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january 15, 1988


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                                                                       lanuary  15,1988           STANDARD
Meditation  - Cornelius Hanko
Prayer For Our Daily Bread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170               EARER
Editorials  -                                                                                     ISSN 0362.4692
As ToI Dr. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones And Pentecostalism . .' . .I73                                Semi-monthly, except monthly  during  June, July,
                                                                                                  and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
An Interesting letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I74    lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
                                                                                                  at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
Walking  In The Light  - Herman C. Hanko                                                          EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
                                                                                                  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
MorelOn Abortion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I75        DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                                  Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog,
The  Day of Shadows  - John A. Heys                                                               Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. Barry Critters, Rev.
                                                                                                  Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev.
A Nameless and Shoeless Kinsman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I77                   Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A.  Heys,  Rev.  J.  Korter-
                                                                                                  ing, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C.
All  Atound Us -  Cise  /. Van  Baren                                                             Miersma, Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev. Cise  J. Van
The "New Understanding" of Scripture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I80                    Baren,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
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Reviskd Hymnal for the United Methodists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I81                         Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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In  Hi! Fear  - Arie den Hartog                                                                   Mr. Ben Wigger
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Exercise Thyself Unto Godliness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I82                Hudsonville,  Michigan 49426
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170 / The Standard Bearer


  All things must, all things do,     Thy gifts to their own condemna-       refuge, but dwelling places of in-
and all things wilf serve Thy pur-    tion. But Thou in sovereign mer-       timate fellowship and love. Each
pose, and that without fail, even     cy art our Father, who carest for      of us has a place in his family
unto the day of the Lords return.     us in eternal compassion. Thou         and must daily consider the
  Thy Name is and will be eter-       appointest our food and drink          needs of his dear ones. We are
nally hallowed, Thy kingdom is        and all our sustenance in infinite     members of Thy church, having
coming and will come, Thy will        wisdom, almighty power, and            a place and calling among our
is being done and shall be unto       loving kindness. Thou with-            fellow saints. We need the
all eternity, for Thine is the        holdest no good thing from those       preaching of the Word, the sacra-
kingdom, and the power, and the       who fear Thee. Thou dost hold          ments, the communion of saints,
glory forever and ever!               us by Thy hand to guide us with        the instruction of the covenant
  It is in that confidence that we    Thy counsel, afterward to receive      youth of the church in the fear of
pray to Thee: Heavenly Father,        us into Thy glory.                     Thy name, particularly in the
give us this day our daily bread.       Father, in complete depen-           church and in our Christian
  We acknowledge Thee as our          dence upon Thee we ask for             schools. We have a responsibility
Creator, our Sustainer, our Pro-      bread.                                 to our fellow believers, especially
vider, and our Lord.                    In a sense, we ask for so little.    in time of need; yea, we even
  Thou hast in the very short         Though our tables are laden with       have a responsibility to Lazarus,
period of a mere six days created     food, even with choice delicacies,     whom Thou hast brought with
the heavens and the earth and all     such as salads and desserts, pies      his rags and ugly sores at our
that they contain. Since that, for    and cakes, we still ask only for       doorstep. We ask for bread, so
almost six thousand years, Thou       bread. With outstretched hands         very little, and yet so very much!
hast carried out Thy counsel in       we ask of Thee at every meal             As Thou dost impress upon us
the history of this present world,    anew, "Lord, give us bread".           our deep dependence upon Thee,
and hast by way of His suffering        Yet when we do so we ask for         wilt Thou also teach us to rely on
and death on Calvary exalted          so very much. Bread represents         Thee, to wait for Thee, so that
Thy dear Son Jesus Christ as          the many necessities of life. We       we learn, not only to pray for
Lord over all in the heavens,         need food to sustain our bodies,       bread, but to add to that, "our
whose coming we expect as the         but we also need so very much          daily  bread".
time of His arrival draws ever        more. We need water to quench            We need from Thee the grace
closer. In the meantime, Thou         our thirst, pure air to breathe.       to realize that we have here no
causkst the sun to rise in the        We also need shelter, clothing to      abiding city. We tend always to
morning, and dost carry it            protect us from the heat and           make this life an end in itself, to
through the heavens to let it sink    cold, from the rains of summer         seek our pleasures and our
in triumphant splendor on the         and the stormy blasts of winter.       treasures here below, and to live
western horizon. Thou dost paint      This earthly house of our taber-       for the moment, staring ourselves
its rainbow colors in brilliant       nacle is very frail and needs con-     blind on the passing things of this
display through the heavens.          stant care, medicines, and other       world. We think, and will, and
Thou gatherest the clouds             means to relieve our pain and          live as if we are staying here for-
together and dost pour out their      sufferings. We need doctors,           ever, so that at times Thou must
rain, every drop in Thy ap-           hospitals, yea, and so very much       forcefully make us aware of the
pointed place. The cattle on a        more.                                  realities of our lives, that we are
thousand hills are Thine, even as       We need work for our hands           pilgrims and strangers on the
Thou feedest them and carest for      and means to carry out the call-       earth, only passing through on
them day by day. The, lion goes       ing whereby Thou dost call us in       our way to our real, our eternal
out at night to seek its prey as      this present time, such as trans-      home. We must learn always
Thou dost direct it. The lofty,       portation, tools, and many other       anew that all that Thou sendest
towering mountains are held in        things. We need so very much;          us in this vale of tears is to
their places by Thy Almighty          the list continues to grow as we       prepare us for our place in glory
hand. The lowly flower of the         set our minds upon it.                 before Thy throne.
field tells Thy praises. For that       Besides all that, we do not live       We have the example of Israel
thy Name is near Thy wondrous         as individuals on an island. We        in the wilderness being supplied
works declare!                        have our families, so that our         in that desert waste with manna
  Even the wicked, who refuse         homes are not merely places of         from heaven, a new supply every
to recognize Thee, are still                                                 day. We think of Elijah and the
dependent upon Thee, employing


                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  / 171


widow of Zarephath, who re-            nevermore?" But these thoughts         even that we have saved up
ceived a new supply of oil and of      are our infirmity, our lack of         enough for our old age, and
meal ievery day anew for two           faith. We allow ourselves to be        stowed away something that our
years! and a half. We wonder           tossed to and fro on waves of          children can appreciate after we
whether we would be content,           doubt and fear,.as angry billows       are gone.
we with our abundance, having a        rage and roar within us, threaten-       Then I think of the child who
diet like that. Yet we also realize    ing to swallow us up. Cause us to      without any inhibitions comes
that we could live without the         realize that all things without ex-    running into the house after
least concern, for while               ception, "herbs and grass, rain        school or after play and im-
thousands were dying of starva-        and drought, fruitful and barren       mediately asks: "Mom, may I
tion in Israel and round about         years, meat and drink, health          have something to eat? I am
them,: their bread was certain         and sickness, riches and poverty,      starved." He makes no ceremony
every day anew. They could live        yea, all things come, not by           of it, he does not question
by the day, every day receiving        chance, but by Thy fatherly            mother's love or willingness to
from Thy almighty hand their           hand." (Heidelberg Cat., Lords         provide for his needs, nor does
daily bread. But are we as Thy         Day 10) Moreover, that our             he seek to have his needs sup-
children actually any different?       Father will make whatever evils        plied elsewhere. No, he does not
With all our worrying and com-         he sends upon me, in this valley       rush into the neighbor's house,
plaining, with all our wrestling       of tears turn to my advantage;         thinking he might find something
and concern, we .know in the           for he is able to do it, being         better there. He goes home to
depths of our souls that we need       Almighty God, and willing, being       mother, casts himself upon her
not, we should not worry, for          a faithful Father." (Lords Day 9)      concern for him, and boldly asks
Thou,: Father, carest for us as a        Agur had "this day" in mind          to have all his needs supplied by
father, for his children. Thou who     when he prayed: "Give me               mother.
clothest the lily of the field and     neither poverty nor riches, feed         What shall I render unto Thee,
carest for the sparrow on the          me with the food convenient for        0 Father, for all thy benefits
housetop, dost Thou not care           me: lest I be full, and deny thee,     Thou bestowest upon me? I will
much:more for us, 0 we of little       and say, Who is the Lord? or lest      take up the cup of salvation, ever
faith?                                 I be poor, and steal, and take the     mindful that Thou art the over-
   As we bow at Thy footstool,         name of my God in vain." (Prov-        flowing Fountain of every good
we pray that Thou wilt also teach      erbs 3023, 9) David was aware          and perfect gift, bestowing all
us contentment, so that we may         of this when he sang his               things upon us in the abundance
pray in sincerity and truth: Give      "shepherd psalm", "The Lord is         of Thy mercy unto our salvation.
us thi.t! day our daily bread.         my Shepherd, I shall not want.         Yea, more; I will call upon Thy
   Shamefacedly we admit that          He maketh me to lie down in            Name, 0 Jehovah, making all my
we often seem to know so very          green pastures: he leadeth me          needs known in prayer and sup-
well what we need. We storm            beside still waters. He restoreth      plication with thanksgiving, with
Thy throne with many requests,         my soul." May we, Father, also         extended hands continually ask-
often as if our lives depended on      learn with the-apostle Paul to         ing for more, even as in Thee we
the things we deem so important        live in true spiritual contentment,    have our life and all our being.
for our present existence. There       that we also may confess, "I have      Thus:
are times in our lives when Thy        learned in whatsoever state I am,           My soul in' silence waits for
hand weighs heavily upon us. To        therewith to be content."                           God.
us it appears as if everything is        One more word we must learn.                  My Savior He has proved:
all wrong, and will never be           Teach Thou us also to say:                  He only is my Rock and
righted again. The night is so         Give."                                              Tower;
dark that we expect no new               Our first reaction is that it                 I never shall be moved.
dawn;; life will never be bright       hurts our pride to ask to be given       Father, teach us to pray also
and pleasant again, as we com-         something. We want to be in-           this petition: "Give us this day
plain: ;`Has God forgotten to be       dependent, self-sufficient, so that    our daily bread!" 0
kind, will He show us His mercy        we can care for our needs and
                                       the needs of our family without
                                       any outside help. 0, how we hate
                                       to have to beg. How much rather
                                       we would boast of what our
                                       hands have accomplished, and

          ,
772  I  Jh$ Standard Bearer


                                          As To Dr. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones
                                              And Pentecostalism (2)
 Editoriak  1                             An Interesting letter


