A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Magazine





Vol.  6.S, No.
january I, 7989


  Contents                                                januar y 7, 7 989             THE
                                                                                   STANDARD
 Meditation  - Rev.  James  D. Slopsema
    GOD: OUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH                                           147 ~
                                                                                    B-R
 EDITORIALLY SPEAKING  -  Prof. David). Engelsma                           149
 Editorial  -  Prof. David  /. Engelsma                                            ISSN 0362-4692
    WHITHER THE PRC?                                                       150     Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
                                                                                   and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
 Walking in the Light  - Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                     lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
                                                                                   at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
    HOMOSEXUALITY (3)                                                      152     EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
                                                                                   Editor-in-chief: Prof. David  J. Engelsma
 In His Fear  - Rev. Arie  denHartog                                               Managing Editor: Prof. Robert D. Decker
    THE SECRET AND REVEALED THINGS                                         154     Editors' Assistant: Mr. Don  Doezema
                                                                                   DEPARTMENT EDITORS
 Church and State  - Mr. lames Lantinn                                             Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
    CLERGY MALPRACTICE CASE REJECTED:                                             Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
                                                                                  Critters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
       CHURCH HAS NO DUTY TO PREVENT SUICIDE                               156     Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John Heys, Rev.
                                                                                  Jason Kortering, Rev. George Lubbers, Rev. James
 Guest Article  - Rev. Kenneth W. Hanko                                           Slopsema. Rev. Charles Terpstra, Rev.  Cise
    MAY ELDERS TEACH?                                                      158    VanBaren,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
                                                                                  EDITORIAL OFFICE
 The Day of Shadows  -  Rev. John A. Heys                                         The Standard Bearer
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    A STEP TOWARD THE NEW JERUSALEM                                        160    Crandville,  Michigan 49418
 Decency and Order  - Rev. Ronald L. Cammenga                                     CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                  Mr. Ben Wigger
    CONSIDERING AND ACCEPTING CALLS                                        162    6597  - 40th Ave.
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 BOOK REVIEWS                                                              165    EDITORIAL POLICY
                                                                                  Every editor is solely responsible for  t'he contents
 NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES  - Mr. Benjamin Wigger                             167    of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
                                                                                  terest from our readers and questions for the
                                                                                  Question Box Department are welcome. Contribu-
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  In This Issue . . .                                                             and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
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    In a guest article entitled "May Elders Teach?" Rev. Ken Hanko                editorial office.
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 argues from Scripture that the answer to that question is yes - even             Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of
 to this extent that in certain situations the elder may properly be              articles in our magazine by other publications,
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146  / The Standard Bearer


                                         God: Our Refuge
 Meditation
Rev. lames Slopsema                      and Strength

   God is our refuge and                    The situation that Judah faced     that her God could be of any
strength, a very present help in         with Assyria is essentially the       assistance. The gods of the other
trouble. -Psalm 46-l                     same that is faced by the church      nations had been powerless
                                         of all ages. The powers of dark-      against the gods and armies of
   This Psalm was written in con-        ness constantly attack the church     Assyria. So too would the LORD
nection with the destruction of          of God to destroy her. The            God of Judah be powerless to
the army of Assyria in the days          church has battled the powers of      help in the time of trouble.
of Hezekiah. Assyria had laid            darkness down through the ages.       Jerusalem therefore had no alter-
seige to Jerusalem. But God had          We can expect the battle to rage      native but to surrender. Should
destroyed Assyria in one night by        also in the new year that lies        she do so immediately, her
the angel of death. What a great         before us.                            citizens would be treated kindly.
salvation this was for Judah!              It is very important, therefore,    They would be transported to
   We have before us the main            that we begin this year with the      another land as lush as Canaan.
theme of the Psalm: God is our           same confession of the church of        This serves as a picture of the
refuge and strength, a very pres-        the past: God is our refuge and       desperate situation the church
ent help in trouble. This ob-            strength, a very present help in      faces in every age.
viously was the confession of the        trouble.                                Judah was the church of God
nation of Judah in response to           * * * * * * * * * *                   in her day. The Bible portrays
Gods great work of salvation.              In the days of Hezekiah the na-     her as a picture of the church of
   It is very fitting that we con-       tion of Judah found herself in        all ages. Assyria was the world
sider this confession as we begin        trouble. Assyria, the world power     power of her day. She sought to
again another new year.                  of the day, had invaded Judah.        destroy the church by taking her
                                         Her armies had taken the fenced       away from the promised land of
                                         cities of Judah and had laid seige    Canaan and bringing her into the
                                         to the holy city itself.              captivity of another land. This
                                           From every earthly point of         serves as a picture of the at-
                                         view the situation of Jerusalem       tempts of the powers of darkness
                                         was hopeless. Jerusalem was           down through the ages to destroy
                                         strategically a very strong city.     the church.
                                         But Assyria was by far the              The powers of darkness, which
                                         superior power militarily.            consist of the Devil and his host
                                         Without a doubt Jerusalem would       of fallen angels along with the
                                         eventually be brought to her          world of the ungodly, constantly
                                         knees after a lengthy seige.          assail and lay seige to the church
                                           In full knowledge of these facts    of God to destroy her. Through
                                         Rabshakeh, the captain of the         persecution the powers of
                                         Assyrian army, taunted the            darkness seek to remove the
                                         citizens of Jerusalem. Assyria had    church physically from the face
Rev. Slopsema  is pastor of the Prot-    overcome all her enemies and          of the earth. They also seek
estant Reformed Church of Walker,        would also take Jerusalem.            through persecution to discour-
Michigan.                                Neither must Jerusalem think          age the saints of God so that they

                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  /  147


turn from God into sin and             ture called a refuge, as also He is       However, as we have seen, the
destruction. The powers of             here.                                  powers of darkness are striving
darkness seek to destroy the              The LORD is also called the         mightily to rob us of our salva-
church by introducing false doc-       strength of Judah. This is added       tion. They use persecution, false
trine into the church which            to emphasize that the LORD is a        doctrine, the allurements of sin,
would lead the saints far away         strong and mighty refuge, able to      even our personal tragedies in an
from God and His salvation in          provide safety and security even       attempt to turn us away from
Jesus Christ. Along with this the      against the most formidable foe,       that which we have in Jesus
forces of Satan attempt to in-            In harmony with this, the           Christ.
troduce worldliness into the           LORD is also called a help. A             However, the works of the
church through the pleasures of        help is one who surrounds              Devil will ultimately come to
sin. Turn the church into the          another in order to provide pro-       nought. For God also preserves
world and the church is no more.       tection.                               the church in the salvation He
The Devil even attacks the saints        Judah found the LORD God to          has given her in Christ.
of God when they suffer adversi-       be all of this. God was her refuge        For the present time, God
ty. In the face of pain and suffer-    and strength, a very present help      limits the powers of darkness in
ing the Devil tempts the saints to     in trouble. For in response to the     their attacks on the church. The
turn against their God in despair      threatenings and tauntings of the      Devil can go so far and no fur-
and bitterness.                        Assyrian captain, Hezekiah went        ther. He can persecute the
   In this manner the powers of        to the Temple to seek God's help.      church, but not to the point of
darkness have assailed the             That help came immediately,            destroying her. He can tempt the
church and her members down            That very night the angel of           saints of God with the allure-
through the ages. We can expect        death stole into the camp of           ments of sin, but no more than
no less in the year ahead of us!       Assyria and killed 185,000 of the      the saints can withstand.
   We can add that from an             Assyrian army. This not only             Besides this, God also
earthly point of view the situa-       spared Jerusalem from the              strengthens the saints of the
tion is desperate.                     Assyrian threat; it forever broke      church as they are required to do
   Judah faced a power far             the back of the Assyrian power.        battle with the powers of dark-
superior to her. So also does the      Assyria never fully recovered          ness. When the saints call upon
church find in the powers of           from the blow God dealt her that       the LORD their God in the name
darkness a force much stronger         night. She was soon replaced by        of Jesus Christ, He hears them
than she. Witness the terrible         another as the world power of          and strengthens them that they
apostasy that has taken hold of        the day.                               might fight the good fight of
the church world, not only in the        Truly, God was Judah's refuge        faith. In the power of the Lord
past, but also today. Consider         and strength, a very present help      Jesus Christ the saints are able to
the allurements of sin, which at       in trouble!                            overcome the world, going from
times are well nigh irresistible to      God is such a refuge and             victory to victory.
the saints. Neither ought we to        strength, a very present help in         Indeed, God is a refuge and
forget how often the Devil brings      trouble, for the church in every       strength to the church, a very
us to the point of despair in the      age. He is this refuge through         present help in trouble. He is the
face of adversity.                     Jesus Christ, His Son. God has         One to whom we can flee in the
   There are times when we feel        sent His Son in our flesh. Having      time of trouble and find refuge.
desperate in our battle against        accomplished that great wonder         *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
the forces of darkness, and we         through the virgin birth, God pro-
live in fear of being over-            ceeded to send His Son to the            Through the Psalmist, Judah
whelmed.                               agonies of the cross, where            made a confession: God is our
* * * * *  * * * * *                   another wonder of grace was ac-        refuge and strength, a very pres-
                                                                              ent help in trouble.
   In the face of her enemy,           complished. Through the death of         This was a confession that she
Judah had found her refuge in          His Son, God secured the salva-        had found God to be her refuge
the LORD God.                          tion of His church. We enjoy that      and strength. It was also a con-
   A refuge is a place to which        salvation even now by faith in         fession that she would look to
one can flee in the time of            Jesus Christ.                          God as her refuge and strength in
danger and be safe. A refuge can                                              future troubles. In future troubles
also be a person to whom one                                                  Judah would not rely upon her
flees and finds protection. Hence,                                            own strength. Nor would she
the LORD God is often in Scrip-                                               seek refuge in the heathen na-

148  / The Standard Bearer


tions round about her or in their         But we must also confess that       Our help must  not,be the inven-
gods. She would flee to the             God will be our refuge and             tions of men. By all means we
LORD God alone for refuge and           strength in the future.                must not rely upon our own
strength.                                 Troubles will continue for the       strength. We must flee in prayer
  This confession we must also          church so long as she finds            to the Almighty, who loves us
make ours.                              herself on the earth. Troubles of      eternally in Jesus Christ.
  As we begin this new year we          innumerable sorts will also befall       Then we will be safe and
must confess with deep gratitude        the church here below in this          secure, not only for this year but
to God that we have found Him           new year. In these troubles we         forever.
to be our refuge and strength, a        must find our refuge and strength        God is our refuge and strength,
very present help in trouble.           in the living God. Our refuge          a very present help in trouble. 0
                                        must not be the wisdom of men.





