                     -HE
                    STANDARD




January 15, 1989


 Contents                                             January 15, -7 989             T-iE
                                                                                SL4lVDW
Meditation  - Prof. Robert D. Decker
   SUFFERING: A GIFT OF GRACE                                           171        BEQRER
Editorial  - Prof. David  /. Engelsma                                           ISSN 0362-4692
   ANOTHER LOOK AT NONRESISTANCE                                        173    Semi-monthly, except monthly during June,  July,
                                                                               and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
LETTERS                                                                 176    lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
                                                                               at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
All Around Us  - Rev.  Cise  /.  VanBaren                                      EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
   THE VAUNTED FREEDOM OF SPEECH                                        177    Editor-in-chief: Prof. David  J. Engelsma
                                                                               Managing Editor: Prof. Robert D. Decker
   THE CREATION ISSUE                                                   178    Editors' Assistant: Mr. Don  Doezema
                                                                               DEPARTMENT EDITORS
The Strength of Youth  - Rev. Barrett L. Critters                              Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
   HARD QUESTIONS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE                                             Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
                                                                               Critters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
      "WHAT AM I WORTH?"                                                179    Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John  Heys,  Rev.
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Contributions                                                                  Slopsema,  Rev. Charles Terpstra, Rev. Cise
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170  / The Standard Bearer


                                          Suffering:
Meditation
Prof. Robert Decker                       A Gift of Grace

   For unto you it is given in              Marvelous comfort!                    trouble. The result was that Paul
the behalf of Christ, not only              The text says that "it is given       and Silas had many stripes laid
to believe on him, but also to            in the behalf of Christ . . . to        on them, were cast into prison,
suffer for his sake; Having the           believe on him . . . ." God grants      and their feet were put in stocks.
same conflict which ye saw in             us faith by which we are put into       This was suffering on account of
me, and now hear to be in me.             Jesus Christ. This. is faith from       Christ. The Philippians saw that.
              -Philippians 1:29, 30       the point of view of its saving ac-     And now they were hearing of
                                          tivity, its expression in our lives.    Paul's suffering in Rome.
                                            But notice, the text says "it is             This same suffering on account
  What a marvelous comfort! Do            given in the behalf of Christ, not      of Christ is given to the saints at
you suffer? Of course you do. All         on/y to believe on him, but also        Philippi, to the saints of all ages
God's people suffer. There's the          to suffer for his sake." Believing      - to you and to me!
suffering of persecution, afflic-         into Christ is a gift of grace; but            The New Testament is full of
tions of the body, of the mind            there's something more. There's         this. Jesus pronounced the
and soul. For some, pain is a dai-        another benefit granted to us,          persecuted blessed. He also told
ly reality and there is only the          and that is, suffering for Christ's     us that to be His disciples meant
prospect of imminent death.               sake. This has the emphasis. We         self-denial and cross-bearing.
Some mourn the loss of a dear             know that faith is a gift of God;       Peter exhorts Christians to arm
wife or husband or parent or              but what we must also know is           themselves with the mind of the
child. Some are lonely. Others            that suffering for Christ's sake is     suffering Christ and not to think
are anxious to the point of               a gift of God!                          it strange concerning the fiery
despair.                                    These two are inseparable!            trial they are to endure (I Peter
  The text faces that reality and         Whenever God gives believing
declares that all of this suffering,                                              4).
                                          He also gives suffering. The                   Are you a believer in Christ?
all of the pain and sorrow, all the       reference is to the suffering           Then you must needs suffer on
doubt and fear, the anxiety and           which we experience on account          account of Christ.
depression, all of it is given to us      of our relationship to Christ. In              Our calling as members of the
out of Gods grace on the behalf           one word'it's persecution - all         Body of Christ, as believers, is
of Christ.                                the suffering which we incur on         not that of peaceful co-ex%tence
                                          account of the worlds hatred of         with unbelief. As Christians we
                                          Christ and those who are in Him         are involved in the great conflict
                                          by faith (John 15:8ff.).                which we witnessed in Christ and
                                            The apostle knows what he's           His apostles. We are to fight for
                                          talking about! He tells the Philip-     the faith of the gospel. The Chris-
                                          pians it's the same struggle which      tian life is a fierce battle, and in
                                          they saw in him and now hear to         that battle we suffer for Jesus'
                                          be in him. Paul had suffered in         sake. The suffering assumes
                                          Philippi. When he cast out an           many forms: we are cordially
                                          evil spirit from a slave girl, her      hated, scorned for the faith.
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical    masters falsely accused Paul of         Some Christians are forced to
Theology in the Protestant Reformed       stirring up the city and causing        worship or read the Bible or sing
Seminary.

                                                                                                     The Standard Bearer  /  777


the hymns of faith in the dead of       anger or disfavor. Never! It's             Finally, suffering brings glory.
night, in secret. Others are tor-       grace! It's saving grace in the         Suffering together with Christ
tured and imprisoned. Thousands         Lord Jesus Christ, who bore the         means we will be glorified
have died and are still dying as        guilt and shame of our sin, but         together with Him. Jesus told us
martyrs. All of this suffering will     also our sicknesses and pains,          to rejoice, when we suffer, for
intensify until it climaxes in the      and who heals all our diseases.         great is our reward in heaven.
days of antichrist. This is the suf-    Suffering comes out of Gods un-         And in that beautiful passage, II
fering of which the text speaks.        changing love, His merciful kind-       Corinthians 4, Scripture says that
   If this be true, and it is, then     ness, His gracious benevolence to       our affliction is light, but for a
surely all of our suffering must be     His people,                             moment, and it works for us a
meant. To be sure! All of our             How clearly the Scriptures            great and eternal weight of glory!
sicknesses and pains, our disap-        teach this great truth! According          How true it is then that suffer-
pointments, our fears and anx-          to this very context the suffering      ing is the gift of Gods wonderful
ieties, all of the crushing burdens     of Gods people who are contend-         grace in Christ!
of life, our dying, the terrible        ing for the faith is a sign to those       This affords marvelous comfort
loneliness of widows, widowers.         opposing them of their destruc-         for us!
These sufferings too have been          tion and a sign to Gods people of          How we need this!
given to us on behalf of Christ.        their being saved.                         We and all Gods children suf-
Paul, when he emphasizes the              Consider too that God sanc-           fer - in different ways, and some
suffering of persecution, certainly     tifies His people by means of suf-      more than others; but all of us
does not mean to exclude the            fering. When we suffer we are           suffer. In that suffering we are
suffering in which we all share to      made conscious of our depen-            never destroyed. Why? Because
one degree or another.                  dence on God. We learn to look          we know that right along with
   This suffering is a gift of Gods     to Him more and more. Our               the gift of believing on Christ,
grace!                                  praying becomes more fervent.           God gives us suffering for His
   Notice how beautifully the text      When we suffer we realize that          sake.
expresses this! "It is given"           we are really citizens of the              This puts our suffering in an
literally means to do something         kingdom of heaven. Through suf-         altogether new light! This means
pleasant or agreeable, to do a          fering God turns our attention          our suffering is not some unfor-
favor, to gratify, and thus to          away from perishing earthly             tunate experience. It's not a bad
show oneself kind, benevolent,          things and we learn to seek those       thing. Rather, it's evidence of
gracious. What the text is saying       things above where Christ is.           God's grace. It means God loves
is that "on account of Christ God         Suffering serves as well to           us for Jesus' sake.
gives to us graciously," or, "out       unite the members of Christ's              Knowing this we can accept
of His gracious kindness God            body. When one member suffers,          our suffering. This doesn't mean
gives suffering to us." "On behalf      all the members suffer (I Cor. 12).     we just stoically bear the suffer-
of Christ" means on account of          We visit one another in our sick-       ing as inevitable. We receive our
the merits of Christ it is gracious-    nesses and comfort one another          suffering as out of God's hand.
ly given to us to suffer for Him.       in our sorrows. Increasingly the        We rejoice in it. As James puts it,
   What a wonderful gospel! All         reality of the communion of the         "We count it all joy!" No, this
of our suffering belongs to the         saints is experienced by us. This       doesn't take away the suffering.
gift of salvation! Not only believ-     is Gods grace to us!                    The pain is still there and the last
ing but also suffering is gracious-       Suffering brings the assurance        enemy must still be faced. And
ly given to us. Suffering for Jesus'    of salvation to God's people.           that means we sorrow - but not
sake belongs to the blessings of        Jesus told us that when the world       in the hopeless despair of
the cross and resurrection of           hates us we must know that it           unbelief. We sorrow as those
Christ.                                 hated Him. We may be assured            who have the sure hope of salva-
  Just think of that! The suffering     that we do not belong to the            tion in their hearts. We shed our
of Gods people! Your suffering!         world, for the world loves its          tears in the assurance that God
All of it! That suffering does not      own (John 15: 17ff.). Scripture         will wipe them all away.
come by chance. God gives it            assures us that when we suffer            Nowhere is all this put more
graciously on behalf of Christ.         we are happy, full of joy, because      beautifully than in II Corinthians
Suffering is not a sign of Gods         then we know that the Spirit of         433-l 1:
                                        God and of glory rests on us (I
                                        Peter 4:14ff.). This too is Gods
                                        grace to us!

