  A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
~ Magazine





March 1, 1989


   Contents                                                                            THE
                                                           March 7,7989          STANDARD
  Meditation  -. Rev. lames D. Slopsema
R E D E E M I N G   T H E   T I M E                                       243        BE4RER
  Editorial  - Prof. David  /. Engelsma                         _.               ISSN 0362-4692
     FREEDOM FROM PORNOGRAPHY                                             245    Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
                                                                                 and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
                                                                                 lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
  Letters                                                                        at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
     LIMITS TO SUBMISSION?                                                247    EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
                                                                                 Editor-in-chief: Prof. David  I. Engelsma
                                                                                 Managing Editor: Prof. Robert D. Decker
 The Day of Shadows  -  Rev.  lohn  A. Heys                                      Editors' Assistant: Mr. Don Doezema
     SATAN'S SPIRITUAL SUBTLETY                                           249    DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                 Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
                                                                                 Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
  Guest Article  - Rev. Robert C. Harbach                                        Critters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
     TRUE AND FALSE  SHEPHERDS(2)                                         251    Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John Heys, Rev.
                                                                                 Jason Kortering, Rev. George Lubbers, Rev. James
                                                                                 Slopsema, Rev. Charles Terpstra, Rev. Cise
  Decency and Order  - Rev. Ronald C. Cammenga                                   VanBaren,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
     EMERITATION                                                          254    EDITORIAL OFFICE
                                                                                 The Standard Bearer
                                                                                 4949  lvanrest
  Bible Study Guide  - Rev.  lason  L. Kortering                                 Crandville,  Michigan 49418
    JUDGES  - JEHOVAH DELIVERS HIS UNWORTHY PEOPLE (4)                    256    CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                 Mr. Ben Wigger
                                                                                 6597  - 40th Ave.
 Contribution  - Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema                                         Hudsonville,  Michigan 49426
    SOME IMPRESSIONS FROM "DOWN UNDER" (2)                                259    EDITORIAL POLICY
                                                                                 Every editor is solely responsible for the contents
                                                                                 of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
  NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES  - Mr. Benjamin Wigger                           262    terest from our readers and questions for the
                                                                                 Question Box Department are welcome. Contribu-
  NEWS FROM THE CONTACT COMMITTEE                                         263    tions will be limited to approximately 300 words
                                                                                 and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
                                                                                 must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first and
                                                                                 the fifteenth of the month. All communications
                                                                                 relative to the contents should be sent to the
   Inside this issue . . .                                                       editorial office.
                                                                                 REPRINT POLICY
                                                                                 Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of
                                                                                 articles in our magazine by other publications,
     It is one thing to deplore, and even be sickened by, the terrible           provided: a) that such reprinted articles are repro-
  crimes committed by the rapists and murderers who are an ever-                 duced in full;  b) that proper acknowledgement is
                                                                                 made;  c) that a copy of the periodical in which
  increasing menace to the society in which we live. It is quite another         such reprint appears is sent to our editorial office.
                                                                                 BUSINESS OFFICE            NEW ZEALAND OFFICE
  to see all of that sexual violence as the judgment of God on a                 The Standard Bearer The Standard Bearer
  pornographic society.                                                          Mr. H.  Vander   Wal       c/o Protestant Reformed
                                                                                 P.O. Box 6064                Church
     Again, it is one thing to deplore the fact that pornography, in             Grand Rapids, MI           B. Van Herk
  every conceivable form, pervades the land in which we live. It is                49516                    66 Fraser St.
                                                                                 PH:  (6161243-2953      W a i n u i o m a t a ,   N e w   Z e a l a n d
  quite another to get really serious about rooting the carnal enjoyment         SUBSCRIPTION POLICY
  of it, in one form or another, out of one's own life.                          Subscription price, $12.00 per year. Unless a
                                                                                 definite request for discontinuance is received, it
     Read "Freedom from Pornography," in which editorial Prof.                   is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscrip-
                                                                                 tion to continue without the formality of a re-
 Engelsma goes as usual straight to the heart of the problem. Then               newal order, and he will be billed for renewal. If
  meditate again on the "cover copy."                                            you have a change of address, please notify the
                                                                                 Business Office as early as possible in order to
                                                                                 avoid the inconvenience of delayed delivery. In-
                                                                                 clude your Zip Code.
                                                                                 ADVERTISING POLICY
                                                                                 The Standard  Bearer  does not accept commercial
                                                                                 advertising of any kind. Announcements of church
                                                                                 and school events, anniversaries, obituaries, and
                                                                                 sympathy resolutions will be placed for a $3.00
                                                                                 fee. These should be sent to the Business Office
                                                                                 and should be accompanied by the $3.00 fee.
                                                                                 Deadline for announcements is the 1st and the
                                                                                 15th of the month, previous to publication on the
                                                                                 15th or the 1st respectively.
                                                                                 BOUND VOLUMES
                                                                                 The Business Office will accept standing orders
                                                                                 for bound copies of the current volume; such
                                                                                 orders are filled as soon as possible after comple-
                                                                                 tion of a volume. A limited number of past
                                                                                 volumes may be obtained through the Business
                                                                                 Office.
                                                                                 16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm and 105mm
                                                                                 microfiche, and article copies are available
                                                                                 through University Microfilms international.


  242  I  The  Standard  Bearer


 Meditation
Rev. lames Slopsema                      Redeeming the Time

   See then that ye walk cir-               The connection is quite simple.    for the,ir future work in the
cumspectly, not as fools, but            If the Ephesian saints will expose    kingdom. Marriage affords oppor-
as wise, Redeeming the time,             and reprove the unfruitful works      tunities to serve the Lord.
because the days are evil.               of darkness around them, they         Husbands.and wives serve the
               Ephesians 5:15, 16        must walk circumspectly, re-          Lord when each fulfills his.or her
                                         deeming the time.                     duties in marriage. Married
                                            The same holds true for us. As
  Ephesus was a major city. It                                                 couples also serve the Lord when
                                         children of the light we must         they bring forth the seed of the
was also a very godless city,            walk circumspectly, not as fools,     covenant and train them in the
given over to the worship of the         but as wise, redeeming the time.      fear of the Lord. The wealth God
goddess, Diana.                          * *  * * *  * * * * *
  The apostle Paul in this letter                                              gives us is an opportunity to
                                                                               serve the Lord. The wealth God
to the church in Ephesus warns              The word of God speaks here
the saints not to have fellowship        of time.                              gives us is an opportunity to
with the unfruitful works of dark-          Sometimes when the Bible           serve the Lord. So too are our
ness that prevailed in Ephesus.          speaks of time, it views time         God-given abilities. We will never
Their calling is rather to reprove       simply as a succession of             lack opportunity to serve the
                                                                               Lord. This is true even when we
these evil works and even expose         moments: seconds, minutes,            are old and feeble and feel that
them for what they were.                 hours, days, weeks, months,
  The apostle Paul roots this call-      years . . . .                         we are a burden to others.
ing in the great work of grace              Here, however, the Bible em-              This time we are to redeem.
which God had accomplished in            phasizes that which characterizes            To redeem simply means to
the Ephesian saints. At one time         a specific period of time. The        buy or purchase for yourself. To
they were darkness. But now              word "time" could just as well be     redeem the time therefore means
they are light in the Lord. Walk,        translated "age" or "era." We         to buy up for yourself all the op-
therefore, as children of the light.,    speak, for example, of the ln-        portunities to serve God that are
  See then that ye walk cir-             dustrial Age, the Nuclear             presented to you in this life.
                                                                                      This is obviously a figurative
cumspectly, not as fools, but as         Age . . . .                           expression. The idea is that we
wise, redeeming the time,                  If we will be more specific, the    must make good use of the op-
because the days are evil.               time God speaks of here is the
                                         time each one of us has on the        portunities God gives us to serve
                                         earth. That which characterizes       Him. When presented with an
                                         this time is opportunity, wonder-     opportunity to serve, we are to
                                         ful opportunity to serve the Lord.    seize it.and take full advantage of
                                           God affords us in this life many    it.
                                         wonderful opportunities to serve             By means of this figure of
                                         Him. Children have the oppor-         redeeming, however, the Word
                                         tunity to serve the Lord in the       of God emphasizes especially two
                                         home by honoring father and           things.
                                         mother. Children also have the               First, the Word of God empha-
                                                                               sizes that, `if we will make use of
Rev. Slopsema is pastor of the Prot-     opportunity to serve the Lord in      the opportunities He gives us to
estant Reformed Church of Walker,        school by preparing themselves
Michigan.                                                                      serve, there is a price to be paid.

                                                                                                   The Standard Bearer  I243


This certainly is the case, when        who seize the opportunities God            See then that ye walk cir-
we buy some earthly possession          gives them in this life and serve        cumspectly, redeeming the time.
for ourselves. There is a price to      Him with a pure heart.                     The need for this carefulness
be paid. It costs us something. In        When we redeem the time, we            to do God's will in our life is
like manner it costs us when we         purchase for ourselves a great           underscored by the fact that the
make good use of the oppor-             reward!                                  days are evil.
tunities afforded us to serve God.        And bear in mind that this               That the days are evil means
Sometimes it will cost us dearly.       reward of eternal life is so great       that they are dangerous, full
Serving God can cost us often a         that the cost of serving God is          of peril. The days are evil exactly
great deal of money, when, for          not worthy to be compared to.it!         because the wicked fill them with
example, we send our children to        * * *  * * * * * * *                     the unfruitful works of darkness.
the Christian school. Serving God                                                Wickedness abounds in our day.
also costs a great deal of effort         See then that ye walk cir-             It prevails in every level of so-
and time. It can cost us the            cumspectly.                              ciety. Wherever we go, wherever
esteem of our fellow man. It may,         Because the days are evil.             we turn, we face the great
even one day cost us our lives.           Our walk is the whole of our           abomination of the children of
                                        life: our thoughts, our desires,
   For that reason many fail to                                                  darkness. In fact, many of these
make use of the opportunities           our motives, our speech, our ac-         works are so abominable it is a
they have to serve. They                tions. To walk circumspectly             shame even to speak of them.
                                        means to live carefully, with
squander their opportunities. It                                                   And we are the children of
                                        exactness and precision. More
costs too much to serve God; and                                                 light. But we are children of light
                                        specifically, to walk circumspect-
they are not willing to pay the                                                  who still have a sinful nature that
                                        ly means that in the whole of our
price.                                                                           is aroused and excited by these
                                        lives we are careful to keep
   The Word of God, however,                                                     works of darkness. Consequently,
                                        Gods will and commandments,
charges us to make use of every                                                  if we do not walk circumspectly,
                                        straying from them neither to the
opportunity we have to serve                                                     we will soon be led astray into
                                        right nor to the left. We are
God, no matter what the cost.                                                    the unfruitful works of darkness,
   Redeem the time.                     careful to conform our thoughts,         squandering the golden oppor-
                                        our desires, our motives, our
   Through the figure of redeem-                                                 tunities God gives us to serve
ing the time the Word of God            speech, our actions, our all to the      Him.
also emphasizes that by making          will of God.                               See then that ye walk cir-
                                          Quite obviously this careful-
use of our opportunities to serve                                                cumspectly, redeeming the time,
                                        ness to keep God's command-
God we purchase for ourselves a                                                  for the days are evil.
                                        ments is necessary, if we will
great reward.                                                                    *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
                                        redeem the time. For we can
   When we go shopping and buy                                                     It is possible to redeem the
something for ourselves, .we get        serve God only when we do the
                                                                                 time only in Jesus Christ.
something for the price we pay.         will of God.
                                          Many, even in the church, are            Indeed, we are called to
We end up with something we             not circumspect with respect to          redeem the time. But we must
want or need, perhaps something         their walk of life. Their great          also remember that at the cross
that gives us great pleasure and        care in life is not to do the will of    Jesus has already redeemed us
satisfaction.                           God but to attain material               and therefore has also redeemed
   In like manner do we purchase        wealth, to enjoy the pleasures of        the time for us.
for ourselves a great treasure          this world, to gain the esteem of          Apart from Jesus Christ we are
when we make use of the oppor-          man; Consequently, when these            children of darkness, in bondage
tunities God gives us to serve          learn that the service of God re-        to the power of sin. The result of
Him. We will obtain from the            quires that they give up many of         this spiritual slavery is that we
Lord the reward of eternal life.        these earthly things, they are           are bound to live according to
  Certainly this great reward is        neither willing nor able. These          the course of this world,
not earned or merited by the ser-       earthly things mean too much to          squandering all the opportunities
vice we render to the Lord. This        them. The cost of serving God is         God gives us to serve Him.
reward is earned for us by. the         too high. And so the golden op-            But Jesus has redeemed us at
perfect obedience of our Lord           portunities God gives them to            the cross. He has paid for all our
Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, this        serve Him slip through their             sins. The price He paid was ex-
great gift of eternal glory is given    fingers one by one.                      tremely high. He paid for our
to us as a reward. God gives eter-                                               sins with His own life.
nal glory as a reward to all those