                                        Editorially Speaking


   n Our readers will be in-            formed me that the issue is prov-     reading the review in that he
terested in the latest issue (July-     ing to be exceedingly popular         learns what is being published to-
October 1988) of Journey maga-          as a directory of Reformed            day and in that a reviewer often
zine, a religious periodical pub-       churches. Single copies are avail-    treats issues raised in the book
lished by Presbyterians in the          able for $2.50; orders of 100         that are of concern to the reader.
South. This large (56-page) issue       copies are priced at $1 .OO per       But Reformed people ought to
is entitled, "North American Re-        copy. Add 5% for postage. Order       read! They ought to be building
formed Church Issue," and is            from Journey, 1021 Federal St.,       up good libraries! The beginning
devoted to a description of many        Lynchburg, Virginia 24504; or         of a new year is a fine occasion
of the Reformed and Presbyterian        call (804) 8458572.                   for resolving to reduce drastically
churches in North America,                HSeveral book reviews appear        the time spent (wasted?) watching
although several Presbyterian           in this issue of The Standard         television and to increase greatly
churches in Scotland and Ireland        Bearer.  Reviewing religious          the time spent reading solid
are also included. Particularly in-     books has always been, and will       Christian literature. John Calvin
teresting to many of our readers        continue to be, a regular feature     was right in his comment on II
will be the account of the history,     of The .SB. We take this occasion     Timothy 4:13 (,`. . . bring . . . the
doctrinal position, and general         to urge our general readership        books . . . ."):
makeup of the Protestant Re-            not to skip over the reviews            Still more does this expression
formed Churches and the descrip-        (perhaps ministers must be en-        refute the madness of those men
tion (presumably by the Editor of       couraged not to read only the         who - despising books, and con-
Journey) of the Christian Re-           reviews). It will be our policy to    demning all reading  - boast of
formed Church. The article on           review only those books that          nothing but their own divine inspira-
the CRC remarks, "In the Hoek-          seem to us to be of real interest     tions. But let us know that this
sema case the ecclesiastical            to Reformed men, women, and           passage gives to all believers a
                                                                              recommendation of constant reading,
evidence (the Protestant Re-            children, usually books that some     as a method appointed by God for
formed Church has remained or-          will want to buy. (It hardly needs    profiting.  0                         - D J E
thodox) clearly puts the professor      to be stated that a review, or
on history's faithful side." But the    even a recommendation, does
whole issue is a worthwhile ex-         not imply approval of everything
amination of the Reformed land-         the book teaches.) Even if a
scape in North America. Pub-            reader has no intention of buying
lisher R.E. Knodel, Jr. has in-         the book, he will profit from

                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer  I 149


 Editorial                               Whither the PRC?

   To ask and answer the ques-           Thy Church under his administra-       historic Christian faith (e.g., crea-
 tion, "Whither the Protestant Re-       tion and by his good example,          tion and providence), and by the
 formed Churches?" is not, and           may increase in number and in          approval of lawlessness and im-
 may never become, a matter of           virtue" - not only in virtue, but      morality (e.g., feminism and
 boasting. God's church goes on          also in number. But if the church      homosexuality) for the life of
 her way in history in the humili-       decides that her business is to        churches and of professing Chris-
 ty of her heartfelt conviction tha.t    grow, she will make herself            tians. This is the way of death.
 all that she is she owes to God         grow, inevitably at the expense        This way is littered with the
 and that her way "was ordered           of faithfulness, when she ought to     corpses of men and churches.
 ere (her) days began," as we sing       be concerning herself with the            We repudiate out of hand the
 in Psalm 139. Hers is, and must         task Christ sets her, trusting that    mystical, emotional, and sub-
be, the humility of living, work-        the Lord will add to her such as       jectivistic way of the charismatic
 ing, and considering her way in         should be saved (Acts 2:47). The       movement. It is fraudulent. It is
 the future in dependency upon           church does not decide to grow,        destructive of the peace and
 the grace of God only.                  but  prays that she may grow -         assurance of its devotees. It is
   Nor may the question,                 there is a difference. Even then,      prone to gross sensuality. It is
 "Whither?" be the occasion for          G.K. Chesterton has far better in-     another religion than the faith of
proposing some grandiose pro-            sight into the mind of a Re-           the Word of God, which Chris-
gram for the denomination in the         formed church than do the gurus        tianity is. It is the religion of feel-
coming year, or years. The               of church growth in southern           ing; and we have learned far too
church does not make up her              California when he writes of "the      well from Martin Luther than to
own agenda. Her Lord has given           thought of the Calvinist that the      fall for such a religion:
her her marching orders. His             host of God should be thinned            Faith is such that it feeleth not but
commission is not that she see to        rather than thronged; that Gid-        droppeth reason, shutteth the eyes
it that she be successful. Rather,       eon must reject soldiers rather        and simply surrendereth to the
it is that she be faithful even          than recruit them."                    Word, and followeth the same
though faithfulness means hatred,          But "Whither?" may be a              through death and life. But feeling
ridicule, persecution, scattering,       reminder of the calling we have        goeth not beyond what can be
and death, i.e., supreme failure as      from our Lord, who will meet us        grasped by reason and the senses
men count success and failure.           at the end of the way as our           . . . Therefore feeling is counter to
                                                                                faith, faith to feeling . . . . Whoso
We must have nothing of                  Judge; and it may serve as the         then pursueth feeling, he is de-
synodically adopted goals for            occasion for renewal of the            stroyed, but  whoso counter to feeling
church growth. The reason is not         resolution to be faithful to our       ciependeth heartily upon the Word,
that we despise numerical                calling, based on the promise of       he will be brought through.  (Sermon
growth. Every time a minister is         God to go with us on the way.          on Mark 15:lff.,  1526)
installed in office among us, the          Whither the PRC?                       The way of a broad evangel-
`congregation prays that God will          We will not take one step on         icalism and of fundamentalism
bless his ministry "to the end that      the way of theological modern-         holds no attraction for us. This
                                         ism. This is the way marked out        way, although it claims to
                                         by the denial of the infallible in-    recognize the authority of the Bi-
                                         spiration of Holy Scripture, by        ble and professes to preach the
                                         the doubt of the cardinal doc-         gospel of salvation by the blood
                                         trines of the Bible and of the         3f Jesus, is generally Arminian

150  I The Standard Bearer


(man saves himself by his free            For the PRC, this must mean          in our generations." The PRC
will), un-covenantal (opposes           living and developing out of their     must not be blind to the internal
God's inclusion of the children of      own history and tradition,             threat of division and strife born
believers in the covenant and           specifically as regards sovereign,     of pride, fanned by wicked
church), millennial (Christ will        particular grace; the sheer, free      tongues, and justified by a zeal
come at any moment to establish         graciousness of the covenant; and      that ignores Christian liberty in
an earthly kingdom of Jews for a        the antithesis (the spiritual          the area of the adiaphora (I Cor.
thousand years in Palestine), and       separation of church and believer      8); the demand of the gospel that
legalistic ("thou shalt not drink       - and believer's child! - from         stronger and weaker brothers
alcoholic beverages, or eat red         the world that knows not the           live together in peace (Rom. 14,
meat, or drink coffee," etc.).          Lord Jesus). The churches may          15); and the apostle's tribute to
  We are resolved to continue to        not live in the past, content to       "charity" (I Cor. 13).
be what God has made us: Re-            mouth old phrases as against             Their strength will be the
formed according to the confes-         long-dead opponents; but in the        preaching from the local pulpits;
sions, "The Three Forms of Uni-         contemporary situation, fully          the teaching in the local cate-
ty," because they are in all points     aware of the opportunities,            chism rooms; the wisdom of the
of doctrine in full agreement with      dangers, foes, and struggle of the     local consistory meetings; the
the Word of God, Holy Scripture,        present, they,are  called to live,     firmness and love of the local
and because the Christian life set      confess, and fight in knowledge        bodies of elders; the mercy of the
forth in them is the narrow way         of and fidelity to this doctrinal      local diaconates; and the worship
to eternal life described in the Bi-    and ethical heritage. The reason       and fellowship of the local con-
ble. This way, the way Reformed,        is not that a denomination is re-      gregations.
is the way of sound doctrine, ex-       quired to maintain its tradition         There is no reason for
pository preaching, thorough            come what may, for also the            pessimism. The Lamb is opening
teaching of the Scriptures and the      church's history and tradition         the book and loosing the seals.
confessions to the children, faith      must be tested by the Word of          True, the darkness deepens, not
that holds for truth all that God       God and the creeds. It may be          only in the depraved world, but
has revealed in His Word, and           necessary that a church repents        also in the apostatizing churches.
disciplined obedience to the law        and turns, because its tradition       But the deeper the darkness of
of God in thankfulness. Whoever         has become the giving up of the        the lie and of filthiness of life, the
suggests that this way is without       truth rather than the handing          brighter shines the light of truth
feeling, experience, and life, only     down of the truth. But the reason      and holiness. Besides, the Re-
betrays his own ignorance. The          is that sovereign, particular          formed faith and church are the
way of the Word and doctrine is         grace; the unconditionality of the     cause, the precious cause, of the
the way of the Spirit, and              covenant(which  is truly the
therefore rich in experience and        covenant of grace); and the
life, for He is the Spirit of truth     separation of the church and her                 JESUSSTILLLIVES
(John 16: 13).                          members from the world, when
  The way, therefore, will be           tested by the confessions, are         "When creature comforts fade and
well defined. There will be diffi-      proved to be genuine Reformed            die,
culties aplenty on the way; but         truth, Gods own Word.                  Worldlings may weep, but why
we are spared the impossible              Whither the PRC? On the way            should I?
hardship of not knowing where           of Reformed orthodoxy.                 Jesus still lives, and still is nigh.
we are to go on our ecclesiastical        Before them are battle and           "Though all the flocks and herds
journey towards the Lord. The           struggle. The church in the world        were dead,
future is not a trackless waste.        cannot maintain purity of doc-         My soul a famine need not dread,
We do not stand before the sup-         trine and life without struggle.       For Jesus is my living Bread.
posedly exciting possibilities of       She must contend for the faith         "I know not what may soon
unknown, new leadings of "the           once delivered to the saints. She        betide,
Spirit." We are guided by the           must resist the pervasive pressure     Or how my wants shall be
Lord of the church by means of          of the world. She must be                supplied;
Reformed confessions, a Re-             vigilant against the world's seduc-    But Jesus knows and will provide.
formed church order, and a rich,        tion of her children and young
helpful Reformed tradition,             people; she must learn again to        "Against me earth and hell
always subject to Scripture, the        pray with fervency the old               combine,
church's only "infallible rule."        prayer, "Lord, do not cut us off       But on my side is power Divine,
                                                                               Jesus is all, and He is mine."

