This places the expelling of Adam and Eve             the first Adam. Is not this first Adam a "figure" of
from the garden of Eden in a certain Christological           the Adam to come (Romans  5:12-15)? Was not the
prophetic perspective.                                        creature subjected to vanity upon hope (Rom.
  Adam is driven from Paradise in the hope of the             8:20)? This we have noticed in an earlier chapter.
                                                              Thus too we must see the verdict upon Adam. In
great PROMISE that the Seed of the woman will                 this verdict God gives a ground which expresses
triumph over the seed of-the serpent!                         something profoundly horrible in Adam's trans-
  Let this perspective of the gospel-promise not be           gression. He has become something dreadfully
lost out of sight!                                            ungodly in the fall. Yes, Adam has become "as one
  We repeat: we ought to notice that this is a quota-         of us". Notice the plural "us". The Triune God is
tion from the mouth of Jehovah God. And tie may               here speaking. Here are three persons speaking.
ask: how did Moses come to know this divine ver-              Yet, it is one God Who is speaking. And all things
dict and execution of His just judgment upon                  are naked and opened with Him with whom Adam
Adam? Although these terms are spoken as a cer-               his to do. The Triune, the covenant, living God
tain divine soliloquy, a monologue, yet it was such           speaks. This God is not the "god" of the Unitarian
that it was for the ears of Adam and Eve by God's             teaching at all. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:
revelation. Adam surely must have often had the               Three in One and One in Three. Each has his  own
necessity laid upon him to tell these awesome                 personal attribute (See Belgic Confession, Article
words to his children and children's children.  The           VIII), yet all have the same determining power and
dreadful reality of working with an accursed earth            authority as to what is good and evil. Not Satan is
from which they had been taken, and to which the)             God, but God alone is GOD!
were to return, called for the only answer given by             God is good.
God from heaven.                                                God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all
George C. Lubbers is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    (1 John 1:5). His is the heavenly majesty  of the holy
Reformed Churches.                                            place forever.


488                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



   And, oh horror: man is become as one of us to           have the promise of God spoken to the serpent an-
know good and evil. Has Satan's lie uttered to the         nouncing the eternal doom and defeat of Satan and
woman become true, as the Mormons and others               of his seed? Already there is the Lamb, slain from
like them affirm? There is a sense in which this has       the foundation of the world (Rev.  13:8).  Already it
become true, but not as it was suggested by the ser-       was written in the volume of the Scroll, "Behold, I
pent to Eve. He suggested to Eve that God was              come to do Thy will, 0 God." Else God could not
withholding something from them, some good and             have clothed Adam and Eve. What wonderful
blessed privilege. God was short-changing them in          gospel-tidings we read, "Unto Adam and unto Eve
forbidding them to eat from the tree of knowledge          did the LORD God make coats of skin, and  he
of good and of evil. What really happened was that         clothed them." What tender kindness to take away
Adam in listening to Satan's lie, in listening to the      the shame of their nakedness so very early in the
woman, had attempted to usurp the place of God;            history of the gathering of the church out of the en-
he attempted to determine contrary to God's  ex-           tire human race. The trumpet sounds clearly: Here-
pressedly revealed will what was good and what             in is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved
was evil. He had attempted to play the role of God!        us and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins," (I
In so doing he had been caught in the web of the           John 4: lo)!
liar from the beginning (John  8:44). And, what is           Adam must have bowed the head when he left
worse, both he and his wife had been willing vic-          the garden of Eden.
tims. It was wilful disobedience.                            Yes, he heard the verdict: Go out of this my earth-
   Yes, it was iniquity.                                   ly holy place. Through his tear-stained eyes he
   It has in it the seed the principle of the mystery      must have seen the Seed to be born from his wife.
of iniquity, which now works in the children of dis-       Her new name "Eve" spelled hope in their hearts.
obedience under the energizing of Satan and all his        Yes, from a .woman,  without the seed of a man, shall
hellish host.                                              the Word-Incarnate be born. Oh, I believe this was
   The "man" has become as one of us. As such he           all very vague and distant for Adam. But he saw it
is not merely an individual, but he is the represen-       as a ray of hope, which would one day be a bright-
tative of the entire human race. Through the sin of        ness above the glory of the noonday sun. It will be
one man all fell, as we read in Romans  5:12,              the glad prophecy of the last Old Testament proph-
"Through one man sin entered into the.wor1d.l' Sin         esy, spoken by Malachi, "but unto you who fear
did not enter into the world in the Pelagian manner        my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with
of example, so that sin enters into the world              healing in his wings . . .  ."
through millions of individuals, men and women.              Adam had in his repentant and believing heart a
God forbid! For thus also righteousness is ours by         hope: it was the hope of heaven and earth. The
One Man, Jesus Christ. He is the "Seed of the              names of Adam and Eve are inscribed in the
woman' ' . He represents the entire elect core of the      generations  (ToZedoth  of the heavens and of the
human race: the church gathered by the Son of God          earth.
out of the entire human race, elected unto eternal           And the angels are looking down, stooping down
life!                                                      to look into the things that are here spoken by
   Here is the sin of Adam: the root sin. It is the sin    Jehovah, and which would more clearly be set forth
of pride, of the creature lifting himself up, vaunting     by prophets and bards, which they search out the
himself to be the Creator; yea, the creature, who is       time and the manner of the time of the sufferings
under the caw of the Creator, vainly attempting to         which would come upon Christ and the glory of the
emancipate himself.                                        heavenly to follow!
   From this "lie" the Seed of the woman would               Yes, we had better believe all the Scriptures, lift
come, has come to deliver us! He is "the Truth".           up our hearts to heaven, and hope upon the living
He is the personal Truth, God in the flesh. Over           God!
against Satan who speaks "the lie," Christ has                        * * * * * * * * * *
come as the Truth to bring those in the bondage of           Meanwhile the earthly life of mankind will be
sin and the lie to liberty!                                one of labor and toil. Adam and the human race
   Yet, here in Genesis 3:22 we see the rays of light      from which the church is gathered by the Son of
of the eternal morning on the eastern sky. Adam is         God, must work. Unless they work they shall not
driven from the gate eastward to till the ground           eat. Adam and Eve are sent out of Eden, the garden
from which he was taken. Yet he is not pushed into         of God.
the eternal night of utter despair of outer darkness,        The reason is: lest they take also from the tree of
but somewhere in the depth of his heart, he goes           life and live forever. Yes, the driving of Adam from
out in the hope of the morning star. Does he not           Eden was a divine judgment and punishment for


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                         489



sin. Yet, even here, mercy boasts against judgment.       victory through death. It will be the reward of those
It is God's precaution, his preventing Adam from          who say by grace, "Thanks be to God who gives us
eating from the symbolical tree of life. The phrase       the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ". Do we
"live forever" cannot mean: and have eternal life in      not read the words of him who walks between the
the Christological, biblical sense of the term. The       seven candlesticks say: "He that hath an ear to hear
gift of God is eternal life (Rom. 6:23). Adam would       what the Spirit saith to the churches: to him that
not have had immortality had he eaten from this           overcometh will I give to eat of the  tree of  life,
tree of life. We ought to notice that the test teaches    which is in the midst of the paradise of God" (Rev.
that Adam had  not yet  eaten from this tree of life      2:7).
heretofore. For the adverb "also" implies  .that he         Hope-giving words these are!
had eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, but not yet from the tree of life in the           Yes, they are words which connect the earth
midst of the garden.                                      paradise with the heavenly paradise.
   But Adam never shall eat from that earthly tree          We no longer live in earthly paradise. We toil
of life!                                                  and sweat, but we smile through our tears while we
                                                          sing the songs of heaven on earth in hope.
   God has something better in store for him, and
for all the seed of the woman. They would eat of a          Yes, the hope of heaven and earth!
better tree. Eating of that tree will be the reward of

T H E   D A Y   O F   SHADOW>;
John A. Heys




                              True Faith Manifested
                                   Bv A Work Of Love
                                       L





   A truth we do well to hold on to and consider in          Orpah's words spoken with Ruth, namely,
the word of God is found in James 2:17. There we           "Surely we will return with thee unto thy people",
read: "Even so faith, if it have no works is dead, be-     were contradicted when she went back to Moab
ing alone." And having begun last time to look at          and her people. Her works revealed that she had no
Ruth's undeniable faith in God, which she con-             faith in God.
fessed to Naomi, we do well now to consider more             Now, as we saw, Naomi's words to Orpah and
fully what she said to Naomi.                              Ruth that moved Orpah to return were not spoken
   There are those who have faith, but in a moment        to discourage and wipe out faith. That we. may
of spiritual weakness show no faith by their works.        never  .do. Our calling is to encourage and
Elimelech.and  Naomi certainly showed no faith in         strengthen faith. Are we not in Romans  14:l ex-
God by leaving the land of Canaan and by going to         horted to receive "him that is weak in the faith"?
Moab for bread. This was not an act of trusting in        Does Paul not say that we must not receive him "to
God, assured that He would take care of them.             doubtful disputation"? And Ruth's words, "Entreat
Naomi's return to the promised land was a work            me not to leave thee, or to turn from following
that manifested faith in Jehovah. This was a work         thee", do not mean that Naomi was trying to
that said what her lips had been saying to Orpah          destroy her faith. By her singing of God's praises,
and Ruth.                                                 by her prayers and the testimony of her mouth in
                                                          instructing them, Naomi taught them the truth. Of
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant     that we can be sure. For Naomi would never have
Reformed Churches.                                        found faith in Ruth, if she had not taught her the