172  I The Standard Bearer


  We are troubled on every side, yet      death for Jesus' sake, that the life     Christ not only to believe on him,
not distressed; we are perplexed, but     also of Jesus might be made              but also to suffer for his sake."
not in despair; Persecuted, but not       manifest in our mortal flesh.               Perhaps you say, as I have
forsaken; cast down, but not                This is the confession of the.         heard it said so often, "That's
destroyed; Always bearing about in        child of God.                            easy for you to say, pastor, you
the body the dying of the Lord Jesus,        Is it yours?                          aren't in it."
that the life also of Jesus might be         0, it is, for you know that "it is
made manifest in our body. For we                                                    Yes, it is easy to say. But I
                                          given unto you in the behalf of
which live are always delivered unto                                               didn't say it, God did! 0





                                          Another Look at
Editorial                                 Nonresistance

   There is good reason to take           American as apple pie!" Martin           sistance to governments regarded
another, closer look at the Chris-        Luther King, Jr.`s tactics of "civil     as unjust and oppressive is not an
tian's duty to submit uncondition-        disobedience" find widespread            academic question for many
ally to the authority of the civil        approval in the Reformed com-            Reformed saints. Rather, it is an
state. (As to this duty and other         munity. Reformed churches join           agonizing question, involving not
aspects of the relationship of            the world community of churches          only the risk of earthly liberty
church and state, confer our              in vigorously supporting the very        and even physical life, but also,
special issue of December 1,              active resistance to the govern-         and much more importantly, a
1988.) Reformed Christians every-         ment of South Africa by a seg-           good conscience before God.
where in the world today must             ment of that nation's population,        What is the calling of the Re-
work out their salvation in a             one of whose leaders is the              formed Christian in South Africa
revolutionary environment. Many           Reformed preacher, Allen                 as regards the use of physical
Reformed people in the United             Boesak. Influential Reformed             force to resist the laws of that na-
States have been taught from              theologians teach that revolution        tion and thus the government
childhood on in the Christian             under certain circumstances is an        itself? What is the calling, let us
schools (but not in Protestant Re-        option for Christians. In his essay,     say, of a black Reformed Chris-
formed Christian schools) that the        "Church and State," Karl Barth           tian in South Africa who is con-
Revolution in which this nation           maintains that serious Christians        vinced that the laws of the land
was born was justified, if it was         must reckon "with the possibility        are unjust and oppressive?
not a Christian, indeed a                 of revolution, the possibility . . .       Presbyterian Christians in Nor-
Calvinistic, enterprise. The black        that we may have to `overthrow           thern Ireland are under similar
revolutionary of the 196Os, H.            with God those rulers who do             disobedience to certain laws,
Rap Brown, gleefully seized on            not follow the lines laid down by        threats to make the nation "un-
this axiom of American political          Christ." Barth's disciple, the           governable," and other rebellious
life to silence the critics of his in-    Lutheran pastor, Dietrich                actions are the order of the day
cendiary behavior on behalf of            Bonhoeffer, followed Barth's ad-         as tactics by which Ulster is to be
freedom and justice for the               vice by involving himself in a           saved for Protestantism and for
blacks: "Revolution is as                 plot to assassinate Hitler, for          God. The Presbyterian who
                                          which Bonhoeffer was executed            refuses to countenance this
                                          by the Nazis.                            political activism, much less par-
                                            The reference to South Africa          ticipate in it, runs the risk of con-
                                          calls to mind the fact that the          demnation as a traitor to church
                                          issue of resistance or nonre-            and country. In the midst of the

                                                                                                     The Standard Bearer  I  173


turmoil of this passionate, volatile    IV, XX, 29). Under the most in-           and scripture exegesis are suddenly
mixture of politics and religion,       tolerable governments, private            brought up short at his impoverished
the Presbyterian Christian must         individuals may only "obey and            and traditional views of political
know how to please God and              suffer" (hstitutes, IV: XX, 31).          order, and his injudicious use of the
must find his way, and the way             The instruction of Calvin to the       Bible as he tries to explicate hard
of his family, to heaven.               individual Christian is simple:           cases, such as Huguenots who daily
   Living in the same kind of tur-      "You must submit unconditional-           walked down the valley of death in
                                                                                  his beloved France.
bulence, tugged at by the same          ly to the civil rulers `who, by             Graham is displeased with
kind of temptations, and writing        whatever means, have got con-             Calvin's insistance on non-
with one eye on his beloved             trol of affairs,' which means that        resistance.
France and the persecution of the       you may never, under any prov-              There are at least three
Reformed church there (a perse-         ocation whatever, actively                reasons why Calvin took the posi-
cution unto death), John Calvin         resist; you must obey all laws            tion that he did. None of them is
flatly and absolutely forbade           that do not require you to                that Calvin was unsympathetic
resistance (revolution) on the part     disobey God; if you must disobey          towards Reformed saints suffering
of Reformed Christians. Even            (and you must, if, e.g., the state        under tyranny, or that Calvin
though the civil rulers "perform        forbids you to worship God ac-            was a passive individual, or that
not a whit of the princes' office,"     cording to the Reformed faith),           Calvin had deep psychological
but are "intent upon their own          you may not use the disobe-               problems. All of the reasons hold
business, put up for sale laws,         dience as a launching-pad for             good today, as in every age, so
privileges, judgments, and letters      revolution, but rather patiently          that those who engage in
of favor . . . drain the common         bear the consequences of suffer-          resistance towards the state, or
people of their money, and after-       ing at the hands of the wicked            support those who are resisting,
ward lavish it on insane largesse       rulers; and you must do all this,         come under the judgment of
. . . exercise sheer robbery,           not as shrewd policy that knows           these reasons for submitting.
plundering houses, raping virgins       that revolution is usually futile         First, Calvin found nonresistance
and matrons, and slaughtering           and results in worse misery               to be the teaching of the Bible.
the innocent," they must be             (though this is true), but as faith's     Jesus' command to Peter to "put
"held in the same reverence and         submission to the Lord Christ -           up again thy sword into his
esteem (as) . . . the best of           you are willingly, joyfully, active-      place" in Matthew .26:52 and
kings," because in their office         ly serving the Lord Jesus, even           Jesus' declaration to Pilate in
they possess Gods "holy                 as every rebel is in reality              John  18:36 that the heavenly
majesty" (Institutes, IV, XX, 24,       resisting, not the state, but             nature of His kingdom is evident
25). "If we are cruelly tormented       Christ."                                  in that His servants do not fight
by a savage prince, if we are             Students of Calvin's theology           are law for Jesus' church, that
greedily despoiled by one who is        do not take issue with this               she may not defend Jesus Christ
avaricious or wanton, if we are         presentation of Calvin's teaching         from violent assault (which is
neglected by a slothful one, if         as to the political calling of the        what persecution for the truth's
finally we are vexed for piety's        Christian. But they reject the            sake really is) nor promote His
sake by one who is impious and          teaching itself, as unworthy of           kingdom by physical force. The
sacrilegious," our only recourse is     the Reformed theologian. Writing          prohibition of Romans 13:17
"to implore the Lords help" (In-        in the recently issued book,              against resisting the authorities,
stitutes, IV, XX, 29). The duty of      Calviniana: Ideas and Influence           even when the authority is
the citizen to submit is not condi-     of Jean Calvin (Kirksville,               ungodly and antichristian Rome,
tioned by the rulers' faithfulness      Missouri: Sixteenth Century Jour-         and the command of I Peter
in carrying out their responsi-         nal Publishers, Inc., 1988), the          2:13ff. to submit to the civil
bilities. Rulers have responsibil-      noted Calvin scholar, W. Fred             rulers with explicit appeal to the
ities; and Calvin reminded them         Graham states:                            example of Jesus Himself, "Who,
of those responsibilities sharply.        There is little doubt that the          when he was reviled, reviled not
"But if you conclude from this          genius of Calvin did not extend to        again; when he suffered, he
that service ought to be rendered       his analysis of political order,          threatened not; but committed
only to just governors, you are         especially to his advice to Christians    himself to him that judgeth
reasoning foolishly" (Institutes,       who labored under rule so unjust
                                        that their very lives were in jeopar-     righteously," are the clear rule of
                                        dy. Students (like myselfI who ap-        the Word of God for the Christian
                                        preciate his balanced, supple, and in-    personally, particularly for the
                                        sightful work in Christian doctrine       Christian suffering injustice, and

174  I The Standard  Bearer


 even persecution, at the hands of       Let us not then suppose that we                        Mystery
the magistrates. We ask Re-            are forsaken of God when we suffer
formed men and women who are           persecution for his truth, but rather               by Suzanne  Looyenga
 revolting and we ask Reformed         than he so disposes matters for our      Beloved Bridegroom,
 thinkers and churches that are        greater good. If that is repugnant to    I am come,
 encouraging such revolt, "What        our senses, it is so because we are      Carried by Thee, my love, my life,
 do you do with these scriptures?"     always more inclined to seek for our     Unto this house of banqueting, this
and, "Produce your biblical basis      rest here below than in the kingdom
                                       of heaven. Now since our triumph is         house of wine,
for resistance!"                       in heaven, we must be prepared for       For Thou hast called me wife
   Second, Calvin's concern was        the combat while we live here upon       And I am Thine.
to guide the believer on the way       earth.  (Letters of John Calvin, pub-
of a thankful, holy life which         lished by the Banner of Truth Trust,     Here o'er me floats the banner of
would bring honor to God here          1980)                                    Thy love
and which would bring the                 It is common for professing           To all proclaiming that my place
believer to eternal glory here-        Christians to sneer at this                 has been secured.
after. Calvin was not interested       spiritual philosophy today as            Here as Thy pledge of love and
to give a general political policy     "pie-in-the-sky Christianity"; but          faithfulness
for all the citizens of a nation;      this only indicates the rarity of        Thou bidst me take of wine that
nor was his purpose to change          genuine Calvinism, i.e., true               Thou hast poured:
earthly nations so that earthly        Christianity.                            The vintage of Thy sacred press.
justice would prevail. The Chris-         To dismiss nonresistance as           And so I deeply drink
tian has a calling from God with       mere passivity is the merest             And find
regard to government; and              nonsense. Was Calvin then a              Within this cup dwells sacrificial
Calvin taught him what that call-      theologian of passivity? Also, the          love of Thine.
ing is. We ask those who en-           doctrine of nonresistance allows         And tasting of it, to my joy, I find I
thusiastically teach professing        the Reformed Christian a great              drink of Thee.
Christians to rebel, "Does your        deal of political activity within        0 love that dwells within - that
way honor the God and Father of        the law - activity to speak out;            now is mine!
Jesus Christ?" and, "Does this         to petition; to vote; and even to        This is too much to bear! - 0
way lead men and women to              form political organizations. But           comfort me!
eternal life in the Day of Christ?"    even as regards nonresistance
"What if resistance, even though       itself, every believer knows from          Suzanne Looyenga, wife, mother,
successful to overturn an unjust       experience that the hardest work         and poet, is a member of the Protes-
government and to gain some            of all, a great and glorious activi-     tant Reformed Church of South
measure of physical relief for the     ty of faith, is submitting to in-        Holland, Illinois. The poem is based
citizens, defames Jesus as just        justice for the Lord's sake. To          on a communion sermon that had
another leader of a revolutionary      strike back when abused, to join         the Song of Solomon  2:4 as its text:
band and brings down upon the          the howling mob on the streets           "He brought me to the banqueting
rebels Gods damnation, as              of Belfast or Johannesburg, to           house, and his banner over me was
Romans 13:2 warns is the case?"        take up arms and fight the               love. "
  Third, for Calvin this earthly       persecuting state so that one
life was secondary and relatively      sheds a little of their blood
unimportant in comparison with         before he pours out his own -
the heavenly life to which it          this is the easier way.
leads and for which it is the            In his teaching on the Chris-
training-ground for the believer.      tian's political calling, as in so
Christians ought to be willing to      much else, Calvin learned from
bear all manner of injustice and       Luther. Our look at nonresistance
oppression, indeed they ought to       ought to include the doctrine of
expect this, in the patient hope       Luther, if for no other reason
of the life to come. This was          than that it is outrageous that
Calvin's encouragement of the          Reformed churches should be
cruelly persecuted Reformed            directed in their political action
saints in France in a letter in        by Martin Luther King, Jr., while
1559:                                  remaining ignorant of Martin
                                       Luther. 0                        -DJE