                                                                                                The Standard Bearer  / 151


Son of God. Why then should we          Sometimes, men outside the             Lord may return by then! But
be nervous, `fearful, suspicious?       fellowship (troubled usually by a      there is no proof for the charge.
   The good hope of the PRC for         bad conscience concerning their        Probably, the wish is father to
the future is encouraged by Gods        own disobedience to the Lord in        the thought. We stand ecclesiasti-
keeping of them as churches in          the matter of church member-           cally where we have always
the way of the truth in the past.       ship) charge that the PRC are          stood - in the way marked out
There has been no doctrinal             "only twenty-five years behind         by the Reformed standards. In
deviation, no weakening of the          (this or that departing church)."      this way, we are determined to
commitment to the Reformed              One is tempted to respond that         persevere, God being gracious. 0
faith. There is no agitation to         twenty-five more years of faith-                                        -DJE
remove the ancient landmarks.           fulness is no small blessing. Our





 Walking in
 the Light
Prof. Herman Hanko                      Homosexuality (3)

   We have been examining the           he is the object of "fate." God        to all evil. This depravity, accord-
question of the origin of homo-         rules supreme in spite of              ing to Scripture, is complete and
sexuality in the light of a distinc-    anything which man wants to do         total. It is not a partial depravity
tion which is often made be-            or can do.                             which leaves man with a free
tween a tendency towards this sin         But nothing is so deterministic      will to choose for the good or for
and the actual performance of           as modern humanistic thought           the evil. It is not a partial
homosexual acts. Many believe           and atheistic behavioral psychol-      depravity of every part of his
that a man is not responsible for       ogy. Those who propound these          nature so that he remains
his homosexuality because he is         notions make man an absolute           capable of doing some things
born a homosexual and can do            slave, either of his genetic struc-    good in the sight of God. It is
nothing about this tendency of          ture over which he has no con-         total and complete. The good is
his nature. He cannot fight it; he      trol, or his environment which         foreign to him. He can only sin
cannot be changed; he is a              shapes his behavior and which          in everything that he does. He
prisoner of his genes.                  cannot be altered or modified by       even,lacks the ability to will to
   It is interesting to note (though    anything he does. He is a product      do good.
we do it by way of a paren-             of his ancestral genetic heritage        We need not belabor this point
thetical thought) that modern           and/or of the environment in           or enter into it in detail. Every-
humanism is much more "deter-           which he was brought up. All his       one who has heard the testimony
ministic" than Calvinism. Calvin-       life long he remains a slave to        of Scripture, and who knows the
ism, with its emphasis on the ab-       those forces which shape and           long and solid history of this
solute sovereignty of God even          mold him in his entire destiny.        truth beginning with Augustine,
over sin, is often charged with         That is determinism with a             going on through Calvin and
determinism. Man has no control         vengeance.                             Luther, and including all the
over what he is or what he does;          But however all that may be,         great Presbyterian and Reformed
                                        Scripture teaches something quite      divines, believes and confesses
                                        different, namely, that each man       this fundamental truth. It is one
                                        is conceived and born in sin. The      of the key points of Calvinism.
                                        result is that he comes into the         This corrupt and depraved
Prof. Hanko is professor of Church      world with a corrupt and de-           nature is a fountain and source of
History and New Testament in the        praved nature which is incapable       every evil which man commits.
Protestant Reformed Seminary.           of doing any good and inclined

152  I The Standard Bearer


Our Belgic Confession puts it suc-          Scripture is very clear on the          That Scripture teaches our
cinctly when it states:                   answer to that question. The cor-      responsibility for our corrupt
   We believe that, through the dis-      rupt and depraved nature with          nature goes almost without say-
obedience of Adam, original sin is        which we are born is our fault,        ing. David prays in Psalm 51:5,
extended to all mankind; which is a       our responsibility, with which we      "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity;
corruption of the whole nature, and       stand condemned before God.            and in sin did my mother con-
as an hereditary disease, wherewith       Did you notice the statement in        ceive me." David is not trying
infants themselves are infected even      the Belgic Confession which we         here to find some kind of excuse
in their mother's womb, and which
produceth in man all sorts of sin, be-    quoted above? This nature with         for his adultery with Bathsheba
ing in him as a root thereoh and          which we are all born is "so vile      and his murder of Uriah. He is
therefore is so vile and abominable       and abominable in the sight of         confessing his sin; and among
in the sight of God, that it is suffi-    God, that it is sufficient to con-     those sins which, with broken
cient to condemn all mankind (Art.        demn all mankind." The meaning         heart, he confesses before God is
xv                                        here is clear. Even if a person        his nature which was sinful from
   Every sin which has been com-          dies at birth, he already stands       his mother's womb.
mitted in all the history of the          under the condemnation of God             The publican in the temple
world, no matter how detestable           because of his corrupt nature.         prayed, "God be merciful to me a
and abominable, comes from that           Even if a man never sinned from        sinner" (Luke l&13). Or, even
depraved nature as a gush of              the moment of birth (something         more emphatically, according to
filthy sewage comes from a                obviously impossible because of        the Greek: "God be merciful to
sewer. Every man who is born              his corrupt nature) he would still     me the sinner." He does not pray
with such a nature is inherently          go to hell because he is responsi-     that God will be merciful to him
capable of committing every sin           ble for the total depravity of his     because he sins so very much; he
which man has ever committed.             nature with which he has come          prays for mercy because he is a
This ought to give every one of           into the world.                        sinner, because his nature is cor-
us pause. Everyone of us is                 If you ask once more: How can        rupted and polluted with sin,
capable of every sin, including           a man be responsible for his cor-      because he is by and according
the sin of homosexuality. Perhaps         rupt nature with which he is           to his nature a sinner.
not all men commit this sin, for          born? The answer to that ques-            The Heidelberg Catechism em-
many are restrained by other sins         tion is that he is responsible         phasizes this throughout (cf. e.g.,
of pride, self-exaltation, and            before God for the sin of his first    questions and answers 5, 7-10
desire to conform to approved             parents Adam and Eve in Para-          and others). But one very signifi-
standards by one's peers. One             dise. He is guilty for that sin and    cant question and answer ap-
sin, such as pride, keeps another         held accountable before God for        pears in Lord's Day XXI:
sin from coming to light in overt         that transgression.                       What believest thou concerning
conduct. Just as fear of being              This is, of course, the truth of     "the forgiveness of sins"?
fined keeps one man from run-             original guilt, a truth, by the          That God, for the sake of Christ's
ning a traffic light, so does fear of     way, not very much believed in         satisfaction, will no more remember
sneering looks from one's peers           the present church - although it       my sins, neither my corrupt nature,
keep one from the sin of homo-            was taught by many both in the         against which I have to struggle all
sexuality. But the potential is           Reformed and Presbyterian tradi-       my life long . . . . "
there - in everyone. Homosex-             tion. Nor are we interested in            The forgiveness of sins in-
uality, as well as every other sin,       arguing the whole subject here,        cludes not only the washing
has its origin in that depraved           for that is somewhat removed           away of all my sins, but also the
nature. There is no other ex-             from our main discussion of            divine forgetfulness of my cor-
planation than that.                      homosexuality. The interested          rupt nature. That means that my
  But one may ask: If sin is              reader can consult the locus           corrupt nature has also to be
rooted in a corrupt nature with           classicus  in Scripture, Romans        forgiven by God. I am guilty for
which we are conceived and                5:12-14 to pursue this matter fur-     that nature against which I have
born, is it not, after all, true that     ther; and he can, in connection        to struggle. I need forgiveness for
sin (including that of homosex-           with the interpretation of this        that too. And God in His mercy
uality) is a matter of innate traits      passage, consult the staunchly         forgives because the blood of
and tendencies over which we              Reformed and Presbyterian com-         Christ was spilled on Calvary not
have no control and for which             mentators who have held to this        only for my sins, but also for my
we cannot be held responsible?            view.                                  evil nature. Without that I would
                                                                                 still go to hell.


                                                                                                      The Standard  Bearer  / 153


   It is not very common                 essential. All Scripture and our       the homosexual the hope and
anymore in our day to hear               Confessions point us to that great     promise of deliverance - but
prayers uttered for the forgive-         need.                                  then only through the blood of
ness of sins. This is a serious and        All this needs emphasis, not         the cross. Indeed, it is not too
inexcusable fault. But if one ac-        only because it explains in a          much to say that the hope of the
tually does hear prayers for the         Scriptural way the origin of the       cross for all homosexuality is just
forgiveness of sins, how often           sin of homosexuality (over which       because this sin, as every other
does one hear prayers for the            question everyone dealing with         sin, has its origin in a sinful and
forgiveness of our evil natures?         the problem is fighting today),        depraved nature. Cl
That is rare indeed. And yet it is       but also because it holds out to





                                         The Secret and
 In His Fear
 Rev. Arie denHartog                     Revealed Things

   You will recognize that the             Often the above quoted verse         peculiar people. God revealed His
above theme is taken from a              has been misused. There are            eternal counsel and purpose con-
familiar passage of Scripture            those who do not like any talk         cerning Israel. He revealed His
found in Deuteronomy 29:29.              about God's sovereign and eter-        covenant promise to Abraham
The whole verse reads as follows:        nal counsel. They do not like to       and the other patriarchs to make
"The secret things belong unto           hear about God's eternal predes-       a great nation of Israel. Hundreds
the Lord our God: but those              tination, His purpose of election      of years beforehand God re-
things which are revealed belong         and reprobation. On the basis of       vealed His promise to Abraham
unto us and to our children for          this verse, these people would         that He would give-the land of
ever, that we may do all the             claim that all these things belong     Canaan to His people Israel as an
words of this law." These words          to the secret things of God. These     inheritance. All through the
are a great statement of Moses,          truths ought not to be preached        history of Israel God declared
the man of God, spoken by in-            or talked about. To do so is to        what He was going to do with
spiration of the Holy Spirit. They       pry wrongly into the secret            them. Again and again He
were a kind of general conclu-           things of God. This is however a       reiterated His promise to give
sion and summary application of          false application of this passage      them the land of Canaan. He
all that Moses said in his last          of God's Word. What these              foretold that He would destroy
great farewell discourses to             people claim belongs to the            Israel's enemies before them and
Israel. These words are at the           secret things of God are in fact       give them a blessed and glorious
same time a great statement con-         part of the wonderful revelation       land to possess.
cerning all of God's revelation          of God to His people.                    In connection with the revela-
which has wonderful application            The book of Deuteronomy,             tion of His covenant promises to
and significance for us and our          from which the passage quoted          Israel God also gave to Israel all
children.                                above is taken, as well as the rest    of His statutes and ordinances
                                         of Scripture, makes this abun-         and judgments. At Sinai God
                                         dantly clear. God revealed His         revealed Himself as the fearful
                                         eternal counsel to Israel. He told     holy and righteous God. God
                                         Israel that He had chosen her          commanded Israel to love Him
                                         above all the nations of the earth     with all their hearts and souls
Rev. denHartog is pastor of the Prot-    to set His love upon her and to        and strength and mind and to
estant Reformed Church of Ran-
dolph, Wisconsin.                        make her His own special and           keep all His commandments. He