     490                                         THE STANDARD BEARER
I


     truth in the idolatrous Moab that worshipped              goest, I will go". It will be going with Naomi but
     Chemosh.                                                  because of where Naomi is going. She wants
       Naomi even had reason to believe that her own           Naomi's companionship because she sees her as a
     actions spoke louder than her words. Leaving the          fellow believer who can help her enjoy a richer
     promised land and staying away from God's house           spiritual life of faith in God. She will go to Canaan
     and altar for ten years could have spoken louder to,      because she knows that God is there, not merely
     these daughters-in-law than the words of her              because Naomi will be there. Where Naomi goes
     mouth. It could also have been a mere love of the         counts. "Whither thou goest I will go." And do not
     flesh that did not want them to separate. And rather      overlook the I will go.
     than to try to stifle a little glimmering of faith in        Ruth also states that she will lodge where Naomi
     these women, Naomi wants to be sure that their            lodges. This means far more than lodging with
     works of going with her are works of faith and not        Naomi. It is not going to be a short visit. It is God's
     merely of natural love.                                   covenant fellowship that she seeks, not Naomi's
       Naomi found clearly that the work of Orpah              fleshly companionship. In effect she tells Naomi
     revealed that her desire to go with her to Canaan         that she will not do what she and Elimelech did.
     was not a work of faith in God. But Ruth's work of        They left the place where God was in Christ, to go
     insisting on going with her was a manifestation of        and lodge in Moab. She, Ruth, is coming out of
     undeniable faith in God. Orpah's kiss given to            Moab and will never return. The spiritual blessed-
     Naomi revealed a natural love and nothing more.           ness of the promised land is so much more wonder-
     Ruth's refusal to kiss Naomi good-bye was rooted          ful than the fleshly joys of Moab and of living with
     in a very true and real faith in God. For Ruth's          her relatives in that heathen land. And even if it
     work of going with Naomi spoke loudly of her faith.       pleases God to send another famine, Ruth will not
     And all that Ruth said would have meant nothing,          imitate Naomi and Elimelech, but continue to lodge
     and would have been hypocrisy, if Ruth had not in-        in that promised land.
     sisted upon going with Naomi.                               What an act of faith! What an act that speaks
       Our unmarried young people do well to bear in           louder than her words! Try to appreciate how fully
     mind that love of the flesh is not what counts.           Ruth cut herself off from her fleshly friends and
     Never should they even think of marrying one  -           relatives to have covenant fellowship with God in
     no matter how emotional and loveable in a fleshly         Christ. In that day she would not be able to call her
     sense that person is - who will not go with them to       mother and father by phone, never send or receive
     worship and serve in sincerity the one and only           a telegram, get a letter, or send one. The tie was
     God of our salvation. What counts is not physical         severely cut because the spiritual importance was
     beauty and friendliness in the woman, and physical        so great and required lodging, that is, dwelling in
     prowess, popularity, and earthly possessions of the       the land where God dwelt and revealed Himself in
     man. What counts is whether he or she will go with        His Son.
     him or her to worship God as He must be  wor-               The next two statements of Ruth, in our King
     shipped. It must not be simply that one agrees to do      James Version, have, "Thy people shall be my peo-
     this, but that one sincerely wants to do' so as ex-       ple, Thy God my God." Notice, however, that the
     pressed by Ruth to Naomi. It must be a sincere            word "shall" is in italics which means that it does
     desire to walk in love toward God.                        not appear in the original. And we ought to leave it
       What a beautiful picture we have here of Ruth's         out, or instead quote her as saying that thy people
     faith. She tells her mother-in-law not to stand in her    clye my people. That is what she said. She does not
     way and not to question her faith in God. She tells       go to Canaan in order that the believers there will
     Naomi not to take her words lightly or to question        become her people. But because she is already a
     them. She tells Naomi not to be her enemy but her         believer, these believers in Canaan are her people.
     covenant friend who will help her walk more fully         As far as her flesh is concerned she is a foreigner, a
     in faith toward the one true God. It means that she       citizen of a nation that served an idol. But because
     wanted to be more fully and closely united with           Ruth believes in Jehovah, all the people who wor-
     Christ Who was typically .present  in Canaan in the       ship and serve Him are her people. According to
     tabernacle where His blood was typically shed for         Deuteronomy 23:3 "An Ammonite or Moabite shall
     the sins of His people. Although she did not under-       not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to
     stand all this as much as Naomi did, she insisted on      their tenth generation shall they not enter into the
     going to the promised land to know and enjoy it           congregation of the Lord for ever." But Ruth is a
     more fully.                                               believer, a child of God, and spiritually belongs to
       But notice that she does not say to Naomi, "I am        the people of God in Canaan.
     going with you". Rather she says, "Whither thou             She could go back with Orpah, get a husband and


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                               491



have children to love, and enjoy in their fellowship.        Going with and insisting on going with Naomi
But she will go to Canaan where she will enjoy            reveals Ruth as having the spiritual life of one who
God's fellowship as one of His people. `And since         truly is a reborn child of God. That life dares to say,
the believers are her people, there is no alternative.    "The Lord do so to me and more also, if ought but
She must go where Naomi is going.                         death part thee and me." In other words Ruth says
  The climax of her whole confession is "Thy God          to Naomi, "Physical death will some day separate
my God". And what she says is not that  I\Jaomi's         us, but as far as our spiritual life is concerned, and
God will become her God, but  is  her God. That is        since thy God is my God and thy people are my
why Naomi and all the believing people are her            people, I live in the consciousness and awesome-
people, why she will live in the land where God           ness of the fact that if I do not go with you to serve
dwells in love for His church, and why she will go        Jehovah, I deserve to be punished severely by Him.
where Naomi the believer is going. He is the God          And I assure you, Naomi, my legal mother-in-law,
Whom she trusts and is committed to serve in love.        but spiritually a member of the same body of Christ
He is not the God Whom she will accept and make           to which I know that I belong, that I realize the
her God. He is the God Who made her, engrafted            significance and importance of seeking and serving
her into Christ His Son, and gave her this unex-          God and of making a clean, complete and everlast-
pected and strong faith. Ruth is confident that He        ing break from Chemosh and all the sins of unbe-
will bless her in Canaan. She does not go to see          lief." Her insistence on going with Naomi is the
whether it will be better for her than returning with     work of a strong and vibrant faith.
Orpah. And she wants to walk in love to God and             Let us take hold of this truth. What we say does
His people.                                               not count unless our works say the same thing. It is
  That is also why she continues and states that she      easy to sing God's praises in church with others,
will die and be buried where Naomi is going to live.      and recite a creed with them. But do we fight sin
In no way and to no degree will she cut herself off       and flee from it? Do we by our works say that
from God, from His people and from His promises.          Jehovah is our God? Do we say that with our lips on
In fact she states unequivocally that she will not        the sabbath, and then during the week go where
take one step back unto Moab and the idolatry and         Satan and his people live, and walk in rebellion
sins that go with it.                                     against God?
  This reminds us of Jacob and Joseph who are               What we say has no value when what we do
listed in Hebrews 11, not as heroes, but as giants of     militates against those words. As James says, if
faith. They died `in Egypt, God having sent them          faith has no works, it is dead and alone. In fact it
there. But they insisted on having their bodies           means that we are spiritually dead. What value is
buried in the promised land, and thus in the prom-        there in an empty bottle? The bottle is alone and
ise. It means that they took hold of God's promises,      has not in it what you desire. It cannot nourish or
believed in Him and expected a resurrection               refresh you. Whether you want milk or wine, a
wherein they would enjoy all the covenant bless-          medication or a refreshing drink, will you buy that
ings which God promises His people.                       empty bottle and expect satisfaction?
  Truly, then, by stating that she would die and be         So faith without works is dead. An empty life,
buried in Canaan, Ruth reveals a strong faith in          one that has no faith in God, has no love for God
God. Her actions not only underscore her words,           and is worthless, no matter how sweetly we may
but manifest a true faith in God. She was walking in      speak. Ruth's true faith was clearly manifested by a
faith and not simply speaking words that an               work of love to God. Faith is never alone. Faith
unbeliever can also utter with his mouth.                 always has works of love to God with all the works
                                                          of that love.


                         Take the  time to read and study
                                  the Standard Bearer!
    0's an excellent magazine  for  personal devotions.


