                        THE
'                      STANDARD
 A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Magazine





volume  b4,  NO.  L
October 75, 7987


 Contents                                                                      October 15,7 987                       -If+
                                                                                                                STANDARD
Meditation - lames D. Slopsema
Catching The little Foxes In The Vineyard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26                                     B E A R E R
Editorials  -                                                                                                    ISSN  0362-4692
Editor'sNotes.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..2 8                 Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, luly,
                                                                                                                and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub
Seminary Convocation, 1987 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29                          lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
                                                                                                                at Grand Rapids, Mich.
As To Evolution At Dordt College (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29                            EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Walking  In The Light  - Herman C. Hanko                                                                        Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                                DEPARTMENT EDITORS
Moral Aspects of Medical Technology (19) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30                                  Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog,
                                                                                                                Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. Barry Critters, Rev.
All Around Us - Cise  /. Van  Baren                                                                             Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev.
"Christian" Rock                                                                                                Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. J. Korter-
                             . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32    ing, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C.
"Euthanasia - It's Here" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33                      Miersma, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev. Cise J. Van
                                                                                                                Baren, Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
"Calvinist orthodoxy"? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33                    EDITORIAL OFFICE
                                                                                                                Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
Address, Annual Meeting  - Steven R. Key                                                                        4975 lvanrest  Ave., S.W.
The Standard Bearer And Our Youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34                               Crandville, Michigan 49418
                                                                                                                CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
Annual Secretary's Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37                       Mr. Ben Wigger
                                                                                                                6597 - 40th Ave.
Convocation Address  - Robert D. Decker                                                                         Hudsonville,  Michigan 49426
Committing The Truth To Faithful Men.                                                                           EDITORIAL POLICY
                                                                   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38    Every editor is solely responsible for the contents
In His  Fear - Arie den Hartog                                                                                  of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
                                                                                                                terest from our readers and questions for the
The Fear Of The lord Is The Beginning Of Knowledge . . . . . . . . .40                                          Question Box Department are welcome. Contribu-
                                                                                                                tions will be limited to approximately 300 words
Bible Study Guide - Jason L. Kortering                                                                          and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
Deuteronomy: Exhorted Unto Obedience (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42                                      must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first and
                                                                                                                the fifteenth of the month. All communications
Decency And Order  - Ronald L. Cammenga                                                                         relative to the contents should be sent to the
                                                                                                                editorial office.
For The Maintenance Of Good Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44                                 REPRINT POLICY
                                                                                                                Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of
BookReviews.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..4 6                   articles in our magazine by other publications,
News From Our Churches.                                                                                         provided: a) that such reprinted articles are
                                            . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47     reproduced in full; b) that proper acknowledge-
                                                                                                                ment is made; c) that a copy of the periodical in
                                                                                                                which such reprint appears is sent to our editorial
                                                                                                                office.
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                                                                                                                The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                Mr. H. Vander Wal, Bus. Mgr.
Meditation                                                                                                      P.O. Box 6064
                                                             Take us the foxes, the little                      Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516
                                                          foxes, that spoil the vines: for our                  PH: (616) 243-2953
                                                                                                                NEW ZEALAND BUSINESS OFFICE
lames D. Slopsema                                         vines have tender grapes.                             The Standard Bearer
                                                                             Song of Solomon 2: 15              c/o Protestant Reformed Church
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Catching                                                                                                        Wainuiomata, New Zealand
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Foxes                                                    tender grape give forth a good                         avoid the inconvenience of delayed delivery. In-
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                                                             Solomon's concern is for his vine-                 The Standard Bearer does not accept commercial
                                                                                                                advertising of any kind. Announcements of church
In The                                                    yards that are in blossom. Little                     and school events, anniversaries, obituaries, and
                                                          tender grapes are beginning to form                   sympathy resolutions will be placed for a 83.00
                                                         on the branches. But, oh, those little                 fee. These should be sent to the Business Office
                                                                                                                and should be accompanied by the $3.00 fee.
                                                         foxes. Little foxes are scurrying                      Deadline for announcements is the 1st and the
Vineyard                                                 through the vineyards. So easily                       15th of the month, previous to publication on the
                                                                                                                15th or the 1 st respectively.
                                                         these little foxes damage the vines                    BOUND VOLUMES
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                                                            Solomon gives charge to the                         tion of a volume. A limited number of past
                                                                                                                volumes may be obtained through the Business
James D. Slopsema is pastor of Hope                      workers in his vineyards: "Take us                     Off ice.
Protestant Reformed Church, Walker,                      (catch for us) the foxes, the little                   16mm  microf/lm, 35mm microfilm and 105mm
                                                                                                                microfiche, and article copies are available
Michigan.                                                                                                       through University Microfilms International.

26  / The Standard Bearer


foxes, that spoil. the vines: for our    Then the soil was tilled by hand with      means, He provides for the spiritual
vines have tender grapes."               a hoe to remove the weeds and              growth of the vines. All this is with a
  Solomon appears here as a type of      thorns.                                    view to gathering fruits of righteous-
Christ, Who is very much concerned         Finally, the vineyard was planted.       ness from His vineyard.
about the vineyard of His church.        The choicest vines were selected.            *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
For many little foxes find their way     These were planted with great care           Solomon's concern is for the little
also into God's spiritual vineyard.      and spaced the right distance apart        foxes that so quickly spoil the vine-
And, oh, how those little foxes can      to give ample room for the branches
spoil the vines so they do not pro-      to grow and run out.                       yard.
                                                                                      It is the spring of the year. The
duce the spiritual fruit the Lord          All this serves as an earthly pic-       vineyards are in blossom. The
desires. Jesus, therefore, commands      ture of the work of God to plant His       tender grapes are just beginning to
those who work in the vineyard:          church.
"Catch the foxes, the little foxes,        The vines are the various mem-           form.
                                                                                      And what a problem those little
that spoil the vines: for the vines      bers of the church. These God has
have tender grapes."                     chosen with great care from all eter-      foxes are!
                                                                                       In the spring of the year the little
  * * * * * * * * * *                    nity. Certainly the vines God has
                                         chosen to plant into the vineyard of       foxes love to live and play in the
  God has created the earthly to be      His church are not selected on the         shade of the new foliage. How cute
picture of the heavenly.                 same basis as the husbandman               they are. And how harmless they ap-
  With great care God formed the         selects them. The husbandman               pear at first. But what a menace
sheep that they might resemble His       would select only the choicest vines       they prove to be. They dig into the
beloved people. The shepherd He          for his vineyard. The vines God has        ground; they gnaw at the roots and
created to resemble the spiritual        chosen, however, are of themselves         at the branches. The damage they
Leader of His people. He ordained        no better than other vines the Lord        do is inestimable. This is especially
marriage to reflect the spiritual        has rejected. Nevertheless, God has        true in the spring of the year when
union between Himself and the            chosen them and determined to ac-          the vineyard is in bloom and the
church. In like manner He created        complish a glorious purpose through        grapes are yet tender. Many a crop
the lily of the valley, the rose of                                                 has been spoiled already in the
Sharon, the balm of Gilead, the vine     them.                                      spring of the year because of these
and its branches, the olive tree and       With great care God plants these         little foxes.
much, much more, to mirror in a          vines into Christ. Even as the               There are also many little foxes
most wonderful way the realities of      husbandman plants his choicest             running loose in the spiritual vine-
the spiritual realm.                     vines into the rich soil that they may     yard of the church.
  The earthly creation is full of        take root and bear fruit, so God             These foxes are all that would
parables proclaiming God's great         plants His precious vines into Christ.     spoil and damage the church so that
work of grace in Jesus Christ.           He does this by working faith in
                                         their hearts and lives. By faith the       she does not bring forth the spiritual
  Included in these parables is the                                                 fruits she ought. God has planted His
                                         vines of God are made spiritually
parable of the vineyard. With great                                                 vineyard and cares for it that He
care God fashioned the vine and the      one with Christ so that they dig their     may receive its spiritual fruits. The
                                         spiritual roots into Christ and receive
vineyard to be a picture of His                                                     Devil, however, and all the powers
Church. Consequently, we also find       from Him His life. All this results in     of darkness seek to destroy this vine-
that time after time the church is       the most wonderful spiritual fruits of     yard of God. In God's good prov-
compared in the Bible to a vineyard.     righteousness and godliness.               idence they are not able to ac-
  There are several ways in which          There is more to the parable of          complish this evil purpose. But God
the vineyard very aptly resembles        the vineyard.
                                           There is also the care of the vine-      in His providence does allow the
the church.                                                                         powers of darkness to do a great
  First, the planting of the vineyard    yard.                                      deal of damage in His vineyard.
very closely resembles the work of         In caring for the vineyard the           They are able to spoil the vineyard
God to "plant" His church.               husbandman would take great pains          of God so that the vines are not as
  In the planting of a vineyard there    to keep the ground free of weeds           fruitful as they ought to be. The little
was much work done in preparation,       and thorns that would hinder the
                                         growth of the vines. Carefully he          foxes are all those things that the
long before so much as one vine          would prune the vines of dead wood         powers of darkness use to damage
was planted. Care was given to find      so that the vines would bring forth        the spiritual vineyard of God so that
the right location. Grapes flourish      the maximum amount of fruit.               she does not yield proper fruit.
only in loose soil and on the slopes       So also does God care for the              There are the little foxes of false
where, there is good drainage. Once      spiritual vineyard of the church.          doctrines. There are the little foxes
a suitable field was found, all the      Through the preaching of the word          of movies and television. Running
large rocks (of which there were         and the sacraments, through Chris-         through God's vineyard are the little
plenty) were removed. These were         tian discipline and many other             foxes of worldly music and dancing.
used to build a fence around the                                                    In this corner of the vineyard there
field and perhaps even a tower.                                                     is the little fox of frequenting the
                                                                                    bars. Over there is the little fox of

                                                                                                       The Standard Bearer  I27


staying home from church on the            tower was also built in the vineyard        the spiritual fruits God expects from
sabbath day for the sake of earthly        and a watch set to guard against any        them in Jesus Christ. It is a call to
pleasure. There are literally              intruders.                                  turn away from every false doctrine
thousands of little foxes that find          To the watchmen and the workers           and cling to the truth of Scripture. It
their way into the spiritual vineyard      in his vineyards Solomon gives the          is a call to control the television in
of God.                                    instruction: "Catch the foxes, the lit-     your home or get rid of it. It is a call
   And our reaction may be that            tle foxes, that spoil the vines: for our    to avoid the godless music of this
they are really quite innocent. What       vines have tender grapes."                  world and to fill your soul with
harm could really come from these            So also does our Lord Jesus Christ,       music that edifies. It is a call to
things?                                    typified by Solomon, call us to catch       avoid the fellowship of the world but
   But don't forget, we are dealing        the spiritual foxes that would              seek the fellowship of the saints. . . .
here with little foxes. By the time        damage the church.                            Oh, how hard these little foxes
these little foxes are finished with         The church is of extreme impor-           are to catch! They are so clever and
their fun and frolicking, many a vine     tance to our Lord. He loves the              quick. It is only by the grace of God
in God's vineyard has been spoiled         church. For the sake of the church          that we can catch these little foxes
so that it does not bring forth proper     He even gave His life. As the Savior        and cast them out of our lives. This
spiritual fruits.                         of the church, His desire is that the        grace comes only through much
  * * * * * * * * * *                      church render fruits in abundance to        prayer and a daily use of God's holy
                                           His Father in heaven.                       Word.
   Solomon gives command to the              And so the call comes from the              Catch the foxes, the little foxes,
workers in his vineyards to catch the     Lord: "Catch the foxes, the little           that spoil the vines.
foxes.                                     foxes, that spoil the vines: for the          And bring forth spiritual fruits of
   To prevent the damage done by           vines have tender grapes." This is a        thankfulness, in rich abundance, to
the little foxes, trenches and walls       call to every member of the church:         the glory of God the Father, Who
were constructed around the vine-         to cast out of the church and out of         has given us His glorious salvation in
yard. This was designed not only to       their own lives all that would hinder        Jesus Christ. 0
keep out the animals but also
strangers from the vineyard. Often a




                                          Editor's Notes
                                          Seminary Convocation, 1987
                                          As To Evolution At
Editorials                                Dordt College (I)