154  / The Standard Bearer


promised Israel great power and        darkened. He became utterly            heavenly glory in the book of
blessing and glory as long as          foolish and he walks about in          Revelation. All these things speak
they continued in His command-         darkness. But God, immediately         of the eternal counsel and pur-
ments. He warned them of awful         after the fall, began to reveal        pose of God. These are not things
judgments that would come upon         Himself in a more wonderful way        which God has kept secret but
them if they forsook the Lord          in the promise of the covenant.        things which He has through the
and walked in the abominations         By the wonder of His grace and         ages revealed to His people for
of the heathen nations around          Holy Spirit He formed a people         their hope and comfort.
them.                                  anew that could receive and              God has revealed to His people
  All these things belonged to         understand this wonderful new          His great purpose to make of
the revealed things of God of          revelation.                            them a holy and peculiar people
which Moses spoke. Moses told            God has given the revealed           in Christ Jesus. Therefore He has
Israel that there was no nation        things to His people. He has           also revealed His holy law and
like Israel in all the earth who       revealed Himself as the covenant       righteous judgments. He has
had God dwelling in her midst          God of His people. He has shown        shown us again and again the
and who saw His great glory and        to them His sovereign and              fearful judgments that He sent
power in signs and wonders.            almighty power. He has shown to        not only upon the ungodly but
Israel was highly privileged to        them His awful, perfect righteous-     even more so upon those who
have such a great revelation of        ness and holiness. He has shown        were called His people and who
God. This revelation was given to      them His faithfulness and loving       forsook His law and covenant.
Israel according to the sovereign      kindness and tender mercy. God         He has revealed all of this to us
grace of God because they were         has shown to His people His eter-      to warn us and to make us fear
His chosen people. It was given        nal purpose to choose them as          Him as a holy and righteous God.
for their great good that they         His own and to set His love upon       God has revealed to us our own
might hope in God and serve            them. He has shown to His              sinfulness and weakness and in-
Him with fear and trembling.           people from the beginning of the       ability to save ourselves. God has
This revelation was given to           world His great and glorious pur-      shown us the great need of daily
Israel also that they might pass it    pose to redeem His people and          repentance and of fleeing to
down from generation to genera-        finally bring them to heavenly         Christ as the only hope of our
tion that God might keep His           glory and blessing.                    salvation.
covenant with them and that              God has revealed the full glory        What a mighty and wonderful
children might learn from their        of His revelation in His Son Jesus     revelation is given to us by God.
parents of the great salvation of      Christ who is the brightness of        How privileged we are as God's
God.                                   His glory and the express image        church. We have a far more
  What a great wonder the              of His person. He has revealed in      glorious and sure revelation than
revelation of God really is. With-     Jesus Christ His great love for His    Israel of old had. Through this
out that revelation we could           people by causing Him to die on        revelation we must learn to fear
know nothing about God or              the cross, He has revealed His         and to trust our God and to hope
about His great and wonderful          almighty power and righteous-          in His salvation. We must search
purpose of salvation. God is in        ness to raise up Jesus Christ from     His wonderful revelation as it is
Himself the unknowable one. He         the dead and exalt Him at His          given to us in the Bible. It is in-
is infinite in His being, transcen-    own right hand. God has made           exhaustible in its greatness and
dent in heavenly majesty. No           known the gospel of salvation in       glory. Never does the sincere
man has seen God at any time,          Jesus Christ among all the na-         child of God imagine that he has
for God cannot be seen. He is ab-      tions of the earth. God has            no more need of studying God's
solutely invisible in His being and    revealed His purpose to choose         wonderful revelation. Even after
purely spiritual in His essence.       His people out of all the nations      many, many years of listening to
God can be known only through          of the earth. He made known            the preaching of the Word of
the wonder of His own self-            that purpose already to our            God and of studying of the Scrip-
revelation. He first revealed His      Father Abraham. God has re-            tures, we cannot even begin to
own eternal power and godhead          vealed His glorious purpose to         fathom the depths of God's
in the whole of His creation so        bring all of history to a climax       wonderful revelation to us. And
that all men might know Him.           with the blessed return of our         God has given us this wonderful
After the fall the curse of God        great God and Savior Jesus             revelation of Himself according
came upon man. The mind and            Christ. God has revealed the           to the purpose of His covenant
heart of man was absolutely            glorious future of the saints in       that we might also teach it to our


                                                                                              The Standard Bearer  I  155


children. From generation to                  reprobates the ungodly in severe           also the day of our Lord's return.
 generation our children must                 and perfect righteousness.                 No man knows the day or the
 learn the wonderful works of                   We know not why His purpose              hour of that return. We are ex-
 God that they too might learn to             of reprobation sometimes in-               horted only to watch and to wait.
walk in godly fear.                           cludes our own children and                   God's secrets will never disap-
    There are also things which               relatives. God has kept secret             point us after we in His purpose
are secret. They are for the Lord             from us also what is in store for          come to know them. The secrets
our God. Because God is infinite              our future. Sometimes the Lord             of God will never in any way
in His greatness and glory and                leads us through deep ways of              contradict the glorious things He
because our minds are by com-                 trouble and sorrow that we do              has revealed to us. God has
parison very, very small, there               not know. His ways are higher              revealed to us all that we need to
are many things about the Lord                than our ways and His thoughts             know for our salvation.
our God that are far beyond our               than our thoughts. God has kept               Two things therefore we are to
comprehension. There are                 secret from us the day when we                  do. Continually we must search
aspects of His mysterious and                 must depart from this world and            and know the wonderful things
wonderful sovereignty that God                go on to heavenly glory. God has           He has made known to us. And,
Himself has kept secret from us.              kept secret from us exactly who            as far as the secret things are
We ought not to seek to pry into              each one of His elect children       -~    concerned, with quiet trust we
these things. We ought not fool-              are. He is the Lord God who has            must leave them to the Lord our
ishly to reply against God and                a purpose in keeping all these             God. El
call Him unjust when He                       things secret. God has kept secret
                                         -



                                         Clergy Malpractice Case
                                         Rejected: Church Has
 Church and                              No Duty to Prevent
State
Mr. James Lanting                        Suicide

   "Plaintiffs have failed to per-              On April 1, 1979, Kenneth Nal-           suicide. Nally, a converted
suade us that the duty to prevent        ly, a 24-year-old seminary stu-                 Catholic and a member of the
suicide (heretofore imposed only         dent suffering from chronic                     church for about five years, had
on psychiatrists and hospitals). . .     depression, committed suicide by                been counseled for some time by
should be extended to a non-             shooting himself in the head with               Mac Arthur and several of the
therapist counselor who offers           a shotgun. Soon thereafter his                  church's pastors who engaged in
counseling to a potentially              parents filed a "clergy malprac-                spiritual "discipling" of troubled
suicidal person on secular or            tice" suit against Grace Com-                   persons by fostering "mentoring"
spiritual matters.  "                    munity Church of the Valley, a                  relationships. Church publications
         California Supreme Court,       10,000 member fundamentalist                    advertised that (absent physiolog-
         Nally v. Grace Community        church near Los Angeles. The                    ical disorders) all emotional prob-
             Church, (Nov. 23, 1988).    suit charged four pastors of the                lems were caused by sin and
                                         church (including the popular                   were thus spiritual matters within
                                         preacher Rev. John Mac Arthur)                  the competence of the church's
Mr. Lanting, a member of South
Holland Protestant Reformed              with negligence and "outrageous                 staff of 30 pastors/counselors.
Church, is a practicing attorney.        conduct" in failing to prevent the              Among the disorders treated

156  / The Standard Bearer


were "drug abuse, alcoholism,             of the particular denomination or ec-       couraging Nally's suicide. This
phobias, deep depression, suicide,        clesiastical teachings of the religious     court was also dismissed and the
nervous breakdowns and schizo-            entity. "                                   church was accordingly ex-
phrenia."                                Outrageous Conduct                           onerated of the charge of con-
Lower Court Imposes Duty to                  But in addition to the breach            tributing to Nally's mental
Refer                                     of the alleged duty to refer, the           distress and eventual suicide.
   The Nally case caused wide-            parents had also contended (and             The Future of Clergy Malpractice
spread alarm among churches               the lower court had agreed) that            Cases
last year when a California ap-           Grace Church's pastors were                    In a telephone interview a few
pellate court ruled for the Nallys        possibly guilty of "outrageous              days after the Nally opinion was
and imposed a new duty upon               conduct" - teaching young Nally             released, the church's attorney,
pastors (and other "nontherapist          that suicide was an "acceptable             Sam Ericsson, announced to this
counselors") to refer potentially         or even desirable alternative to            writer that the "chilling effect on
suicidal counselees to certified          living."                                    church counseling has now been
mental health professionals. The             To prove this unusual (and               lifted." In the future, claimed the
lower court also ruled that there         very serious) charge that the               effusive Ericsson, litigious persons
was evidence that the church and          church actually encouraged Nally            will now be "less inclined" to ini-
her pastors may have engaged in           to commit suicide, the parents at           tiate suits against churches and
"outrageous conduct" by                   trial produced an audio tape re-            pastors for failure to prevent
teaching Nally and others that            cording of a speech given by                suicide. Although the California
"suicide was an acceptable and            Pastor Richard Thomson on the               decision is not binding on other
even desirable alternative to liv-        "Theology of Suicide." Pastor               states, many believe the Nally
ing." This ruling shocked and             Thomson, who had counseled                  decision sounds the death knell
angered the evangelical church            Nally prior to his death, appar-            for suicide prevention cases
world; Grace Church and John              ently stated the following regard-          against pastors who engage in
Mac Arthur immediately ap-                ing the church's teaching on                spiritual counseling.
pealed to the California Supreme          suicide:                                      Less definitive, however, was
Court.                                      "So it is very characteristic of the      the Court's ruling on the "out-
California Supreme Court Rejects         suicidal that it is fear of judgment         rageous conduct" cause of action.
Duty to Refer                             that drives him into the death after        This is because the Court largely
  The Supreme Court, in a re-             which he will face that judgment, if        ignored the church's religious
cent ruling hailed by church             he2 an unbeliever. And after which
                                          if he is a believer, he'll go to be with    freedom argument that even
leaders nationwide, overruled the         the Lord. Yes, there'll be a loss of        "outrageous" beliefs are Constitu-
lower court and refused to im-           reward, but because of the Lord and          tionally protected, choosing in-
pose upon pastor/counselors              his grace he'll go to be with the            stead to base its decision solely
such a duty to refer potentially         Lord. In fact, suicide is one of the         upon the irrelevancy of the
suicidal persons to licensed pro-        ways that the Lord takes home a              Thomson tape recording and the
fessionals. The Court reasoned           disobedient believer. * * * And              lack of other evidence.
that because foreseeability of           suicide for a believer is the Lord say-        A few "outrageous conduct"
suicide is often tenuous, a work-        ing, `Okay, come on home. Can't use          suits are still pending in other
able standard of care would be           you anymore on earth. If you're not          states for sexual seduction of
almost impossible. Secondly,             going to deal with those things in           counselees by pastors or for "in-
"public policy considerations"           your life, come on home'." [Em-
                                         phasis added]                                vasion of privacy" and "infliction
dictated that such a duty not be            The church argued vigorously              of mental distress" allegedly
imposed. Finally, in a very brief        that this tape excerpt was taken             caused by harsh church discipline
reference to the church's many           out of context and that the taped            procedures. Unfortunately, it may
religious freedom defenses, the           statements were irrelevant since            be some time before the church/
Court somewhat casually opined:           they were uttered at a seminar              state and religious freedom issues
  "Because of the differing theolog-      eighteen months after Nally's               are comprehensively addressed
ical views espoused by the myriad of                                                  by the courts or legislatures in
religions in our state and practiced      death. Again overruling the                 this new and alarming area of
by church members, it could certain-      lower court, the California                 civil liability of churches and
ly be impractical, and quite possibly     Supreme Court agreed with the               pastors. 0
unconstitutional, to impose a duty of     church and held that the taped
care on pastoral counselors. Such a       statements did not establish that
duty would necessarily be inter-          the church had engaged in the
twined with the religious philosophy      "outrageous conduct" of en-

                                                                                                      The Standard Bearer  /  157


 Guest Article
 Rev. Kenneth Hanko                      May Elders Teach?