4 9 2                                                THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                                -

ALL AROUND US
GiseJ'. Van  Baren





                                                  Women in Office
                                     And Then: There's the Dance
                                            Schuller's "Cathedral"



Women in Office:                                                And Then: There's the Dance:
    Our readers are doubtlessly aware of the debate               The same issue of The Banner describes in detail
that has gone on in the Christian Reformed Church               the growing popularity of the dance within the
on the subject of women in office. In 1984, the                 churches.
Synod of that denomination ruled that women                           Readers `of bulletins in California Christian Re-
could serve in the office of deacon. However, the                  formed churches these days are finding, along with
Synod clearly declared that women could not serve                  the usual notices of submarine-sandwich sales, con-
in the offices of elder or minister of the Word. That,             gregational prayer requests, slave auctions, and soup
of course, disappointed many in the C.R.C. Agita-                  suppers, invitations to do something that until five
tion continues unabated to change this latter deci-                years ago was forbidden in the Christian Reformed
sion, too, in order that women may function in all                 Church. They're being invited to dance - specifically,
church offices. Despite the decisions of the Synod,                to square dance.
some of the C.R.C. deliberately flaunt their opposi-                  In parts of the Midwest, where Christian Reformed
tion to the Synodical decision. Not only that, but                 folk have done this form of dance for dozens of years
the  Banner,  May 18, 1987, publicly presented a                   already, and in light of synod's pronouncement in
summary of the number of women serving in of-                      1982 that dance is permissible for Christians, this
                                                                   trend in the West may seem humdrum.
fices in the C.R.C.:                                                  But in many California churches dance has been at
            "More than 180 Women Hold Office in CRC"               best a naughty word, and for some people it has been
         Editor's note: Almost three years ago, the annual         associated, historically,    with night clubs and
         synod of the Christian Reformed Church decided that       debauchery. That is not to say Chrsitian Reformed peo-
         women may hold the office of deacon in the church.        ple in California have not danced at all; the practice
         In January  The Banner asked members of the CRC           simply seems to have become more public of late . . . .
         Publications Board to find out how many women are            Dancers interviewed for this article all said that
         serving in church office. Here are the results, by        they believe the square dance is an innocuous social
         classis.                                                  event that does not lead to immoral forms of danc-
   Then follows a list of the Classes in which                     ing . . . .
women hold office. The total presented is this: 178               But the young people are not content with the
women serve in the office of deacon. Four serve as              square dance. An additional articte points this out:
elders. Seven serve as "associate" or "adjunct"
elders. By Synodical decision, women can not serve                    Are California's young as content with the square
either as elders or adjunct elders. Yet some of the                dance as their parents seem to be? Some are, but many
churches deliberately challenge Synod  - dare it to                prefer the persistent, heavily accented beat of elec-
do something about this. One wonders about the                     tronically amplified instruments rather than the jazzy
                                                                   foot-tapping music of a fiddler, and they like more ac-
lawlessness of this all - and that this should be so               tion - like the rock `n' roll dancing that is popular to-
publicly portrayed in  The Banner.  What will the                  day.
Synod do? Close its eyes to this obvious and open
rebellion?                                                           A far cry from the close body contact of the ball-
                                                                   room dance, the rock dance is done independently of
                                                                   a partner in many cases, and body gyrations as well as
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed             arm and leg motions are always in sync with the
Church of Hudsonville,  Michigan.                                  heavy beat. It's the beat that counts.


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         493



      Ontario Christian High School holds three  school-        all of the corruptions of this world, while wearing a
    sponsored dances a year, and parents sponsor the            pious expression? Let us not kid ourselves. One can
    school's graduation dance. All are carefully super-         not serve two masters.
    vised.
      But school functions are not the only opportunities       Schullev's  "Cathedral"
    Christian Reformed young persons have for dancing,
    and what happens at wedding receptions is usually             We have read much about the t.v. "evangelists"
    something else. No one interviewed for this article         in recent months. One of these is Rev. Robert
    wanted to be quoted, but they used  war-ds  like  wild,     Schuller on the "Hour of Power". He is minister in
    exciting,  groovy, and fun to describe wedding-reception    the Reformed Church in America.  Christian
    dances.                                                     Renewal,  July 20, 1987, reports some strange, we
      The many receptions that are held in church social        would say unreformed, activities with respect to
    rooms include only sit-down dinners or buffets. Wed-        their properties:
    ding receptions held in rented community buildings               Rev. Robert Schuller, host of  T.V.`s  "Hour of
    or restaurants, on the other hand, often feature bands         Power," received permission late last year to transfer
    hired by parents or  - if they refuse  - by the bridal         ownership of the $32 million Crystal Cathedral prop-
    couple.                                                        erty from the church congregation to his independent
      In some cases, dancing starts after the "older peo-          ministry.
    ple" have left; in other receptions, there are two               The Orange County  Register  has reported that
    rooms: one for the traditional Christian Reformed              Robert Schuller Ministries is taking ownership of the
    reception of eating and chatting and one full of young         property and leasing the facilities back to the con-
    people dancing.                                                gregation for 99 years at $1 a year.
      In still others, parents and guests as well as young           The  lO,OOO-member  congregation, part of the
    people all seem to enjoy some form of dancing. Some            Reformed Church in America, was not told of the
    parents don't want to talk about the dancing their             decision. And the RCA's New York headquarters did
  - children do; other pretend it doesn't happen at all. Ap-       not learn of the decision until recent weeks.
    proval among young and old varies from church to
    church.                                                          One report said Schuller wants to use the property
                                                                   as collateral to build a $20 million international train-
      It's not because they can't dance that Christian             ing center for ministers. Rev. Herman Ridder, head of
    Reformed people don't: they apparently have as much            the church board and a staff minister at the church,
    rhythm in their bones as anyone else. Maybe they               said the congregation was not told of the decision
    haven't figured out yet how to instill that rhythm into        because board members didn't think it warranted an
    the framework of church and family tradition.                  official announcement.
  This is spiritual development and maturity? This                   Wayne Antworth, communications director for the
is development in the faith? A church which for                    denomination said he thinks the transfer of church
over a hundred years had condemned the dance,                      property to an organization that is not a part of the
now approves  - and again publicly presents the ex-                Reformed Churches in America "sets a dangerous
tent to which all of this has gone.                                precedent."
  Let us be warned. Some of our young people                      One can only wonder at such strange antics.
have also been tempted to dance. If Christian                   How can such be done without even the knowledge
Reformed Christians can do this, why can't Protes-              of the congregation? Was the action taken in order
tant Reformed Christians?                                       to remove control of the properties from the con-
  It is not, of course, a question of spiritual maturi-         gregation and denomination? It appears that this ac-
                                                                tion was taken without any regard to traditional
ty; it is a question of the antithesis. If there is truly a
distinction between light and darkness, ought this              Reformed church polity  - to which presumably
not to be seen in one's lifestyle too? Can one copy             Schuller is also bound.


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


494                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



WALKING IN THE LIGHT
Herman  6. Hanko





                 Moral Aspects of Medical Technology
                                                                    W


  As we continue our discussion of the moral con-                         to a biotech industry whose bottom line is profit?
siderations which enter into genetic engineering, I                       While some see the National Institute of Health's
think if fruitful to hear what others have to say on                      relaxation as a signal that the dangers are small,  NIH's
this matter. In our last article we quoted from                           relaxation may actually be a sign that public guardians
Joseph Fletcher, a new moralist, who wants not on-                        are easily seduced by scientific authorities.  Laissez-
ly a blanket approval of this (if done for the com-                       faire human technology needs to be watched careful-
mon good) but also wants this to be enforced by                           ly.
law.                                                                             We need to remember that every good gift from
                                                                          above, including biotechnology, is likely to be turned
  In the February 7, 1986 issue of Christianity To-                       against us by arrogant people who believe in the ir-
day  various ethicists gave their opinions on the mat-                    resistible goodness of what they are doing.
ter, and we quote excerpts from some of them.                            Allen Verhey, in the same issue writes:
  Lewis Smedes, in characteristic fashion, asks                                  Some people think of technology including genetic
some questions.                                                           technology, as society's toolbox. A new technology is
         Rather than apply moral standards to genetic                     just a new tool, an option for society to use or not as it
       engineering in general, we must examine the moral                  sees fit. We will make what we want with it. Indeed,
       implications of each discrete stage in the specific ap-            if we master enough tools, we may yet construct
       plications of biotechnology to human beings. We will               utopia. When technology fails, we will search for yet
       need to give careful thought to such questions as                  another tool to fix it.
       these:                                                                    That view of technology is naive and, when applied
         1. Is it permissible to alter humanness at its core, to          to genetic engineering, dangerous.
       tamper with our essential humanity? Many people                           First, although technologies are introduced as op-
       agree that it is right to tamper with some aspects of              tions, they can quickly become socially enforced. The
       our humanness, as we do in giving people mechanical                automobile was introduced as an option - but try to
       hearts. But is there a core of humanity that makes us              ride a horse home on the interstate . . . .
       the special godlike creatures we are  - a core that                       Second, although technologies are introduced to
       should not be monkeyed with? If so, moralists and                  make things we want, they seldom satisfy our wants.
       theologians must try to specify more exactly what is               If we can travel faster by car than horse, we now want
       uniquely human about us.                                           faster cars. If we can have a child when we could not
         2. Is it permissible for some people to alter other              have one before, we now want a particular kind of
       people's humanity? It is misleading to talk about                  child, say a bright, blond boy . . . .
       humanity  re-creating itself. Some persons are                       Third, although technology has brought real
       recreating other persons. The questions are these:                 benefits, the confidence that it will always bring well-
       Who sets the norms for what other people ought to be?              being . . . is folly. The fundamental problems in cop-
       And who has the wisdom and the right to use such                   ing with human existence do not permit technological
       power over the destiny of other people?                            solutions; greed, pride, envy, and ennui are not
         3. Is it socially responsible to give almost free rein          technical problems awaiting a quick technological fix
                                                                          . . . . As C. S. Lewis wrote: "What we call Man's power
Herman C. Hanko is professor of New Testament and                         over nature turns out to be a power exercised by some
Church History in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.                       men over others with Nature as its instrument."