                                                                                                   The Standard Bearer  / 175


Letters


.  .  . of appreciation                   I was disappointed to read in         The third ground is that
   I would like to subscribe to        the most recent S.B. that your         women too hold the office of
your excellent magazine. I have        circulation is only 1900!!! AND        believer, and the author says,
been receiving copies free of          that your goal is only 3000!!!??? I    "They both [men and women]
charge from a friend. After a          would pray that your circulation       have the calling to exercise
steady diet of (another religious      would become 30 million!               themselves in that threefold of-
periodical) I find the S.B. more       EVERYBODY should be reading            fice." Is voting an exercise of the
palatable. God bless your new          the S.B. . . . . .                     office of believer? If it is, does it
staff.                                               Al Salmon                follow that women have the right
   I also agree people are not                       Moorestown, NJ           to vote? If the office of believer
reading enough of the Reformed                                                implies their right to vote in civil
truth. It is not slipping away; no,    . . . re Women Voting                  elections, why doesn't it imply
it is being catapulted away.           Dear Sir,                              the same with regard to church
                Bob Knaack               This is in regard to the article     matters?
                Holland, MI            "Our Obligation to Vote" in the          I happen to be of the opinion
                                                                              that women may not vote, but
   We want to thank you for the        December 1, 1988 issue.                that is really beside the point
Standard Bearer. Its strong and          The article defends women's          here. Surely, even if we maintain
clear covenantal-Scriptural em-        suffrage on three grounds. The         that women may vote, we ought
phasis is deeply appreciated.          first is that "in Christ there is      not to defend it on the grounds
   "Hang in there," in the Lord!       neither male nor female, bond          given in the article.
   Enclosed is our check for           nor free, but al1 are equal as                      Fraternally,
$25.00, as a gift to the cause, and    believers." 1) This has reference                   (the Rev) K. Hanko
as a token of appreciation.            to the church ("in Christ") not to                  Norristown, PA 0
   A blessed Christmas to you          the state. 2) The statement (in
and yours. May His glorious            Galatians 3:26-29) makes the
presence be very real to all.          point that with respect to the
   Excuse my uneven writing.           blessings of salvation there is no
I've been having some visual           difference between Jew and
trouble, but thank the Lord for        Greek, male and female, etc. It
                                       has nothing to do with civic duty.
the good sight I've had in one
eye for 75 years. Love and             3) It is also instructive to note
prayers,                               that this same argument is used
                (the Rev.)             in defense of women's suffrage
                Garrett Vande-Riet     and women officers in the
                Wyoming, MI            church.
                                         The second ground is that all
                                       "share equally in the benefits of
                                       Christ's atonement." Is the right
                                       to vote a benefit of Christ's
                                       atonement?





176  / The Standard Bearer


                                        The Vaunted Freedom
                                                   of Speech
All Around Us
Rev. Cise VanBaren                      The Creation Issue

The Vaunted Freedom                         The young scholar presented a           1        The student, seeing it as violating
of Speech                               draft of her speech to the principal             her true feelings in what she wanted
                                        at Sam Houston, Kerry Durr. He                   to say to her colleagues, refused. She
   We hear much about the free-         seemed at first to approve. "You            saw no necessity to compromise
dom of speech we enjoy in the           can't argue with that," he said at          what she had to say simply because
United States. It is true that we       first.                                           it was religious in nature.
still have considerable leeway             Miss Guidry's speech was her                      She was confronted by the
with respect to our freedom of          honest evaluation of what had made               guidance counselor, and attorneys
speech. But the restrictions on         her click in school and she un-                  for the student said rude and
free speech are growing. Though         ashamedly expressed the idea that as             unseemly remarks were made about
one is presumably "free" to curse       a rule, everything one does should               Miss Guidry and her religion.
God at will, and one is "free" to       be done as if it were being done to                  When the student tried to walk
                                        please God.                                      away, attorneys from the Rutherford
present the evils of pornography           This is quite a common notion                 Institute of Virginia, who are
(within certain limits), the            among Christians, running the gamut              representing her, said the guidance
freedom to confess one's faith          from fundamentalists and                         counselor "grabbed her arm and
under some circumstances is for-        evangelicals  to some of the more                continued making derogatory and
bidden. The following article           staid Calvinist groups which                     slanderous remarks" about Miss
from The Crusader, March,' 1988,        historically have put great stress on            Guidry's religious beliefs.
indicates the limits of "freedom        this doctrine which emerges from the                Mr. Durr wrote to the Rutherford
of speech" when the contents are        Gospel.                                          Institute that he and others at the
religious:                                 "To me, the most important thing              school were fearful that if she were
  MOSS BLUFF, La (RFC)  - She           in your life is not whether you have             permitted to express her religious
was commended by President              a good education or a good job, but              views, it would be tantamount to the
Reagan for a speech she didn't          whether or not you have the Lord in              school endorsing those views.
deliver. And because she couldn't       your life . . . . It doesn't matter how             Not so, the Rutherford Institute
deliver it, Sam Houston High School     many years you go to school or how               replied.
in Moss Bluff has a lawsuit on its      successful you are ig this life, if                  The attorneys said a "valedictorian
hands.                                  you're not doing it all for the Lord. "          address is, by its very nature, a per-
  Angela Kay Guidry was valedic-           She included in her speech that it            sonal bidding of farewell" by a
torian of the 1987 class and she        was never to be an appeal for others             graduating student, implying that its
prepared her speech for presentation    to take to heart what she had said of            religious content was not subject to
before the graduates. She explained     relating their lives to God's will.              suppression by an outside influence.
her philosophy of life and what had        Even though Mr. Durr at first                    The suit holds that the student
been her principal source of motiva-    seemed to give verbal approval of           , was unconstitutionally deprived of "a
tion in excelling in her studies.       her remarks, the school guidance                 meaningful opportunity to exercise
                                        counselor, Sylvia Seals, requested               her right of free speech and freely
                                        that the principal have her modify               express her sincerely-held be-
                                        the speech. When it got down to the              liefs. " . . . .
                                        finality, the principal said that if she            So, "free speech' has its limita-
                                        did not delete all references to                 tions. Perhaps one could not ex-
Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Prot-    religion in it, she would not be per-            pect anything different from
estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-      mitted to deliver it.
ville, Michigan.                                                                    , public schools. These are not