   Whether God has made two or             Secondly, in Titus 1:9, the Holy     teaching (or doctrine), and the
three (or even four) offices in the      Spirit tells us that the elder must    words derived from the same
church is an important question.         be one who holds fast "the faith-      root: teach and teacher (frequent-
Nevertheless, too great a concen-        ful word as he hath been taught,       ly translated master), do not sug-
tration on this question may             that he may be able  by sound          gest any such limitation. They
sometimes have diverted our at-          doctrine [or teaching] both to ex-     almost always designate teaching
tention from a question of               hort and to convince the gain-         of the Word of God, and that ac-
greater importance for our times:        sayers."                               cording to the authority of an of-
Has God given to elders (or rul-           Thirdly, the Holy Spirit tells       fice. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit
ing elders, as they are called           elders to do the work which we         often uses these words in connec-
among the Presbyterians) authori-        normally associate with the office     tion with the office of preacher.
ty to teach? Does teaching               of pastor (or teaching elder). In      See, for some examples, I
belong to their office? Are we to        Acts 20:28 He says that the            Timothy 2:7, 5:17, II Timothy 2:2,
distinguish sharply between the          elders must "feed [shepherd,           Titus 2:7, John 13:14, Ephesians
offices of teaching and ruling,          pastor] the church of God," and        4: 11, Matthew 28:20, and all the
pastor and elder?                        in I Peter 5:2 that they must          occurrences of these words in
   That the elders must teach if         "feed the flock of God." In both       Acts. There is no reason for us to
the congregation is without a            cases the word is the same which       draw a sharp line of distinction
pastor, and even that the elders         Jesus used in John 2 1: 16 when        between the teaching authority
really cannot do their work with-        He said to Peter, "Feed my             of the pastor and the teaching
out teaching, few would deny.            sheep." It is the verbal form of       authority of the elder. It is proper
God has ordained that the life           the word found in Ephesians            that those trained specifically to
and nourishment of His people            4: 11: "And He gave some,              preach do it. But, in the absence
will be by the Word, and that            apostles; and some, prophets; and      or for the good of the pastor, the
spoken. A faithful elder cannot          some, evangelists; and some,           elders may and ought to preach
avoid teaching. Nevertheless we          pastors  and teachers." It covers      and teach with the authority of
tend today to limit, beyond Scrip-       everything that belongs to the         Christ.
tural justification, the authority of    care of the flock, even teaching.        All this implies that there is
the elder to teach.                        That the preaching of the            much involved in the qualifica-
   That the elder has authority to       gospel and other teaching falls        tions "apt to teach."
teach is not difficult to prove          chiefly to the pastor does not           First, there is knowledge. The
from Scripture. Consider these           mean that the elder must be ex-        elder must be a man who knows
three arguments.                         cluded from this work. It seems        the Scriptures and the confes-
   First, one of the qualifications      to be that there is no Scriptural      sions of the church. He must be a
for elder is the ability to teach.       basis for limiting the elder's work    man thoroughly acquainted with
This teaching is, as I will show         and authority to family visitation,    Reformed doctrine, and having
later, authoritative teaching of         discipline, and an occasional          some knowledge of the history of
the Word.                                catechism class or reading ser-        the church. In addition he ought
                                         mon. The teaching mentioned in         to be familiar with the current
                                         Titus 1:9 and I Timothy 3:2 is the     issues and affairs of the church
Rev. Hanko is missionary-pastor of       exposition and authoritative ap-       and world.
the Protestant Reformed Churches, in     plication of the Word of God to          Secondly, the elder ought to be
Norristown, Pennsylvania.                the people of God. The word            a man given to study. It is essen-

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tial to good teaching that the          to be designed to meet the needs      bad, and, for the good of.the
teacher be constantly learning.         of the trainees. Some elders,         church, ought to be corrected.
The elder ought to be a man who         though well equipped and ex-            That sort of situation may be,              '
reads and studies the Scriptures        perienced in most areas, will         in part anyway, the fault of the
and many other books. He must           recognize weaknesses or ig-           pastor. Some pastors want to be
not rely on others for all his          norance in themselves, and will       little popes, or do not trust their
knowledge of the Scriptures. He         ask for help. Other elders, who       elders to do the work. This
needs personal acquaintance with        have less experience and educa-       distrust is often misplaced, but,
them in order to be able to use         tion, will need more extensive        even if it is not, the solution to
them effectively. But neither           training. There may be some           the problem is not that the pastor
must he rely only on himself for        members of the congregation           take over all the work. It is more
the interpretation of the Scrip-        who`"desire the office of bishop."    urgent than ever, then, that the
tures. God has given us a rich          These, too, ought to be instructed    elders be trained. In other cases
heritage for the interpretation of      with a view to discovering their      the failure of the elders to do
the Scriptures. God has given us        gifts and qualifications. Further-    their work may be their own
a rich heritage of interpretation       more, the elders, in taking heed      fault. Some elders feel inferior to
in the church. It is foolish in the     to themselves (Acts 20:28), will      their pastor because they do not
extreme to ignore it. Besides, the      probably suggest to this or that      have the education or gifts that
elder needs to know how other           elder that he receive further in-     he does. They will not assert
people think, and what they have        struction in one or another           themselves to do the work to
said.                                   aspect of his work. They may          which the Good Shepherd calls
  Thirdly, the elder must be one        also ask a member of the con-         them. This is a mistake. The
who can understand the Scrip-           gregation, who appears to them        elders must rule their pastor, not
tures and apply them to the             to have the qualifications of an      he them. Besides, God never
people of God. He may seek help         elder, to seek instruction with a     gives to one man all the gifts
in this area from the pastor or         view to holding office.               necessary for the well-being of
others (there is nothing wrong            Such things can only be for the     His church. He distributes these
with that), but he ought not to be      good of the church. A strong, ac-     gifts throughout the congregation
completely at a loss if he cannot       tive, capable consistory (or ses-     so that each has a place and
derive his material from another        sion) will, by the grace of God,      work in the body. Every qualified
source.                                 build a strong church. Weak and       elder may be sure that he has
  Finally, he must have some            ill-equipped elders will tend to      gifts which are necessary to the
capacity for public speaking and        weaken the flock. Its spiritual       well-being of the church. There
teaching. Excellent oratory and         health depends, to a large            are also some elders who do not
remarkable ability to teach are         degree, on the faithfulness of its    work to equip themselves for the
not necessary, but he must be           officers.                             work. They must be admonished
able to present a subject                 It happens far too often today      and corrected. Elders ought not
coherently and in a way under-          that the pastor becomes the           to see themselves as the
standable and edifying to his au-       dominant figure in the congrega-      assistants of the pastor, but as his
dience, whether that audience be        tion, and that the well-being of      co-laborers in Gods vineyard.
one man, a Bible study group,           the congregation depends on his       Through their diligent care,
children, or the whole flock.           ability to do nearly all the work.    Christ makes His branches bring
  In order that the elder may be        Far too often the work of the         forth abundant fruit. Cl
equipped for his work, training         elders is restricted in such a way
classes are necessary. The pastor       that they are not visibly and ac-
or a knowledgeable and experi-          tively the ones caring for the        Give a gift of
enced elder could teach, or some        church, feeding the sheep, bring-
other arrangements could be             ing back the wandering, binding       the Standard
made, but the elders ought to see       up the broken, assisting the
to it that training is available for    weak, carrying the young, and
those who want or need it. The          providing in every way for the        Bearer to a
classes do not necessarily have to      needs of the flock. They become
be about the nature of the office,      assistants to the pastor, and the     friend or loved
but may be about Reformed doc-          church is really taught and
trine, current issues, public           governed by one man. This is          one today.
speaking, etc. Such classes ought


                                                                                              I-he Standard Bearer  I759


  The Day                              A Step Toward the
 of Shadows
 Rev. john A. Heys                     New Jerusalem

    It was the devil, who had used     would, the day that they ate of       is every descendant of Adam and
 the mouth of the serpent to           the forbidden fruit. That being       Eve - except Christ, Who is the
 tempt Adam and Eve, whom God          the case, they could not yet          Son of God and was born of a
 addressed in what is called the       believe and rejoice in this           virgin - born with a nature that
 mother promise of Genesis 3:15.       wonderful truth of salvation.         hates God; but, as every man
Although by implication it is a        They must first be born again,        comes into this world spiritually
 rich covenant promise of salva-       before they could receive and en-     dead, it is absolutely impossible
tion for the elect children of God,    joy that mother promise. To           for one to change himself and
it was not addressed to man,           Satan God announces His inten-        cause himself to begin to love
 although it was spoken in his         tion to save them from his evil       God. In fact, every heart hates
hearing. Undeniably it was a           influence and power, make them        the very idea of being changed
gracious promise of complete           spiritually alive, and implant in     from hatred toward God unto
salvation; and for Satan it was no     them love for Himself. We may         love for Him. And God here
promise but an announcement of         believe, however, that even as        promises to these spiritually dead
coming punishment for him and          He spoke this announcement of         enemies that He will make a
his followers. Being called the        punishment upon Satan and his         complete change, by giving them
mother promise it did cast a           followers, and of putting all his     a new spiritual life. In fact, what
shadow of the complete and             work to naught, He did cause          God promises here is a spiritual
wonderful victory over Satan,          Adam and Eve to be born again         life that will not die, like Adam's
over all the fallen angels, and        and to believe this announce-         and Eve's first spiritual life did
over all the unbelievers who           ment as a promise to them. To         die. Here is the shadow; but the
would be conceived and born on         them His word was a lamp unto         reality we read of is in the New
this earth.                            their feet and a light upon their     Testament in I John 3:9 where
   Why was it not addressed to         pathway, exactly because it was       we read, "Whosoever is born of
Adam and Eve? Because it               the revelation of Gods sovereign      God doth not commit sin; for His
presented that which still had to      grace and intent to realize a most    seed remaineth in him: and he
take place as far as the elect are     wonderful salvation through the       cannot sin, because he is born of
concerned; and the punishment          cross of His own Son. To Adam         God." That which does not exist
that falls on the ungodly must         and Eve it was the gospel,            cannot cast a shadow. Only real
not be pushed into the back-           because it assured them of the        objects cast shadows. Here in the
ground. Gods sovereignty and           crushing of Satan's head through      mother promise we have
holiness must be revealed and          the crushing of the heel of Gods      presented to us the shadow of
announced. What is more, Adam          Son.                                  what will be seen in the new
and Eve had died spiritually,            Here also we have a shadow of       Jerusalem, when we shall have
even as God said that they             what will take place in the           bodies and souls that love God
                                       human race. God will put enmity       completely and unceasingly.
                                       between the seed of the woman           The question does arise, how-
                                       and the seed of the serpent. Bear     ever, as to why the woman is
                                       in mind that Satan caused the         mentioned and not the man. One
                                       whole human race to become            might expect the promise to say
Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in    enemies of God, as far as their       that God would put enmity be-
the Protestant Reformed Churches.      hearts were concerned. Not only       tween the devil and the man. He