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                      495



  Dennis Cunningham, in the same issue, speaks                        does not mean that such projects should have priority
of deeply troubling questions which genetic                           over more pressing human needs. just because
engineering brings up. He mentions several.                           science can keep a dying man alive for a few more
"Already, in its first years of existence, genetic                    hours, does not mean that such means should be
screening has been used by a multinational cor-                       employed. At times there are important human values
poration in what amounts to high-tech racism." As                     involved which should not be sacrificed for the good
used to screen out blacks (who are prone .to sickle                   of any science.
cell anemia) it becomes "the ultimate invasion of                   In the second place, as I have pointed out before
privacy."                                                         in other connections in these articles, the worldly
                                                                  viewpoint of science is evolutionistic and human-
      On the visible horizon, genetic engineering  couId  be      istic. This means two things.
   used in conjunction with  gametic  engineering, the
   laboratory manipulation of human germ cells, `to                 It means, first of all, that the science of genetic
   create a human being in any desired image. In this             engineering has as its ultimate  goalto produce the
   seriously discussed (but not yet possible] procedure, a        super-man, i.e., to lift man to the throne of God
   human's genes would be altered to order. The new               Himself. Before the perfection of the techniques of
   genetic information would be passed to a human egg             genetic engineering, evolution was, so it is claimed,
   cell in vitro, where a new human would be nourished            random, uncontrolled, determined by principles of
   through the gestation period under theoretically               natural selection and the survival of the fittest. But
   perfect conditions. This procedure could make one              now that man can put his grubby hands on the very
   hypothetically immune to physical disease, and en-             basic structures of life, the genetic code itself, man
   dowed in advance with superior intelligence.                   can control his evolutionary development in such a
      Part of this procedure is now possible. The more            way that the randomness, the uncertainty, the
   difficult procedures will probably be in reach within          chanciness of the process is overcome; and he can
   our lifetimes.                                                 direct the evolutionary processes according to his
     Dr. Landrum  Shettles, a reproductive biologist, has         own will. He has his destiny in his own hands at
   reported nourishing a normally developed, cloned               l a s t .
   human egg cell to the stage of intrauterine impregna-            It means, secondly, that what is good for man is
   tion. Said Shettles, the remaining obstacles to the clon-
   ing of human beings are social, not scientific.                defined in purely earthly, carnal, social, atheistic
                                                                  terms. When the Westminster Shorter Catechism
  A number of important considerations enter into                 begins with the question and answer: "What is the
our discussion of the morality of genetic engineer-               chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him
ing. To these we now turn.                                        forever," it puts an entirely different light on what
  In the first place, we must understand as people                is good for man. Humanistic philosophy defines
of God that not every advance of science is                       good in terms of mere earthly pleasure and hap-
necessarily good. There is this notion afloat today:              piness at best, with man at the center of life, enjoy-
if science can do it, it has got to be good. This is              ing all life's treasures; and, at worst, giving man the
especially true in the field of medical ethics.                   "freedom" to do as he pleasesin all manner of sin
Whatever advances are made in this field which                    without having to suffer the consequences of his
hold out the prospect of escape from disease or                   sin. He may fornicate, live in drunkenness and glut-
human defect is, in its very nature good. I consider              tony, drink deeply at the cup of pleasure, and no
this whole question well put by the Roman                         troubles will befall him and no evil come to him. If
Catholic moralist, Charles E. Curran (See the book                serious consequences result from his evil deeds,
edited by Lammers and Verhey, p. 380). He writes:                 technology will have the answer and the cure. We
                                                                  must never forget that God still reigns in the
     A second danger found in the writings of some
   scientists is the identification of the scientific with the    heavens, that He rewards man according to his
   human, but the human - and a fortiori the Christian            deeds, and that sin is punished in His most holy
   - includes much more than just science and                     and just wrath in this life and in the pit of hell.
   technology. The scientific and the human do not                  Thirdly, although Lewis Smedes (in a quotation
   necessarily coincide; there exists a potential source of       made in the last article) speaks of what is the
   conflict . . . . The very fact that man is scientifically      deepest humanness of man, and we are  hard-
   capable of doing something does not mean that it               pressed to define what can possibly be meant by
   should be done, for man must control the evolution
   and development of science. Too often one has the im-          such a vague term, he nevertheless, touches upon a
  _ pression  that it is science and technology that are go-      true and important point. Man is not only a
   ing to control man. Men today are somewhat more                material and physical organism  - as the evolu-
   aware of the need to give human direction and                  tionists want us to believe. Man is created by God
   guidance to technology. Just because our nation has            as body and soul. That which makes man truly
   the ability and knowledge to send a man to the moon            human, in distinction from the animals, is that he


496                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



possesses a rational and moral soul, a soul which is      no question about it that the soul lies at the very
a spiritual substance. All the experimenting that         foundation of man's unique nature as man. When
goes on is added proof that the soul is not some          one begins to tamper with the basic processes of life
mysterious substance that is locked up in the cage        - as he does when he begins to tamper with the
of a body like a bird locked in a wire cage; it is a      genetic code found in DNA and at the center of
substance that permeates the body at every point          every cell's nucleus in the body, he begins to
and is inescapably related to the body. How that          tamper with these life processes. This can only
relation of the soul to the body must be explicitly       result in grave harm to man as man, and can only
defined is a mysterious question which only               ultimately destroy him.
enhances the wonder of our creation. But there is
IN HIS FEAR
Arie den Hartog





           Worldliness and Entertainment


  One of the greatest dangers for worldliness in our      watches all of this for pleasure and enjoyment, he
lives is in the whole area of amusement and enter-        must realize that there is something very grievously
tainment. The Christian must be careful in this           wrong with him. He must realize that he is greatly
area of his life. The true church of Jesus Christ has     offending the holy God of heaven and earth, the
through the ages often given warning concerning           Lord and Savior he confesses. He is doing great
this. Many of these warnings are scoffed at today. It     spiritual harm to his soul.
is imagined by many who call themselves Chris-              When one warns about worldliness in connec-
tians that we are living in an "enlightened age." To      tion with entertainment, he runs the risk of being
speak of worldly amusement is something quite ar-         judged a kill-joy who is against all forms of enter-
chaic and irrelevant. Sad to say, even in our own         tainment and fun. Perhaps there have been those in
churches warnings against worldly amusements              the church who have taught that the Christian life
are less and less heeded.  Yet  it remains a fact that    must always be somber, and there is no place for
the world is growing increasingly wicked in its           gaiety and laughter and sport. Man is created only to
forms of entertainment. It is especially in this area     work and never to play. Anything that is pleasur-
that all restraint is being cast off, and we witness      able and enjoyable must necessarily be unholy.
some of the grossest immorality and wickedness.           Such a position would, of course, be absurd and
Witness the great evil that is being portrayed in         find no support in Scripture. On the other hand, the
most of the popular movies today in the theatre, on       Christian must be serious about how he spends his
the television, and by means of the video. One need       leisure time. Today in many cases there is more and
not have the television on today for very long, and       more of such leisure. The world is demanding this.
virtually every one of God's holy laws will have          The time of leisure is no excuse for casting off all
been violated before him, and this transgression          restraint. The Christian may not reason with the
glorified. The Lord has not taken a less serious view     world: I have worked hard enough, I have been
of the gross immorality, violence, and wickedness         serious long enough; now it is time for some enter-
of the world over the ages. It is all an abomination      tainment which satisfies the flesh.
in His sight. The world is more and more becoming
ripe for judgment in all of this. When the Christian        The true church of Jesus Christ and many great
                                                          leaders in her midst have always warned against
                                                          the world's theatre and the world's dance. The
Arie den Hartog is pastor of the Protestant Reformed      Christian does wrong when he participates in
Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.                            these. No amount of modern day reasoning can


