                     THE
                    STANDARD
A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Magazine            BBR





November 7, 1988


   Contents                                           November I,? 988
  Meditation - Rev,. lames D. Slopsema
     THE GREATNESS OF GOD'S MERCY                                          51
  EDITORIALLY SPEAKING  - Prof. David]. Engelsma                           53    ISSN 0362-4692
  Editorial  - Prof. David  /. Engelsma                                          Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
     CLEAR SCRIPTURE AND DILIGENT STUDY                                    53    and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
                                                                                 lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
 CORRESPONDENCE  - Rev.  jaikishin  Mahtani                                56    at Grand Rapids, Mich.
                                                                                 EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
 The Strength of Youth  - Rev. Barrett  L. Critters                              Editor-in-chief: Prof. David J. Engelsma
     HARD QUESTIONS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE:                                            Managing Editor: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                 Editors' Assistant: Mr. Don Doezema
     "HOW DO I HANDLE A SINNING FRIEND?                                    57    DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                 Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
 The Day Of Shadows  -  Rev.  john A. Heys                                       Arie denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
     A SMALL SHADOW OF A MOUNTAIN OF SIN                                   59    Critters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
                                                                                 Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John Heys, Rev.
 All Around Us  - Rev. Gise  /. VanBaren                                         Jason Kortering, Rev. George Lubbers, Rev. lames
                                                                                 Slopsema, Rev. Charles Terpstra, Rev. Gise
     "BOLD ENOUGH TO GO AGAINST SCRIPTURE"                                 62    VanBaren, Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
     THE SYNOD OF THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA                           63    EDITORIAL OFFICE
                                                                                 The Standard Bearer
 Guest Article  - Rev. Rodney Miersma                                            4949 Ivanrest
                                                                                 Crandville, Michigan 49418
     NEWS FROM NEW ZEALAND                                                 64    CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                 Mr. Ben Wigger
 Guided Into All Truth  - Rev. Charles  1. Terpstra                              6597 - 40th Ave.
     TERTULLIAN  AND THE GNOSTIC HERESY                      ;'            65    Hudsonville,  Michigan 49426
                                                                                 EDITORIAL POLICY
 Taking Heed to the Doctrine  - Rev. Ronald H.  Hank                             Every editor is solely responsible for the contents
     THE TWO NATURES OF CHRIST: THE UNION OF THE                                 of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
                                                                                 terest from our readers and questions for the
     HUMAN AND DIVINE NATURES                                              68    Question Box Department are welcome. Contribu-
                                                                                 tions will be limited to approximately 300 words
 NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES  - Mr. Benjamin Wigger                             70    and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
                                                                                 must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first and
                                                                                 the fifteenth of the month. All communications
                                                                                 relative to the contents should be sent to the
  In This Issue . . .                                                            editorial office.
                                                                                 REPRINT POLICY
                                                                                 Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of
    Rev. Charles Terpstra has been assigned the rubric "Guided Into All          articles in our magazine by other publications,
                                                                                 provided: a) that such reprinted articles are repro-
Truth," the pages of which have so long and so well been filled by               duced in full: b) that moper acknowledeement is
                                                                                 made; c) that a.copy bf t'he periodical in which
Rev. Thomas Miersma. In it Rev. Terpstra plans, he says, to lift some            such reprint appears is sent to our editorial office.
of the church fathers "off the pages of history and set them before              BUSINESS OFFICE         NEW ZEALAND OFFICE
                                                                                 The Standard Bearer The Standard Bearer
our mind's eyes." He begins with Tertullian . . . and the Gnostics.              Mr. H. Vander Wal       c/o Protestant Reformed
    That's not an easy place at which to begin. For Gnosticism was a             P.O. Box 6064             Church
                                                                                 Grand Rapids, MI        B. Van Herk
 rationalistic, highly speculative, deeply mystical philosophical system           49516                 66 Fraser St.
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50  /  The  Standard  Bearer


                                         The Greatness of
Meditation                               God's Mercy
Rev. lames Slopsema



  He hath not dealt with us after          God has not dealt with us after        God also has mercy for His
our sins; nor rewarded us accord-        our sins; nor rewarded us accord-      people. From all eternity God has
ing to our iniquities.                   ing to our iniquities. As far as       chosen unto Himself a people. In
  For as the heaven is high              east is from the west, so far has      Jesus Christ God loves this people.
above the earth, so great is his         He removed our transgressions          They are the apple of His eye.
mercy toward them that fear him.         from us.                               When therefore God's people
  As far as east is from the west,         How beautiful and comforting         are in trouble and distress, as
so far hath he removed our trans-        this is, especially to the wretched    they often are, God is filled with
gressions from us.                       soul that carries a heavy burden       pity and compassion toward
                      Psalm 103:10-12    of sin and guilt.                      them. His divine heart goes out
   Psalm 103 is a most beautiful         * * * * * *  * * * *                   to them. And in His almighty
Psalm.                                                                          power God is quick to rescue
                                           Mercy presupposes two things.
   It is a Psalm that speaks                                                    them from their woe.
                                           It presupposes that you love
especially of Gods mercy                                                          This is Gods mercy.
                                         someone and that in that love
towards His people.                                                               The Psalmist wishes to em-
                                         you seek the welfare of that per-
  The Psalm opens with a song            son. This latter, after all, is the    phasize especially the greatness
of praise to God for the wonder-                                                of this mercy God has for His
                                         very essence of love. Whatever
ful blessings of His mercies. In                                                people. To do this the Psalmist
                                         doesn't seek the welfare of
mercy God forgives all our iniq-                                                compares the mercy of God to
                                         another is not love.
uities, heals all our diseases,                                                 the height of the heavens above
                                           Mercy also presupposes that
redeems our life from destruc-           this loved one is in distress.         the earth. As the heaven is high
tion.                                    Troubles have come upon him.           above the earth, so great is Gods
  Bless the Lord, 0 My soul, and         He is in misery and woe.               mercy toward them that fear
forget not all His benefits!                                                    Him.
                                           Now what happens when a
  And now the Psalmist speaks            loved one of yours is in distress?       In this instance modern science
of the greatness of Gods mercy.                                                 helps us to understand the Scrip-
                                           Your heart goes out to him.
  As the heaven is high above            You feel sorry for him. You are        tures. The distance of the stars
the earth, so great is His mercy                                                from the earth is measured today
                                         overwhelmed with pity and com-
toward them that fear Him.                                                      in terms of the speed of light.
                                         passion. Perhaps you are so deep-
  The Psalmist -also speaks of                                                  Light travels at the phenomenal
                                         ly affected by his plight that your
how God shows His great mercy            stomach aches, your head               speed of 186,000 miles per sec-
to us, His people.                       pounds, and you can not sleep.         ond. Traveling at that incompre-
                                                                                hensible speed, it takes more
                                         You will do everything in your         than 8 minutes for the light of
                                         power to help this loved one out       the sun to reach earth. And the
                                         of his trouble.                        sun is the closest star to us in
                                           That's mercy. Mercy is the           Gods universe! Some stars are so
                                         compassion we have for those in
Rev. Slopsema is pastor of the Prot-     distress, so that we seek to           far removed from the earth that
estant Reformed Church of Walker,                                               it takes years and years for their
                                         deliver them from their woe.
Michigan.                                                                       light to travel to the earth.

                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer  /  51


     For all practical purposes,       from their woe. And He does this       casting us forever to the fires of
 therefore, the heavens are            no matter what the cost!               hell, He reserves for us a place in
 endless. God has created the             Such is Gods mercy for His          heaven.
 heavens this way, no doubt, to        people.                                   As the heaven is high above
 give us some idea of what it             As the heaven is high above         the earth, so great is His mercy
 means to be infinite, without         the earth, so great is God's mercy     toward them that fear Him!
 limits.                               toward them that fear Him.                God also shows this great mer-
    And that's the point of compar-     *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *          cy to us, His people, in'that He
 ing the mercy of God to the                                                  removes our transgressions from
 height of heaven. As the heaven          God shows this great mercy to       us, as far as the east is from the
 is high above the earth, so great     us, His people, in that He does        west.
 is God's mercy toward them that       not deal with us after our sins,          This is necessary if God will
 fear Him. God's mercy toward          nor reward us according to our         not deal with us after our sin, nor
 His people is infinite, boundless,    iniquity.                              reward us according to our iniq-
 knowing no limits.                       Oh, our sins are abominable!        uity. For God is a God of justice.
    That's not the case, however,      The essence of our sin is hatred       And God's justice demands that
 of the mercy we show to others.       against God. This hatred for God       we can receive Gods blessing on-
 The mercy we have for others is       is deeply rooted in our sinful         ly if we are able to stand before
 often limited. There always           nature. It manifests itself in our     God without sin. Should we ap-
 comes a time when our mercy           life again and again in a refusal      pear before the presence of God
 for others fails.                     to serve God to the glory of His       with even the least of our sins,
    Take for example a situation in    name. Again and again we tram-         God's justice would require that
 which a friend or relative re-        ple under foot His good and holy       we be destroyed forever.
 peatedly gets himself into trouble    law for the sake of our own              Hence, if God will spare us
 due to his own foolishness. At        selfish interests.                     from the wrath to come, He must
 first we may feel sorry for him         We see the greatness of Gods         remove our sins from us. He
 and try to help him. But after a      mercy in that He does not deal         must remove them from us as far
 while we are inclined to become       with us after these sins, nor          as the east is from the west so
 disgusted with his foolishness and    reward us according to these in-       that all connection between us
 no longer seek to answer his          iquities.                              and our sin is forever severed.
pleas for help. There is an end to       What a horrible thing should  i        This God has done in Jesus
 our mercy.                            God deal with us after our sins.       Christ, His Son. He sent His only
    And what about the situation       For then we would be destroyed         begotten Son into the world to
in which helping those in need         forever. Notice that the Psalmist      assume the guilt of our sin.
requires a great deal of sacrifice     speaks of the possibility of God       Shouldering this heavy burden of
on our part? Require someone to        rewarding us for our iniquities. A     sin, Christ was then sent of the
sacrifice to help another and you      reward is simply the payment of        Father to the cross to bear all the
will find just how limited his mer-    what we deserve. And the proper        punishment of hell. Through liis
cy can be.                             reward of our sin is eternal death     perfect obedience Christ fully
   Yes, indeed, our mercy for          in hell. What we deserve is for        paid for all our sins and forever
others is often very limited.          3od to destroy us forever on ac-       removed them from us.
   But not so the mercy of God         :ount of our sins!                       This great work of God in
for His people. No matter what           But because of His great mercy       Jesus Christ all arises out of
they have done, no matter how          2od doesn't deal with us after         God's mercy for us.
foolish they have been, no mat-        3ur sins, nor reward us according        And how great that mercy of
ter if they have in foolishness        :o our iniquity.                       God for us is. He sent His only
fallen again and again into the          It's a matter of mercy when a        begotten Son . . . .
same pit, God always pities them       zriminal is shown leniency by the        As the heaven is high above
in their distresses and delivers       :ourt and is not punished for his      !he earth, so great is His mercy
them. Gods patience with His           :rimes. In like manner it is an act    loward them that fear Him!
people never runs out. God never       If great mercy on Gods part            * * * * * * * * * *
turns away from His people in          ,vhen we appear in God's court-
disgust, leaving them to flounder      .oom with all our spiritual crimes       This great mercy of God is
in their own folly. Always His         against Him, and God simply par-       shown to them that fear Him.
heart goes out to them in their        ions our sins. Instead of punish-        To fear, God is to stand,before
distresses and He delivers them        ng us as we deserve, He em-            2od with loving awe and
                                       jr-aces us in love. Instead of         `everence. According to the