                                            Included in this issue are two articles connected with the annual meeting of
                                          the Reformed Free Publishing Association. The address by the Rev. Steven Key,
                                          pastor of our Southeast Protestant Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, is one of
                                          them. The other is the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Board, James Van
                                          Overloop. Some of our regular departments will be displaced in this issue,
                                          because of the special articles carried.
                                                                    *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
                                            Speaking of the annual meeting, it must have set a record, or a near-record -
                                          for smallness! Not more than about two dozen men were present; and that atten-
                                          dance included Board members. Very disheartening! Especially for the Board,
                                          which has the duty of seeing to the publication of our magazine. Sometimes
                                          when one looks at the poor attendance and lack of interest in the annual
                                          meeting, he begins to ponder the question of survival. I realize that this has
                                          been a perennial problem for the Board. But the situation is not a good one.
                                          Sometimes one longs-for the days of our beginning when the R.F.P.A. member-
                                          ship grew by leaps and bounds. I wish that steps could be taken to change the
                                          present trend from smaller and smaller to larger and larger! 0                      HCH

28  / The Standard Bearer


 Seminary Convocation.  1987                  new term. This part of the program           realistic projections on the basis of
    Last year, as you may recall, was         our readers can share; a transcript of our present data.
 a highly abnormal year for our Prot-        his speech appears elsewhere in this            From what source must these
estant Reformed Seminary. For the            issue.                                        students come?
 first time in the history of our school        It was my privilege as Rector to             Out of our own churches!
 our student body consisted of one           introduce our students to the au-               Young men! Whoever of you read
 pre-seminary student; and he was            dience. There are three new  pre-             these lines, consider this! Consider
 very much a part-time student as far        seminarians attending our school            : seriously and prayerfully whether
 as instruction at our school was con-       part-time while they are taking most          the Lord calls you to prepare for the
 cerned: he had but one course with          of their courses this first year in area      ministry. Fathers and mothers, talk
 us. And while this situation provided       colleges. They are: Douglas Dykstra,          about these things with your sons,
 an opportunity for Profs. Decker and        Kenneth Elzinga (both of Hope                 especially your sons of high school
 Hanko to do some post-graduate              Church, Walker, Mich.),  and Earl             age, when soon they  wiIl be called
 studies and opportunity for the un-         Kamps (of Southwest Church). We               upon to make decisions with respect
 dersigned to do more writing, it was        have arranged our schedule this               to their future course in life and
 a very abnormal year for our school         year so that they can also join us in         their possible future education. No,
 and one which none of us would like        our weekly chapel sessions. A fourth           by all means do not try to "push"
 to repeat for a very long time.             first-year pre-sem is Allen J. Brum-         your son into preparation for the
   This year things are different!           mel, of our Edgerton, Minnesota               ministry. Our ministry would suffer
   We have four new pre-seminary             church, who is attending Dordt Col-          from that; and, besides, there is no
 enrollees. We have a third year pre-        lege for his first year. Our returning       more unhappy place to be than to
 seminarian. And we have a first-year        pre-sem, now in his third year, is           be in the ministry when you don't
 seminarian. Things are much more            Leonard Holstege (Byron Center              belong there. Pastors and elders,
 normal on "seminary hill." For this         Church). And our first-year                 I bring the need of our churches and
 we are thankful. And as faculty we          seminarian is Mitchell Dick (Grand-         / the possibility of preparing for the
are especially glad to get back into         ville Church).                              ' ministry to the attention of young
our normal routine of giving instruc-          We covet your prayers for our             j men in your flocks, especially of
tion. MeanwhiIe, Profs. Decker and           seminary during this 1987-88 term.           young men who, in your opinion,
Hanko are striving to finish the post-         Meanwhile, the churches should            ; may have the gifts and talents for
graduate studies which they began            not become lackadaisical with               ! such study!
last year at Calvin Seminary and are        regard to our need of students.
busily at work on their theses.                Perhaps you may be inclined to
   It was a happy occasion, there-           think that now the crisis is past and
fore, when once more we had a               the need for students has been met.           As To Evolution At Dordt
Seminary Convocation on September           Maybe you even thought, "He's                i College (1)
9 at our Southwest Protestant               never satisfied! After all, we have              Now that we have the data about
Reformed Church, just down the hill         new students now, do we not?                 ; this matter from both Prof. Hodgson
from the Seminary. A capacity au-           Besides, there are not so many               I and Dordt College's Board of
dience from the West Michigan area          vacancies among our churches."               ( Trustees, we can proceed to discuss
was present, and there seemed to be            First of all, let me remind you of        I the issue further. Meanwhile, I want
an air of thankful enthusiasm, mani-        our Lord's word that the harvest is          1 to assure both Prof. Hodgson and
fested in the vigorous psalm-singing        plenteous, but the laborers few, and         i Dr. Hulst, the president of Dordt Col-
of the audience and in the fellowship       that we must pray the Lord of the             lege, that they are welcome to  re-
following the program. To you out-          harvest for laborers. And while we           ; spond to what I write if they desire;
of-towners: we wish you could have          do not know the details of the               j and I will try to publish such
been there!                                 future, we must by faith act on the          1 responses promptly.
  The program, led by the president         principle of our Lord's word. In the            Before I enter upon a detailed
of the Theological School Commit-           second place, let me point out that           discussion of this matter, I want to
tee, the Rev. Jay Kortering, included       the ideal for our school would be a           make a few introductory remarks.
a couple selections by the Hope             steady and regular annual supply of             In the first place, I hold no grudge
Heralds, a male chorus which always         students, so that in the future we            against either Prof. Hodgson or
seems to do a creditable job. But the       may avoid a hiatus such as we had            Dordt College. Prof. Hodgson I did
main feature was an address by              last year. In the third place, let me         not even know at all before this ii'iatl-
Prof. R. Decker, "Committing the            point out that there is no possibility        ter arose; and I still do not know
Truth To Faithful Men." By rotation,        of a seminary graduate until the              him, except from the record of the
it was his turn this year to deliver        year 1991; that as matters stand             Hillsdale debate which was sent to
the convocation address; and his ad-        now, the next graduate would be in           me by a reader who had been
dress struck the right note for our         1993; and that our four new pre-             following my critique of Calvin Col-
                                            seminarians face eight years of in-          lege Professor Van Till's book, The
                                            struction and possible graduation in         Fourth Day, and from the very brief
                                            1995. I know: we do not know what
                                            the future holds. But these are

                                                                                                              The Standard Bearer  / 29


correspondence we have had. And                ground and their eyes wide open            at Dordt or anywhere else. That is
as far as Dordt College is concerned,          when they go away to college and           not even the form of the issue with
I have had very little contact with it         begin to run into the teaching of          respect to Dr. Van Till's teachings.
in recent years. From the start I was          evolution. And I want their parents,       He certainly tries to leave the im-
aware that from my Protestant Re-              too, to be aware of the kind of            pression that in some sense he holds
formed stance I did not and could              teachings to which their sons and          to both creation and evolution. But
not see eye to eye with Dordt. I was           daughters are exposed in college.          that is also the form of the issue in
aware, for example, that one of its            And I want our people generally to         the case of Dordt College's Prof.
earliest science professors held to            be instructed concerning the er-           Hodgson. If Dr. Hodgson had said
the period theory with respect to              roneous positions with respect to          flatly, "I hold to evolution and not to
creation. I was also aware - and I             creation and evolution which are           creation," I trust there would be no
discussed this face-to-face with               prevalent, so that we may continue         problem: Dordt would dismiss him.
Dordt's former president, the Rev.             to maintain the Reformed and Scrip         But Dr. Hodgson claims to be a so-
Bernard Haan, some years ago -                 tural truth of creation in our own         called "progressive creationist" or
that we could not agree with the               churches and schools. For some             "old earth creationist." This compli-
elaborate statement of Dordt's                 reason this matter of creation versus      cates matters. The issue becomes
philosophy of education which was              evolution keeps on coming up in Re-        partly this: is this "progressive crea-
then in the process of preparation             formed circles. There was consider-        tionist" position compatible with the
(Scripturally-Oriented Higher Educa-           able debate about it in the mid-1960s      Reformed and Scriptural doctrine of
tion)  because of (among other things)         when I lectured on this subject in         creation? And it becomes partly this:
"common grace." On the other              '    the Grand Rapids area and when my          is this "progressive creationist" posi-
hand, I had always considered Dordt            little book "In The Beginning              tion a shield, a shelter, for some
in the past to be somewhat more                God. . .  .", now out of print, was        form of evolutionist position, or, in
"conservative" (for want of a better           first published. Some twenty years         other words, for an attempted com-
term) than, say, Calvin College. And           later it is again an issue, as is plain    promise?
frankly, I was somewhat shocked                from the discussion kindled by Dr.           My own answer to these questions
when the matter of Prof. Hodgson's             Van Till's The Fourth Day.                 is, first of all, that "progressive crea-
position was brought to my atten-                In the third place, let us bear in       tionism" is not compatible with the
tion.                                          mind that while the issue is indeed        Reformed and Scriptural doctrine of
   In the second place, what is my             creation versus evolution, and while       creation. Secondly, I believe that
concern then? My concern is, first of          these two are mutually exclusive, an       Prof. Hodgson attempts a com-
all, for our Protestant Reformed               issue of faith versus unbelief, the        promise with evolutionism.
young people who attend colleges               debate does not assume this form.            Dordt College seems to have
such as Dordt or Calvin, or, for that          No one in a Christian college wants        assumed an investigatory stance
matter any college which purports to           to say, "I flatly deny creation, and I     with respect to Dr. Hodgson's
be Reformed or even, more general-             hold to the theory of evolution." In       teachings.
ly, Christian. I want them to have             that case the matter would be soon           Let us pursue the matter
both feet planted firmly on the                settled, whether that be at Calvin or      further. 0                            HCH




Walking In                                     Moral Aspects of
The Light
Herman C. Hank0                                Medical Technology (19)

                                               Genetic Engineering                        that per se what science does is
                                                 In our last article we began to call     morally permissible. Man must rule
                                               attention to some of the truths of         science, not science man. 2) That the
                                               Scripture which have to be con-            whole theory lying behind genetic
                                               sidered as we approach this whole          experimentation and engineering is
                                               question from a Biblical point of          evolutionistic and humanistic. 3)
Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church         view. We mentioned three items: 1)         That genetic engineering deals with
History and New Testament at the Prot-         That just because science is able to       the basic processes of life; and,
estant Reformed Seminary.                      do something, this does not mean

30 I The Standard Bearer


because man is created by God with            And from a more practical point          proved that. One disease is con-
both body and soul, such tampering          of view, not even the majority of          quered only in order that it may
with life's most basic processes will       wicked men will determine this, but        make room for another, yet more
result in untold harm to the soul.          the scientists will be the final ar-       dreadful disease. Polio and tuber-
   There are other points which need        bitrators. They know what can be           culosis have been conquered, but
to be made in our consideration of          done; they alone can perform these         have moved aside to make room for
this subject.                               medical "miracles;" they know bet-         cancer. Ordinary syphilis has
   In the first place, it must be           ter than anyone else what the long         become susceptible to antibiotic
remembered that it is argued that           range consequences are; they are           treatment, but the result is strains
genetic engineering is to be used to        the ones who will finally have the         much more difficult to destroy and
the "good" of man, i.e., for his im-        power to determine for all what is         AIDS which threatens to become a
provement. We have quoted a cou-            really good. But any definition of         plague like the bubonic plague of
ple of ethicists already who have           good according to the Word of God          the Middle Ages. In some countries
called attention to this fundamental        is not even considered. So a cadre of      the life-span of a man may be 80 or
danger in the whole approach. Allen         scientists, a priesthood of elite manip    85 years. But if one considers all
Verhey quoted C.S. Lewis as saying,         ulators of life will be in absolute        mankind throughout the world, it is
"What we call Man's power of                control. It will be an unbelievably        still true what Moses wrote that we
nature turns out to be a power exer-        horrible time for God's people when        tarry here in the world threescore
cised by some men over others with          this happens.                              years and ten, and perhaps four-
Nature as its instrument." Joseph             In the second place, and in close        score years if our strength is great.
Fletcher, as we noticed in an earlier       connection with what we have said          But even then these years are filled
article, insists not only that the ma-      above, the believer must understand        with trouble and sorrow. All this is
jority must decide what is good, but        fully that good must be determined         true because the root cause is sin.
that this decision must be enforced         in the light of God's Word. I would        And sin cannot be eradicated from a
legally. If, e.g., it is deemed good by     not be able to count how many God-         corrupt and depraved nature by
the majority that all babies are now        fearing families have received of the      genetic engineering.
to be conceived in vitro so that they       Lord a Down's syndrome child or a            But the child of God sees all these
can be checked for genetic weak-            child with other severe defects who        things in quite a different light. He
nesses or diseases, this will be con-       have not said, "The presence of this       can still sing with the Psalmist, "Af-
sidered good, and this "good" will be       child in our family has been truly         fliction hath been for my profit. . . ."
enforced by law.                            good," They are not merely uttering        God increases spiritual blessings
  One can readily see the picture.          pious phrases in a desperate attempt       through suffering, sickness and
Babies born with defects and trans-         to come to terms with what has hap-        disease for those who are washed in
mittable diseases are not "good" by         pened. They mean this with all their       the blood of Christ. It is a great
the definition of the majority. Such        hearts, so much so that they con-          mystery, a great mercy, but the
children are a burden on their              sider such a child to be a special gift    Scriptures make it all abundantly
families and on society. Their              of the Lord Who, in special grace          clear. And when death comes, death
presence in society brings the risk         towards them, gave them a treasure         is the door from this life to heaven.
that they will pass on these diseases       which few others possess. I know           What then makes death so terrible?
to others. The hope of mankind is to        they mean what they say. I have            "For to me to live is Christ, and to
rid the world of illness and bring          heard them say it with shining eyes.       die is gain." Is death so bad for the
health to all. So, in order to avoid        And I have stood at the side of            one who waits upon Jehovah? What
these evils, each child must be con-        parents who lost such a child when         pastor has not sat in awe at the bed-
ceived  in vitro so that any possibility    the child had been with them for fif-      side or in the living room of humble
of this happening may be destroyed.         teen or twenty years and who bore          saints of God who express the
If the conceived child can undergo          a grief greater than the grief of the      deepest fervent wish to go to be
corrective surgery while it is still on-    loss of a "normal" child. These            with Christ?
ly a single cell, wonderful. If not, it     things are good; not by any worldly          Yes, we have certain respon-
can be destroyed. Fletcher argues           criteria, but by the criteria of the       sibilities to maintain our health, to
passionately for this and accuses the       Scriptures.                                do what we can to cure our diseases.
old-fashioned Biblical moralists with         The same thing must be said of           Scripture does not forbid us to seek
being a drag on society.                    death. The goal of the genetic             help when illness strikes. And it can
  But who determines what is really         engineers is, among other things, to       even be argued from certain points
good? The answer is that the majori-        stop the aging process and to over-        of view that we have an obligation
ty do. The trouble is that the majori-      come disease and death. We know            to do this. But health and life in this
ty in this world are ungodly people         that this will never happen. Scripture     world are not ends in themselves
who have not the fear of the Lord in        speaks of disease and death as part        and must not be made such. The
their hearts. So the wicked will be         of the curse which has come upon           Christian must not be so enamoured
determining what is "good" for all,         this creation. It is Gods Word of fury
including God's people.                     against sin. Genetic engineering can-
                                            not reach out and cut away so as to
                                            silence this voice of God. History has