244  I The Standard Bearer


   On the basis of this great             It is only therefore in the               This we do when we spend
sacrifice the risen and exalted         power of Jesus' redemption that           much time with the Word of God
Jesus transforms us from children       we can redeem the time.                   and in prayer.
of darkness into the children of          This means that to redeem the             See then that ye walk cir-
light. Through this wonderful           time we must live by faith in the         cumspectly.
transformation we are delivered         power of Jesus' death and resur-            Not as fools, but as wise.
from the bondage of sin. And we         rection.                                    Redeeming the time.
are `led by Christ to walk cir-                                                     Because the days are evil. q
cumspectly, redeeming the time.





                                        Freedom from
Editorial                               Pornography

   The State of Florida recently           It came out after the                  men as he are on the loose. God
carried~ out its duty as the servant    murderer's death that por-                is punishing our pornographic
of God by executing His wrath           nography pIayed a powerful part           society with such men as this
upon a murderer in the form of          in his gruesome killing of many           murderer and with such atrocious
the death-penalty. This was obe-        women. He was quoted as say-              deeds as those done by him. Our
dience, whether conscious or un-        ing:                                      nation permits, indeed revels in,
conscious, to the will of God. God      I have lived in prison for a long time    pornography. Magazines, music,
commands, "Whoso  sheddeth              now, and I've met a lot of men who        movies, videos, theaters, books,
man's blood, by man shall his           were motivated to violence just like      and television make sexual filth
blood be shed: for in the image         me. And without exception, every          of every imaginable (and even
of God made he man" (Gen. 9:6).         one of them was deeply involved in        unimaginable) kind the standard
The purpose is primarily retribu-       pornography  - without question,          fare for millions. It is open,
tion: the justice of God, Who           without exception, deeply influenced      public, and protected by law. To
made man originally in His own          and consumed by an addiction.
                                        There's no question about it. The         a people who approve and take
image, avenges itself upon the          FBI2  own study on serial homicide        pleasure in this iniquity, God
murderer. But in this way Florida       shows that the most common interest       says, "Do you permit this? Do
also proved itself a servant of the     among serial killers is pornography.      you want this? Do you amuse
citizens of the United States. By         There seems to be little reason         yourself with this? Do you allow
the execution of the murderer,          to doubt his testimony concern-           your young to be raised on this?
the people are protected from           ing his own behavior. Apparent-           Do your courts decree that this
further depredations on the part        ly, the murderer poured out con-          ungodliness and unrighteousness
of that evildoer. Also, we may be       fessions at the end, terrified by         have a legal right in the corner
sure that others inclined to the        his impending execution and by            drug store, nightly on prime-time
same wickedness will be deterred        the hell to follow.                       television, and at the movie
from carrying out their desire by         Whether he spoke the truth in           theater as advertised in every
fear of punishment. Rulers who          his own case or not, his                  newspaper? Very well, you shall
are willing to use the electric         reference to pornography points           have this sin, in My wrath, in its
chair are a terror to evil works.       out something that ought to trou-         effects and consequences!" And
                                        ble the citizens of our country           the rapists and murderers stalk
                                        more than that such depraved              the land!


                                                                                                    The Standard Bearer  / 245


   God punishes the children of        the secular press jeered at the sil-         Pornography is simply sexually
disobedience for pornography.          ly notion that those deeds "were          unclean materials, whether
"Because of these things," Paul        all the fault of dirty pictures."         music, pictures, books, magazine
writes in Ephesians 5:6, "cometh       Scripture is fulfilled. Time and          articles, television programs, or
the wrath of God upon the              again, Revelation says of the             (as is the latest invention) a
children of disobedience." He          world at the end that, no matter          recorded message available by
refers to such things as naming        how sorely they are afflicted by          telephone. Biblically, whatever
fornication, uncleanness, filthi-      the vials of God's wrath, "they           depicts, portrays, or relates sex-
ness, and foolish talking and          repented not to give him glory"           ual impurity for amusement and
jesting. For this, the wrath of God    (16:9, 11).                               entertainment is pornography.
comes upon the world already              The world cannot see. To see           The word itself has as its root the
now. It comes! As Paul writes in       the judgments of God requires a           Greek word pornee, meaning
a similar vein in Romans 1: 18,        mind opened to the warning of             whore, or prostitute. Por-
"The wrath of God is revealed          Scripture in Proverbs 5 that the          nography then is the filth (in
from heaven against all ungodli-       "strange woman" will cause a              whatever form) related to the sin
ness and unrighteousness of            man to "mourn at the last, when           of whoredom, or prostitution.
men . . . ." One way that divine       thy flesh and thy body are con-           The gospel of Jesus Christ con-
wrath comes upon the world is          sumed," and that the reason for           demns pornography, and forbids
the consequences of the sins           this is that "the ways of man are         the Christian to give it any place
themselves that the world loves.       before the eyes of the LORD, and          .in his or her life. Ephesians 5:3
The sovereign God makes sin too        he pondereth all his goings. His          speaks of this very temptation:
a rod of His wrath.                    own iniquities shall take the             "But fornication, and all unclean-
   These are terrible judgments of     wicked himself, and he shall be           ness . . . let it not be once named
God. Accounts of the deeds of          holden  with the cords of his sins"       among you, as becometh saints."
the recently executed murderer         (vss. 11, 2 1, 22). It requires grace,    Not fornication, but the naming
sickened hardened law officers,        which creates hatred, not merely          of fornication among us in forbid-
we are told. The present judg-         of sin's consequences, but of sin         den; and the naming of fornica-
ments of God are not as awful as       itself, because it enables men and        tion among us is pornography.
those that will follow the final       women to see the darkness of              Sexual filth may have no place in
judgment of the nations at the         sin, in this case, pornography, in        our lives whatever. This is simply
coming of Christ; but they are         stark contrast to the glistening          what it means to be a saint, i.e.,
awful still. The living God is         purity of the holy being of God.          a man or woman made holy by
dreadful in the reaction of His        The world cannot see because              the Spirit of Christ. Freedom
holiness to the corruption of sin-     God is blinding the world for the         from pornography is part of the
ful men and women. This is one         final judgment. As the simpleton          abc's of the Christian life.
important way in which He              of Proverbs 7 goes after the                The foolish talking and joking
distinguishes Himself from the         strange woman, the world pur-             about sexual filth on the televi-
lifeless idols that abound in          sues its pornography, "as an ox           sion talk shows, the infidelities
nominally Christian churches to-       goeth to the slaughter . . . and          portrayed on the afternoon
day.                                   knoweth not that it is for his life"      "soaps," and the evening dramas
  The world will not see the           (vss. 22, 23).                            devoted to illicit sex (and often to
judgments of God. Just as the            But what about us, who have             illicit sex and violence) are por-
world violently repudiates the ex-     been called out of the world and          nography. The magazines featur-
planation of AIDS and the other        who are enlightened by the Holy           ing nudity are pornography. The
diseases that run rampant in the       Spirit?                                   movies that entertain with forni-
wake of sexual promiscuity and           Do we tremble a little at the           cation are pornography. Many a
perversity, that they are divine       possibility of our dear wives and         modern novel, devoid of any plot
judgments on sin (and sinners), so     daughters being ravaged by such           except how to indulge every sex-
does the world reject the warn-        a devil (if we are men), or at the        ual lust, is pornography.
ing that sexual violence and           possibility of our being raped and
murder are the whirlwind reaped        murdered (if we are women), and
by those who sow the wind of           do we vehemently assert the
pornography, because God can-          justice of the execution of such
not be mocked. Hardly had the          as he was, only to settle down
murderer spoken of the rule of         again to . . . pornography?
pornography in his crimes than

246  / The Standard Bearer


  The outrage of professing               of God, would outlaw por-                  To the believer temporarily
Christians who regularly and im-          nography. It would drive the por-        snared in pornography (by his
penitently amuse themselves with          nographic publishers and the por-        own fault!), it is the call to repen-
this filth over the atrocities com-       nographic television and movie           tance, earnest prayer for grace to
mitted by such men as the                 moguls from the land, not only           resist in the future, a fierce battle
murderer recently put to. death           as scum, but also as enemies of          of self-discipline, and, perhaps,
by the State of Florida is                the State, especially in its young       turning to his pastor or elder for
hypocrisy.                                people. Pornography has no               help in the struggle.
  The man or woman for whom               more rights under the First                To the young people, it is the
the use and enjoyment of this             Amendment than does screaming            warning to avoid pornography in
pornography of television,                "fire" in a crowded public               every form from the very outset
magazines, and movies is a way            building.                                of the conscious Christian life
of life has no reason to regard             But our hope does not rest in          that hopes to end in heaven, as
himself or herself as different           the wisdom of the Supreme                they would avoid one of Satan's
from the world in its most                Court. Rather, it lies in the reality    most powerful, most destructive,
debauched depravity, nor any              and power of the antithesis. By          and most shameful devices.
reason to suppose that he or she          His redeeming death and by the             To us pastors, elders, parents,
will escape the world's judgment.         sanctifying of His Spirit, Jesus         and Christian schoolteachers, it is
  The urgent call from our Lord           Christ frees every member of His         the call of the Savior to instruct
Jesus to every believer and to            elect church from the slavery of         the people of God, old and
the children of believers is,             pornography. By His gospel, He           young, in their glorious liberty
"come out from among them,                calls every one of us to walk in         from pornography and to ad-
and be ye separate, saith the             this liberty: "have no fellowship        monish them against being again.
Lord, and touch not the unclean           with the unfruitful works of dark-       entangled in that sordid
thing; and 1 will receive you" (II        ness" (Eph. 5: 11). Note well: the       bondage. q                         -DJE
Cor. 6: 17). Government that truly        imperious call of the Lord is to
cared for the welfare of the na-          separation from the worlds dark
tion, much more that had a                works.
modicum of zeal for the holiness





Letters                                   Limits to Submission?

