A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
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Vol. 64, No. 6
December 75, 7987


 Contents                                                                                            THE
                                                                  December IS,7 987             STANDARD
Meditation  - C o r n e l i u s   H a n k o   `-
God's Unspeakable Gift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I22           ,BEiWER
EditoriaI                                                                                       ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                                Semi-monthlv.  exceot   monthlv   durina  June.  lulv.
As To Dr. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones And Pentecosta.I1ism . . . .I25                              and August.  Publish'ed by  the'Refor&d   Fr&   Pib-
                                                                                                lishing  Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
Guest Article  - Steven R.  Houck                                                               at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                                EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Presenting The Offensive Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127               Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                                DEPARTMENT EDITORS
Decency And Order  - Ronald L. Cammenga                                                         Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog,
                                                                                                Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. Barry Critters, Rev.
Special Offices In The Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .               Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev.
                                                                                                Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A.  Heys,  Rev.  I.  Korter-
Special Report  -  ]ason L. Kortering                                                           ing, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C.
                                                                                                Miersma, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.  Cise  J. Van
JourneyToEngland................................... 32                                          Baren,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
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All Around Us - Cise  /. Van  Baren                                                             Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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The "Cost" Of Orthodoxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I36          Mr. Ben Wigger
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Buddhism's Growth In America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I36               Hudsonville,  Michigan 49426
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122 / The Standard Bearer


   No, Scripture does not speak of        Lord had come to visit her. And        that four women are  mentisned.
 gifts, in the plural, although there     the shepherds also knew, for the       Do you want to hear their
certainly are many facets to this         heavenly messenger declared to         names? Tamar, who put Judah to
precious gem. But he speaks of            them: "Unto you is born this day       shame in a very sinful fashi-on;
one gift, God's unspeakable, in-          in the city of David a Savior,         Rahab, the harlot from Jericho;
describable gift! Which is none           which is Christ the Lord." (Luke       Bathsheba, who is referred to as
other than our Lord Jesus Christ!         2: 11). And they heard the song of     "the wife of Uriah"; and Ruth,
   "And without controversy               the angels that filled the heavens:    the Moabitess. The Holy One was
great is the mystery of godliness:        "Glory to God in the highest and       born from the unholy! Need I say
God was manifested in the flesh,          on earth peace, good will toward       more?
justified in the Spirit, seen of          men." (Luke 2:13)                         Jesus' mother was a commoner
angels, preached unto the Gen-               There were so very many who         from lowly Nazareth in despised
tiles, believed on in the world,          did not know, and there are still      Galilee. His legal father was a
received up into glory." (I Tim.          so very many, since God does           carpenter. His family failed to
3:16)                                     not reveal it to them! But we          understand Him. His brothers did
   Let us confess it in deepest           know by grace, by the testimony        not believe in Him. He was an of-
humility and holy wonder: The             of the Scriptures and the Spirit in    fense to the twelve disciples who
great gift of God is Jesus, the           our hearts!                            were daily with Him.
Christ, God's Son, chosen and ap-            Priceless gift! My Jesus! My           Isaiah describes Him as the
pointed to be the Savior and              Lord!                                  Man of Sorrows who was ac-
Lord of His people, the heirs of                                                 quainted with grief. His own peo-
eternal life!                                From riches to poverty!             ple, the Jews, hated Him and cast
                                             "For we know the grace of our
   Born of the virgin Mary!               Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he     Him out and sought to trap Him
                                                                                 and cast aspersions at Him. This
   Scripture expresses the wonder         was rich, yet for your sakes he        hatred increased as they saw His
of the incarnation in the simplest        became poor." (II Cor. 8:9)            miracles and heard Him preach,
language when it tells us: "And              He is rich! And who shall           so that repeatedly they sought to
she (Mary) brought forth her first-       describe those riches? He is eter-     kill Him. At last their rage
born Son and wrapped him in               nally God, the third person of the     against Him burned so furiously,
swaddling clothes, and laid him           divine trinity, possessing all the     that they took Him prisoner,
in a manger: because there was            glorious perfections that eternally    bound Him in chains, tried Him,
no room for them in the inn."             make up the fulness of the             mocked Him, spit upon Him, beat
(Luke 2:7)                                Godhead. Heaven is His throne          Him, condemned Him to death
   No room for HIM? We can on-            and the earth is His footstool.        and nailed Him to the painful
ly respond: Of course not! The            The cattle on a thousand hills         cross, a spectacle of shame for all
heaven of heavens cannot con-             belong to Him. He is God, the          to see. Our Lord willingly bore
tain Him, how much less the               Creator, the Sustainer, the
most luxurious or exalted spot in                                                all that suffering for you and me!
                                          sovereign Ruler over all, blessed        But even more than this, He
this world. Yes, how much less a          forever!                               took upon Himself the wrath of
place in our human hearts, so               No, He did not, He could not,        God against our sins, the
ifilled with all sorts of corruption!     He might not lay off His riches to     Righteous One for the un-
For He came unto His own and              enter into the poverty of our sin-     righteous, the Innocent One for
His own received Him not!                 ful flesh. He remained eternally       the guilty! All His life the burden
Shame on us!                              God, yes, even when He lay in          of the cross, the bitter anguish of
   Mary knew the wonder of the            His mother's arms. God took on         being forsaken of Him whom His
child she carried within her! The         our flesh through the virgin           soul loved more than His own
angel Gabriel had told her: "The .        Mary. God incarnate? Who can           life, weighed with increasing in-
Holy Ghost shall come upon                fathom that?                           tensity upon His soul. Especially
thee, and the power of the                  He being rich became poor! 0,        during the three hours of
Highest shall overshadow thee:            so very, very poor!                    darkness on the cross He suffered
therefore also that ho/y thing              We have no reason to boast of        inexpressible anguish and
which shall be born of thee shall        i His ancestry. We hide our faces       torments of hell as a pariah, an
be called the Son of God." (Luke         1 in shame when we read His             outcast of God and of men to
1:35)                                    ' genealogy in Matthew 1. We find       bear away our sins and to merit
   Elisabeth knew, because the           ~ there a list of sinners, some even    for us eternal union with Him in
Holy Spirit spoke within her,             guilty of gross sins. This is im-      His glory! We confess in
telling her that the mother of our        pressed upon us when we notice

                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer  / 123


 awesome wonder: God was in               Behold what manner of love               Yes, Christ graces us with
 Christ reconciling the world unto      the Father has bestowed upon us         every spiritual blessing for time
 Himself, nevermore to reckon           that we should be called the sons       and eternity, now and in the life
 our transgressions against us.         of God! It does not yet appear          to come. We, who by nature
 And He as the good Shepherd            what we shall be, but this we           were sold under sin, children of
 laid down His life for us. Who         know: we shall be like Christ in        Satan, bearing the likeness of our
 can measure the height, the            His glory, living in intimate cove-     father the devil, worthy only of
 depth, the length and breadth of       nant fellowship with the Father;        everlasting condemnation in hell,
 that love?                             and we all, occupying our own           are transformed into sons and
    For our sakes He became poor,       places, shall devote all our be-        daughters of the living God,
 that through His poverty we may        ings, with all our gifts and            renewed in the image and like-
 be made rich!                          talents, eternally to the glory of      ness of Jesus Christ, and are
     Our Savior arose as the mighty     His matchless Name! God will be         made heirs of eternal life. We
 Conqueror over hell, sin, death,       our all in all!                         were so very, very poor, worthy
 and the grave to ascend into the         Gods indescribable gift!              only of hell fire. God makes us
 highest heavens, where He                Thanks be to God!                     rich! No not with riches that can
 received a Name which is above           The word for thanks here is`          be reckoned in thousands and
 all names. To Him were given           "grace." Grace be to God!               millions of dollars. That is as
 the kingdom, dominion and                Our God is the God of all             nothing, compared to the riches
 power as Lord of His church, car-      grace, ever blessed in all His in-      of salvation and everlasting life
 rying out the counsel of God un-       finite perfections, ever radiating      that we possess in Christ Jesus!
 to the judgment of the world and       His glory in all His thoughts,          Our God does the humanly im-
 the salvation of His people.           words, actions, and deeds. Glory        possible!
     He sends forth His Spirit into     streams forth from Him endlessly,         As that grace fills our con-
 the church, to dwell and abide in      even as we have a faint reflec-         sciousness our hearts overflow
 us forever. By the power of His        tion of it in the sun that shines at    with an exuberant: Grace be to
 Spirit we are made one with            noonday. The whole universe             God!
 Christ, new creatures in Christ        could explode in a huge ball of           We hear the angels singing a
 Jesus. Paul never wearies of           fire and smoke, yet that would          new song, the song of Moses and
 speaking of that amazing               not bring an iota of change in          the Lamb.
 mystery, prepared before the           the glory of God. He has no need          We hear, as it were, that multi-
 foundations of the earth, that we      of anything or anyone to make           tude that no man can number
 are in Christ Jesus as flesh of His    Himself glorious! He is the             singing before the throne: Bless-
 flesh and bone of His bone, par-       Adorable One in His own Being,          ing, and glory, and wisdom, and
 takers with Him of all the bless-      ever gracious, beautiful beyond         thanksgiving, and honor, and
 ings of salvation. Pause a mo-         description, divinely unique,           power, and might, be unto our
 ment to consider that wonder of        filling heaven and earth with His       God for ever and ever. Amen.
 grace that we are made new                                                       For us it all began when Jesus
                                        glory!
 creatures with the resurrection                                                w a s   b o r n !
                                          God in His sovereign good
 life of Christ in our hearts, we       pleasure reveals His beauty by            Thanks be to God for His un-
 are called out of death into life,     looking in grace and favor upon         speakable gift! Cl
 converted, given a living bond of      His people whom He has chosen
 faith that unites us in fellowship     unto Himself as His peculiar
 with Christ; we are assured of the     possession from all eternity. He
 forgiveness of sins, the complete      has chosen Christ, and has given
 righteousness of Christ, and are       this people to Him as the Good
 led in the way of sanctification to    Shepherd, who not only lays
 grow in the grace and knowledge        down His life for His sheep, but
 of God, to be preserved by             also gathers them, feeds them in
 Christ's power until we are            the green pastures of His Word,
 perfected in the inheritance that      leads them beside still waters,
 is incorruptible and undefiled,        protects, defends and preserves
 that passes not away, preserved        them unto the blessedness that
 in the heavens for us! '               awaits them in the sheepfold of
                                        glory. There will be one flock
                                        and one Shepherd!