 As To Dr. David Martyn                     "The weaknesses of the                 "When Dr. Lloyd-Jones died
 Lloyd-Jones And                          reformed churches have often          Lewis wrote an appreciation of
 Pentecostalism (2) :                     been their traditionalism, their      him in the Evangelical Times that
                                          lack of evangelism and their con-     gives the following staggering in-
   As we have already seen in             tentment with sound doctrine          formation with respect to Lewis'
 our previous editorial on this sub-      sincerely approved. The               B.E.C. paper. Mr. Lewis tells us
 ject, the Free Presbyterian              weaknesses of the charismatics        that it was Dr. Lloyd-Jones who
, Magazine (May, 1987) marshals           have tended to be their self in-      had driven him to a fresh and
 considerable evidence to prove           dulgent and sometimes uncritical      strenuous study of the whole Re-
 that Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
 had strong pentecostalist lean-          enjoyment of experience, their        formed/Charismatic issue. It was
 ings. In this installment !we will       lack of interest in doctrine and      also to Dr. Lloyd-Jones that he
                                          their naivety in church polity.       went in the summer of 1980 full
 cite more such evidence from.the                                               of excitement with his paper that
 same magazine.                             "Both of these groupings have
   First of all, the article cites the    known considerable blessing in        he intended to deliver at the
 Foreword to Lloyd-Jones's Joy            recent years, but both may well       B.E.C. conference. After showing
 Unspeakable,                                                                   Lloyd-Jones the paper calling for
                 written by the Rev.      expect an element of divine
 Peter Lewis, as follows:                 rebuke to enter their life if they    a new `rapprochement' between
                                          do not now begin to learn from        Reformed and Charismatic, Lewis
   "The past 20 years have seen                                                 tells us Lloyd-Jones gave him
 the widespread growth of two             one another."
 radical and potentially mighty             The Free Presbyterian Maga-         more than encouragement, he
 movements in Great Britain.              zine then continues as follows:       positively glowed. `But,' said
                                            "At the British Evangelical         Lewis, `is there nothing that you
 These are the reformed move-
 ment with its stress on doctrine,        Council Meeting in Carlisle in        disagree with or disapprove of?'
 expository preaching and total           November 1980, Lewis delivered        `Nothing at all,' replied Dr. Lloyd-
 loyalty to scripture; and the            a paper in which he advanced          Jones emphatically, `I am with
 charismatic movement with its            the idea of pulpit exchanges be-      you 100 per cent without reser-
 stress on the Holy Spirit's Bap-         tween non-ecumenical charis-          vation.' Mr. Lewis then adds, `he
 tism and Gifts, its strong sense of      matics (in the Assemblies of God      followed up his encouragement
 personal guidance and its bold in-       and Elim Churches) and Re-            with constant and fervent prayer.
                                          formed Ministers, such that the
 ventiveness in worship.                                                        `I am praying for this every
                                          pentecostalists would preach in       single day - and it is a burden
                                          Reformed pulpits and `vice-versa'.    from the Holy Spirit'."
                                          This procedure would according          In rebuttal against the Rev.
                                          to Mr. Lewis modify `the Re-          Iain Murray's assessment of Dr.
                                          formed peoples' timid and drab        Lloyd-Jones as being misunder-
                                          conservatism in worship'."            stood the article states the follow-
                                            The article then continues as       ing:
                                          follows:                                ". . . Dr. Lloyd-Jones was a
                                                                                highly intelligent and articulate
                                                                                man and he does not need Mr.


                                                                                                The Standard Bearer  / 173


Murray as his expositor. During            "The Doctor listened patiently,     `I always told you, you were one
his lifetime Dr. Lloyd-Jones knew       but would not be smeared with          of us,' quipped Jeffreys. `But I
quite iwell that his name as being      an anti-charismatic brush. He had      don't believe that speaking in
linked with Charismatic                 always dissociated himself from        tongues is an essential element of
Theoiogy, and if he wished, he          such extremism. He wanted no           Spirit Baptism,' remarked Lloyd-
couldi have easily distinguished        part of it, he said. Indeed no-one     Jones. `Neither do I,' retorted Jef-
his position from that of the           had spoken more consistently           freys."
Charismatic Movement with its           than he to stress the need for a          It seems quite clear, therefore,
pretensions to tongue speaking.         movement of the Holy Spirit to-        from all the evidence that the
   "The plain fact is, that whilst      day. But he insisted everything        late Dr. Lloyd-Jones's sympathies
he vigorously condemned non-            must be decided by scripture. He       lay with pentecostalism.
experiential Calvinism as dead          welcomed `truth on fire',                There is one more remark that
orthodoxy, there is no con-             wherever it might be.                  should be made in this connec-
demnation of the central tenets            "The Doctor's advocacy left his     tion. It is this, that this bit of
of the Charismatic position.            `critic' demolished, but much im-      history also underscores the
   "A./ Wesley Richards, a              pressed. `You are one of us' he        danger of independentism in
Pentecostal pastor, in a tribute to     told the Doctor warmly."               church government. Dr. Lloyd-
Dr. Ll!oyd-Jones  after his death         The Free Presbyterian Maga-          Jones was, and his Westminster
confirms this assessment. He            zine comments: "Hence at the           Chapel is, independent as far as
writes, `Some classical                 very heart of the renewed in-          church government is concerned.
Pentecostal leaders, who had            terest in Calvinism in England         In the nature of the case, there-
recently returned from a high           and Wales was a teacher with a         fore, there were no "checks and
level dialogue in Rome, were in         distinct Pentecostal type theology     balances" as far as the teaching
London. Would the Doctor care           that embraced both a second            and preaching of the doctor were
to me;et them? Indeed he would.         blessing concept, and belief in        concerned. Also in the nature of
And s,o we gathered for a two           the continuance of the                 the case, it was Dr. Lloyd-Jones
hour discussion that was, to all of     miraculous Charismatic Gifts."         who, as the leading figure in
us, a revelation about this famous        The article cites from the           Westminster Chapel, set the tone
standard-bearer of evangelical-         December, 1986 issue of                as far as the doctrinal stance of
ism.  j                                 Euangelicals  Now one more signi-      Westminster was concerned. If
   "What the Doctor did not             ficant incident. It is from a foot-    there was any opposition to his
know'about the Catholic Charis-         note following a review of biog-       pentecostalism there - and I
matic:scene  was, it soon               raphy of two Pentecostal               have no knowledge that there
transpired, not really worth            Evangelists, George and Stephen        was - there was no court of ap-
knowmg. He had followed its             Jeffreys. The quotation is as          peal. Independentism is an ec-
development with great interest         follows:                               clesiastical dead-end street. True,
and diligent study and was as             "George Jeffreys . . . at a later    presbyterial church government
keen as his brethren not to             stage asked him (i.e. Dr. Lloyd-       does not furnish an absolute
quench anything that was gen-           Jones) if he would consider being      guarantee against doctrinal devia-
uinely of the Holy Spirit. But he       the Dean of his Bible College.         tion; there is no such absolute
said he was concerned that sub-           "The two men met again               guarantee. But it at least fur-
jective experience should not           before Jeffreys' death in the early    nishes a safe-guard. Cl               HCH
precede objective truth.                1950s. (A note explains that the
   "That was all very well, one of      reference to Jeffreys' death in the
the dialogue team replied forth-        early 1950s is incorrect, and that     An Interesting Letter
rightly, but evangelicals, especial-    he died in January, 1962. HCH)           Now and then we receive let-
ly those among whom the Doctor          Jeffreys, with a remnant of his        ters (or occasionally just a note,
was prominent, had in their             revival party, turned up at West-      along with a subscription re-
fierce:stand for truth been guilty      minster Chapel on Whit Sunday          newal) expressing appreciation
of regnlarly quenching the spirit       morning. The doctor preached           for our magazine. Recently I
among people who may have               from Acts 2 on the Baptism of          received such a letter from a
neede'd instructing, but who were       the Spirit. Later they talked          reader in England. Partly because
at least hungry for God. The            together and Jeffreys was ap-          representatives of our Contact
pentecostals  had bitter ex-            proving of the doctor's ministry.      Committee only recently r-e
perience of this, now it was the                                               ported on their visit to the U.K.
turn of Catholics, it seemed.                                                  and about the situation there,
                                                                               and partly because another long-

174  / The Standard Bearer


time correspondent from England             Brethren" family. (The "Open            you, but it is true. Reading your
expressed to me the wish that               Brethren" as distinct from the          excellent magazine has brought
our Contact Committee could                 "Exclusive" kind.) In 1940, during      light into my soul . . . even into
have conducted a meeting in                 service with the Royal Air Force,       areas where I had, for, years,
London, and partly simply to                I became converted; but after           thought I already had light. On
share with you the fact that The            various `wanderings' I was ac-          going through past issues of the
Standard Bearer serves as a                 cepted into the Church of               "Standard Bearer" I came across
witness in unexpected cir-                  England in 1962, remaining until        a little note from Mr. Harbach at
cumstances and places (often un-            unable to stay in this apostate         the end of his article, "Jesus Left
beknownst to us), I will share the          body any longer; my wife and I          Alone", at the foot of Page 172,
following letter from a reader in           finally leaving in 1978. We             Vol. LXIII, No. 8, January 15th,
London, England. I have edited              thought we had found a spiritual        1987 in which he invited readers
the letter slightly and omitted             home in a small body which still        who stand in the truth to write
some personal elements. Here is             claims adherence to the 39 Ar-          and identify themselves. Some
the letter, dated Dec. 9, 1987:             ticles, and I was ordained in 1979      what belatedly, I am writing to
                                                                                    say that my wife and I stand with
Dear Professor:                             in a non-stipendiary ministry,
  Some time ago I became ac-                but numbers are so small that           you . . . tiny islets in a vast
                                                                                    ocean of inky darkness around
quainted with the Rev. Robert               this was not nearly as successful
                                                                                    us, trying to keep our little lights
Harbach through correspon-                  as I had hoped, and we have
                                                                                    going as we await the return of
dence, but for the life of me, I            long been worshipping together
                                                                                    our blessed Lord and Master or
cannot recall how this came                 at home, being joined by a few
                                                                                    until He calls us Home. Long
about. However, I believe nothing           friends now and again. Most
                                                                                    may the "Standard Bearer" keep
happens by chance and, on look-             denominations in this country are
                                                                                    coming, bearing, as it were,.`glad
ing back, the Hand of God is not            now` members of the British
difficult to see in this matter. Mr.        Council of Churches, affiliated to      tidings from afar'.
Harbach sent me a year's gift               the infamous W.C.C. and we can,           Well, space has almost gone
subscription to the "Standard               therefore, having nothing to do         and it is time I was gone, too, but
Bearer" and I subsequently                  with them.                              I cannot go until I have taken the
                                                                                    opportunity to send you our
became a regular subscriber, for I            For most of my life, I had
quickly realised that this maga-            believed in `the well-meant offer       warmest greetings on the occa-
                                                                                    sion of Christmas and our best
zine really contains true gems of           of salvation' and it was not until I
truth.                                      began to read the "Standard             wishes for the coming year.
  I am now in my 67th year and              Bearer" that I came into contact          The Lord bless you and all
was brought up in a "Plymouth               with the doctrine of `limited           whom you love.
                                            atonement'. This may surprise             Sincerely yours, N.N. Cl           HCH





 Walking In
 The Light                                  More On Abortion
Herman C. Hanko



                                              Sometime ago when I was dis- I called into question whether this
                                            cussing in this series of articles      was really being done. Just today
                                            the evil of abortion, I mentioned       I was reading an article which
                                            the fact that in some places            appeared in the October 12, 1987
Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church      aborted `fetuses were being used        issue of 
History and New Testament in the Protes-                                                    World (Vol. 2, No. 19) in
tant Reformed Seminary.                     for experimental purposes. Some         which an aspect of this matter is