  Regarding your January 1                gospel that strong and  weaker             With respect to the December
editorial, "Whither the P.R.C.?" I        brethren live together in peace, and     1, 1988 issue of the Standard
want to show my appreciation              the Apostle5  tribute to charity. "      Bearer, which throughout for-
for the thoughts expressed,                  A clearer and more concise            bade Christians to resist govern-
especially in a paragraph which I         commentary on Psalm 15 I have            ments, I` have some questions
quote in part:                            never read. Keep up the good             based on history.
"The P.R.C. must not be blind to the      work, Mr. Editor; may The Stan-            1. In 1944 during the Nazi oc-
internal threat of division and strife    dard Bearer ever hoist such              cupation in Holland, the queen,
born of pride, fanned by wicked           warning flags!                           Wilhelmina, being in England
tongues, and justified by a zeal that          J.M. Faber                          ordered all the railroad personnel
ignores Christian liberty in the area          Grand Rapids, Michigan              to strike, with the idea of pre-
of adiaphora, the demand of the                                                    venting Jews from being trans-
                                                                                   ported from Holland to the gas

                                                                                                   ;Ihe Standard Bearer  f 217


chambers in Germany. The Nazis          for the Glorious Revolution of               judges did not by that fact
forbade it. What action was a           1688. The Reformed Christian                 become Israel's rightful lords. Nor
Christian railroader to take?           has his own view of history. Here            was Assyria the "higher power"
   2. Were our Dutch forefathers        as everywhere, the principle ap-             over Judah at the beginning of
correct in fighting king Philip II      plies, "let God be'true, but every           the reign of Hezekiah. Hezekiah's
in the Dutch religious war,             man a liar" (Rom. 3:4). Before               father, Ahaz, had wickedly made
15681648?                               these struggles are judged as                Judah dependent upon, and sub-
   3. Was William III of Orange         rebellion, however, it would have            ject to, the world-power of
correct in liberating England           to be established, first, that the           Assyria, trusting in that great na-
from King James and thereby             tyrants were the legitimate                  tion for help rather than in the
humanly speaking saving Prot-           authorities and, second, that the            Lord (cf. II Kings 16:5ff.).
estantism?                              "resistance" was not in fact the             Hezekiah's "rebellion," therefore,
   4. Also, the Bible gives ex-         lawful effort of "the lesser                 was a good, godly repudiation of
amples of resisting government:         magistrates" to bring to heel, or            the illicit might of Assyria.
       a. the Judges against their      depose, rulers who had over-                 Besides, of course, Israel was the
           oppressor-kings.             stepped their bounds. This makes             people of God, over whom no na-
       b. king Hezekiah against         interesting historical study.           '    tion had any right to dominate,
           Assyria (II Kings 18:7),       As regards your reference to               much less a right to oppress, so
           and with the blessing of     the Dutch resistance to the Nazi             that, when God had finished
           the Lord.                    occupation during the second                 chastising His people by means
   The point 1 like to raise is: Are    world war (a very volatile subject           of the nations, it was right that
there not limits to this submission     among the older Dutch Reformed               the Lord raised up deliverers for
to government? It seems to me           people in the past), I have never            Israel.
that the Lord has blessed the           understood the debate as center-               One thing more - even if men
above-mentioned revolts: For            ing on the question, whether                 and nations sinfully resisted
sure, history would be quite dif-       believing citizens of a country              lawful authorities, God could, and
ferent if people would meekly           may revolt against their legiti-             did, bring wonderful benefits out
have submitted to such tyrants.         mate rulers. Rather, the question            of this for His church. God is able
Hopefully you can explain this to       was whether the Nazis were the               to bring about in history what He
me.                                     legitimate government of                     has planned for the blessing of
       C. VanOosterom                   Holland. If they were, Reformed              His church through deeds of men
       Chilliwack, British Columbia     Christians were wrong to resist,             that are contrary to His com-
                                        on the basis of Romans 13:1-7. In            mands. But from the beneficial
Response                                my judgment, there is good                   result of this or that uprising in a
   It is the clear teaching of the      reason to believe that the Ger-              nation, no conclusion can be
New Testament that the Christian        man occupying force was nothing              drawn as to the godliness of the
is called to serve the Lord Jesus       but an invader and a usurper,                uprising itself. The selling of
by an unconditional submission          similar to a home-invader who                Joseph into Egypt had wonderful
to the civil government.                might temporarily take over in a             results - the salvation of the Old
Rebellion, or resistance, is never      home by force, but whom the                  Testament church; but the deed
permitted the believer, although        Reformed husband would over-                 was a wicked one on the part of
there are certainly times when          come, or even kill, if need be, at           the brothers. 0                    -Ed.
he may not obey specific laws.          the first opportunity. In this case,
  Histoiical  events must. be           there was nothing wrong with                 Be not too busy with thy work and
judged in light of the Word of          resistance in compliance with the              care
God; and not the other way              directives of Queen Wilhelmina.              To look to God, to clasp thy hand
around. If Romans 13:1-7 con-             Your references to Scripture                 in His;
demns our Dutch forefathers'            underscore the point that there is           Miss thou all else, but fail not
struggle for liberty against tyran-     distinction between a legitimate               thou in this.
nical Spain and the persecuting         government (which may not be                 Thou needst not all alone thy
Roman Catholic Church, which            resisted) and a foreign power that             burdens bear.
historian Motley has called the         temporarily subjects a weaker na-            Listen and wait; obey and learn
most glorious struggle for              tion to itself (whose tyranny may              His will.
religious and political liberty in      be broken at the first opportuni-            His love and service all thy `life
history, so be it. The same holds       ty). The nations that enslaved
                                        Israel during the time of the                  shall fill.

248  I The Standard Bearer


     The Day                                Satan's Spiritual
     of Shadows
     Rev. john Heys                         Subtlety

        The enmity which God de-              When' Jesus was crucified, and        removes from.it all the seed of
     clared would arise between the         they cast lots for His robe, He         the serpent, and until He raises
     seed of the woman and the seed         was not killed because they were        our bodies, so that they have
     of the serpent manifested itself in    after His robe. The completely          none of the hatred against God
     the first family that dwelt upon       opposite spiritual nature which         that we all have all through this
     the face of this earth. It clearly     was in them made them hate              life.
     revealed itself as being due to a      Him and take away His earthly              Thus, the cross of Christ is not
     spiritual difference between two       life. Cain's killing of Abel fore-      the only manifestation of the
     individuals, and as fulfillment of     shadowed this cross; and it             world's hatred against God. That
     God's word in the mother prom-         reveals why the Jews who were           hatred against God reveals itself
     ise.                                   the seed of the serpent nailed          in the way the seed of the ser-
        One seed of the serpent may         Christ to His cross. It also fore-      pent treats all those who love
     kill another seed of the serpent.      shadowed the sufferings the             God, and who reveal this in their
     That we see when we find one           church has had since that day of        walk of life. Cain will presently
     nation rising up against another       Abel's death, and the worldwide         appear spiritually in the person
     nation because of a desire for         murder that is coming to the            of the antichrist. We may be sure
     more land, or for riches that          seed of the woman in the days of        that the truth in that mother
     another nation has. It may also        the antichrist.                         promise is going to be revealed,
     be because of cruelty that the           There at the dawn of history,         not in one family, but across the
     other nation made it suffer.           at the beginning of the human           face of this earth. A universal en-
        Nothing like that caused Cain       race, and in its first family, one      mity will be manifested.
     to kill Abel. He was not trying to     who was outside of Christ re-              But to return to what we
     get hold of Abel's earthly posses-     vealed his hatred against His           began last time, the shadow of
     sions. It was not because Abel         church. Yea, Cain's hatred              Arminianism and all other false
K    had struck him by a blow, or           against Abel reveals the present        doctrines was clearly cast just
     even called him by a name he           worlds hatred against God, Who          outside the garden of Eden. And
     did not want attached to him.          made such a tremendously con-           as pointed out before, the so-
     No, it was because of a spiritual      trasting difference between His         called theistic evolutionists -
     difference that God had realized       church and the world, in the first      which actually are atheistic
     between them. God had im-              two sons that were born to Adam         evolutionists, for they will not
     planted His love in Abel and not       and Eve.                                listen to God but to evolutionists,
     in Cain. He had caused Abel to           Here is the truth of Jeremiah         and go along with atheists who
     be born again, and He had left         6:14: "They have healed also the        are the seed of the serpent -
     Cain in the spiritual death Adam       hurt of the daughter of my              deny that mother promise. For
     had brought upon the human             people, saying, Peace, peace,           they call Genesis l-11 fiction and
     race through his sin.                  when there is no peace." There is       not fact. They must deny, then,
                                            no peace because God gave a             the fact that a man named Cain
                                            new spiritual life to some, and left    killed his brother Abel. This is
                                            others in their spiritual death.        only fiction. And the awesome
             .----  -.._-_.                 There just cannot be peace on           thing is that, by calling those first
     Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in    this earth until Christ returns and     eleven chapters of Genesis fic-
     the Protestant Reformed Churches.

                                                                                                    The Standard Bearer  I249


tion, they call the mother prom-         What are we going to do with           Another interesting and impor-
ise fiction! God then did not          the New Testament passages that        tant passage is Matthew 23:34-35
really say that to Adam and Eve        also speak of Cain and Abel? In        where Jesus speaks of Abel as a
and to Satan. No, go and listen to     Hebrews 11:4 we read: "By faith        real person. Never mind what the
the seed of the serpent, who can       Abel offered unto God a more           so-called Theistic Evolutionists
tell you better than God can how       excellent sacrifice than Cain, by      say. Listen to Christ! He said:
this world came into being.            which he obtained witness that         "Wherefore, behold, I send unto
   Do these so-called theistic         he was righteous, God testifying       you prophets, and wise men, and
evolutionists listen to the evolu-     of his gifts; and by it he being       scribes: and some of them ye
tionists when they speak about         dead yet speaketh." How can a          shall kill and crucify: and some of
the birth and death of Christ?         fictitious man die? He never           them shall ye scourge in your
Could a woman, who is a virgin         lived. How then could the author       synagogues, and persecute them
and remains a virgin when her          of Hebrews, being inspired by          from city to city. That upon you
child- is born, get a child without    God, say that a man who never          may come all the righteous blood
an earthly father in less than a       existed died, and still speaks to-     shed upon the earth, from the
billion years? And when a body         day by his deeds? Why are we           blood of righteous Abel unto the
was in the grave for three days,       not here informed by God that          blood of Zacharias son of
could it in less than a billion        this is only a story, a parable and    Barachias, whom ye slew be-
years develop into a new,              not an actual fact?                    tween the temple and the altar."
wonderful, spiritual body? Why           Still more, in I John 3:12 we        Did Christ mix up a fictitious per-
call the first eleven chapters of      read: "Not as Cain, who was of         son with a very real person? Or
Genesis fiction, and then call the     that wicked one, and slew his          did He not know that the first
first four books of the New Testa-     brother. And wherefore slew he         eleven chapters of Genesis were
ment fact? If God could - and          him? Because his own works             fiction?
He did - bring forth the body of       were evil, and his'brothers              Then again in Luke 11:49-51
Christ in Mary in nine months;         righteous." John does not give         we read these words of Jesus:
and if He could - and did -            even the slightest suggestion that     "Therefore also said the wisdom
raise Christ's body in three days,     Cain and Abel were fictitious per-     of God, I will send them prophets
why must we have all that              sons. He presents them as real         and apostles, and some of them
nonsense, that insulting               persons; and God is the one Who        shall slay and persecute: That the
philosophy drawn up by the seed        moved John to write that way           blood of the prophets, which was
of the serpent, to explain the         about them.                            shed from the foundation of the
creation of this world? Do we not        Let us hold fast to the truth of     world, may be required of this
read in Psalm 33:9: "For He            that mother promise that the           generation. From the blood of
spake, and it was done; He com-        seed of the serpent is going to do     Abel unto the blood of Zacharias,
manded, and it stood fast"? Is         all it can to destroy the seed of      which perished between the altar
Psalm 33 also fiction?                 the woman. They are going to           and the temple." Jesus, Who was
   If we are going to listen to the    try to destroy our faith in God,       no Theistic Evolutionist, said
unbelieving evolutionists about        for Satan is behind them, and          that Abel was slain from the
how the world came into being          they are his seed. It is not simply    foundation of the world. There is
- denying even that God created        the physical death of the seed of      not the slightest suggestion here
it - why do we not listen to           the woman that Satan is con-           that this was fiction and not fact!
them also as far as Christ's virgin    stantly seeking. Far more serious      Why begin with the blood of a
birth and resurrection the third       is the fact that he is seeking to      fictitious person and put him in
day are concerned? Should it           kill them spiritually by bringing      the same class, in fact as the
take us three years to decide          the lie into the church. And the       head of the class, in which
whether what the seed of the           sad fact is that the teaching of       Zacharias was? Why may we call
woman, Moses, wrote as guided          evolutionists, the seed of the ser-    Zacharias a real person, if we in:
by the Holy Spirit, is correct;        pent, has so much power in the         sist that Abel was not?
since the seed of the serpent,         church world today. And, pretty          How mightily Satan is working
who rule God out completely,           soon, those who continue to            in the church world today, trying
deny this truth? Should it take us     refuse to listen to the world, in      with false doctrines to get the
three years to decide whether we       the day of the antichrist, are go-     seed of the woman to join the
are going to listen to God or to       ing to be killed, even as Abel         seed of the serpent, rather than
Satan and his seed?                    was.                                   reveal the sharp, distinct spiritual
                                                                              difference between them. Here is