52  I The Standard Bearer


Psalmist, those who so fear the       hearts, seeking forgiveness of                  To them God shows this great
Lord are such as keep His cove-       their sins only on the basis of              mercy.
nant and remember His com-            Christ and His cross.                           Let us in fear strive to do the
mandments to do them. This               This fear is a distinguishing             will of God, coming to God only
means that they strive from day       characteristic of Gods people.               in the name of Jesus Christ, our
to day to keep the will of God in     For it is the result of the grace of         Savior.
love. And when they fail because      God that operates irresistibly in              For as the heaven is high
of the weakness of their flesh,       their hearts.                                above the earth, so great is His
they come to God with grieving                                                     mercy toward them that fear
                                                                                   Him! c3





                                      Editorially Speaking

  W.e would like to introduce a       you are expected to exercise                 feel himself constrained to re-
column in The Standard Bearer         judgment and charity, using the              spond to every letter, whether he
as a regular feature consisting of    power of the pen "to edification,            agrees or disagrees, since the
comment by our readers on ar-         and not to destruction," as the              purpose of the column is not
ticles that have appeared, or on      apostle puts it in II Corinthians            public debate, but to hear from
issues that have been raised, in      13:lO. The decision of the                   our people. Letters should be
the magazine. Because brevity is      editorial committee whether a                sent to the Editor, c/o the Protes-
the soul of wit and because space     piece should be published will be            tant Reformed Seminary, 4949
is limited, we ask that our cor-      final. Letters may be edited for             Ivanrest Ave., Grandville, MI
respondents keep their letters        publication. The Editor will not             49418. 0                           -DJE
short. Like our regular writers,
                                                                              -





                                      Clear Scripture and
Editorial                             Diligent Study

  In the covenant mercy of God,       the 66 books of the Bible to be              child-like humility, we believe all
there is among us Protestant Re-      "holy and divine writings" (Belgic           things contained in the Scrip-
formed Christians a sound doc-        Confession, Art. 3); we all receive          tures, without doubt or criticism
trine of Holy Scripture. With         these books as the only, infallible          (Art. 5); and we hold that the
creedal fidelity, we all confess      rule of faith (Articles 5, 7); with          doctrine of Scripture is perfect


                                                                                                   The Standard  Bearer  / 53


 and complete in all respects              Scripture, however, does not            deceive us with mythical tales
(Art. 7).                                suppose itself unclear. It is strik-      purporting to be history.
    Of special importance at the         ing that in those outstanding               Our good confession concern-
 present time is our conviction          passages in which the Bible               ing Scripture is a wonder. It is in-
 that the Bible is clear, so that        describes itself, Scripture stresses      creasingly a rarity, even among
 every believer is able to take          its clarity. Scripture thinks that its    the churches that profess the doc-
 Scripture in hand and understand        meaning is plain to every                 trine of Scripture found in the
 it. The subtlest, and therefore         believer, apart from - and long           Belgic Confession, or in the West-
 most dangerous, attack on Scrip-        before! - the new methods of in-          minster Confession of Faith. That
ture today takes the form of the         terpretation. Timothy could, and          an entire denomination of
denial of Scripture's clarity. It is     did, know the Scriptures "from a          churches maintains this confes-
freely acknowledged that Scrip-          child' (II Timothy 3:15). This was        sion, that it is the unquestioned
ture is inspired. The difficulty         not an exception due to                   basis of the preaching and
with Scripture - and a very              Timothy's genius, but the rule for        pastoral work of all the ministers,
serious difficulty it is - is that       covenant children on account of           that it is not undermined in the
Scripture cannot be understood.          their upbringing, the work of the         Seminary, that it is the founda-
It cannot be understood by the           Spirit, and the clarity of Scrip-         tion of the instruction of the
church-member; but neither can           ture. The apostle Peter describes         children in the homes and Chris-
it be understood by the ordinary         the prophetic word of Scripture           tian schools - this is a rare and
pastor. The problem is not in the        as "a light that shineth in a dark        wonderful thing in 1988.
believing reader, but in Scripture       place," as it must be if the elect          The importance of our confes-
itself. The Bible is an obscure          saints are to take heed to it (II         sion of Scripture cannot be over-
book. To figure it out requires          Peter 1:19ff.). Already in the Old        estimated. On the basis of this
new, exotic tools of interpreta-         Testament, God praised His Word           confession, we preach Scripture's
tion, accessible to only a few.          as a Iamp and a light (Psalm              message, "the pure doctrine of
Only a few scholars truly under-         119:105). When God speaks to              the Gospel," as the Belgic Confes-
stand the Bible; and their ex-           His dear children in the darkness         sion calls it in Article 29, ad-
planations are tentative, not cer-       of this ignorant and depraved age         minister the sacraments as in-
tain. This is to attack Scripture in     the Word that is necessary for            stituted by Christ, and exercise
respect to that particular, essen-       salvation, the Word of eternal            church discipline in dealing with
tial quality of Scripture which          life, He does not speak obscurely,        sin. Thus, and only thus, is Jesus
Reformed theology has called             but clearly and distinctly, so that,      Christ acknowledged as the Head
"the perspicuity of Scripture."          by the Holy Spirit illuminating           of our churches; and thus, and
   It is the clarity, or perspicuity,    their minds to the plain sense of         only thus, are we clearly identi-
of Scripture that is challenged by       Scripture, they readily and cer-          fied as true churches of Jesus
the new methods of interpreting          tainly understand Father's Word.          Christ in the world. Likewise, on
Scripture. If Genesis 2 and 3 (and         This, we confess! Scripture is          the basis of this confession, the
Romans 5:12ff.!) do not; in fact,        clear! And if you trace this con-         members direct their lives ac-
teach a historical Adam,and Eve,         fession to its source, you will           cording to Scripture as their rule,
unrelated genetically and biologi-       discover the heart-felt belief that       or standard, believing on Jesus
cally to the brutes, but formed          Scripture is, in its entirety, the        for salvation and walking in obe-
directly by the hand of God, in          written Word of God, and not at           dience to His will. Thus, and thus
the one case from the dust, and          all the words of man.                     only, are we clearly identified as
in the other case from a rib of            God makes Himself "more                 true Christians.
her husband, the Bible is not            clearly and fully known to us" in           Their confession of Scripture
clear, but dark and confused. In-        the written Word (Belgic Confes-          binds Gods people to their only
variably, if you pursue the ques-        sion, Articles 2, 3). Such is the         Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.
tion, why Scripture is unclear, so       brilliance of Scripture's light that        Always, criticism of the Word
that its mysteries can be un-            "the very blind are able to               of God, from the "Yea, hath God
locked only by the new methods           perceive that the things foretold         said . . . ?" in Eden, to the "Yes,
of interpretation, you will              in them are fulfilling" (Art. 5).         has God written . . . ?" in
discover that the reason is that         God may stutter in the Bible, as          Amsterdam or Grand Rapids, is
Scripture is not totally the Word        Calvin wrote, with reference to           the assault by the gates of hell on
of God, but is, in part, the words       God's condescension to our                the foundation of the Kingdom of
of men. Denial of Scripture's            childish comprehension; but He
clarity is the denial of inspiration!    does not mumble, much less

54  / The Standard Bearer


God, and the seduction of Gods         Scripture is Gods own light shin-        be well taught. The leader need
people from the God Who is their       ing into our dark world, so that         not always be the pastor.
life.                                  we will take heed to it (II Peter        Especially if the church is large
   To call attention to this good      1:19ff.).                                and if there are many classes, re-
confession is not to boast. For           If the Bible is the Word of God,      quiring the pastor to lead all the
one thing, confessing Scripture to     and clear to us all, children and        societies may put too heavy a
be the Word of God is the              adults alike, we ought to be like        burden upon him. Besides, there
church's basic duty. What child        the Bereans, who searched the            are others who have the gift of
brags because he recognizes and        Scriptures daily (Acts 17: 11).          teaching; and opportunity ought
acknowledges his parent's voice?       There is a practical denial of           to be given to them to use their
Besides, our confession is itself      Scripture, as well as a doctrinal        gift. But the teacher (leader) must
the gift of God to us. The confes-     denial: neglect of Scripture.            be a member who is knowledge-
sion of Scripture is the conviction      The Bible must be an open              able and sound in the Faith. He
and expression of faith; and faith     book among us.                           should always be well prepared,
is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).       Chiefly, this must continue to        ready to guide the discussion in
Grace empowers the churches to         be the case in our worship ser-          the track of the passage that is to
stand defiantly against the spirit     vices and catechism classes.             be studied. He should allow for,
of our age and faithfully towards      Every sermon and every lesson            and encourage, discussion by the
Him Who said, "the Scripture           in the catechism class must be           group; an hour's lecture by the
cannot be broken" (John 10:35).        the explanation of Scripture. I          leader is detrimental to the pur-
Grace enables our young people         learned from one of the books of         pose of the societies among us.
to see the arrogance of the            Jan  Waterink that the teacher           Gently but firmly, he must insist
human wisdom that presumes to          should bring this home especially        that the group make progress in
sit in judgment over Gods Word         to the little children in catechism      their study; it becomes weari-
and the folly of evolutionary          by saying, at the beginning of the       some, if the society as a rule
science that would have them in-       class, "Today, I am going to             spends the whole evening on one
terpret "in the beginning, God'        teach you Gods Word from this            verse. At the end of the discus-
as "from endless ages, time and        passage of the Bible," and by            sion, he should be able to bring
chance." Grace causes men and          opening the Bible at the same            the study to a satisfactory conclu-
wom,en who are foolish, proud,         time before their eyes and laying        sion, summing up the consensus,
doubtful, and blind to be wise,        it on the lectern. As it is the          or giving his own interpretation,
humble, trusting, and seeing, so       pastor's calling to teach Scripture,     especially if there has been dif-
that they receive Scripture as         so is it the people's duty to be         ference of opinion. Most
Divine. "Because it is given unto      present and to learn.                    members dislike going home with
you to know . . . but to them it is      The Bible must also be the             everything left up in the air.
not given."                            light that actually shines in our          Our people should attend, if
   Nor may the fact of our faithful    homes and personal lives by be-          this is at all possible. Society can
confession of the doctrine of          ing opened there. How often is it        be the occasion for a more
Scripture become the occasion          not the case that we stumble in          careful, more systematic, and
for complacency. On the con-           the darkness of our own fears            deeper study of the Word than is
trary! Exactly because we know         and self-will, because the only          usual. In the discussion, the
the Bible to be inspired and ex-       rule of faith and life is left closed    saints, prophets and prophetesses
actly because we confess Scrip-        on the shelf?                            all, exercise their office, instruc-
ture to be clear, we are required        But my special concern is for          ting each other and sharpening
to be diligent students of the         the "societies" and other classes        the countenance of their friends,
Scriptures, more than others. The      of Bible-study that have recently        as iron sharpens iron (Proverbs
great passages in the New Testa-       resumed meeting as part of the           27: 17). Questions about the Faith,
ment on the doctrine of Scripture      educational ministry of the              and about the Christian life, can
appear in the practical setting of     churches. Because the Scriptures         be raised here, with the expecta-
the necessity of the believer's        are studied in these meetings, they      tion of good, sound answers.
reading the Scripture. Because         have, and ought to be thought to         Friends and relatives can be in-
Scripture is inspired, it is useful    have, an important place in our          vited to these meetings, to in-
and profitable for the man of          church-life. Our societies should        troduce them to our doctrine and
God, thoroughly equipping him                                                   fellowship. This says nothing of
for every good work (II Timothy                                                 the communion such meetings af-
3: 16, 17). Peter assures us that                                               ford, communion that is delight-