124  1 The Standard Bearer


                                      As To Dr. David Martyn Lloyd7Jones
Editorial                             And Pentecostalism


  For this issue we shall take a      Pentecostal Theology." It also          ton's article. All of this became
break from our discussion of          "warned about one of these              the occasion of some observa-
evolutionism. For several months      distinctive doctrines of                tions by Mr. Middleton in the ar-
I have had on hand the                Pentecostalism, namely the con-         ticle referred to.
May/1987 issue of The Free Pres-      cept of a `second work of Grace'          What follows is a quotation of
byterian Magazine, which con-         distinct from, and subsequent to,       the first part of Mr. Middleton's
tains an enlightening article on      Effectual Calling. The Synod            observations. The sub-title of this
the teaching of Dr. D. M. Lloyd-      stated that such a concept is con-      section is "Dr. D.M. Lloyd-Jones'
Jones on Pentecostalism and on        trary to the Word of God. This          Teaching."
his attitude toward the charis-       latter warning was especially             "In 1984 a volume of Dr.
matic movement. This was sent         relevant as such views are now          Lloyd-Jones' sermons called `Joy
to me by a reader-friend in           being widely disseminated in            Unspeakable', edited by his
England and was occasioned by         Reformed circles due to the fact        grandson Christopher Cather-
Prof. Hanko's review of the           that a `Second Blessing' concept,       wood, and containing a foreword
Lloyd-Jones book, Joy Unspeak-        the `Baptism with the Holy              by the Rev. P. Lewis of Not-
able (Standard Bearer, May 15,        Spirit,' is taught in many of the       tingham, was published by the
1987). The article is from the pen    books of the late Dr. David Mar-        Charismatic Publisher `Kingsway
of Roy Middleton.                     tyn Lloyd-Jones, and that these         Publications.' The sub-title of the
  Evidently in 1986 the Synod of      volumes circulate widely among          book is `The Baptism with the
the Free Presbyterian Church of       adherents of the Reformed               Holy Spirit.'
Scotland adopted a resolution         Faith."                                   "The significance of this
warning against Pentecostal             The warning is probably equal-        volume is highlighted by the
Theology. This resolution stated      ly relevant for the U.S., since also    words of the Rev. Graham Har-
"that it is quite impossible for      in our country Lloyd-Jones's            rison, a Welsh minister in full
adherents to the Theology of the      books enjoy a rather wide cir-          sympathy with Dr. Lloyd-Jones'
Westminster Standards to em-          culation among Reformed people.         position. Mr. Harrison writes, "On
brace the distinctive doctrines of    This is not to say, of course, that     more than one occasion the pres-
                                      Lloyd-Jones should not be read          ent writer urged the late Dr.
                                      (though personally I never              Martyn Lloyd-Jones to publish
                                      counted myself among his fans);         something explicitly on his view
                                      but it is to say that he should be      of the doctrine of the Baptism
                                      read with discretion and discern-       with the Holy Spirit. The answer
                                      ment.                                   given each time was, "Yes, some-
                                        It is rather well-known - and         day I must do so. And when I do
                                      Prof. Hanko also called attention       I know what it will be. I have
                                      to this in his review - that the        about two dozen sermons on
                                      Rev. Iain Murray (Banner of             John 1:26, 33 which I preached
                                      Truth) takes sharp exception to         at Westminster in the 60s. They
                                      this criticism of Dr. Lloyd-Jones,      represent my definitive teaching
                                      and interprets Lloyd-Jones's            on the subject." (The Evangelical
                                      teaching "as being little more          Magazine of Wales Vol. 24:3,
                                      than the Westminster Doctrine of        June-July 1985, p. 10).
                                      Assurance," according to Middle-

                                                                                                    The Standard Bearer  / 125


          "That Mr. Harrison's assertion    of and relationship with Jesus         question of tongues is quite
  is correct is put beyond doubt by         Christ was at the heart of bap-        perfect - I cannot imagine a bet-
  a letter from Mrs. Lloyd-Jones,           tism with the Spirit. Similarly as     ter statement.'
  and her two daughters Ann and             will be made clear from the               "As to what these views were
  Elizabeth, to the Editor of "Refor-       forthcoming volume of his ser-         that Lloyd-Jones regarded as a
  mation Today", who had queried mons on the gifts of the Spirit,                  perfect statement, they can best
  the motivation in publishing `Joy         while he believed that all the         be summarized as being prac-
  Unspeakable'.                             gifts existed today, he refused to     tically identical to the two British
          "They write, `soon after Dr.      hold, on the basis of scripture,       Pentecostal denominations that
  Lloyd-Jones' death many people,           that any one gift was necessary        grew directly out of the so-called
  yourself included, gave, in ar-           as proof of baptism with the           Welsh Revival of 1904. This is all
  ticles and books what they con-           Spirit." (p, 13)                       the more significant in that these
  sidered to be his true position             "In `Joy Unspeakable' Dr.            two denominations differ slightly
  with regard to the baptism of the         Lloyd-Jones defends his second         from the larger Assemblies of
  spirit. We felt it was right, there-      blessing teaching by appeal to         God on their Theology of
  fore, that the doctor should be           the same texts that pentecostal-       Tongues. The Assemblies of God
  allowed to speak for himself on           ists use to defend their doctrine.     hold that speaking in Tongues is
  the subject. We were helped in            (i.e. Acts of the Apostles 814-17,     the initial evidence of Spirit Bap-
  this by the fact that he himself          9:17,  10:44-46, and 19:6). The Re-    tism, whilst the two smaller
  had said that these sermons on            formed Baptist, the Rev. Errol         groups deny Tongues speaking to-
  John 1 were his definitive state-         Hulse of Liverpool, reviewing this     be essential to Spirit Baptism.
  ment on the subject (though of            volume says `The doctor builds           "It is evident that Dr. Lloyd-
  course he had preached and pub-           his case on these texts in typical     Jones held the view on Tongues
  lished in similar vein in both his        Pentecostal fashion' (Reformation      that was the prevailing view in
  Romans and Ephesians series) so           Today No. 84, p. 13-14).               the Wales of his youth and early
  those were our motives in pub-               "As is made clear from the          manhood."
  lishing them.' (Reformation To-           summary of his teaching by Mr.           Mr. Middleton then presents a
  day No. 94 - Nov.-Dec. 1986 p.            Catherwood, Dr. Lloyd-Jones re-        brief historical analysis from
  ii).                                      jected the Reformed Doctrine of        which we shall quote some perti-
          "This definitive teaching is      the `Cessation of the Charismata'      nent passages. After criticizing
  contained in `Joy Unspeakable',           so carefully enunciated by B.B.        the Rev. Iain Murray for
  and its companion volume `Prove           Warfield of Princeton (see B.B.        historical inaccuracy with respect
  all things' (Kingsway Publications        Warfield - Miracles Yesterday          to the teachings of Dr. Lloyd-
  1985). With regard to these               and Today p. 3-31, 233-247 and         Jones in relation to the develop-
  volumes, Catherwood informs us            the more recent statement by           ment of Pentecostalism, Mr. Mid-
  that in many chapters the bulk of         Richard B. Gaffin Jr. - Perspec-       dleton sets the record straight as
  the editorial work had been car-          tives on Pentecost - Baker Book        follows:
  ried out by his grandfather, who          House 1979). Errol Hulse writing         "Dr. Lloyd-Jones preached
  fully intended that these sermons         just after Dr. Lloyd-Jones' death      these sermons (in Joy Unspeak-
  be published (`Prove all things' p.       said of him, `he could not tolerate    able, HCH) in 1964-65 just three
  6).                                       nor abide what he called the B.B.      years before his retirement in
          "Dr. Lloyd-Jones' grandson        Warfield position' (Reformation        1968. Hence they were surely ex-
  summarises the content of the             Today No. 62 p. 13).                   pressive of his most mature
  volumes in his introduction to               "In the mid-60s Lloyd-Jones         thought and were preached at
  `Joy Unspeakable'. `My grand-             wrote a commendatory note of z         just the time when they would
  father . . . believed passionately        book called `I believe in the Holy     have the maximum impact.
  in the baptism with the Holy              Ghost' by Holiness teacher and           "The early 60s witnessed the
  Spirit as a second post conver-           editor of `Flame' Magazine,            birth of the Modern Charismatic
  sion experience. But he equally           Maynard James. Lloyd-Jones'            Movement. The London of the
  realised that it has a filling with       comment printed on the back of         mid-60s saw its two leading
  power that made those who had             the book is as follows, `I think       Evangelical Ministers differing
  received it into better witnesses         the way you have handled the           over the doctrine of the Baptism
  for Christ. His indeed was a                                                     with the Holy Spirit. Anglican
  Christ centered message, empha-                                                  John Stott of All Souls Langham
  sizing that a deeper knowledge                                                   Place (in whose church one of
                                                                                   the leading British Charismatics


126  I  The  Standard Bearer


Michael Harper was Curate) was            whose ministry we immensely            ing side light on Lloyd-Jones'
writing against the second bless-         respected . . . Dr. Martyn Lloyd-      own `baptism with the Spirit',
ing doctrine (cf. his "The Baptism        Jones. As we spent the day with        which apparently took place
and Fullness of the Holy Spirit,"         him at Westminster Chapel, he          under Duncan Campbell who be-
I.V.F. 1964). Dr. Lloyd-Jones,            began by asking us to share our        longed to the Arminian-Holiness
who had already preached a                testimonies with him, since we         organization - the Faith Mis-
series of sermons on Ephesians 1          had all known a fresh working of       sion . . , .
in 1954-55, and on Romans 8               the Spirit of God in our lives over       "As histories of the present
during 1960-6 1, that enunciated          the last few months. The testi-        Charismatic Movement and
his `second blessing teaching,'           monies had obvious personal            sketches of Dr. Lloyd-Jones' life
was, at the very time Stott was           variations, but were significantly     are now being written it is be-
opposing his curate, preaching            the same. To our surprise Dr.          coming clear that Dr. Lloyd-Jones
the sermons that now form `Joy            Lloyd-Jones then shared a very         played a part in encouraging
Unspeakable."'                            similar testimony of his own,          those early charismatics.
   The writer next refers to an           when the Spirit had come upon             "Christopher Catherwood in a
account by a David Watson, as             him shortly after the Hebrides         sketch of his grandfather's life
follows:                                  Revival in 1949, through the           has written, `The doctor was
   "In these critical early days of       ministry of Duncan Campbell. He        always willing to encourage
the Charismatic Movement, a               said that it had given him a new       those involved in the Renewal
person who would eventually be            authority in his preaching             movement. Many of the early
one of its leaders, was himself go-       ministry. As we walked a little        meetings of the Fountain Trust
ing through a crisis experience           further he said, `Gentlemen, I         took place in Westminster Chapel
and did not understand what was           believe that you have been bap-        and leading charismatic
happening to him. That person             tized with the Holy Spirit'.' `(D.     Anglicans such as Michael Harper
was the Anglican, David Wats3r>,          Watson - You are my God. Hod-          have paid warm tribute to all the
who would in later days in-               der Stoughton, 1983 p. 56-57)."        help and encouragement he gave
troduce dance-drama into his                Mr. Middleton then comments          them in the early years.' (Five
church, and call the Reformation          on the above account and con-          Evangelical Leaders, Hodder and
one of the greatest tragedies that        cludes this section of his article     Stoughton, 1984 p. 93)."
ever occurred in the church. Let          with a quotation from Lloyd-              There appears to be little
Watson himself explain what               Jones's grandson:                      doubt, therefore, concerning the
happened next. `With three                  "This quotation from David           charismatic tendencies of Dr.
friends I went to see a man               Watson provides a most interest-       Lloyd-Jones. Cl                       HCH





                                          Presenting The
Guest Article
Steven R. Houck                           Offensive Gospel

                                             Every true believer is eager to     wonders and the beauty of God's
                                          present the truth of the gospel to     sovereign grace. Therefore, he
                                          those who are round about him.         wants to tell others of the won-
                                          He believes and loves God's            drous truth of the gospel. He
                                          truth. In that truth He sees the       wants to see His God glorified
Steven R. Houck is a missionary of the
Protestant Reformed  Chtirches  in        glory and majesty of God. He           through the declaration of God's
Modesto, California.                      sees the greatness of God's            truth.