2.50  / The Standard Bearer


Satan's lie and deceitful approach        When then today we see the                  That we should hold before
to Adam and Eve repeated and            idolatries which deny that                  our eyes! His attack through false
continued. He did not want man          Jehovah is God and God alone,               doctrines should warn us and
to listen to God, when He said          but also find churches, that call           spur us on to more defence of
that man should not eat of the          themselves Christian churches,              the truth. We ought to be far
tree of knowledge of good and           teaching a salvation by works in-           more concerned with our
evil. Now he has gotten men in          stead of by grace, we see how               children's spiritual well-being
the church world to tell us not to      much Satan has through his seed             than their physical good.
listen to what God said in those        influenced that church world.                 Today while many are at-
first eleven chapters of Genesis.       Likewise the denial of total                tempting to bring together into
The Bible begins with a myth,           depravity, the denial that -Adam            one body all who call themselves
not a true story. And even Gods         died spiritually, and did not simp-         Christians, by compromising with
own Son in our flesh was not            ly become weak before God                   the lie, making more general
aware of the fact that this is only     caused him to be born again,                creeds and confessions, watering
myth. He thought Abel was a             reveals this enmity between the             down doctrines to get unity, we
real person, as real as Zacharias!      seed of the serpent and the seed            should insist on what God
Will it take you three seconds to       of the woman. It reveals that the           declares in His word, and live in
decide whether you are going to         seed of the serpent is seeking to           the consciousness of the fact that
listen to Christ or to Satan and        kill us spiritually; and that what'         there are two contrasting
those whom he has gotten hold           Satan tried, and succeeded in do-           spiritual differences in what calls
of and caused to believe what he        ing there in Adam and Eve, he is            itself church, as well as between
has caused the seed of the ser-         still doing, and with craft and             true believers and the seed of the
pent to say about creation, and         guile is attacking the church of            serpent.
thus about God, Who presents            Christ. He did not quit tempting              To be safe we have to know
that creation quite differently in      man after he fell. Because God              who the enemy is. And we have
Psalm 33:9, as already pointed          caused His elect to be born                 to listen to God and not to men.
out? But then look at verse 6 as        again, Satan is furious and is ex-          If evolution gets into the church,
well: "By the word of the Lord          ecuting wide-spread, subtle at-             Satan is there, and more false
were the heavens made; and all          tacks.                                      doctrines are going to follow and
the host of them by the breath of                                                   rule the churches into which he
His mouth." Was God speaking                                                        has already brought the seed of
for billions of years in order to                                                   the serpent as their leaders and
make the created world?                                                             teachers. Cl





                                        True and Fa se
 Guest Article                                                                 1
Rev. Robert Harbach                     Shepherds (i I1

                                        TRUE SHEPHERDS ENTER                        Jesus. But this, we believe,
                                        BY THE DOOR                                 results in a faulty exegesis. It is a
                                           "He that entereth in by the              shepherd who enters in by the
                                        door is the (literally, a) shepherd         door of the sheep. This shepherd
                                        of the sheep" (v. 2). In the                represents the teaching and
                                        previous article we pointed out             preaching elder of the church. To
`Rev. Harbach is a minister emeritus    that most commentaries in their             this person, "the doorkeeper
in the Protestant Reformed Churches.    exposition apply this verse to              openeth." The spiritual shepherd

                                                                                                     The Standard Bearer  I251


of the sheep does not climb up         knows them well because he                 Jesus had this class of persons
over the wall. He does not force       goes in and out among them.             in view when He said, "All that
the door, nor sneak in unnoticed       The other shepherds who bed             ever came before me are thieves
by the doorkeeper. The overseer        down their sheep in the same            and robbers, but the sheep did
of the door is the doorkeeper. He      fold do likewise. These shepherds       not hear them." Rendering the
recognizes the shepherd as an          have all entered in by the door.        text "All who made a public ap-
officebearer appointed by the          Therefore they shall be saved,          pearance previous to My coming,
Chief Shepherd, and so grants          kept safe and sound. As one             laying claim to being divinely
him entrance. The door gives ac-       shepherd put it, "I was delivered       commissioned teachers, are
cess because the doorkeeper            out of the mouth of the lion; and       thieves and robbers" is totally
opens. We may say that the             the Lord shall deliver me from          unacceptable. For that would be
Father is the doorkeeper. The          every evil work, and will               to call Moses and all the proph-
door is subject to Him. The            preserve me unto His heavenly           ets, including John the Baptist,
Father brings all the shepherds,       kingdom" (2 Tim. 4:17, 18). The         impostors. This is Gnostic heresy
and all the sheep to Jesus the         undershepherd shall also go in          which taught that in these words
Good Shepherd who is the Chief         and out and find pasture for his        is Christ's testimony against the
Shepherd of all undershepherds.        own sheep. Solomon prayed for           Old Testament.
Therefore the door opens when          wisdom that he might be a faith-          Some took the words of verse
the doorkeeper so wills it. Christ     ful shepherd of Israel, "that I may     8 to mean, "All who came pro-
the Door, the Mediator, admits         go out and come in before this          fessing to be the Messiah before
true pastors at the behest of the      people" (2 Chron. 1:lO). Solomon        Me were impostors." But where
Father. The pastor of a flock          found green pastures for the            is there one instance of any who
holds office in Christ's church.       flock of Israel in His Psalms,          appeared before Christ making
Entering by the door, going in         Proverbs, and Song of Solomon.          this claim? It was after Him that
and out, and finding pasture is        FALSE SHEPHERDS DO NOT                  many came making this claim!
his daily work as an under-            ENTER BY THE DOOR                       Others interpret "all" to mean
shepherd. Early in the morning           These are whom the Gospel             "all for the most part." That,
he approaches the gate of the          account calls "the Jews" (9:22),        however, is an unjustifiable usage
fold. He has no problem gaining        and "the Pharisees" (v. 40). They       of the word "all," as much as it
admittance. The doorkeeper             were the "thieves and robbers"          would be at John 12:32. Other
opens, he enters, issues his           (v. 8) of whom Jesus spoke. They        strained interpretations have
pastoral call, steps back out          did not, would not enter by the         been tried, as, "all who have
through the gate, his own sheep.       door. They were never called nor        come without Me," or "apart
following, he leads them, then at      commissioned by the Lord, as the        from Me." But "before Me" @ro
night he guides them back to the       apostles were. They "climbed up         mou) cannot be wrenched to
fold again.                            some other way." They were              mean "apart from Me" (choris
   The sheep hear his voice (v. 3)     what Jesus described as                 mou). Some would make "before
they know his voice (v. 4). They       "stranger" and "not my sheep."          Me" mean "in My place" (anti or
DO understand his word; they           They refused the Bread of Life.         huper). There is no need for any
believe it not because it is his,      What the Scribes and Pharisees          of this.
but because it is his and the Chief    presented was the husks which             Jeremiah, in 17: 16, leads us in
Shepherds. The people of God           the swine did eat. They were of-        the right direction: "As for me, I
recognize their pastor as a            fice bearers in the false, hierar-      have not hastened from being a
divinely appointed officer and         chical church. They persecuted          pastor (shepherd) to follow
overseer of the church; and it is      the true church. They claimed to        Thee . . . ." Paraphrased this
the mark of a true Shepherd that       be official shepherds in Israel, but    means, I have not gone before,
true Christians approve of his         they did not feed the flock; in-        but followed the Chief Shepherd!
teaching, "He calleth his own          stead, they fleeced the flock.          "All who ever came before Me
sheep by name." Jesus is speak-        Their system of doctrine was not        are thieves . . . ," before Me, put-
ing of what "a shepherd' does in       the gospel. It could hardly be          ting themselves between Me and
the sheep country of the Holy          said to be even "another gospel."       mankind, placing themselves
Land. The Lord is saying that He       It was Judaism, a spiritually dead      above Me, usurping My place as
as the great Shepherd has many         religion of "by-works righteous-        mediator. Through Me, if any
under-shepherds who have their         ness," a piece of Jewish ar-            one enter the door, admitted by
own flock. The undershepherd           rogance by which the church             the doorkeeper, he is a true
calls his own sheep by name. He        was never for long deceived.            shepherd. All who came "before

