                    Council of the Bethel Protestant
                          Reformed Church.




Vol.  65, No. 76
May 75, 7989


 Contents                                                          May IS,? 989'                THE
Meditation  - Rev. lames D. Slopsema
   THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT                                                363

EDITORIALLY SPEAKING . . .  -  Prof. David  I. Engelsma                             365    ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                                           Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
Editorial  - Prof.  David  1. Engelsma                                                     and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
   STILL THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH                                                        366    lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
                                                                                           at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
LETTERS                                                                             368    EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
                                                                                           Editor-in-chief: Prof. David  J. Engelsma
                                                                                           Managing Editor: Prof. Robert D. Decker
Contributions  -                                                                           Editors' Assistant: Mr. Don  Doezema
   JESUS BUILDS HIS CHURCH: THE ORGANIZATION OF BETHEL                                     DEPARTMENT EDITORS
          PROTESTANT REFORMED CHURCH  - Rev. Ronald  /.  VanOverloop  396                  Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
                                                                                           Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
   A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST CHICAGO MISSION                                        Critters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
          - Mrs. Alice Stob                                                         370    Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John  Heys,  Rev.
                                                                                           Jason Kortering, Rev. George Lubbers, Rev. James
                                                                                           Slopsema, Rev. Charles Terpstra, Rev.  Cise
In His  Fear  - Rev. Arie  denHartog                                                       VanBaren,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
   LITTLE CHILDREN, KEEP  YOURSELViS  FROM IDOLS                                    372    EDITORIAL OFFICE
                                                                                           The Standard Bearer
The Day of  Shadows  -  Rev.  lohn A. Heys                                                 4949  Ivanrest
                                                                                           Crandville,  Michigan 49418
   A DISAPPEARING DISTINCTIVE DIFFERENCE                                            374    CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                           Mr. Ben Wigger
Decency and Order  - Rev. Ronald L. Cammenga                                               6597 40th Ave.
                                                                                           Hudsonville,  Michigan 49426
   SUPERVISION OF THE MINISTRY                                                      377    EDITORIAL POLICY
                                                                                           Every  editor  is solely responsible for the contents
From Holy Writ  - Rev. George C. Lubbers                                                   of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
   EXPOSITION OF JOHN  21:15-19                                                     379    terest from our readers and questions for the
                                                                                           Question Box Department are welcome. Contribu-
                                                                                           tions will be limited to approximately 300 words
BOOK REVIEW                                                                         381    and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
                                                                                           must be  siened.   Cow  deadlines are the first and
NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES  - Mr. Benjamin Wigger                                       382    the  fifteenyh  of  the'month.  All communications
                                                                                           relative to the contents should be sent to the
                                                                                           editorial office.
                                                                                           REPRINT POLICY
 Inside this issue . . .                                                                   Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of
                                                                                           articles in our magazine by other publications,
                                                                                           provided: a) that such reprinted articles are repro-
                                                                                           duced in full;  b) that proper acknowledgement is
   The church celebrated Pentecost this past Sunday.                                       made;  c) that a copy of the periodical in which
                                                                                           such reprint appears is sent to our editorial office.
   Reformed churches have always honored the Holy Spirit and His work.                     BUSINESS OFFICE            NEW ZEALAND OFFICE
They have, foo, long observed His outpouring as the Spirit of Christ on the                The Standard Bearer The Standard Bearer
                                                                                           Mr. H.  Vander  Wal        c/o Protestant Reformed
day of Pentecost. But to how many of us is Pentecost "remembered" as, say,                 P.O. Box 6064                Church
Christmas is remembered, or Easter? Perhaps it's because of what the world                 Grand Rapids, MI           B. Van Herk
                                                                                             49516                 66 
has done to Christmas and Easter . . . but, could it be that, in spite of the                                             Fraser St.'
                                                                                           PH: (616) 243-2953      Wainuiomata, New Zealand
fact that we would be quick to ascribe to the Spirit the complete work of                  SUBSCRIPTION POLICY
gathering the church, we are not really very clear on the practical, personal              Subscription price, 312.00 per year. Unless a
                                                                                           definite request for discontinuance is received, it
significance of Pentecost?                                                                 is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscrip-
  John 14:17 speaks of the Spirit of Pentecost as the Spirit of truth. Is that,            tion to continue without the formality of a re-
                                                                                           newal order, and he will be billed for renewal. If
to us, merely a bit of abstract theological terminology? Or are we able to                 you have a change of address, please notify the
articulate its meaning? And, if the latter, what are its implications in our               Business Office as early as possible in order to
                                                                                           avoid the inconvenience of delayed delivery. In-
lives?                                                                                     clude your Zip Code.
  Do we as Reformed believers "seek the riches that are in the risen                       ADVERTISING POLICY
Christ"? Do we as elders take seriously our responsibility to be watchmen on               The Standard Bearer does not accept commercial
                                                                                           advertising of any kind. Announcements of church
Zion's walls? Do we as ministers fervently desire a spiritual congregation?                and school events, anniversaries, obituaries, and
And if so, what in each instance do we do about it?                                        sympathy resolutions will be placed for a $3.00
                                                                                           fee. These should be sent to the Business Office
  As Prof. Engelsma suggests in his editorial, it's by one's approach to mat-              and should be accompanied by the 33.00 fee.
ters such as these that he tells a lot about whether or not he really believes             Deadline for announcements is the 1st and the
                                                                                           15th of the month, previous to publication on the
the Spirit still to be the Spirit of truth. There is another "Spirit" in the               15th or the 1st respectively.
churches today. Lest we also be bewitched by the different voice with which                BOUND VOLUMES
this "Spirit" speaks, we must be clear on Pentecost, and on Who the                        The Business Office will accept standing orders
                                                                                           for bound copies of the current volume; such
Pentecostal Spirit is. Don't miss, in this issue, "Still the Spirit of Truth." q           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
Cover page: left to right - Deacon Alan Meurer, Deacon Fred Iwema,                         Office.
Missionary Ronald VanOverloop, Elder Alfred Stob, Elder Richard                            16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm and 105mm
                                                                                           microfiche, and article copies are available
Reyenga.                                                                                   through University Microfilms International.