                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer  I55


 ful exactly because it is grounded          It is doubly discouraging, if       keeps record of the attendance!
 in the Word, communion that is           members shun the classes prb-          "Then they that feared the LORD
 also experienced in the prayers          vided by their own church, but         spake often one to another: and
 and singing that are part of these       frequent the "interfaith" classes      the LORD hearkened, and heard
 meetings.                                that are springing up today.           it, and a book of remembrance
    It is disquieting that interest in       Do we need an incentive to          was written before him for them
these mid-week meetings lags              meet with like-minded believers        that feared the LORD, and that
among us.                                 for the study and discussion of        thought upon his name" (Malachi
    It is discouraging to the church      God's Word? God Himself takes         3:16).  0                        -DJE
when few attend.                          note of all such meetings and





 Correspondence


 (Note: This letter from the Cove-        thanksgiving to God. Your earlier     we have heard good news from
 nant Evangelical Reformed                letter had informed us of your        you. It is not so much the
 Church of Singapore was re-              decision to bring a recommenda-       money, but the evidence of your
 ceived by the Contact Commit-            tion to Synod to make a call to       desire to help that fills us with
 tee. We are passing it along to          the churches and people to help       thanksgiving. Now it will not
 our people, via The Standard             us in this project. Thank you for     matter how much comes to us by
 Bearer partly because it was             your kind consideration and           way of love gifts and collections;
 meant for all our people, and            hearty recommendation to              what is more important is the
 partly because it has to do with         Synod. Now you have informed          fact that the saints in your midst
 the help which the Covenant              us that Synod eagerly and will-       heed the call for help and willing-
 Evangelical Reformed Church re-          ingly acceded to this request. We     ly help their sister churches in a
 quested from us in connection            are filled with thanksgiving to       faraway land. This is the expres-
 with their new building project.)        God that this desire to help us is    sion of our unity in the body of
Dearly beloved brethren in the            clearly evident even in the deci-     Christ. Thanks be to God!
Lord,                                     sion of Synod.                           Since half of the entire project
    Greetings to you in the                 The surveys conducted here          (approximately $300,000) is being
precious and glorious Name of             have been `most exciting and          financed by free-interest loans
our Lord and Saviour Jesus                wonderful. We have now re-            from members of the FERC and
Christ.                                   ceived love gifts as well as          CERC, whatever assistance from
    We thank God for His wonder-          pledges for interest-free loans       your people we receive will
ful providence in giving to us a          from members of the CERC and          lighten the burden sufficiently so
place of worship in Singapore.            FERC which will enable us to          that the church need not be in
The Lord willing, the Covenant            buy and renovate the property.        debt for such a long time and for
Evangelical Reformed Church               This also we see as the wonderful     such a big amount. Our intention
can move to its new premises              providence of God. The sacrificial    is also to borrow as little as possi-
before the end of the year. If            giving of the saints is the           ble from the members of the
everything goes according to our          evidence of Gods mighty work in       FERC (or pay them back as soon
plans, we will be worshipping in          the hearts of His people. Thank       as possible) so that they can fully
our new premises by October.              you for your encouraging word         support their own building proj-
   We received your letter dated          in this regard.                       ect when the time comes for
6/27/88  with great joy and                 With this progress, we are          them to get a new place of wor-
                                          nevertheless most thankful that       ship.

56  / The Standard Bearer


   Do convey our sincere                     us in this difficult but exciting                                         Let us remember to pray ear-
greetings to your churches and               project.                                                             nestly for each other.
people when you send them the                        May the Lord bless you also                                           Yours in His Love,
request for help.                            with every spiritual blessing from                                            w/s Pastor J. Mahtani,
   The Lord has been good to us,             above, and may the Protestant                                                   Chairman of Session
and we trust that His grace and              Reformed Churches continue to                                                 Covenant Evangelical Re-
His blessing will continue to lead           be used of God for the defense of                                               formed Church 0
                                             the gospel.





                                            Hard Questions for Young People:
 The Strength                               "How Do I Handle a
 of Youth                                   Sinning Friend?"
Rev, Barrett Critters



   THE PROBLEM IS REAL.                           ."  ._,  .(  -,
                                             . .
Suppose you have a close friend                     `Dear~Chri.~ti;In:`pL;ren~~,   a n d   yOung:  p&&e,  '  "  :  `"
                                                            _,'            ,.,,            (                      ,  ,-             .`            _
                                                  . . .`
with whom you do just about                                               ;         "./                                                   , :,
everything. Melody, we'll call                      r This section of the Standard B~earer-has  always been w&ten for
here, doesn't have much money                       the .S&n`g peciple. The Title` "The Strength of Youth" emphasizes
because she has to pay a big part            ~~`the~`i.mique  strength that:-yo,ung f&&e have in their teens, and later.
of her own school tuition and                "              Although there is a unique strength that young people have, in
because she's not able to take a             I:_their hi.i.es there are many d'ffcuh  questions to. face and answer. My
job during the school months,                )~ purpose, in this rubric .is to -address some of those -questions and try
since her parents want her to                     ;:to give guidetines  for .answering~  them, so .that their strengths may
                                                    be~qjst$  `io, the fullest.  `_.-  1.'  '  1:.  ~  .'                                 `_
spend all her time concentrating                                                                                                                       ~
on school. At first, Melody begins                  `I` .If .$+-have questions-you would like to see addressed here,
to take a few things at the store            `:I$lease,wr$e  to me at 836(+yde  .Park, Byron Center, iI(I 49315.
without paying for them. After a              `..:  God lead'you and bless  $ou'as:"you~, face'your  many"hard~ques-
while, even though you don't do                     :tions.",  ,-  ~,~`,::  ,j,  -"  .I  `,  !:;-`:  y.  .,~"::,:  .,,,,  L  y,                             `  L
                                                      ,            .-:                                                             .-  -_  *,;  I
                                                                                                /    :  .: . ,
the same yourself and even                                                                           ^^           :
though she knows you are un-                 "It's no big deal; it's not addic-                                   doing, but have promised your-
comfortable with what she is do-             tive; it won't hurt your mind."                                      self you are going to stop the
ing, she steals more and more,               For one reason or another, you                                       practice. You were shoplifting, or
without getting caught. Should               don't do it with him. Vince                                          drinking, or doing drugs, or com-
you approach Melody? How? And                knows you don't like what he                                         mitting fornication, or whatever,
what do you do if she laughs it              does, but keeps on smoking. How                                      with them. But now, by the grace
off?                                         would you handle this?                                               of God, your conscience has
   Or suppose your good friend,                      Perhaps your friend confides in                              bothered you much and you
Vince, begins to smoke mari-                 you that she has lost her virgini-                                   have decided to stop. But your
juana, or do another drug. He                ty, is not ashamed of it, and in-                                    friends have continued in the
tells you that you ought to try it.          tends to continue in her un-                                         ungodly walk. This problem is
                                             toward ways. What would be the                                       probably more common, but also
                                             Christian way to deal with this?                                     more difficult, because as soon as
                                                     More difficult yet it is when
Rev.  Gritters  is pastor of the Protes-                                                                          you would do or say anything
tant Reformed Church of Byron               you are doing precisely the same                                      about their sin, they would look
Center, Michigan.                            things that your friends are now                                     at you like . . . .

                                                                                                                                     The Standard Bearer  /  57


   Has this happened to you?             mandment by slandering our               that the Spirit will convict of sin
Some of us are bothered quite            friend, and we won't hurt our-           in your friend's heart as He did
badly when a good friend begins          selves by sticking our nose into         in yours - because that's the on-
to walk this kind of life, but           the business. But we must do             ly reason you have (or have
because we would not want to             something. The problem is, What          changed) your attitudes toward
make waves or lose the friend,           should I do?                             that sin. Even if you haven't
we don't do anything about it.              Don't think I do not sympa-           walked in that sin yourself, it's
Some of us have no little turmoil        thize with you in your dilemma.          still important that you come as a
in our soul and would like to do         Who wants a friend to continue           sinner.
something for our friend, but            living in a way that could have             Second, if that brings no result
don't know what would be both            serious, permanent conse-                - and it just may not - you may
proper and good for them. So,            quences? But who wants to take           bring another friend with you to
because of our uncertainty about         the chance of having a friend            try to persuade your impenitent
what to do, we do nothing, and           look at you as if you think you're       friend of his sin. (This should be
pretty soon our feeling of respon-       a messenger sent straight from           a mutual friend.) Don't threaten
sibility fades away.                     God? Who wants to be a "narc"?           with anything. Don't accuse or
* * * * * * * * * *                      Who wants to risk the reputation         slander. Only show your friend
  WHAT NOT TO DO. Knowing                of having turned on a friend? Liv-       you care. And let me emphasize
what not to do in these circum-          ing as a Christian young person          here that if you don't care about
stances is helpful.                      is not simple. The only way you          your friend, then pray to God un-
  We could tell some of our              can is by grace. Pray for grace!         til you do care, because if there
other friends, if they don't know        * * * * * * *  * * *                     is no deep concern for the
already, and spread the story.             NOW, HOW SHOULD I PRO-                 spiritual welfare of your friend,
Probably the most common thing           CEED?                                    you'll blow every step of the
done when a friend sins, this is           First, it is imperative that you       way.
also the most damaging both for          talk to your friend. I'm going to          The difficulty comes if you see
our own life and for our friend          tell a little story at the end to il-    no results in your friend's life.
whom we ought to be helping. At          lustrate how valuable this is, but       Now what? Here is where, I
the very least, when our friend          let me just make the point here.         believe, the path you follow must
sins, don't make things worse by         With a prayer in your heart that         be different from the path that an
telling others about the mess or         you'll be able to speak carefully,       adult follows when his friend
letting them know that you have          talk to your friend. If you are          walks in sin. If my friend - even
quit but your friend hasn't.             friends, you know how to talk;           my closest - walks in sin and
Remember this too: when you              and you know how to talk                 will not repent, even after I have
confide in one person and ask            seriously. Don't shout it to the         taken one or two "witnesses"
them not to, tell anyone else, you       world; don't act as though you           with me (Matthew 18), my duty is
can be sure that most of the time        are sinless; but go to the friend        to "tell it to the church", that is,
that person will tell their friend       and talk. Patiently, humbly, kind-       tell it to the elders. But in your
and add the "Just don't tell             ly, but not condescendingly, talk.       situation, it may be that your du-
anyone else." It spreads quite             You don't need to take out the         ty is not to follow the way of
quickly. We might call this the          Bible and quote passages to              Matthew 18.
"law of the leak." Don't spread          them. You don't need to be                 Why not? Because I believe
the story.                               angry. Simply tell them how you          that your responsibility is rather
   Or, we could change friends.          feel. Tell them of the fear in your      (Third) to tell the parents of your
                                                                                  friend. Your friend, let's suppose,
This happens to. Because either          heart about getting caught. Tell ~
our lifestyle or the lifestyle of our    them about what could happen if          is not a confessing member of
                                                                                  the church. Your friend is still liv-
friend has changed, we decide            they continued. In your own              ing at home with his or her
that we can find new friends. Yet        way, tell them that you fear God.        parents. Your friend, therefore, is
this is no help for your friend          (Talk to your parents or pastor          still under the discipline and rule
either.                                  about what exactly you should            of his parents. Because he has
   Easier yet would be to ignore         say.) Then go home and pray              not committed himself to the
the problem, acting as though            that the Lord will use what              supervision of the elders by con-
nothing were wrong. Then we              you've said. That's all you can do       fession of faith, he is subject first
keep our friend, content                 up to that point. When the Lord          of all to his parents. Even a con-
ourselves by saying that we              gives you another opportunity            fessing member, still living with
haven't violated the ninth com-          (and He will), talk again. Pray