                                                                                                    The  Standard  Bearer  / 127


     With this desire, however,          We do not like to tell people that     you the truth . . ." (John 16:6-7).
  there comes a problem. We do           they are wrong. Besides that, we       Jesus told them something that
  not know exactly how to present        think that if we offend people         made them sorrowful. They did
  the truth to others. We want to        with the truth, we will never gain     not want to hear what He said.
  testify of the truth, but we know      anyone to the truth. We only           But Jesus told them the truth
  that most people do not want to        chase them away. How can we            anyway. This is the principle
  hear the truth. Most people are        ever advance the cause of the          which we must follow. We must
  greatly offended by it. The truth      truth if we are always chasing         present the truth even though
  is "a stone of stumbling and a         people away? There is a great          the truth offends.
  rock of offence," (I Peter 2:8).       temptation, therefore, to make           There is a good reason for
  The apostle says, "But we preach       the gospel as inoffensive as we        boldly presenting the truth in the
  Christ crucified, unto the Jews a      can. Some will avoid completely        clearest possible way. Jesus says,
  stumblingblock, and unto the           the most offensive parts of the        "And ye shall know the truth,
  Greeks foolishness," (I Cor. 1:23).    gospel. If they do talk bout them,     and the truth shall make you
  Although the believer loves the        they try to soften those "hard         free," (John 8:32). The knowledge
  truth, most people hate it. The        sayings" so that they are accept-      of the truth makes us free. By
  truth is not pleasing to the flesh.    able., Their presentation of the       nature man is held in bondage to
  The gospel contains many "hard         truth is not clear and sharp. In       sin and the lie. Man's mind is
  sayings" which are very repulsive      some cases the truth is presented      dark with all the falsehoods and
  to people. The truth exalts God,       in such a way that one can seem-       lies of the devil. But the truth
  but it humiliates man and shows        ingly believe the truth and the lie    frees us from that. The truth itself
  him his utter worthlessness. This      at the same time. This is the          leads man out of the lie into the
  is not pleasing to man.                plague which afflicts the Re-          truth. It is only through the truth
     Moreover, when we present           formed community today. No one         itself that a man can come to
  the truth, we not only have to         wants to be distinctively Re-          believe the truth. When we avoid
  contend with the offense of the        formed. It is much less offensive.     or soften the "hard sayings" of
  gospel; we must also contend           to be broadly Evangelical.             the truth, we actually hinder a
  with the false ideas which people        We dare not fall into this kind      man from coming to the truth.
  have. We do not present the            of thinking. It is wrong to present    We are keeping from him the on-
  truth in a vacuum. We declare          the truth in such a way that we        ly thing which can lead him to
 the truth of the gospel to people       try to take away the offense of        the truth. Yes, the truth is offen-
 who believe things which are            the gospel. We must not avoid or       sive. But that offensive truth is
 contrary to the truth. This world       soften the "hard sayings" of the       "the power of God" (I Cor. 1:24)
 is filled with the lie. It is filled    truth. Jesus never did that. He        which sets men free. This is why
 with false gospels, false prophets,     was not afraid to be offensive. He     we must present the truth in the
 and false Christs. People by the        taught the "hard sayings" of the       clearest possible way. The more
 millions have been deceived into        truth even though He knew that         a man understands the truth, the
 believing the lie of the devil. The     it would offend people. His            more that truth can free him
 apostle described the situation         discourse on the Bread of Life         from the lie.
 perfectly when he said, "For the        was very offensive. We read of           We must, therefore, take care
 time will come when they will           the reaction in John 6:60-61:          that we clearly present the whole
 not endure sound doctrine; but          `Many therefore of his disciples,      truth, including all those doc-
 after their own lusts shall they        when they had heard this, said,        trines which are the most offen-
 heap to themselves teachers, hav-       This is an hard saying; who can        sive. We must unashamedly pro-
 ing itching ears; And they shall        near it? When Jesus knew in            claim the truth of God's
 turn away their ears from the           himself that his disciples mur-        sovereign grace. Boldly we must
 truth, and shall be turned unto         mured at it, he said unto them,        speak of the predestinating God
 fables," (II Tim. 4:3-4).               10th this offend you?" Many of         Who both elects and reprobates.
     All of this makes us hesitant to    :hose who followed Christ did not      We must tell of the sovereign
 present clearly the truth of the        ike what he had said. The truth        God Who not only created the
 gospel in all of its fulness. We do     Iffended them. But that did not        world, but Who so upholds and
 not like to offend people. We do        jtop Christ. He preached the of-       rules this world that His eternal
 not like people to be against us.       `ensive truth anyway. On another       will is always done. The Christ of
                                         occasion He said to His disciples,     which we speak must be the
                                         `But because I have said these         Christ of the Bible Who power-
                                         :hings unto you, sorrow hath filled
                                         your heart. Nevertheless I tell

128  ! The Standard Bearer


fully and effectually saves His         We must not only positively pre-        error. He also personally warned
people from their sins. We must         sent the whole truth, but we            and rebuked the very people
not be afraid to speak of the           must negatively refute the lie. In      who held to and taught the er-
wretchedness of sinful man and          order that we might make that           rors. We read in Matt. 22:29:
his inability to do good. Oh yes,       truth absolutely clear, we must         "Jesus answered and said unto
these doctrines are offensive, but      present the truth as it stands over     them, Ye do err, not knowing the
they are the heart of that              against the lie. Just as light ap-      scriptures, nor the power of
wonderful truth which alone can         pears brighter when it shines in        God." Christ said this to the Sad-
set a man free.                         the darkness, so the truth is           ducees who did not believe in
   In presenting these doctrines,       made clearer when it is                 the resurrection. He personally
we follow the example of Christ         presented in opposition to the lie.     told them that they erred. His
and the apostles. Christ spoke of       We must not be afraid of point-         words to the Pharisees are even
sovereign grace. He said, "Mur-         ing our error. We must strongly         stronger. He said to them, "But
mur not among yourselves. No            condemn Arminianism and free-           woe unto you, scribes and
man can come to me, except the          willism which are so contrary to        Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut
Father which hath sent me draw          the truth. Common grace, a              up the kingdom of heaven
him . . ." (John 6:43-44). The peo-     univeral love of God, and the           against men: for ye neither go in
ple were murmuring over His             "free offer of the gospel" must all     yourselves, neither suffer ye
"hard sayings," but He preached         be shown to be false. Whatever          them that are entering to go in,"
effectual, sovereign grace to           error we find as we present the         (Matt. 23:13). These are certainly
them. He was not afraid to preach       truth to our neighbors must be          strong words, and they are by no
election. He said, "For many are        refuted. We must not be afraid of       means uncommon. The gospel
called, but few are chosen,"            being negative. We ought not to         accounts are filled with such
(Matt. 22:14). Nor was he afraid        be totally negative. We must pre-       language.
to preach reprobation. He told          sent the positive truth. But in this      Thus we learn that we too
the unbelieving Jews, "But ye           world of lies, the negative must        must not be afraid of warning
believe not, because ye are not         accompany the positive.                 those who hold to and teach er-
of my sheep . . ." (John 10:26).          In this, too, we follow the ex-       ror. We are not Christ. We do
Notice that He did not tell them        ample of Christ. He condemned           not know who are elect and who
about reprobation, but He told          the, errors of His day in no uncer-     are reprobate. We can not judge
them that they were reprobate.          tain terms. He told His disciples:      the heart. But we are able to
They were not His sheep. That is        "Take heed and beware of the            compare the beliefs, teachings,
a very strong statement. He             leaven of the Pharisees and of          and lives of people with the
could say that because He is            the Sadducees," (Matt. 16:6).           truth. On that basis, in Christian
Himself the predestinating God.         Over and over again Jesus               love, we can and must warn
One of the strongest statements         warned of falsehoods, with the          them of their error. We can and
on the providence of God was            words: "Ye have heard that it           we must point them to the truth
made by the apostle Paul. He            was said . . . But I say unto           of the gospel. For it is only when
said of God, ". . . he giveth to all    yoy . . ." (Matt. 5:21, 27, 33, 38,     a man forsakes the lies and false-
life, and breath, and all things        43). In that way He directly            hoods of the devil that he can
. . . For in him we live, and           refuted error. He not only warned       embrace the truth of Gods Word.
move, and have our being . . ."         of the lie, but also of those who       If man is to be free, truly free, he
(Acts 17:25 & 28). When the             taught the lie. He warned of false      must hear and believe the truth.
apostle said this he was not            prophets and false Christs. He          Let us, therefore, take care bold-
leading a Bible study class for         said, "Beware of false prophets,        ly and clearly to present the of-
Reformed people. He was                 which come to you in sheep's            fensive gospel in all of its fulness.
preaching to the heathen of             clothing, but inwardly they are         This is the calling of all those
Athens. He preached to                  ravening wolves," (Matt. 7: 17).        who love the truth. 0
unbelievers the offensive truth of      He said, "Take heed that. no man
Gods sovereign rule over man.           deceive you. For many shall
  There is something more               come in my name, saying, I am
which is implied in the words,          Christ; and shall deceive many,"
"the truth shall make you free."        (Matt. 24:4-5).
                                          But we can go one step fur-
                                        ther. Christ was not content
                                        merely to point out and warn of

                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer  I 129


 Decency And                                 Special Offices
 Order
Ronald L. Cammenga                           In The Church

  "The offices are of four kinds:            THE OFFICES INTRODUCED                  speaks of four "kinds" of offices.
  of the ministers of the Word,                Article 2 is of an introductory       It'does not speak of four ranks or
  of the professors of theology,             nature. It begins the first main        orders of offices. The offices dif-
  of the elders, and of the                  division of the Church Order, "Of       fer from each other in task and
  deacons.  "                                The Offices." The article indicates     the nature of their work, but not
               Church Order,  Article 2.     the number of the offices in the        in dignity and honor. At the
                                             church and their names. Four of-        outset Reformed, churches reject
                                             fices are mentioned: minister,          the hierarchical view of the of-
                                             professor of theology, elder, and       fices in. the church.
                                             deacon.                                 THE SPECIAL OFFICES IN
                                               It is important to notice that        THE CHURCH
                                             the Church Order begins its treat-        Article 2 concerns itself with
                                             ment of church government by            the special permanent offices in
                                             discussing the offices in the           the New Testament church.
                                             church. It does not begin by              There were special offices of a
                                             discussing the broader                  temporary nature in the early
                                             assemblies, synod and classis,          New Testament church. There
                                             and narrow down finally to the          was the apostolic office. The
                                             offices in the local congregation.      apostles were ordained and
                                             But deliberately it begins by           called by Christ directly. They
                                             treating the offices in the local       were eye-and-ear-witnesses of the
                                             congregation. The significance of       resurrected Christ. And they
                                             this is that the Church Order           were infallibly inspired in their
                                             reflects the Reformed view of           preaching and writing. There
                                             church government. According to         were also evangelists. They were
                                             this view, the government of the        helpers of the apostles, who were
                                             church resides in the offices in-       appointed by the apostles and
                                             stituted by Christ in the local         worked under the supervision of
                                             congregation.                           the apostles. An example would
                                               Although not specifically men-        be Philip the evangelist, Acts
                                             tioned, the idea of office is clear-    21:8. There were also prophets in
                                             ly implied in Article 2. The idea       the early New Testament church.
                                             of office is authority to do a cer-     They were men with the special
                                             tain work. This authority the           gift of prophecy (direct revela-
                                             officebearer has received from          tion). An example would be
                                             and exercises on behalf of Jesus        Agabus, Acts 11:27, 28. All of
                                             Christ. This authority the of-          these offices ceased to exist in
                                             ficebearer has over and for the         the church with the passing away
                                             benefit of Christ's people.             of the apostles.
                                               Significantly the parity or
  Ronald L. Cammenga is pastor of the        equality of officebearers is im-
  Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland,    plied in this article. The article
  Colorado.