                                                                                                     The Standard  Bearer  /  175


 reported. I thought it worthwhile                Fetal cell transplants may already,          less unborn infant, and when this
 to interrupt our discussion of                 however, be outdated technology - a            is done with a calculation and
 euthanasia to quote at length                  fact which creates wonder that it is still     deliberation that is premeditated,
 from this article. It carries the ti-          being considered. Some research
                                                laboratories seem loath to admit that it is    life becomes very cheap, murder
 tle: "Aborted Fetuses - Spare                  being carried on. For instance, though         becomes very commonplace,
 Parts for the Living?"                         the Chicago Tribune reported that re-          and the future for any person
   Sufferers from the brain disorders of        searchers at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's      who is no longer acceptable to
Parkinson S disease, Alzheimer's disease,       Medical Center in Chicago are "eager to        society in general becomes filled
and Huntington's disease, as well as            collect tissue from the pancreases of          with horror. If society approves
diabetes patients, may soon experience          aborted fetuses," spokesmen for Rush's
relief and in some cases complete cures         obstetrics and gynecology department, as       of murdering unwanted children
from implants of cells taken from               well as for its research laboratories,         who are not yet born, society
aborted fetuses, say medical researchers        when contacted by World, denied knowl-         can easily approve of murdering
at Vanderbilt University's Medical Center       edge of any such experiments or plans to       other unwanted people. The step
in Nashville.                                   experiment,                                    is small, the reasoning the same,
   And neuroscientist Timothy Collier,             In the argument mentioned
who joined 500 medical researchers              above, i.e., the argument of the               the consequences equally
recently in a symposium at the University       analogy drawn between the use                  frightening.
of Rochester in New York, said he hopes         of organs from people murdered                    Add to this the fact that these
soon to. freeze and store fetal brain tissue                                                   fetuses are now made use of in
for such implants. Already the procedure        or from people who commit                      medical experimentation, and the
has been used successfully in Sweden.           suicide and the use of organs
   Though he admits it "opens up a Pan-         from aborted fetuses, there is an              prospects are terrible. In this way
dora's box," Dr. Antonin Scommengna,            enormous logical error. Whatever               does a sinful world develop in in-
chairman of the department of obstetrics        may now be the right or wrong                  iquity, And when such a shortage
and gynecology at Michael Reese                                                                of organs exists that those who
Hospitdl, Chicago, told the Chicago             of using organs from murdered                  need them cannot obtain them,
Tribune that he foresees "growing fetuses       people or people that commit
some day for spare parts," Scommengna           suicide, and whatever may be                   the temptation to find them in
could riot be reached for further com-          the right or wrong of using cells              aborted infants is very great. And
ment.  I                                        or organs from fetuses which are               the temptation to encourage
   Arthur Caplan, Ph.D., director of the                                                       abortion for that end increases
University of Minnesota Center for Bio          naturally aborted, this is quite dif-          mightily.
medical Ethics, is concerned that use of        ferent from making use of the
fetuses for medical purposes could              organs or cells of babies that are                          * * * * *
generate an industry of selling unborn in-      born through induced abortion.                              Euthanasia (2) .'
fants . .i. .                                   The.wrong, of course, lies in the
   Cap@ commented in an interview . . .                                                          To return now to our discus-
that he doesn't "feel any different about"      abortion first of all, as Dr. Payne            sion of euthanasia, we remind
using a j fetus in a medical treatment than     points out.                                    our readers that in our last article
using an organ from a murder or suicide           Yet, from the viewpoint of                   we discussed the problem and
victim in a transplant. . . .                   worldly and unbelieving people,                tried to give it some broad out-
   But Dr. Franklin E. Payne of the de-         not much can be wrong with
partment of family medicine, Medical                                                           lines. Euthanasia is not really a
College .of Georgia, argues that fetal          either induced abortion or the                 very good title for what we in-
transplants are not only wrong but un-          use of aborted fetuses if such                 tend to discuss, except in a very
necessary. . . .                                features are simply nothing else               broad sense of the word. The
   Though Payne says that cell trans-           but a blob of tissue. What is                  term itself means, "good death'
planting "isn't itself immoral, " he pointed    wrong with making use of blobs
out in a World interview that the "main                                                        or "easy death," and can refer to
problem is that they're using tissue horn       of tissue? The horror of it all                any death which is without suf-
aborted; fetuses" which is "immoral to          rests upon one fundamental                     fering and pain. But in common
start with. "                                   truth: a baby is a person from the             usage the term is the equivalent
   After a brief discussion of the              moment of conception. To bring                 of "mercy killing" and is usually
possibilities of genetic engineer-              about an induced abortion is,                  defined as "the act of putting to
ing to iobtain  required "parts" for            therefore, to commit the sin of                death painlessly a person suffer-
the cure of certain diseases, the               murder. The fact that it is done               ing from an incurable and painful
article! goes on to say:                        under the guise that this baby is              disease or condition" (The Ran-
                                                only a blob of tissue is to give to            dom House Dictionary of the
                                                the terrible sin of murder a cer-              English Language). It refers to
                                                tain cold calculation and delibera-            putting to death either by with-
                                                tion that is frightening. If the life          holding or taking away what is
                                                of a person can so easily be                   necessary to prolong or continue
                                                taken when the person is a help-               life, or actually administering

176  I  Tht Standard Bearer


something which will bring about               spoon-feeding after she suffered strokes          The Surgeon General noted that a>ill
death, such as the injection of an             and brain damage. Critics of the lower-        following the "`Dutch model" has been in-
                                                                                              troduced in the legislatures of California,
overdose of a narcotic.                        court ruling note the woman was not
                                               even terminally ill.                           Florida and Arizona. The measure would
   In our discussion of this, it                  The February 9, 1987 issue of               allow doctors to administer lethal injec-
might be well first of all to ex-              Christian Renewal reports:                     tions or take other actions to directly kill
amine what approximately the                                                                  ailing patients . . _ .
                                                 In 1973, The Netherlands' Supreme
present state of thinking on this                                                                In the April 16, 1986 issue of
                                               Court ruled that euthanasia was justified
subject is.                                    under certain circumstances. Gifford-          the Presbyterian Journal, Dr.
   In the July 20, 1987 issue of               Jones writes that this "allowed Dutch          Koop warns that "euthanasia has
U.S. News & World Report a brief               physicians to carry out 20,000 mercy kill-     become the latest moral battle-
item appeared which reads as                   ings a year. The great majority of these       field in the United States." In the
                                               deaths involved the simple removal of life
follows:                                                                                      `same article, attorney E. R. Grant
                                               sustaining technology.`" But its estimated
  New court rulings - the latest from          that 6,000 persons were actively helped        describes how the idea is
the New Jersey Supreme Court - are             toward the `pearly gates by lethal             spreading, how groups are being
beginning to spark a new nationwide            drugs. "                                       organized to promote the idea,
debate on euthanasia, The decisions               In the July-August issue of                 and how polls show "an in-
come from the same court that issued the       Right to Life of Michigan News a               creased support for euthanasia,"
groundbreaking ruling in the Karen Ann
Quinlan case                                   report is given on a speech by
                 in 1975, which established                                                   and that this changing attitude is
that life-support equipment may be with-       Dr. C. Everett Koop, Surgeon                   "a social phenomenon on the
held from people who are irreversibly ill.     General of the United States. The              scale of the abortion debate." He
The latest ruling established that not only    article reports:                               writes further:
patients but also family or friends may          Koop cited the rise of a "utilitarian"          Thirty-five states now have "Living
make the life-or-death decision if the pa-     philosophy that values people according        Will" laws . . . and three states are plan-
tient is unable to communicate. The deci-      to their usefulness to society, and the        ning to introduce voluntary euthanasia
sion also dropped an earlier proviso that      demographic pressures caused by a              legislation: Arizona, Florida, and Califor-
certain people could be allowed to die         higher proportion of retired persons, as       .nia. A Living Will is a declaration signed
only if they had a life expectancy of less     the major factors fueling the euthanasia       by a mentally competent person, author-
than a year. Although the rulings apply        movement.                                      izing a physician to end treatment in the
only in New Jersey, they are expected to         Citing the example of Holland where          event that the patient becomes incompe-
influence court decisions in other states.     one-sixth of all deaths last year were a       tent. The treatment may be ended when
Altogether, there have been about 70           result of physician-administered lethal in-    it prolongs dying and is unnecessary to
right-to-die cases in 20 states since the      jections, Dr. Koop observed, "After World      the patient's comfort.
Quinlan case. Arizona's Supreme Court is       War II I would have said Holland would
now reviewing a lower-court order allow-                                                         So support for euthanasia is
                                               be the last nation to accept euthanasia
ing a woman's nephew to stop her                                                              growing rapidly. Cl
                                               (because of their opposition to Hitler). "





  The Day of                                   A Nameless and
  Shadows                                      Shoeless Kinsman
 john A. Heys



                                                   One of the striking things in              Bethlehem; the people who wit-
                                               the book of Ruth is not what we                nessed the fact that Boaz said
                                               find written on its pages, but                 that he would redeem the land of
                                               what we are not told, and what                 Elimelech by marrying Ruth; and
                                                God does not want us to know.                 the women who spoke so glow-
                                               Apart from the groups of people                ingly when the son, Obed, was
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in         - such as the women who met                    born to Boaz and Ruth - the in-
 the Protestant Reformed Churches.              Naomi when she returned to                     dividuals whose words and ac-

                                                                                                                         The Standard Bearer  / 177


 tions are recorded were identified    What is His reason? We do well         from it. And we can understand
 by means of their names. We           to look carefully at what we read      that this nameless kinsman was
 read of the words and works of        about him, the things God does         eager to buy it'now from Naomi
 Elimeiech,  Naomi, Mahlon,            want us to know about his              and consider himself to have a
 Chilion, Ruth, Orpah and Boaz.        works.                                 bigger place in the kingdom of
 But the nearest of km to                Living in the land of Canaan         heaven. Plainly he had the
 Elimefeth, although he is re-         was, since the day God brought         wrong idea of what that kingdom
 ferred to no less than fifteen        the Israelites there through           of heaven is, and for him it was a
 times in Ruth 4 - not now in-         Joshua - whose name is the Old         kingdom of fleshly advantages.
 cluding what is written of him in     Testament form of the New                Nor is this nameless kinsman
 Ruth 3 - does not have his            Testament name Jesus - a type          the only one with a wrong idea
 name `given to us even once.          and picture of being a citizen in      of the kingdom that God has
Amazingly enough, when Boaz            the kingdom of heaven that is          established for His people in
 met hjm in the city the morning       coming in the day of Christ. (ln-      Christ, Who is The King of all
after telling Ruth that he would       cidentally, a better translation of    kings, and The Lord over all
take care of this matter, Boaz         Philippians 3:20 is, "For our          Lords. There is so much effort in
 greets: him with the words, "Ho,      citizenship is in heaven; from         some church circles to pray for
such a one!" Boaz did not even         whence we look for the Saviour,        healing of the body and of claim-
 call him by his name.                 the Lord Jesus Christ." Our            ing that their prayers have been
    This was not due to a slip on      translation, that is, the King         heard and answered. But where
the part of the one who wrote          James Version, declares the            today do we have intensive and
this book. The Primary Author,         truth: "our conversation is in         really spiritual prayers for
the God of our salvation, Who          heaven"; but that is exactly           deliverance from the love of sin,
moved the secondary author to          because our citizenship is there.      from carnality, and all the weak-
write this book and guided him         And thus being a citizen of the        nesses of the flesh? Speaking in
infallibly to write it exactly as      kingdom of Israel was a picture        other tongues seems to be the
God wanted it written, and so          and type of having one's name in       sure sign of having received the
that he did not leave out of it as     the Lamb's book of life. The           Holy Spirit. The salvation that
much as one word, or letter of a       name Israel, which was given to        God promised in the Mother
word t,hat God wanted in it, He        Jacob after he wrestled with the       Promise of Genesis 3: 15, namely,
saw to' it that the name of this       angel, means Prince of God. And        that He would make those He
kinsman is not written in this         is Jesus not called the Prince of      chose as citizens in the kingdom
book. The simple fact is that he,      God in Isaiah 9:6 as well as           of heaven to hate sin and the
because of his carnality and           Wonderful, Counsellor, the             devil, who is constantly causing
unspirituality, was not worthy of      mighty God, the everlasting            us to walk in sin, rather than in
having his, name given.                Father? The Israelites, then, in       love to God, they ignore or mini-
   Yes,ithere  are sinners, base,      name, although not always in           mize. Love of God, to them,
vile members of the human race,        fact, were princes of God.             means talking but not doing.
who are mentioned by name.               Having one's name in Israel          What one does with the mouth
Satan has his name written no          had great significance; and that is    counts, and the rest of the body
less than fifty times; and so does     also why Naomi is so concerned         from the heart outward means
Judas  [scariot,  who betrayed the     about having a grandson through        far less to them. But no; walking
Son of :God, have his name             Ruth who will continue the name        in love to God, not merely talk-
penned down in Holy Writ. But          of Elimelech, on that piece of         ing about His love, reveals
this nearest of kin to Elimelech       land that God had given to him.        whether the Spirit of Christ has
and Mahlon is not mentioned              Having a piece of land in Ca-        caused one to be born again and
even once by name. And God             naan in that day of types and          to have the life of that kingdom
has His reason for this omission       shadows was a picture of having        of heaven.
in our Bibles. The God of our          a place in the kingdom of God.           This nameless kinsman would
salvation has the names of His         Elimelech and Naomi left that          gladly keep the letter of God's
elect children written in the          land with the intent of coming         law, if it would enrich him in this
Lamb's book of life. And He is         back after the famine was over in      earth's goods as they were found
the One Who will not reveal to         the land. They left the kingdom        in the land of Canaan in that day.
us the name of this nearest of kin     of heaven for material advan-
to Elimelech and Mahlon. Why?          tages, although they did not sell
                                       the land and erase their name