252  / The Standard Bearer


Me," present themselves to Me as         in whose voice you cannot hear          for the privileges and distinctions
the door, but do not labor to            the echoes of the Good                  sought in the pastoral office in
enter into that strait-gate, but         Shepherds voice. When the Chief         which they so ostentatiously
seek to by-pass the door, are            Shepherd has given us an under-         glory. They seize on an office by
thieves and robbers. All who do          shepherd who shows evidence of          which they have become rich.
not recognize Me as the door, do         having entered through the door,        Yet they lack the knowledge,
not use Me as the door, are not          then treat him as your shepherd,        honesty, humility and industry to
true, but pretended shepherds.           hear his voice, follow him. He          labor as a true shepherd of the
They stand before the door, but          will not require you to receive         sheep and preacher of the Chris-
despising it, do not themselves          his message merely because he           tian, historic, orthodox Reformed
enter, and do all they can to            says so. He will never have you         Faith. Such a shepherds aim is
keep the sheep from entering.            ,accept anything on his own             not the glory of God, nor the
That's the way it was with the           authority, nor to do anything           conversion of sinners, nor the
Scribes and Pharisees. That's the        because he asserts it. He never         edification of believers, for he
way it is with false teachers and        says, I say unto you, but always,       cannot say to his flock, "I seek
hypocritical pastors and leaders         thus said the Lord. His ministry        not yours, but you." The true
in the modern cults. In the              will be "profitable for doctrine,       shepherd knows his people, at-
western hierarchical church. there       for reproof, for correction, for in-    tends to their spiritual-needs,
is the Pope who comes ,before; in        struction in righteousness, that        leads them in the knowledge, ex-
front of, Christ. In the eastern         we may be thoroughly furnished          perience and practice of the most
hierarchical church there is the         unto all good works" (2 Tim.            holy faith, and goes before them
patriarch, or in this country, it is     3: 16, 17). He will "preach the         in every good work. Every Chris-
a "Rev. Ike" or Pastor Jim Jones.        Word, be instant (diligent) in          tian who values his own soul,
The church must have nothing to          season, out of season, (to)             and his own spiritual welfare
do with the like of these. The           reprove, rebuke (and) exhort            must avoid.those  who intrude in-
contextual connection is plain: in       with all longsuffering and doc-         to the ministry, whose doctrine is
verse 7 is Christ's divine assertion     trine" (4:4). So hear him faithfully    earthly, and who suppose that
that He is the door; in verse 8 we       and thankfully.                         gain is godliness. (I Tim. 6:5).
have a description of those who            If we are Christ's sheep, and         True people of God will flee the
do not enter by the door: and in         our pastor is a true shepherd,          hireling teachers, who care not
verse 9 a description of those           then sheep and shepherd will            for the sheep, for they know not
who do enter by the door. The            have mutual confidence in each          the voice of strangers. Christ is
word before is pro, and has the          other, and will together walk in        the source of a11 the authority of
sense of "in superiority to," "in        the ways of the Lord. There are         pastors, their role model as the
preference to" (Thayer). The law         false shepherds as well as true         Good Shepherd and the judge of
of God demands, "Thou shalt              within the fold of the visible          a11 their pretensions. Many
have no-other.gods  before (in           church. There are many ways by          preachers of the health and
superiority to, or in preference         which men obtain admission to           wealth gospel have debased the
to) Me. To come before Christ in         the office of minister, but if they     sacred ministry in rising from
this sense is the sin of idolatry. It    do not enter by Christ the Door,        obscurity to riches, grandeur, and
is to intrude self before His            and if their ministerial conduct        luxury as hirelings. Their pro-
authority.                               and instruction do not give             cedure does not resemble the
  For us in Christ's church this         evidence that He has called and         conduct of the Good Shepherd,
means, "Try the spirits." Not            sent them, they have an awe-            but is in contrast to it. They
everyone has the right to go in          some account to give of them-           entered the ministry out of carnal
and out among us to lead us in           selves before the judgment seat         motives, and therefore in an
green pastures. No one has that          of Christ. Therefore, let every         unholy manner. Let true under-
right who by the doorkeeper has          under-shepherd severely examine         shepherds examine themselves,
                                                                                                       -
not been introduced through the          his own motives, principles, and        whether they be in the faith. Let
door into the sheepfold. That one        the tendency of his own doctrine        them crucify the flesh and every
may not be considered as one             and practice for having sought          covetous, selfish and sensual desire.
of the shepherds who follow the          the Christian ministry. False           Let them declare the whole coun-
chief shepherd. Beware of those          shepherds, modernist ministers,         sel of God, then they shall never
who have climbed up some other           including current, clever               earn for themselves the name of
way to enter the sheepfold.              purveyors of the pseudo "health         "thief", "robber" or "hireling",
Beware of a pretended shepherd           and wealth gospel," must answer         being faithful unto death. Cl

                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer  I253


Decency and
Order                                  Emeritation
Rev. Ronald Cammenga



  "Ministers, who by reason of         ministry of the gospel is for life.           The  Church Order of the Na-
age, sickness, or otherwise, are       The church whom the minister               tional Synod of `s Gravenhage,
rendered incapable of performing       has served claimed all of his time         1586, states in Article XI:
the duties of their office, shall      and strength, and did not allow              If it happens that any ministers
nevertheless retain the honor and      him to pursue any other occupa-            because of age, sickness, or other-
title of a minister, and the church    tion. Since the church called him          wise become unable to perform their
which they have served shall           for life, the church is also under         ministry, they shall nevertheless  jn
provide honorably for them in          obligation to support him for life,        spite of this retain the honor and ti-
their need (likewise for the or-       even when he becomes unable                tle of a minister and shall be honor-
phans and widows of ministers)         actively to carry out the duties of        ably supported in their need by the
                                                                                  church which they have served (as
out of the common fund of the          his office. This obligation for sup-       also the widows and orphans
churches, according to the             port extends not only to the               generally).
general ecclesiastical ordinances      minister himself, but also to the          REASONS FOR EMERITATION
in this matter." Church Order,         surviving members of his family.              The article mentions two
Article 13.                            The minister was obliged to care           reasons for emeritation: age or
  This article of the Church           for his dependents during his life, sickness.
Order deals with the subject of        and the church was obliged to                 The first reason for retirement
emeritation or retirement of           furnish him with sufficient means          is age. The article is general and
ministers, even though the word        to be able to do this. When a              does not mention a mandatory
"emeritus" or "emeritation" does       minister dies, his dependents              age of retirement. In the Old
not appear in the article. The         become the responsibility of the           Testament the Levites were re-
word "emeritus" comes from the         church. For this reason the arti-          quired to retire at the age of 50,
Latin and means literally "out of      cle mentions "the orphans and              Numbers 8:23-26. There are some
merit." It was a word used by the      widows of ministers."                      denominations that have a man-
Romans to refer to a soldier who          Decisions of two early Dutch            datory retirement age.
had served his time in the             synods form the background for               The Christian Reformed
military, a veteran. With              the decision of Article 13. The            Church Synod of 1956 ruled that
reference to a minister it refers      Church Order  adopted by the Na-           "ministers shall have the
to one who has faithfully given        tional Synod of Middelburg, 1581,          privilege of retiring at the age of
his life to the service of the         states in Article XI:                      65 years." It was not made man-
church and therefore .earned the          When it happens that a faithful         datory for ministers to retire at
right to retire honorably from ac-     minister, having been handicapped          65. But ministers were given the
tive service:                          by age or sickness, can no longer          right to retire at 65, if they so
  Article 13 is based on the prin-     fulfill his office, the congregation is    desired. The Christian Reformed
ciple that the calling to the          responsible to provide as much sup-
                                       port as shall be granted him ex            Synod of 1980 decided that
                                       bonis publicis (from the general           "ministers of the Word shall be
                                       treasury) with which he may be able        granted the privilege of retiring
                                       to survive honorably and capably the       at the age of sixty-two, with the
                                       rest of his life. Also, the widows and     approval of the classes involved,
                              --       orphans of the ministers must not be       under the reduced pension scale
Rev. Cammengais pastor of the          forgotten.                                 adopted by the Synod of 1978."
Protestant Reformed Church of
Loveland, Colorado.

254  I The Standard Bearer


                                                                                 I
   Our Protestant Reformed               expediency's sake these two                  tend, their ministerial credentials
Churches have adopted no man-            cases have been included under               reside in the congregation in
datory retirement age. As long as        Article 13.                                  which they most recently
a man is able to carry out the              The decision that has been ap-            ministered and from which they
duties of the ministry, he ought         pended to Article 13 by our Prot-            have been emeritated.
to remain active in the office. But      estant Reformed Churches covers              PROCEDURE FOR
when his age begins to have its          the case of ministers who                    EMERITATION
effect on his ability to carry out       through no fault of their own are               The procedure for emeritation
his work, he ought to retire.            deprived of their congregation.              is described in the "Constitution
   A second reason for emerita-            In the case of ministers who               of the Emeritus Committee," Arti-
tion is sickness.                        through no fault of their own have           cle III: "The minister shall pre-
   If- illness renders a man incap-      been deprived of a congregation, it is       sent his request for emeritation
able of carrying out the labors of       both possible and mandatory that             to his consistory who shall decide
the ministry, he ought to seek           pending the reception of a call to           upon his request with approba-
emeritation. The "Constitution of        another congregation such ministers          tion. of classis and synod." The
the Emeritus Committee," Article         be temporarily declared emeriti.             "Constitution" places the ini-
IV, requires that "If sickness is        Procedure:  ~
                                         1. The minister who through no               tiative for the procedure with
the cause of his inability, he must         fault of his own has been left            the minister. Ordinarily this will
furnish proof of this by a state-           without a fixed charge may apply          be the case. The minister himself
ment from two competent physi-              to a consistory of the classis in         will seek emeritation, usually
cians." This "Constitution" further         which he resides for emeritation,         after consultation with his con-
states in Article XV: "A minister           and such consistory may declare           sistory.
(or professor) who has been                 him emeritus.                                But it is conceivable that a
declared emeritus by reason of           2. This shall not be done, however,          consistory would have to take
sickness or weakness, but later             without the approbation of the            the initiative. It is possible that a
has regained his health, shall no           classis and of the deputies of the        minister is incapable of function-
longer have claim to support but            synod.                                    ing in his office but refuses to
is morally obliged to provide for        Responsibility for Support:
                                         1. Since the minister becomes emeri-         recognize this fact. In this case
his own needs."                             tus not of his own congregation,          the consistory, for the sake of the
TWO SPECIAL CASES                           but of a congregation he has not          welfare of the congregation,
  Article 13 adds to the two                served, the obligation to support         would have to take the lead in
specific reasons for emeritation a          him and to provide honorably for          the process of emeritation.
more general statement: ". . . or           them "in their need" shall not rest         The Reformed Churches of
otherwise, are rendered in-                 upon the local congregation, but          Holland in 1893 adopted the
capable of performing the duties            upon the churches in common,              following policy:
of their office . . . ." This "other-       and he is to be supported out of            Emeritation, where necessary,
wise" has been interpreted by               the common Emeritus Fund of the           takes place upon the request of the
our churches to cover two special           Churches.                                 parties concerned, (either Minister or
cases when a minister retains his        2, In such cases, if the abandoning          Consistory) by action of the Classis,
                                            church has been subsidized from
office, but does not continue ac-                                                     supported by the  Synodical  Ex-
                                            the Needy Churches Fund, the
tively to function in a local con-                                                    aminers of the Provincial Synod.
                                            amount of such subsidy shall be
gregation. These two cases are                                                        SUPPORT OF EMERITUS
                                            transferred to the Emeritus Fund,
professor of theology and                  pending the next meeting of                MINISTERS
ministers who through no fault of          synod. (Adopted by Synod of                  The support of emeritus
their own are deprived of a con-            1956, Art. 177 and Supp. XVIII.)          ministers is not a matter of
gregation. Neither of these cases          Our churches have also applied             benevolence, but of right and du-
really fit under Article 13. Article     Article 13 to professors of                  ty. It is not alms, but a stipend
13 deals with emeritation                theology who no longer serve in              which the church is obligated to
because a minister is rendered           a particular congregation, but               pay. The "Constitution of the
". . . incapable of performing the       teach in the denominational                  Emeritus Committee," Article VI
duties of his office." This is not,      seminary. Our professors are con-            states:
strictly speaking, the case with         sidered to be emeritus .ministers              The support granted to the emeriti
professors of theology or                of the congregation they last                ministers (or professors) and to the
ministers who through no fault of        served. For this reason, although            widows and orphans of ministers (or
their own are deprived of their          their church membership resides              professors) is not a dispensing of
                                                                                      mercy but an administering to which
congregation. Nevertheless, for          in the local congregation they at-