130  I  The  Standard Bearer


  Article 2 of the Church Order                 doctors, if we realize that there is           30 and 3 1, speaks of but three of-
is concerned with the special of-               another kind of doctor, who superintends       fices in the New Testament
fices in the New Testament                      both the education of pastors and the in-      church: minister, elder, and
                                                struction. of the whole church.
church which are of a permanent                    Undoubtedly Calvin and our                  deacon. The "Form For The In-
nature. These are three in                      Church Order, following the lead               stallation Of Professors Of
number: minister, whose special                 of Calvin, are incorrect in distin-            Theology" also indicates very
task is to teach the Word and ad-               guishing four special offices in               clearly that the professor of
minister the sacraments; elder,                 the New Testament church. It is                theology is a minister of the
whose special task is the rule of               a mistake to make the professor                gospel. At the beginning of the
the church; and deacon, whose                   of theology a distinct office from             form it is stated: "Beloved
special task is the work of collect-            that of the minister of the Word.              brethren, it is know unto you
ing and distributing the alms.                  Calvin's interpretation of Ephe-               that our brother in the holy
FOUR OFFICES?                                   sians 4:ll is faulty. The apostle              ministry, N.N., has been called by
   A question arises in connection              does not say, "and SOME pastors,               our last Synod to the important
with Article 2 because it men-                  and SOME teachers," thus distin-               office of professor of theology at
tions four special offices in the               guishing the pastors from the                  our Theological Seminary." Later
.church rather than three. Pro-                 teachers. But he says, "and some               on the form states: "Conscious of
fessor of theology is made a                    pastors and teachers." The simple              this calling our Church has also
distinct office alongside the of-               grammar of the passage requires                established a Theological School
fices of minister, elder, and                   us to understand "pastors and                  and called the  reverend brother,
deacon.                                         teachers" to be referring to one               N.N., to devote his talents to this
   There is a historical explana-               and the same office.                           School." Clearly the form pre-
tion for this teaching of Article 2.               Calvin's position on the                    supposes that those who are pro-
The explanation is that it was the              number of offices was incor-                   fessors of theology hold the office
position of John Calvin that the                porated in the "Ecclesiastical Or-             of the ministry of the gospel.
professor of theology was a                     dinances" of the Church of                     THE OFFICE OF EVANGELIST?
distinct office, separate from the                                                               In more recent years some
                                                Geneva. In the "Ecclesiastical Or-
ordinary minister of the gospel.                dinances" we find the following:               have gone in the direction of ad-
   Calvin based his position on                                                                ding the office of evangelist as a
                                                  FOUR ORDERS IN THE CHURCH.
Ephesians 4: 11, "And he gave                   Firstly, there are Four official orders        fourth special office alongside the
some, apostles; and some, proph-                which our Lord instituted for the govern-      offices of minister, elder, and
ets; and some, evangelists; and                 ment of His Church: firstly, pastors;          deacon. An example of this
some, pastors and teachers."                    secondly, teachers; thirdly, elders, other-    would be the Christian Reformed
                                                wise called the Seigneury's  delegates;
Calvin understood the expression                                                               Church. Part of its radical revi-
                                                and, fourthly, deacons.  I[ then, we wish
"pastors" to be a reference to                  to have the Church well ordered and            sion of the Church Order includes
ministers, and the term                         maintained in its entirety, we must            its designation of the office of
"teachers" to be a reference to                 observe this Form of government.               evangelist as a continuing special
professors of theology. In his                     That the professor of theology              office in the New Testament
commentary on this passage, he                  is only an aspect of the office of             church. Article 2 of the Church
writes:                                         the minister is the proper Re-                 Order Of The Christian Reformed
  Some think that `pastors and doctors          formed understanding of the                    Church In North America states:
(teachers)' denote one office, because          special offices. Already in the                "The church recognizes the of-
there is no disjunctive particle (the word      "Article of Wezel," a predecessor              fices of minister of the Word,
`Some", RC), as in the other parts of the       of our Church Order, it was                    elder, deacon, and evangelist.
verse, to distinguish them . . . I partly
agree with them, that Paul speaks indis-        stated that the professors of                  These offices differ from each
criminately of pastors and teachers as if       theology had with the ministers                other only in mandate and task,
they are one and the same order; nor do         one and the same office of                     not in dignity and honor." The
I deny that the name doctor does to some        teaching, although the manner of               Synod of the Christian Reformed
extent belong to all pastors. But this  does    their teaching was different. The              Church, 1973, defined the office
not move me to confound two offices,
which I see to differ from each other.          description given in Article 18 of             of evangelist as the ". . . author-
Teaching is the duty of all pastors; but        the Church Order itself of the "of-            ity to administer the Word and
there is a particular gift of interpreting      fice" or task of the professors of             sacraments in the work of
Scripture, so that sound doctrine may be        theology characterizes them as                 evangelism of his calling church."
kept and a man may be a doctor who is           ministers of the Word. Our Belgic              This is an office to which lay per-
not fitted to preach. Pastors, to my mind,
are those to whom is committed the              Confession Of Faith, in Articles               sons are generally appointed.
charge of a particular Flock. I have no                                                        The evangelist is recognized as
objection to their receiving the name of

                                                                                                                The Standard Bearer  I  737


 an elder in the calling church.              the task, that is, of the ordinary    of offices, it would be appropriate
 His task is specifically the plant-          minister of the Word, is defined      to amend Article 2 of the Church
 ing of new congregations.                    as evangelizing, bringing the glad    Order. It would be possible to
    As was the case with the pro-             tidings. In fact, the common          revise the article so that the
 fessor of theology, we cannot                word for "to preach" in the New       word "four" is changed to
 agree with making the office of              Testament is the word "evan-          "three" and the phrase "of the
 evangelist a fourth special office           gelize."                              professors of theology" is deleted.
 in the church. Our position is               A NECESSARY REVISION                  Then the article would read:
 that since the days of the                     In sum, we maintain that there      "The offices are of three kinds: of
 apostles, the office of evangelist           are three, and only three, special    the ministers of the Word, of the
 has merged into the office of the            offices in the New Testament          elders, and of the deacons." Or it
 ministry of the gospel. The Scrip-           church. The Old Testament knew        would be possible to change the
 tures themselves make this plain.            of only three offices: prophet,       wording and punctuation as
 In II Timothy 4:5, the apostle               priest, and king. Christ Himself      follows: "The offices are of three
 Paul refers to Timothy, the pastor           occupied a three-fold office:         kinds: of the ministers of the
 of the congregation of Ephesus,              Prophet, Priest, and King. Cor-       Word and professors of theology;
 as an evangelist: "But watch thou            responding to the three offices in    of the elders; and of the
 in all things, endure afflictions,           the Old Testament and reflecting      deacons." In this case the article
 do the work of an evangelist,                the three-fold office of Christ,      would make plain that professor
 make full proof of thy ministry."            there are three offices in the        of theology is not a separate of-
 Besides, there are many instances            church today.                         fice, but only an aspect of the of-
 in the New Testament in which                  In the light of the teaching of     fice of the ministry of the
 the task of preaching the gospel,            Scripture regarding the number        Word. U





Special Report
jason L. Kortering                            Journey To England

                                                Our tri-star jet sliced through     c~nough, a glow of light soon ap-
                                              the night as we flew from Detroit     Ijeared and by 2: 15 (or 7: 15 a.m.
                                              to Montreal to London on Oc-          London time), we landed at
                                              tober 28. Being excited and full      Heathrow. We cleared customs
                                              of anticipation, rest didn't come     without a hitch and were pleased
                                              easily. Dinner was served at 930      IO see among the rows of signs,
                                              pm. and after that the cabin          "Welcome Korterings". Two smil-
                                              darkened. What does a person do       1112 Van Barens were the bearers.
                                              in a confined seat, darkness out-     With thanksgiving to Cod, we
                                              side, quietness inside? Meditate,     began our labors in England.
                                              listen to music, watch a video,         A change of events in our
                                              talk, sleep? After we made a few      sister church in Larne, Northern
                                              fitful attempts at snoozing, the      Ireland, had forced immediate
                                              voice on the intercom dutifully       changes in schedules. Originally,
                                              announced that breakfast would        the Bible Presbyterian Church of
                                              he served prior to landing and all    Larne had asked us to spend ten
 Jason L. Kortering is pastor of the Prot-    the lights in the cabin came on.      days in their midst celebrating
 estant Reformed Church of  Graizdville,      Time? 1 a.m. We ate and sure          the occasion of the tenth anni-
 Michigan.

131/ The Standard Bearer


versary of their congregation.         the truth of Gods Word. Satur-         Bath Presbyterian Fellowship.
Special sermons for the occasion       day evening, Rev. Van Baren            Their goal is to be used by God
had been prepared, as well as          spoke on John 10:28-29,                to arouse interest, and if possible
messages for each night, on the        "Preserved in Father's Hand".          begin a church in the area. Even
Five Points of Calvinism. One          The next morning Rev. Kortering        though our trip was hastily
week prior to leaving, notice          considered I Peter 1:6, 7, "Re-        planned, they sought to take ad-
came to the Committee of Con-          joicing in Heaviness," and Rev.        vantage of our presence in two
tact that the session requested        Van Baren spoke in the evening         ways. First, they advertised a
that we not come, due to internal      on II Cor. 3: 17, "The Spirit Works    public meeting on the subject of
difficulties. This part of our trip    Liberty". Monday morning a con-        the church, its membership and
was canceled. The committee            ference of interested adult            government. Rev. Kortering
decided that since our visit to        members of the congregation and        spoke on this subject Wednesday
England had been planned by the        area pastors, including John           evening. Secondly, they desired
people there, and public meetings      Hooper, who came all the way           to learn of us how our worship
were already announced, it was         from  Saltash,  and became a dear      services are conducted and how
:he part of wisdom to go through       friend, gathered for a speech by       we preach. Rev. Van Baren pro-
 lvith the trip to England. Having     Rev. Kortering on "Common              vided this for them on Thursday
 :ompleted the labors, we can ap-      Grace and the Antithesis". During      evening. In some ways, our ex-
 jreciate that this decision was       the afternoon meeting Rev. Van         periences here were perhaps the
 ight. The individuals would have      Baren spoke on "The Sovereignty        most moving for us. The venue
 )een terribly disappointed had        of God, Fact or Fiction". When         (meeting place) was a small stone
 we left thern in the lurch. The       there is kinship in faith, the tie     chapel built before Columbus dis-
vTan Barens decided to keep their      that binds is felt keenly. We are      covered America. It was built for
:)riginally scheduled flight and       thankful for the ministry of           the alms houses which sur-
spend two weeks in England on          Pastor Rawson,  which includes         rounded the courtyard. Here on
holiday. Hence the Korterings          distributing our books and             the intersection of a busy metrop-
joined them at Heathrow.               material across the British Isles,     olis with a large coliseum only
  There was a distinct advantage       ministering to the little flock of     a block away, which had con-
to this arrangement. The Van           about 25 souls, and establishing       certs both nights, and people at-
Barens had pioneered with              contact with concerned people          tended by the thousands, we met
British ways of life. They had         who desire that Gods sovereign-        with about twenty-four people in
"mastered' such mundane things         ty be extolled. May our God care       the little chapel. They came from
as shifting with the left hand,        for his family and bless him           Birmingham, about forty miles to
traffic circles, pounds (money not     richly as he seeks to lead his con-    the north, and from Wales, 120
weight, which is measured in           gregation into a deeper apprecia-      miles to the west. None of them
stones) and language. The British      tion of the Reformed faith. It is a    who came were new contacts in
may speak the same language,           distinct privilege for our churches    the immediate Bristol-Bath area.
but it gets a bit tricky with the      to care for this work.                 From this point of view it was a
words they choose, especially if a       For some years, Prof. Hanko          bit disheartening, but the joy of
Yorkshire dialect is added.            has been corresponding on behalf       the faith of those present made
  A warm welcome awaited us            of the committee of contact with       up for it. It was thrilling to hear
when we arrived in Barnsley, just      Mr. Tony Horne of Bristol. Dur-        them sing the psalms, to testify of
north of the midlands. There           ing this time Mr. Horne has been       their love for Gods Word and
Philip and Pauline Rawson and          led by God to publish a maga-          their willingness to stand alone, if
their three children live, and         zine, The Presbyterian, an ex-         need be, for their faith. They
Philip pastors the Measbro Dyke        cellent attempt to arouse interest     were much appreciative and a bit
Evangelical Church. Some of our        in historic Presbyterianism, in-       envious when Rev. Van Baren
young people may have met              cluding allegiance to the              brought the message on John 10,
their daughter Stephanie who at-       Westminster Confession and             "Preserved in Father's Hand'.
tended the convention this past        covenant theology (a thing quite       Here too, the hospitality was
summer. Besides having good fel-       rare in England). The Lord has         superb, we had many unique ex-
lowship with the Rawsons and           brought together three men (a          periences by being received in
other members of the congrega-         fourth is much interested) and         their homes for dinner, by their
tion, and the kindest of hospitali-    they have organized the Bristol-       taking the time to show us about
ty, we were blessed with the op-                                              the city, and teach us the history
portunity to worship and discuss                                              of the church as it unfolded in