178  J The Standard Bearer


 Without hesitation he tells Boaz         There can be no doubt about it        that he cannot, not that he does
 that he will redeem that land. He      that Naomi had informed her             not want to do so. It is also im-
 will keep the letter of the law        relatives there in the region of        portant to note that he presents
 that one of the same tribe and         Bethlehem why Ruth came with            his own inheritance as the reason
 same family should buy that land       her, and why Orpah did not. We          for his quick decision, not some
 from the widow, Naomi. He              may believe that these women of         other person whom he planned
 would get a bigger place in that       Bethlehem asked her why Orpah           to marry.
 shadow of the kingdom of               had not come with her. We                 To keep his own inheritance
 heaven. But when a bit more of         should not forget either those          he will go against the ordinance
 God's law is presented to him, he      words of Boaz to Ruth, namely,          of God that he must remember
 will not walk as a citizen of that     "It hath fully been shewed me,          and keep. His inheritance means
1 kingdom. He will speak enthu-         all that thou hast done unto thy        more to him than God's will. The
1  siastically about redeeming that     mother-in-law since the death of        things of this earth mean more to
 land; but he will not perform one      thine husband; and how thou             him than the things of God's
 act of heeding the word of God         hast left thy father and thy            kingdom. When it comes down
 that he marry Ruth and raise up        mother, and the land of thy             to it, he said that earthly things
 seed that will inherit that land       nativity, and art come unto a           mean more to him than God and
 and keep Elimelech's name upon         people which thou knewest not           His sovereign will. God's name
 it.                                    heretofore. The Lord recompense         does not mean as much to him as
        What shall we say about this    thy work, and a full reward be          his own name upon the land
 nameless kin of Elimelech? Was         given thee of the Lord God of           which God gave him. Is there
 he not correct in refusing to          Israel, under Whose wings thou          anything strange, then, that God
 marry a Moabitess? Was he more         art come to truth," Ruth 2:11, 12.      does not want his name men-
 sinful than Boaz, who is ready to      And Boaz had not yet seen her           tioned in this account, and that
 keep his promise to marry such a       when he had heard all these             God disapproves completely of
 Moabitess? Boaz' name is men-          things about her. He did not            his behavior and desires?
 tioned no less than sixteen times      recognize her when she came to            Why would this nameless kins-
 in this book of Ruth. What really      glean in his fields, and had to ask     man lose his inheritance if he
 is the difference between them?        who she was. This nameless              married Ruth? Would not that
        As already pointed out in a     kinsman might never have seen           child born to them be his son
 previous article, he is not a Jew      her, either, before Boaz told him       and continue his name in that
 that is one outwardly, but he that     that he must marry her to buy           promised land? No, Elimelech's
 is one inwardly, Romans 2:28.          that land. But it is hard to believe    and Mahlon's names would be
 Boaz rightly saw Ruth as a Jew         that he had never heard anything        continued on that piece of land;
 inwardly; and this nameless            about her in such a small com-          and he would be marrying Ruth
 kinsman had an abundance of            munity as that little town of           so that this would take place, if
 proof that this was the case, and      Bethlehem and the fields that           God gave them a son. But the
 that God looked down upon her          were nearby.                            money he would pay for that
 as a citizen in His kingdom of           The very. answer of this man          land he would lose. And he was
 heaven. Did Ruth not leave her         to Boaz, when he told him that          not a rich man like Boaz.
 father and mother and their idol,      he must marry Ruth to buy that          He might even have to borrow
 Chemosh, to come with Naomi            land, reveals that he knew who          money to buy that land. This
 here to Canaan to worship              she was. He does not ask, "Who          money he would never get back,
 Jehovah, the one and only God?         is she?" He does not say, "Let me       because all the crops of this land
 Did she not come to dwell with         think it over and visit her before      would be his only in a small
 those who represented the              I make up my mind." He has his          measure. It could support his
 citizens of that kingdom? What is      answer ready at once. And that          earthly life, but the percentage of
 more, did he not know what             very answer reveals that it was         what it produced would not be
 Boaz declared, when he praised         not because he was betrothed to         his. He could, as he also said,
 Ruth for choosing widowhood            another Israelite and had a             lose his own inheritance which
 rather than following after young      strong natural love that would          he got from his father, because
 men, whether rich or poor, for         not let him set her aside. He           he could not pay off the debt that
 fleshly reasons?                       states, "I cannot redeem it for         became his because he borrowed
                                        myself, lest I mar mine own in-         to buy this inheritance. Serving
                                        heritance." And we do well to           God meant for him losing
                                        take note of the fact that he says


                                                                                                The Standard Bearer  / 179


material possessions; and that he            law in order to keep our earthly      charge, a name which can be
would not do.                                possessions and add to them,          ours only because His own Son
   When we lose our respect for              while the cause of spreading the      lost so much for us when He was
him and believe that we must                 gospel and of striving to bring       nailed to His cross and was for-
label him as a sinner, we do well,           other Ruths, other Moabites into      saken in the torments of hell. He
and in fact, must look at our-               the kingdom of heaven, calls for      married us, the spiritual Ruths,
selves. Let us remember the                  more financial support?               that have in ourselves no right in
words of Jesus: "Lay not up for                What really are we seeking?         the land of promise. He took us
yourselves treasures on earth,               The kingdom of heaven or of lay-      as His bride and gives us an ever-
where#moth and rust doth cor-                ing up treasures on this earth        lasting name and place in the
rupt, and where thieves break                that we cannot take along when        kingdom of heaven.
through and steal: But lay up for            we die? This nameless kinsman           That this nameless kinsman
yourselves treasures in heaven,              does not have his personal name       took off his shoe and gave it to
whereineither moth nor rust cor-             mentioned even once in Scrip-         Boaz was also significant. It sym-
rupt, and where thieves do not               ture; but the Word of God does        bolized the transfer of a posses-
break through and steal. For                 give the name of the class to         sion. Here this kinsman gave
whereiyour treasure is, there will           which he belonged. His name, as       Boaz the right to buy that in-
your heart be also." We are so               far as this act is concerned, was     heritance. Giving him the owner-
often quite ready to say of others           that of sinner, law breaker, and      ship of that shoe symbolized giv-
that they should not and do not              seeker of the things here below.      ing him right to the ownership of
have their names in the Lamb's               But.that is also our name so          that land of Elimelech. It means
book of life, and are nameless               often; and this whole incident        that he would not walk in that
kinsmen because they seek the                ought to teach us to seek first       land and claim it to be his but
things here below. That their                things first and be concerned         recognizes the right for Boaz to
citizenship is in-the kingdom of             with a place in heaven where we       walk there and say that it
heaven we may question. But                  can have on our feet the shoes of     belongs to him. No name; but
what about ourselves? What                   the righteousness of Christ, and      acting in spiritual shame. A man
means jmost to us? Do houses and             enjoy the blessedness of an ever-     with only one shoe, and acting as
land; c!othing and sumptuous                 lasting life of keeping Gods law,     though only outwardly is he a
meals mean more to us than the               living in perfect love before Him.    Jew. Cl
cause of God's kingdom here                  And be thankful for that grace of
below?: Will we go against God's             God that gives us a name free of



                                            The "New Understanding" of
                                                Scripture
         1/                                 Revised Hymnal for* the United
         I/                                     Methodists
         /
AlI' Around Us                              Evolution In The Christian High
Gise j. Van Baren                               school


                                            1 The "New Understanding"              Church to ordain women into the
                                             of Scripture                          offices of elder and minister (the
Gise J. van Baren is pastor of the Prot-       There is continued pressure         office of the diaconate is already
estant Reformed Church in Hudsonville,       within the Christian Reformed         opened to them). This open agita-
Michigah.