362  / The Standard Bearer I May  15,1989


                                          The Outpouring of the
 Meditation
Rev. lames Slopsema                       Holy Spirit

   But this is that which was               Then Peter arose and explained        To pour out means to bestow
spoken by the prophet Joel;               to the crowd what they were wit-      abundantly, It has the idea of a
   And it shall come to pass in           nessing. These men were not           steady, gushing stream, over
the last days, saith God, I will          drunk, as,some suppose; for it        against a small trickle. In like
pour out of my Spirit upon all            was only the third hour of the        manner, God has proclaimed
flesh: and your sons and your             day. Rather, what the crowd wit-      through the prophet Joel, after
daughters shall prophesy, and             nessed was the fulfillment of the     the captivity He would pour out
                                          prophecy of Joel.                     His Spirit.
your young men shall see vi-                 Long ago the prophet Joel had        The Spirit of whom the
sions, and your old men shall             spoken of a day when God would        prophet Joel spoke is, of course,
dream dreams:                             pour out His Spirit on all flesh.     the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy
   And upon my servants and               The result would be that young        Spirit is very important in the
upon my handmaidens I will                and old, male and female, bond        work of salvation. It.is the Spirit
pour out in those days of my              and free would have visions and       that resides personally in the
Spirit; and they shall prophesy.          dreams. And they would                hearts of Gods people. And
                      i -Acts  2:16-18    prophesy.                             therefore it is through the Spirit
                                            This, according to Peter, was       that God in Christ bestows to us
   As the 120 disciples of the            now being fulfilled before the        all the blessings of salvation.
ascended Lord were assembled              very eyes of the multitude.           Thus, for example, it is by the
on Pentecost in an upper room in            And still today, as a result of     work of the Spirit that we are
Jerusalem, three very unusual             the outpouring of this same Spirit    born again, brought to faith in
things took place.                        of Pentecost, both young and old,     Christ, sanctified to live a godly
   First, there was the sound as of       male and female prophesy,             life, brought to the assurance of
a mighty rushing wind that filled         speaking of the wonderful works       our salvation . . . .
the whole house. Then, cloven             of God.                                 According to the prophecy of
                                          *  * * *  *  * * * * *
tongues as of fire sat upon each                                                Joel there would come a time
of the disciples. Finally, the              Joel was a prophet of God to        when this Spirit would be poured
disciples all began to speak in           Judah during the reign of King        out upon the church. Prior to this
other tongues the wonderful               Joash. This was a time of grow-       time of outpouring there would
works of God.                             ing apostasy in Judah. Conse-         be only a trickling of the Spirit.
  Very quickly a multitude                quently, the prophet Joel was         The Spirit would reside in the
gathered to hear the disciples            sent of God to warn Judah of          hearts of Gods people and
speak. Some doubted, saying,              Gods judgment. There would be         bestow upon them the blessings
"What meaneth this?" Others               a time of captivity for Judah. But    of salvation. However, this would
mocking said, "These men are              in the way of repentance Judah        be in relatively small measure.
filled with new wine."                    would be restored to the land to      But one day there would be a
                                          enjoy great prosperity:               pouring out, a gushing forth, of
                                            In that connection the prophet      the Spirit, so that the church
                                          Joel proclaimed that, after           would enjoy the blessings of
`Rev. Slopsema is pastor of the Prot-     Judah's return from the captivity,    salvation without measure.
estant Reformed Church of Walker;         God would pour out His Spirit
Michigan.                                 upon all flesh.