58  I The Standard  Bearer


his or her parents, lives under        used by God to bring their son or            DON'T WAIT, PLEASE.
the supervision of the parents,        daughter to repentance.                      To emphasize this, let me tell
and the age and circumstances (I          If I may speak to parents for a         you the story that I promised
believe) would determine               moment, doesn't this point out             earlier. When I was in high
whether the parents or elders          the importance of knowing your             school, one Friday afternoon my
should be informed first. If your      children's friends, of inviting            friend and I were cruising around
friend continues in sin, your          them into your home once in a              in his nice `66 Chevelle (what
responsibility is to the parents.      while, of sitting down with them           else do high school students do
  But please, don't do this unless     in the den to chat now and then,           to kill time?) waiting for our soc-
you forewarn your friend about         or shooting a game of pool with            cer game to start. We weren't
it. Tell them, "Look, we love you      them just to show them that you            part of the "radical" and "rowdy"
enough (we're concerned about          care? How else will they ever              group, but neither did we have
you enough) that we are going to       dare approach you with a prob-             the kind of reputation that would
talk to your parents about this.       lem if there has never even                make a mother proud. While we
We realize that you may be             been any communication with                were driving around (and I don't
angry with us for this, but also       them before, much less if the              remember what we were talking
realize that if things keep on the     contact they have had with you             about) my friend said, "Barry, we
way they are now, our friendship       showed that you were a stern,              should quit . . . . sometime, don't
will be ruined permanently." And       untalkative old brute? And then            you think?" As shocked as I was
then go. This may not be a threat      doesn't this all the more under-           that he would dare say some-
to scare them into changing; it's      score the importance of being              thing like that, it was exactly
a promise. "We're going to your        able to talk with your own                 how I had felt but never dared
parents."                              children?                                  say. That little comment he
  Do you love your friend? Then        * * * * *  * * * * *                       dared make brought out in the
this is the way you must walk.                                                    open how we both felt, but were
Tell the parents how much you            If this does not work, privately         so afraid to talk about.
care for their son or daughter. If     tell your pastor or an elder in              Three months later, my friend
you were, admit to them that           whom you can confide and they              died next to me on the soccer
you were involved in the same          will be able to counsel you                field (from myo-carditis - an
activity. Then explain to them         regarding what to do next, or              unusual constriction of a heart
the steps that you took to try to      begin the work that then belongs           muscle). If there is ever anything
convince their child of his error.     to the church.                             that I remember about our
And I believe that all godly           * * * * *  * * * * *                       friendship, it was that short,
parents will thank you for com-                                                   spontaneous conversation. What
ing and, with your help, will be                                                  is it that you would like to
                                                                                  remember about your friend? q
                                                                             -





The Day                                A Small Shadow of a
of Shadows
Rev. john Heys                         Mountain of Sin

                                         The tremendously small                   some of them are concerned, the
                                       disease germs that are invisible           realization of certain death. The
                                       to the naked eye of man can pro-           length, breadth, shape, and
Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in    duce in man a dangerously high             weight of such creatures do not
the Protestant Reformed Churches.      fever, severe pain, and as far as          count.

                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer  /  59


   Likewise a small spark of elec-       Paul informs us in II Thessalo-      which seemed so little and such a
tricity, or a small match that has     nians 2:3 that the man of sin, not     small shadow of sin, was by no
been lit near an explosive gas         the child, teenager or novice of       means a little, harmless departure
can cause a powerful explosion,        sin, is coming. And more and           from what they had been told
great devastation, and fire.           more the world is not only prac-       that they should do. All the
Therefore men are warned not to        ticing sin but is defending it in      deviltry in the world today, and
smoke while filling their              more violent and astounding            all the greater, more fully
automobiles with gasoline (by          ways. Many states have with-           developed sin that is just ahead
some called petrol). That is also      drawn the death penalty for            of us, comes out of that deed
why some laborers must wear            murderers, and not only defend         Satan got Adam and Eve to per-
rubber shoes, so that no spark is      but even give financial support        form. He was not interested in a
created in places where there are      for the murder of unborn babies!       little act of hatred against God.
explosive gases.                       Sabbath desecration has reached        Oh, no, he wanted man to hate
   Let us then hold before our         frightening proportions even in        God with all his being; and that is
eyes the fact that although Satan      the church world. God's name is        what he also succeeded in bring-
brought to Adam and Eve what           boldly taken in vain. And              ing down upon this earth.
seemed to be such a little,            whereas in the past cursing was        Adam's and Eve's eating of the
harmless deed of eating of a           presented by simply printing the       forbidden fruit was a small
piece of fruit, which God had for-     first letter of the word which was     shadow of the humanly im-
bidden them to eat, it caused a        then followed by a dash, now           measurable deviltry that Satan
tremendous spiritual explosion         boldly and openly God's name is        brought to this earth.
that is raging today and increas-      taken in vain; and those who             Adam and Eve did not them-
ing in its intensity every year, so    claim not to believe in hell will      selves see the awfulness of their
that soon the antichrist with all      shout out unashamedly, and             sin, and that it would bring forth
his devilishness and awesome           print boldly, the cry that one go      all the violence, brutality, god-
wickedness will fill the earth. It     to hell! The grossest of sins, that    lessness, and immorality, all the
was a powerful spark that is go- - is, what men used to call gross            filth and bold enmity against God'
ing to blow the human race into        sins, are now that which enter-        that we see today. They were
the lake of fire, which Scripture      tains millions on their TV sets.       color blind in the sense that they
calls hell! And Adam's and Eve's       The sins because of which Sodom        called what is white to be black,
eating of that fruit, although a       and Gomorrah were destroyed by         and what is black they con-
very small shadow, was the             brimstone and fire entertain the       sidered white. Satan succeeded in
shadow of the tremendously             world; and what Paul wrote in          getting them to call what is good
great deviltry that lies ahead of      Romans 1:32 is also true in the        to be evil, and what is evil to be
us, and is boldly advocated and        church world today. Members of         good. That was his intention.
encouraged today.                      the churches, as well as avowed        That is why he approached them
   As already suggested, a             unbelievers, "have pleasure in         through that serpent. He wanted
small shadow of a jumbo jet air-       them that do them," that is, them      them to hate God; and he suc-
plane is cast upon the ground          that do the kinds of sins that         ceeded in getting their hearts
when the huge jet is at a certain      Satan has caused man to develop        turned completely from God.
altitude; and as it comes down to      and boldly commit. Do church           That is what their deed pro-
land, the shadow becomes bigger        members not turn on their TV           duced. Eating that fruit, they
and bigger, until when it lands        sets because they have pleasure        swallowed Satan's lie that good is
the shadow is as great as the          in watching sins, rather than be-      evil and evil is good for them. He
plane. So in the day in which we       ing made spiritually sick to see       got them to disagree with God,
live, that little shadow in Adam's     such God-hating acts?                  Who said that obedience was
and Eve's sin is becoming bigger         And the more devices man in-         good and disobedience was evil.
and bigger; and we ought to            vents, the more he becomes             He did not succeed in getting
recognize it, and recognize it as a    capable of using them to show          them to go part way, to make a
shadow of what lies ahead; and         his hatred against God. The more       little departure from God. He suc-
not deceive ourselves into think-      deeply he finds the powers which       ceeded in getting them to turn
ing and saying that the world is       God created in this earth, the         completely around and have
getting better.                        more intensely he will use this,       their backs turned to God. And
                                       which is God's world, for the sin-     God's word was proven to be
                                       ful satisfaction of his godless        true. They died spiritually that
                                       flesh. Adam's and Eve's sin,           day. They-became totally de-


60  I The Standard Bearer


praved, that is, one hundred per-      be delivered from the punish-              Do not overlook the fact that
cent spiritually dead!                 ment of sin. That does not make         Adam and Eve, instead of crying
  Let us not call this anything        one a believer. That does not           out for salvation from Satan's
but a fact. It is not to any degree    show that man has a spark of            God-hating power,, accuse God of
fiction. All the sin in the world      spiritual life left in him. It shows    sin! Surely they lost all their
today is undeniable proof that         that he is no different from the        spiritual life. When God asks
Adam and Eve died spiritually.         devil who also is one hundred           Adam where he is, Adam admits
Even though their sin was a            percent spiritually dead. No, the       that he hid himself because he
small shadow, it pointed to the        evidence of a spark of spiritual        was naked. In no way and to no
tremendously great hatred              life, which man gets when he is         degree does he confess that he
against God that we now see in         born again, is the desire to be         sinned and broke God's
the world here below. And what         delivered from the power of sin,        commandment. Not one bad
Adam and Eve did that very day,        to get completely from under the        word does he utter about the
and only an hour or two later,         dominion of Satan, and to want          devil. But he does have words
shows that of which their first sin    to and be able to do only what is       which he should not have ad-
was this small shadow. It was the      pleasing in God's sight.                dressed to God. When God asked
damaging and dangerous spark             Adam's and Eve's act of mak-          him who told him that he was
that will bring forth the man of       ing fig leaf aprons to cover them       naked, and whether he had eaten
sin who claims to be God. And          is undeniable evidence that they        of the tree which He had com-
remember that evkry sin, no mat-       still held on to Satan's lie, and       manded him that of it he should
ter what kind it is, no matter         had lost all their knowledge that       not eat, Adam was bold enough
which of the ten commandments          God is God and must be obeyed           to accuse God of sin. He said,
it breaks, comes forth from a          every moment in every act that          "The woman Thou gavest to be
heart that says that there is no       man performs. Satan got them to         with me, she gave me of the
God, and that man is his own           believe that God lied to them           tree, and I did eat." Imagine that!
god, with the right to do as he        when He warned them of what             It is God's fault. He gave Adam
pleases. Every sin is an act of        would happen if they disobeyed          the wrong woman for a wife. He
one hundred percent hatred             Him. Foolishly, and revealing           speaks not one word about Satan
toward God.                            that they were spiritually dead,        who came to him through that
  And because they died the day        having no love for God, and un-         serpent. He does not confess,
that they ate, Adam and Eve            willing to walk in a way of love        "Yes, I did sinfully eat, should
could not turn back to God and         to Him, they even tried to get          not have done so, deserve ever-
confess their sin with tears. They     away from that punishment by            lasting punishment, and plead for
could not even seek forgiveness.       their own deeds of hiding               Thy mercy and grace." No, God
Having decided that evil is good       themselves among the trees of           is blamed for giving him this wife.
and good is evil, they were going      the garden.                             God is to blame for not giving
to continue seeking the evil and         They ran farther away from            him a good wife. And Eve
leave their backs turned from          God instead of running to Him           repeats this evil speech. When
what is good. They made no at-         with tears of sorrow for their          God asks her what she had
tempt to tell Satan that his words     sins, and without showing one           done, she tries to lay the blame
were evil. They made no prayer         spark of love for Him. They             upon the serpent, not upon
to God that He would bring them        showed clearly that they had            herself. She does not confess hav-
back from Satan's lie and remove       died spiritually. You cannot find       ing listened to the serpent. She
him from off this earth.               one deed on their part that gave        does not fall on her face and con-
  No, having died spiritually the      evidence of any spiritual life in       fess that she should not have
moment that they ate of that for-      them, no hatred of their sin, no        listened to that speech of the ser-
bidden fruit, Adam and Eve tried       desire to be pleasing in God's          pent that was so contrary to
to cover up their sin rather than      sight. You will not find even the       God's word to them.
to get rid of it. Yes, they wanted     trace of any hatred of Adam and           And it is only because God has
to get away from the punishment        Eve toward Satan for what he            chosen them before the founda-
of sin. That is why they covered       had caused them to do. Instead          tion of the world in Christ that
themselves with fig leaf aprons.       you find how fully they were            He did not cast them at once into
But that reveals no spiritual life.    now under his spiritual power.          the torments of hell. They were
You may be sure that Satan and         The shadow is growing bigger            spiritually dead and deserved to
all the fallen angels and un-          and bigger even the day that sin        die physically, and to have their
converted human beings- want to        entered upon this earth.                souls cast into the lake of fire.