180  /  TheiStandard Bearer


 tion continues despite the clear              infallible. Its text is not divinely inspired.    not so much what people of the
 decisions of the Synod against                It reflects its own historical and cultural       church would want, but what is
 such ordination. In the Calvinist             conditioning. As the Spirit leads the             in agreement with the general
 Contact, Sept. 18, 1987, there ap-            church to see things from a different
                                               perspective in these present times, then it       presentation of the people of this
 pears a letter to the editor which            follows that the Church Order be                  age. Hymns must reflect not so
 I quote in part:                              amended to reflect that new understand-           much anymore the teachings of
   In a recent pastoral letter, Rev.           ing. And in expressing these thoughts, I          Scripture, but must show forth
Leonard Schalkwyk wrote about `Bal-            think I am presenting a balanced view.            the "culture" of our day.
anced Christianity". . . . He told of chur-       No wonder that with this kind
ches and people who emphasize the              of agitation, there are those who
work of one person of the Trinity, but                                                           Evolution In The Christian
                                               predict that within five years also
who minimize or ignore the work of the                                                           High School
other two. Those who do this'have an           the C.R.C. will have its women                        The Outlook, Dec. 1987, in an
unbalanced form of Christianity. With          ministers.                                        article by David A. Kloosterman,
that assessment I, and most readers,
agree.                                         Revised Hymnal for the                            expresses concern that the idea
   What troubles me, however, is the           United Methodists                                 of theistic evolution is being
way Rev. Schalkwyk used his letter to                                                            presented not only in the col-
charge seminary graduate, Laura Smit,             Christian Renewal, December                    leges but also in the parental
with having an "unbalanced view," when         7, 1987, quotes from Christianity                 Christian schools. What is taught
she told synod that she felt called to the     Today, concerning the new
ministry because of the "leading of the                                                          in Calvin College will be taught
                                               United Methodist Hymnal. It is
Spirit." Miss Smit also told the all-male                                                        by many of its graduates on the
assembly that "the Spirit will continue to     called a "populist" hymnal, which                 high school and grade school
call women into the ministry." Because         will be submitted for approval to                 level. The article states:
of her statements, Schalkwyk charged her       the denomination's general con-                      . . .
with "a misuse of the Spirit. " . . , .        ference next April. The article                               There is much for us to learn from
                                                                                                 the evolutionists. As we express our con-
   Schalkwyk wrote that some delegates         states:                                           cerns regarding the theistic evolutionary
to synod "consider it unbiblical to have                                                         views of such men as Howard Van Til,
female preachers, " while "others see             The United Methodist Hymnal is de-
                                                                                                 Clarence Menninga,  Davis Young, John
women in office as a sign of apostasy in       signed to replace the church's Book of
                                                                                                 Stek, and others who teach or have
the church. " Some say the texts men-          Hymns, produced 21 years ago. Many of             taught at our college and seminary, we
tioned previously are "exceptions to the       the new book's hymns contain changes
                                                                                                 may be tempted to think that if only we
norm. " Others are so conditioned by           to rid them of perceived sexism or
                                                                                                 can win these "big court cases" that the
their culture that they cannot conceive of     racism. `Any time a new translation
                                                                                                 war is-won. Far from it.
anything other than male preachers in          comes out that is this far-reaching in its
                                                                                                    The proponents of unbridled theistic
the pulpit.                                    potential, there's going to be close
   I wish the majority of the seminary         scrutiny," said hymnal editor Charlton            evolution have already taken long strides
                                                                                                 toward accomplishing their expressed
faculty, Board of Trustees, and the            Young. ". . . This hymnal is for more
synodical delegates who thwarted Smit's        people than the other (hymn) book is."            goal of introducing the teaching of
                                                                                                 theist& evolution (including man) into the
desire to enter the ministry of the Chris-       Whenever possible, the committee
                                                                                                 Christian high school classroom.
tian Reformed Church had taken the time        replaced the words "`man" and
                                                                                                   This fact has recently been made pain-
to read 2 or reread - the study commit-        `mankind" with terms such as %s" or
                                                                                                 fully clear to me and to others who sup-
tee report, "Women in Ecclesiastical Of-       "friends. " The committee also reduced
                                                                                                 port Christian education in the city of
fice" (Acts of Synod, 1973, pp. 514588).       the use of "his" or "him" when referring
That extensive report, written by Cana-        to God. And it injected alternative images        Kalamazoo, Michigan. Readers of the
dians, including two women, would have         for the deity - such as "Creator" and             science page of the June 2, 1987
                                                                                                 Kalamazoo Gazette had their attention
helped them gain a clear understanding         "Comforter" - to limit the number of
                                                                                                 drawn by a twocolumn photo bearing
of why women should be ordained to all         masculine images such as "King" and               the caption "`Kalamazoo Christian Prin-
the offices in the church . . . .              "Father".
  If these churchmen were imbued with            None of the hymns in the new book               cipal Roger Sikkenga and biology teacher
                                                                                                 Colleen Bode teach that mankind evolves
a spirit of reformation, they would have       refer to God as `she, " although a few
told synod that the time has come for the      refer to Gods motherlike qualities. But           under divine control. " Moving to the arti-
Christian Reformed Church to ordain its        the committee left unchanged such                 cle itself one reads such statements as the
                                                                                                 following:
first woman preacher. For Laura Smit           favorites as "Rise Up, 0 Men of God"
                                                                                                   "There's no uniform approach to
does have the qualifications and gifts.        and "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind."
And they could have followed up by                Once again, the "new"                          teaching creation science among
                                                                                                 parochial schools. The treatments range
recommending that the Church Order be          theology of the day is being in-                  from fundamentalism, in which the
changed as the synods of 1978 and 1984         troduced into the hymnody of                      bible's version in the Book of Genesis is
did.                                           the churches. The question is not                 interpreted literally, to the versions
  Is it too much to ask of church leaders      what Scripture teaches in this                    taught at Kalamazoo Christian and
that when they are asked to sit in judg-                                                         Hackett Catholic Central - versions in
ment of what are sometimes called "con-        regard, but rather it is what the                 which man evolves in an orderly way
crete cases" - real, live, flesh-and-blood     people want. And even then, it is                 under the intimate care of God.
human beings - they display the                                                                    "`Creationism versus evolution really
qualities of compassion, leniency, and                                                           isn't the issue at Kalamazoo Christian
understanding? The Church Order is not

                                                                                                                         The Standard Bearer  / 181


     High School,' says Bode. Sikkenga adds            "The article that appeared certainly             The writer was not satisfied
     the issue is not so much the details of         did not clearly state the school's position     and writes:
     man's biological journey, but the author        nor that of our principal or science              . . .
     of that Journey.                                teacher. Please rest assured that                          To my mind, the personal letter
                                                                                                     which I received does not really clear
          "`Kalamazoo Christian uses the same        Kalamazoo Christian High's position on          things up either. If the position of the
     textbooks that the public high schools do,      creation/evolution is in no wise different      school was not well-represented in the
     showing development of the species,             than the one with which you are                 Gazette article, why the reluctance of
     genetic theory and the evidence for evolu-      historically familiar . . . , We all stand      staff and board to publicly set the record
     tion through fossils. `But in none of these     firmly on the position that the universe        straight? The statement affirming "that
     texts does it ever actually relate the          was created by God and that the first           the first man and woman were given an
     human species to apes, ' Sikkenga points        man and woman were given an immor-              immortal soul upon creation" clearly
     out. `The actual jump as to man from the        tal soul upon creation. We further affirm       leaves room for the position that man's
     fossilized remains is left up to the            that man fell into sin and that all of crea-    physical nature evolved from apes and
     readers. ' The creation of man is `com-         tion has been affected by this fall from        falls shorts of affirming the historical
     pletely separate' from the evolution of         perfection. Further, we affirm that Jesus       Adam and Eve. Nor is the historical-event
     the rest of the world, they believe. `We        Christ, the perfect Son of the Creator, has     character of Genesis 1-11 affirmed.
     are evolving, but it is in an orderly way, '    been sent to redeem the creation from             The assurance of the board that their
     designed and controlled by God, Bode            sin, and we place our faith firmly in this      "position" on creation/evolution has not
     said. "                                         risen Lord and Savior. "                        changed does not give me rest. . . . The
          The writer of the article tells of                                                         policy has not changed, but has the
     his approach to the board of the                                                                teaching in the classroom changed? This
I    high school and of their                                                                        is where the rubber hits the road. 0
     response:
     -





                                                     Exercise Thyself
          In His Fear
     Arie den Hartog                                 Unto Godliness

                                                        The inspired apostle of our                  selves Christians do not exercise
                                                     Lord exhorts us unto this holy                  themselves unto godliness, many
                                                     exercise in I Timothy 4:7. He is                a spiritual battle with the devil is
                                                     writing especially to the                       lost. Without this holy exercise
                                                     evangelist Timothy and to those                 there is little true godliness.
                                                     like him with regard to work in                   Paul compares the exercise un-
                                                     the church. But what Paul writes                to godliness to bodily exercise.
                                                     certainly applies to all of us. We              Of bodily exercise the apostle
                                                     all need to exercise ourselves un-              says that "it profiteth little." Yet
                                                     to godliness. How little concern                in our day all the emphasis is on
                                                     there is today in the church for                that. Hours of strenuous effort is
                                                     such exercise. The world of                     spent -on bodily exercise. Large
                                                     Christendom is full of lazy,                    sums of money are spent on
                                                     lethargic, and weak Christians                  gymnasiums and sports equip-
                                                     because of this. There'is no more               ment. Much of this is carnal and
                                                     shameful and evil laziness than                 vain. The motive for it all is the
                                                     spiritual laziness. Such laziness               building of handsome physiques
     Arie den Hartog is pastor of the Prot-          has very serious consequences.                  and shapely forms for the lust
     estant Reformed Church of Randolph,                                                             and glory of men. By bodily ex-
      Wisconsin.                                     Because many who call them-

     182 / The Standard Bearer


ercise man vainly attempts to ex-       of God we can do nothing at all.         order to compete in the games,
tend his life beyond the time           If ever a man on earth stressed          one must be well trained and ex-
which the Lord has appointed.           these great truths, it was the in-       ercised. The athlete must have
Paul does not condemn all bodily        spired apostle of our Lord. By no        his body in subjection. He must
exercise. There is value in main-       means, however, does this mean           be careful to eat the proper diet.
taining healthy bodies. Our             to imply that the Christian has no       He must always be in training to
bodies are temples of the Holy          calling to perform and obligation        build up muscle tone and skill. At
Spirit. Therefore we must also          to fulfill. It is a miserable and        no time can he let up on this, for
take care of them. This must,           wretched teaching that suggests          then he will become lazy and his
however, all be subservient to          that the Christian life is entirely      muscles will become flabby. All
the great purpose in our life to        passive. We must simply sit back         of this, then, must be applied to
serve the Lord, and not for the         and do nothing lest we contradict        the realm of the spiritual.
glory of men. We may exercise           the grace of God in our life. The          Godliness must be the great
our bodies if our purpose is to         Scriptures exhort us rather to           goal of the Christian life. This is a
present our bodies living sacrifices    work out our own salvation with          high and lofty goal that no one
unto the Lord. Also, we must            fear and trembling, for it is God        can even begin to attain to ex-
never lose sight of the fact that       which worketh in us both to will         cept by the grace of God. All our
in this life we must prepare            and to do of His good pleasure.          strength in the holy exercise of
ourselves for the life that is to       In the light of this, Scripture          which we speak must come from
come.                                   gives us such great exhortations         God. Godliness is God-centered-
  A far more important and prof-        as: "strive to enter in at the strait    ness in all our life. It is reverence
itable exercise is that exercise        gate and the narrow way;" "run           and fear and love for God. It im-
which trains us in godliness.           with patience the race that is set       plies the knowledge of God and
What a tremendous thing it              before you, looking unto Jesus,          His sovereignty, holiness, and
would be if Christians today            the author and finisher of your          truth. Godliness is the life of
would spend the same amount of          faith;" "press toward the mark           gratitude of the child of God who
time and effort on the holy exer-       For the prize of the high calling        knows the exceeding greatness of
cise of which the apostle speaks.       of God in Christ Jesus;" "fight the      his salvation. We are godly when
What a change there would be in         good fight of faith, lay hold on         in all our life we desire to serve
the lives of the people of God          eternal life;" "let us labour there-     the Lord and live unto Him and
and in the church.                      fore to enter into that rest, lest       for His glory. We are godly when
  In a number of places in his          any man fall after the example of        we earnestly seek to avoid in our
letters, Paul illustrates the Chris-    mbelief." At the end of his life         life all those things which are
tian life with figures from the         :he apostle Paul can testify: "I         displeasing to the Lord and bring
world of sports and games and           rave fought a good fight, I have         dishonor to His name. We are
the gymnasium. One of the main          iinished my course, I have kept          godly in our life when we fight in
points in all of these illustrations    :he faith: henceforth there is laid      God's name against the devil, the
is that a tremendous amount of          up for me a crown of righteous-          great enemy of .God, and against
discipline and personal exertion        less, which the Lord, the                the temptations of sin in the
is required in the Christian life.      *ighteous judge, shall give me at        world. We are godly in our life
When Paul emphasizes this, he of        :hat day: and not to me only, but        when we are seriously interested
course does not mean thereby to         mto all them also that love His          n the things of God, His truth
suggest that our salvation is a         appearing," II Timothy 4:7 and 8.        and righteousness, His church
matter of our own works and ef-           The exhortation to exercise            lnd kingdom, the glory of His
forts. Our salvation is from begin-     ourselves unto godliness falls into      name in the world.
ning to end the work of the Lord.       the same class as the above                To live a life of godliness re-
Our Lord Jesus Christ through           quoted passages. The .apostle  sets      quires great effort and discipline.
His perfect work on the cross has       forth in this exhortation a very         It does not come easy. It takes
merited and fully accomplished          vivid illustration. The good             much serious training and prac-
our salvation. Nothing that we          athlete must exercise. This takes        tice and application of ourselves.
can do or need do can in any            effort, discipline, training, and ex-    One will never be godly if he
way add to the basis of our             ertion. The gymnasium smells of          does nothing or is spiritually lazy
righteousness in Christ. This is        the sweat of hard work-outs. In          and careless. The lazy and care-
the blessed gospel which we                                                      less Christian will fall in the bat-
must hold to without com-                                                        tle, He will not be able to stand.
promise. Furthermore without
the power of the grace and Spirit