                                                                                                             The Standard Bearer  / 177


"neutral," but actively involved            Yes, indeed they do. Each `of them       packaging which is designed to
in keeping any worship of God             has repeatedly affirmed Adam and           explain that God caused Adam to
out of these schools. All of this         Eve as historical persons  - as does       arise from earlier life-forms in the
must give Madalyn Murray                  anyone who affirms th&Belgic Con-          process of evolution?
O'Hair cause to rejoice. She has          fession. Some of their critics say they       It is no wonder that many in
been celebrating the 25th anni-           don't, but they apparently haven't         the Christian Reformed Church
versary of "prayer-free public            asked them. That is really unfor-
                                          tunate and grossly unfair.  For  exam-     are deeply concerned about what
schools," boastfully explaining           ple, far too many people are speak-        is taking place. It seems to me
how she used a bit of deception           ing for Van Till rather than listening     they have reason for great con-
to accomplish her purpose                 to him, or even reading carefully          cern. 0
(reported in Christian Renewal,           what he writes. So, yes, these pro-
Nov. 14, 1988):                           fessors do believe in Adam and Eve
  Members of American Atheists            as the first humans and the pro-                GOD'S TRUE CHURCH
and their leader, Madalyn Murray          genitors of all human beings to
O'Hair, munched cake and sipped           follow. They also affirm the Fall -        The Church's one foundation
champagne in Austin to celebrate 25       the choice of Adam and Eve to dis-           Is Jesus Christ her Lord,
years of prayer-free public schools       obey God's call to obedience - as a        She is His new creation
and the opening of the groups new         real historical phenomenon.                  By water and the word;
headquarters. O'Hair, 69, conceded          That answer, designed to re-             From heaven He came and sought
she used a bit of trickery in her cam-    assure, nevertheless leaves some                her
paign in the early 1960s to have          troubling questions to which I               To be His  hot'y bride,
prayer and Bible reading banned           have not yet seen the answers.             With His own blood He bought
from the nation's public schools. She     First, Van Till terms the first                 her,
said she invented a non-existent          eleven chapters of Genesis as                And for her life He died.
public interest group so it would not     "primal history" which is the
appear that she was fighting the bat-                                                Elect from every nation,
tle alone. "The public wasn't willing     "packaging rather than the con-              Yet one o'er all the earth,
to listen to just one single woman        tent itself"; but then how does            Her charter of salvation
along with two kids tugging at            the account of a literal Adam and            One Lord, one faith, one birth;
her. . . so what I did was invent the     Eve and a literal fall fit in with         One holy name she blesses,
Maryland Committee for the Separa-        this? How is it that everything of           Partakes one holy food,
tion of Church and State, which real-     the creation week is "packaging"           And to one hope she presses,
ly didn't exist. 0                        except that section which speaks             With every grace endued.
                                          of Adam's creation and fall?
The Creation Issue                        Secondly, one must explain the             `Mid toil and tribulation,
  Many have written, and are              existence of death during the                And tumult of her war,
writing, about the issue of               millions of years before the fall          She waits the consummation
"theistic" evolution as that has          - if death was the sentence of               Of peace for evermore,
been taught by Dr. Howard Van             God against the sin committed by           Till with the vision glorious
Till at Calvin College. At issue          Adam when he fell as Genesis 1               Her longing eyes are blest,
too are the published views of Dr.        and 2 claims. Thirdly, when                And the great Church victorious
Davis Young and Dr. Clarence              Genesis speaks of Adam's crea-               Shall be the Church at rest.
Menninga, professors of geology           tion from the "dust of the earth,"
at Calvin. Calvin College, under-         was this also a literal and direct
standably, has been trying to             act of God - or is this part of the
calm the waters. In the Calvin
College Spark (Sept. 1988) an ar-
ticle appeared entitled, "Con-
fronting the Creation Issue." This         Take the time to read and study
is condensed in the latest issue of
Calvin Today  (Fall, 1988). One of        the Standard Bearer. It is an
the questions addressed to the
president of Calvin College, An-          excellent source of devotiona/
thony Diekema, was this: "Do the
professors believe in Adam and
Eve as historical people? Some            reading material for your
people have said they don't." His
answer was:                               daily use.
178  / The Standard Bearer


 The Strength                            Hard Questions for Young People
 of Youth
Rev. Barrett L. Critters                 `What Am I Worth?"

   What do you think of yourself
as a person? How is your self-
esteem? In other words, in your                                                                            /_     `
                                                                                                                  i     _     ,

eyes, how much are you worth?
   This isn't a burning question
just in the church world today. (It
is that, too. 1 own and have read
just two of the many books writ-
ten about "self esteem" lately.
Ray Burwick wrote one called,
Self Esteem: You're Better Than
You Think, and Robert Schuller,
Self Esteem: The New Reforma-
tion. And, though Burwick's does
not attack the basics of the
Reformed faith as Schuller's does,
it isn't very helpful, at least until
the last two chapters. But the           mustard. " Now, to top it off, his    But he didn't feel so hot about
question - "what do you think            teacher just added to his grief by    himself either. He didn't know
you are worth?" - is a vital             using him as an example of what       why, but regardless how well he
question in a practical way, for         not to do in a homework assign-       did with the ball team, he felt like
every young person. Even if              ment. "Doesn't he care a bit          nothing. He didn't know why; he
you've never actually come out           about how I feel?"                    simply felt as if he wasn't worth
and asked yourself the question,            "Mary" was feeling blue            much . . . .
surely you have had times when           because almost every other girl in      At the same time, the most
you felt worthless and wondered,         the class had gotten a date for       popular girl in school, who hdd
"What use am I?"                         the Junior/Senior banquet; but        almost every young man asking
                                         she had not. She was not very
*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *                                                   or wishing to ask her out, was
                                         good looking, so she wasn't on        surely glad that everyone in
   "Bob" came to school the other        the top of the young men's list       school didn't know how she felt
day with his hands hanging down          for whom to ask for a date. Not       inside.
and head low. Grades had come            being very popular with the guys      *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
out just last week and his parents       made her feel pretty low about
still were not treating him very         herself.                                What's the problem here? Why
kindly after having seen his ",C"s          "Greg" was the highest scoring     is it that some of God's people
and `D's in every class but one          basketball player his high school     feel worthless about themselves?
- PE. Even though he had put a           had ever had. A quick, accurate       And how can it happen that not
fair amount of effort into study-        shot, he captured the headlines in    only those who are not so
ing, he just couldn't "cut the           just about every Saturday morn-       "popular" but also those who are
                                         ing sports page. For him, to          "popular" can feel so poorly
                                                                               about themselves? The problem
Rev. Gritters  is pastor of the Prot-    make the basketball team a win-       is what everyone calls low self
estant Reformed Church of Byron          ning team, and be the star, was       esteem. The problem is old.
Center, Michigan.                        the goal of his high school life.

                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  / 179


God's people are not immune to           hooker" or point guard in the            What is it that makes us worth
it. And young people often are           state, may very well work your         something? It certainly is nothing
most susceptible to it.                  tail off until you attain the          in ourselves. This is where so
   We need to have a solution to         honored place in society or            many books and counselors to-
this problem. Some may have a            government. What guarantee is          day go wrong. Failing to see or
twisted view of the Reformed             there that this will bring you the     acknowledge the truth of total
faith and say, "That's OK; in            needed feeling of peace in your        depravity, they misguide and
order to avoid pride, we need to         heart?                                 thus hurt people more than they
feel poorly about ourselves.                From the other side, you may        help. There is no worth in a
We're totally depraved sinners           never be able to reach that status     totally depraved sinner. In addi-
who ought to feel like worms.            in looks, sports ability, riches or    tion, this points out that there is
Poor self esteem is proper. We           success, that attracts the atten-      no true self esteem except
don't need a solution." But this is      tion and approval of others. Then      through faith in Christ.
a wrong-headed application of            the temptation will be to do             Then where is our self worth?
the truth of depravity. We MUST          whatever outrageous things you           First, self esteem is rooted in
abhor and humble ourselves               can think of to be accepted and        this: We have been bought by
because of our sins, but God's           approved of by someone - any-          the precious blood of the Son of
people, being regenerated, are           one. This is what happens to           God. That is how much we are
more than their old man. They            some young people when they            worth. It cost the death of God's
have .something  to be happy with        find themselves out of the "in"        only Son to purchase you. You
about themselves, even though            crowd. Not having found accep-         are precious because the blood of
it's nothing that they can take          tance and worth, they reach out        the only begotten Son of God
credit for. To say it differently, as    just about anywhere for a feeling      was spilled for you, personally.
sinful as we are, we have great          of acceptance, often in the "wild"     You are precious because the
worth. Every one of God's                crowd.        '                        Lord has determined to take you
children can have a high "self             (In parentheses, if you parents,     into the kingdom and restore in
esteem," if that's what we want          teachers, and pastors are drop-        you the image of His Son. You
to call our view of our own              ping in on us here, let me ask,        are precious because God loves
worth.                                   "Have you and I perpetuated this       you and determined to send His
   There are certainly wrong             unbiblical lie that worth is based     Son to die for you. THIS is how
ways to try to gain some self            on what great things one can do        much you are worth in the eyes
esteem. Self esteem does not             for the church or school or fami-      of God!!! In love for you, Christ
come from knowing you are                ly? Have we given our intelligent      says, "You are mine and no one
"successful." True self esteem will      children [in our home or our           else's. You belong to me. I love
not come when you have a lot of          classroom] the impression that         you, care for you, and possess
friends, or are good looking, rich,      they are intrinsically worth more      you as my own. You are precious
or smart. It won't appear when           because of their higher grade          to me." The same precious blood
you can dunk a basketball or hit         point average? Have we given           was spilled for you as for every
a home run. Just because your            our athletic children, because of      other child of God in the world,
parents are influential or popular       their success on the basketball        smart or not so smart, athletic or
will not help.                           team, the impression that they         clumsy, pretty or not.
   The wrongness of these solu-          are worth a great deal because of        Second, self esteem is en-
tions is that they all base self         their success? If we have, then        hanced by understanding that
esteem on what other people              we may be to blame for the de-         Christ Himself lives in us. We are
think of us, or on what we have          pression of some young people,         temples of the Holy Spirit of
achieved. If we do that, we're in        for the permanent psycholog-           Christ, of God Himself. This is the
deep trouble from both direc-            ical scars of the "below-average"      basis for the Lord's warning to us
tions. From one direction, there         student and non-basketball star,       against all damaging or polluting
are many people (right now) who          and for the wild behavior of that      of our bodies by ourselves -
are rich, successful, famous,            teenager reaching out for ap-          overeating, smoking, using drugs,
esteemed by others as great              proval and acceptance by some-         committing fornication, etc. But
people, but have the self esteem         one else because he or she             this is also an encouragement for
of a whipped dog. You may very           couldn't get it from us. Let's re-     us in our spiritual life. The Holy
well attain "Trump-like" wealth,         pent of this soul-destroying at-       Spirit has taken up residence in
may very well practice and prac-         titude and behavior with our           you! The Holy Spirit has "made
tice until you're the best "Sky-         children.)                             His nest" in your heart. He's not