                                                                                                        I-he  Standard Bearer  / 255


the above mentioned have a legal         Emeritus committee are ap-              theless retain the honor and title
claim . . . .                            pointed by the synod.                   of a minister . . . .", Article 13.
   The responsibility for this sup-         During the Secession smaller         By emeritation a minister does
port rests with the local con-           congregations were unable to            not lay down his office per se.
gregation last served by the retir-      bear the burden of providing for        While still retaining his office, he
ing minister. That is the sense of       a serving minister and a retired        lays aside the labors of the office.
the article: ". . . and the church       minister. For this reason some            Because he still retains the of-
which they have served shall             congregations were no longer            fice, the emeritus minister is still
provide honorably for them in            calling older ministers who were        permitted to function in the of-
their need . . . ." "Church" here        nearing retirement age. The solu-       fice. He may still preach in the
is not the denomination. But             tion to this problem was the            churches and administer the
"church' is the congregation last        establishment of a common fund.         sacraments. He may still perform
served by the minister. This                There are good grounds for a         weddings and conduct funerals.
responsibility of the local con-         denominational Emeritus Fund.           He may be delegated to the
gregation is also pointed out in         For one thing, this relieves what       broader assemblies, serve on
the "Constitution of the Emeritus        would otherwise be an impossible        committees of consistory, classis,
Committee":                              burden for the smaller congrega-        or synod. He may serve as a
   The obligation of giving this sup-    tions of the denomination.              church visitor.
port to a minister rests in a legal      Besides this, the retiring minister       An emeritus minister desiring
sense not upon the churches jointly,     has not only served the con-            to re-enter the active ministry of
but, even as the payment of salary,      gregation from which he is retir-       the Word would have to be
upon the local church, which the                                                 declared eligible for a call again
minister serves or has last served.      ing, but other churches of the
(Article VII).                           denomination. Therefore, the            by the consistory and classis that
   Although the local congrega-          denomination as a whole bears           approved his emeritation. It
tion remains responsible for the         some responsibility for providing       would have to be shown that the
support of its retired minister;         for him in his retirement.              reasons for his emeritation no
those congregations unable to            STATUS OF EMERITUS                      longer exist and that he is fully
meet this support provide for            MINISTERS                               capable of discharging the duties
their retired minister through the          An emeritus minister retains         of the office. Cl
denominational Emeritus Fund.            the honor and title of the office
This fund is supervised by the           of the ministry: ". . . shall never-
synod. The members of the




                                         judges - Jehovah
Bible Study                              Delivers His
 Guide                                   Unworthy People (4)
Rev.  jason Kortering



                                           We come now to the ninth              nounces that though she is bar-
                                         judge, Samson. The Lord                 ren, she will conceive and bear a
                                         delivered Israel into the hands of      son. He is to be a Nazarite unto
                                         the Philistines for 40 years (13:l).    God from the womb; hence she is
Rev. Kortering is pastor of the Prot-    The angel appears unto the wife         to drink neither wine nor strong
estant Reformed Church of  Grand-        of Manoah,  of the city of Zorah        drink, nor eat anything unclean.
ville,  Michigan.                        from the tribe of Dan, and an-          When this son is born, no razor

256  1 The Standard Bearer


must come on his head. He will        garments; and if they succeeded,       an ass and killed a thousand
deliver Israel out of the hand of     Samson would give the same to          Philistines. Samson was thirsty,
the Philistines (13:2-5). She in-     them.                                  and the Lord miraculously pro-
forms her husband of this visit         On the seventh day, these            vided water for him. He judged
and he entreats the Lord to send      Philistines threatened Samson's        Israel 20 years (15:14-20).
the messenger once again to give      wife to give them the answer or          When Samson went to Gaza to
them details on how this son          they would burn her and her            visit a harlot, the men of the city
must be raised. The angel re-         father's house with fire. She          lay in wait for to kill him in the
turned when Manoah was away,          pleaded with Samson that he            morning. At midnight Samson
so she hastened to call him.          ought to tell the answer to his        arose and carried the gates with
Manoah asked him about his.           new wife. She wept and carried         the two posts to the top of a hill
message, and he confirmed it for      on so that finally on the seventh      at Hebron (16:1-3). He then set
him. He offered to fix a meal for     day he told .her. She gave the         his affection upon Delilah in the
him, but he refused to eat or to      answer to the Philistines: honey       valley of Sorek. The lords of the
identify himself. When Manoah         out of the lion. He immediately        Philistines were able to get her to
offered a meat offering to            discerned that they had gotten it      cooperate with them to find the
Jehovah upon the rock, the angel      from his wife. "Ye have plowed         source of his strength. He first
ascended in the fire. It was then     with my heifer." To get the 30         told her if she would bind him
that they knew he was an angel,       sheets and changes of garments,        with seven green withs he would
and fear of death come upon           Samson, after the Spirit of the        be helpless. With the lords of the
Manoah.  The wife suggests that       Lord came upon him, slew 30            Philistines secretly hidden in the
the Lord received their offering      men of Ashkelon and went               chamber, she did this and cried,
and brought good news to them,        home with his parents without          the Philistines are upon thee
that they would therefore not         his wife who was given to his          Samson. He broke the withs like
die. She conceived a son, Sam-        companion  (14:10-20).                 a thread of tow in the `flame
son. He grew under the blessing         Later, at the time of wheat          (16:4-g). Then he said, use new
of God, and the Spirit of the Lord    harvest, Samson decided he             ropes. The results were the same
began to move him in the camp         wanted to visit his wife. He           (16:10-12).  This was followed by
of Dan (13:6-25).                     learned that she was the wife of       the suggestion that she weave his
  Samson became acquainted            another. Her father offered her        hair with the web. He ran off
with a woman of Timnath, a            sister to Samson. This made him        with the pin of the beam and
daughter of the Philistines. He       angry and he caught 300 foxes          web (16:13, 14).
asked his parents to arrange for      and tied a fire-brand between            At last he told her that if she
their marriage. They were disap-      their tails and burned all the         cut his hair, he would be weak,
pointed. that he hadn't chosen a      harvest of the Philistines. They in    since he was a Nazarite unto the
woman of Israel, for they knew        turn burnt the woman and her           Lord. With the lords of the
not that Jehovah was behind all       father with fire (15:1-6). Samson      Philistines present, and while he
this to seek occasion against the     was enraged and he killed a            slept, she had his hair cut. This
Philistines. As they went down to     large number of Philistines and        time he could not escape. They
Timnath to arrange the marriage,      went to dwell on top of the rock       took him and put out his eyes
a lion roared against them. The       Etam (15:7, 8).                        and brought him to Gaza
Spirit of the Lord came upon            The Philistines came with an         (16:15-21).  After awhile the hair
Samson and he secretly killed it.     army against Judah, in Lehi. The       began to grow, and when the
  When they went down for the         men of Judah were afraid they          lords of the Philistines gathered
wedding, Samson took honey out        would suffer on account of Sam-        for a feast to Dagon, their idol
of the carcass of the lion and        son. So they sent 3000 men to          god, to give him praise for
they ate of it (14:1-g). At the       the rock Etam to bind him and          delivering Samson into their
wedding feast, Samson presented       turn him over to the Philistines.      hand, they called for Samson to
a riddle to the 30 Philistines who    Samson agreed that if they would       make sport of him. He asked the
were given to him for his com-        only bind him and not kill him         young boy leading him, to help
panions. "Out of the eater came       he would consent (15:9-13).            him feel the pillars which sup-
forth meat, and out of the strong     When they came to Lehi, the            ported the entire structure. While
came forth sweetness." They had       Spirit of the Lord strengthened        he prayed to God for strength to
seven days to answer. If they         Samson and he broke the two            avenge himself of the Philistines
failed, they would give Samson        new cords like flax burnt with         for his two eyes, he took hold of
30 sheets and changes of              fire, and he took the jawbone of       the pillars and with all his might

                                                                                             The Standard Bearer  / 257


pulled the house down upon all          they returned to Zorah and             a city in which the children of
the people. More people were            Eshtaol they told the people           Israel dwelt. Later that night they
killed at his death than his entire     there to prepare to move to            arrived in Gibeah and sat in the
 life. His family came to bury him      Laish for that was a good land         street; but no one would take
between Zorah and Eshtaol, the          and God would give that to them        them in (19:1-15). Finally an old
burying place of Manoah,  his           (18:7-10). An army of 600 men          man came in from the field,
father (16:22-31).                      went first and came to the house       asked their whereabouts, and
    3. We have yet to outline the       of Micah. The five men that had        took them into his house and
third main division in the book,        visited here previously knew ex-       provided for their needs
the two incidences which demon-         actly where the graven images          (19:16-21).  After they were eating
strate the terrible evil that           were placed. So they secretly          and drinking, there was pounding
existed during this period              entered and stole them. When           on the door, the men of the city
(17:1-21:25).                           they were about to leave, the          wanted to do to the traveler
   A man by the name of Micah,          Levite heard them and asked            what the men of Sodom wanted
from mount Ephraim, had stolen          them what was going on. They           to do with the angels. The old
 1100 shekels of silver from his        suggested that he come with            man denied them, do not so
mother. When he admitted this           them and he could be priest over       wickedly. He offered them his
to her and returned the stolen          an entire tribe, rather than over      daughter and the concubine of
property, his mother said she had       one house. This sounded good to        the traveler. They accepted the
intended that the silver be used        him and he left with the 600           concubine and abused her al1
to make a graven image. She             men. When they were some way           night so that by morning she
then gave 200 shekels to the            off, Micah heard of it and pur-        stumbled to the door and fell
founder to make such an image,          sued .after them. He asked in an       down dead. The Levite placed
which was placed in the house of        angry voice why they took his          her body upon the ass and went
Micah, who had already a                images and his priest. They            to his house. There he divided
number of such images. He con-          warned him not to speak                her body into twelve pieces and
secrated his son to function as         roughly, or they could kill him.       sent it throughout the coasts of
priest (17:1-6). Soon a traveler        He realized he was outnumbered         Israel (19:22-30). In response,
from Bethlehem-Judah came               and returned home. The army of         400,000 footmen that drew
along and befriended Micah.             600 went and captured Laish and        swords came. The Levite told
Since he was a Levite and was           sent for their families and            them his story. They decided
looking for a place to stay, Micah      changed the name of the city           they would avenge this deed by
suggested that for 10 shekels of        Laish to Dan. Here they set up         sending a select army to Ben-
silver a year, a suit of apparel,       the graven images of Micah and         jamin to kill the men of Belial at
and food, he stay and function as       Jonathan, the son of Gershom,          Gibeah. Instead, Benjamin raised
a priest in his house. Micah            and his sons were priests              an army of 26,000 men along
thought that since he was a             (18:11-31).                            with 600 from Gibeah.  From
Levite, the Lord would bless his          The second incident of spiritual     them 700 were able to sling
house (17:7-13).                        poverty involved another Levite.       stones at an hairbreadth and not
   At this same time, five strong       He had married a concubine out         miss (20:1-17). 0
men of Dan left Zorah and               of Bethlehemjudah and lived with
Eshtaol and searched out the            her at Mount Ephraim. She com-
land to determine where they            mitted whoredom and returned           My God, my everlasting Hope,
could securely live. In their travel    to her father's house. He went         I live upon Thy truth;
they came to the house of Micah         after her with his servant and a       Thy hands have held my childhood
and recognized the Levite who           couple of asses laden with goods.
functioned as his priest. They          He spoke kindly to her and she         An~pkrengthened  all my youth.
asked him to inquire of God             invited him to stay. This turned       Still has my life new wonders seen,
whether they would prosper in           into a five-day feast of eating and    Repeated every year;
their search. The answer he             drinking with her father. Toward       Behold my days that yet remain,
brought was that they would in-         evening of the fifth day he in-        I trust them to Thy care.
`deed succeed (18:1-6). These men       sisted on leaving. They traveled
then traveled to Laish and took         as far as Jerusalem and the ser-
note of the careless way the            vant suggested they put up for
people lived. There was no king         the night. The master insisted
and no law enforcement. When            they travel to Gibeah or Ramah,

258  I  The Standard  Bearer


                                       Some Impressions From
Contribution                           "Down Under" (2)