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               497



change this. The common grace philosophy that the         around us, then we have become worldly.
world produces much "good art" that the Christian           There is another area that must be considered in
can enjoy in the theatre and dance is seriously in er-    connection with this subject. That is the whole area
ror. This is especially the case when the world uses      of sports. There is, of course, nothing wrong with
this "good art" to portray wickedness and glory in        sports in themselves. They can be a good form of
immorality; and it definitely does this in most of        exercise and relaxation. They can also serve as a
modern day movies. When art is used by the world          means of Christian fellowship. There is great
for evil purposes, it ceases to be good art. As Chris-    physical beauty in the skillful and disciplined sports-
tians we must be very careful about what is               man. There is thrill and excitement in the competi-
watched on television in our homes and perhaps even       tion and exertion of the game. All of these can be
more so about what is watched on video. As time           good and healthy entertainment for the Christian.
goes on, there is not less but more urgent need for       At the same time, we must be on our guard for
this caution. Though one could not on the basis of        worldliness in sports. The world places a great deal
Scripture condemn all television viewing, it is still     of emphasis on sports. The sportsman who excels is
often the wisest course of action not even to own         the great hero of America. He may not be the most
one. This course of action has many great advan-          moral man in the world, but the very fact that he is
tages. Some may say that unless one watches televi-       good at sports makes him great. This covers a
sion regularly he will not be an educated man in to-      multitude of sins. In some circles the sports hero is
day's world. To that we would answer that there           so great, that if he can only be made to make a state-
are many better places to get a truly good educa-         ment about the Christian faith, everyone will fall
tion.                                                     over with awe and amazement. Just because this
  There are other areas of entertainment where the        statement comes from the mouth of a great quarter-
Christian must be careful of worldliness. One             back, it is of infinite more value than if the same or
stands astounded at the thousands and thousands           a better statement would come from an ordinary
of dollars that are spent on the entertainment in-        Christian, though that Christian is manifestly more
dustry today. Think of all the money that is spent        godly.
on summer cottages, boats, and campers. For the             Hours and hours of time are spent watching pro-
world the only thing that limits the amount of            fessional sports. Thousands of dollars are spent.
money spent. on all these things is the amount that       Professional sportsmen are some of the best paid
one has. The worldly man considers that the very          people in the world. Great enthusiasm and excite-
possession of wealth is the right to spend it on          ment is generated by Rose Bowls and World Series.
whatever he pleases: This may not be the                  It is doubtful whether any subject is talked about
philosophy of the Christian. It is dangerous, of          more in America than sports. For many, one of the
course, for us to begin to judge one another for the      chief concerns in life is to see their favorite team
way we spend our money. Great offense can be              win. From childhood on, children are told how
caused by this. On the other hand as Christians we        tremendously important it is to excel in sports.
must again and again be reminded of the fact that         Those most emphatic about this are often the
we are but stewards of our material possessions.          parents. There are few things as important to many
They all belong to the Lord our God. He holds us all      parents as to see their children excel in sports. For
accountable for the way we use our wealth. We             others it is of utmost importance to play their
must give very serious thought to whether it is           regular weekly game of golf or tennis. Our schools
justifiable to spend whatever amount we spend on          often occupy our children for at least one or more
entertainment. We may not be governed only by             evenings a week with sports activities.
desire and lust. We may not be governed by the
pressure of what our neighbors do and possess. As           Again let us repeat that there is nothing wrong
Christians we must always have in our minds and           with interest in and participation in sports. To sug-
hearts the needs of the church, of the poor, of the       gest that this in itself is an indication of worldliness
Christian schools and of the work of missions. We         would be foolishness. But the Christian must
must ask whether it is justifiable to spend large         evaluate and judge whether the time and emphasis
sums of money on vacations and on eating in ex-           given to sports is justifiable. Often this can be
pensive restaurants. Among the greatest spenders          judged by way of comparison. Do we spend as
on entertainment and leisure in America are some          much time in church activities every week as we do
of the elderly and retired. As Christians we must         in sporting events? Do we have greater zeal and en-
judge whether retirement gives man the right to           thusiasm for spiritual things, the things of the
spend almost without limit on self indulgence and         kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, than we have for
pleasure. The Lord must be and will be our judge. If      worldly sporting events? What is more often the
we follow the standard and practice of the world          subject of our conversation, the latest sports


498                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



statistics. or the glorious and blessed truths of God's    when this is not generally true among the people of
word? Which are we more acquainted with? As                God. When there is a paucity of enthusiasm and ex-
parents, are we as concerned about our children ex-        citement about spiritual things in the fellowship of
celling in godliness as we are about them excelling        God's people together, this is often because of
in sports? As fathers do we spend as much time             worldliness.
with our family and in teaching our children the             The Christian is not one who has no interest at all
things of the Lord as we do in our regular weekly          in the things of this earth. He takes an interest in
sports engagements? These questions ought to be            his earthly occupation and does it heartily as unto
answered seriously and honestly. For some, if ac-          the Lord. He can rightly enjoy with thanksgiving to
tual tabulation were made of these comparisons,            the Lord all the things which God has created. He
the evidence for worldliness would be tragic.              may take an interest in science or in politics or in
  The Christian's chief interest is the Lord and the       art or in gardening. He may therefore also take an
things of the Lord; His truth, His church, His serv-       interest in sports. He may legitimately take time
ice, His kingdom. These things he loves above all.         out for relaxation and physical refreshment. There
Concerning these things he speaks with great en-           is a time for laughter and for play. But also in his
thusiasm. In his life he is busy with these things.        entertainment the Christian seeks above all the
He spends much of his time and energy engaged              kingdom of the Lord and the glory of His name.
with these things. He makes great sacrifices for           May the Lord help us to be distinctively Christian
these things. He finds great joy and pleasure in           also in this area of our life.
these things. It is a sign of worldliness in the church




                                        Book Reviews


INTERPRETING ACTS: THE EXPANDING                           more conservative end of this spectrum in which
CHURCH,  Everett F. Harrison. Zondervan Pub-               most if not all of what the Bible says is accepted as
lishing House, 1986. 482 pp. (paper). (Reviewed by         true.
Prof. H. Hanko)                                              On the conservative end of the spectrum the use
  In many respects this is a good commentary on            of literary and historical criticism differs very little
the book of Acts, and anyone who is studying this          from what has been called, since the days of the
important book will find it useful and helpful.            early church, grammatico-historical exegesis. The
                                                           student of Scripture inquires into the style,
  There is one problem, however, which I have              vocabulary, and grammar of the text to learn more
with the book  - a problem which one finds in-             carefully the meaning of the "secondary author;"
creasingly characteristic of Bible studies and com-        but he also inquires into the reason for writing a
mentaries. I refer to the fact that the approach to        particular book, the ones to whom the book was ad-
the study of the book is that of literary and              dressed, the cultural milieu out of which the book
historical criticism.                                      was written, the purpose for writing, etc. All this
  In a review it is hardly proper to enter into a          can, of course, help in an understanding of the text.
detailed analysis of this increasingly popular ap-           What is lacking in such an approach is one other
proach to Scripture (one can hardly find a Bible           element  - of crucial and ultimately fundamental
scholar who no longer uses it), but a few remarks          importance. When we teach hermeneutics (the
concerning this method of Biblical study will              science of Biblical interpretation) in seminary, we
perhaps alert the reader to be careful in his use of       make use of the grammatico-historical method. But
such material.                                             we add to this term one important element: the
  I am aware of the fact that literary and historical      term, "spiritual." That is, we teach the  gram-
criticism is a broad term which extends from a             matico-historical-spiritual method of exegesis.
liberal end of a spectrum (in which. the Bible is          What does this term "spiritual" imply? It implies
treated as any other document among secular                that the Scriptures are most fundamentally the in-
writings, and countless errors are found in it) to a       fallibly inspired word of God given through the in-