180  / The Standard Bearer


there because He found you to            In sum, our self worth is based      of Christ. Christ Himself dwells in
be a nice place to dwell; but you      on what God thinks of us, and          her. She's a member of the body
have some worth because the            what God has done for us, not on       of Christ. She's precious in Gods
Holy Spirit is in you!!                what we can accomplish. or on          sight.
  Third, we are members of the         what others think of us."
body of Christ, needed and useful        This has something practical to      *(There are other things that con-
regardless of what anyone else         say to you, young people, who          tribute to an undermining of our self
may think. There is not room           may be down in the dumps               esteem, as well as things that help
here to write out a most signifi-      because.you  feel yourself to be       keep our head up and knees from
cant passage about this. But I         worthless. What is your worth? Is      becoming weak. We don't have room
hope you take the time to look         it what you can work and how           to talk about all that here. Why
up and read I Corinthians              much you can accomplish? If you        don't you send for one of the pam-
                                                                              phlets that our church has published
12:12-27. Paul makes the point         base your self esteem on that,         for distribution in our community,
there that no member of the            you will always feel worthless,        entitled "Christian Joy. " Our address
body ought to think himself in-        because we can do nothing for          is, Byron Center Protestant Reformed
significant, because no member         God of ourselves. Your worth is        Church, 1945 84th St., Byron Center,
of the body IS insignificant. The      established by Gods love for you.      Mich. 49315).  0
foot may not say to the hand,          After that is established, you are
"Since I'm not a hand, I'm not         worthy, you are precious in
worth anything." The ear may           God's eyes. THEN you can work                     HOLD THAT FAST
not say to the eye, "Since I'm not     - work as hard as you can, as                    WHICH THOU HAST
an eye, I'm not even a member          God has given you the ability.         "Should we gain the world's
of the body." Of course not. Each      Then, if ~you are great in the           applause,
member, regardless of his place,       world and accomplish great             Or to escape its harmless frown,
is a member, and is an important       things, to God be the glory. And       Refuse to countenance thy cause,
member. Paul even said in verses       if you are small (as most of us        And make Thy people's lot our
22, 23, "Nay, much more those          are small) and accomplish small          own?
members of the body which seem         things, to God be the glory, too.      What shame should fill us in that
to be more feeble, are necessary:      These small things, as do the            day,
and those members of the body          large, done in the name of the         When Thou Thy glory wilt display.
which we think to be less hon-         Son of God, have eternal weight
ourable, upon these we bestow          and significance! This is the icing    "`No, let the world cast out our
more abundant honour . . . ."          on the cake.                             name,
Your worth doesn't depend on           * * * * * * * * * *                    And vile account us if it will;
what others think you are worth.                                              If to confess our Lord be shame,
When I ponder this truth, I'm            We have a member in our con-         Oh, then would we be viler still.
always reminded of my appendix         gregation who never will have          For thee, 0 Lord, we all resign,
which the doctors had to remove        anything that would make her           Content that Thou dost call us
some years ago. I'm doing just         honorable in the eyes of men.            Thine.
fine without it. The doctors all       Linda won't ever win a beauty          "What transports then will fill our
say it's not necessary - they          contest or get a date. She can't         heart
don't even know what its func-         dunk a basketball, won't ever hit      When Thou our worthless names
tion is. But when we get to            a home run, spike a volleyball,          wilt own.
heaven, I believe we'll find out       snow-ski or water-ski. She never       When we shall see Thee as thou art
what our appendix was for. It          got a report card, much less a         And know as we ourselves are
served a purpose. Well, each of        good one. Linda can't talk. Linda        known,
you serves a purpose in the body       can't walk. Or communicate. Or         And then, from sin and sorrow
of Christ. It may not be very evi-     come to church. Since a little           free,
dent to others. It may not be          girl, her mind and body have           Find our eternal rest with Thee. "
very evident to you; but it is true    been malformed from epilepsy
regardless. You are important to       and other ailments even her
the body of Christ in your God-        parents don't understand. But
given position.                        before God she is worth just as
                                       much as the winningest, best
                                       looking, smartest young person
                                       you have ever known. She's been
                                       bought with the precious blood

                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer  / 181


                                       Peace Protestant Reformed
                                            Church of Lynwood,
                                            Illinois
                                       Jamaica: Hurricane Gilbert
Contributions                               and Our Mission Field

Peace Protestant
Reformed Church of
Lynwood, Illinois
   On November 11, 1988 our
denomination received the addi-
tion of a new church, with the
organization of Peace Protestant
Reformed Church. Peace Church
is a daughter church of our South
Holland Protestant Reformed
Church.
   The Friday evening organiza-
tional service was a solemn,
joyous occasion. The service took
place in the South Holland             Congregation, Peace`Protestant Reformed Church, Lynwood, Illinois.
Church; and the sermon was
preached fittingly by Professor
David J. Engelsma. The text was
I Timothy 3:15 & 16, with the
topic being, "The Church as Pillar
and Ground of the Truth." The
sermon emphasized the high and
lofty calling of the newly orga-
nized church, as the pillar and
ground of the truth.
   Following the sermon, the
organizational committee ap-


Garret Flikkema and Don Terpstra.
                                       Office bearers (left to right): G. Flikkema, R. Poortinga, W. Bruinsma
Mr. Doezema is secretary of the        (Elders); W. De Jong, G. Eriks (Deacons).
Domestic Missions Committee and of
First Church's Jamaica Mission Com-
mittee.

182  / The Standard Bearer


pointed by Classis West presided       We pray that God will give us           in fact made provision for the
over the institutional session.        the grace and the means to carry        calling of a sec.ond missionary to
This committee was comprised of        it out faithfully.                      the island. And, prior to that, the
the South Holland Council with           "Now unto him that is able to         Mission Committee and First
Reverend Ronald J. Van                 do exceeding abundantly above           Church were instructed to try to
Overloop as moderator. First in        all that'we ask or think, accord-       secure the service of "a retired
order was the announcing of the        ing to the power that worketh in        minister or a minister loaned
names of the families and in-          us, Unto him be glory in the            from one of our churches" as
dividuals who were committed to        church by Christ Jesus through-         either a full-time or part-time
be members of the new con-             out all ages, world without end.        assistant to the missionary. Ex-
gregation. The names were read         Amen." Ephesians 3:20 & 21. q           cept for a six-month period in
for verification and the member-                                               `85-`86,  when the calling church
ship certificates were thus trans-     Jamaica: Hurricane                      released her own pastor to labor
ferred. Next; and most important-      Gilbert and Our Mission for awhile in Jamaica, our efforts
ly, three elders and two deacons                                               have thus far been to no avail.
were elected by free election ac-      Field                                   So, Rev. Bruinsma has labored
cording to Article 38 of the             In looking back over the years        on, for five and a half years,
Church Order. Following in             they spent on the island of             alone.
order, the form for the Installa-      Jamaica, the Bruinsmas will un-           Maybe it takes a hurricane to
tion of Elders and Deacons was         doubtedly be able to recall many        impress on the minds of us on
read; and the office bearers were      good times. Just as surely, they'll     the homefront the reality of that
installed in their respective of-      remember times of stress. Ups           aloneness. You will recall that
fices. Proceeding further, the         and downs there were. In fact,          Gilbert struck the island on Mon-
reading of the Formula of              Rev. Bruinsma himself has char-         day afternoon and evening,
Subscription took place; and the       acterized his work in Jamaican          September 12. Telephone service
signing of this most important         missions as an "emotional roller        was immediately disrupted, so
documental pledge was per-             coaster." Hurricane Gilbert,            there was no way to learn how
formed by the office bearers.          methinks, would have to be put          the missionary family had fared.
  Peace Church is comprised of         on the down side. And the kind          From the media we were able to
24 families and 7 individuals, 55      of stress which belonged to the         learn only this much, that the
confessing members, and 56 bap-        days which followed must have           devastation was great, and that it
tized children, totaling 111 souls.    energized the feeling of loneli-        was island-wide. But how about
The group was studying organi-         ness which for the missionary           the Bruinsmas? Had they suffered
zation for over a year for two         family must normally be just            injury? Was their home still in-
reasons: 1) to alleviate crowded       beneath the level of conscious-         tact? Did they need help? And. . .
conditions in the South Holland        ness.                                   who knows how long it would be
Church and 2) to locate a new            If there is one thing that Rev.       before telephone communication
church south of Lansing, Illinois      Bruinsma brought repeatedly to          would be restored to the island?
in a closer proximity to its new       the attention of the Mission Com-         When the Mission Committee
members. Peace Church had its          mittee and the calling church it is     met on Thursday of that week,
first Sunday worship services          this, that the need of a co-laborer     there was one consideration
under the leadership of Reverend       in our Jamaican mission field is a      which outweighed any other, and
Wayne Bekkering on November            critical one. Both the nature and       that was this, that the Bruinsmas
13, 1988. Its present temporary        the scope of the work are such          were on that island "alone." It
location is at Illiana Christian       that, for one thing, one man can-       seemed to us therefore that it
High School at 2261 Indiana            not alone do justice to it all, and,    was incumbent on us, not to sit
Ave., Lansing, Illinois. The chapel    for another, the burden of it rest-     and wait to learn from them
of the high school is a very suit-     ing on a single pair of shoulders       whether or not they needed help,
able place for worship. God will-      wears a man down. We have               but rather to take the initiative
ing, Peace Protestant Reformed         been afforded evidence for the          ourselves, and go down there just
Church will eventually locate          truth of that . . . twice - i.e.,       as soon as we could get a flight
south of South Holland and Lan-        from both of our missionaries to        to Montego Bay. Accordingly,
sing in the Lynwood, Illinois area.    Jamaica.                                Rev. Joostens and Mr. Clare
Very much work lies ahead for            Not that our churches have            Prince, both of whom would be
the new church and her council.        heretofore failed to recognize          well able to find their way
                                       that. Our past two Synods have          through the island if main roads

                                                                                              The  Standard Bearer  / 183


                                                                                       JAMAICA





Many roofs were lost in the storm. Here Deacon
Car-r, in Dias, has replaced the pieces of zinc and,    The carpenters took zinc nails with them from
for lack of nails, simply weighted them down with       the States. Here they replace a roof on a house in
cement blocks.                                          Cave Mountain (with the help of local talent).





  Rev. Bruinsma's Mitsubishi serves well as a
  cargo-carrier.                                          The work-crew, from left to right: Ed Hekstra,
                                                         Doug Lubbers, Marve Faber.