                                                                                                           The Standard Bearer  /  31


of the conquests and triumphs of            our God has put us. When we seek                which are put forth to alleviate
medical science that he forgets that        that man's salvation we seek his                disease and cure sickness insofar as
his chief end is to glorify God and         good in the only sense of the word              that is possible. And if genetic
enjoy Him forever, and that his one         that really counts. Yet.we know too             engineering is capable of doing that
and only comfort in all of life is that     that it is not God's purpose to save            in a given individual, it is one of the
he belongs to Jesus.                        either this present world nor all men           means God gives His people to
   In the third place, we must never        in it. The elect remain as a hut in a           alleviate their suffering here below.
forget that our own aims and pur-           garden of cucumbers. But the elect              But any kind of tampering with the
poses of life are not the betterment        are pilgrims and strangers in the               basic processes of life is to be sharp-
of mankind and social progress.             earth who look for their home in                ly and uncompromisingly repro-
Perhaps sometimes we are deceived           heaven with Christ. They know with              bated. I suppose that the line may
into thinking that we have certain          an absolute and unshakeable certain-            not in the future be always so easy
obligations and responsibilities            ty that the wicked and this present             to draw. But one who lives out of
towards the advance of the human            world shall presently be destroyed.             faith will know what the Lord wills
race. This is not so. That we are to        They spend their years here as                  for him.
seek the good of all men is surely          pilgrims and strangers. They have a               Of one thing I am sure. We have
our calling. But here we come to            city which hath foundations. To do              not seen the end of this by any
that elusive word "good" again.             anything less is to become a pro-               means. The problems will grow
What does it mean to seek the               moter of that devilishly deceiving              more difficult, the temptations more
"good' of our fellow men? Surely it         social gospel which has gotten a                severe. But genetic engineering as it
ought to be clear to anyone who             stranglehold on so much of the                  now seems possible will be a mighty
has even the slightest acquaintance         church world.                                   tool in the hands of Antichrist to
with the Scriptures that this "good"          Finally, if all these things are kept         bring about his ungodly utopia in
is a man's salvation from sin. We are       in mind and if the child of God lives           which Gods people will not only
called by God to seek the salvation         out of these principles, then the               have no place, but in which they
of our fellow men insofar as in us          answers to the specific questions of            will be persecuted for their faith. It
lies and in the place in life in which      genetic engineering can be found.               is incumbent upon us to prepare
                                            Generally speaking, of course, we               now for the evil day which shall
                                            cannot have any objection to efforts            surely come.  0
                                                                                       -





                                            "Christian" Rock
                                            "Euthanasia - It's Here"
All Around Us                               "Calvinist orthodoxy?"
Cise /. Van Baren



                                            "Christian" Rock                                the gospel were the target of criticism in
                                               The young people of the church               this month's national convention of the
                                            are often attracted to "rock music".            Assemblies of God here, . . .
                                             If these seek not the worldly sort, at           "The church of Jesus Christ has come
                                             least they would clamor for the                under special attack from Satan through
                                                                                            the entertainment media and has been
                                             "Christian" variation of this. The             provoked to emulate the world in its
                                             paper,  World,  August 31, 1987,               degraded art forms, " said the resolution.
                                             reports on the decisions of the                  The originator of the resolution, Rev.
                                            Assemblies of God churches:                     Joseph Pyott of Linnwood, Wash., who
Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Prot-                                                    works as a traveling evangelist, told RNS
estant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,         Christian rock singers whose perfor-         he was dismayed a year and a half ago
Michigan.                                   mances are viewed as out of tune with

32  / The Standard Bearer


when "a so-called Christian rock group,         tlement had been made in the malprac-            ly on persons with the most disabili-
Stryper, " gave a concert in this area.         tice suit against the anesthesiologist at        ty and may encourage non-treat-
  "They dress like devils and wear              the hospital where her injuries occurred.        ment for broader categories of
Spandex costumes. Many church young               In arguments related to her "right to          disability than just those who are in
people went, and I heard about it. I            die," Jobes's ability to live - with only        a presumed irreversible coma." One
thought their performance was inappro-          the same level of care as that provided to       can predict that even as abortion
priate and contradicted everything the          31 other patients in the nursing home -          has become commonplace in this
gospel stands for, " he said.                   was never an issue. The question was not
  Christian rock artist Amy Grant also          `Could she live?" but rather, "Should she        country, euthanasia will soon be
drew Pyott's disapproval. "`Her per-            live?"                                           publicly accepted, too.
formances are very suggestive sexually,            Those opposing her right to continued
and she makes no bones about the fact           food and fluids described her as "ugly,"
that you can combine a little bit of sex        "`a monstrosity, " and "`not human. "            "Calviliist  orthodoxy?"
and Christianity and that's okay in her         Neurologist David Carlin said, `She died
viewpoint. I think that's wrong."               a long time ago, . . . She should have a           The guest editor of The Banner,
  Such performers "may use the right            funeral. " Another neurologist, Henry Liss,      Aug. 24, 1987, treats the question,
words, but in my opinion their perfor-          said, "`She's not living, she's not a human      "Who is Saved?" One short para-
mance and their dress contradict the            entity. "                                        graph in this interesting editorial
things they say, " Pyott said.                    Lincoln Park Nursing Home, where               struck my attention - for it presents
   "lf you put the name Jesus on                Jobes has been a patient for six years,          strikingly the "double-track
whiskey, it would still make you drunk.         strongly opposed the request. Home of-           theology" (or contradiction) that one
Putting the label `Jesus' on rock music         ficials observed, `She is not terminally
doesn't change the essential nature of it.      ill . . . . She responds to touch and sound      finds in Christian Reformed
They take something that is basically un-       stimuli. . . . follows movements of a per-       theology. There appears to be no
acceptable to Christians and relabel it,        son with her eyes . . . . reacts to pain         alternative to this in view of their of-
but it is still just as bad as before," said    . . . . There is no competent evidence that      ficial position for the "free offer of
the evangelist.                                 Nancy would want to terminate her life."         the gospel". Dr. Cornelius Plantinga,
   One ought to note the seriousness               Two neurologists, Maurice Victor, co-         Jr. writes:
of the inroads of sin also within the           author of a leading neurology textbook,            A Painful Scheme. No, God must
realm of music. Though often this               and Allan Ropper, associate professor at         decide who will be saved, and God must
kind of music appeals to the Chris-             Harvard Medical School, testified about          save them. In Calvinist orthodoxy God
tian youth, that does not make it               her awareness and responsiveness. Rop-           wants to save everybody (1 Tim. 2:4).
good or right. We ought also to take            per reported: Jobes can see and hear; she        And God can save everybody: God ar-
                                                responds to commands; her movements
to heart the many warnings given                                                                 ranges for the death of Christ to radiate
                                                are purposeful and volitional; she
concerning the devilishness of such                                                              sufficient power for the salvation of all.
                                                fatigues and can feel pain,
music.                                                                                           God also orders the gospel preached to
                                                  But the lower court discounted the             all. But, at the end of the day, God aban-
                                                neurologists' testimony as biased and im-        dons some. God wants everybody saved
                                                plied that the observations of nursing-          but never intends to save all. God wants
"Euthanasia  - It's Here"                       home employees - those who cared for             everybody saved but doesn't p'lan on it.
   The same issue of the World                  Jobes on a day-to-day basis - were illu-         The reprobate are heartbreakingly, final-
reports on a case of euthanasia -               sions. The court didn't term as biased the       ly, disastrously lost. God could save
                                                testimony of witnesses who described
approved by the New Jersey                                                                       them, but he doesn't. And nobody knows
                                                Jobes as ugly, monstrous, and less than
Supreme Court. This, and similar                                                                 why. "
                                                human.
cases, makes one aware that the                                                                     The above, of course, presents a
                                                  Jobes's husband, who according to
horror of abortion is not the end of                                                             contradiction within God. "God
                                                court records did not visit her for a year,
man's action to end lives that are              may now preside over her death - a               wants everybody saved, but never
unwanted. Increasingly, there is the            lingering, painful death that could take         intends to save all." But, ,if God
pressure to end the lives of those              From six to 15 days. Such a death, if im-        wants all to be saved, because He is
who are judged to be of little or no            posed For any other "criminal" offense,          God, these would be saved. And if
value to society. The reporter pre-             would most assuredly be deemed "cruel            He never intends to save all, it must
sented this:                                    and unusual punishment."                         be (for He is God) because He does
                                                   Will there be a public outcry? Or will        not want all to be saved.
  On June 24, the New Jersey Supreme            her death be viewed as a small, isolated,
Court added a new offense to the list of                                                           And is this truly "Calvinist ortho-
                                                and unfortunate incident?
crimes for which a person can be                                                                 doxy"? Calvin himself would not
                                                  It may be wise to recall the words of
sentenced to death: Being brain-damaged                                                          agree, at least not in the passage of I
                                                the prqducer of Shoah, a documentary
and too healthy to die.                         about Nazi atrocities: "`It was not the first    Tim. 2:4 to which Plantinga refers.
  In a 6-l decision, the court upheld a         act that led to the last act, but the first      Calvin insists that God Who "would
lower-court ruling that authorized the          silence that led to the last silence. "          have all men to be saved", desires to
starvation and dehydration death of Nan-           One must be horrified by a case               save not all men head-for-head, but
cy Ellen Jobes, 32, who suffered an             which is by no means an isolated in-
anesthesia accident during surgery seven
years ago. Jobes's family, described in         stance of euthanasia. There is in-
news accounts as caring and suffering,          deed, as another article stated,
postponed the request to stop Jobes's           "economic pressures for cost con-
food and fluids until after a $900,000 set-     tainment" which focuses "increasing-

                                                                                                                       The Standard Bearer  / 33


rather would save all kinds of men:             . . . We don't talk about hell as much         How can a Reformed man, one
princes, kings, and people of other           as we used to. We don't hear it much          who maintains Scripture and the Re-
nations (cf. Calvin's commentary on           from our pulpits. It does not seem to play    formed confessions, not be absolute-
I Timothy).                                   much of a role in our personal piety.         ly certain that universalism is false?
   The danger of universalism com-              Is this bad? It is hard for me to judge     Could it be that if it is true that God
ing out of Plantinga's presentation of        without my first being clear about some       wants all men to be saved, one
*`Calvinist orthodoxy" can be seen in         other issues. I must make it clear at the
                                              outset - I do not endorse the universal-      could conclude that just possibly uni-
.the article in the same magazine by          istic teaching that all people will be        versalism must follow? Perhaps these
Dr. Richard Mouw on "The Waning               saved in the end. Not that I am absolute-     men ought to consider again what is
of Hell":                                     ly certain that universalism is false! I      truly Calvinist orthodoxy! El
                                              donl know for sure. And this is signifi-
                                              cant for me, because I would very much
                                              like universalism to be true. . . .