                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  I 133


  that area. It was good for us to      tion of the free offer and our in-     question: will God even open the
  have been there. What the future      sistence upon the sincere call of      door to consider anew or is it
  of this small struggling group is,    the gospel. In the afternoon Rev.      closed? How we must pray for in-
  only the Lord knows. It was a         Van Baren spoke on "The Sover-         dividuals and struggling congre-
  time of encouragement, and the        eignty of God'. Sunday morning         gations that they may strengthen
  committee of contact will con-        Rev. Van Baren used for his text       what remains and persevere unto
  sider possible ways that we can       John 2:2, "Christ the Propitiation     the end!
 be of assistance to them.              for our Sins" and Rev. Kortering         3. Calvinism or the Doctrines
     Our final place of fellowship      spoke at the evening service on,       of Grace are still taught, but
 was in Bideford, the southern          "The Resurrection of the Dry           mostly in other than Presbyterian
 part of England. Prof. Hanko has       Bones", Ezekiel 37. Here too, the      churches. So much independent-
 been corresponding with Mr.            people had come from quite a           ism and isolation contributes to
 John Hooper of Saltash. His uncle      wide area (about 20 had phoned         the ineffectiveness of trying to
 is minister of the Northroad           Mr. Molland to tell him they           unite even on the basis of the
 Chapel (Evangelical) of Bideford.      couldn't come due to the heavy         sovereignty of God. Neo-Pente-
 When the possibility of our com-       fog in the area). The Saturday         costalism is cutting deeply into
 ing to England arose rather sud-       meetings had about 60 in atten-'       these fellowships.
 denly, John was asked if there         dance, the services on Sunday            4. There is some interest in
 was any possibility of contact in      about 25-30. What the people ap-       covenant theology. In this area
 the area in which he lived. This       preciate about Mr. Molland's           we are in a position to be used of
 didn't appear likely, so Prof.         ministry is that he has careful ex-    God by our publications and
 Hanko was advised to contact           pository preaching on the Bible,       material for the increase of faith
 Mr. Molland of the Northroad           a rare thing in England as well.       and saving knowledge of the
 Chapel. He has quite a story           He has a tape ministry in which        saints there.
 about how the Lord led him, a          he distributes as many as 150            We live in the day of little
 farmer, to become the minister of      copies of his weekly messages.         things and the still small voice.
 this church. At that point, the        His publication, "The Link," is        May we as churches be warned
 chapel was of the Brethren             sent throughout the British Isles,     that our blessings can easily be
 movement (hence his desire to be       and some to the states. Our fel-       lost by complacency and spiritual
 called Mr.). Upon personal study,      lowship with the Mollands was so       indifference. May the Spirit of
 he began to appreciate the doc-        wonderful. He is a humble man          Christ keep us alert and faith-
 trines of grace and Gods               of God who is interested in learn-     ful. 0
 sovereignty, even before he read       ing and being found faithful to
 John Calvin and other Reformed         God. Hospitality in their home
 and Presbyterian writers. He was       and congregation will be
 interested in our churches             remembered.                            The Standard
 because in his reading he en-            In conclusion, we make a few
 countered the term "common             observations. One cannot be an         Bearer makes
 grace" and he could not under-         expert on the spiritual condition
 stand how there could be such a        in Britain by a few days visit, and    a thoughtful
 thing. This interest and the com-      we do not presume this. Rather,
 mon bond of Gods sovereignty           receive them as personal obser-
 brought about the meetings we          vations.                               gift for the
 had with him and his congrega-           1. Less than ten percent of the
 tion.                                  people in England worship on the       sick & shut-in.
    Saturday, meetings were             Lords Day. In our country, it is
 planned for the entire day not         less than fifty percent. This must
 only, but he had scheduled             humble us, for the British Isles
 speeches of 90 minutes in length.      were at one time part of the
 At the morning meeting Rev.            Presbyterian Reformation. Now it
 Kortering spoke on the history of      is thoroughly secular.
 our churches, how they relate to         2. Historical Presbyterianism is
 the Reformation and how they           very rare in England. At best, in-
 came into existence. Special em-       dividuals and small groups are
 phasis was placed upon our rejec-      trying to regain some interest in
                                        it. One cannot help but ask the


134  I The Standard Bearer


                                              Thanksgiving To Whom?
All Around Us                                 The  "Cost" Of Orthodoxy
Cise 1. Van Baren                             Buddhism's Growth In America


 Thanksgiving To Whom?                           The service included hymns of praise,            Emphasizing the uniquely American
                                                                                               nature of the day,  Doom  read President
    "Diverse religious groups get             scripture readings and a dialogue sermon
                                              by the Rev. Lawrence  Doom  of the Third         Reagan  S Thanksgiving Day Proclama-
 together for a special Thanksgiv-            Reformed and Rabbi Michael Rascoe of             tion, and quoted George Washington in
 ing service" read the headline in            Congregation Ahavas Israel.                      his sermon:
 the religious section of the Grand              The night was, in  Doom's  words, an             "May the Father of all mercies shed
 Rapids' Press. In the name of                "experience of worship in celebration of         light and not darkness in our paths."
                                                                                                 Rascoe said, "Coming together tonight
 "unity", Reformed, Roman                     our common American heritage."
                                                 The Rev. James  Bogdon  of Holy Trini-        is proof enough of what this country can
 Catholic, Greek Orthodox and                 ty Greek Orthodox Church echoed these            do, of where we are and where we are
 Jewish gathered together for                 thoughts in his opening prayer.                  going. . . We must be grateful for
 thanksgiving to "god" - a "god"                 "We, though diverse in tradition and          that. "
 common to all these diverse                  belief," said  Bogdon,  "come to You on             Rascoe is correct at least in his
 religions. The article stated:               this day of Thanksgiving to offer You all        statement: ". . . Tonight is proof
                                              we have and all that we are. "
   Unity in the name of a common God             The idea for the unusual ecumenical           enough . . . of where we are and
 was the theme.                               experiment, one involving both Christians        where we are going . . . ." But
   Jews sat next to Dutch Reform and          and Jews, was first proposed to Doorn by         no Christian could possibly be
Roman Catholic sisters were blessed by        Rascoe, his neighbor, while the two were         "grateful for that".
 the traditional incense of a Greek Or-       standing in  Dooms  driveway one night              Such a "worship" service could
 thodox priest.                               last summer,
   These four diverse religious groups           Doorn jumped at the idea, and to-             be conducted onIy with this
gathered Tuesday night for a special          gether with Rascoe invited the Greek Or-         "chief ground rule": "Nothing ex-
 Thanksgiving service, one that the walls     thodox congregation and the Dominican            clusionary of any other group
 of the Third Reformed Church, 2060           Sisters of  Marywood  Academy to join in.        was to be included." That means,
Michigan Ave. N.E., have  likely never           The Rev. Gregory Heille and Sister            of course, that God could not be
swn.                                          Virginia Smith, partners in the liturgy
                                              team at Marywood, helped plan the ser-           named as Triune; He could not
                                              vice.                                            be addressed as Father, Son, and
                                                 For all of their lives, the four congre-      Holy Spirit. It means that God,
                                              qations  had worshipped separately right         Who sent Jesus Christ, could not
                                              next to each other.                              be presented as the God Who
                                                Never before had all four worshipped
                                              together.                                        blesses only through Jesus Christ.
                                                 The chief ground rule                         The cross could not be men-
                                                                           in  planning the
                                              service, Rascoe said, was that nothing ex-       tioned. These could not come to
                                              clusionary of any other group was to be          God in thanksgiving on the basis
                                              included.                                        of that cross. That would prove
                                                 "The idea of Thanksgiving is common
                                              lo all of us, " the rabbi said, "and can         "exclusionary".
                                              overcome anything specifically denomin-             So, how could there be true
                                              ational.  "                                      thanksgiving to God?
                                                 If the four congregations involved give          And has not the Word of Scrip-
                                              a positive response, Doorn said, the  ser-       ture been taken seriously: "Who-
                                              r!ice will become an annual event, replac-
                                              ing as it did this year his own churchS          soever transgresseth and abideth
                                              traditional Thanksgiving celebration.            not in the doctrine of Christ, hath
 Gise J. Van Baren  is pastor of the Prot-       `I don't know of anything like this in        not God. He that abideth in the
 estant Reformed Church of  Hudsonville,      the community, with both Christians and          doctrine of Christ, he hath both
 Michigan.                                    Jews together, " Doom  said.