  784  / The Standard Bearer


Hurricane Relief





                                                          The 6' x 8' tent in the foreground was provided
                                                          by the Jamaican government, as it was for all
                                                          those who lost their house in the hurricane and
                                                          had no place to live.

 Sister Swearing's house, in Dias, was demolished
 by the wind and by a falling tree.





                                                     , Here Doug Lubbers installs a window in Belmont
                                                     Church.



  Sister Swearing gets a new house.


                                                                                     The  Standard Bearer  /  7k.5


were not everywhere passable,            swept your part of the world. We        all mourning, shall flee away. For
headed for Jamaica the very next         do not know exactly how much            that we must wait for the new
morning.                                 suffering you are undergoing, but       heavens and the new earth. Let
* * * * * * * * * *                      we have reason to believe that          us all cry out: Come, Lord Jesus,
  It was on the strength of their        you are in great need. Beloved,         come quickly. Let us have eyes
report, updated later by                 our greatest need is the Bread of       to see Him coming, even in the
telephone calls from Rev.                Life which cometh from above,           disasters, being sent all around
Bruinsma, that we decided to ask         and when we have that need              the world as sure signs of His
                                                                                 return. But until He comes, and
our churches to take collections         fulfilled, then we have comfort in
                                         life and in death, in peace and in      His coming is as a thief in the
for "hurricane relief" for our           prosperity. But especially in times     night, we do not know when, let
people in Jamaica, and, further,                                                 us be faithful, and let us contend
to send three able-bodied men            of pain and death and sorrow
                                                                                 for the faith once delivered unto
to the island to help with the           and afflictions, we need to be pa-
necessary reconstruction.                tient and to look to our heavenly       the saints.
  For financial assistance, we did       Father. He has allowed this "evil"        We will continue to pray for
not have to ask twice; for our           to come upon you only because           you, but we ask also that you
                                                                                 remember us in your prayers.
people responded quickly to the          He has a good purpose for His
                                                                                 We also are a young church in
announcement of that need.               beloved people in your land. We
Within a matter of days we had           are confident that our faithful         Singapore and we continue to
$10,000 with which to begin              God will give you grace to en-          face many struggles and trials.
working; and when it was all             dure and even to be thankful to         But we know our God is with us
over, our churches, mission sta-         Him through all this. "For our          and He will provide. Therefore
tions, sister-churches, and young        light affliction, which is but for a    we send this letter to encourage
people's organizations had con-          moment, worketh for us a far -          you and to remind you that there
tributed no less than $28,610.21!        more exceeding and eternal              are knees bowing before God's
                                                                                 throne of grace, and hands join-
We were, needless to say, over-          weight of glory; while we look
                                                                                 ing together to help you who are
whelmed.                                 not at the things which are seen,
  The spirit which motivated             but at the things which are not         in need. God bless you.
                                                                                           In His love,
that kind of generosity is perhaps       seen: for the things which are
                                                                                           W.S. Pastor Mahtani,
best exemplified in a letter which       seen are temporal; but the things
accompanied the gift from one of         which are not seen are eternal."                  Moderator of Session,
                                                                                                Covenant Evangelical
the two Evangelical Reformed             41though our pain and our
                                                                                                Reformed Church
Churches of Singapore. We trust          3overty is sometimes very great,
that our good friend Rev.                ,t is incomparable to the glory         *  *  +  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Mahtani will not object to our use       chat awaits us. Do remember               The relief effort has not yet
of it here:                              that, and look for that.
                                           Our Lord has taught us that in        been completed. That might
                    7th November 1988                                            seem at least passing strange,
                                         the body of Christ when one suf-        since the hurricane occurred
To the Protestant Reformed               fers, we all suffer together. We        already four months ago. But the
Churches of Jamaica.                     feel for you at this time, and we       fact that help remains yet to be
Through the First Protestant             pray for you too. But the people        given only illustrates the careful-
Reformed Church, Grand Rapids,           have also expressed their willing-      ness of Rev. Bruinsma's use of
Michigan                                 ness to help you, and therefore         the funds available. He did not,
Dearly beloved brothers and              we are enclosing a gift which we        for example, simply distribute
sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ,        hope will be of help to you at          money among the needy. In fact,
   Greetings to you from the far-        this time. Since we have never          he gave no money at all. He pro-
away island of Singapore. We             corresponded with you directly,         vided food - as it was needed.
greet you with love and with             we are sending this gift to you         He bought materials - as they
sympathy, in the name of our             through the First Protestant            were needed. And, while the
gracious Lord and Saviour Jesus          Reformed Church, Grand Rapids,          carpenters did build some houses,
Christ Who cares for His flock,          Michigan.
                                           Beloved in the Lord, the day          they left some of the work for
and even gave His own life for                                                   the Jamaicans themselves. Fur-
His beloved people.                      will come when all our tears will       ther, since there were legal ques-
  We heard about the disaster            be wiped away, and all sorrow,          tions about the property of Cairn
which you and your people are                                                    Curran (where the church was
enduring after the hurricane that                                                "blown flat") Rev. Bruinsma has

186  / The Standard Bearer  i


provided as yet nothing more           the mid to upper nineties, and          as we started, but their eyes got
than a tarp, to meet the               the humidity was high; but, when        bigger and they showed us a lit-
minimum immediate need. Once           the men were on the job, they           tle more respect when they saw
the legal questions are resolved,      kept right on working - even in         the house put up in less than two
provision will be made for con-        the rain, which was an almost           hours' time, complete with siding,
struction of something more            daily occurrence, for about an          window openings, doorways, and
substantial. And the point is that     hour in the afternoon. "The             rafters . . . . It was a fun job."
there is money yet remaining to        people, I think, thought we were          The crew started working on
do that. When, at length, we           a little crazy," writes Ed in his       Tuesday. According to the diary,
finish, it seems that there will be    diary, "the way we worked and           Saturday noon was "the first time
neither surplus nor persisting,        sang in the rain."                      we actually sit down and take a
pressing need. That's truly              Apparently the men were               half-hour for lunch." They were
remarkable. We cannot escape           often frustrated, in their attempt      all, by this time, "dragging and
the conclusion that we are not         to get an early start, by the           feeling tired." And they decided
dealing here simply with OUY           casual approach the Jamaicans           to share part of Mary's sand-
money. Through the liberality of       take to service of customers. The       wiches of sardines on hard dough
our people the Lord has provided       fact that places of business didn't     bread with "the pig tied up to the
for the needs in our Jamaican          open till 9:00 AM was bad               side of the church." They worked
mission field.                         enough. But soon enough the             on for two and a half hours and
* * * * * * * * *  *                   three Americans learned that            then drove home to "pick up the
  As far as manpower is con-           "the hardware store is no True          kids and head for Bluefield Beach
cerned we really didn't have to        Value, and the lumber yard is no        to swim and shower in the
ask even once. Offers to give          Erb" (references, of course, to         natural flowing spring. It feels
freely, not now of one's money         businesses in the U.S.). Going to       good to be clean." Supper served
but of time and expertise in the       the hardware store "to pick up          by Mary that night was curried
field, came from various quarters,     louvers and glass for Sister            chicken with rice and peas. It
unsolicited. Two of the men who        Swearing's house (was) another          was, according to the diary,
volunteered were carpenters by         experience in `You're first in line'    delicious; but "we also tell her of
profession (Marve Faber, an elder      Jamaican style. 45 minutes!"            our feeling toward sardine sand-
from First Church, and Ed              And, of the window repairs in           wiches." After supper "we sit on
Hekstra, a deacon from South-          Dias church he writes, "What a          the veranda and look up at the
east), and another was a farmer        joke. The window panes and              stars. We see at least lo-15  fall-
who had had carpentry ex-              glass are cut out of square and         ing stars. We talk about spiritual
perience (Doug Lubbers, from           the putty we used to put it in was      things mostly."
Byron Center). As it turned out, a     not very good. Even so, we                During their stay on the island
happier combination would have         replace 9 pieces . . . ." They          the men did some work also at
been hard to find. The three men       found that "it takes time and pa-       Cave Mountain. From Cave Mt.,
left on October 24, with all of        tience to get daily needs in this       writes Ed, "looking down to the
their gear, for two weeks of hard      country, and (that it's) not the        Caribbean and looking toward
work in Jamaica.                       way it is back home where we            Sav-La-Mar are million dollar
  Mr. Hekstra kept a daily diary.      go to the appropriate store and         views." "It seems so ironic," he
And he was willing also to share       quickly get something."                 adds, "that people so poor and
it with us, in order that we might       All was not frustration how-          secluded have such a view for
in turn be able to pass on to you      ever. Once they got the materials       free, when we back home pay
something of the flavor of the         they made short work of what            thousands of dollars for the view
work that was done in Jamaica          the Jamaicans would have seen           of a man-made lake and
on our behalf. It seems that the       to be ambitious undertakings, In        neighbors all around. It also hits
typical day started at 6 AM or         Beeston  Spring, for example, a         me as to how little these people
very shortly thereafter. After a       lady had lost her house in the          need to survive, and how much
hearty breakfast served by Mrs.        storm. When the carpenters from         we think we need just to get by."
Bruinsma, the four men would be        the States arrived on the scene,          They also worked in Beeston
on their way, hoping to get some       "a crowd of 25 to 30 showed up          Spring, where they received a
work done before the sun was           to watch us build a Jamaican            good deal of help from men in
high in the sky. Not that they         home American style. There was          the neighborhood. They built
were stopped by the heat. After-       snickering and laughter going on        there another house. Ed observed
noon temperatures averaged in                                                  that "the man whose house it