Address,                                      The Standard Bearer
Annual Meeting
Steven R. Key                                 And Our Youth

(An Address Delivered At The Annual             In our consideration of this sub-           those men sought freedom of
Meeting Of The R.F.P.A.,  September,          ject, we first ought to consider the          theological expression for the
1'987)                                        place that The Standard Bearer oc-            defense of the truth of God's Word.
   The subject I have ,chosen to con-         cupies in our spiritual heritage. For it      And so, in October of 1924, The
sider with you this evening is "The           is there that we will see the impor-          Standard Bearer was born. When it
Standard Bearer and Our Future;"              tant place that it occupies also with         became evident that these men,
or, if you wish, "The Standard                respect to the future. I will follow          along with the Reverend George
Bearer and Our Youth," for the                this order:                                   Ophoff, would not be silent, but
youth are our future. You can gather           I. The place it occupies in our heri-        would defend their stand no matter
from my choice of topics, that I con-             tage                                      what the consequences, the deter-
sider The Standard Bearer to occupy           II. The significant role it is in posi-       mination to cast them out of the
an important place and to be in a                 tion to play in our future                Christian Reformed Church became
position to play a significant role in        III. How it may best serve to the edi-        final, and birth was given to the
the future well-being of our Protes-              fication of our churches                  Protestant Reformed Churches. As
tant Reformed Churches in par-                  I. The Standard Bearer occupies             might be expected, in the early
ticular.                                      an important place in our heritage,           years of The Standard Bearer there
                                              as is evident from the fact that it is        was much attention given to the
                                              older than the organization of the            common grace controversy. The at-
                                              Protestant Reformed Churches. It              tempt was made to expose from
                                              arose in the midst of controversy, as         every possible perspective the errors
                                              an avenue of expressing the truth,            in the theory of common grace. But
                                              when all other avenues were closed            also the truth of God's sovereign,
                                              to the Reverends Danhof and Hoek-             particular grace was set forth
                                              sema. The year was 1924. The con-             positively. Given the heat of the con-
                                              troversy concerned the, theory of             troversy, it is no wonder that The
                                              common grace, which theory had                Standard Bearer received a reputa-
                                              been adopted by the denomination              tion, partly justified, partly not. To
                                              in which those two men had their              some, I dare say especially the older
Steven R. Key is pastor of Southeast Prot-    membership and ministerial creden-            members in the Reformed churches,
estant Reformed Church, Grand Rapids,         tials. In opposition to that error,           who from within or without have
Michigan.

34/ The Standard  Bearer


witnessed the controversies in our         That is indicated even in the name        Reverend Danhof, you can see that
Protestant Reformed Churches, that         of the paper, The Standard Bearer.        it is in a position to play a significant
reputation has continued. Even             The standard refers to a banner or        role also in our future.
though The Standard Bearer is not a        flag which is carried before the            You understand, of course, when I
church paper, the connection cannot        troops who are entering into battle.      speak of The Standard Bearer and
be avoided. And so the reputation          It stands as an encouragement to the      our future, I do so in a very limited
The Standard Bearer has received           men who are members of that army;         way. I am not a fortune teller. God
and carried over the years is that of      but it also testifies to those who are    only knows the future of The Stan-
being controversial, critical, and         not. So our Standard Bearer carries       dard Bearer and of our churches.
quick to point the finger.                 before us the standard of the truth       That future is determined from all
  That our publication is controver-       of Gods Word, particularly as ex-         eternity in His counsel. And that
sial at times, we-do not deny. Nor do      pressed in the Three Forms of Unity.      future is hid. For that very reason I
we, nor may we, apologize for that.        Therein lies its tremendous value         speak not of the role that The Stan-
Whenever there is a confrontation          also.                                     dard Bearer will play, but of the
between the truth and the lie, there         The feature of this periodical that     significant role it is in position to
is controversy. And the calling and        must be considered of greatest im-        play with regard to our future.
promise of every Reformed minister         portance in our heritage is the devel-      You understand, also, that when I
of the gospel is, as you read in the       opment of the -truth and exposition       speak of The Standard Bearer and
Formula of Subscription, "diligently       of the Scriptures over the years. Par-    our future, I am not speaking of
to teach and faithfully to defend the      ticularly the development of the doc-     something abstract. When speaking
aforesaid doctrine, without either         trine of the covenant has been of ut-     of that subject, the question is: Shall
directly or indirectly contradicting       most importance in the edification        we and the staff of The Standard
the same, by our public preaching or       and strength of our churches over         Bearer remain faithful to the pur-
writing." The only apology that is in      the years. The truth of that beautiful    pose for which it was originally
order is that, because we are sinful       relationship of gracious love and         published? And then, because there
men, we sometimes fail in our call-        fellowship which God has established      is such a close relationship between
ing to "be gentle unto all men, pa-        with His people in Christ, was            The Standard Bearer and our Protes-
tient, In meekness instructing those       developed especially by Reverend          tant Reformed Churches, you also
who oppose themselves; if God              Hoeksema in the pages of The              have to ask the question, "Shall we
peradventure will give them repen-'        Standard Bearer. Through the under-       as churches remain faithful to the
tance to the acknowledging of the          standing of that wonderful truth, all     truth of God's Word?" The question
truth" (II Tim. 2:24, 25).                 doctrine becomes a matter of impor-       is not, "Shall there be change?"
  But when we consider the impor-          tance for our own experience and          There is always change. There is
tant place The Standard Bearer plays       spiritual life! That positive develop-    also room for change. There is
in our heritage, I would have you          ment, coupled with the outstanding        always room for improvement, also
notice that the intended emphasis of       exegesis and exposition of the Scrip-     in The Standard Bearer. But the
the magazine was from the very             tures found in the pages of our           question is, "In the midst of change,
beginning positive. In the very first      periodical over the years by men          shall we remain faithful to the pur-
issue, the Reverend Henry Danhof           such as Hoeksema, Ophoff, Vos, Lub-       pose unto which we are called?"
explained the reason for the publica-      bers, and many others, has given us         Although not exclusively, this
tion of the new periodical. In that ar-    a rich heritage in writing. Our           question deals directly with the rela-
ticle, which is in Dutch, he writes,       heritage stands on the truth of the       tionship between our Standard
"A need is felt for leadership in ec-      Word of God. Our strength is not          Bearer  and our youth. For the future
clesiastical questions, points of doc-     personal strength. It is not the          will be realized in our young people
trine, prevalent speculations, and the     strength of men. The weaknesses           and children and, should the Lord
practical application in life of the       found in the pages of The Standard        tarry by our timetable, in our
principles out of which people live."      Bearer  through the years have been       children's children. Now, I ask you,
And then further on, he writes, "We        personal weaknesses. Our strength is      when you consider those words I
aim not at a particular class or           the Word of God and the truth of          have quoted from the late Reverend
group. Our purpose is to live a more       that Word. The standard of that           Danhof, has there ever been a day
conscious, fervent, deeper, richer,        Word divides! That is true. It gives      when there were more ecclesiastical
all-encompassing, positive Christ-like     encouragement to those who follow         questions and speculations confront-
life for our Lord, now, in this.present    that Word, but it also serves as a        ing our youth than today? Have
wicked world."                             testimony against those who do not.       there ever been more points of doc-
  From the outset, therefore, our          That has been the precious heritage       trine under attack than today? Has
fathers intended The Standard              of our Standard Bearer, in brief.         there ever been a greater need for
Bearer to serve as a tool for the            II. When you consider that              "the practical application in life of
strengthening of the church on this        original purpose of  The Standard         the principles out of which people
earth and, as things developed, par-       Bearer, especially as stated by the       live"?
ticularly for the strengthening of our                                                 I submit to you that our publica-
own Protestant Reformed Churches.                                                    tion has an even greater calling to-

                                                                                                          The Standard Bearer  / 35


day than it did in its origin! For if      and the study of the Scriptures. In          here, while speaking about our
our purpose in the publication of          his preface to the Wittenberg edition        youth, we must call attention to the
The Standard Bearer is going to play       of his German writings, he wrote:            very important role our publication
a role and to make a contribution          `I . . . all other writing is to lead the    plays, even if indirectly. For the
toward that aim stated in the very         way into and point toward the Scrip-         strength of youth comes most often
first issue, "to live a more conscious,    tures, as John the Baptist did toward        by way of the strength of parents
fervent, deeper, richer,  all-             Christ, saying, `He must increase, but       and the strength of the churches. As
encompassing, positive Christ-like         I must decrease' [John 3:30], in order       you read in Proverbs 20:7:  "The just
life for our Lord, now, in this present    that each person may drink of the            man walketh in his integrity: his
wicked world," then you and I had          fresh spring himself, as all those           children are blessed after him."
b'etter realize, brethren, that this       fathers who wanted to accomplish               But given increased readership
world continues to increase in its         something good had to do" (Luther's          among our youth, I would like to
wickedness! The Lord will certainly        Works, v. 34, p. 284). That is what          state the following suggestions for
preserve His truth and His church in       we must desire for our youth. If our         the way The Standard Bearer may
the world, even unto the very end.         Standard Bearer is to provide the            best serve to the edification par-
That is His promise. But the world         needed direction for our young peo-          ticularly of our youth. I have already
continues to develop in sin. The           ple, it must guide them to the Word          stated that it must guide them to the
devil rages in his attacks upon the        of God. But then also,  The Standard         Word of God. But then, we might
church! And because the Lord has           Bearer  must have the readership             say, it already does that. That is
given us much, perhaps Satan con-          also of the youth.                           generally true. But what we must
centrates his attacks primarily upon         III. How may The Standard Bearer           do, if we are to provide necessary
our own churches and our own               best serve to the edification of our         direction, is to guide them to the
young people. Sometimes it seems           churches, and in particular the youth        Word as that Word of God applies to
that way. And, therefore, especially       of the churches? In answer to that           the specific problems and pressures
our youth cry for leadership. The          question we may say, first of all, that      and tempations that they face as
Standard Bearer is in the position to      edification is possible only where           young people. Many of our youth
play a significant role in providing       there are readers. And when we               are confronted with pressures and
such leadership, especially in the         speak about our youth, I have                temptations that they do not know
midst of~our own churches,                 reason to believe that those who             how to say no to, nor why. The
   Of course, we understand that the       read our periodical are very few in-         reason and rationale for fleeing cer-
preservation of us as churches             deed. When I make this statement -           tain temptations they do not
depends entirely upon the grace of         call it an accusation, if you will - I       perceive. They need direction,
our God, Who alone can make us             do not mean to imply that any lack           spiritual leadership. They need to be
faithful unto the end. And we under-       of readership among the youth is en-         instructed in the way the truth
stand that The Standard Bearer is          tirely or even mostly the fault of The       which God has given us to maintain
not even in the chief position for         Standard Bearer or its staff. Where          and develop applies to their lives as
such leadership with respect to our        there is spiritual weakness among            youth in God's kingdom. They need
youth. But as the Reformed Free            the youth, there certainly will not be       theological instruction not only, but
Publishing Association, we must con-       much desire for reading a publica-           theological direction, direction that
sider the role of The Standard             tion such as The Standard Bearer.            can only be given as we become
Bearer. And then we must see that if       Therefore, far more enters into the          aware of the areas of problems
olur magazine is to continue to be a       question of increasing readership            which confront our young people to-
factor in the preservation and             among our youth than the presenta-           day. Of extreme importance, there-
development of our churches and            tion and form and contents of our            fore, is a rubric such as "The
the church of Jesus Christ universal,      publication. More important, certain-        Strength of Youth."
then that original purpose must live       ly, is the preaching of the Word in            But I would like to suggest one
within us with even greater fervency       the churches, catechetical instruc-          other area for consideration. Realiz-
than in 1924! Direction must be            tion, personal contact between               ing that I have limited the applica-
given to all our readers, including        pastors and youth, contact between           tion to youth, which is a very small
olur youth. And that-direction must        elders and the youth and between             but important segment of the reader-
be toward the Scriptures, where the        godly parents and the youth. There           ship of The Standard Bearer, I would
young man, according to Psalm              must be spiritual development first.         also suggest that one page of each
119:9,  taking heed, shall cleanse his     There must be instruction and the            issue be given to the children. The
way.                                       demonstration by word and example            purpose for that suggestion is this:
  Martin Luther was acutely con-           of the joy of our own salvation and          Should our children be given a page
scious of the need for the Scriptures      of our own love for the truth of the         of their own, with simple theological
                                           gospel and of our love for the seed          instruction and lessons in church
                                           of God's covenant, before we can             history and the like, this would not
                                           expect The Standard Bearer to play           only serve for their edification, but it
                                           an increased role in the spiritual           would get them into the habit of us-
                                           development of our youth. And even