                                                                                                                   The Standard Bearer  / 735


 the Father and the Son. If there                place greater importance on obeying the         Buddhism's Growth In
 come any unto you, and bring                    doctrinal dictates of the Rev. Gary Taylor      America
 not this ,doctrine, receive him not             of Tower Grove Baptist Church. As
                                                 religious policy, this is questionable. As         The Christian News, Nov. 2,
 into your house, neither bid him                an educational standard, it's abhorrent.        1987, reminds of the growth of
 God speed: for he that biddeth                    If Missouri Baptist wants to be Rev.          open idolatry in America. It
 him God speed is partaker of his                Taylor's school, it  has  embarked on the       writes (quoting from RNS),
 evil deeds." How, then, could                   correct course. But in so doing, it has            ". . . Buddhism has taken hold in
 there be worship and thanks-                    forfeited its right to be taken seriously as    America.
 giving together with such as have               an institution of higher learning.
                                                    One notes the threats and in-                   The most concrete sign yet of
 so distorted the truths of the                  timidation included in the above                BuddhismS  emergence as a major
 cross as to make necessary the                                                                  religion in the United States will occur
                                                 article. Because a religious col-
 Reformation? And worse: how                                                                     during November in Los Angeles when
                                                 lege refuses to teach evolution as              leaders of a variety of American Buddhist
 can deniers of the trinity and of               a "respectable theory of the                    groups will meet to create a national
 the cross of atonement, join                    Earth's oiigin," it makes itself a              organization designed to enhance the
 hands with those who claim to                   "laughing stock". Its graduates                 sprepd of the Faith in this country.
 believe both? God is not mocked.                                                                  About 150 Buddhist leaders from
                                                 ought not to teach history nor
 What must have been excluded                                                                    around the country are expected to at-
                                                 science in public schools. Such a               tend the first convocation of the
 in that "worship" service, means                school does not deserve accredi-                American Buddhist Congress (ABC) set
 that God was not properly                       tation. With that, its students                 for Nov. lo-12  at the Kwan Urn Sa
 thanked; His Name was not                       ought not receive any govern-                   Korean Buddhist Temple near downtown.
 honored; His Son was ignored.                                                                     The leaders will adopt a constitution,
                                                 ment loans or grants for their
 Shame indeed to all such as par-                                                                elect officers and pass resolutions on
                                                 education. It has "forfeited its                matters of mutual concern to all
 ticipate in this mockery.                       right to be taken seriously as an               American Buddhists.
                                                                                                    Within a few years, so we are
 The "Cost" Of Orthodoxy                         institution of higher learning".
                                                   And though the article insists                told, Buddhism will outnumber
    The Christian News, Oct. 26,                 that this college is obeying "the               those of the Jewish religion in
 1987, quotes from the St. Louis                 doctrinal dictates of the Rev.                  our country and become the
,Post-Dispatch, Oct. 20, 1987, as                Gary Taylor", the fact is that it               second major religion after "Chris-
 follows:                                        evidently obeys the dictates of                 tianity". Only a few years ago,
   Miisouri  Baptist College is showing          Scripture - specifically the first              we were inclined to think of the
 three faculty members the door in  a                                                            United States as a "Christian" na-
 dispute over the teaching of evolutionary       chapters of Genesis. One knows                  tion. Now, with apostasy in the
 theory. Every private school has the right      that this type of scorn comes
 to teach its mandate; we do not dispute         upon the faithful church - yet it               ranks of the churches, and the
 this. The ability to hire and Fire goes with    is rather shocking to see it in                 rise of heathen religions, with the
it. But few institutions are so closed off       print. The courts have declared                 rise of atheism and the eradica-
 from the rest of the world that when they                                                       tion of all reference to God and
 exercise this right they do not risk in-        that the creation account may                   His Word in public places, the
 viting public ridicule and, more seriously,     not be taught as a "scientifically
sanctions from bodies on whose approval          respectable theory of the Earth's               United States is rapidly becoming
hinges their own credibility.                    origin" in public schools. Yet it is            godless and antichristian. But all
   Thus, by ruling out all instruction of        now said that evolution must so                 of this is truly fulfillment of the
 evolution as a scientifically respectable       be taught in private Christian col-             testimony of Scripture which
 theory of the Earth's origin, Missouri                                                          speaks of the signs of the end of
Baptist has made of itself a laughing            leges.
stock. The degrees of its graduates are                                                          time. Cl
compromised, and their chances of ob-
taining employment as teachers of
 history and science in public schools are
made negligible. By so closely inter-            The Standard Bearer makes a thoughtful
twining a narrow, Fundamentalist view of
science with the school's curriculum, the        holiday gift for members of your family,
board of trustees has also possibly
thrown into jeopardy its accreditation
and thereby undermined the ability of its        friends, and neighbors. Give a gift of the
903 students to receive government loans
and grants for their education.
   The school is yet young and has much          Standard Bearer.
to learn about the vital role that
academic freedom and unimpeded in-
quiry play in the cultivation of bright, in-
quisitive minds. Evidently, its directors

136  / The Standard Bearer


                                         The Two Natures of
Taking Heed To  Christ  - The Deity
The Doctrine
Ronald H. Hanko                          of Christ

 2. Denials of this doctrine (con-         The church today neglects the        the Psalms teach us to sing, but
 tinued).                                doctrine of Christ's divinity          of Christ alone, and then with the
   Though the false teaching of          especially by a one-sided em-          weak sentiment of the popular
 the sects regarding the divinity of     phasis on His humanity. In the         hymns and with all the emphasis
 Christ is still a threat to the         teaching of the church only those      on that which is most human in
 church, especially because of the       attributes of God in Christ that       Him. It is striking too, that the
 deceitfulness of these false            have a reflection in man are           church in her hymns sings only
 teachers, the greatest threat to        mentioned, while such attributes       about Christ and not in Him, that
 church doctrine at, this point          as His sovereignty, immutability       is, with His own words.and songs
 comes not from without but from         (unchangeableness), and in-            as the Psalms teach us to sing.
 within. That threat is the neglect      dependence, especially in judg-        This reflects a neglect of His
 of this doctrine by the church          ment, are entirely passed over.        divinity also, since it is by virtue
 herself. Such neglect of Christ's       One hears only of His love and         of His power as the Son of God
 divinity is at least as malignant as    compassion and His concern for         that we are in Him. It is not at all
 the outright denials of this doc-       the poor and helpless, but             surprising, then, that it was
 trine that characterize the sects,      nothing of the Christ Who reveals      Arius, the first great enemy of
 perhaps even more so since it ap-       the wrath of God in crying             the truth of Christ's divinity, who
 pears relatively harmless and           against the cities of Galilee,         said: "Let me make a people's
 benign. Any denial of the deity         beating the buyers and sellers         songs, and I care not who makes
 of Christ, whether by neglect or        with whips in temple, and curs-        their laws."
 open denial, is a deadly threat to      ing an unfruitful nation and its         In her preaching the church no
 the very existence of the church,       leaders. Even in speaking of His       longer presents a Christ in Whom
 for the redemption, the life, and       love and compassion, it is not the     all the wrath of God against sin is
 the hope of the church are all          burning holiness of those at-          revealed, and in Whom God
 grounded in the truth that Jesus        tributes as attributes of God that     shows Himself as the only
 is the Son of God.                      is emphasized, but the weak, sen-      Saviour, but rather presents a
                                         timental emotionalism of those         Christ Who is little more than a
                                         attributes as they belong to man       kind helper or fine example. The
                                         that is stressed.                      cross is reduced to a mere ex-
                                           The prayers of the church            pression of the desire (again a
                                         reflect this abnormality also. The     very human desire) to help and
                                         church no longer prays to God in       save all men. The work of Christ
                                         and through Jesus Christ, but to       is not seen any longer as the
                                         Jesus Himself (or to the Holy          working out of the will of God by
                                         Spirit), thus consciously or uncon-    Him Who is Himself the counsel-
                                         sciously separating Him from the       ing and decreeing God, but more
Ronald H. Hanko is pastor of Trinity     Godhead. Likewise, in her singing
Protestant Reformed Church, Houston,     the church no longer sings of
Texas.                                   God and His glory in Christ as

                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer  /  137


 as the working out of Christ's                   the trinity that the two really         last. That doctrine must be alive
 own will on behalf of His earthly                cannot be separated. This'is            in the churches, as Daniel says
 brethren over against an angry                   abundantly clear from the early         regarding the church in the last
 and threatening God. So a wedge                  history of the church. The first        days; "But the people that do
 is driven, and driven ever more                  heresies with which the church          know their God shall be strong,
 deeply between Christ and the                    had to deal were the so-called          and do exploits" (11:32).
 Godhead; and the church, for all                 trinitarian heresies, some of             The significance of this doc-
 practical purposes, is left without              which are named in Article IX of        trine for the church is seen in the
 the Christ of the Scriptures, Who                the Belgic Confession. Without          fact, on the one hand, that Re-
 is above all else the holy Son of                exception these early heresies          formed churches have always
 God.                                             either touched on the whole             recognized the Roman Catholic
    This widespread neglect of                    question of Christ's divinity, or       Church as a church in spite of its
 Christ's divinity is evidence of an              involved a direct attack on that        long-standing apostasy, while
 even more serious problem, if                    doctrine and led, in the history of     counting Jews and Moham-
 that is possible: that is, that the              the early church, directly into the     medans outside the pale of Chris-
 Church no longer needs or wants                  so-called christological contro-        tianity (cf. the Belgic Confession,
 a Christ Who is God's Son, the                   versies.                                Article IX). Because the Jews
 Only Begotten God. She has no                      It is obvious, too, that the truth    trace their roots back to the Old
 use for such a Christ because she                that Christ is God cannot be            Testament, we are inclined to
 has in large measure substituted                 separated from His work as              assume that they worship and
 a gospel of man's ability and                    Saviour and the whole doctrine          teach the same God as we do.
 power for the gospel of the                      of the atonement. He has power          The truth is that in rejecting
 sovereignty and power of God                     over life and death - power to          Christ as the Son of God they
 unto salvation. Teaching free                    lay down His own life and take it       have become as much idolaters
 will, believing that faith is man's              again, power also to conquer            as the heathen who have never
 own work, and denying total                      death for us and to give us His         known Christ. Here also the
 depravity, she has no need of                    own everlasting, heavenly life -        church has at times neglected the
 God in Christ. And abandoning                    only because He is the Living           truth of Christ's divinity, and lost
 Christ, the Son of God, she aban-                God. Only as almighty God was           her witness among the Jews as
 dons her own salvation and safe-                 He able to bear the wrath of God        well, by telling the Jews that
 ty, and loses her character as the               against sin, and only as the            they can retain their Judaism and
 church of God.                                   righteous Lord could He obtain          still be saved, or by speaking to
    J.I. Packer sums it up well:                  for us righteousness and peace          and about the unconverted Jews
   From current Christian publications            with God. The whole value and           as brothers in the faith, as the
 you might think that the most vital issue        power of His sacrifice depends          Pope did recently. John points
 for any real or would-be Christian in the        not only on what He did, but on         out in II John 9, that a person
 world today is church union, or social           Who He is.                              who does not have this doctrine
 witness, or dialogue with other Christians
 and other Faiths, or refuting this or that         In an even more practical vein,       of Christ,does not have God. This
 -ism,   or  developing a Christian               this doctrine as confessed and          is what Athanasius, the greatest
 philosophy and culture, or what have             believed by the church, is the          defender of'this truth the church
 you  _ . . The issues themselves are real        church's unshakeable and forever        has ever produced, said about
 and must be dealt with in their place.           firm foundation. Built on this          the Arians of his day, "Being
 But it is tragic that, in paying attention to
 them, so many in our day seem to have            foundation the gates of hell can-       Arians, they are not Christians."
 been distracted from what was, is, and           not prevail against the church.         The church must insist on this in
 always will be the true priority for every       Built on anything else the church       her witness to the Jews and to
 human being  - that is, learning to know         is built on treacherous, shifting       the sects. We also must insist on
 God in Christ (Knowing God, p. 254).             sand and cannot endure. Notice,         it in our witness to those of the
 3. The importance of this doc-                   however, that the church is built       various sects who come knocking
 trine.                                           not on the doctrine of Christ's         on our doors, that they are
    The importance of the doctrine                divinity as such, but on that doc-      unbelievers and idolaters, who
 of Christ's divinity cannot be                   trine as it is confessed and be-        shall die in their sins, unless they
 over-emphasized. It lies at the                  lieoed in the church (Matt.             repent and are converted to God.
 very heart of theology, for one                  16.13-18). The church which has
 thing. It is, for example, so close-             that doctrine only in her official
 ly bound up with the doctrine of                 documents is not built on that
                                                  doctrine or assured that she shall