                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  I  187


was, was very grateful for all that    minister shortage in our                   But, where do we go from
we had done for him and his            churches. At the same time, we          here? There is without a doubt
wife. We could tell by the look in     understand well that mission            work to be done in Jamaica.
the eyes of the people, that they      work is not optional for the            There's work to be done in the
were very thankful for what we         church of Christ. It's an obliga-       little "Protestant Reformed
had done for them in the church.       tion assigned, personally, by the       Churches of Jamaica" in the hills.
Each day we are here I feel more       King of the church. Not, missions       And, according to Rev. Bruinsma,
strongly that our mission field        if and when it's convenient, or         the "possibility of expanded labor
here is not a dead mission field. I    missions if and when there seems        is great" - that is, outside of the
really feel that they are brothers     to be sufficient manpower and           hills, among the middle class, in
and sisters in Christ with us. And     financial resources . . . but, simp-    the cities. But is the "door" re-
that the land they live in makes       ly, "Go ye therefore, and teach         maining open there for us? At
it hard for us back home, myself       all nations . . ." (Matt. 28:19).       this point we do not know the
included, to understand why              The question therefore, for us,       leading of the Lord. Will He give
these people cannot fend for           is not whether, but where? The          us two missionaries for Jamaica?
themselves."                           legitimacy of Jamaica as a mis-         . . . a missionary with an assis-
  When it came time, finally, to       sion field can not be open to           tant? . . . a missionary alone? . . .
leave the island, Ed says, they        question. Further, that we have         or no missionary at all? As Mis-
were "anxious to get home, but         these many years been given an          sion Committee and calling
grateful for the opportunity to do     "open door" in Jamaica should           church we may continue to ex-
what we did for the people and         also be beyond dispute - for the        tend calls; but ultimately it is of
the churches. Each of us I think       Lord gave us missionaries to            course the Lord who assigns and
would consider doing it again.         serve there . . . with fruit.           who sends. The answers to our
We left with a better understand-                                              calls will therefore speak power-
ing of the people, our churches,                                               fully concerning the position of
mission work, and Jamaica. The                        CAN YOU?                 the "door" as it relates to our
work to be done here is great.                                                 own continued involvement in
And the mission field is               Can you put the spider's web back       Jamaican missions.
legitimate. It will miss the work        in its place that once has been          Meanwhile, Rev. James
of Rev. Bruinsma when he                 siSept  away?                         Slopsema and Mr. Dan Pastoor,
leaves. The people, I feel, need a     Can you put the apple again on the      chairmen of the Domestic Mis-
strong leader, a person they can         bough which fell at your feet         sion Committee and First
come to. And they will miss him          today?                                Church's Jamaica Mission Com-
when he leaves. They love him          Can you put the lily-cup back on        mittee, respectively, plan to leave
and he loves them. You can see           the stem and cause it to live and     for Jamaica, D.V., on January 18,
it when the people greet him.            grow?                                 to spend a couple of weeks with
The mission will need the              Can you mend the butterfly's            Rev. Bruinsma in Jamaica,
prayers of our people for them           broken wing that crushed with a       evaluating the field in light of the
and Rev. Bruinsma as he                  hasty blow?                           changing circumstances. Difficult
prepares to leave."                    Can you put the petals back on the      decisions will no doubt have to
  To Mr. Marve Faber, Mr. Ed             rose? If you could, would it smell    be made with regard to our con-
Hekstra, and Mr. Doug Lubbers            as sweet?                             tinued labors on this little island.
we express our deep appreciation       Can you put the flour again in the      Our prayer is that the Lord will
for an important work well done          husk and show me the ripened          give us wisdom to make wise
and a lasting impression left in         wheat?                                decisions - i.e., decisions that
the lives and the hearts of the        Can you put the kernal back in the      are in accord with His will and
Jamaican people among whom               nut, or the broken egg in its         therefore in the best interests of
we have labored for these many           shell?                                our churches and of the cause of
years.                                 Can you put the honey back in the       missions as we have been
*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *             comb, and cover with wax each         privileged to be busy in it.
                                         cell?
  Where do we go from here -                                                   "Brethren, pray for us" `(I Thess.
                                       Can your life return to its pure
that is the question, the question                                             5:25).  Ll
                                         estate, when once it is cursed
with which First Church and the          with sin?
Mission Committee must struggle
in the months to come. We are
of course duly cognizant of the

188  I The Standard Bearer


Guided Into                                Athanasius and the
A/I Truth
Rev. Charles Terpstra                      Arian Heresy (,)

   "Whosoever will be saved, before          But let us then step back in          Through this controversy there-
all things it is necessary that he hold    time once more, and understand          fore the church came to speak
the Catholic Faith; . . . And the          that it was again heresy that           clearly on the truth of the Trini-
Catholic Faith is this: That we wor-       prompted the Spirit-guided
ship one God in Trinity, and Trinity                                               ty.
                                           church to a right understanding                The early church of course ac-
in Unity; neither confounding the                                                  cepted the plain Trinitarian state-
Persons, nor dividing the Essence.         and creedal expression of this
For there is one Person of the             doctrine. The heresy this time          ments of the Bible (e.g., the Bap-
Father, another of the Son, and            was Arianism, named after the           tism formula, Matt. 28:19, and
another of the Holy Spirit. But the        fourth century heretic Arius (died      the apostolic benediction, II Cor.
Godhead of the Father, of the Son,         336 A.D.). And the man whom             13:14), as well as the simple faith
and of the Holy Spirit, is all one, the    the Spirit of truth chiefly used to     of the Apostles' Creed concerning
Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal."      battle this heretic and give us the     the Triune God. Yet she struggled
  So reads the opening statement           pure doctrine of the Trinity was        when it came to defining exactly
concerning the truth of the Trini-         Athanasius (born c. 296; died 373       what it means that God is one
ty as expressed by the early               A.D.). This heresy and this             yet three. This should not sur-
church in the so-called "Athana-           valiant church father we want to        prise us, since the truth of the
sian Creed" (cf. the newly re-             examine in our next two articles.       Trinity concerns the very essence
printed Psalters, pp. 82ff.). This         THE BACKGROUND                          of our transcendent God. It is a
truth of the Trinity we know to              While the church in the second        mystery the depths of which no
be foundational for our Christian          century was called to contend           man with his finite mind can
faith and necessary for our salva-         earnestly for the doctrine of God       fathom. But because it is a
tion. Yet it is a truth which we,          in a general way, the church of         revealed  truth, it can be under-
the church of our Lord Jesus               the third and fourth centuries          stood and must be set forth as
Christ in the twentieth century,           had to contend -for it in a specific    best it can be. Conscious of these
simply assume and, therefore,              way. As we learned in our last          things, the church labored care-
usually take for granted. Little do        two articles, Gnosticism was a          fully to explain this doctrine.
we appreciate the fact that the            general attack upon the biblical               In attempting to explain the
early church struggled and                 truth concerning God, especially        doctrine of the Trinity, the
battled for nearly two centuries           God the Father and God the Son.         church fathers experienced a
to defend and develop this doc-            Hence, the truth concerning God         strong tension. On the one hand,
trine.                                     was defended and developed on           they were afraid of denying the
                                           the part of the church only in          unity of God and falling into
                                           general terms. Nothing definite         polytheism by speaking of three
                                           was set forth concerning the doc-       Persons. And on the other hand,
                                           trine of the Trinity. Although          they were fearful of denying the
                                           Tertullian began to steer the           full deity of Jesus Christ and thus
                                           church in the right direction,          salvation in Him by not speaking
                                           there were many questions which         of Him as a divine Person but
                                           remained unanswered. Arianism,          rather as an impersonal creature
Rev. Terpstra is pastor of the Prot-                                               subordinate to the Father. The
estant Reformed Church of Pella,           however, was a specific attack
Iowa.                                      upon the truth of the Triune God.       focus of the problem was on the

                                                                                                      The  Standard Bearer  / 189


Son's relationship to the Father.      troversy. For the sovereign Spirit    is in fact a creature of God, the
The doctrine of the Holy Spirit        of truth determined that the          first and highest creature, made
was involved too, but was not on       heresy of Arianism would be the       before the worlds were formed,
the foreground initially.              instrument to spur the church on      and the one through whom God
   The result of this tension was      and lead her to define carefully      made all else. The Gnostic notion
that in the third century certain      this cardinal truth.                  of an intermediary between God
churchmen fell into the heresy         ARIUS AND HIS HERESY                  and the creation was still present
known as Monarchianism, so               Whereas Tertullian was from         in Arius' teaching.
named because its adherents            the Western segment of the              He .arrived at this position by
stressed the unity of God - God        church, this churchman grew up        equating "begotten" with
is one Monarch. Of this heresy         and was trained in the great          "created." He would speak of the
there were two types. There            Eastern city of Alexandria, Egypt.    Father's generation of the Son,
were first of all DYNAMIC              Strikingly, this city was known as    not in the eternal sense as taking
Monarchians, who held that God         the home for the doctrine of the      place within the divine Being,
is not only one in Being but also      deity of Christ, the very doctrine    but in the sense that the Father
one in Person, Christ and the Ho-      Arius denied and attacked. Arius      by an act of His will brought the
ly Spirit are only impersonal at-      was an ascetic and a man of no        Son into existence before time,
tributes or powers of God (hence       mean ability. G. Fisher states          This "perfect creature" he
the name "dynamic"). In this way       concerning him: "Arius was            termed the Word, Wisdom, or
they denied the deity of Jesus         possessed of logical acumen, was      Image of God, following Scrip-
and the Holy Spirit. Christ, they      skilful as a disputant, and his       ture. This is the Word that
taught, is called "Son" only           austere life helped to draw to        became flesh. He assumed a
because He is adopted by God           him respect and sympathy"             human body not a human soul,
after He came in the flesh. He is      (History of Christian Doctrine, p.    and so suffered. And, in the way
not the Son essentially, i.e., by      135).                                 of His being glorified, Christ, the
nature, but only by adoption. For        He became a presbyter in the        Word, became divine, i.e., God-
this reason this heresy was also       church at Alexandria around 311.      like. Hence, He is called "Son,"
known as "Adoptionism."                It was only shortly thereafter, in    and is worthy of veneration,
   Secondly, there were the            318, that the controversy over        though not, strictly speaking, of
MODALISTIC Monarchians. These          his views broke out, so that          worship.
too held that God is one in Being      already in 321 he was deposed           It was in this way that Arius
as well as in Person. But they         and excommunicated from the           denied the deity of Christ. Ac-
tried to maintain the deity of         church. This was not the end of       cording to him the Son is not of
Christ and the Holy Spirit by          Arius and his views, however, for     the same essence as the Father
teaching that God manifests            he was restored, and his error        (consubstantial), and therefore
Himself in three different modes       continued in the church for many      cannot be very God. He is not
(hence its name). Sometimes God        years (he died in 336 but his         co-eternal; there was a time
acts as Father, sometimes as Son,      heresy went on until 381). Thus       when He was not. He is not co-
and still other times as Spirit. In    was the stage set for the lengthy     equal; He is rather subordinate to
whatever mode God acts and             battle between Athanasius and         the Father. But in speaking of
reveals Himself, He is always ful-     Arianism. The Arian controversy       Christ in this fashion, Arius also
ly God. But what they did was to       has a long and complicated            denied the Father. If there was a
deny the Personhood of Christ          history, one which we cannot ex-      time when God was without His
and the Holy Spirit, and thus the      plore. If you are interested in       Son, then clearly there was a
truth of the Trinity.                  this, you may consult almost any      time when He was not Father.
   Monarchianism, therefore,           church history book.                    Furthermore, in undercutting
could not be the solution to the         Arius' heresy centered on his       the truth of the deity of Christ,
proper formulation of the doc-         view of Christ and His relation to    Arius also fundamentally de-
trine of the Trinity. Its errors       the Father, but it included also      stroyed the doctrine of salvation.
were rejected in the third cen-        the Person of the Holy Spirit.        If Christ is not God, then what
tury. The question was: Now            While attempting to uphold the        can He do to save men from sin?
what? How should the church            unity of God as the Monarchians       He can at best only be an exam-
understand and formulate this          had done, he went beyond them         ple to show men the way to
truth? She knew what was               and said that the Son was not         some general moral goodness.
wrong, but what should she say         merely a mode of the Father but       Harold O.J. Brown makes this
positively? Enter the Arian con-       an altogether different being. He     very point in his book Heresies,