36  / The Standard Bearer


ing The Standard Bearer. And as              A rich heritage we have in our
they grew up, that healthy habit           Standard Bearer. A great and dif-
would be continued as they                 ficult calling stands before us: to sup-
graduated to a rubric such as "The         port and to pray for and to promote
Strength of Youth." Then, along with       the means of this publication. May
the Beacon Lights, our periodical          God bless the labors of all those who
also could serve to the edification of     contribute to the publication of The
entire families of Gods covenant,          Standard Bearer, that His name may
directly and pertinently.                  be glorified in the salvation of His
                                           Church. 0





                                           Annual Secretary's
lames Van Overloop                         Report

  At the close of volume year #63,           An important but often forgotten          vestigate the need, feasibility, and
the board reports on the activities of     item that the board takes care of an-       cost of building or purchasing a
the past year. God has again been          nually is the filing of an annual           storage facility. They have nothing
faithful, as is evidenced by the con-      Michigan non-profit report. We have         to report at this time. Presently we
tinued publication of the Standard         done so again this past year.               pay $52.00 a month for our storage
Bearer.                                      Our Finance Committee has gone            needs. The Permanent Committee
  Our new business manager will be         through our storage garage and              pays $151.05 per month.
Mr. Donald Doezema. He has con-            organized all the loose copies of past        An outlay of money was approved
sented to take on the responsibilities,    issues. These are available to anyone       for a new cover design for our
in the near future. Mr. Vander Wal         who desires them. Requests for loose        Standard Bearer. Maybe sometime                j
will assist during this transition         issues should be directed to John           soon we will see what the staff has
period. The board again thanks Mr.         Cleveland, David Kamps, or James            approved.
Vander Wal for his many, many              Koole.                                        We thank our retiring board
years of dedicated and careful labor.        The long anticipated index of past        members John De Vries, Jon
We look forward to working with            Standard Bearers has been printed           Engelsma, and John Kalsbeek Jr. for
Mr. Doezema in the coming years.           and distributed. We once again              their labors in the past three years.
  Our mailing equipment, which we          thank the committee for working on          The labor is without material
purchased last year, has not worked        this very worthwhile project. The           reward, but we labor in the knowl-
out to our expectation. We are now         board had advanced the committee            edge that our cause is to distribute
in the process of trying to return this    $1,000 for the purpose of working           our paper for the purpose of giving
equipment for a full refund. This has      capital. For repayment the board            God all the praise, honor, and glory.
met with difficulty and frustration        decided to buy 25 indexes at the              Finally, but not the least, we
and we have sought legal advice.           normal sale price of $32.75, and to         thank the writing staff of the Stan-
But this does not mean that we wish        distribute these to those who decid-        dard Bearer. Without the efforts of
to continue with our old equipment.        ed too late to purchase an index.           our editor and department authors,
Mr. Doezema has a personal com-            This purchase totaled $819.25. The          our work would be in vain. Thank
puter with software for addressing         committee has paid us the balance           you, men, for your continuing effort.
labels. He will be using this along        of $180.75. Our supply of indexes is          We as a board ask that you con-
with a label affixing machine that         already being depleted. Those in-           tinue to remember us in our labors
the board is purchasing, to do our         terested in an index should contact         as your board. Remember the cause
mailing. We hope that by next year         the business manager.                       of the Standard Bearer in this com-
we can report that things are work-          The board also has a committee            ing year. El
ing wonderfully.                           working with the Permanent Com-                     Yours in Christ,
                                           mittee for the Publication of Protes-               Jim Van Overloop, Secretary
                                           tant Reformed Literature to in-

                                                                                                          The Standard Bearer  I37


Convocation                                   Committing The Truth
Address
Robert D. Decker                              To Faithful Men

   A convocation is an assembly                  The apostle Paul is nearing the         such as Balaam to bless His peopie.
called together by official summons           end of his life. He is concerned that      Two things, however, may be said
to perform a specific task. The               his spiritual son, Timothy, a young        about this. These never last. Sooner
assembly in this instance is the pro-         minister, remember what he had             or later but inevitably they are ex-
fessors and students of our seminary.         been taught: the gospel of God's           posed and leave or are put out of
God, we believe, has summoned us              sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. The       the ministry. These are not the rule
through our churches. God has                 truth of the gospel must be pre-           but the exceptions to the rule.
called us together to perform a               served by Timothy. And that truth          Ministers must be spiritual, pious,
specific task. The professors have a          must be committed to faithful men.         godly men. They must be men saved
divinely ordained task to perform             These faithful men are future              by grace through faith, God's gift.
and so do the students God in His             ministers of the gospel. They must         Men in whose hearts burns the love
mercy has given to our seminary               be faithful and they must be able to       of God in Jesus Christ, men who
and churches. The text upon which             teach others. All of this is highly        love God and God's people, His
we base our address this evening              necessary because in this way, by          church and cause. Ministers must be
speaks of both the task of the pro-           means of the preaching of the Word,        men who have, as one writer put it,
fessors and the students. It reads:           the Son of God gathers, defends, and       "a fascination with the Bible." They
"And the things that thou hast heard          preserves the church, the elect out        must be men who live exemplary
of me among many witnesses, the               of every nation. God is pleased to         Christian lives.
same commit thou to faithful men,             save His church by means of faithful         A faithful man must possess the
who shall be able to teach others             men who are able to teach others.          gift of humility. There is no room for
also" (II Timothy 2:2). What the Lord         Hence, it is essential that the truth      pride in the ministry! Pride, the Bi-
says through the apostle Paul to              be committed to these men.                 ble says, goes before a fall. That is
Timothy He says to the professors:              To whom must the truth be com-           true also in the ministry! Self-seeking
and the things that you have heard            mitted? The text answers: "faithful        pride, selfishness, the seeking of the
of me among many witnesses, the               men, who shall be able to teach            praise of men, all these are
same commit thou to faithful men.             others also." These are faithful men.      abominable sins among God's peo-
The faithful men who are able to              They are men full of faith. Men who        ple, and especially among ministers.
teach others are the students whose           are therefore trustworthy and              If one wants the praise of men,
task it is to prepare themselves to do        reliable. Faithful men are men upon        honor, fame, he must not seek the
just that.                                    whom the churches can depend.              ministry of the gospel. Faithful men
                                              They are men whom the churches             are humble men. As the apostles,
                                              believe to be men of faith and men         they are slaves of God and of the
                                              who possess the ability to teach           Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, of
                                              others. They are men upon whom             His church. They know the truth of
                                              the church can depend to do the            what J.J. Van Oosterzee said: "The
                                              work of the ministry faithfully.           flock does not exist for the pastor,
                                                Certain essential spiritual gifts        but the pastor for the flock." Faithful
                                              characterize this kind of man. These       men give their lives in the service of
                                              are gifts from God apart from which        Gods church! Thus faithful men are
                                              a man cannot be considered to be           men of prayer. They know that all
                                              faithful. The first of these is            they have and are is of God. They
                                              spirituality or genuine piety. A faith-    know that they cannot preach one
                                              ful man is a child of God. It is true      sermon or perform one pastoral task
Robert D. Decker is professor of Practical    there are hypocrites in the ministry,      apart from God's grace! They pray
Theology and New Testament at the Prot-       and God even uses false prophets           without ceasing for God's grace and
estant Reformed Seminary.

38  / The Standard Bearer


                                                                                                                         -_




Holy Spirit to enable them to be            prayerful work. To produce a good           has given to us the entire canon of
faithful men who are able to teach          sermon takes about twenty hours             the infallibly inspired Scriptures. We
others.                                     per sermon, at least for a beginning        have learned the truths of Holy
   Faithful men are men of sym-             preacher. This constitutes forty            Scripture and the Holy Spirit
pathetic understanding. Jesus, our          hours per week plus the other               witnesses with our spirits that these
great, merciful high priest, is             aspects of the work. The bulk of a          things are true. We have learned
touched with the feeling of our infir-      faithful minister's time ought to be        these things among martyr-
mities and He was tempted in all            spent in his study.                         witnesses. There is the testimony of
points as we, yet without sin. This is         The faithful minister also needs         the martyrs whose souls are under
why we can pray and find mercy              the gift for public speaking. His chief     the altar and who cry: how long, 0
and grace to help us in our need.           task is to preach the Word twice per        Lord, holy and true, dost thou not
The servants of Christ must know            Lord's Day and he needs to teach            avenge our blood on them that
God's people, know their needs,             the children and youth of the church        dwell on the earth? (Rev. 6) They
their struggles, joys, afflictions, and     in catechism. The minister must             have testified to the truth of the
sorrows. And faithful men must feel         have the God-given ability to do this.      gospel and sealed that testimony
with God's people. They must under-         We teach courses in the seminary on         with their own blood. There is the
stand God's people so as to bring           how to construct a sermon and               witness of the fathers of the church
God's Word to their needs. They             deliver it. We also teach the students      who expounded the truth of Scrip-
must weep with those who weep               how to teach catechism. But a man           ture over against various heresies
and rejoice with those who rejoice.         needs those gifts from God. The             and who under the guidance of the
   Faithful men who are spiritual           seminary courses only help him              Spirit of Truth formulated the great
men, humble, and sympathetic, are           develop those gifts and use them            creeds of the church. There is the
men of spiritual courage or boldness.       properly.                                   witness of the Reformation fathers:
The apostle admonished the Church             What must be committed to these           Luther, Calvin, and others. There is
at Ephesus to pray for all the saints,      faithful men? The text answers: "the        the witness of the English divines
and for me, that I might have bold-         things thou hast heard of me among          and our Dutch fathers and out of
ness to make known the mystery of           many witnesses, the same commit             that witness came our precious
the gospel. This must be the prayer         thou to faithful men." What Timothy         Three Forms of Unity as well as the
of every faithful minister. A minister      heard from the apostle was the              Westminster Creeds and other Con-
needs boldness to preach and teach,         Word of God. Paul taught him Christ         fessions. And yes, make no mistake
the truth of the gospel which               from the Scriptures. He instructed          about it, we have the witness of our
declares that we are sinners who            him in the faith. Timothy heard the         Protestant Reformed fathers.
can do no good at all and that our          truth of the inspired, infallible Scrip-    Through, these we have been given
salvation is all by the grace of the        tures. Timothy heard that truth not         by God rich, profound, brilliant,
sovereign God in Christ to His own          just with his ears, but he heard it in      even, I dare say, unique insights into
glory. To preach this takes courage,        the sense that he learned that truth.       the truth. Think of it. God's
boldness. Ministers stand in the front      He acquired a spiritual knowledge of        unilateral, unconditional covenant of
line of the battle of faith. This is why    the truth, the knowledge of a true,         friendship and fellowship with the
Paul tells Timothy in verse 3 of II         living faith. And Timothy learned           elect in Jesus Christ. God's
Timothy 2 to endure hardness as a           those things among many witnesses.          sovereign, saving grace by which
good soldier of Christ.                     Literally these witnesses were mar-         alone the elect are redeemed in
  Faithful men must be able to              tyrs. They were not mere spectators         Christ. Preaching as the means by
teach others. They must have that           or observers, but witnesses who             which the voice of Christ is heard
ability, and this too must come from        testified to the truth of what Paul         and by which power the elect are
God. A minister needs the ability to        taught Timothy. And these martyrs           brought to repentance and faith
study. A faithful man must be able          were many. There was Timothy's              while the reprobate are hardened
to teach others by means of preach-         grandmother, Lois; his mother,              and condemned in the way of their
ing. He needs the ability, therefore,       Eunice; Paul's co-workers, and the          own rebellion and sin. The absolute
to read and understand the Holy             saints in general. And above all            antithesis: God versus the devil, faith
Scriptures, to think, to organize his       there was the witness of the Holy           versus unbelief, Christ versus Belial,
thoughts clearly and logically. The         Spirit of Christ who testified in           the church versus the world, good
minister needs a broad background           Timothy's heart and worked faith in         versus evil, light versus darkness.
in history, philosophy, literature, the     him. From a child Timothy knew the          What a rich, wonderful heritage of
original languages of the Bible. He         Holy Scriptures which were able to          the knowledge of truth God has
needs to know the history of the            make him wise unto salvation.               given to us. Now is no time for com-
church, the doctrine of Holy Scrip-           This is what we too have heard,           promise either in doctrine or prac-
ture as set forth in the creeds. All        learned among many witnesses. We            tice, and now is no time for bicker-
this and more he must make his              have much more than Timothy. God            ing, fighting over non-essentials.
own. And then he needs to explain                                                       That sacred trust of truth needs to
the Word of God to God's people.                                                        oe taught others in the churches.
This takes hours and hours of hard,                                                     Without shame that truth needs to