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  499



spiration of the Spirit. It is this which is so crucial     THE PREACHER AND PREACHING,  by
and which is so sorely lacking in the  literary-            Samuel Logan, ed.; Presbyterian and Reformed
historical method of interpretation.                        Publishing Co., 1986; 463 pages, (cloth) $16.95.
   What does the spiritual approach mean?                   (Reviewed by Prof. R.D. Decker)
   It means, first of all, that in the study of the               This book consists of some seventeen chapters
sacred Scriptures one is not primarily interested in        each by a different author plus an introductory
the meaning of John or Peter or Paul; one is                chapter written by James I. Packer. There are three
primarily interested in the meaning of the HoZy Spirit.     main sections: I. The Man, II. The Message (sub-
Insofar as the Spirit used men as instruments to            divided into Message Content and Message Form),
write the Scriptures, all these other things are im-        and III. The Manner. The contributors are familiar
portant, but they have a secondary importance               names and are among the leading pastors and
which makes such elements subordinate to the                homileticians in the contemporary Reformed tradi-
meaning of the Holy Spirit. It is this element which        tion. Among them are Sinclair Furgeson, Edmund
is lacking  -  alsoin this commentary.                      P. Clowney, Lester De Koster, James Montgomery
                                                            Boice, et. al.
  In the second place, only this approach can make
the Scriptures a book which really speaks to the                   In the introduction Packer defends preaching:
                                                            I,
people of God. God speaks to His people through                   . . . because preaching is of the very essence of the
the Scriptures. It is God's Word which God's peo-           corporate phenomenon called Christianity . . . the
ple have to hear. And only when the study of a              preaching of God's Word in the power of God's
book is approached in humble- child-like willing-           Spirit is the activity that . . . brings the Father and
ness to ascertain the meaning of the Holy Spirit can        the Son down from heaven to dwell with men. . . ."
one hear this Word of God. We are not primarily in-         For Packer there is no substitute for preaching. In
terested in the fact, e.g., that the apostle Paul wrote     his opinion, renewal of the church without preach-
to the Galatians because of internal turmoil and            ing would prove "shallow and barren." (Cf. pp. 2,
division over the question of circumcision in that          3.) Some of the more valuable chapters are:
congregation; we are primarily interested in hear-          Clowney's "Preaching Christ From All The Scrip-
ing what God says to us in our life and calling now         tures;" Hendrik Krabbendam's "Hermeneutics and
in the twentieth century. And the other question is         Preaching;" Glen C. Knecht's "Sermon Structure
only important insofar as it helps us to understand         and Flow;" and Geoffrey Thomas' "Powerful
God's Word to us in our own calling to be obedient          Preaching." Anyone aspiring to the gospel ministry
to the will of God.                                         ought to read what Joel Nederhood has to say about
                                                            "The Minister's Call," (chapter one).
  In the third place, such a literary and historical
approach to Scripture, when pressed to its ex-                    In summary we think this book is a worthwhile
tremes, takes the Word of God out of the hands of           contribution to Reformed homiletics. It does not of-
God's people. They, without an extensive educa-             fer any new, profound insights, nor does it say
tion, cannot possibly know all the details of the           what has not been said before. It does, however,
cultural milieu in which the books were written;            present us with a comprehensive, summary state-
and if this is crucial to an understanding of .the text,    ment on what constitutes good, effective, biblical
the Bible is a closed book to them  - and we are            preaching. It deserves to be read widely and we
back in the Middle Ages when a priesthood of                hope it will provoke renewed interest in and con-
"authorities" alone could interpret Scripture. One          cern for preaching, by means of which God saves
wonders sometimes whether the decrease in Bible             His church to His own glory. Lay people as well as
studies by God's people is not due to the insidious         ministers can profit from it.
influence of this approach.                                       For those who may be interested, a detailed
  And so, once again, we are back to where we               review of this book will appear, D.V., in the
always start. God's people must study the Scrip-            November 1987 issue of  The Protestant Reformed
tures; and they must do so making the Scriptures            Theological Journal.
alone the object of their study. They must do so in
prayer with the confidence that God will speak to           IN WORD AND DEED: Evangelism and Social
them. If they use commentaries or other Bible               Responsibility, Bruce Nicholls, ed.; Wm. B. Eerd-
study helps, they must make them helps only and             mans Publishing Co., 1986; 238 pages, (paper)
not neglect their own responsibilities to hear what         $10.95. (Reviewed by Prof. R.D. Decker)
the Spirit says to the church.                                     This book consists of some nine chapters, each
                                                            by a different author. To each chapter is appended
   Read and Study the Standard Beaver                       a response. The chapters are the essays presented
                                                            to a "Consultation on the Relationship between


500                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



Evangelism and Social Responsibility," co-                              demonstrations for social justice in repressive
sponsored by the Lausanne Committee for World                           societies? What is the extent and nature of Chris-
Evangelism and the World Evangelical Fellowship.                        tian social responsibility for changing social struc-
The conference was held June 16-23, 1982, at the                        tures? How can we reach millions of unreached
Reformed Bible College, Grand Rapids, Michigan.                         Chinese in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the
The more than fifty delegates comprised                                 West with the gospel? How can we address the
theologians, pastors, evangelists, missiologists, and                   problem of starvation around the world? Is there a
social service and development workers. In-                             limit to Christian social action as Christians try to
terestingly enough, more than half the delegates                        intervene in politics, economics, society, religion,
were from Third World countries.                                        and culture? These are tough questions. One will
  In the last two decades or so the question of the                     not agree with all of the answers given in the book.
social responsibility of the church and its members                        The conference concluded:  ". . . that Christian
has loomed large on the agenda of the evangelical                       social concern is a  consequence of evangelism, can
churches. Just what is the relationship between the                     be a bridge to evangelism, and should be a partner of
"social duty" of the church and the church's call-                      evangelism" (p. 8). Having reached a consensus on
ing in evangelism and missions? Some of the follow-                     the question of the relationship between
ing questions are dealt with in the book: How do                        evangelism and social responsibility, the con-
we define terms such as "evangelism," "mission,"                        ference concluded that evangelism is the primary
"the Kingdom of God," "salvation," and "the                             task of the church.
gospel?" How do we interpret passages such as                              Whatever may be said about all this, one truth re-
"Blessed are the Poor" (Luke  6:20), and "He has                        mains,  viz., the church as institute has but one,
anointed me to bring good news to the poor"                             essential task; to preach the gospel, administer the
(Luke 6:20)? Should a Christian participate in street                   sacraments, and care for the poor.


                                       Index, Volume 63

                    ,BOOK REVIEWS                                       Reflections On Frarzcis  Schaeffer,
                                                                           Ronald W. Ruegsegger, ed. . . . . . . . . . HH 285
Title &Author                                      Reviewer Page        ROMANS, A Shorter Commentary,
A Concise Exegetical Grammar Of New Tes-                                   C.E.B. Cranfield.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH      20
   tament Greek, J. Harold Greenlee . . . . . . HH 407                  Salvation - The Gift Of God Or the Choice
Building A Christian World View, I,                                        ofMan?, W.H. Molland . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 333
  W.A. Hoffnecker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 430          The Church In The World, R.E. Webber . . . HH 455
Calvin And His Times, Jansie van der Walt . HH 166                      The Church Struggle In South Africa,
Chinese Theological Review, FTESA . . . . . . . HH 428                     J.W. deGruchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 455
Christian And Reformed Today, John Bolt . . HH 164                      The Evangelical-Roman Catholic Dialogue
Conflict and Context, Hermeneutics in                                      On Mission, B. Meeking,  J. Stott . . . . . . . HH 428
  Americtr,  M.L. Branson, R. Padilla . . . . . HH 455                  The Fourth Day, Howard J. Van Till . . . . . HCH 213
Contending Ideologies In South Africa,                                  The Jewish Reclamation of Jesus,
  James Leatt, et al . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _ . . HH    46        Donald A. Hagner . . . . . _ . . . . . . . . . . HH 214
Dynamics In Pustoring, Jacob Firet . . . . . . RDD 236                  The Preacher and Preaching,
Everything Is Politics But PoZitics Is Not                                 Samuel Logan . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 499
  Everything, H.M. Kuitert . . . . . . . . . . . _ HH 142               Theirs Is The Kingdom,
Hermeneu tics, Authority, And Canon,                                       Lowell Hagan, Jack Westerhof . . . . . _ . HCH 358
  D.A. Carson & J.D. Woodbridge . . . . . . . HH 426                    Thinking About Faith, D. Cook . . . . . . . . . . HH 478
Institutes of the Christian Religion,                                   Through the Pentateuch Chapter By Chapter,
  J. Calvin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 455       W.H. Griffith Thomas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 21
Interpreting Acts: The Expanding Church,                                Valiant For Truth, The Story of JohTz Bunyan,
  Everett F. Harrison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 498             Anne Arnot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GH 238
In Word and Deed: Evangelism and Social                                 Worldly Saints, Leland Ryken . . . . . . . . . HCH 430
  RespdnsibiZity,  Bruce Nicholls . . . . . . . . RDD 499
Orthodoxy Arzd Orthopraxis In The Reformed                                                  TEXTUAL INDEX
  Community Today, John Bolt, ed. . . . . . . . HH 237                  Genesis 3: 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GCL 39


                                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                              501