                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer  / 183


He will become shamefully and          tion that knows very little of the     exercise ourselves unto godliness
miserably ungodly.                     great doctrines of the Bible           we need to wrestle with God in
   There is something very con-        because they are not exercised         prayer, in tears and pains and
crete to all of this. God Himself      unto godliness. Therefore false        struggles, that we may obtain
must by His Word and Spirit            doctrines engulf many a church,        from Him the strength and bless-
make us godly. The Lord is             and many Christians are led            ing we need to live the Christian
pleased to use the means which         astray by the wiles and tempta-        life.
He Himself has ordained. We            tions of the devil. Let none of us        Exercising ourselves unto god-
become godly and exercise our-         vainly imagine that this cannot        liness means that we are serious
selves unto godliness when we          happen to us and to our own            about constantly putting into
sincerely apply ourselves unto         churches. There is in our day lit-     practice the principles of the
the use of these means. Many           tle understanding and wisdom           Word of God in our life. We must
Christians today must be con-          and discernment because few are        do this with conscious effort and
demned for their failure to do         exercised in godliness. Few can        dependence upon the grace of
this. God uses first of all the        really grasp the great issues of       God. Daily practical Christian liv-
preaching of the Word for the          life and the great truths of the       ing does not come easy. We have
working and strengthening of our       Word of God. Let us all judge          the devil and our own flesh to
faith and for teaching us the          ourselves how much time and ef-        fight against. There is much we
truth of God. We exercise              fort we spend in the study of          must know about the implications
ourselves unto godliness when          God's Word. When is the last           of the Word of God for every
we seriously apply ourselves to        time you have read a solid doc-        area of our life.
hear and receive the preached          trinal book to help you under-            We are called to give a living
word. The church may be called         stand Reformed doctrine and to         and personal witness in the world
God's gymnasium. There we must         equip yourself to join, by Gods        of the blessed truth of the gospel
exercise ourselves unto godliness.     grace, in the defense of the truth     of Jesus Christ. In order to do
We certainly do not do this when       against all the modern day             that we must sanctify the Lord
in church we sit back with a           heresies?                              God in our hearts. Many say that
callous attitude of disinterest and      We become godly in the way           they find it very difficult to speak
inattentiveness. Shame on any of       of prayer. How much time and           of their faith to others and to
us who does that in the house of       effort do we spend in prayer in        communicate to others the. doc-
the Lord.                              our Christian life? Prayer is a        trines which we believe. The
   We exercise ourselves unto          strenuous spiritual exercise. Sure-    chief reason is that we do not
godliness through constant,            ly those who every day rattle off      practice. We are not exercised
diligent, and careful study of         a purely formal and routine            unto godliness.
God's word. Though the message         prayer ought not to imagine that          Our space is filled. "But godli-
of the gospel is simple and plain,     they have finished their exercise      ness is profitable unto all things,
and can be understood by every         for the day. It is a great shame if    having promise of the life that
child of God who has the mind          we spend more time and effort          now is, and of that which is to
and Spirit of Christ Jesus, this       daily on routine bodily exercise       come." 0
does not mean that the Word of         than we spend on the holy exer-
God is in every part easy to           cise of the worship of God. To
understand. There are great and
deep doctrines of the Word of
God, such as the sovereignty of
God, predestination, and justifica-
tion by faith. Our age is one of
superficiality. Any truth that does
not come easily is discarded as
unimportant and not worth the
effort. We are raising a genera-       The Standard Bearer makes a
                                       thoughtful gift for members of your
                                       family, friends, and neighbors. Give
                                       a gift of the Standard Bearer.
184  / The Standard Bearer


                                              Hard  Questions  For  Young  People:
 The Strength                                 "should I Go
 of Youth
Barrett L. Critters                           To College?"





                                                 I ended last time showing the      ought to do after high school. Re-
                                               differences between the decisions    quired is much prayer mixed
                                               the young men and young              with hard work, a good dose of
                                               women make regarding what to         sanctified wisdom, and a
                                               do after high school. To sum-        multitude of counsellors.  There is
                                               marize, we could say that the        no easy answer concerning what
                                               decision of what to do after high    to do after high school. In fact, I
                                               school has to be made in the         would be so brave as to say that
                                               light of these questions: First,     if the answer for you has been
                                               what abilities has God given me?     easy, you might do well to re-
                                               What are my God-given skills?        think your decision.
                                               Second, what does God tell me in       Since the decision is difficult
                                               His Word as to what is proper        for many to make, the time after
                                               and what not? And third, what        high school can become an un-
                                               can I do that best serves Gods       comfortable time, either wander-
                                               kingdom?                             ing around from one unsatisfac-
                                                 Now there still may be large       tory job to another, or going to
                                               question marks in your mind          college because "I don't know
                                               even though you have tried to        what else to do."
                                               answer those questions. These
Barrett L. Gritters is pastor of the Prot-
estant Reformed Church of Byron Center,        guide questions do not guarantee
Michigan.                                      that you will know what you

                                                                                                    The Standard Bearer  / 185


THE QUESTION IS,                          not able. Here, too, we must be         business, communicate with
"SHOULD I GO TO                           governed by the guideline - do          customers, study new methods of
COLLEGE?"                                 what God has given us the ability       your particular field, etc. This
    For some, that might not be so        to do. If there simply is not the       could be critical. (Besides, going
 difficult. You may already know          intellectual ability to go to col-      to college itself is a lesson in
there is no question about that in        lege, your life is not less pleasing    careful money management -
your mind. You are going to col-          to God than someone who does            there usually isn't very much of
 lege because you believe that            attend. The Lord determined that        it!)
will best prepare you for life.           for you. It is good.                       SECOND, I read once that high
Others might say, "I am just as             (My fear is that some will use        school education today is
convinced that college is not for         these two reasons for not going         equivalent to an eighth grade
me. I know what I want to do for          as excuses that they not go to          education 50 years ago. In some
my life's work; and it doesn't re-        college. Is it possible that you        instances this might just be true.
quire learning about Shakespeare          don't want to study and don't           Then a college education would
or logarithms." Or, you might be          want to go to college, so that you      only lift one up to a level that
on the fence, not convinced yet           don't seek out financial means          most high school students were
either way.                               and don't try in high school?)          50 years ago.
    In this article, I would like to        And last, you might not go to            Some claim, though, that the
speak to two of these groups -            college because you simply do           education which most of the
those who are not sure, and               not need to go. Your job is             young people get at a good quali-
those who are convinced they              waiting for you. Your future in         ty Christian school IS good -
will not go to college - and ask          that job is fairly secure. Or, you      even at a par with those of many
that they (at least) hear the             have a business that you would          years ago (I hope this is the case
evidence in support of college.           like to start, which business re-       in your high school). Yet there is
tXl&&CKG-~~Sljij~,  FC),R.  -             quires no college. Or, your father      evidence that the education is
EVERYONE                                  can get you a job in his business       not what it used to be. Consider
    Lest the impression be left that      which has a good future and re-         the pressure high schools feel to
everyone ought to go to college,          quires no further education.            offer classes in computer science,
let it be said first that college is      There is abundant proof (living         typing, auto mechanics, wood-
not for everyone.                         and walking) that this can be the       working, metal shop, sports,
   For some it simply is not af-          case. Some simply don't need to         band, choir, library science, art,
fordable. College is expensive.           go to college. And the church           home economics, and more
Tuition, room and board can run           needs young men and young               (none of which is bad in itself). Is
into the thousands of dollars. But        women who work in those oc-             it any wonder the basics are
that ought not stop you from go-          cupations that require no college.      sometimes not given the proper
ing if you desire to go. For the            COLLEGE OUGHT TO BE                   attention they used to receive?
young person who would like to            CONSIDERED SERIOUSLY                    There are only so many hours
go to college, who believes he              But I hope and pray that all          every day. What used to be spent
ought to go to college, a lack of         young people will seriously con-        with the fundamentals is not
immediate funds does not mean             sider attending college for at          spent when these (sometimes
he ought to abandon the thought.          least a couple of years, keeping        necessary) additions are in the
Financial aid (grants, loans) is          in mind the following:                  curriculum.
available to students whose                 FIRST, but not necessarily               College fills in the gaps in-
parents are in a low income               most important, every good              evitably left in high school educa-
bracket. Students who do well in          business teacher in college knows       tion, which gaps need to be filled
high-school can bag an academic           that the statistics given by the        to live in this world.
scholarship or two. In some               SBA (Small Business Administra-            THIRD,  without a college
states, college is virtually free. (In    tion) show that, of all the             education, there are few jobs
California, I obtained my first two       businesses that fail, 90% fail          available that will pay sufficiently
years of college, compliments of          because of poor management,             to support a family - what with
the state.) But it still might be         especially management of                Christian school tuition and all
true that, for some, college is out       money. A good education gives           the other expenses of a family.
of reach.                                 you the ability to manage your          Unless you have the ability and
   Another reason you might not                                                   diligence to run your own
go to college (a better one,                                                      business, you will have to work
perhaps) is that you simply are                                                   for someone else (most of you