                                                                                                The Standard Bearer  /  61


And we do have a shadow here              would die if they disobeyed Him.            many false doctrines that grow
of the grace that God will be             Their sin of eating brought forth           and develop in the church. And
showing to His elect children. But        more sins the very day that they.           let us not go along with the lie
at the moment we had better see           committed that first sin.                   that man did not die spiritually
the awfulness of Adam's and                 Clearly Satan planted a potent            that day. Let us insist upon total,
Eve's sin. They confessed no sin,         and very damaging seed. He got              one hundred percent depravity of
even though they did admit that           into man's mind, but also into his          man; and that Adam's and Eve's
they had eaten of that fruit. Sor-        heart, with a very powerful                 actions immediately after eating
row for sin was not revealed to           spiritual germ that killed him              of the forbidden fruit reveal that
the slightest degree; but more sin        spiritually. And that seed did not          God spoke the truth; and that we
was committed to try to protect           simply bring forth all the                  must not go along with Satan's
themselves from the punishment            violence and cruelty that man               lie that fallen man is still able to
they knew they deserved,                  heaps upon mankind today. It                get his eyes opened to what is
because they did not forget that          also brought forth, and is power-           good and what is evil by listening
God had predicted that they               fully bringing forth today, the             to him rather than to God. 0




                                          "Bold Enough to Go
                                                Against Scripture"
                                      The Synod of the Reformed
All Around Us
Rev. Cise VanBaren                              Church in America

"Bold Enough to Go                        Newark has written a book that sets           From this same paper comes
Against Scripture"                        forth the theological underpinnings         another quote which elaborates
                                          of his sexual ethic - a book that           on the above:
   The  Christian  News, June 20,         seems destined to rile church tradi-          Much of the prejudice in contem-
1988, presents reports from               tionalists even more. "`Living in Sin?      porary Christianity, a New Jersey
several magazines and news-               A Bishop Rethinks Human Sexuali-            prelate maintains, can be blamed on
papers about a new book, Living           ty," which is now being published by        literal interpretation of Scripture as
                                          Harper  & Row, after the United
in Sin? A Bishop Rethinks Human                                                       practiced in the fundamentalist
                                          Methodist-related Abingdon Press
Sexuality, by Bishop John Shelby                                                      camp.
                                          abandoned it because it found the
Spong of the Episcopal Church.                                                          Said the bishop, "I hate to see the
                                          manuscript so potentially divisive,
One report stated:                                                                    Bible co-opted by mindless funda-
                                          highlights what the bishop contends         mentalist people who want to im-
  Episcopal Bishop John Shelby            are some of the contradictions and          pose their view of the Bible on
Spong's  outspokenness on sexuality,      prejudices in the Bible, focusing on        everybody else. "
particularly his call for the blessing    sexuality. He suggests that the               Particularly distressing to Bishop
of gay and lesbian unions, so vexed       church "be bold enough" to go               Spong are "`Bible-believing
church conservatives earlier this year    against the Scripture if it feels so led    Christians" who are "quite convinced
that they demanded his ouster from        by the Holy Spirit, " and argues that       that they correctly know what the Bi-
the House of Bishops. Now the con-        "the debate in the church about             ble says on the issue of homosexual-
troversial bishop from the Diocese of     issues of human sexuality is a debate       ity . . . . Homosexuality is wrong. It
                                          over the authority of Scripture and         is a crime against nature. It is the
                                          over the role of both Scripture and         most heinous sin. "
Rev. VanBaren  is pastor of the Prot-     the church in sustaining the ig-              "If the Bible has nothing more
estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-        norance that is the basis of much           than the letter of literalism  to offer
ville, Michigan.                          prejudice.  "                               to our understanding of human  sex-

62  / The Standard Bearer


uality today, " Bishop Spong writes,       But Spong, above, uses essential-            should be ready for the General
"then I must say that I stand ready        ly the same argument with                    Synod of 1990.
to reject the Bible in favor of some-      respect to Scripture's teaching on             The assembly also passed motions
thing that is more human, more             homosexuality, pre-marital sex,              on genetic engineering, acts of ter-
humane, more lifegiving and, dare I        or even its "anit-Semitism."                 rorism, and AIDS (I We reject the
say, more godlike. "                       Spong too would reject what he               perception that AIDS. . . is in any
  Analyzing passages in Romans                                                              discernible sense the judgment of
and I Corinthians, Bishop Spong con-       would identify as "packaging"                God2~.
cludes  - while leaving room for           while maintaining certain of the               In 1973 the RCA stated that abor-
debate on this point  - that the           moral teachings of Scripture. Er-            tion for reasons of personal conve-
Apostle Paul in all probability did        ror, like a sled going downhill in           nience is not permissible. This year it
not approve of homosexual activity.        the snow, goes faster and faster             appointed a task force to study the
  But Paul's position, the bishop          until it reaches the very bottom.            effects of abortion "with equal em-
suggests in his book, should not be        Spong appears to have reached                phases on both the mother and the
viewed as any more absolute than           that bottom. U                               developing child.  "
other "antiquated, culturally condi-                                                      . . . RCA membership is still suffer-
tioned ideas" of his - Paul's anti-        The Synod of the                             ing a slow decline: the number of ac-
Semitism, for example, or his ad-                                                       tive communicants dropped from
monition for women to wear veils.          Reformed Church in                           211,890 at the 1987 general synod to
  So much has changed since the            America                                      207,474 this year. Total RCA bap-
authors of the Old and New Testa-                                                       tized membership stands at 344,836.
ments were written  - the bishop              The Banner,  September 5,                   The above report indicates
cites growing scientific evidence that     1988, reports on the Reformed                how far the RCA has drifted from
homosexuality is not a chosen orien-       Church of America's Synodical                its original mooring. Its statement
tation but a biologically determined       meeting of 1988. The items of                that they "reject the perception
trait  - that a reassessment of            note are:                                    that AIDS . , . is in any . . . dis-
biblical biases against homosexuality         By a very close vote (139 to 132)         cernible sense the judgment of
is warranted, the bishop argues.           the General Synod of the Reformed
  "I wonder why people think first                                                      God" reminds one of a blind per-
                                           Church in America, meeting in June,
century people (like Paul) had suffi-                                                   son rejecting the perception that
                                           approved a motion "to include bap-
cient knowledge of homosexuality so        tized children at                            a sunset is of indescribable beau-
                                                                 the  Lord's Table."
that their views of it should con-            The admission of children to the          ty. One might ask also if there is
tinue?" Bishop Spong mused during          Lord's Supper remains a local op-            any relationship between the
an interview here.                         tion . . . .                                 declining membership and the
  Despite his criticism of the biblical       After a heated debate the synod           continuing drift of the RCA into
texts, the bishop said,  "My crusade is    rejected (154 to 101) a proposal that        more liberal channels. It is sad
to be able to save the Bible."             the RCA become a full participant in         but true that there appears to be
  Shocking it is when one who is           the Consultation on Church Union             very little emphasis any more on
a leader in the Episcopal Church           (COCU). In COCU nine denomina-               anything that is truly Re-
would make some of the above               tions in the United States are moving        formed. 0
claims. Imagine: one is supposed-          toward full recognition of each
ly led by the Spirit at times to           other's functions . . . .
deny parts of the Bible! Imagine:             The synodical delegates were will-        WE LIE DOWN IN OUR SHAME
Paul must not be regarded as               ing to change the RCA church order           "year-y  with  my load of sin,
speaking authoritatively on some           so that each of the church's six par-
                                           ticular synods sends three elders or            All diseased and faint within,
issues since his were "antiquated,         ministers - two of whom should be            See me, Lord, Thy grace entreat,
culturally conditioned ideas."             women - to the general synod. This              See me prostrate at Thy feet;
One might ask, "Where is the               new rule will have to be approved            Here before Thy cross I lie,
guidance of the Spirit? What does          by two-thirds of the classes.                   Here I live, or here I die.
this view do to the truth of the              The other synodical delegates (al-
inspiration of Scripture?"                 together an RCA general synod has            "I have tried and tried in vain
  One can not help but wonder              290 delegates) will be sent by the             Many ways to ease my pain;
whether this must not, necessari-          classes. The number of delegates is          Now all other hope is past,
ly, be the conclusion to which             related to the number of church                 Only this is left at last;
the theories of Van Till ("The             members within the classis.                  Here before Thy cross I lie;
Fourth Day") lead? Van Till                   The RCA is going to make another             Here I live, or here I die. "
                                           study on the role and authority of
would distinguish between the              women in church, which will include
packaging and the content of the           a summary of all previous RCA
first eleven chapters of Genesis.          studies on this issue. The report