Leviticus (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JLK 43                   Apostles' Creed, The (10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 158
Leviticus (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JLK 258                  Apostles' Creed, The (11) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 177
Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JLK 353                    Apostles' Creed, The (12) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 209
Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JLK 378                    Apostles' Creed, The (13) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 247
Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JLK 424                    Apostles' Creed, The (7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV                   13
R u t h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J A   H   3 8 1    Apostles' Creed, The (8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 67
R u t h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J A   H   4 0 2    Approach To God In Prayer, Our . . . . . . . . CH 338
R u t h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J A   H   4 6 9    Approach, An Appropriate. . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 153
R u t h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J A   H   4 8 9    Arminian Conception of Regeneration,
{onaf'                                                               :  :ifz i:             T h e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R C   H   1 1 0
 ona  .......................................................
        1.                                                                               Assurance, Regeneration and . . . . . . . . . . CJH 108
Jonah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 260                Baptism Form, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . f . JDS 62
{ona,                                                                 JAH 307            Begotten Again Unto A Lively Hope . . . . . . HV 98
 ona ............................................................     JAH 329            Bible, Gray Letter Edition Of The . . . . . . GJVB 394
Matthew 5: 13. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JDS 146                     Bible, The Use of the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 349
Matthew 13:44-46 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JDS 362                         Blessed In Jesus Christ, Richly . . . . . . . . . . JDS 482
Matthew 10:32,33. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JDS 242                          Blood Shed, Jesus' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RCH 162
Matthew 11:28. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 266                        Boer Is Dead Wrong, Dr. Harry . . . . . . . . HCH 366
Matthew  26:28. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RCH 162                        Boer Is Right, Dr. Harry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 365
Luke2:l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .CH 122                    Caesar Augustus and Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 122
John  13:34-35. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JDS 410                    Call: External and Internal, The . . . . . . . GJVB 270
John  16:31,32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RCH 189                        Called Again In Unchangeable Love . . . . . JAH 90
Acts 2:33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 386                 Calling And The Gathering Of The Church,
Romans 1O:ll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 434                             T h e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H   H   2 7 2
II Corinthians 5: 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JDS 194                       Calling, The Address of the . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 278
Ephesians 1:3,4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JDS 482                       Catechism Teaching, About Seminary
Philippians 1:2 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JDS 26                        Students And . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLG 319
I Timothy 6:6-8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JDS 74                       Catechism: Official Ministry of the
IPeter1:3.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 98                         Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLG 224
I Peter 1:3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HV 198                  Catechism? Why . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLG 129
II Peter 1:lO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JDS 314                  Cause, A Worthy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 29
                                                                                         Children At Communion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH                           7
                          SUBJECT INDEX                                                  China, The Church in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 131
"Evolution At Dordt College,"                                                            Church Membership, Living (1) . . . . . . . . RLC 83
   More About . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 486                        Church Membership, Living (2) . . . . . . . . RLC 138
"Good Morning, Alice" (13) . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 65                                   Church, The Certainty of a Perfect . . . . . . JAH 329
"Good Morning, Alice" (14) . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 81                                   Classis  East, Report of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JH 94
"Good Morning, Alice" (15) . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 156                                  Classis  East, Report of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JH 238
"Good Morning, Alice" (16) . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 175                                  Classis  East, Report of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JH 431
"Good Morning, Alice" (17) . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 202                                  Classis  West, Report of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DJE 21
"Good Morning, Alice" (18) . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 231                                  Classis  West, Report of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DJE 143
"Good Morning, Alice" (19) . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 303                                  Classis  West, Report of. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DJE 310
"Good Morning, Alice" (20) . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 369                                  Communion, Children At The Table Of . . . CH                                    7
"Hostage," God's? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 297                           Confessing Christ Before Men . . . . . . . . . . JDS 242
"Sex" or Fornication? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 125                            Confession of Faith (1) . . . . . . . . . .' . . . . . . RLC 187
"Sexuality," Proposed Statement on. . . . GJVB 367                                       Confession of Faith (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RLC 211
"The Fourth Day," A Growing                                                              Confession of Faith (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RLC 256
   Controversy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 251                        Confession of Faith (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RLC 305
"The Fourth Day," More on . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 349                                   Confession of Faith (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RLC 356
(Quotas) To Pay Or Not To Pay . . . . . . . . GJVB 327                                   Confession of Faith (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RLC 372
Abortion Clinics, About Picketing . . . . . . . HH 57                                    Confession of Faith (7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RLC 413
AIDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .GJVB 297               Contact Committee, From The . . . . . . . . . . MK 46
AIDS, The Only Answer For . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 415                                   Content With Food And Raiment . . . . . . . . JDS 74
Alone, But Not Lonely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RLC                        18      Convention, 1987 P.R.Y.P.`s . . . . . . . . . . . RLC 223
Analysis, Fundamentally Incorrect . . . . . HCH 30                                       Correspondence and Reply. . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 57
Annual Report, RFPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JVO 45                             Correspondence and Reply . . . . . . . . . LN, HV 198
Apostle's Creed, The (9) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HV 85                           Court, A Victory in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 131


502                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



Covenant, Regeneration In The Line Of. . . CH 115                                       Fornication? "Sex" or . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 125
Creator, God Is The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RHH 301                           Friends?, Who Are Your . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RLC 31
Creator, God Is The (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RHH 320                           Gifts, Desiring The Best. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,CH 170
Dance, And Then: There's The . . . . . . . . GJVB 492                                   God Is Perfect (1). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RHH 417
Death: A Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JDS 26                      God Is Perfect (2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RHH 476
Desire, Our Foremost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 458                           Grace for Grace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 36
Directory, Prot. Ref. Churches. . . . . . . . . HCH 118                                 Heid.Cat.Q.&A. 122.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .CH 458
Directory, Prot. Ref. Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334                            Heid. Catechism, Q. 112 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .CH 50
Directory, Prot. Ref. Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429                            Heid. Catechism, Q. 120,121 . . . . . . . . . . .CH 338
Directory, Prot. Ref. Outreach . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201                            Heid. Catechism, Q. 110,111 . . . . . . . . . . .CH                         2
Divorce and Remarriage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 41                               Heid. Catechism, Q. 116, 117, 118 . . . . . . . CH 290
Dogmatics, A Little Lesson In . . . . . . . . . . HCH 101                               Heidelberg Catechism, Qu. 114, 115 . . . . . CH 218
Doleantie, The Centennial of the (2) . . . . HCH                                  5     Heidelberg Catechism, Qu. 113 . . . . . . . . . . CH 170
Doleantie, The Centennial of the (3) . . . . HCH 53                                     Hope, So He can only. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 349
Dordt College, Evolution At . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 391                               Hope of Heaven and Earth, The (4). . . . . . GCL 39
Doubt, Descartes and the Philosophy of . TCM 405                                        Humanism, Secular - a Religion . . . . . . GJVB 415
Drop-outs, Cults, and Fast Growing                                                      Jesus Left Alone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RCH 189
   Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 79                      Jesus Protecting (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RCH 344
Ecclesiastical Rebellion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 173                            Jesus Protecting (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RCH 374
Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH                    5     iona,                                                                 :iiE i:
Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 29                        ona .. ........................................................
Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 101                      Jonah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 135
Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 245                      iona, ............................................................    JAH 153
Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 389                       ona                                                                  JAH 179
Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 413                      Jonah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 229
Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 437                      Jonah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 260
Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 461                      iona, ............................................................    JAH 307
Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 485                       ona                                                                  JAH 329
Empty Churches, Full Hospitals . . . . . . . RDD 204                                    Kingdom, The Great Worth of the . . . . . . . JDS 362
Entertainment, Worldliness and. . . . . . . . AdH 496                                   Law, AFinalLookAt God's . . . . . . . . . . . .CH 218
Euthanasia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD                  16     Lengths!? To What . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 227
Evolution At Dordt College . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 391                                Leviticus (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JLK 43
Evolution, Van Till and Calvin. . . . . . . . . HCH 293                                 Leviticus  - Reconciliation Through
Evolution, Why? (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 196                               Sacrifice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JLK 258
Evolution, Why? (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 221                           Lonely, Alone, But Not . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RLC 18
Evolution, Why? (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 245                           Loving One Another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JDS 410
Evolution, Why? (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 293                           Lutherans Unite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 79
Evolution, Why? (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 316                            Making Our Calling And Election Sure . . . JDS 3 14
Evolution, Why? (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 341                           Medical Technology, Moral Aspects of
Evolution, Why? (7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 389                               (10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 76
Evolution, Why? (8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HCH 461                            Medical Technology, Moral Aspects of
Evolution, Why? (9). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 485                              (11) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 151
Failure, A Certain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 381                      Medical Technology, Moral Aspects of
Faith And Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 450                             (12) . . . . . . .!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 183
Faith And Salvation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 441                        Medical Technology, Moral Aspects of
Faith And The Means Of Grace . . . . . . . . RDD 446                                        (13) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 206
Faith, A Union With Christ. . . . . . . . . . . . . JLK 437                             Medical Technology, Moral Aspects of
Faith, Manifested By A Work Of Love,                                                        (14) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 234
   T r u e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J A   H   4 8 9    Medical Technology, Moral Aspects of
Faith, The Choice of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 469                            (15) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 322
Faith, The Elements of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RJD 439                          Medical Technology, Moral Aspects of
Faith, The Object of . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CJT 444                            (15) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 376
Faith, The Prayer of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 448                         Medical Technology, Moral Aspects of
Fertilization, In Vitro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 34                            (16) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 396
Fertilization, In Vitro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 76                       Medical Technology, Moral Aspects of
Fertilization, In Vitro. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 151                          ( 17) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 422
Fiddling, Who's? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 69                         Medical Technology, Moral Aspects of (9) . HH 34


                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                               503