160  f The Standard Bearer


is the head not only of the             In the sweat of his brow man            that they would die,, was there
human race but also of the fami-        would now have to work for his          with tremendous power.
ly. Some even question whether          bread. But consider the fact that         No, Adam and Eve must be
Adam was changed into a                 this also was a work of God's           driven out of that garden and
believer. They claim that only          grace, and that "all things work        away from that tree of life-for
Eve was born again and hated            together" in that grace "for good       their spiritual well-being. Gods
the devil and sin, since Adam is        to those that love God." Take a         grace keeps us from sin as well
not mentioned in this mother            good hold also on what Paul             as from the punishment of sin.
promise. Two things, therefore,         wrote after those words in.             We are so often more - and
must be stated. The woman was           Romans 8:28. In Romans 8:38, 39         often only - concerned with the
the first to sin, and she caused        he wrote, "For I am persuaded           punishment our sins demand,
the man to sin by her desire to         that neither death, nor life, nor       rather than with the sin itself.
be like God, when Satan came to         angels, nor principalities, nor         Satan tempted Adam and Eve
her with the lie. Assuring her of       powers, nor things present, nor         and succeeded in getting them to
a spiritual change implies that he      things to come, Nor height, nor         sin. But God drives them away
whom she deceived will also be          depth, nor any other creature,          from the temptation of seeking to
changed and be made to hate the         shall be able to separate us from       escape the punishment of that sin
devil and sin. Since the promise        the love of God, which is in            by eating of the tree of life. This
is to the sinner who first fell, and    Christ Jesus our Lord." Paul            he did in His love, mercy, and
who was used to get her husband         could have said that before             grace. And we do have a shadow
to fall, it certainly includes him      Adam and Eve were driven out            of His protecting care upon the
whom she induced into sin.              of the garden. Then too he could        seed of the woman. There are
   What is more, the word               have said that neither anything         sins we must commit because
woman is not limited to Eve. It         present, nor anything to come,          they are in His sovereign, eter-
refers to the whole church -            could separate us from the love         nal, unchangeable counsel. This
even as the words "thy seed,"           of God. Every act that God per-         sin of Adam and Eve was in that
which refers to all under Satan's       forms for and upon the seed of          counsel and was therefore
power, include not only the             the woman, the church that is           necessary, so that we could
unbelieving world but also all the      Christ's bride, is one in love, mer-    through the bruising of the heal
fallen angels who in a spiritual        cy, and grace.                          of The Seed of The Woman reach
sense are also Satan's seed. And          Yes, driving Adam and Eve out         a higher glory than man had
do not overlook the fact that the       of the garden and into a realm of       before he fell. And the driving of
church is the bride of Christ. All      thorns and thistles was. a shadow       man out of the garden is a
belonging to that woman are that        of what the church would have           shadow of man being led to the
true church, that bride of Christ,      until Christ returns. We must not       richer covenant fellowship we
and are given this promise;             for a moment deny that God did          will have in Christ.
whether they be male or female.         this in His grace. Remember, first        There are sins the seed of the
However, it is given only to the        of all, that even though they           serpent plans and wants to per-
elect in what man calls church.         were born again, they still had         form which are kept from them,
In fact, the very first child born      their old evil natures; and the         not in a common grace, but in
to Adam and Eve, Cain the               temptation was there to go to           Gods providence. Esau wanted
murderer, did not belong to that        that tree of life in an attempt to      to and planned to kill Jacob. In
seed of the woman. He had en-           escape the death that God said          His grace to His church, and in
mity against the woman and her          would come upon them the day            fulfilling that mother-promise to
seed. In fact, an amazing shadow        that they ate of that other special     the seed of the serpent, the
fell very early in the develop-         tree in the garden. From this sin       sovereign, almighty God kept
ment of the human race, as we           they must be kept; and in the           him from that sin. This was not
hope to consider next time, a           way of physical death they will         an act of common grace how-
shadow that revealed many               go to that more wonderful life in       ever. The mother promise clearly
descendants of the woman who            the new Jerusalem, through              and undeniably teaches that God
hate the "seed of the woman."           Christ, The Seed of the Woman.          has no grace for the seed of the
  Now, having given Adam and            You may be sure that the new            serpent. Their heads are going to
Eve this promise, God drove             temptation of Satan to get them         be crushed! Ahab was not suc-
them out of the'garden of Eden.         to be like God, by the act of           cessful in his intention to kill Eli-
This brought a very painful and         eating of that tree of life, and of     jah; but his failure was not in any
different life to the flesh of man.     putting to naught Gods word             degree of grace toward him on


                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer  I  161


Gods part. Gods grace is only          seed of the woman in order to be      garden and away from that tree
upon the seed of the woman.            a recipient of God's love and mer-    of life, was in Gods grace led by
Yea, in that grace to His people       cy, and thus also of His grace.       Him in the right way.
God did decree that terrible sin         It was an act of Gods grace to         And although it may not look
of crucifying His Son for our          the seed of the woman that            that way to our natural eye, be-
salvation. That was in grace to        drove them away from that             ing driven out of the garden of
the seed of the woman, for Gods        glorious life in the.garden of        Eden, Adam and Eve were
grace rests only upon them. We         Eden. In the first place, we need     caused to take a step toward the
ought not confuse His providence       to feel the curse which we            new Jerusalem, where there will
with His grace.                        deserve, in order to be caused to     be no sin, and where covenant
   God gives many earthly posses-      look to God and that Seed of the      fellowship with God shall,
sions to the seed of the serpent.      woman, who will blot out our          through His Son and His cross
In fact, He gave Satan life, and       guilt and realize for us a kingdom    (but also in His love, mercy, and
has not yet cast him into the lake     far more wonderful, a kingdom         grace) be indescribably greater
of fire. He gave and kept in him       of heaven where our covenant          and more wonderful. That step
a crafty, brilliant mind; but all      fellowship with God will be much      out of the garden was a shadow
this is not in His grace. Gods         richer than it could have been,       of our stepping forward to the
grace is inseparable from His          had Adam not sinned; and much         new creation and to a life with
love and mercy. Call His deeds         richer than Adam could have en-       God that Adam and Eve did not
works of grace and you call them       joyed apart from Christ and His       know before they fell.
works of love and mercy. But           cross.                                  Adam and Eve were leaving
listen to Him then, when in I            Our flesh does not like our af-     what we call paradise. But, as
John 2:15 He tells us not to love      flictions, and Adam and Eve suf-      painful as it was, they were walk-
the world, and that if any man         fered a tremendous loss as far as     ing to that new Jerusalem. They.
"love the world, the love of the       their flesh is concerned. But         seemed to be walking downhill;
Father is not in him." No, if there    listen to God as He spoke             but actually, when we under-
is a common grace of God, He           through Paul in II Corinthians        stand Gods wisdom and grace in
would keep from the seed of the        4:17: "For our light affliction,      Christ, it was walking uphill to a
serpent earthly things, and give       which is but for a moment,            far more wonderful life. And the
them a very short life. For then       worketh for us a far more ex-         death of a saint today is a step
their sins would be less, and their    ceeding and eternal weight of         upward and not downward.
punishment would not be as             glory." And let us go back again      David said that in Psalm 23:6:
great as it is going to be. One has    to what was quoted from Romans        "Surely goodness and mercy shall
to be inseparably united to Christ     8:28: "All things work together       follow me all the days of my life:
in order to be dealt with in           for good to those that love God."     and I will dwell in the house of
God's grace. One must be of the        In that light we can see that man,    the Lord forever." 0
                                       being driven out of that beautiful





 Decency and                           Considering and
 Order
Rev. Ronald Cammenga                   Accepting Calls

                                         "A minister, once lawfully          the consistory, together with the
                                       called, may not leave the con-        deacons, and knowledge on the
Rev. Cammenga is pastor of the         gregation with which he is con-       part of the classis; likewise no
Protestant Reformed Church of          nected, to accept a call else-        other church mav. receive him
Loveland, Colorado.                    where, without the consent of         until he has presented a proper

162  / The Standard Bearer


certificate of .dismission from the      to his previous flock, which he        ruled that he should stay at Epe.
church and the classis where he          would then be free to do. Condi-       In 1604 a Rev. William Crynsz,
served." Church Order,  Article          tional calls were also sometimes       preacher at Maasland, accepted a
10.                                      extended when a congregation           call from Den Briel. The con-
INTRODUCTION                             was unfamiliar with a man. He          sistory of Maasland and the
   There are several articles of         would be given a period of pro-        Classis of Delft ruled that he
the Church Order which deal              bation during which his gifts          should stay. It was only after the
with the calling of a minister. Ar-      could be examined. If after the        Synod of South Holland reversed
ticles 3 and 4 warn against the          probationary period the con-           the decision of his consistory and
evil of men preaching without a          sistory was satisfied that he          classis that Crynsz was permitted
call and without proper examina-         possessed the necessary qualifica-     to go to Den Briel. In 1620 a
tion. Article 5 stipulates how a         tions for the ministry, they would     Rev. Hanecopius of Breda ac-
minister serving in one congrega-        call him unconditionally. If they      cepted a call from Gouda. Con-
tion may be called by a vacant           felt he lacked the necessary           trary to the advice of the Synod
congregation. Article 9 warns            qualifications, they would             of South Holland, the consistory
against the calling of novices. Ar-      withdraw the call. This practice       of Breda insisted that their pastor
ticle 10, now, lays down the             of "conditional" calls is no longer    should stay. In the end,
stipulations that must be met            followed in Reformed churches.         Hanecopius honored the decision
when a minister accepts a call to          The original article, in distinc-    of his consistory.
a new congregation.                      tion from our present article, also      Later the pendulum swung in
  It is worthwhile noticing the          calls for the consent to a             the other direction, and the deci-
original form of Article 10:             minister's accepting of a call, not    sion with respect to a call came
  A minister, once lawfully called,      only of the serving elders and         to rest almost entirely with the
may not leave the congregation           deacons, but of those who              minister. More and more the con-
which unconditionally received him,      previously served in these offices.    sent of the consistory became
to accept a call elsewhere, without      This practice was laid aside in        merely a formality. In our day, it
the consent of the consistory and the    the revision of Article 10.            cannot be denied that the con-
deacons, and those who previously          The original article also makes      sistory plays little active part in
held the office of elder and deacon,
together with the magistrate, nor        reference to a consenting role of      the matter of their pastor's calls,
without the knowledge of the classis;    the magistrate in the matter of a      unless there is some very serious
likewise no other church shall be        minister's accepting of a call.        reason to prevent him from con- D
permitted to receive him until he has    This was deemed unlawful inter-        sidering a call. In our own
presented a lawful certificate of        ference by the magistrate into         churches this is often the case.
dismissal from the church and the        the affairs of the church and was      The consistory has little input in-
classis where he served.                 also dropped from the article in       to the decision that is finally
  In distinction from our present        later revisions.                       made, but for the most part simp-
article, the original article made       IWO EXTREME POSITIONS                  ly acquiesces to the decision of               '
reference to a minister who was            Especially in the early cen-         the minister.
called "unconditionally," In the         turies of the Reformation, this ar-    PRINCIPLES IMPLIED IN
early history of the Reformed            ticle was interpreted in such a        ARTICLE 10
churches it was not uncommon             way that the power to decide a           The first important principle
that ministers received "condi-          call was placed almost entirely        implied in Article 10 is that the
tional" calls, that is, calls that       with the consistory. The judg-         "connection" between a minister
were not indefinite, but tem-            ment of the consistory was con-        and a congregation is established
porary, limited tenure. Condi-           sidered decisive. Con&stories          by Christ Himself. The exalted
tional calls were extended usual-        even forced ministers to stay          Christ gives pastors and teachers
ly under two circumstances. First,       against their will or to appeal to     to His church (Eph. 4:11, 12).
conditional calls were often ex-         the classis for permission to ac-      This is true not only of the
tended to ministers who had              cept calls.                            church generally, but of each
been forced to flee their previous         Dr. H. Bouwman in his                church in particular. Since it is
congregation because of persecu-         Gereformeerd  Kerkrecht, vol. I,       Christ Himself who establishes
tion. Such a man might be called         pp. 444, 445 cites several ex-         the bond between a minister and
conditionally by the congregation        amples. In 1601 a Rev. Vosculius       his congregation, this bond must
in the place to which he had fled.       of Epe wanted to accept a call         not be easily broken. Both the
He would serve as the pastor of          from Steenwijk, but the classis        minister and the consistory must
that congregation until conditions                                              be sure that it is Christ Himself
made it possible for him to return