Dear Readers of  The Standard          background. Hence, they do not           in process of time they embraced
Bearer:                                have our Protestant Reformed             the Reformed position as set
  It is high time that I write once    heritage. By that I mean not only        forth in the Westminster creeds.
again and try to keep my prom-         the heritage of our more than 60         And one of the most remarkable
ise to tell you a little of the        years of Protestant Reformed             aspects of this theological
visit of Prof. Hanko and me to         growth and development of the            pilgrimage is that, when they ar-
the Synod of the Evangelical           truth, but also our heritage going       rived at the Reformed position,
Presbyterian Church last               back into the Christian Reformed         they came all the way, so that
September. It will be impossible       Church(es) to the Doleantie of           they repudiated the error of com-
for me to go into detail, for our      1886, to the Secession of 1834,          mon grace and a general well-
report to the Contact Committee        and to the Synod of Dordrecht of         meant offer of the gospel. Thus
was 4% pages long; and I cannot        1618-19, and thus to the Re-             they were constituted in the ear-
very well hog so much space in         formation. But, you say, they            ly 1960s with just a few congre-
our magazine.                          have a Presbyterian heritage.            gations, first under the name of
  However, before I write about        Yes, that is true in a way; but          Reformed Evangelical Church
the Synod, let me try to give you      one might almost call it an              and later as the Evangelical
somewhat of an understanding of        adopted Presbyterian heritage.           Presbyterian Church. And they
the situation down here.                 You see, these churches have           were an ecclesiastically very
  First of all, something that will    no Presbyterian roots historically.      lonely little group of churches. I
strike you immediately down            The first generation of EPC              remember distinctly how over-
here is the fact that you will not     members (and that includes their         joyed some of their men were
find many names in the E.P.C.          first generation ministers) did not      when in the early 1970s they
like De Vries, Holstege, Hoekstra,     come out of Presbyterianism. On          became acquainted with our
Vanden Top, etc. In fact, in the       the contrary, in some instances          Protestant Reformed position and
whole denomination, I think,           they came from nothing ec-               discovered that after all they
there are only three families with     clesiastically; in other cases they      were not the only churches in
any Dutch blood, two of which          came from the Salvation Army,            the world who repudiated the
are here in Burnie. You will meet      from Methodism. And they found           well-meant offer. Through cor-
people with names like Driscoll,       their way into Arminian crusade-         respondence and through a visit
Ling, Connors, Higgs, Greatbatch,      type evangelism. Not a few were          by the late Mr. Charles Rodman
Carins, Hurse, Logan, Torlach,         students at the World Evangeliza-        (at that time pastor of the
Jones. I say this, not because         tion Crusade College in                  Launceston church) we became
ethnic backgrounds are impor-          Launceston. And then there came          better acquainted. In 1975 the
tant, but to underscore the fact       about a remarkable change.               Rev. C. Hanko and I visited and
that these churches are in the         Through various circumstances            preached and spoke both in
main not of Dutch Reformed             they became disillusioned with           Tasmania and in Brisbane during
                                       this rank Arminianism (.with             our Australasian tour. Since that
                                       some Pentecostalist overtones).          time there has been contact, but
                                       And through study they came              never anything on an official
Prof. Hoeksema is professor of         first to a five-point Calvinist posi-
Dogmatics and Old Testament in the                                              level - partly, as things turned
Protestant Reformed Seminary.          tion, but remained Baptistic. But        out, because there were some in

                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  I259


the E.P.C. who were against such           First of all, we spent a long            The EPC appointed a Contact
contact with the P.R.C.                 evening meeting with a commit-           Committee of two ministers and
  But in the early 1986s this little    tee of the three E.P.C. ministers        two elders from the Queensland
denomination was troubled by            at which there was very free and         Presbytery to deal with the'
controversy. Significantly, the         frank discussion of our areas of         various suggestions and with our
controversy arose about the truth       fundamental agreement and                Contact Committee.
of sovereign, particular grace.         some areas of disagreement.                The Synod also accepted our
The pastor of Launceston began          Generally, there is creedal agree-       invitation to send observers to
to preach and teach that Christ         ment; there is full agreement on         our Synod of 1990, D.V., and to
according to His human nature           the doctrines of sovereign and           the proposed Theological Con-
loved all men. As the controver-        particular grace (and the rejec-         ference to follow. The Rev. Chris
sy developed, the doctrinal and         tion of the well-meant offer);           Coleborn was appointed; and
confessional issue became that of       there is agreement on the Chris-         when two brethren generously
the Person and natures of our           tian's antithetical calling; there is    offered to underwrite the ex-
Lord Jesus Christ and that of           agreement with respect to the            penses, the Rev. Philip Burley
separating between the natures.         truth of God's everlasting cove-         was appointed as a second
At the time of this controversy         nant of grace. There are also            delegate.
some of our men, myself in-             areas of disagreement as to                When Saturday noon came
cluded, were asked for advice           church government, as to purity          and the synod was almost fin-
and help. The outcome of this           of worship, as to the question of        ished with its business, Prof.
controversy was a split in the-lit-     divorce and remarriage, as to the        Hanko and I bade them farewell;
tle denomination, with the con-         so-called establishment principle,       and we certainly left with a good
gregation in Hobart and in              as to the Westminster position on        feeling that we had received a
Taranna leaving, the congrega-          the covenant.of works. All of            hearty welcome and had a very
tion in Launceston losing a             these areas were spelled out. The        fruitful contact. A beginning has
minority of its membership, and         committee of ministers prepared          been made toward what can be a
a total loss of about 100               a written report to their synod,         mutually beneficial relation. In-
members. And so the E.P.C. to-          where matters were again                 cidentally, the Burnie congrega-
day is left with 200+ members, 3        discussed carefully, and we              tion, where I am currently work-
ministers, 5 congregations, plus a      agreed on certain proposed areas         ing, has already approached our
couple of preaching centers.            of cooperation and further con-          Contact Committee with a re-
Though they had become                  tact. These are:                         quest for ministerial supply after
organized with a synod and two             1) The establishment of a rela-       my departure.
presbyteries, it is rather difficult    tionship which would be less               That brings me to a few addi-
to maintain this structure. How-        than a full sister church relation.      tional remarks about the matter
ever, at their synod in September         2) Future help, upon their re-         of theological training. The EPC
they decided (chiefly for practical     quest, with ministerial supply.          has never had a seminary of
reasons) to continue as they are,         3) An exchange of articles in          their own, though they had a
rather than reverting to a one-         our publications. (Note: the EPC         rather haphazard program of
presbytery organization.                is trying to revive their little         theological training. Pastor Cole-
  All of which brings me to the         magazine, but have trouble doing         born is a product of that pro-
Synod meeting (3 ministers and          so because of their manpower             gram. And at this synod there
five elders) at which Prof. Hanko       shortage.)                               were some rather extensive pro-
and I represented our churches.           4) Possible exchange of                posals for training. But these
We were very cordially received;        pulpits.                                 would have entailed training in
Prof. Hanko addressed the Synod           5) Trying to establish some            part at our seminary, in part at
in behalf of our churches; and on       kind of forum to discuss and ex-         the Reformed Presbyterian
numerous occasions we were              plore our differences.                   seminary in North Ireland, and in
asked for our opinion and advice          6) Some cooperation in the             part here in Australia. We dis-
on various matters. I wish I could      area of foreign mission                  cussed this matter in detail in our
report in greater detail, but I will    endeavors. (Note: this was, I            meeting with the three ministers
have to limit myself in this letter     understand, rejected by our Con-         and at the synod itself. We
to a summary of some of the             tact Committee.)                         criticized the program rather
more important items concerning            7) Help with the theological          frankly for its lack of unity as
our relations with the E.P.C.           training of EPC students. More           well as for its impractical length.
                                        about this below.                        And we proposed help from our

260  / The Standard Bearer


P.R. Seminary, in order to pro-       ministry in the EPC. In a prac-        the opportunity to know both
vide the EPC with new ministers       tical and concrete way this is un-     their need and their great ap-
as soon as possible. At the same      doubtedly an area where we can         preciation for our help firsthand.
time,' we proposed and pointed        be of great assistance to the EPC;       All of which reminds me how
out the possibility of providing      and Prof. Hanko and I were very        thankful our churches ought to
room in such a seminary training      happy to see our suggestions get       be that our forefathers saw our
for instruction of their young        a good reception.                      need of having our own
men in their own Presbyterian            Nevertheless, at best it will be    seminary and our own source of
distinctives.' Our proposals met      a few years before the EPC will        ministers in the very beginning
with a very favorable reception       have any new ministers of their        of our history in 1925. This
by the EPC Synod. There are a         own. Meanwhile they will con-          should also remind all of us of
few young men in the EPC who          tinue to have a very critical          the critical need in our own
are interested in studying for the    need; and if our churches can at       churches for young men to study
ministry. And since Synod's           all help them during these years       for the ministry.
meeting one young man (from           of critical need, this would be a          With love in our Lord
Burnie) has already applied to be     great blessing to them. I am liv-           Jesus Christ,
accepted as a student for the         ing in their situation and have             Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema 0


     Feeding Sheep Or                 added, `and provide amusement          service tomorrow, something
       Amusing Goats                  for those who do not relish the        short and attractive with little
                                      gospel.' No such words, however,       preaching. We will have a pleas-
          C. H. Spurgeon              are to be found. It did not seem       ant evening for the people. Tell
  An evil is in the professed         to occur to him. Then again, `He       them they will be sure to enjoy
camp of the Lord, so gross in its     gave some apostles, some proph-        it. Be quick, Peter, we must get
impudence, that the most short-       ets, some pastors and teachers,        the people somehow!' Jesus
sighted can hardly fail to notice     for the work of the ministry.'         pitied sinners, sighed and wept
it. During the past few years it      Where do entertainers come in?         over them, but never sought to
has developed at an abnormal          The Holy Spirit is silent concern-     amuse them. In vain will the
rate, even for evil. It has worked    ing them. Were the prophets            Epistles be searched to find any
like leaven until the whole lump      persecuted because they amused         trace of the gospel of amuse-
ferments. The devil has seldom        the people or because they re-         ment. Their message is, `Come
done a cleverer thing than hint-      fused? The concert has no martyr       out, keep out, keep clean out!'
ing to the Church that part of        roll.                                  Anything approaching fooling is
their mission is to provide enter-       Again, providing amusement is       conspicuous by its absence. They
tainment for the people, with a       in direct antagonism to the teach-     had boundless confidence in the
view to winning them. From            ing and life of Christ and all His     gospel and employed no other
speaking out as the Puritans did,     apostles. What was the attitude of     weapon. After Peter and John
the Church has gradually toned        the Church to the world? `Ye are       were locked up for preaching,
down her testimony, then winked       the salt,' not the sugar candy -       the Church had a prayer
at and excused the frivolities of     something the world will spit out,     meeting, but they did not pray,
the day. Then she tolerated them      not swallow. Short and sharp was       `Lord grant unto thy servants that
in her borders. Now she has           the utterance, `Let the dead bury      by a wise and discriminating use
adopted them under the plea of        their dead.' He was in awful           of innocent recreation we may
reaching the masses..                 earnestness!                           show these people how happy
  My first contention is that pro-       Had Christ introduced more of       we are.' If they ceased not for
viding amusement for the people       the bright and pleasant elements       preaching Christ, they had not
is nowhere spoken of in the           into his mission, he would have        time for arranging entertain-
Scriptures as a function of the       been more popular when th2             ments. Scattered by persecution,
Church. If it is a Christian work     went back, because of the search-      they went everywhere preaching
why did not Christ speak of it?       ing nature of his teaching. I do       the gospel. They `turned the
`Go ye into all the world and         not hear him say, `Run'after           world upside down'. That is the
preach the gospel to every            these people, Peter, and tell them     only difference! Lord, clear the
creature.' That is clear enough.      we will have a different style of      Church of all the rot and rubbish
So it would have been. if he had                                             the devil has imposed on her and

                                                                                             The Standard Bearer  / 261


bring us back to apostolic                      The mission of amusement pro-
methods.                                        duces no converts. The need of            New Sub
   Lastly, the mission of amuse-                the hour for today's ministry is
ment fails to effect the end                    believing scholarship joined .with        scribers! You can
desired. It works havoc among                   earnest spirituality, the one
young converts. Let the careless                springing from the other as fruit         receive the
and scoffers, who thank God                     from the root. The need is
because the Church met them                     biblical doctrine, so understood
half-way, speak and testify. Let                and felt, that it sets men on             Standard Bearer
the heavy laden who found                       fire. 0
peace through the concert not                   (Reprinted from the November, 1988        for the first year
keep silent! Let the drunkard to                issue of  Banner of Truth,  Edinburgh,
whom the dramatic entertain-                    Scotland. Charles Spurgeon lived          for half price,
ment had been God's link in the                 from 1834 to 1892.)
chain of their conversion, stand
up! There are none to answer.                                                             $6.00!