186  / The Standard Bearer


will). And the simple fact is,                   cupation in a short time, now           a decent job available immediate-
unless you are highly skilled  or                needs advanced training and             ly? Is college useful if you don't
well educated, that "someone                     skills to do well. But it doesn't       graduate?
else" does not very often pay suf-               stop there; every year technology         Let me only say this: I have
ficiently to support a family. If                changes and new skills need to          not talked to any young woman
the parent (or parents) have had                be learned. The point is: in order       (or old) who says she regrets hav-
a college education, their families              to be Ye-trained, you need to be        ing gone to college. (I would sug-
generally have fewer financial                   able to study and understand            gest that you talk to godly
struggles. More often, a family                  new concepts.                           women who have faced the same
must struggle to make ends meet,                   I do not write this to scare          decisions you are facing.) A col-
wishing that their wageearner                    you. I write this only to add           lege education is a learning,
had the ability to get a better job.             some weight to my plea to you:          maturing experience. At college
   Today, even highly skilled                    please try hard in high school;         you gain experiences you gain
workers are finding that their                   and to go to college if you             nowhere else, which will even
skills are not sufficient for them              possibly can.                            help you in your home as a wife
to keep pace with the changes in                   FOURTH, all young people              and mother of children.
technology. There are radical                    ought to consider college,                But suppose you decide that
changes in the workplace that af-                because it is after high school         college is not for you this year
fect your need to be educated.                   that young people really begin to       and you work for a year. That
Jobs that formerly required little               mature and, therefore, are more         does not preclude going to col-
education now call for much                     willing to learn. And what a             lege next year, or the next,
more than common sense and                      golden opportunity to learn!             especially if marriage is still not
strong arms. In Newsweek                           College is a maturing ex-             in the picture. Only pray that
magazine, September 2 1, 1987,                   perience. Learning is done in an        God will give you the job that
an article entitled "Back to The                open atmosphere, apart from the          will utilize your abilities to serve
Basics" warned about this very                  pressure of parents. You're on           Him best.
thing. Please read this carefully.              your own. You learn because you          * * * * * * * * * *
   "The information age isn't coming to         want to learn. You learn to study          Let us be cautioned at this
the workplace, its here. `The traditional       because you want to study. For
lowskill auto jobs don't exist anymore,'                                                 point. Our perspective is spiritual.
                                                many, it is the years of college
says David Cole, director of the Universi-      that transform a young person to         Our concern is serving our God
ty of Michigan's office for the Study of                                                 in His world. How can we do
Automotive Transportation. `No longer is        -an adult.                               that best? By developing our
an individual just going to put a screw in         FIFTH, I make a plea to con-          God-given bodies and minds the
an opening. ' To master the statistical         I sider college because young peo-
control methods now used in the auto            ple are called to develop their          better to serve Him.
and other industries,  workers will require                                                My prayer for you? That you
sophisticated math skills.                      God-given skills to the best of
                               If production                                             will "pray and work" for God's
goes  awry,  old-fashioned mechanical ap-       their ability.                           guidance for your life after high
titude won't count for much.  On                AGAIN  WHATABOUTTHE
                                                 ~-.----'                                school. God bless as you face
Polaroid's old machinery, `you know             GIRLS?
where to kick,' says Linda Stoker, direc-                                                your hard questions. Cl
                                                   College is not for all of you
tor of technology-readiness programs at
company headquarters in Cambridge,              either, for some of the same
Mass. `But the new technology is robotic        reasons as the young men.
and electronic. You have to have a                 And again, for girls the deci-
sophisticated technological background          sion may be even more difficult. I
to understand the implications of a read-       sympathize with you. There are
out. '
   "Workers are also starting to see basic      so many options and so many
education as a matter of self-interest, At      uncertainties, that the young
General Motors, new technology has              women need to pray for wisdom,
forced retraining every three to five years     and work just as hard to make a
- and employees without the basic skills        decision. Will you marry? (And
quickly fall behind . . . " (Emphasis mine:
BG).                                            what adds to this ,difficulty is that
   "Employees without the basic                 you're a girl! And you know
skills quickly fall behind." Think              what I mean.) Is marriage even
of the old-fashioned auto                       on the distant horizon? Are you
mechanic, who formerly could                    dating a young man seriously? Is
train for and do well in his oc-

                                                                                                          The Standard Bearer / 187


  Taking heed ~0 The Two Natures
  The Doctrine
 Ronald l-l. Hanko                      of Christ

 The Humanity Of Christ                    Nevertheless, both history and         brothers and sisters (Matt. 13:5$
 1. The testimony of Scripture.         experience show that there is as          56), was subject to parents (Lk.
    There seems little need of          great a danger of the church's            2:51), grew up and matured'as
 demonstrating the humanity of          straying from this truth as from          we do (Lk. 2:40), so that He was
 Christ from Scripture when there       the truth of His divinity, and this       infant, child, youth, and adult.
 are few, even as far removed           is one reason for presenting the          What is more, His growth was
 from orthodox Christianity as the      testimony of Scripture to this            not only physical growth but also
 sects, the Jews, or the Muslims,       truth. Another reason is to be            growth in ktiowledge and
 who do not believe that there          found in the importance of this           wisdom, that is: intellectual and
 was a real man named Jesus.            doctrine. John indicates its im-          spiritual growth (Lk. 2:40). Scrip-
 Especially when one remembers          portance when he says that the            ture even makes the amazing
 that, if anything, there is today      denial of it is the beginning of          statement that He had to learn
 the tendency to emphasize the          antichrist (I Jn. 4:2). It is as          obedience as part of His spiritual
 humanity of Christ to the detri-       critical to our faith and hope of         growth (Heb. 599, something
 ment of His deity, it would seem       salvation as the deity of Christ.         which seems incomprehensible to
 superfluous to try to prove from       Thus a study of Scripture's               us when we remember His glory
 Scripture that He is indeed a          testimony is necessary not only           as God. Nevertheless, it is just
 man.                                   in defense of the faith, but to           such things as these that Scrip-
                                        strengthen the faith of God's peo-        ture uses to teach the mystery
                                        ple.                                      and miracle of the incarnation.
                                           That Jesus is truly man is ex-         So also, at maturity He was sub-
                                        plicitly stated in Scripture, first of    ject to civil and religious
                                        all by Jesus Hi&self. He calls            authorities (Lk. 5:14; I Pet. 2:23),
                                        Himself a man (Jn. 8:40) and is           paid taxes (Matt. 17:24-27),
                                        also called such by the inspired          worked and rested, ate and
                                        apostles (Acts 2:22) who knew             drank, worshipped in the
                                        Him and "handled" Him (I Jn.              synagogues, prayed, and in all
                                        1: 1). So real was His humanity           these things proved to us that He
                                        that Scripture at times even calls        is like us at all points (Heb. 2:17).
                                        Him a man without any                       That He is really a man is
                                        reference at all to His divinity          stated in Scripture in different
                                        (Rom. 5:15; I Cor. 15:21; I Tim.          ways, i.e., that He was made
                                        2:5).                                     flesh (Jn. 1:14), came in the flesh
                                          This testimony is supported by          (I Jn. 4:2, 3), bore the likeness of
                                        the further testimony of Scripture        sinful flesh (Rom. 8:3), and par-
                                        that He was born a part of the            took of the flesh and blood of the
                                        human race and experienced all            children (Heb. 2:14); but all add
                                        that belongs to our life. He was          up to one unmistakeable
                                        born of a woman (Gal. 4:4), was           testimony that He was really man
Ronald H. Hanko is pastor of Trinity
Protestant Reformed Church, Houston,    fed at the breast (Lk. 11:27), was        as we are, bone of our bone and
Texas.                                  circumcised (Lk. 2:21), lived with        flesh of our flesh (Eph. 5:30).

188 / The Standard Bearer


That these passages refer                    Especially telling proof of His       Most striking of all in respect
especially to the fact that He had        humanity is the testimony of           to His limitations as a man is the
a real human body, does not ex-           Scripture to His limitations as a      fact that He needed God, just as
clude His having also a human             man. That He had to grow in            we do. This we see in His great
soul (Matt. 26:38), spirit (Jn.           knowledge reminds us that His          need for prayer (Mk. 1:35; Matt.
13:21), mind (Phil. 2:5), will (Lk.       knowledge as a man was limited.        26:38; Heb. 5:7), in His wor-
22:42), and heart (Matt. 11:29).          Christ Himself acknowledges this       shipping God, even to the extent
Nonetheless, the emphasis of              in several instances. He told His      of speaking of God as His God,
Scripture lies exactly at that            disciples that He did not know         and not just His Father (Matt.
point where the reality of His            the day or hour of His coming          27:46). We certainly see in this
humanity has often been denied,           (Mk. 13:32), and showed surprise       what the Athanasian Creed calls
that He is our flesh and blood, a         at the faith of the centurion who      His inferiority to the Father in
true son of man.                          requested healing for his servant      respect of His humanity, for it is
   Christ Himself stresses His            (Matt. 8:lO). As difficult as it is    impossible from the viewpoint of
humanity by constantly referring          for us to reconcile this with His      His deity that He should have
to Himself as the Son of Man. In-         divine omniscience (cf. Jn. 2:24,      God or need God.
deed, this is the name He pre-            25), it is nevertheless an               When we add to all this the
ferred for Himself, using this            undeniable evidence of the reali-      testimony of Scripture concerning
name more than any other, some            ty of His humanity.                    His suffering and weakness, then
forty times in all. So exactly does          Likewise we find from Scrip         indeed there can be no doubt
it describe His humanity that its         ture that His strength was             that He was like us, for He did
repeated use in the Gospel of             limited, dependent on food,            not take on Himself the human
Luke is an indication of the              drink, and rest as ours also is.       nature as it was first created,
theme of that gospel. This name           Nor could He be in more than           perfect in strength and
corresponds to the Old Testa-             one place at one time (om-             knowledge, but our human
ment references to Him as the             nipresence), but was subject to        nature as it is debilitated and
great Seed; of the woman, of              the same limitations of space and      weakened by the power and
Abraham, and of David (Gen.               place as we are. This is part of       dominion of sin. Thus Scripture
3:15; 17:7; II Sam. 7:12). That this      the reality of the ascension, for      also speaks of His hunger, thirst,
seed is ultimately Christ is clear        to deny that Christ went to            weariness, poverty, and pain (Jn.
from Galatians 3:16; but the point        heaven when He ascended in the         4:6; 19:28; II Cor. 8:9). But even
is that in all the references to        - sight of His disciples is to make      His suffering was more than
Christ as the Seed, the word has          the ascension a mere illusion.         physical, and in that also He was
first of all literal meaning: "off-       That He had to grow from infant        entirely like us. He knew sorrow,
spring." Nor is its profound              to adult reminds us that He as a       anxiety, agony of soul, and dis-
spiritual sense at all obscured by        man was subject to time and            appointment in the face of suffer-
this recognition of its literal           change as we are, and is not, as       ing (Matt. 26:37, 40; Lk. 22:44;
meaning. This meaning of the              man, eternally and unchangeably        Jn. 11:35; 12:27). And, most strik-
name Son of Man is further con-           the same. To this the Athanasian       ing of all, He was able to suffer
firmed by Scripture's use of it in        Creed bears witness when it says       temptation and was tempted at
connection with Christ's activity         that He was not only "God of the       every point with us. Nor may the
as a man: coming, going, seek-            substance of the Father, begotten      temptations of Christ be dis-
ing, finding, eating, drinking, be-       before the worlds," but also "man      missed as anything less than the
ing betrayed, delivered over to           of the substance of His mother,        real spiritual struggle which we
enemies, lifted up, buried, and           born in the world." And all of         ourselves endure in temptation.
risen.                                    these limitations are implied in       Scripture speaks clearly of His
  His own use of this name                the further statement of the           need for the ministration of
reminds us that His humanity is           Athanasian Creed that He is "in-       angels after His struggle with
not abstract church doctrine, but         ferior to the Father as touching       Satan in the wilderness (Matt.
a revelation of His love for His          His manhood."                          4:l l), and of the agony of His
own, and of His willingness to                                                   soul in the garden, where the
suffer all things for our sakes.                                                 proof of His temptation and
That He preferred this name                                                      struggle is His own bloody sweat.
ought never be forgotten by
those who desire to come to Him
and who seek in Him all joy.