Medical Technology, Moral Aspects of                                         Reformed Churches in Netherlands
   (18) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .HH 494        Unite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RDD 185
Mission Work, Moratorium On? . . . . . . . GJVB 394                          Regeneration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 104
Missions and Evangelism, Why . . . . . . . RJVO 160                          Regeneration and Assurance . . . . . . . . . . . CJH 108
Missions, The PRC and Their Calling in . RDD 199                             Regeneration and Sinlessness . . . . . . . . . . GCL 112
Netherlands, Church Union in the . . . . . GJVB 327                          Regeneration and Total Depravity . . . . . . TCM  lq6
New Congregation in Canada. . . . . . . . . . TCM 451                        Regeneration In The Line Of The
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 23                           Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..C H 115
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 47                       Regeneration, The Arminian Conception
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 71                         of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..RC H 110
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 95                       Religious Liberty At Risk In Michigan . . GJVB 367
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 119                      Rest For The Weary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 266
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 143                      Rock, Why Knock? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD                         16
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 167                      Roman Catholicism Remains Unchanged RDD 185
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 191                      R u t h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J A   H   3 8 1
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 215                      R u t h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J A   H   4 0 2
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 239                      Sacrifice, Reconciliation Through . . . . . . . JLK 43
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 262                      Saints, Fellowship of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RGM                          9
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 286                      Salt of the Earth, The. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JDS 146
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . .BW 311                       Salvation, A Mighty Cry For . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 179
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 335                      Salvation, The Order of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 103
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 358                      Schuller's "Cathedral" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 493
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 383                      Science or Religion? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 227
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 407                      Scripture and the Post Reformation Era. . TCM 133
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 431                      Scripture in the Post-Reformation Era . . . TCM 299
News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . BW 479                      Scripture Interprets Scripture:
Nineveh, The Gospel Preached in . . . . . . . JAH 229                           Spiritually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TCM 60
Numbers - The Wilderness Sojourn . . . . . JLK 424                           Scriptures, Believing All the . . . . . . . . . . . GCL 87
Numbers - The Wilderness Sojourn (1) . . JLK 295                             Scriptures, Believing All The (6) . . . . . . . . GCL 249
Numbers - The Wilderness Sojourn (2) . . JLK 353                             Scriptures, Believing All The (7) . . . . . . . . GCL 325
Numbers - The Wilderness Sojourn (3) . . JLK 378                             Scriptures, Believing All The (8) . . . . . . . . GCL 487
Observing The Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 204                   Secular Humanism - a Religion . . . . . . . GJVB 415
OPC, Anniversary Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 149                     Seminary Letter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 182
Order of Salvation, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 103                  Sexually Active Teenagers . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 204
Passed From Death Unto Life . . . . . . . . . . JAH 104                      Silence That Speaks Loudly . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 307
PCA-OPC Union, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 349                    Singapore, Reflections on our
Pentecostals, Reformed? . . . . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 367                      Departure from . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AdH 254
Points Worth Pondering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD                16     Singapore, Trip to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 127
Post Reformation Era, Scripture and the . TCM 133                            Sinlessness, Regeneration and . . . . . . . . . GCL 112
Prayer For Our Children, A                                                   Special Issue, About This . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 269
   (Baptism Form) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JDS 62             Spirit of Christ Shed Forth, The. . . . . . . . . . CH 386
Prayer, An Angry Prophet's . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 260                   Spiritual Mindedness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AdH                        11
Prayer, The Divinely Acceptable . . . . . . . . CH 290                       Stewardship, Our Christian. . . . . . . . . . . . . CH                             2
Preacher, The Indispensable . . . . . . . . . . RDD 275                      Synod, The CRC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 472
Preaching Passe? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 13 1            Synod, The UCC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 472
Preaching, Witnessing and . . . . . . . . . . . . SRH 280                    Tenth Commandment, The . . . . . . . . . . . RHH 417
Presbyterian Churches in U.S. Fail                                           Tenth Commandment, The . . . . . . . . . . . RHH 476
   To Unite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 185         Tongue, The Power of the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH 50
Question Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CH        7     Total Depravity, Regeneration and . . . . . TCM 106
Rebellion, Ecclesiastical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HCH 173                Truth, GodIsAGodOf . . . . . . . . . . . . . .RHH 342
Reconciled To God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JDS 194              Truth, GodIsAGodOf (2). . . . . . . . . . . .RHH 400
Reformation of the Church, A Pamphlet                                        Turned In God's Mercy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 402
   Concerning the (Kuyper) . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 55                   Warning, A Timely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . JAH 135
Reformation of the Church, A Pamphlet                                        Well-Meant Offer?, Serious Call or (1) . . . . DJE 282
   Concerning the (Kuyper) . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 93                   Well-Meant Offer?, Serious Call or (2) . . . . DJE 346
Reformation of the Church, A Pamphlet                                        Well-Meant Offer?, Serious Call or (3) . . . . DJE 392
   Concerning the (Kuyper) . . . . . . . . . . . . . HH 140                  Well-Meant Offer?, Serious Call or (4) . . . . DJE 464

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





504                                                        THE STANDARD BEARER

With The Heart . . . With The Mouth. . . . HCH 434
Witnessing, Effective Personal (1) . . . . . . RJVO 420                                                  IN MEMORIAM
Witnessing, Effective Personal (2) . . . . . . RJVO 474                         It pleased our Covenant God to take unto Himself on August 13,
                                                                             1987, our beloved father and grandfather, JUSTIN HENRY KORTER-
Women In Church Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 79                      ING.
Women In Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GJVB 492                  We thank God for the grace given to him to be diligent in the
Worldliness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AdH 33 1         church, home, and cause of Christian instruction amongst us. Surely
Worldliness and Entertainment . . . . . . . . AdH 496                        it can be said of our father, that he, "showed to the generation to
Worldliness and Materialism . . . . . . . . . . AdH 35 1                     come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful
                                                                             works that he hath done." (Psalm 78:4)
Worldliness, Immorality and . . . . . . . . . . AdH 398                      Lafern Kortering                    Grandchildren and
Worldly Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AdH 467               Jay and Jean Kortering                 Great-grandchildren
Worship Tasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RDD 227              Erv and Esther Kortering

                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                          WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   The Consistory and Congregation of Grandville Protestant Re-                 On September 19, 1987,  our beloved parents, MR. AND MRS.
formed Church extends their Christian Sympathy to Rev. and Mrs.              JOHN WIGGER  will commemorate their 40th wedding anniversary.
Kortering and family in the passing away of his father, JUSTIN               We give thanks to our covenant God for sparing them for each other
KORTERING  on August 13, 1987.                                               and for us these many years. Our earnest prayer is that they may con-
                                                                             tinue to experience God's loving kindness in their remaining years.
   "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,             "Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlast-
eternal in the heavens."                                                     ing strength." (Isaiah 26:4)
John  VanderWoude,  Vice-Pres.                                               their children
Jon Engelsma, Clerk                                                             Bern and Kaye Wigger              Dave and Linda Wigger
                                                                                Ben and Judy Wigger                  and 12 grandchildren
                                                                                Chuck and Barb Ensink
                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   On September 9, 1987, our beloved parents and grandparents,
REV. AND MRS. HERMAN VELDMAN celebrated the 56th anniver-
sary of their wedding. We thank God for His preservation of them                               R&OLUTlON OF SYMPATHY
these years for us and for His church. We pray for God's continued              The Men's Society of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church
blessing and care upon them in the years ahead.                              hereby expresses sympathy to Mr. Clarence Kuiper and his family in
Cornie and Evelyn Den Ouden, Edgerton, Minnesota                             the death of his brother-in-law, MR. HENRY KOK.
Jack and Elaine Van Dyke, Wyoming, Michigan                                     "The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance
Jon and Joanne Huisken, Grandville, Michigan                                 shall be forever." (Psalm 37:18)
   1 1 grandchildren
       8 great-grandchildren                                                 Phillip Lotterman, Pres.
                                                                             Bill De Kraker, Sec'y.

                  WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   On September 4, 1987, our parents, MR. AND MRS. BERT VAN                                    RESOLUTION  QF SYMPATHY
MAANEN celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary1                               The Men's Society of Southwest Protestant Reformed Church
  We, their children and grandchildren, are grateful to our Covenant         hereby expresses sympathy to Mr. Gerald Feenstra and his family in
God for the years He has given them and the faithful Christian in-           the death of his brother-in-law, MR. WACY ARMSTRONG.
struction they have given us. We pray that God's blessings continue             "It is God that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way
with them in the years ahead.                                                perfect." (Psalm  18:32)
   "The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good       Phillip Lotterman, Pres.
of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's    Bill De Kraker, Sec'y.
children, and peace upon Israel." (Psalm 128:5, 6)
Gary and Florence Horstman             Marlyn and  Alvina Hofman
   Curtis, Candace, Carmen, Cody          Amanda, Todd, Lori, Jeff                                           NOTICE!!!
Rog and Marjean Buys                   Marv and Carol Anema
  Jennifer, Mindy, Emily, Ryan,           Mike, Chad, Evan, Christy             The Eastern League of the Men's and Ladies' Societies will meet
   Pam, Nathan, Daniel                 Evert Van Maanen                      at 8:00 P.M. on September 29, at the Southwest Protestant Re-
Alvin and Brenda Bylsma                   Brent, Eric                        formed Church.
  Belinda, Allison, Alex, Brittany     Wayne and Jan Vander Maten               Rev. M. Kamps will speak on "Society Life". Everyone is
                                          Wade                               welcome. Refreshments after the meeting.