                                                News From
 Mr. Benjamin Wigger                            Our Churches

                               March 1, 1989    tage of the year that he and his          Scripture, The Doctrine of Crea-
MINISTERIAL CALLS                               wife are spending in Tasmania is          tion, and Creation and the Other
    Rev. Carl Haak declined the                 the avoidance of a cold and raw           Doctrines. Prof. H. Hanko was
call he received from our Faith                 Michigan winter. In Tasmania it           the teacher of these classes.
church in Jenison, Michigan.                    is now mid-summer. The schools              All P.R. young people in the
   And from the trio that was in-               have their long vacation. The             West Michigan area were invited
cluded in the last news, our                    yards in their neighborhoods are          to a Sweetheart Banquet held
South Holland, Illinois congrega-               `lush with summer growth and              February 9 at the Hope P.R.
tion has extended a call to Rev.                many, many flowers. And on the            School Gym. The Jr. Young
Charles Terpstra, who presently                 26th of December the Burnie               People's Society of our Faith
serves the Pella P.R.C. in Pella,               congregation had its annual pic-          Church sponsored this event,
Iowa.                                           nic in a park on the ocean shore          with proceeds going, as usual
CONGREGATIONAL                                  - another unique experience for           with any Young People's project,
HIGHLIGHTS                                      them.                                     for the up-coming Convention.
   Prof. H.C. Hoeksema writes in                  I would like to add a few more            Beginning February 16 and
a letter to the congregation of                 details concerning the Creation           continuing each Thursday night
the Hudsonville P.R.C. in Hudson-               Seminar sponsored by our Grand-           for six weeks, seminars will be
ville, Michigan that one advan-                 ville P.R.C. in Grandville,               conducted at the seminary by
                                                Michigan. These seminars were             area ministers and elders, focus-
                                                scheduled to be held on three             ing on all areas of married life.
                                                consecutive Wednesdays in                 At each session opportunity will
                                                February and covered three                be given for questions and discus-
                                                aspects of creation: Creation and         sion. All couples contemplating
Mr. Wigger is-an elder in the Prot-                                                       marriage, as well as those who
estant Reformed Church of  Hucson-                                                        have been married for two years
ville, Michigan.                                                                          or less, were urged to attend.

262  I  fhe Standard bearer


CHURCH ACTIVITIES                      this change in their unison con-          And one more item for "busy"
  A congregational meeting was         fession of the Apostles' Creed and      Loveland Church. On February
held in early February at the          they started doing that on              10 their Young People's, Society
Kalamazoo P.R.C. They met that         January 8.                              sponsored a Sweetheart Banquet
night to consider the purchase of        The Men's Society of our Love-        for couples of all ages. A
a lot behind the church.               land Church has set up a                delicious meal and special pro-
  A brother in our Loveland            magazine table in the Fellowship        gram was planned. And guess
P.R.C. in Loveland, Colorado is        Hall, as part of the library.           where the proceeds went - to
overturing Synod by way of the         Magazines may be checked out            this year's Convention of course.
Consistory of Loveland and             for one week. Congregation                The Consistory of Hope P.R.C.
Classis West to change two ex-         members were also asked to              in Walker, Michigan publicly ex-
pressions in the Apostles' Creed:      share any religious magazines           pressed its thanks to Miss Sybil
"quick" to "living" and "Holy          that they might subscribe to and        Engelsma on the occasion of her
Ghost" to "Holy Spirit."               that were not displayed on the          retirement from being a church
Loveland's Consistory forwarded        table.                                  organist. For the past 50 con-
this overture with its approval.         Loveland also held a congrega-        secutive years she has, with
Loveland's Consistory also de-         tion-wide ice-skating party as part     humility and faithfulness, assisted
cided that they wanted to make         of their winter fellowship in the       the consistory in conducting the
                                       middle of January.                      worship service. We could add
                                                                               that this occasion should also re-
                                                                               mind all of us to thank our own
                                                                               church organists for their time
                                                                               and effort expended in using
News from the                                                                  their abilities to the benefit of our
                                                                               congregation. "And let us not be
Contact                                                                        weary in well doing: for in due
                                                                               season we shall reap if we faint
Committee                                                                      not." Galatians 6:9.
                                                                               SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
                                                                                 The PTA of Adams St. Chris-
                                                                               tian School in Grand Rapids,
                                                                               Michigan met recently to hear a
  When sister church. relations        thanks for this amount to the           follow-up to their Fall meeting.
were established with the Prot-        Contact Committee. By means of          Two of Adams teachers, along
estant Reformed Church of Well-        this announcement we convey             with their administrator, gave a
ington, New Zealand, that small        the thanks of the saints in Well-       presentation on "The Role of the
congregation asked permission to       ington to our people who so             Teacher and the Administrator
call one of our ministers. As most     generously gave to this cause.          Beyond the Classroom."
of our readers know, this permis-      The letter reads in part: "We are         Prof. Decker spoke at the
sion was granted by Synod and          very grateful for the continuing        February PTA of Heritage Chris-
subsequently Rev. Rodney               support given by the Churches. It       tian School in Hudsonville,
Miersma was called and accepted        is not clear how the Lord`will          Michigan on the subject,
that call. In order to provide for     work in this area; there is here,       "Developing Proper Self-esteem
their minister, financial help from    as elsewhere, `a lack of interest in    in our Children."
our churches was asked. An ap-         sound, Reformed preaching but             The Ladies' Circle of our Love-.
peal was made to our people for        there are one or two hopeful            land P.R. Christian School
such help, and the money was           signs. In widely separated places       planned a Father-Son Banquet in
abundantly provided. This              there are people who are in-            late January. A warm meal and a
money, now collected, was to be        terested. We pray that the Lord         small program were provided.
sent to New Zealand over a five-       will enable some of these lonely          The Ladies' Circle of the North-
year period of time. Last Autumn       saints to move to the Wellington        west Iowa P.R. Christian School
a check in the amount of               area to join with us.`: We com-         sponsored their annual Soup Sup-
$11,100.49  was sent to this con-      mend the cause of the Wellington        per on February 13, and the
gregation, and recently the Ses-       Protestant Reformed Church to           Adams St. Christian School
sion of the Wellington Protestant      the prayers of the saints. 0            Mothers' Club also held their an-
Reformed Church sent a letter of                     -Prof. Herman Hanko       nual Soup Supper on February 9.

                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  I263


                                                                                                      SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                      Postage Paid at
                                                                                                      Grand Rapids, Michigan

l?Q. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, MI 49506



  Parting thought from "Across             NOTICE!!!                              NOTICE!!!
the Aisle" from First Church in              The South Holland Protestant           The Northwest Iowa Prot-
Grand Rapids, Michigan.                    Reformed School is seeking ap-         estant Reformed Christian
  "People may fall many times,             plications for a teaching posi-        School is seeking applications
but they are not failures until            tion at the elementary grade           for a teaching position at the
they start saying somebody                 level beginning the  1989/90           lower elementary grade level
pushed them." 0                            school year. Direct all inquiries      beginning the  1989/90 school
                                           to:                                    year. Direct all inquiries to:
                                           Lamm Lubbers, Administrator            Chester Hunter, Jr.,
ATTENTBON  TEACHERS!!!                     16511 South Park Avenue                  Administrator
   Hope Christian School of                South Holland, IL 60473                106 Fifth Ave.
Redlands, CA is seeking to add             (312) 339-6585                         Doon, IA 51235
a teacher to its staff beginning                      or to                       (712) 726-3381
the 1989-90 school year.                   James Lanting, Board Sec'y.                      or to:
Teaching assignment would be               16230. Louis Avenue                    John Mantel, Board President
either grades K and 1, or 2nd  -           South Holland, IL 60473                R.R. 2, Box 247
4th. Those interested may call             (312) 596-5093                         Rock Valley, IA 51247
Ed Karsemeyer (Principal) at                                                      (712) 476-5609
school (714-793-1504) or at                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
home  (714-793-7166),  or Mike                    The consistory and congrega-    NOTICE!!!
Critters (Secretary of School              tion of the Loveland Protestant          All standing and special com-
Board), at (714-739-4439). Appli-          Reformed Church extend their           mittees of Synod, as well as in-
cations or resumes should be               Christian sympathy to Mr. and          dividuals who wish to address
sent to Hope Christian School,             Mrs. Dave Poortinga and family         Synod 1989, are hereby notified
1309  E: Brockton, Redlands, CA            in the death of his father, MR.        that all material for the 1989
92374.                                     DAN POORTINGA. May they                Synod of the Protestant Re-
                                           be comforted in the assurance          formed Churches should be in
RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                     that  ". all things work               the hands of the Stated Clerk
  The Ladies Society of the                together for good to them that         no later than April 15. Please
South Holland Protestant                   love God, to them who are              send material to the Stated
Reformed Church expresses                  called according to His                Clerk:
Christian love and sympathy to             purpose." (Romans  8:28)               Rev. M. Joostens
its sisters: Evelyn Poortinga,                                                    2016 Tekonsha S.E.
Jessica Wiersma, Dorothy                   NOTICE!!!                              Grand Rapids, Ml 49506
Bruinsma,  Tena Poortinga, Tenie                  Covenant Christian School of
Poortinga, Connie Busker and               Lynden, Washington, will re-           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
Kathryn Poortinga in the passing           quire a teacher/administrator,           The Protestant Reformed
of a beloved husband, father,              for the 1989-90 school year.           Teachers' Institute expresses its
brother, brother-in-law and  un-           Those interested please call           sincere sympathy to Mr. lgnatio
~cle, DANIEL  POORTINCA on                 John Meyer, president of school        Quenga and his son, Dwight, in
February 7, 1989. "For we know             board, at (206) 354-3354, or Ben       the death of their wife and
that if our earthly  hquse of              VanderVeen, secretary of school        mother, MRS. ANTOINETTE
This tabernacle were dissolved,            board, at (206) 354-3188. Written      QUENGA, on January  17,1989.
we have a building of Cod, an              resumes may be sent to Mr. Ben           "Precious in the sight of the
house not made with hands,                 VanderVeen,  Secretary;9503            Lord is the death of His saints."
eternal in the heavens." (II Cor.          Northwood Road, Lynden,                (Psalm 116:15)
5:l)                                       WA 98264.                                   John Kalsbeek, Pres.
         Rev. George Lanting,  Pres.  _
        ---                                                                            J udie Feenstra, Secy.
         Mrs. Arthur De  Jong,  Sec'y.

264  / The Standard Bearer