                                                                                                            The Standard Bearer  / 39


be proclaimed in the mission fields       principles, restored by the Reforma-       formed faith as given to our
wherever God in His good pleasure         tion of the sixteenth century are in-      churches, must become the burning
sends us.                                 volved. There is the formal principle:     conviction of your hearts by the
  If that is to happen, this truth        sola Scriptura  - infallible scripture     grace of the Holy Spirit. When it
must be committed to faithful men.        is the soul authority for faith and        becomes that, you will be faithful
The verb commit means: to place           life. Closely related is the principle     men who are able to teach others.
down, deposit, intrust one's charge.      of the perspicuity of Scripture. Scrip-      This is the seminary's calling and
Notice this is an imperative. This is     ture is not an enigma. It is not hid-      place in the midst of the churches. It
not something we may or may not           den, obscure, able to be understood        is an indispensable place for the life
do, or have choice in the matter. It      only by highly educated experts in         and well being of the churches. It is
is God's command to us to intrust         the fields of hermeneutics and ex-         a sacred trust God has given, a holy
the truth to faithful men.                egesis. Scripture is uncomplicated,        calling, and a task utterly impossible.
  This has serious implications for       simple, clear, and easy to under-          None is worthy to commit the truth
both the faculty and the students of      stand. When one stand before Holy          to faithful men, none is worthy to
our seminary. For the faculty this        Scripture he either wrests Scripture       receive it and teach it to others, and
determines the proper method of           to his own destruction in unbelief or      none is capable to do it, either.
teaching. What we have learned is a       he believes it with a childlike faith,     Brothers and sisters in the Lord, this
discernible body of truth out of Holy     and that is by grace alone.                means we need your love, concern,
Scripture as interpreted by the Re-         For the students this means you          support, and above all we need your
formed confessions. This truth is not     may question, debate, and discuss,         constant prayers. We need the
subject to various interpretations or     probe; in fact you must feel free to       prayers of the congregations on the
applications, nor is it merely to be      do this. But we are free to do this        Lord's Day. In this way God gives us
discussed or debated. It is not up for    only within the bounds of Scripture        His grace to do the work for the
grabs. Much less is this truth to be      as interpreted by the confessions.         gathering of the church to the glory
contradicted or denied. It must be        What is committed to you must be           of His ever-blessed name. 0
faithfully intrusted to the charge of     learned and understood. What you
faithful men who shall thus be able       are learning is under the ministry of
to teach others. This is utterly          the Word, and it must be mixed with
crucial, for at least two fundamental     faith. That precious truth, the Re-





                                          The Fear Of The Lord Is
                                          The Beginning Of
 In His Fear
Arie den Hatiog                           Knowledge

                                             As another season of school and         almost everv available occupation
                                                                                                 "
                                          church activities have started, it is      requires this. Even after a man has
                                          well for us to remember the pro-           started his career, it is necessary to
                                          found truth set forth by the inspired      get further training and retraining.
                                          King Solomon in the book of Prov-          The world is moving at a very fast
                                          erbs; "The fear of the Lord is the         pace. Change happens very rapidly.
                                          beginning of knowledge: but fools          It is possible to spend half a life time
                                          despise wisdom and instruction,"           studying for a career only to find out
                                          Proverbs 1:7. Great opportunities are      afterward that it has become ob-
                                          once again before us: to increase in       solete. Many today are getting more
                                          knowledge and understanding. In            and more advanced degrees, also
Arie den Hartog is pastor of the Prot-                                               among the members of the church.
estant Reformed Church of Randolph,       our modern-day world one needs a
 Wisconsin.                               good education. More and more              As we increase in education and

40 I The Standard Bearer


learning, usually vistas of opportuni-    of his own life. Through his knowl-         must be acquired in the world's
ty are open to us. The well-educated      edge he becomes rich and powerful,          schools, colleges, and universities.
often get better jobs and have great      but in it all he forgets God. Through       There is a great danger in this. Are
power to gain wealth and influence        his knowledge he imagines that he           we ready and equipped to stand
in the world. The highly educated         has the answer for all things. He           against the world's philosophy that
man is respected in society and           devises great theories to "explain"         totally dominates and controls all the
listened to by many. Education can        the origin of the world while he re-        instruction given at these places of
be a great good for the Christian. It     jects the truth of the Creator God          instruction? The devil works very
is a great good when the Christian        and the clear testimony of His crea-        hard at the schools and universities
uses his learning for the glory of        tion that is found in His Word, the         of our land. Can we stand against
God and in the service of the church      Bible. Through his knowledge man            him and all of his subtle lies?
of Jesus Christ.                          imagines that he can control the              Therefore we need to remember
  There is another kind of learning:      universe, direct the course of history      again and again that the fear of the
of knowledge and wisdom. This is          and control the destiny of man. But         Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
the knowledge and wisdom of the           in all of this, while professing himself    The fear of the Lord is the great
truth of the Word of God, of the doc-     to be wise, man becomes a fool. The         principle, the root and foundation of
trines of Scripture. We live in a         fool has said in his heart: "There is       all true knowledge. The Lord is the
highly educated society with many         no God." As Christians, we see also         creator of the universe and all that it
men and women of great learning.          in the great increase of the knowl-         contains. All human learning is
Sad to say, however, among those          edge of the natural man the rise of         essentially the study of God's crea-
there are few who are steeped in          the power of antichrist. We see the         tion and the order He has made in
the knowledge of the Word of God.         fulfillment of the prophesies of Scrip-     it. Only the Spirit-filled Christian has
Ours is an age of superficiality and      ture.                                       the enlightened understanding to
dullness as far as the knowledge of          There is a "danger" in the in-           know this. God is great and glorious.
the deep mysteries of the Word of         crease of knowledge. This danger is         He is sovereign and holy. His
God. Men are satisfied with little        that man by nature has a proneness          greatness and wisdom are displayed
knowledge of God. God's people are        to depart from the living God and           in all of His creation. Therefore, as
destroyed for lack of knowledge and       from the fear of God. The lie of the        the Christian increases in his knowl-
understanding. Few in our day are         devil comes to manifestation as man         edge and understanding of the world
thoroughly equipped with the knowl-       increases in knowledge. He more             which God has made, he must grow
edge of the Scriptures that are "prof-    and more imagines that there is no          in fear and awe before the greatness
itable for doctrine, for reproof, for     God, and that he is god himself. He         of God. All increase of knowledge
correction, for instruction in            imagines that religion is silly, only       and understanding must be accom-
righteousness," II Timothy 3: 16.         for the ignorant and foolish. He im-        panied by increase in fear and
False doctrine and apostasy abounds       agines that he himself is "en-              reverence before God. We must pray
in the churches. Few are able to de-      lightened." There is for the natural        for this. The more we study the
fend the truth of the Word of God         man according to his imagination no         wonders of God's creation, the more
against the subtle attacks of Satan       such thing as absolute morality. He         in the spirit of true humility we see
and his heretics.                         can live according to what is right in      our own smallness and dependence
  Knowledge, we said, is good; or         his own eyes and what is pleasing to        upon God. With fear and trembling
rather it can be good for the Chris-      him. There is no God of judgment.           we serve before Him, realizing that
tian when it is used rightly. We live     Therefore man can live as immorally         in ourselves we can do nothing. God
in the age of knowledge, sometimes        as he pleases. He will of course            is holy. He is the judge of all men.
referred to as the age of the explo-      through his "great wisdom" seek to          He alone is the absolute standard of
sion of knowledge. The great knowl-       devise ways to escape the awful con-        what is good and evil, what is right
edge of man has enabled him to do         sequences of sin and immorality. All        and true. Never in our great learning
great things. Think of the wonders        the expertise of modern medicine            must we imagine that we can our-
of modern day technology, com-            must be marshalled to find a cure           selves determine what is right and
puters, space programs and modern         for AIDS, a cure which will at the          true. Never must we imagine that
medicine. But for the ungodly man         same time allow man to live in the          through learning we become "en-
knowledge puffs up. It makes him          pleasure of the lust of sin. This is the    lightened" in the way that the world
wise in his own conceit. The knowl-       philosophy of the world's education.        imagines, so that the law of God
edge of the natural man only in-          The Christian must be on guard for          becomes less serious to us, and we
creases his ungodliness. Through his      this, and be thoroughly equipped            can devise a "morality" which is
knowledge he more and more im-            with the Word of God to stand               more according to our pleasure and
agines that he is the lord and master     against this philosophy. As the Chris-      pride. God always remains infinitely
                                          tian increases in knowledge, he             greater in knowledge and wisdom
                                          needs to be careful of his own sinful       than man. In all our learning we
                                          nature, lest pride arise in him, and        need to pray constantly for "child-
                                          he, too, through pride exalt himself        like" faith to know our complete
                                          before God and forget the Lord.             dependence upon God as the source
                                          Much of our advanced education              of all knowledge and wisdom.

                                                                                                          The Standard Bearer  / 41


         Earlier we intimated that there is       great a need for the preaching of          saints and to spend much time in
      a different kind of knowledge than          the Word. So it happens that even          personal study of the word of God.
     that which we learn in the secular           sometimes members of our own                  All our knowledge and wisdom
      schools and universities. It is not of      churches move away to attend               will be good for us only if we use it
      course true that there are two kinds        schools far too distant from our           rightly. As Christians we are ser-
      of knowledge. All knowledge is one.         churches to be able to attend wor-         vants of the Lord. To whom much is
      The fear of the Lord is the beginning       ship services and to take an active        given much is required. The simple
      of all knowledge. Centrally God has         part in the life of the church. This is    Christian with no advanced degree is
      revealed the true knowledge in His          a great evil that will have sad conse-     greater than the highly educated, if
      Holy Word, the Bible, and in the            quences. In the midst of our increas-      the former knows more of the Scrip-
     face of His Son Jesus Christ. The            ing complex society, where knowl-          tures, and faithfully and humbly
      more we grow in knowledge the               edge is increasing so rapidly, there is    serves the Lord. God has not given
     more we need to search out God's             an urgent need for the knowledge of        us the opportunity to get an ad-
     revelation in the Bible. It is a tragic      the Word of God. The more the              vanced education merely so that we
     irony that in the age when so many           world's knowledge increases, the           might make ourselves rich and
     "Christians" are so well educated,           more the vain philosophies of the          famous in the eyes of the world.
     there is so little knowledge of the          world will abound. As Christians, we       How shall we serve the Lord with all
     Word of God as it is revealed in the         need the truth and wisdom of God to        that He has given to us? This a fear-
     Scriptures. As the members of the            discern the times in which we live         ful question that must be prayerfully
     church are busy with keeping up              and to stand against the tides of          and earnestly considered. Pious
     with advancing their secular educa-          worldly and devilish philosophy. The       platitudes alone about living to the
     tion, they often neglect the study of        urgency of this should drive us to at-     glory of God are not sufficient. This
     the Word of God. Somehow they im-            tend Bible studies with our fellow         must be real and evident in our
     agine that they no longer have as                                                       lives. Is it? 0





I    Bible Study                                  Deuteronomy: Exhorted
     Guide
     jason  L.  Kortering                         Unto Obedience (I)

                                                    The first five books of the Bible        ness for forty years, a period of
                                                  are joined together into what is           history that demonstrates man's un-
                                                  called the Pentateuch (five books).        worthiness to enter Canaan except
                                                  The thread of history runs through         through the blood of the covenant.
                                                  each one and joins them together in-       Now we come to Deuteronomy, a
                                                  to a bond of unity. Genesis marks          final rehearsal of the laws already
                                                  the beginnings of creation, the            given, only now to the new question
                                                  patriarchs, and the nation of Israel.      that was about to enter Canaan. It
                                                  Exodus follows this nation out of          closes with the death of Moses at the
                                                  Egypt to Sinai, where they receive         very edge of Canaan.
                                                  the laws of God, the spiritual basis       THE NAME
                                                  for the theocracy, God's rule among          As was the case with the other
                                                  them. Leviticus gives additional           books of the Pentateuch, the name
                                                  details of the laws God gave at Sinai,     given to this fifth book in our King
                                                  uniting them especially to the blood       James Version is derived from the
                                                  of atonement, the lamb the type of         Septuagint, which was also taken
                                                  Jesus Christ. Numbers gives an ac-         over by the Latin Vulgate, Deuter-
     Jason L. Kortering is pastor of the Prot-    count of the departure from Sinai          onomium,  "second law". The
     estant Reformed Church of Grandville,        and the wanderings in the wilder-          Hebrew text begins with elleh  had-
     Michigun.                                                                               daevarim,  "These are the words".