                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer  / 163


who breaks the existing bond in          called, and he is the one required           But we believe that the consistory
order to establish a new one.            to make a decision ultimately on          . . . should in conjunction with its
   The second principle that is          that call. Rev. G.M. Ophoff               pastor weigh the call and reach a
implied in this article is that,         writes:                                   definite conclusion respecting it,
since the bond that unites a               In fine, the only one to conclusive-    which conclusion  .it should lay before
minister to his congregation is          ly decide whether the call should be      the pastor not with a view to setting
not of his own doing, it is not          accepted or declined is the minister      itself up as an overruling factor that
                                                                                   takes no account of solemn convic-
either entirely a matter of his          called. From the very nature of           tions, but with a view to aiding the
own doing to break that bond.            things, the right in question belongs     pastor in choosing the right course.
Christ called him to that par-           to him alone. He must choose which        (Standard Bearer,  vol. 9, p. 308)
ticular congregation. The con-           of the two churches he will now con-         In conclusion, we may make a
gregation voted to extend a call         tinue to serve. What his choice ought
                                         to be is a matter to be settled be-       threefold distinction with respect
to him. The consistory approved          tween him and the Lord. (Standard         to the calls received by a
his being called and, on behalf of       Bearer,  vol. 9, p. 308)                  minister. First, there is an active
the congregation, actually issued           The Synod of Vriesland took            and decisive role belonging to
the call. Since the minister did         the following decision to guard           the minister himself. Second,
not all on his own establish             ministers against the encroach-           there is an advisory and consent-
himself as the pastor of the con-        ment of consistories on their con-        ing role belonging to the con-
gregation in which he is serving,        sideration of calls:                      sistory. It stands to reason that
he may not all on his own leave            A minister shall be at liberty to       the question for the consistory
the ministry of that particular          specify the conditions under which        members is not whether per-
congregation for another.                he can accept a call extended to          sonally they like the minister and
   Thirdly, the office of the            him, provided he has any that are in      want him to stay or not. But the
ministry is under the supervision        agreement with God's will and with        question is whether there are
of the consistory. This is stated        His Word, and in all such instances       weighty grounds for the con-
explicitly in Article 23 of the          he shall be allowed to follow the         sistory to judge that the minister
Church Order: "The office of the         voice of conscience if the reasons he     either should accept or should
elders . . . is to take heed that        advances for deciding to depart are       decline a call. There may be
the ministers, together with their       fair and cogent.
                                           This does not conflict with the         reasons why the consistory
fellow-elders and deacons, faith-        role given the consistory by Arti-        should judge that he must decline
fully discharge their office . . . ."    cle 10. The article speaks of             the call, or not even consider it.
The fact that the elders have                                                      There may be reason in the
supervision over the minister im-        "consent" of the consistory. This
                                         is not the same as "to decide."           minister himself, some charge
plies an active role in the calls        One can give consent or agree             pending before the consistory
which their minister receives.           with a matter that has already            concerning the minister's doc-
   In the fourth place, the                                                        trine or life. Or there may be
minister himself is responsible          been decided upon. The act of             reasons in the congregation, such
prayerfully to determine before          deciding precedes the act of giv-
                                         ing consent. The very fact that           as some trouble which demands
the face of God whether his work         the consistory is called upon to          the presence and help of the
is finished in his current charge        give its consent implies that the         minister. Or there may be
and God calls him to take up             decision with respect to the call         reasons for the consistory to
labor elsewhere. The minister            rests with the minister. It would         judge that the minister's work is
must discern- the Lords will with        be foolish to state that a con-           finished in the congregation and
respect to every call that he            sistory must give consent to its          he ought to accept the call to
receives. It is through prayer that      own decision.                             labor elsewhere. Third, there is a
he is able to learn Gods will and                                                  supervisory role belonging to the
is thus able also to make a                Nor does this minimize the
                                         role of the consistory in the mat-        churches in common and exer-
proper decision on each call.            ter of the calls received by its          cised by the classis. The article
MINISTER'S DECISION                      minister. Although the minister           speaks of "knowledge on the part
DECISIVE                                 must make the ultimate decision,          of the classis." This does not
   Even though the consistory            he must obtain the "consent" of           simply mean that the classis
ought to be involved in the calls        the consistory. Rev. Ophoff also          takes cognizance of a minister's
that their minister receives, the        writes:                                   decision to accept a call to some
right to decide a call conclusively                                                new congregation. But the classis
belongs to the minister, not to                                                    too must give its consent. It does
the consistory. He is the one                                                      this by approving a document


164  I The Standard  Bearer


known as a "Ministerial Certifi-            the three weeks, the minister              When a minister accepts a call he
cate Of Dismissal And Testi-                reaches a decision and informs          shall ask of the consistory dismissing
monial." This may be done by                his consistory. The consistory          him to grant him a fitting testimonial
the classis itself or, if the classis is    then must acquiesce to the deci-        bearing witness of faithful service
not in session, by the classical            sion of the minister, or disap-         performed, according to Article 5 of
committee on behalf of the                  prove his decision. If there is dis-    the Church Order, and expressing
classis.                                    agreement between the minister          acquiescence in his departure, ac-
                                                                                    cording to Article 10 of the Church
PROCEDURE FOR CONSIDER-                     and his consistory, the way of ap-      Order. This testimonial shall be sent
ING CALLS                                   peal to classis and even to synod,      to the classical committee for ex-
   Proper procedure for consider-           if need be, is left open. If the        amination and approval; thereupon
ing calls is that, after he has             minister accepts the call, and his      it shall be delivered to the counselor
received a call, a minister ask             consistory acquiesces to his deci-      who, upon finding it in good order,
permission of his consistory to             sion, he is granted the necessary       shall only thereupon proceed with
consider the call. Permission may           certificate of dismission, which        the installation.  "
be granted, or permission may be            must receive the approval of the           The second decision is:
denied for weighty reasons. If the          classis he is leaving as well as the      A minister who moves to another
consistory grants the minister              classis he is entering before he        congregation becomes the charge of
permission to consider the call,            can be installed in his new con-        that congregation (for salary, etc.)
he considers the call, usually for          gregation.                              immediately after he has preached
a period of three weeks, during               Two decisions have been ap-           his farewell to the congregation he is
                                                                                    leaving (unless other arrangements
which time the consistory gives             pended by our churches in Arti-         have been made, e.g. for the taking
the minister its advice with                cle 10. The first is:                   of a vacation). Cl
respect to the call. At the end of





                                            Book Reviews

COMMENTARY ON JUDE, by                      ton calls the "fanatical and liber-     before of old ordained to this
Thomas Manton  (Grand Rapids:               tine party" (p. 14). The error of       condemnation," Manton "opens,"
Kregel Publications, 1988; 384              such church members was that            proves, vindicates, and applies
pp.; $13.95; paper). Reviewed by            "in the gospel chiefly they             the doctrine of reprobation, ex-
Professor David J. Engelsma.                abused the doctrine of Christian        plaining that reprobation "is an
   Thomas Manton  was a Presby-             liberty and free justification by       eternal decree"; that "there is a
terian preacher in London,                  Christ" (p. 152). This makes a          decree and pre-ordination, not
England in the 17th century. His            commentary on Jude especially           only a naked foresight of those
Commentary on Jude  was first               useful in our own day, when the         that perish"; that "this decree of
published in 1658. It richly                churches miserably fail to con-         God is founded in His own good-
deserves its fortune of being               tend earnestly for the faith, by        will and pleasure"; and more (pp.
republished down through the                sharp, antithetical preaching and       136ff.).
years.                                      resolute discipline, and when the         But the special power and ap-
   Manton  has correctly grasped            grossest iniquities are resting         peal of the commentary lie in the
the thrust of Jude: the command             comfortably upon the pillow of          application of sound doctrine.
to the church to contend for the            free grace, in the churches.            Manton himself calls it "a prac-
Christian Faith against those                 The commentary is full of             tical commentary" (p. 6). This
enemies within, whom we would               solid, sound doctrine. Explaining       was a gift in which the Puritans
call antinomians but whom Man-              the words of verse 4, "who were         (to whom Manton  belonged)