                                                                                                           The Standard Bearer  / 63


                                          News From
 Guest Article
Rev. Rodney Miersma                       New Zealand

(Correction: This is probably as good       Greetings from down-under to        from the community and from
a place as any to call the attention      all our fellow-saints wherever the    several sister churches in the U.S.
of our readers to a correction re-        pages of  The Standard Bearer         (Hudsonville PRC, Grandville
ceived from "down under" relative to      bring these greetings! It is a        PRC, Lynden PRC, and a week
an article in the October 15 issue of     blessed privilege to be able to       later South Holland PRC). As con-
this magazine. Professor Hoeksema,
in his article entitled "Some Impres-     come to you this way, for in do-      gregation we heartily welcome
sions from `Down Under, "' noted          ing so we are drawn closer            all visitors. We remind all those
that, when we in the U.S. change to       together in the love of Christ un-    in the northern hemisphere that
`slow time,  " and they in Tasmania       to the strengthening of our walk      while you are experiencing
change to `fast time," there will be a    together as pilgrims and              winter weather it is summer here
"12-hour  difference" between us and      strangers. In this newsletter         in New Zealand, which is in the
them. In a telephone call to the          various items of interest will be     southern hemisphere. As this arti-
seminary recently,  Professor             given that will help you to know      cle is being written in September
Hoeksema admitted to having been          us in our congregational life.        we are being greeted with spring.
mistaken about that. If you've ever         After waiting nine months to        For those who can only come
tried to calculate time differences       receive permission to enter New       during your summer months
between places on different sides of
the International Dateline, you'll        Zealand, my family and I arrived      (winter here) be comforted to
know what we mean when we say it          in Wellington on January 15 after     know that our winter
can become confusing. It seems to us      a thirty-eight hour journey, and      temperatures average in the 50's.
that, before the change from slow to      were greeted by the members of          As congregation we number
fast time (or vice versa), the dif-       the congregation, who could           seven families. Five families meet
ference between Michigan time and         hardly contain themselves in the      twice a Sunday in a small rented
Tasmania time was 14 hours, and           joy of receiving their own pastor.    church, St. Michael's Lutheran
that after the change it has become       We were brought to                    Church, in nearby Naenae. The
16 hours, Professor Hoeksema, at          Wainuiomata, where two of our         two other families live too far
any rate, suggested that we try to        families live, a city about 12        away to worship with us regular-
make the correction  - perhaps in         miles northeast of Wellington,        ly, one a hundred miles north
order to avoid receiving calls made
unwittingly in the dead of the            where we now live at 21 Main          near Palmerston North, the other
Tasmanian night. We hope that this        Road. After attending Victoria        on the south island near Christ-
will help. And now, we turn to Rev.       University for one term our son       church. It is our prayer that some
R. Miersma, a "near" neighbor of the      Eric has returned to Holland, MI      day the Lord will open the way
Hoeksemas down-under.)                    where he is presently attending       for them to live near the church.
                                          Hope College.                         During the week two Bible
                                            Installation of the undersigned     Studies and two catechism classes
                                          as the congregation's first pastor    are conducted. Each Monday
                                          took place on the fourteenth of       evening my wife and I travel for-
                                          February with Rev. J.A. Heys of-      ty miles north along the shore-
                                          ficiating. We had the welcome         line of the Tasman Sea to the
Rev. Miersma is pastor of the Protes-     privilege of having a number of       Otaki area to conduct both Bible
tant Reformed Church of New               visitors present that day, both       Study and catechism in the home
Zealand.

64  / The Standard Bearer


of the Inskeeps from our church.          signed gave three lectures on the      bond that we have in Jesus Christ
Catechism is first taught to their         theme of The Coming of Christ.        our Lord. This year one of our
daughter and also to three other          These three lectures were also         young men, Brendan Kane, was
children not of our church. After          given in Palmerston North. In         able to attend the Young People's
catechism, Bible Study is held,           August we were privileged to           Convention in Holland, Michigan,
presently in the book of Mat-             hear Prof. H. Hanko lecture to us      and he enjoyed himself very
thew, with the Inskeeps and               on Marriage: A Divine Institution.     much. Next year, the Lord will-
other interested families in the          Prof. Hanko and his wife stopped       ing, another of our young men,
area. On Wednesday evening the            here on the way to the Synod of        Theo de Klerk, plans to attend.
Essentials of Reformed Doctrine           the Evangelical Presbyterian              It is our prayer that this bit of
are taught to two young men of            Church of Australia in Australia       news concerning us will help to
the congregation. On Thursday             which is our nearest neighbor,         acquaint you with us. We are
evening Bible Study is held with          twelve hundred miles across the        very grateful to our covenant
the four families who live nearest        Tasman Sea. Prof. Hoeksema will        God for His goodness to us as
the church. We meet in each               be laboring for one year in one        shown by the generous support
other's homes by turns, the head          of the churches of this denomina-      given to us by the Protestant Re-
of the home also serving as Bible         tion. In addition to his lecture,      formed Churches in America so
leader for that time. Presently we        which was well received, Prof.         that we have the blessed oppor-
are studying Hosea.                       Hanko also preached for us twice       tunity of having the lively
   In our efforts for church exten-       on the Lord's Day. A voice so          preaching of the Word each
sion we maintain a complete sup-          familiar from years of listening to    Lords Day from our own pastor.
ply of all the RFPA publications          tape recorded sermons was now          We covet your prayers as we
and advertise them, have estab-           heard from him in person.              continue as a small congregation
lished an extensive Tape Library,            In seeking closer relationships     in the strength of our Lord,
and send out The Standard                 with other churches of like faith      awaiting the day when we can
Bearer to over twenty sub-                we are working out ways to be          be gathered together with all the
scribers. Recently the under-             able to send delegates to the USA      saints as an innumerable host in
                                          and Australia. Visits from fellow-     heavenly glory. 0
                                          saints also help to establish the





 Guided  Into                             Tertdian and the
All Truth
Rev. Charles Terpstra                     Gnostic Heresy

                                            "Howbeit when he, the Spirit         truth of Gods Word throughout
                                          of truth, is come, he will guide       the ages, then we have some
                                          you into all truth . . . ." Nothing    idea how often this promise has
                                          better proves the veracity of this     been specifically fulfilled.
                                          promise of Christ recorded in            In leading the church into the
                                          John  16:13 than the history of        truth, the Spirit used and still
                                          the labors of the Christian church     does use men. This is clear from
                                          in clarifying, setting forth, and      the lives of the disciples to whom
Rev. Terpstra is pastor of the Protes-    developing the truth of Scripture.     the promise of John 16: 13 was
tant Reformed Church of Pella,            If we are the least bit acquainted     first made. The subsequent
Iowa.                                     with the development of the            history of the church has also

                                                                                                   The Standard Bearer  / 65


made this clear. In every age of         In this rubric, besides becom-           In the second place, with
the church there have been men        ing familiar with some of the           regard to its character,
who stand out on the pages of         church fathers, we will also be in-     Gnosticism claimed to be a reli-
history, because the Spirit raised    troduced to a sampling of the           gion for the spiritual elite, for the
up these men and so guided            heresies the church has had to          intellectuals and sophisticated.
them that they developed the          confront in her history. And so it      Reacting against the simplicity
true faith once delivered to the      is our purpose in this series of ar-    and straightforwardness of the
saints. These men we call the         ticles to be re-introduced to the       Christian faith, Gnosticism was
"church fathers," and it is well      cardinal truths of our Christian        designed to satisfy the
for us, the church of our Lord in     and distinctively Reformed faith.       philosophical, speculative bent of
the twentieth century, to know           For our first topic we want to       the Greek and Eastern mind. For
these men and the truths they         consider our first "defender (and       those who loved to delve into
developed. In this rubric we hope     developer) of the faith," the           and dabble with the deeply
to lift some of these men off the     church father Tertullian, and the       mysterious matters of religion
pages of history and set them         heresy which he was called to           and philosophy, Gnosticism
before our mind's eye, in order       battle, Gnosticism. This will take      sought to provide satisfaction.
that we might become familiar         us back in time to the second           This is why it drew so much from
with a few of the more important      century A.D. For Gnosticism,            pagan and philosophical sources.
"fathers."                            though it was a heresy that arose          It is in fact from this trait that
   In considering these fathers of    already in the first century, really    Gnosticism derives its name. In
the church, it is equally impor-      developed and became the po-            contract with the simple faith of
tant that we understand that the      tent force of evil that it was in       the "ordinary believer," which
Spirit of truth has used heresy to    the 2nd century. And Tertullian,        they termed mere pistis (the
guide the church into the truth.      whom the Spirit raised up to fight      Greek word for faith), the
Every age of the church has           this deadly error, dates from the       Gnostics  claimed there was a
equally shown the fulfillment of      late 2nd century to the early 3rd       higher, secret knowledge for the
the Word of God in II Peter 2:1,      century (c. 160/70 to c. 215/20).       most spiritual class of Christians,
2, namely, ". . . There shall be         Gnosticism was a strange and         which they termed gnosis, after
false teachers among you, who         deadly deviation from the truth         the Greek word for knowledge. It
privily shall bring in damnable       of Scripture. With regard to the        is by means of this higher
heresies . . . . And many shall       character of this heresy, it may        knowledge that the true Gnostic
follow their pernicious ways; by      be remarked in the first place          claims the richest experience of
reason of whom the way of truth       that Gnosticism was a mixture or        salvation. For this reason
shall be evil spoken of."             synthesis of elements taken from        Gnosticism has been termed "the
  But the sovereign Spirit has        many different sources. For their       Pelagianism of the intellect" (cf.
used these heretics with their        ideas the Gnostic teachers drew         G.P. Fisher, History of Christian
false doctrines to stir up and        from Judaism, from the Greek            Doctrine, p. 53).
strengthen the church to develop      philosophical systems of                   If this description of Gnosticism
the faith. Through their battles      Platonism and Stoicism, and from        has a familiar ring to it, it is not
with apostasy and error the Spirit    the Eastern, mystic cults of Persia     merely coincidental. Heresy is
made the church fathers               and India. These ideas they at-         never new; it is simply old lies in
"defenders of the faith" and          tempted to combine with the             new garb. Thus the Pentecostal-
"valiant for the truth." By means     Christian faith. L. Berkhof com-        ism, cults, and liberal theology of
of departures from the faith the      ments on this in his History of         our present day bear these same
Spirit made these men sharpen         Christian Doctrines: "It may be         traits.
the two-edged sword of the            said that Gnosticism mistakenly            What were the teachings of
Word, so that with the one edge       sought to elevate Christianity to       Gnosticism and at what points
they cut away the Lie and with        its rightful position, that of          were they heretical? In answer-
the other edge they cut into the      universal religion, by adapting it      ing this, we can only summarize
Word to make the truth more           to the needs of all, and by inter-      in brief. Fisher, in his above-
clear and concise. Development        preting it in harmony with the          mentioned work, points out that
of the truth always comes in the      wisdom of the world" (p. 46).           Gnostic thought was directed to
way of the defense of the truth       Gnosticism was, as Berkhof              two main points: the absolute Be-
against error.                        writes, quoting another source,         ing (God) and the origin of evil
                                      "a stealing of some Christian rags      (p. 53). It was at these two funda-
                                      to cover heathen nakedness" (p.         mental points that Gnosticism
                                      47).