138  / The Standard Bearer


    So critical is this doctrine that                  This, too, the church has for-                   printed with this anathema, it
 John tells us in II John 9, 10 that            gotten in large measure. And to                         said therein nothing less than
 we are not even to have fellow-                the extent that she has forgotten                       what the Scriptures themselves
 ship with those who deny that                  it she shows how little she really                      say. Those who reject and deny
 Christ is God, lest we be tainted              cares for Christ as the divine Son                      Christ, the only begotten Son of
 with their unbelief or become                  of God. Everywhere she seeks                            God, shall be and are accursed.
 partakers of their blasphemies.                "dialogue" and fellowship with                          "He that honoreth not the Son
 John is not warning against the                those who deny Him by Whose                             honoreth not the Father which
 possibility of our beginning to                Name she is called. To put it-in                        hath sent Him" (Jn. 5:23).
 teach and believe what they                    other words, the whole ecumen-                             As Athanasius pointed out, the
 teach, but against the possibility             ical movement today, insofar as                         denial of Christ's divinity is "a
 of our being partakers of their                it includes Unitarians, the Sects,                      heresy more than ordinary . . .
 blasphemy and evil simply by                   the Jews, the Muslims, and the                          and harbinger of Antichrist." Let
 countenancing even in the                      various heathen religions and                           the church, therefore, keep her
 smallest way their presence. The               philosophies is simply a denial of                      faith "in one Lord Jesus Christ,
 doctrine of Christ's divinity is the           God in Christ.                                          the Son of God, begotten of the
 dividing line between Christianity                    The Nicene Creed as originally                   Father, only begotten, that is, of
 and paganism, church and world,                written gets at the heart of all                        the substance of the Father, God
 salvation and condemnation.                    this when it curses those who                           of God, Light of Light, true God
                                                deny the deity of Christ. And                           of true God, begotten and not
                                                though the creed is no longer                           made, of one substance with the
                                                                                                        Father" (Nicene Creed). 0





                                               Hard  Questions  For  Young  People:
The Strength                                   `"What Shall I Do After
of Youth.
Barrett L. Critters                            High School?" (2)


                                                Dear Christian parents and young people,
                                                Dear Christian parents and young people,                                     __

                                                       This 
                                                       This se&on of the Standard Bearer has 
                                                                se&on of the Standard Bearer has  atways
                                                                                                             atways  been written.for
                                                                                                                      been written. for
                                                the young people. The Title 
                                                the young people. The Title "The Strength of Youth
                                                                                          "The Strength of Youth" emphasizes
                                                                                                                       " emphasizes
                                                the unique strength that young people have in their teens and later.
                                                the unique strength that young people have in their teens and later.
                                                       Although there is a unique strength in young people that needs
                                                       Although there is a unique strength in young people that needs
                                                to be capitalized on, in their lives
                                                to be capitalized on, in their lives  the&
                                                                                                     the& are many difficult questions
                                                                                                           are many difficult questions
                                                ~to
                                                ~to face and 
                                                        face and anstier.
                                                                    anstier. My purpose in this rubric this year is to ad-
                                                                                My purpose in this rubric this year is to ad-
                                                dress some of those questions 
                                                dress some of those questions an@ try 
                                                                                            an@ try to
                                                                                                         to give guidetines for answer-
                                                                                                            give guidetines for answer-
                                                ing them, so that 
                                                ing them, so that their
                                                                              their strengths may be used to the fullest.
                                                                                   strengths may be used to the fullest.
                                                       if you have questions you would like to see addressed here,
                                                       if you have questions you would like to see addressed here,
                                                please write to me 
                                                please write to me dire&y,
                                                                               direcfly,  8.360
                                                                                         8.360  ,Clyde
                                                                                                    ,Clyde Park SW, Byron Center, 
                                                                                                           Park SW, Byron Center, Ml
                                                                                                                                       Ml
                                                4.9315.
                                                4.9315.                 ((
                                                       God lead you and bless you 
                                                       God lead you and bless you as.yau
                                                                                                   as.yau face your many 
                                                                                                          face your many "hard 
                                                                                                                             "hard ques-
                                                                                                                                   ques-
 Barrett L. Critters is pastor of the Prot-     Jions.
                                                Jions.   ""
 estant Reformed Church of Byron Center,                                                     ((
 Michigan.

                                                                                                                         The Standard Bearer  I139


     Believing that God has a place      hand, one of my brothers did              2. SECOND. WE MUST
  for each of His children, we are       poorly in math and science in           DETERMINE &JR CALLING IN
  encouraged in our search for           high school, but is now a               THE LIGHT OF GOD'S RE-
  work after we finish school.           research and development                VEALED WILL.
  Gods place for each of us is our       engineer for a defense contractor         By this I mean that God's
  "divine office and calling."           building missiles.                      Word will guide us in certain
     In trying to determine what to         Nevertheless, normally, one's        directions and away from others
  do after high school, the old          abilities in high school ought to       in our search for an occupation.
  Latin phrase "Ora et labora"           be one major factor in determin-        That must almost go without say-
  (pray and work!) sends us on our       ing one's occupation. Given the         ing. But I will say it anyway.
  way. We pray with Paul, "Lord,         gift of public speaking, insight in-      Let me give just a few ex-
  what wilt thou have me to do?"         to the Word, and love of working        amples.
  and we work with all our might         with people, a young man ought            A young man will not train for
  trying to find the answer of the       to consider the ministry. With the      a job that can give him work on-
  Lord. Not given to answer by           qualifications of the ability to ex-    ly in a place that is away from
  signs in the sky, the Lord wills us    press clearly what she is think-        the church. Elimelech and Naomi
  to work to determine what He           ing, a young woman can con-             tasted the bitter results of run-
  would have us do.                      sider rearing children in the           ning away from Gods house so
     While praying always, we can        Christian school. The teenager          that they could receive food. A
 use the following three guidelines      with skills in science and biology      starving soul is worse than a
 as concrete helps for us in our         can investigate what the field of       starving belly. If you are a pho-
  work of decision making:               medicine could be. Love for             tographer, a position on the staff
     1. FIRST, WE MUST DETER-            music could direct one to a field       of National Geographic would
 MINE OUR CALLING BY OUR                 of teaching music - an area             not fit with life in the church. On
 ABILITY.                                where Christian school teachers         the other hand, a studio or a
     I mean by this that each young      are needed.                             position on a local newspaper's
 person has been fitted by God             Doesn't this emphasize the im-        staff might be options.
 with qualifications that match          portance of trying hard in high           Standing firm on the fourth
 his/her calling.                        school? Learn! Study! Work!             commandment, a Reformed
     Sometimes young people don't        Pray! Ask the Lord what is right        young man or woman will not
 even consider what their qualifi-       for you. Make daily requests that       take a job that requires work
 cations are, but simply choose          He open doors in the right direc-       every Sabbath day. The revealed
 the occupation that their fathers       tion and close others. Are you          will of God is that we worship
 have had. Doing what father has         trying to find your strengths?          Him regularly on the Sabbath
 done is not wrong. In fact, some-       (Isn't it true that the young peo-      Day.
 times this is an occupation that        ple who enter occupations that            Committed to the truth that
 falls to a young person naturally.      need skills in which they did           the child of God must honor
 A child often has the same skills       poorly in high school, are those        those in authority over him, the
 as the father. Sometimes father         who did not put forth much ef-          young man or woman will not
 makes "taking over the business"        fort in high school to see what         take a job that requires joining
 quite attractive. But high school       abilities the Lord had given            with an ungodly labor union. (Im-
 students and graduates ought to         them?)                                  plied is that there may be some
 look farther than dads work,              This also points out the impor-       unions that don't compromise
 truck, or office. Seriously con-        tance of student counseling by          Christian behavior.)
 sider the abilities you have.           qualified teachers in the schools,        Nor should a young man or
    What one did well in high            by concerned pastors in the chur-       young woman consider a job, the
 school will help determine what         ches, and by parents who know           training for which will take him
 direction one can go for employ-        their children best and see first-      away from the churches. (But
 ment after school.                      hand how they are doing in              will he or she go to school for a
    This guideline cannot be             school. Are we doing this? Are          few years where there is no Prot-
 followed strictly. My own ex-           we giving good guidance to our          estant Reformed Church? Will he
 perience is that I liked and did        young people? Do we know their          make his decision on the basis of
 well in mathematics and the             strengths and weaknesses?               whether or not there is a good
 science fields in high school -                                                 Reformed church in the area he
 fields that don't very well apply                                               must be educated? Does this
 to the pastorate. On the other                                                  mean that someone could not


140  / The Standard Bearer


consider going to Europe for an        choices, and more good choices              But sometimes the Lords way
education?) Our primary calling        besides these.                            for a girl is that she not marry;
(as thankful believers) is to be in       But every decision made for            or that she marry at an age later
the church of which we are             one occupation and against                than "normal." But how does she
members. When making a deci-           another must be made with this            know that? Perhaps she desires
sion of this sort, this is what we     question serving as a guide:              marriage, but only later sees that
keep in mind.                          "How can I best serve Gods                the Lord does not bring her a
  And then there are the gray          kingdom?" I cannot answer this            husband. Then what? Also,
areas. Will you take a job that in-    for you now. But if you have the          because it is not always wise for
volves days and sometimes              options of farming or building            the young girls to marry im-
weeks away from home and               houses, you have to ask yourself,         mediately out of high school,
family? Will you take a job that       "In which occupation can I best           what should they do from gradu-
means some Sunday travel? Will         serve God?" And there is a good           ation to marriage? It is a compli-
you take a job that requires some      deal involved in that question. Sit       cated business with which the
Sunday work? How much is               down sometime with your pastor            adults ought to sympathize.
good? Oh, occupation choices are ' or teachers or parents and talk                 The choices are many. Should
not easy. But these questions          about what would be some deter-           the girl perhaps find a factory
must be considered when looking        mining factors. (One might be             job that will pay well, trying to
for work. Our first calling is to      how many hours the job re-                earn money to help her future
serve God. Committed to serving        quires. Another might be how              husband buy a home? In these
God, we must be convinced that         much money can be made in                 days of high living costs and ris-
the work we choose will enable         each. How much will you be                ing Christian school tuition, this
us to continue to serve Him to         home with the family? How                 might be wise for some. Or
the fullest. And this leads to the     many evenings could be devoted            should she try to find a job that
next point.                            to church work? Will a certain            will help her learn a skill that she
  3. THIRD, WE DETERMINE               job give me opportunity to spend          might use in her home as a
OUR CALLING IN CONNEC-                 more time with my children as             mother? Or considering that she
TION WITH KINGDOM SER-                 they grow up? Will a job take me          might not marry, should she find
VICE.                                  away from the church, or draw             employment where the pay
  This is last, but certainly not      me close to it? If I am able to ex-       might begin low, but have both
least. What would the Lord have        press myself well, which job will         intellectual stimulation and
us to do?                              give me better opportunity as a           potential advancement, for long
  True to the Reformed faith and       Christian witness? etc., etc.) In         term occupation?
the cause of Gods kingdom, the         every decision, we seek first               SUGGESTIONS
young man and young woman              Gods kingdom and its righteous-             Keeping in mind the guidelines
want to serve God in away that         ness.                                     we have already talked about, I
promotes His kingdom. In want-           WHAT ABOUT THE GIRLS?                   will try to give a couple of sug-
ing this, they will ask themselves       From a certain point of view,           gestions. First, if the young
first whether they can serve Him       the decision the girls face is even       women don't go to college (a
in a way that directly serves His      tougher than that of the young            choice I will recommend next
kingdom. "Do I have the qualifi-       men. And that adds all the more           time) they should ask the same
cations to study for the               weight to the need to pray about          questions the young man asks.
ministry?" "Would it be good for       their decision.
me to study to teach in the Chris-       Normally, girIs aren't in a posi-
tian school?"                          tion that they have to be the             Take the time
  This is not to say that Chris-       bread winners for a family. Nor-
tians don't serve Gods kingdom         mally, the Lord's will for the            to read and
if they aren't pastors or teachers.    young women is that they marry,
Some get the impression that           bear children, guide the home (I          study the
ministers think only the ministry      Timothy 2:14). This is not to say
and teaching are kingdom work.         that this work of motherhood is           Standard Bearer.
Perhaps we ministers are guilty        easy; it is to say that if this is the
of fostering that attitude by talk-    Lords way, the decision of what
ing in the pulpit only about           occupation to take is made.
gospel ministry and Christian
school teaching. There are more