                                                                                                       The Standard Bearer  / 165


abounded, and one from the ex-                David Martyn Lloyd-Jones             must pray fervently, and these
ercise of which we can learn.              (1899 - 1981) was one of the            great.truths must be faithfully
Commenting on Jude's statement             greatest evangelical preachers of       preached. By these means God
that the ungodly men "crept in             the twentieth century. His many         may bring revival to the church
unawares," Manton  comes to                volumes of printed sermons con-         once more.
application:                               tinue to inspire and instruct             Lloyd-Jones certainly has many
  Learn hence to be more watchful          thousands of Gods people,               good things to say about revival.
in admissions to the church: no            preachers, and laypersons alike.        And who would not like to see a
perils so great as those occasioned        Lloyd-Jones gave up a promising         mighty outpouring of the Holy
by false brethren. We think to fill the    career in medicine to become a          Spirit upon the church? From the
church, but we do but fill the house       minister of the gospel. From 1938       point of view of homiletics, how-
with thieves: wicked men ever prove        he co-pastored the great West-          ever, it must be said that these
a trouble. It is an easy matter to fill
the church by remitting the  rigour        minster Chapel in London with           sermons are not exegetically
and severity of discipline; but heaven     G. Campbell Morgan. Upon the            based, nor are they constructed
is never the fuller, but the emptier,      latter's death in 1945, Lloyd-          textually. One cannot call them
for wicked men are hardened and            Jones became the pastor of West-        exposition molded into message.
confirmed in their own security; and       minster until he retired in 1968.       The content is biblical, but is not
the church never fareth the better, it       Lloyd-Jones was a strong ad-          derived from the text itself. The
loseth  in strength what it gets in        vocate of expository preaching.         sermons are topical. This book
breadth, as a river doth, and zeal is      A sermon must be "exposition            would make for good devotional
lessened the more the number is in-        moulded into a message." (Cf. his       reading. It contains interesting in-
creased: yea, wicked men usually           book,  Preaching and Preachers,         sights into the revival of 1859 in
prove a trouble, and we come to            p. 72.) By exposition Lloyd-Jones       Wales.
wish afterward we had been more
strict. . . when the church keep a         meant exegesis. A sermon must             The same is true of Saved In
strait hand, hypocrites dare not join,     be exegetically based. It must ex-      Eternity, though to a lesser ex-
but sound believers will the sooner,       plain the meaning of the text.          tent. This book contains thirteen
and then the church, though it be a        Lloyd-Jones did not approve of          sermons based on John 17: 1-5.
lesser body, it is more sound,             what he called "topical preaching       The first two are by no means
healthy, and active (p. 130).              with a moral twist" (Preaching          expositions of verse one. They
   And this, 300 years before              and Preachers, p. 59). Was his          are on the subject of prayer.
"church growth" has been ex-               practice consistent with his            They do present an excellent
alted into a theological science!          theory of preaching? We think           summary of the Bible's teaching
   Admittedly, Manton tends to             not, at least not in the two books      on this subject. Therein lies the
be too expansive in his com-               under review.                           value of the book. The other ser-
ments, sometimes preaching the               Both books are collections of         mons in the series are more ex-
sermon on the text, instead of             sermons preached in Westminster         pository. If one is searching for
only interpreting the text. But his        Chapel. Revival contains twenty-        insights into the subject of
doctrinal soundness, his practical         four sermons preached on the            prayer, as well as for some rather
wisdom, and his eloquent style -           subject of revival in 1959 upon         profound insights into our Lords
the book is full of pithy, memor-          the occasion of the one hun-            beautiful prayer recorded in John
able expressions - bless this ex-          dredth anniversary of the Welsh         17, he will do well to purchase
pansiveness so as to make the              Revival. Revival Lloyd-Jones            this book and read it carefully.
book delightful devotional                 describes as a mighty outpouring        The sermons in both of these
reading for every believer, as             of the Holy Spirit upon many. He        books, however, ought not be
well as a help to the preacher. q          saw several hindrances to this          used as models of what exposi-
                                           happening in his day. A denial of       tory (exegetical, textual) preach-
REVIVAL, by D. Martyn Lloyd-               the authority of the Bible, a           ing ought to be. 0
Jones. Westchester, IL: Crossway           denial of the essential truths
Books, 1987. Pp. vi - 316. $9.95           about our Lord Jesus Christ, and
(paper).                                   the fact that society "has become
SAVED IN ETERNITYz  THE                    amoral," Lloyd-Jones saw as hin-
ASSURANCE OF OUR SALVA-                    drances to revival. Church
TION, by Martyn Lloyd-Jones.               history indicates that a redis-
Westchester, IL: Crossway Books,           covery of the vital truths of Scrip-
1988. Pp. 1-187. (Reviewed by              ture always accompanies periods
Prof. R.D. Decker)                         of revival. For this Gods people


166  I The Standard Bearer


                                        News From
Mr. Benjamin Wigger                     Our Churches

                    December 15,1988    was first organized as the              In 1945 Rev. Schioper left and
HISTORY OF SOUTHWEST                    Roosevelt Park Protesting C.R.C.      Rev. S. Cammenga took up his
   On September 23 of this year,        on July 12, 1926 by sixteen           labors. When he in turn accepted
the congregation of our                 families under the sponsorship of     a call, the congregation wel-
Southwest Church in Grandville,         Eastern Avenue Protesting C.R.C.      comed Rev. J. Blankespoor in
Michigan met to dedicate the               Southwest's first meeting place    1949.
sixth building they have used for       was above what is now the               In 1953 Southwest faced a dif-
the worship of our God. Besides         Jurgens and Holtvluwer Dept.          ficult time. Only two of their
worshiping in six different places,     Store on Grandville Ave. in           deacons remained faithful to the
Southwest has also had four dif-        G r a n d   R a p i d s .             truth of God as taught in our
ferent names over the years,               In 1929, Rev. B. Kok, then a       churches. They left the
while the body remained the             candidate from our seminary, ac-      Blankespoor group to continue
same.                                   cepted the call and became            the congregation started 27 years
   Southwest P.R.C. (Second             Southwest's first pastor. In that     earlier: Southwest dropped from
P.R.C., Roosevelt Park P.R.C.)          same year the congregation            85 families to less than 40. They
                                        moved into a building on              lost everything but the truth.
                                        Roosevelt Ave. and thus changed       They began meeting in a Seventh
                                        their name to the Roosevelt Park      Day Adventist Church.
                                        P.R.C.                                  Rev. M. Schipper returned to
                                           These were the years of the        become their pastor and lead
                                        Great Depression. The pastor was      them through these difficult
                                        called on the basis of a $1500.00     years.
                                        a year salary. This amount              In 1957 the congregation
                                        decreased steadily until in 1936      moved into their fifth place of
                                        the salary was reported to be         worship, a building purchased
                                        $1400.00 and the total budget         from the Beverly C.R.C., and
                                        was $3500.00, or $1.20 per fami-      they changed their name to the
                                        ly per week.                          Southwest P.R.C.
                                          In 1936 Rev. Kok left to              After Rev. Schipper's depar-
                                        become our churches' first Home       ture, God sent next Rev. G. Lub-
                                        Missionary, and in 1937 Rev. R.       bers. After he became missionary
                                        Veldman became Southwest's            to the island of Jamaica, God
                                        second pastor.                        sent Rev. H. Veldman.
Rev. Kamps behind the pulpit at           In 1938 Southwest began to            It was during his pastorate that
Southwest's new church.                 build a new church building at a      a committee was organized to in-
                                        total completed cost of $9,000.00.    vestigate the possibility of
                                          After Rev. Veldman left, God        building. In 1978 construction
                                        sent Rev. M. Schipper to take up      began on the first phase of this
                                        his labors among the congrega-        long-range building project.
                                        tion.                                   After Rev. Veldman's retire-
                                           In 1942 Southwest again found      ment in 1978, Candidate M.
Mr, Wigger is an elder in the Prot-     it necessary to change their          DeVries was ordained and
estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-      name, this time to the Second         became Southwest's 9th pastor.
ville, Michigan.                        P.R.C.                                In 1985 he left for Minnesota and

                                                                                              The Standard Bearer  / 767


  THE
                                                                                            SECOND CLASS
STANDARD                                                                                    Postage Paid at
                                                                                            Grand Rapids, Michigan
BEARER
t?O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, MI 49506



 Rev. M. Kamps became their            ristown, Pennsylvania to organize    course includes: The idea, the
 next pastor and by God's grace        formally as a Protestant Re-         qualifications and the duties of
 serves there today.                   formed Church. This request will     the office. Also, family visita-
    In 1986 the go-ahead was           now be sent on for final approval    tion, visiting the sick and com-
 given to make plans to build the      by Classis East.                     forting the bereaved. Urged to
final phase of their building proj-    CONGREGATIONAL                       attend are Elders and Deacons
ect. And in September of this          ACTIVITIES                           - present and past, plus other
year the new sanctuary, along            Late news from our Pella           men who have an interest in a
with a new Rogers organ, was           Church in Pella, Iowa. On Oc-        study of this nature.
dedicated to the Faithful King of      tober 2 1, Prof. Hanko presented
the church.                            a lecture on creation (the same      ANNIVERSARY
    Today Southwest is made up of      lecture he gave earlier in Grand     ANNOUNCEMENT
over 75 families, with more than       Rapids). Pella's auditorium was        On January  14,1989 our
 120 young children, and it also       filled to overflowing.               parents and grandparents,  Mr. 84
has two dozen single adults. Its         In connection with the above I     Mrs. Bernard Windemuller  wil I
constituency ranges from many          quote a portion of a letter re-      celebrate their 50th Wedding
younger couples to a couple in         ceived by the Evangelism Com-        Anniversary.
their 90's. Retired couples,           mittee of our Southeast Church,        We are thankful to our
widows, and widowers are also          sponsors of that first lecture:      Heavenly Father for the  bless-
counted among their number.              "I praise God when His truth is    ings bestowed on them and us
   The areas in which their            proclaimed and I thank Him that      these many years.
members are employed covers a          He raised up men in these last         We rejoice with them on this
broad field: salesmen, the build-      days who are not ashamed to          happy occasion and pray the
ing trades, office work, medical       speak, `Thus saith the Lord."'       Lord will bless them and keep
fields, factory workers, and over        The Hope Young People's            them in His care.
a dozen teachers. There are also       Society sponsored a 3-on-3             "For the Lord is good; His
several members who are college        basketball tournament at Cove-       mercy is everlasting, and His
students.                              nant High School in Walker,          truth endureth to all genera-
   In other church news for this       Michigan. All ages were invited      tions." (Ps. 100:5)
issue:                                 to play. Proceeds were for the       Their children  & grandchildren:
CHURCH NEWS                            1989 Young People's Convention.        Glen  & Judy Windemuller
   Our congregation in South             On November 20, our con-                Steven  & Jeanne,  J ill
Holland, Illinois has formed a         gregation in Edmonton, Alberta,        Bob  & Mary Windemuller
new trio of the Revs. R. Dykstra,      Canada met for the first time in          Ann, Eric, Erin
B. Gritters, and M. Kamps.             their new church building. Cl          Ger  & Elaine Koop
   The congregation in Faith                                                     Jerry Jr. & Pat, Jim, Lisa,
Church in Jenison, Michigan                                                      Scott
formed a trio which included           COURSE OF STUDY                        Paul  & Kathy Windemuller
Revs. Gritters, Joostens, and Van      FOR ELDERS                                Randy, Mike
Overloop. The call went to Rev.          Four consecutive Monday              Bern  & Marcia Ten Broeke
Ciritters.                             evening sessions will take place          Kyle, Seth
   We also found that our              beginning January  9th, 1989 at        Randy & Susan Boeve
Domestic Mission Committee             7:3O P.M. Sessions will be held           Jeanine, Tyson
voted to concur with our               at the Protestant Reformed             John  & Mary Windemuller
Wyckoff, New Jersey church in          Seminary. Prof. Robert Decker             Rachel, Amanda
granting approval of our Cove-         will be the instructor. The          and two great-grandchildren:
nant P.R. Mission Church in Nor-                                              Jaime,  Brandon Koop

168  I The Standard Bearer