                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer  / 189


 Directory, Protestant Reformed Churches
  Covenant Prot. Ref. Church           First Prot. Ref. Church            Southeast Prot. Ref. Church
  454 Pulis Ave.                       2800 Michigan St., NE              1536 Cambridge, SE
  Franklin Lakes, N.J.                 (l/2 Mi. SW of 196/M44 inter-      Grand Rapids, MI
  (Meeting in United Meth. Church)       change)                          Services: 9:30 & 5:00
  Services: 11:30 & 7:00               Grand Rapids, MI                   ' Phone: (616) 452-7047
  Phone: (201) 790-4732                Services: 9:30 & 6:00
                                       Phone: (616) 247-0638, 245-4339    Grandville Prot. Ref. Church
  Byron Center Prot. Ref. Church                                          \ Wilson Ave., SW
  8840 Byron Center Ave.               Southwest Prot. Ref. Church        Grandville, MI
  Byron Center, MI                     4875 Ivanrest Ave., SW             (Meeting in Grandville High
  (Meeting in Byron Center Chr. Jr.    Grandville, MI                        School)
     High School)                      Services: 9:30 & 7:00              Services: 9:30 & 7:00
  Services: 9:30 & 5:00                Phone: (616) 532-6876, 532-4846    Phone: (616) 538-2575
  Phone: (616) 878-3255, 534-1927
                                       Faith Prot. Ref. Church            Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Church
  Hope Prot. Ref. Church               7194 20th Ave.                     5101 Beechtree Ave.
  1580 Ferndale, SW                    Jenison, MI                        (1 Blk. East of Public High
  (Corner of Riverbend & Ferndale)     Services: 9:30 & 7:00                 School, 32nd Ave.)
  Walker, MI                           Phone: (6 16) 457-5848             Hudsonville, MI
  Services: 9:30 & 7:00                                                   Services: 9:30 & 7:00
  Phone: (616) 453-3253, 453-2524      First Prot. Ref. Church            Phone: (616) 669-0755
                                       290 E. 18th St.
  Kalamazoo Prot. Ref. Church          Holland, MI                        South Holland Prot. Ref. Church
  4515 Green Acre Dr.                  Services: 9:30 & 6:30              16511 South Park Ave.
  Kalamazoo, MI                        Phone: (616) 396-8303              South Holland, IL
  Services: 9:30 & 6:00                                                   Services: 9:30 & 6:00
  Phone: (616) 381-3385, 349-4420      Pella Prot. Ref. Church            Phone: (312) 333-1314, 596-3113
                                       410 Franklin St.                   Trinity Prot. Ref. Church
  Randolph Prot. Ref. Church           Pella, IA                          2 14 Barker-Clodine Rd.
  229 Hammond St.                      Services: 9:30 & 7:00              Houston, TX
  Randolph, WI                         Phone: (515) 628-4747              Services: 9:30 & 6:00
  Services: 9:30 & 2:00                                                   Phone: (713) 492-0844
  Phone: (414) 326-5642                Doon  Prot. Ref. Church
                                       6th Ave. & N. 2nd St.              Edgerton Prot. Ref. Church
  Hull Prot. Ref. Church               Doon, IA                           3rd & Maple St.
  1204 Third St.                       Services: 9:30 & 2:00              Edgerton, MN
  Hull, IA                             Phone: (712) 726-3382              Services: 9:30 & 7:30 (March to
  Services: 9:30 & 7:00 (May. to                                             Nov.) 9:30 & 2:00 (Dec. to Feb.)
     Sept.) 9:30 & 1:30 (Oct. to       Loveland Prot. Ref. Church         Phone: (507) 442-444 1
     April)                            709 E. 57th St.
  Phone: (712) 439-1326, 439-1283      Loveland, CO                       First Prot. Ref. Church
                                       Services: 9:30 & 6:00 (Oct. to     11533 135th St.
  Hope Prot. Ref. Church                 May) 9:30 & 7:00 (June to Sept.) (Mt. Zion Lutheran Church)
  Isabel, SD                           Phone: (303) 667- 1347             Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
  Services: 9:30 & 2:00                                                   Services: 11:15 & 3:00
  Phone: (605) 466-2450                Lynden Prot. Ref. Church           Phone: (403) 455-9803
                                       108 Beernink Lane
  Hope Prot. Ref. Church               Lynden, WA                         Immanuel Prot. Ref. Church
  1307 E. Brockton Ave.                Services: 10:00 & 8:00 (summer)    C & E Trail and 50th Ave.
  Redlands, CA                           10:00 & 2:00 (winter)            (St. Cyprian's Anglican Church)
  Services: 10:00 & 7:00               Phone: (206) 354-4337              Lacombe, Alberta, Canada
  Phone: (714) 792-0307, 792-4923                                         Services: 12:00 & 4:00
                                                                          Phone: (403) 782-4089


790  /  The Standard Bearer


    Only at one point was He dif-            our salvation. The church must           now that He has in our flesh ob-
 ferent from us in suffering and in          not neglect the truth of Christ's        tained glory and honor with the
 temptation: He was without sin.             true humanity by over-reacting          Father. As our Belgic Confession
 But sinlessness is not essential to         against those who believe that          says:
 our humanity, as is clear in the            He is only a man and who in one           But this Mediator, whom the Father
 creation of Adam: that is.to say,           way or another deny His                 has appointed between him and us,
 it is possible to be a real man             Godhead.                                ought in no wise to at%-ight us by his maj-
 and yet be without sin. So the                Nor may this doctrine ever be         esty, or cause us to seek another accord-
                                                                                     ing to our Fancy. For there is no creature
 sinlessness of Christ does not              mere doctrine, for it is for us per-    in heaven or on earth who loveth us
 make Him in any way at all less             sonally the .foundation  of our         more than Jesus Christ; who, though he
 of man than we are.                         assurance of salvation and the          was in the Form of God, yet made himself
    It ought to be evident, then,            truth which draws us to Christ as       of no reputation, and took upon him the
 that Scripture pays as much at-             Redeemer, Intercessor, and sym-         form of a man, and of a servant for us,
                                                                                     and was made like unto his brethren in
 tention to the humanity of Christ           pathetic High Priest, especially        all things [Art. XXVr). 0
 as to His divinity, as also ought
 we, for both are necessary for





                                             News From
                                             Our Churches
 Ben Wiggcr



                     Januarv 15.  1988-      meeting. The first item of               as pastor of our sister church in
    From the trio of the Reverends           businesi that night was to call a        Wellington, New Zealand.
 Kenneth Hanko, Gise Van Baren,              second missionary for the island           From Faith Church's November
 and Bernard Woudenberg, the                 of Jamaica from a trio of the            22nd bulletin we learn that
- congregation in Holland has ex-            Reverends De Vries, Gritters, and        Pastor Bekkering has been work-
tended a call to Rev. G. Van                 Koole. From that trio Rev. De           ' ing the past several weeks with
 Baren, presently pastor of Hud-             Vries was chosen.                        two area pastors with a view to
 sonville, to become their under-              The Lord willing, on January 8         resuming his work in the con-
 shepherd.                                   Rev. Rodney Miersma and his              gregation in the future. Although
    On Monday, December 2 1,                 family will have begun their long        Pastor Bekkering has made some
 First Church in Grand Rapids                trip to New Zealand. The New             good progress, he is still unable
 held their annual congregational            Zealand government has granted           to handle the pressures of the
                                             the Miersmas permission to im-           work, especially of preaching.
                                             migrate. However, `that permis-          Pastor Bekkering and his family
                                             sion is only for a six month             are extremely appreciative for
                                             period. It is hoped that once they       the support the congregation has
                                             are there the time period can be        shown through their cards, let-
                                             extended. This of course will            ters, and prayers. Let us all con-
                                             have to be left to the will of our       tinue to pray for Pastor ,Bekker-
                                             heavenly Father. Rev. and Mrs.           ing and his family.
                                             Heys hope to be able to arrange            December 14 the Heritage
                                             a flight to New Zealand sometime         Christian School Society in Hud-
                                             in early February, with the pur-        sonville met in a special session
                                                                                      to consider a proposal from their
 Ben Wigger is an elder in the Protestant    pose of installing Rev. Miersma
 Reformed Church of Hudsonville,                                                     School Board to add an addition
 Michigan.                                                                            of four classrooms to the south

                                                                                                        The Standard Bearer / 191


 THE
S?AlVD~                                                                                       SECOND CLASS
BMR                                                                                           Postage Paid at
                                                                                              Grand Rapids, Michigan

1?0. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, MI 49506



wing of the school. The school         Evangelical Reformed Church,          Dec. 8. Discussion-was from Matt.
presently has ten permanent            the second congregation in            2, particularly the events involv-
classrooms and two portable            Singapore, will be holding a sec-     ing Jesus' flight to Egypt. After-
classrooms.' Although the present      ond service each Lord's Day.          wards Rev. G. Van Baren showed
need is thirteen classrooms, they      Pastor Mahtani asks us to con-        slides from their recent trip to
have been able to operate with         tinue praying that God will con-      England.
the existing twelve by using the       tinue to bless this work.                Contemplation from Randolph:
library, lounge, a storage area,         Now that the holidays are past,     "Humility - a quality that disap-
and a split room, because their        it becomes clear through all our      pears the momenryou  think you
ninth grade class has only twelve      church bulletins that our congre-     have it." E.D. Hulse q
students. They anticipate approx-      gations ire singing congregations.
imately forty students in next         This is true during the entire
year's kindergarten class which        year, but it seems to reach a
will increase their classroom          climactic point around Christmas.
needs to fourteen rooms next           Just about everyone of our chur-      NOTICE!
year. Heritage presently has an        ches has a Sunday School Pro-            Classis West of the Protestant
enrollment of just about 300           gram this time of the year.           Reformed Churches will meet in
students. The proposal passed by       Besides that, there are Choral        Redlands, CA on Wednesday,
a unanimous vote.                      Societies.                            March 2, 1988, at  8:30 AM, the
   Did you know that the                 The Doon  Choral Society            Lord willing. All material for the
Evangelical Reformed Church of         presented a Thanksgiving Pro-         Agenda is to be in the hands of
Singapore publishes a bi-monthly       gram November 29. Faith Choral        the Stated Clerk 30 days before
magazine entitled The Pillar and       Society presented their Christmas     Classis convenes. All delegates
Ground of Truth?  Their latest         Program on the same night. And        in need of lodging or of
issue contained, among other           Hope and Hudsonville's Choral         transportation from the airport
things, an editorial by Pastor Lau,    Societies each gave a Christmas       should notify the Clerk of the
the text of a speech by Rev. G.        program on December 6.                Redlands Consistory.
Van Baren on the Reformation,          Christmas Singspirations were         Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
which he gave while visiting           also sponsored by the Federation      WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
Singapore in the Fall of 1986.         Board in Hudsonville's Church,           We, the children and grand-
There is also an article by Rev.       by the Christian Fellowship Socie-    children of MR. AND MRS. AN-
Dale Kuiper on "Knowing God."          ty in Hull, by Edgerton's Young       DREW VAN DEN TOP, thank
This fine magazine is free to          People, i and by South Holland's      our God for giving them the gift
anyone who requests it, but I          Mr. and Mrs. Society.                 of forty years of marriage.
might add that gifts to help             Covenant Christian High                We rejoice with them for the
defray the expenses of this            School gave their,band and choir      covenantal instruction they
publication are greatly ap-            concert at First Church in Grand      have given us, their children
preciated. You can get on the          Rapids on December 13.                and grandchildren.
E.R.C.S.`s mailing list by writing-      Faith's Sr. Young Peoples              It is our prayer that God will
their business office:                 Society planned a pancake break-      continue to bless them as He
      The P.G.T.                       fast for Dec. 12. All donations       has so faithfully done!
      Apt. Blk. 307, lo-106            from the breakfast, which was         Vernon and Viney  Maas
      Bukit Batok St. 31               held at Hope School, were to go       Jeff and Peggy Van Den  T?p
      Singapore 2365                   towards the 1988 Young Peoples'       Mike and Marilyn Forslof
   Pastor Mahtani also informs us      Convention.                           Loren and Caroly Van Den Top
that the Lord willing, starting          Hudsonville's societies held a      Ernie and Kimberly Tjoelker
January 10, the Covenant               combined ,Christmas meeting             17 grandchildren
                                                                                1 great-grandchild


192  / The Standard Bearer