                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer  1147


  "What did I do well in and enjoy        marry (and that is good, even if       to the Lord" (I Corinthians
  in high school?" (Enjoy? Yes! It is     you don't let anybody else             7:32ff)?
  difficult to glorify God in a           know), what j.ob will help you be         The end is coming. The temp-
  tedious job you dislike strongly.)      a good mother and wife in the          tation is to say all this doesn't
  "Do any of the job possibilities        home? If your desire is not to         matter much. Just let me work.
  lead me in a path outside of the        marry, or if the single life is        But let the decisions of the young
  circle of God's will? And, how          God's way for you (and that can        women be just as serious and
  can I best serve God in my              be good, too - see I Corinthians       premeditated as their covenant
  work?"                                  7: 1, 7-9, 32ff!) what work will       brothers. And let your work after
     Second, you should also ask          directly or indirectly help you        high school be for the glory of
  questions that fit your cir-            "care for the things that belong       God's name, whatever it is. q
  cumstances. If you desire to





                                          Book Review

  Bible Student's Commentary:             format (more attractive than the       the conclusions of another Dutch
  JOSHUA, JUDGES, RUTH,  C.J.             Dutch series with its multiple         scholar, Van Gelderen.
  Goslinga; Grand Rapids, Michi-          small volumes), written in               In the jacket blurb of the com-
  gan, Zondervan Publishing Co.           popular style, and written by          mentary on Matthew, you will
  (Regency Reference Library); 558        conservative Reformed scholars.        find the statement, "Professor
  pp. (hard cover).                       As might be expected in light of       Ridderbos's commentary on
  Bible Student's Commentary:             the fact that the Zondervan Com-       Matthew is considered one of the
  MAnHEW, H.N. Ridderbos;                 pany publishes it, the NIV Bible is    finest in this series." Perhaps
  Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zonder-         the text which is followed in          comparisons are odious. Never-
  van Publishing Co. (Regency             these commentaries, While I            theless, since the publishers sug-
  Reference Library); 556 pp. (hard       frown on the NIV, its use here is      gest a comparison, I feel free to
  cover). [Reviewed by Prof. H.C.         no great hindrance, since at           express my disagreement. In
  Hoeksema]                               various points differences be-         casually checking Dr. Ridderbos's
                                          tween versions are noted.              comments on some key passages
     Whoever makes it a point to            The commentary by Dr.                of Matthew, I found myself either
 purchase the volumes of the Bi-          Goslinga  on Joshua, Judges, and       disagreeing sharply or not satis-
  ble Student's Commentary as they        Ruth is excellent and will be          fied that the passage was ade-
  come from the press will gradual-       helpful to anyone studying these       quately explained. Thus, for ex-
 ly gather for himself a very             books. Dr. Goslinga  in these com-     ample, I was not at all satisfied
 useful set of commentaries. This         mentaries strongly opposes the         with the author's explanation of
 series is an English translation of      higher-critical approach and           Matthew 11:28-30. Nevertheless,
 the Dutch Korte  Verblaring              makes no secret of it. I found the     in many respects this com-
 series. It is published in attractive    introductory material preceding        mentary is helpful.
                                          the commentary on Judges very            Both volumes are recom-
                                          interesting, especially because        mended. Cl
                                          the author discusses the subject
                                          of the chronology of this period
                                          (a very difficult and involved sub-
                                          ject) rather thoroughly. He rather
                                          cogently argues against some of

142  / The Standard Bearer


                                                                 :;,._ ";,`:      i
                                                                 - ,^  :":~  '
                                            News  From.  .:I#?
Ben Wigger                           + Our Churches

                  December 15,1987          "One of the few things we like             "nuclear war", or "free masonry"
   The consistory of our Holland,           about going to GrandRapids for             even once; and we didn't have
Michigan, Church has formed a               General Assembly is the fact that          the impression that Pastor Haak
new trio from which their con-              Grand Rapids is a city in which            had spent more time the previous
gregation is to call one to come            one can hear good preaching, if            week in a news magazine than in
over and help them. This trio               one knows where to go. This                the New Testament. Which is
consists of the Revs. K. Hanko,             year the place where several of            why given the choice between
G. Van Baren and B.                         us went was to the First Protes-           our P.C.A. celebrities and Joe
Woudenberg.                                 tant Reformed Church. As it hap-           Nobody of Bigtoe, Alabama, or
   First Church in Grand Rapids             pened the General Synod of the             Pastor Haak of Lynden, Washing-
has also formed a new trio from             Protestant Reformed Churches               ton, we will always take the Iat-
which their congregation is to              was meeting at about the same              t e r . "
select one to receive the call of           time as the P.C.A. Assembly. The             The Young People's Societies
missionary to Jamaica. This trio            pastor of First Protestant Re-             of First Church in Grand Rapids
consists of the Revs. M. De Vries,          formed, being an official of the           sponsored a Thanksgiving Lec-
B. Gritters and K. Koole.                   Synod, found it expedient to ask           ture on Thursday, November 19
   Sometimes we forget what we              someone to fill the pulpit for him         in their church. Rev. Joostens
have as churches, especially in             on the Sunday we were in town.             spoke on "Observance of Special
the way of preaching. Pastor                Having no media personalities to           Days in the Reformed Tradition."
Steven Key provided me with the             turn to (not that he would have              Young Adults aged 19 and
following excerpt from the                  anyway), he invited a young man            older were invited to a Polaroid
Southern Presbyterian Advocate,             named Carl Haak, pastor in                 Party on Saturday, November 2 1.
written by Pastor Eugene Case.              Lynden, Washington, to fill in for         They were scheduled to meet at
                                            him. Pastor Haak is not a media            Hudsonville Church at 6:30 for
                                            person. He is short of stature and         instructions. Each person was en-
                                            from where we were sitting, he             couraged to bring along a
                                            seemed at times to completely              Polaroid camera, if he had one, a
                                            disappear behind the pulpit. But           flashlight, and his imagination.
                                            Pastor Haak, in the power of                 On Sunday evening, November
                                            God's Spirit, can preach. He               22, the Young People's Society of
                                            preached Psalm 13. He didn't ad-           Grandville Church invited their
                                            dress any of the pressing social           congregation to a special Thanks-
                                            or cultural issues of the day.             giving Program given by the
                                            What he did was measure out the            young people, following the
                                            comforting truth of God's Word             evening worship service. The col-
                                            to saints in affliction. When we           lection was for the 1988 Conven-
                                            left there that day, we were not           tion.
                                            in the least concerned with what             South Holland's Young
                                            was going on in Washington D.C.            People's Society went horseback
                                            (as if we gave a rip); we didn't           riding Thanksgiving Day. They
                                            hear the words "abortion,"                 were supposed to be at the Glen-
Ben Wigger is an elder in the Protestant                                               wood Stables at 5:30 A.M. After
Reformed Church of  Hudsonuille,                                                       riding, they were going out for
Michigan.                                                                              breakfast, and then on to church.

                                                                                                        The Standard Bearer  II43


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                                                                                                                                                                                                `_..,-_  ,' .--
                           /?O. Box 6064                                                                                                 ./             1`               ..e.
 i:-!,                Grand Rapids, MI 49.506



                             Lynden's consistory gave their         IN  MEMORIAM                                       member, Mrs. Egbert Critters in
                           pastor, Carl Haak, permission to            Friday, November 20, our                        the death of her brother, JOHN
                           speak for our mission group in           Heavenly Father took unto Him-                     BRANDS.
                           Modesto, Ca. This was to have            self our beloved husband,                             "In my Father's house are
                           been a Reformation lecture spon-         father, grandfather and  great-                    many mansions: if it were not
                           sored by our Redland's Church.           grandfather, ARTHUR BULT,                          so,. I would have told you. I go
                             On Wednesday, November 11,             aged 75.                                          to prepare a place for you. And
                           our congregation in Edmonton                Although we grieve sorely                       if I go and prepare a place for
                           spent their afterpoon and early          because of our loss, we can,                      you, I will come again and
                           evening involved in a Car Rally,         nevertheless, rejoice in the fact                  receive you unto myself; so that
                           Soup Supper, and Sing-Song. The          that our departed one is now                      where I am ye may be also."
                           first cars were sent out from the        with his Saviour, whom he loved                   (John 14:2, 3)
                           church at approximately                  and served.                                       Rev. R. Moore, Pres.
                           12:00-12:30 P.M.,A soup supper              "Precious in the sight of the                  Bonnie Hoksbergen, Sec'y.
                           was served begidning at 4:00             Lord is the death of His saints."                  N O T I C E ! ! !
                           P.M., followed by a Sing-Song. A         (Psalm 116:15)
                           box was made available for dona-                                                               Rev. Harbach's booklet, "AN
                                                                    Mrs. Arthur  Bult
                           tions to the 1988%Zonvention.                                                              EXPOSITION OF CHRISTIAN
                                                                    Nancy Robinson
                             The subject of the first session       John and Nancy  Bult                              LIBERTY", is now available for
                           of the six week course on Basic          Arthur, Jr. and Janet  Bult                       $1.50. To place an order please
                                                                    Gordon and Elaine Ondersma
                           Christian Truth, sponsored by our                                                          contact Lisa Van Koevering,
                                                                    Charles and  JoAnne  Bult
                           Randolph congregation, was,                                                                772-4957 or Ed Lotterman,
                                                                      23 grandchildren
                           "Why do Christians Today Still                                                             878-9632.
                                                                      I2 great-grandchildren
                           Believe the Bible?"                                              First Church bf           NOTICE!!!
                             The council of Faith Church                                    Grand Rapids, Michigan
                                                                                                                          Hope Protestant Reformed
                           has agreed to a church pictorial         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                            Christian School, Walker, Ml, is
                           directory for 1988.                         The Consistory and Congrega-                   in need of an Administrator/
                             Southeast's congregation is            tion of the Loveland Protestant                   Teacher for the 1988-89 school
                      presently also having their pic-              Reformed Church express our                       year. Please contact Cordon
                      tures taken for a pictorial direc-            Christian sympathy to Mr. and                     Terpstra, (616) 453-l 364. His
                      tory for 1988.                                Mrs. Robert Brands and family                     ma'iling address is:  - 600
                             From Southwest's bulletins we          in the death of his brother, MR.                  Kenowa Ave., S.W., Grand
                      found that delays have continued              JOHN BRANDS. May they be                          Rapids, Ml 49504.
                      to set back the time schedule                 comforted in the assurance that
                                                                    - //
                      regarding the proposed building                           all things work together              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                      program. These delays are due to              for  &dd to them that love God,                      The Priscilla Society  df The
                      needed changes in the original                to them who are the called ac-                    First Protestant Reformed
                      building plan. The councii  did,              cording to His purpose."                          Church of Grand Rapids extends
                      however, plan to have a proposal              (Remans  8:28).                                   heartfelt sympathy to our fellow
                      ready within a couple of weeks.               Rev. Ron Cammenga, Pres.                          member, Marie Bult, in the loss
                             And finally from Southeast's           Mr. Larry Nelson, Clerk                           of her husband, ARTHUR BULT.
                      "News from de Pew" newsletter:                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                            We pray that the words of the
                      And oldtimer is one who can                      The members of the Martha                      Psalmist  - "Thy rod and Thy
                      remember when a pie was set on                Ladies' Aid  Societj, of the Hull                 staff they comfort me,"  - may
                      the window sill to cool - not to              Protestant Reformed Church                        be her daily portion.
                      thaw out. 0                                   would like to express their                       Mrs. Eleanore Bol, Pres.
                                                                    sincere sympathy to their                         Miss Reka Sietstra, Sec'y.


                  144  /  The  Standard Bearer