190  I The Standard Bearer


"The Image of Christ in the Mir-               This is precisely what salvation    by way of letters to other church
ror of Heresy and Orthodoxy                  has become to today's modernists      leaders, and vigorously stated the
from the Apostles to the                     who also deny Christ as the Son       truth of Christ's divinity. He also
Present":                                    of God.                               called Arius and his followers to
   "The spiritual-moral motif (of              Finally, this denial of Christ's    renounce his heresy and submit
Arius' theology -  CJV was Arius'            deity Arius also applied to the       to the true faith of the church.
conviction that Christ does not              Holy Spirit. Though he did not        When Arius persisted in his er-
possess deity by nature, but develops        speak as directly on the Spirit as    rors, a synod was convened by
into it by virtue of his constant and        he did on the Son, he taught that     Alexander, and he was deposed.
growing moral unity with Cod. He is          the Spirit too was a creature of      At the bottom of a letter ad-
our Saviour in that he presents us                                                 dressed to all the ministers of the
with divine truth and furnishes the          God, less important than the Son.
perfect example of commitment to             Hence, also the Spirit was a dif-     church, in which Alexander ex-
the good.  Thts view hardly differs          ferent being from the Father, and     plained the reasqns for Arius'
from adoptionism; its practical con-         was subordinate to Him.               deposition, we find the signature
sequence is the imitation of Christ,           In response to these errors of      of a significant deacon - Athana-
with the implicit hope that other            Arius it was not first of all         sius. To this man and his work
human beings can attain perfection           Athanasius who arose, but Alex-       of combatting Arianism we will
and partake of divinity even as              ander, the bishop of Alexandria.      turn in our next article. 0
Christ did" (p. 115).                        He strongly opposed this heresy




                                             News From
Mr. Benjamin Wigger                          Our Churches

                         January  15,1989      The Council of our Holland,         words are ours every Sunday; but
CALLS                                        Michigan church has granted Mis-      can you imagine the joy in the
   The Council of our First                  sionary Bruinsma's request that       hearts of the saints in our Cove-
Church in Grand Rapids,                      he remain in Jamaica for four to      nant P.R.C. in Wyckoff, N.J.
Michigan did not at once place a             six more months.                      when they entered into the sanc-
trio before their congregation for             The Hope P.R.C. of Isabel, S.D.     tuary of their new church
election of one to serve as a                has called Rev. R. Cammenga.          building for the first time on Sun-
second missionary to Jamaica.                  From a trio consisting of the       day, November 20. Many prayers
Their Jamaica Mission Committee              Revs. W. Bekkering, B. Gritters,      were both offered and answered
was instructed to review the                 and S. Houck, the Peace P.R.C. of     on that Lords Day.
gross list of possible candidates,           Lynwood, Illinois has called Rev.       A dedication program for their
and to research Synodical  deci-             S. Houck.                             church building was held on
sions which may pertain to call-               Rev. B. Critters is considering     December 9. Covenant's two
ing a "second" missionary when               two calls at this time: one from      former pastors, the Revs. A.
the "first" missionary is leaving.           the congregation of our South         denHartog and R. Hanko, along
                                             Holland, Illinois church and          with Revs. J. Heys and C. Hanko,
                                             another from our Faith congrega-      were also able to attend.
                                             tion in Jenison, Michigan.              Part of the program included
                                             CONGREGATIONAL                        an address by Rev. denHartog on
                                             HIGHLIGHTS                            I Samuel 7:12: "Hitherto hath the
                                               "I was glad when they said un-      Lord helped us." A slide presen-
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Prot-          to me, let us go into the house of    tation of the building of the
estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-           the Lord' (Ps. 122:l). These          church was given by Revs. R.
ville,  Michigan.                                                                  Hanko and R. Flikkema.

                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer  I  191


   THE
slAND!!!!                                                                                     SECOND CLASS
 t?MR                                                                                         Postage Paid at
                                                                                              Grand Rapids, Michigan

 f?O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, MI 49506



ACTIVITIES OF MISSIONARY                who are interested in the Re-        The Bible study that night was
HOUCK                                   formed faith. He works with           from the familiar passage of Luke
    Since his return from California    these contacts with a view to the    2. Afterwards Prof. H. Hanko
last September, Rev. Houck has          development of future mission        spoke on his recent trip to
been busy in the work of mis-           fields. According to Rev. Houck      Australia.
sions. In October he went back to       the Lord is opening many doors          On Thanksgiving Day the
California for three weeks and          for us to present the gospel of      young people of our South
preached to about a hundred and         sovereign grace. There is much       Holland, Illinois congregation met
forty people in Alameda (on the         mission work for us to do.           at the P.R. Christian School at 7
east side of San Francisco bay).        CHURCH ACTIVITIES                    AM to play football. Afterward
These people have come to the             The Sunday School of the           they went out for breakfast and
Reformed faith through Family           Trinity P.R.C. in Houston, Texas     then on to church. 0
Radio and the ministry of Harold        invited everyone to come for a
Camping. They received the              fun time of bowling on a recent
preaching with great enthusiasm.        Saturday afternoon.
    In December the mission com-          The ladies of Trinity Church       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
mittee sent Rev. Houck to               also planned a Thanksgiving Day        On January 6, 1989, our
Bradenton, Florida for two weeks        dinner for the families and          parents,  JAKE AND JEANNE
to investigate the possibility of       friends of their congregation.       JABAAY, celebrated their 30th
doing mission work there. Rev.          After the meal there were plans      wedding anniversary. We are
Houck found that the worship            to enjoy a good game of volley-      thankful to our Heavenly Father
services are attended by many           ball along with other activities     for giving us God-fearing
visitors who are very interested        and plenty of good Christian         parents, and for the love and in-
in the Reformed faith. He               fellowship.                          struction they have given us.
believes that much mission work           The congregation of our Love-        "From everlasting to everlast-
could be done there and that our        land Church in Loveland, Col-        ing the Lord's love is with those
churches could have an extensive        orado was also invited to a com-     who fear Him and His righteous-
ministry of the gospel which            bination Thanksgiving hot lunch/     ness with their children's
reaches many places in North            chapel exercise put on by the        children." (Psalm  103:17)
America through a work in this          students of our Loveland Chris-        Berend and Janine Meelker
area.                                   tian School. The dinner consisted         Chad, Brent, Deanna
   In January Rev. Houck plans          of turkey, gravy on potatoes,          Jim and Laurie Jabaay
to return to Alameda, California        corn, apple crisp with whipped            David, Michael, Matthew
for two more weeks of preaching         topping, and drink, all for just       Rick and Jill Elzinga
to the Reformed Bible Church, as        $1.50 for adults and 75c for pre-      Jason Jabaay
they call themselves. This will be      schoolers! Chapel exercises were
a time of appraising the progress       held afterward in the church         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
which has been made since he            auditorium.                            The Consistory of the  Crand-
was last there. In between these          The Covenant P.R.C. in             ville Protestant Reformed
trips the Mission Committee has         Wyckoff also held a Thanks-          Church expresses its Christian
been sending other of our               giving/Christmas dinner in mid-      sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Paul
ministers as pulpit supply.             December. Along with the meal,       Harbach in the death -of her
   In addition to these labors Rev.     an enjoyable evening of fellow-      sister, MARION KAUFMAN.
Houck has been busy keeping in          ship was planned.                      "The Lord will give strength
contact with many people scat-            The congregation of our            unto His people; the Lord will
tered throughout the country            church in Hudsonville, Michigan      bless His people with peace."
                                        held a special combined Societies    (Psalm 29:ll)
                                        Christmas meeting in December.         Rev.  J. Kortering, Pres.
                                                                               Tom Bodbyl, Ass't. Clerk

192   I The Standard Bearer