     42  / The Standard Bearer


Later the Jews called this book,             from Moses. If it were not written until       the third part of the catechism. We
Mishneh hattorah,  Hebrew words              the seventh century B.C, in the time of        follow in this catechism the example
taken from Deuteronomy 17: 18,               Manasseh or Josiah, as the critics con-        set forth here by the Spirit Who
"copy of the law".                           tend, it is a most subtle case of misrepre-    guided Moses to write this book. E.J.
   This seeming technical reference          sentation and an undeniable literary           Young, quotes Keil in his An in-
to the name of the book does bring           forgery scarcely worthy of canonical           troduction to the Old Testament.  The
up the important question as to how          Scripture and, in the writer's opinion, ut-
                                             terly incompatible with the revealed truth     content of Deuteronomy is to be
we are to view this book which is            of the inspiration of Scripture.               regarded as "a hortatory description,
called  Deuteronomy,  literally the sec-     THE PURPOSE                                    explanation, and enforcement of the
ond law. On the surface it would                There is a difference concerning            most essential contents of the cove-
seem that God adds to the laws               the form of presentation between               nant revelation and the covenant
which He gave at Sinai and here in           this book and the preaching books              laws, with emphatic prominence
this book we have, as it were,               of the Pentateuch. Here Moses is the           given to the spiritual principle of the
volume two of the book of the law.           spokesman for God. God is not                  law and its fulfillment, and with a
This however is not correct. The             speaking directly to His people. In            further development of the ec-
reference to chapter  17:18  is valid        this sense it takes on a hortatory             clesiastical, judicial, political, and
only if we interpret these words to          form, an exhortation to observe the            civil organization, which was in-
mean copy or repetition of the laws          laws which Jehovah God has given               tended as a permanent foundation
previously given by Moses. In                to them.                                       for the life and well-being of the
Deuteronomy, we do not have new                But why is this necessary? Is not            people in the land of Canaan."
laws given, but a recapitulation and         God's direct speech of greater                   Ultimately, we join Israel of old,
summary as well as application of            significance than that of Moses? This          as they enter into the land of Ca-
them to the people as they are about         is not the point; there is no question         naan, thanking God that the keeping
to enter the holy land.                      here of authority. Rather, the point           of the law brings great delight. Just
THE AUTHOR                                   is that of application. Here too,              as Moses had to yield to the real
   Moses was the author of the book.         Moses is presented in his final act as         Mediator, he could not bring them
As is the case in many of the books          the Old Testament mediator, a type             within the land, for he had struck
of the Bible, higher criticism tries to      of Christ. The laws of God,                    the rock; so Israel and we cannot
drive a wedge between the first four         thundered at Sinai, cannot save.               enter into that land, but by following
books of the Pentateuch and this             They can only condemn. Hence we                our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him, the
fifth one. They do this for the flimsy       noticed in the book of Leviticus that          law and its demands are met, and in
reason that they claim that the effect       the blood of atonement constitutes             Him the law is written within our
of the exhortation given in this book        the heart of that law. The moral law           hearts. Little wonder then, that our
did not take place until the reign of        comes dressed in the ceremonies of             Savior quoted from this book in
Hezekiah and Josiah. Hence it must           the old dispensation. The people               answer to the tempter, Deut. 8:3;
have been written about the seventh          cannot keep the law (proven in the             6:16;  6:13;  and lo:20 quoted in Matt.
century before Christ. This of course        book of Numbers). Hence, salvation             4:1-11  and Luke 4:1-13.  It is the
discredits the inspiration of this book      and hope is in Jesus Christ, of which          essence of our spiritual calling.
by the Holy Spirit by casting aside          Moses is the type. All above twenty              Finally, we can also observe that
references within the book itself to         years of age and older died in the             this final book of the Pentateuch is
Moses as author, 1:l; 31:9;  31:24-26.       wilderness. A new generation arose             prophetic. Moses must step aside for
Being part of the unit, the Pen-             and are about to enter the land of             the real Mediator. A farewell address
tateuch, the language, style, and            Canaan. Here Moses summarizes for              is recorded which contains promises
content reflect a common author.             them the law, and exhorts them to              for the future which reach all the
We appreciate the evaluation by              apply that law to their hearts and             way to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Unger in his  Introductory guide to          lives. This too, must be done, not             Besides this, the law constitutes the
the Old Testament,  page 208.                out of compulsion, but gratitude. The
  The hortatory nature of Deuteronomy,       threats of judgment cannot save; on-
its code of conquest, its character as a     ly the sweet aroma of the blood of
military law book of a pilgrim people        the lamb covers sins. Such a cover-
about to enter Canaan and the general        ing causes joy of heart, and what
scope and spirit of the writing are                                                         Take the time
eminently appropriate for the Mosaic age     better way to show that thankfulness
as we know it, and most inappropriate        to God than to take His law in their
for any other age. Not only does the         hearts. This is the spiritual idea of          to read and
work most explicitly and emphatically        Deuteronomy.
claim to be Mosaic in authorship, but the       In this sense we can relate this to         study the
words are Moses' direct words. He is         our Heidelberg Catechism. Interest-
mentioned about forty times in the book,     ingly, the law is mentioned in the
in most instances as the authoritative       first part, the knowledge of our sins,         Standard Bearer!
author of the subject matter. The first      yet it is not expounded there. We
person predominates. The language un-        receive the treatment of the law in
equivocally purports to come directly

                                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer  / 43


foundation for the prophets. Our             (27:1-30:20),  and the last words of      Moses instructed them to possess the
Lord Jesus summarized the law in             Moses and the record of his death         land, but the people insisted upon
the well-known words of Matt. 22,            (31:1-34:12).                             first searching out the land and this
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God               1. The introduction (l:l-5). Moses     resulted in the people refusing to go
with all thy heart, with all thy soul,       is identified as the spokesman who        up. Instead they murmured. Moses
and with all thy mind. This is the           brings these words to the people.         reminded them of Jehovah's faithful-
first and great commandment. The             They are still on the wilderness side     ness in Egypt, but this was to no
second is like unto it, thou shalt love      of the Jordan, about to enter (1:l).      avail. God was wroth with them and
thy neighbor as thyself. On these            What is a normal eleven-day journey       declared that only Joshua and Caleb
two commandments hang all the law            took them forty years to accomplish       would enter the land. All the rest
and the prophets." Note the law and          (1:2, 3). Moses now sets forth the        would die in the wilderness. Upon
the prophets go together. The word           laws which God gave them. Sihon           repenting, they insisted that they
which the prophets were about to             and Og have been slain and they are       would go up to fight in the land of
bring to Israel were sounded forth           about to enter the land (1:4, 5).         Canaan, but God warned them that
upon the foundation of the law. Law            2. Moses' first discourse to the        He would not go with them. The
and gospel are inseparably con-              people (1:6-4:43).  He reviews before     Amorites chased them as if they
nected.                                      the people the journey they took          were bees. They wept, but God did
A BRIEF OUTLINE                              from Sinai to Kadesh Barnea, and          not hear them; they stayed at
  The book of Deuteronomy falls in-          reminds them how God instructed           Kadesh for many days, heavy of
to four parts: They deal with the first      them to make this journey (1:6-8),        heart  (1:19-46).   cl
discourse of Moses (l:l-4:43),  the          how judges were placed over them
second discourse of Moses (4:44-             because of their great number
26:19), the third discourse of Moses         (1:9-l@ when they came to Kadesh.





Decency And                                  For The Maintenance Of
Order
Ronald L. Cammenga                           Good Order

   For the maintenance of good order in      THE CHURCH ORDER'S VIEW OF                authority. In the Roman Catholic
the church of Christ it is necessary that    CHURCH GOVERNMENT                         system the ranks of the clergy
there should be: offices; assemblies;           The Church Order is based on a         culminate in the pope, who is con-
supervision of doctrine, sacraments and      specific view of the proper form of       sidered to be the infallible
ceremonies; and Christian discipline; of     church government. There are              vicegerent of Christ on earth. Ar-
which the following articles treat in due    especially four prevalent forms of        ranged under the pope, the clergy
order. Church Order, Article 1.              church government.                        are divided into two orders: "Major
                                                There is, first of all, the Hierar-    Orders," including cardinals, bishops,
                                             chical or Episcopai  form of Church       priests, deacons, and .&b-deacons;
                                             government. This is the form of           and "Minor Orders," including
                                             church government in the Roman            acolytes, exorcists, readers, and
                                             Catholic Church, the Greek Ortho-         ushers.
                                             dox Church, the Anglican Church,            Secondly, there is the Erastian
                                             and the Episcopal churches. Accord-       form of church government. This
                                             ing to this view of church govern-        form of church government is also
                                             ment, the rule of the church is           known as the Collegial or State-
                                             placed in the hands of the clergy,        Church system of church govern-
Ronald L. Cammenga is pastor of the
Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland,      who are arranged in order, accord-        ment. This system is named after its
Colorado.                                    ing to an ever increasing degree of       first proponent, Thomas Erastus

44 / The Standard Bearer


(1524-1583),  a Swiss physician and         Spirit. This first article points to this    unity of the body of Christ also in in-
follower of the Reformer Zwingli.           when it calls the church "the church         stitutional form. This union comes to
Erastus held that sinning Christians        of Christ." Christ's rule includes that      expression in a federation of chur-
should be punished by the state,            He shows it to be His will that each         ches at a classical and synodical
rather than by the church barring           congregation be governed by prin-            level.
them from the sacraments and ulti-          ciples which He has laid down in His         MAIN DMSIONS OF THE
mately excommunicating them. He             Word.                                        CHURCHORDER
also held that the state should be en-         A second outstanding principle of            The articles of the Church Order
trusted with the government of the          Reformed church government is that           can be divided into several main sec-
church. This view of the government         Christ governs each true congrega-           tions.
of the church was largely embraced          tion through certain men whom it                The first of these sections extends
by Martin Luther, and was also              pleases Him to place in the offices          from Articles 2-28. In this section the
adopted by the Reformed Church in           He has established in the church.            offices in the church are treated.
the Netherlands, which led to the           The officebearers receive their              The Church Order considers not on-
establishment in the Netherlands of         authority, not first of all from the         ly the authority entrusted to the of-
the State-Church.                           membership of the congregation               ficebearers, but also the work and
  Thirdly, there is the Congregation-       which elects them. But officebearers         service on behalf of the church to
al or Independent form of church            receive their authority from and are         which the officebearers are called.
government. According to this               first of all responsible to Jesus Christ,       Articles 29-52 treat the subject of
system the ruling power in the              the Head of the church.                      ecclesiastical assemblies. These are
church has been given by Christ to             Reformed church government is             the official assemblies in the life of
the people. All the affairs of the local    also based on the principle of the           the church. These assemblies include
congregation are transacted by ma-          autonomy of the local congregation.          Consistory,  Classis,  Provincial
jority vote of the sum total of the         By this is meant that each local con-        Synods, and General Synod.
membership, with no appeal beyond           gregation is self-governing. The                Articles 53-70 deal with the or-
the local congregation possible. Even       Reformed faith rejects every form of         dinances for public worship. The
matters of discipline, the receiving        hierarchy. Each local congregation is        reference is to the "supervision of
and dismissing of members, is sub-          an individual and complete mani-             doctrine, sacraments, and cere-
ject to the majority vote of the con-       festation of the body of Christ, equip-      monies . . . ." mentioned in Article
gregation. It is simply the principle       ped with all the requirements of be-         1. The supervision of public worship,
of democracy carried over from the          ing a church. The offices and the            the heart of which is the preaching
political realm into the church. This       authority of the offices reside in the       of the pure doctrine and the ad-
is the form of church government            local congregation. It belongs to the        ministration of the sacraments, is
practiced by the Congregational             autonomy of the local congregation           essential to the maintaining of good
churches, as well as by most Baptist        that the officebearers are chosen out        order in the church.
and Fundamentalist churches.                of and by the membership of the                 Christian discipline is treated in
  Finally, there is the Reformed or         congregation. Officebearers are              Articles 71-83. These articles treat
Presbyterian form of church govern-         never imposed upon the local con-            the necessity for Christian discipline
ment. This is the view of church            gregation. But each congregation             in the church, as well as the various
government that lies at the basis of        chooses its own officebearers.               steps involved in censure and ex-
the Church Order. This was the view           Reformed churches maintain that            communication. Treated also is the
of church government that Calvin            in each congregation Christ has in-          discipline of officebearers, including
was instrumental in restoring to the        stituted the three offices of minister       suspension and deposition from of-
church at the time of the Reforma-          (teaching elder), elder (ruling elder),      fice.
tion. This is the view that the proper      and deacon. These are the only
government of the church consists of        three special offices in the New
certain offices established by Christ       Testament church, reflecting the
in every congregation and the faith-        three-fold office of Christ as Prophet,      The Standard
ful exercise of these offices. This is      Priest, and King. Among these of-
the view of proper church govern-           fices, although there is difference of       Bearer makes
ment embraced by Reformed and               work, is equality of rank.
Presbyterian churches around the              It is also an important principle of
world.                                      Reformed church government that              a thoughtful
OUTSTANDING ELEMENTS OF                     each local congregation is called to
REFORMED CHURCH GOVJ3tN-                    manifest the unity of the church by          gift for the
MENT                                        federating with other true churches
  There are several outstanding             of Jesus Christ. Such union is not op-
elements of Reformed church gov-            tional, since it is the calling of the       sick & shut-in.
ernment. The first is certainly that        local congregation to express the
Christ is the Head and King of the
church, ruling the church by His
Word, Holy Scripture, and by His