66  I The Standard Bearer


went astray; and because they           material is evil. This they applied           SENT BY A FRIEND
went wrong at these two points,         also to man. Because his body is                   NOT KNOWING
they deviated from many other           material, it is evil; but because       I know not what will befall me!
cardinal truths.                        his soul is spiritual, it is good.      God hangs a mist o'er my eyes;
  First of all, the Gnostics were         This dualism was bound to af-         And o'er each step of my onward
heretical in their conception of        fect their conception of salvation        path
God. The "absolute Being," as           and the work of Christ in saving        He makes new scenes arise,
they called God, was to them the        man. Accordingly, Gnosticism            And every joy he sends me comes,
"Father Unknown." He is so              taught that man's misery lies in        As a sweet and glad surprise.
transcendent that He is not only        the fact that his good soul is im-      I see not a step before me,
unfathomable but also                   prisoned in his evil body and           As I tread the days of the year,
unknowable. From this error             thus alienated from the good            But the past is still in God's
they went on to deny the biblical       God. Salvation consists in the            keeping,
doctrine of God as Creator              soul being set free from the            The future His mercy shall clear,
(modern day theistic evolutionists      prison of the body and the              And what looks dark in the
are not new in their heresy). Ac-       material world in order to ascend         distance
cording to them this supreme, all-      into the pure realm of the              May brighten as I draw near.
good God did not create the             spiritual. For this purpose of res-     For perhaps the dreaded future,
world. Rather is the universe the       cuing men's souls the supreme           Has less bitterness than I think;
product of a subordinate, inferior      God sent Christ.                        The Lord may sweeten the water,
being, whom they called the                However, to the Gnostics             Before I stoop to drink;
"Demiurge" (after the Greek             Christ was not the onIy begotten        Or, if the Marah must be Marah,
word for artisan). This                 Son of God but another of those         He will stand besides its brink.
"Demiurge" is the God revealed          subordinate beings ("aeons"). He        It may be there is waiting
in Genesis 1 and throughout the         was simply an emissary of the           For the coming of my feet,
Old Testament, whom they con-           spirit world, sent by the good          Some gift of such rare blessedness
sidered to be weak, limited, hate-      God to rescue man. Moreover,            Some joy so strangely sweet,
ful, and vengeful, and not the          though the Gnostics spoke of            That my lips can only tremble
God who sends Christ.                   Christ's coming into the world          With the thanks I cannot speak.
  The Gnostics arrived at this          and suffering and dying as the          Oh restful, blissful ignorance!
because of their peculiar view          man Jesus, they denied that He          `Tis blessed not to know,
that there was a whole series of        could have assumed a real               It keeps me quiet in those arms
middle beings emanating from            human body, since the body, be-         Which will not let me go,
the "absolute God' to the               ing material, is evil. Thus did         And hushes my soul to rest
material world, which beings            they fall into the error of             On the bosom which loves me so.
they termed "aeons" (like so            "Docetism," that Christ has mere-       So I go on not knowing!
many rungs on a ladder). The far-       ly the appearance of a human            I would not if I might,
ther down the "ladder" these be-        body.                                   I'd rather walk in the dark with
ings were, the less good and               We can see from this that the           God
more evil they became. To them          Gnostics were not only heretical        Than go alone in the light,
the Demiurge was a being far            in denying the Person and deity         I would rather walk with Christ by
down on this "ladder."                  of Christ, but also in denying His        faith
  Secondly, and closely related         Incarnation. It ought to be clear       Than walk alone by sight.
to their heresy concerning the          that this early heresy attacked         My heart shrinks back from trials
doctrine of God, the Gnostics fell      the most basic of Christian doc-        Which the future may disclose,
into error with regard to the           trines. It was a real, dangerous        Yet I never had a sorrow
origin of evil. Rejecting the           threat, therefore, to the church        But what the dear Lord chose;
biblical doctrine of the Fall, they     and the truth delivered to her by       So I send the coming tears back,
held that evil has its source in        the Spirit of Christ.                   With the whispered `irJ, knows."
the Demiurge, the Creator.                 But for the battle against this
Because the Demiurge was such           heresy the Spirit of truth raised
a low and therefore evil being,         up the man of God, Tertullian;
the world he made is evil. Conse-       and he battled long and hard dur-
quently, the Gnostics fell into         ing his lifetime against it. To this
dualism. For them, what is              man and his work we will turn in
spiritual is good, but what is         1 our next article.  0

                                                                                                  The  Standard Bearer  / 67


                                       The Two Natures of Christ:
Taking Heed                            The Union of the Human
to the Doctrine
Rev. Ronald Hanko                      and Divine Natures

4. The Definition of Chalcedon         natures, the Godhead and the             with one another that a third
(continued)                            manhood, were  inseparably               new nature was formed which
   We have already quoted the          joined together in one person,           was no longer truly human or
Creed of Chalcedon's statement         without conversion (unchange-            truly divine, but a third new
regarding the union of Christ's        ably), composition (indivisibly), or     substance. Thus, he denied any
two natures. This creed was writ-      confusion (inconfusedly)" (VIII, ii).    distinction between the two
ten in response to various errors        Thus, though this creed has            natures, or to put it another way,
that had arisen in the church as a     not found the general favor that         he stressed the union of the two
result of the church's efforts to      has been accorded the Nicene             natures at the expense of the
understand how Christ could be         and Athanasian Creeds, and               distinction between them.
in one person and at one and the       though it is not included among            There was another later form
same time both true God and            the evangelical creeds to which          of this error called Monoph-
true man. Chalcedon's statement        we subscribe via Article IX of the       ysitism (the doctrine of one
is the clearest and most succinct      Belgic Confession, its statement         nature), which taught that Christ
statement in the creeds of the         regarding the union of Christ's          had only one nature, neither
church on this matter and in-          two natures is a statement to            human nor divine, but something
volves in essence just four words,     which we subscribe at least in-          half-way between. The analogy
"inconfusedly, unchangeably, in-       directly by way of Article XIX,          in both the case of Eutychianism
divisibly, inseparably."               which uses its language.                 and Monophysitism would be
   The more modern creeds of             These four words used in the           that of mixing the metal, sodium,
the church really do not-say any       Creed of Chalcedon pretty well           with the gas, chlorine, to form a
more than these four words say,        say all that can be said on the          third new substance, sodium
and in many cases these modern         matter of the union of Christ's          chloride, or table salt, which is
creeds simply adopt the language       two natures, and stand against           neither metal nor gas.
of Chalcedon in their definition of    the various errors that detract            Another form of this heresy
this doctrine. The Belgic Confes-      from this doctrine.                      which focused on just one aspect
sion, for example, uses two of           a. Inconfusedly.                       of Christ's natures was the error
Chalcedon's terms, speaking of           The first word states that             of Monothelitism (the doctrine of
the fact that the two natures are      Christ's two natures are joined          one will). The proponents of this
united without change and              without  confusion,  or  "incon-         error taught that Christ had only
without separation. The West-          fusedly." The error that gave rise       one will, and so denied that
minster Confession really uses all     to this statement was the error of       Christ was both real God and real
four when it says' that, "two          Eutychianism (named after the            man, at least as far as His will
whole, perfect, and distinct           man who first taught it,                 was concerned.
                                       Eutychius of Constantinople). He           That Scripture rejects the error
                                       taught that Christ was the Thean-        of Monothelitism is clear from a
                                       thropos or "God-man," meaning            comparison of those passages in
Rev. Hanko is pastor of the Protes-    that the two natures of Christ           which Jesus identifies His will
tant Reformed Church of Houston,
Texas.                                 were so fused and intermingled           with that of the Father, and those

68  I The Standard Bearer


 in which He distinguishes His will        that so much of modern Protes-               Arminianism and free-willism,
 from the Fathers. An example of           tantism teaches very much the              with their emphasis on man's
the former is John 5:21 where              same thing. In the late 1800's             ability to contribute to his own
Christ's own will to quicken the           men like Swedenborg, Schelling,            salvation, and to thwart the pur-
dead is identified with the                Hegel, Schleiermacher, and even            poses of God, also blur the
Fathers. An example of the latter          Isaac Watts, the author of many            distinction between creature and
is Christ's prayer in Gethsemane           popular hymns, had a profound              Creator and really go in this
in which He clearly distinguishes          influence on the history of the            same direction. What is especial-
His own (human) will from the              Christian Church, teaching that            ly distressing is that many
Father's, when He prays "not my            Christ, the great god-man, is              evangelicals are guilty to some
will, but thine, be done" (Lk.             nothing more than example for              degree of this same vague "pan-
22:42).                                    our emulation, that we also may            theism," in that even while they
   Actually, to prove that Christ is      become divine. Men like Robert             confess both the humanity and
both real man and real God is to          Schuller  and Norman Vincent               divinity of Christ, they never
disprove all of these errors, since       Peale teach much the same thing            teach plainly the distinction be-
they all deny both the reality and        today insofar as they teach that           tween them.
completeness of His humanity              salvation consists not in the in-             Lutheranism also blurs this
and His divinity.                         carnation of Christ, but in                distinction, though in a slightly
   These heresies also obliterate         "growth" to a kind of perfect              different way, by teaching that at
the distinction between God and           humanity, which in their                   the time of His resurrection and
man, and are, therefore, refined          theology is the only kind of               ascension, Christ became every-
forms of pantheism, the old               divinity they know. Nor is it sur-         where-present in His human
heathen doctrine that taught that         prising, then, that one hears from         nature. We will examine this
God is the creation and the crea-         them so little about the union             teaching more closely in another
tion and all creatures in it are          and distinction of Christ's two            connection, but it, along with all
God. It we see this, then we will         natures.                                   these other errors, shows that the
also see that these errors have              In his study of the two natures         statement of Chalcedon is still
not really disappeared from the           of Christ, H. Hoeksema, in his Re-         significant today.
church. It is probably true that          formed Dogmatics,  warns of                   The Belgic Confession main-
no one today teaches actual               these dangerous teachings and              tains this distinction by insisting
Eutychianism or Monophysitism;            their results:                             that "each nature retains its own
but the rather vague pantheism,              According to this proud                 distinct properties." This is ex-
which makes no real distinction           philosophy, the incarnation is only        plained thus:
between God and man, also in              the natural development of the               As then the divine nature hath
the case of Christ, underlies very        human race. In Christ God reached          always remained untreated,  without
much of the teaching of the               self-consciousness. Hence He could         beginning of days or end of life, fill-
modern sects and also of modern,          identify Himself with the Father. He       ing heaven and earth: so also hath
liberal Protestantism.                    was divine because He was truly            the human nature not lost its proper-
   It is found, for example, in the       human. This pantheistic view, which        ties, but remained a creature, having
                                          in the course of history frequently
following statement from the                                                         beginning of days, being a finite
                                          lifted its proud head in one form or       nature, and retaining all the proper-
Outline of the Principle, Level 4,        another, is the destruction of all true    ties of a real body.
a handbook of the Unification             religion. If the divine Essence is not       The Athanasian Creed ex-
Church:                                   distinct from the essence of the           presses this most beautifully with
  As already mentioned, a true per-       creature, if the personality of God        the confession that:
son is one who fulfills the Purpose of    and that of man are merged, if my
the Creation, is the incarnation of       life, my thoughts and my desires, are        . . . our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
God, and is perfect as God is perfect,    nothing but little ripples on the          of God and man. God of the
possessing divine value. A perfect        swelling tide of the universal  spirit-    substance of the Father, begotten
person is also a unique, non-             ocean, then there is neither religion      before the worlds; and man of the
duplicable individual who is the lord     nor morality. Then God is one              substance of His mother, born in the
of the cosmos and has cosmic value.       universal subject in all, and there is     world. Perfect God and perfect man,
Jesus is a true man, and thus is a        no fellowship between Him and us,          of a reasonable soul and human
person of such value (p. 140).            no responsibility, no sin, and no          flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father
  That the sects teach such doc-          redemption. Then He does not exist,        as touching His manhood. Who,
                                                                                     although He is God and man, yet He
trines is neither surprising nor          has no being in distinction from us;       is not two, but one Christ (30-34).
particularly upsetting. It is to be       we cannot speak to Him, believe in
expected. The frightening thing is        Him, trust in Him, enter into His
                                          covenant fellowship (p. 360).