                                                                                                             The Standard Bearer  I45


  The last three articles of the          Scriptures and the principles of          ticles also deal with what are funda-
Church Order form the conclusion.         church government laid down in the        mentally principle matters. Examples
Article 84 deals specifically with the    Scriptures. These articles are funda-     of this kind of article would be Arti-
subject of the autonomy of the local      mental and concern things essential       cles 7-10, which deal with the calling
congregation: no congregation shall       to the proper government of the           of ministers of the gospel; Article 19,
be permitted to lord it over another      church. Because these are taken           which deals with the support of
congregation. Article 85 deals with       directly from the teaching of the         seminary students; and Articles
our relationship to foreign Reformed      Word of God, they bind the con-           44-52, which deal with classical and
churches. And Article 86 deals with       science. Examples of this kind of         synodical meetings.
the possibility of amending the           article would be Article 2, which           There are also those articles
Church Order.                             deals with the number of offices in       which are purely circumstantial and
  With regard to this division of the     the church; Article 16, which des-        deal with the practical life of the
Church Order into four main parts,        cribes the nature of the office of the    churches. These articles concern
the first two parts concern primarily     ministry; Article 56, which deals         minor matters such,as time, place,
the subjects of church government:        with the administration of the sacra-     frequency, and number. As need
the officebearers in the local congre-    ment of baptism; and Article 71,          arises and circumstances change,
gation and the broader assemblies.        which deals with the necessity of         these articles may freely be
The last two parts concern primarily      Christian discipline.                     amended by the churches. Examples
the objects of church government:           There are also those articles           of this kind of article would be Arti-
the doctrine and sacraments of the        which, although not directly derived      cle 41, which stipulates the frequency
church, and the lives of the in-          from Scripture, may be deduced            of the meetings of the classis; Article
dividual members themselves.              from Scriptural teachings. These fall     50, which stipulates that the general
KINDS OF ARTICLES IN THE                  into the category mentioned in the        synod shall ordinarily meet once
CHURCHORDER                               Westminster Confession Of Faith of        every two years; and Article 63,
  A three-fold distinction can be         those things which ". . . by good and     which deals with the frequency of
found in the kinds of articles in the     necessary consequence may be              the administration of the Lord's Sup-
Church Order.                             deduced from Scripture . . . ." Like      per. !
  There are those articles which are      the first kind of articles, these ar-
based directly on the teaching of the





                                          Book Reviews

Romans, The Gospel Of God,  by            welcome and enjoyable purchase. It        ple of this may be found on pp.
D. Martyn-Lloyd Jones; Zondervan          is full of fine devotional reading and    199ff., where he is treating vss.
Publishing House, 1985; 394 pp.           deals in Lloyd-Jones' own interesting     lo-13 of Rom. 1.
(Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko.)             way with the beginning of this im-          The other criticism I have is the
   From 1955 to 1968 Martyn Lloyd-        portant Biblical book. We highly          somewhat unbalanced treatment of
Jones went through the entire epis-       recommend it to our readers.              the material in chapter 1. As any
tle of Romans in his mid-week ser-           There are really only two              reader of Lloyd-Jones knows, he can
vices at Westminster Chapel in Lon-       criticisms we have of this work. One      introduce into his discussion of a
don. This volume covers chapter 1         deals with the tendency of Lloyd-         passage much extraneous material
of the sermons he preached. (Six          Jones towards subjectivism, or, if        which has no direct bearing on the
volumes, treating chapters 3-8, are       you will, Pentecostalism - although       Scriptural passage in hand. This is
already in print.)                        the latter term does not quite apply.     true of this book as well. E.g., 7
   For those who enjoy reading            In what Lloyd-Jones calls the "doc-       chapters are devoted to the first 2
Lloyd-Jones' sermons, this will be a      trine of guidance" he is too subjec-      vss., 23 chapters to the first 17 vss.,
                                          tive in a fundamental respect and         but only 6 chapters to vss. 18 to the
                                          does not connect the work of the          end.
                                          guidance of the Spirit to the objec-        Nevertheless, the book is sound
      _:                                  tive standard of Scripture. An exam-      reading and eminently enjoyable.  0

46  / The Standard Bearer


Human Rights And Human Digni-               basis for human rights can never              Montgomery might argue that
ty, by John Warwick Montgomery;             succeed. He also correctly turns to         these questions are irrelevant. I
Zondervan Publishing Co., 1986; 317         Scripture and argues that only on           claim they are not. If Scripture is to
pp., $8.95 (paper). (Reviewed by            the basis of an absolute standard of        form any basis for a discussion of
Prof. H. Hanko.)                            right and wrong can any proper              human rights, one cannot appeal on-
  John Warwick Montgomery is a              discussion of human rights take             ly to God the Creator, for Scripture
forceful and incisive writer - as           place. But his appeal to revelation is      is the record of the revelation of
anyone who has read anything from           far too broad and general to be of          God in Christ as the God Who saves
his pen well knows. It was with a           any help. His appeal does not go            His people. 0
measure of eager anticipation, there-       beyond statements concerning God
fore, that I picked up this book on         as a transcendent Creator, and he
human rights. I was, however, dis-          can then speak of human rights only
appointed. Montgomery has not               in terms of a humanity with essential
forgotten how to write: that was not        dignity and worth. The problem with
the problem. But the approach he            this approach is that sin, guilt, atone-
takes on the question of human              ment, and sovereign predestination
rights was less than satisfactory.          do not enter into the question.
  Montgomery correctly takes the
secularists and humanists to task for
their position on human rights and
shows how a secular and humanistic





                                            News From
Ben Wigger                                  Our Churches

                                                                October 15, 1987        were blessed with the birth of a son,
                                               First Church in Grand Rapids has         Christopher Calvin. And we also
                                             formed a new trio consisting of Rev.       want to add our congratulations to
                                             B. Gritters, Rev. K. Hanko, and Rev.       Rev. and Mrs. Dale Kuiper, presently
                                             K. Koole. The congregation was to          of Isabel, S.D. on the birth recently
                                             meet Monday, Sept. 28, to select one       of a daughter.
                                             to receive a call as a second mis-            While Rev. Bruinsma, our mission-
                                             sionary to Jamaica.                        ary to Jamaica, and his family were
                                               Prof. R. Decker has declined the         on furlough recently in this country,
                                             call extended to him by our congre-        Mrs. Bruinsma went to St. Mary's
                                             gation in Holland, Michigan.               Hospital in Grand Rapids as an out-
                                               Rev. R. Miersma preached his             patient to have her tonsils removed.
                                             "farewell" sermon at Holland the           She recuperated well, but her doctor
                                             evening of August 30. His sermon           insisted that she remain for observa-
                                             was based on I Cor. 15:58:  "Per-          tion in Grand Rapids for at least two
                                            severing in the Lord's Work". He            weeks. Therefore, Rev. Bruinsma
                                             stressed three points in that sermon:      returned to Jamaica alone, and his
                                             Being unmovable, Abounding in the          family returned a week later.
                                             Lord's Word, and Knowing the Fruit.           As some of you may know by
                                               We also want to extend our               now, this will be Professor Hoek-
                                             sincere congratulations to Rev. Tom        sema's last year as Editor-in-Chief of
                                             Miersma and his wife, Jan, in
Ben Wigger is an elder in the Protestant                                                The Standard Bearer. It seems how-
Reformed Church of Hudsonville,              Edmonton, Alberta, who after seven-        ever, that it will take two men to
Michigan.                                    teen years of married life together        replace him. The Lord willing, at the

                                                                                                           The Standard Bearer  / 47


STANDARD  -~-~-  :                                                                                  SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                    Postage Paid  at
  BMR                                                                                               Grand Rapids, Michigan
  t?O. Box 6064
  Grand Rapids, MI 49506 '




end of this volume year, Rev. D.            It seems like only yesterday that       gracious blessing of a son to our
Engelsma will take over as Editor-in-     many of our churches were dealing         pastor, Rev. Thomas Miersma and
Chief and Prof. R. Decker will begin      with different solutions to a hot sum-    his wife, Janice Miersma.
his duties as Managing Editor, a posi-    mer. There was a talk of fans and or      Christopher Calvin Miersma was
tion which was up to now held by          air conditioning. Now one of our          born on the nineteenth of August.
our Editor as well.                       churches, Doon, in Iowa, is replacing     Also, Rev. Miersma and his wife
   On September 6, the. Covenant          electric wall heaters and installing a    celebrated their seventeenth wed-
Evangelical Church was organized as       new central furnace. It just serves as    ding anniversary on the  twenty-
the second congregation of our sister     a reminder that summer's heat will        second of August.
church in Singapore. The Rev. J.          always give way to winter's cold.           We humbly thank our faithful
Mahtani will serve as their pastor.       God is unchangeable, He upholds all       Father for keeping them in His care
This group presently consists of nine-    things, the seasons of the year as        and pray that He might graciously
teen adults, ten families, and nine       well.                                     guide them as they lead their child
children.                                   The congregation in Grandville,         in His fear.
   The Hope Prot. Ref. Christian          Mich. sponsored their first annual          "0 magnify the Lord with me,
School in Walker, Michigan opened         fall lecture on September 15. They        and let us exalt His name
its doors this fall for the 41st time.    had for their speaker Rev. R. Van         together." (Psalm  34:3).
They have now completed forty             Overloop. He spoke on the Covenant
years as a Christian School. This is a    Family. He spoke first about              NOTICE!!!
significant milestone in the age of       Husbands, then Wives, and then              Hope Protestant Reformed Chris-
any institution, person, or relation-     Parenting. Rev. Van Overloop han-         tian School, Walker, Ml, is in need
ship. In the Bible we are told of         dled his topic very well. Those who       of an Administrator/Teacher for the
many events associated with the           attended were not disappointed.           1988-`89 school year. Please con-
number forty or the span of forty         Refreshments and a time of Christian      tact Gordon Terpstra, (616)
years. As many of us send our             fellowship were provided after the        453-1364. His mailing address is:
children to school this year, no mat-     lecture.                                  600 Kenowa Ave., S.W., Grand
ter which year it is, may we ex-            The congregation in Lacombe,            Rapids, MI 49504.
perience the nearness and guidance        Alberta, recently had Rev. den Har-
of our faithful, covenant God.            tog preach there on classical ap-
  We are also happy to relay to our       pointment. While there, he
readers the fact that, as of August       presented a slide program on
12, our Protestant Reformed Chris-        Singapore. He then packed his bags
tian School in Lynden, Washington,        and slide projector and headed for
is completely paid for.                   Pella, Iowa, where he gave the same
  The consistory of First Church in       presentation to all interested, on the
Grand Rapids received a request           night before Classis West met.
from the Grand Rapids School of the         The Hope Heralds gave a concert
Bible and Music recently, asking for      on Sunday, Sept. 13 at Hope Church.
permission to use a photo of First        They repeated that concert on Sept.
Church as a cover for a soon-to-be-       22 at Kalamazoo to help Kalamazoo
published commentary on the book          begin its fall society season. 0
of Acts, being written by one of
their faculty members, entitled The
Church in Crisis. First Church was
chosen because the architecture of
the building has variety and interest
of line, not because they are a           EXPRESSION OF JOY
church in crisis. The request was           The Congregation of the First
granted.                                  Protestant Reformed Church of Ed-
                                          monton, wishes to express their joy
                                          and happiness in announcing God's

48  / The Standard Bearer