                                                                                                        The Standard Bearer  / 69


  We maintain this distinction by        limited, visible, and corporeal, a                    ENOCH
speaking of Christ according to          creature. This is the wonder of         Hast thou not seen at break of day
one or the other nature. It is im-       the incarnation, the great              One only star the east adorning,
possible to say, for example, that       mystery-of godliness, and the           That never set or paled its ray,
God suffered on the cross, for the       hope of our salvation. We can           But seemed to sing at once away
divine nature cannot suffer or           understand the mixing of two              Into the light of morning?
die. It must be according to the         substances to produce a third.
human nature that Christ suf-            That is neither in itself a miracle     From it the sage no portent drew,
fered.                                   nor beyond our comprehension.           It came to light no meteor fires,
  Scripture itself supports us here      But to understand how the two           But silver shone the whole night
as in Romans 9:5, which says             natures of Christ can be united in        through,
that Christ is come .of the Jews         one Person and yet remain               On hawthorn hedges steeped in
"according to the flesh." This is a      forever distinct is beyond our            dew,
good example of how we may               ken, and testifies of the work of         And quiet village spires.
deal with the distinction between        God in the coming of Christ. 0          Like him of old who dwelt beneath
His two natures in speaking of                                                   The tents of patriarchal story,
Him. We must be careful, how-                                                    Who passed without the touch of
ever, that we do not distinguish                           TIME                    death,
between the two natures to the           The moving finger writes; and,          Without dim eye or failing breath,
point of teaching two Christs.             having writ,                            At once into God's glory.
Then we contradict the fourth            Moves on; nor all thy piety nor wit     The patriarch of one simple spot,
part of Chalcedon's definition,          Shall lure it back to cancel half a     The sire of sons and daughters
that the union of the two natures          line,                                   lowly,
is "inseparable."                        Nor all thy tears wash out a word       And this the record of his lot,
  We must, therefore, maintain             of it.                                "He walked with God, and he was
that Christ, our Lord, has two in-                                                 not, "
telligences, two wills, and that He      Tomorrow3 fate, though thou be            For God He took him wholly.
is at the same time and in one             wise,
Person eternal, omnipotent, om-          Thou canst not tell nor yet surmise;
niscient, the Creator of heaven          Pass, therefore, not today in vain,
and earth, and also finite, weak,        For it will never come again.





                                         News From
                                         Our Churches
Mr. Benjamin Wigger



                                                             October 15, 1988    remember that happening in our
                                         BYRON CENTER'S                          churches before? Southwest
                                         DEDICATION                              moved their dedication back one
                                            Both our Byron Center Church         week to avoid any conflict.
                                         in Byron Center, Michigan and             What a joy it was to attend the
                                         the Southwest Church in Grand-          dedication of Byron Center. As
                                         ville, Michigan chose the evening       has been the history of our
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protes-    of September 16 as the dedica-          churches in the past, Byron
tant Reformed Church of  Hudson-         tion of their new church sanc-          Center was erected with much
ville, Michigan.                         tuaries. Can anyone ever

70  / The Standard Bearer


 volunteer help from their congre-       from the congregation. Lunch         the Return of our Lord," was
 gation. One could feel the excite-      followed in the all-purpose room,    scheduled to begin October 11.
 ment of the congregation as the         at which time visitors could look      A special Singspiration to cele-
 thought of finally having a place       around.                              brate the new organ of the Ran-
 to call their own began to sink            One week later, Southwest         dolph congregation was held on
 in.                                     held the dedication of their new     September 22. An hour of fellow-
        The sanctuary is all on one      sanctuary and organ. I have been     ship followed.
 floor and includes a spacious           promised information on their          By now catechism has started
 auditorium connected to a roomy         dedication, along with a history     in all our churches. I couldn't
 all-purpose room. Between these         of Southwest, which hopefully        help but notice an announcement
 two main rooms are restrooms, a         will be included in the "News" at    which was in the bulletin of our
 kitchen, a pastor's study (shown        the same time. Let me just add       Byron Center Protestant Re-
 on the front cover) which will          that, having been at Southwest       formed Church. "Catechism
 double as a consistory room, and        once in August, I can say that I     begins tomorrow evening. All
 a nursery. It looks as if the entire    really liked the looks of their      students are asked to wail (sic)
 building will serve Byron's needs       new auditorium. I am sure that if    outside and away from the class-
 for some years to come.                 you are in the area of either of     rooms, or quietly in the narthex
   At the dedication program that        these churches some day soon,        before their class begins." Sounds
 night, Rev. Barry Gritters,             you will be very welcome to stop     as if Byron Center's new church
 Byron's pastor, spoke of                in and have a look. Both are         might include a wailing wall.
 dedicating the sanctuary to the         very nicely done.                      A committee has been ap-
 honor and glory of God, to the          CONGREGATION HIGHLIGHTS              pointed by the consistory of our
 maintenance of the truth, the             Once again a six-week course,      church in Doon, Iowa to begin
 promotion of unity, the                 especially designed for visitors     investigating the possibility of a
 preaching of the gospel, and the        from the community to our            new organ for their sanctuary.
 obedience of Gods Word.                 church in Randolph, Wisconsin, is      It is possible that the Covenant
   The program also included a           being planned. This course, the      Protestant Reformed Church in
 nice variety of special numbers         subject of which is "The Signs of    Wyckoff, New Jersey may also be
                                                                              completed this year. They recent-
                                                                              ly received a portion of a will,
                                                                              amounting to nearly $12,000.00,
                                                                              from the Council of the Southeast
                                                                              Church in Grand Rapids,
                                                                              Michigan. This money was left to
                                                                              Southeast to be given to a needy
                                                                              church. May this encourage them
                                                                              to continue building the house of
                                                                              our Lord.


                                                                              New Sub
                                                                              scribers! You can
                                                                              receive the
                                                                              Standard Bearer
                                                                              for the first year
                                                                              for ha/f price,
Byron Center Protestant Reformed Church                                       $6.00.'
                                                                                                The Standard Bearer  / 71


   THE
s?iiD~                              ..i                                                                     SECOND  Cl&S
 B E A R E R                        ' !, .~___.                                                             Postage Paid at
                                                                                                            Grand Rapids, Michigan

 I?O. Box 6064
 Grand Rapids, MI 49506



 CHURCH ACTIVITIES                                 which included also Revs. Grit-        everlasting the Lord's love is
    Rev. Kuiper, pastor of the Im-                 ters and Dykstra.                      with those who fear Him, and
 manuel Protestant Reformed                          Rev. Kortering is ,also consider-    His righteousness with their
 Church in Lacombe, Canada,                        ing a call from Faith Church, in       children's children." (Psalm
 gave two lectures during the                 Jenison, Michigan. 0                        103:17)
 month of August. August 10 he                                                            Children:
 spoke on "The Biblical Doctrine                                                            Richard and  Frieda Smits
 of Infallibility" and on August 30                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                   Carl and Trudy Smits
 he spoke on "As in Adam All                         The Men's Society of the               Clyde and Beth  Rinsema
 Die."                                             Hope Protestant Reformed                    11 grandchildren
    September 27, Prof. Decker                     Church (Walker, MI) extends its              4 great grandchildren
 spoke at the Mr. and Mrs. and                     sincere sympathy to one of its
Adult Bible Society Fall League                    members, Mr. Dick Kooienga in          INSTRUCTION FOR ELRERS
 Meeting at Hope Church in                    the recent death of his brother,              The Protestant Reformed
Walker, Michigan on the subject               M R .   W I L B U R   KOOIENGA.             Seminary will sponsor four
 "Ministering to our Ministers."                     May comfort be found in the          meetings in January 1989. Pur-
    The Evangelism Committee of               words of I Corinthians  15:22  -            pose of these meetings is to
Southeast Church in Grand                     "For as in Adam all die, even so            give instruction regarding the
Rapids, Michigan sponsored a lec-             in Christ shall all be made                 office of the Elder in the
ture in the Fine Arts Building on             alive."                                     Church. Invited to attend are:
the Calvin College campus on                  John Kalsbeek, Pres.                        Elders  - past and present,
September 22. Prof. Herman                    Leon Carvelink, Sec'y.                      Deacons  - past and present,
Hanko spoke on "I Believe in                                                              plus other men who are in-
God the Creator."                             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                      terested in this instruction.
    On September 28, Prof. Hanko                     The Senior Mr. and Mrs.                R E S E R V E   T H E S E   M O N D A Y
spoke also at the Seminary Con-               Society of Hope Protestant Re-              EVENINGS  l  JANUARY  9TH,
vocation, held this year in our               formed Church (Walker, Ml) ex-              16TH, 23RD AND 30TH.
Southwest Church in Grandville,               presses its Christian sympathy to
Michigan.                                     its members, Mr. and Mrs. Harry             NOTICE!!!
MINISTERIAL CALLS                             Langerak and Mr. and Mrs.                     God's Everlasting Covenant of
   Rev. Wayne Bekkering de-                   James Langerak and their                    Grace  by Prof. Herman Hanko is
clined the call he received from              families, in the passing of their           the  R.F.P.A.`s newest publica-
Hope Protestant Reformed                      father, MR. ANTHONY                         tion. This attractive 236-page
Church in Isabel, South Dakota.               LANCERAK on October 10,                     paperback is a worthwhile addi-
   Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma, mission-             1988.                                       tion to your library, or it will
ary to Jamaica, is considering a                    "My help  cometh from the             make a thoughtful gift for
call to serve as pastor of our                Lord, which made heaven and                 Christmas. Order it at $9.95 plus
church in Holland, Michigan.                  earth." (Psalm  121:2)                      $1.75 postage from:
   From a trio which included                 Rev.  1. Slopsema, Pres.                         R F P A
also the Revs. Russell Dykstra                Zarol  Tanis, Sec'y.                             P.O. Box 2006
and Carl Haak, First Church of                                                                Grand Rapids, MI 49501
Grand Rapids called Rev. Ken-                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                           Book club members will
neth Koole to serve as second                       With gratitude to Cod, on             receive one copy automatically.
missionary to Jamaica.                        Uov. 17, 1988, the Lord willing,            Additional copies may be
   South Holland Protestant Re-               3ur parents,  MENNO AND                     ordered at $7.00 plus postage.
formed Church (Illinois) has                  SADI'E   SMITS will celebrate                 Watch the November 15 issue
called Rev. Kortering, f,rom a trio           their 50th wedding anniversary.             for special Christmas prices on
                                                    "From everlasting to                  some of our books.

72  /  The Standard Bearer