                                                                                    May  15,1989  I The Standard Bearer I363


   And according to the prophet               not shed His blood as an atone-            Joel proclaimed that when the
Joel this outpouring would be on              ment merely for the sins of              Spirit would be poured out upon
all flesh. In the days of Joel the            Israel. He gave His life for the         them, they would prophesy, see
prophet, and for centuries before             sins of the whole world. Christ's        visions and dream dreams. These
him, the work and blessing of the             atonement extends to a church            three (prophecy, visions, and
Spirit was for the nation of Israel           destined by God to be gathered           dreams) were all closely related
alone. This was because Israel                from every tribe, tongue, and na-        to each other. Visions and
was Gods chosen people. How-                  tion under heaven.                       dreams were means whereby
ever, the prophet Joel spoke of a                On the basis of this atonement        God revealed Himself: Those who
day when God would have His                   God raised Jesus from the dead           received the revelation of God in
people in every nation, tribe, and            on the third day, exalted Him to         visions and dreams would also
tongue, so that the Spirit would.             heaven 40 days later, and then           proclaim that revelation and,
come upon all flesh.                          10 days later poured out the             thereby, prophesy.
   And when the Spirit would                  Spirit upon the church.                    According to the prophet Joel
come upon all flesh, He would be                For this reason Peter also             all these things would be the fruit
poured out upon them without                  spoke of the "last days."                of the outpouring of the Spirit.
measure.                                         It is interesting to note that the    Not just a selected few would
* * * * * *  * * * *                          prophet Joel proclaimed, "And it         receive revelation and prophecy.
  According to Peter this                     shall come to pass after-                The Spirit would be poured out
prophecy of Joel was fulfilled on             ward . . .  ." Peter, however,           upon all flesh and they would
Pentecost. What the crowd heard               doesn't quote this word-for-word         speak the word of the Lord in
and saw was the result of the                 but, as do many of the holy              prophecy. All would be prophets.
outpouring of the Holy Spirit.                writers of the New Testament,              We see how this was fulfilled
  Certainly this was an appro-                also interprets the prophet,             immediately after Pentecost. The
priate time for God to fulfill the            "And it shall come to pass in the        fruit of the outpouring of the
word of the prophet and pour out              last days . . .  ."                      Spirit was dreams and visions
His Spirit. For centuries the                   The viewpoint of the New               through which God continued to
church had only had Gods prom-                Testament is that Pentecost              reveal Himself to the church.
ise of atonement. The saints                  marks the beginning of the last          These visions came not just to
had brought their offerings to the            hour on the clock of history. This       the Apostles but to sons and
house of God and burnt them on                is the last hour exactly because         daughters, young men and old
the great altar. But these had not            of Christ's atonement for sin.           men, servants and handmaidens.
paid for sin. The bloody sacrifices           With the shedding of the blood of        And that revelation, received
of sheep and goats and oxen had               atonement all things are ready
merely spoken of a greater                    for the final destruction of the
sacrifice yet to come. They were              ungodly as well as for the final          Augustine, on Rebuke
promises of God of an atonement               salvation and glory of the
to come. And it was on the                    church.                                    Far rather would I be censured
strength of that promise that the               Hence, Peter, in quoting the           by any one whatsoever, than be
church of the Old Testament en-               prophet Joel, speaks of the last         praised by either the erring or
joyed the indwelling of the Spirit            days. And, quite appropriately, it       the flatterer. For the lover of
and the blessings of Gods salva-              is in these last days that the           truth need fear no one's censure.
tion. But the church possessed                Spirit is poured out upon all            For he that censures, must needs
only a trickling of the Spirit; for           flesh.                                   be either enemy or friend. And if
she had only the promise of                   * * * * * *  * * * *                     an enemy reviles, he must be
atonement.                                      According to the prophecy of           borne with: but a friend, if he
   But now God has fulfilled His              Joel, all those who receive the          errs, must be taught; if he
promise. He has sent His only                 outpouring of the Spirit would           teaches, listened to. But if one
begotten Son to the agony of the              prophesy.                                who errs praises you, he confirms
cross to accomplish the perfect                 The prophet Joel spoke of sons         your error; if one who flatters, he
payment of sin, thereby laying                and daughters, of young men and          seduces you into error. "Let the
the only foundation for the salva-            old men, of servants and hand-           righteous," therefore, "smite me,
tion of the church.. And Jesus has            maidens (i.e.. male and female           it shall be a kindness; and let him
                                              slaves).. by this the prophet            reprove me; but the oil of the
                                              meant all classes of men.                sinner shall not anoint my head."
                                                                                            -On the Trinity, II, I, Preface.

364  I The Standard Bearer  / May 15, 1989


I    from the hand of God through           1 or the world. Hence, the dreams       1 it, and proclaim it with thankful
     the Spirit, was joyfully spoken in       and visions ceased.                    hearts.
     prophecy.                                  But the prophecy continued              Our calling then is clear.
       However, there came a time             and still continues down to this          We are to live in *the power of
     when the dreams and visions              day. For the fullness of the reve-     the outpouring of the Spirit.
     ceased. With the completion of           lation of God has been infallibly         We do this when we diligently
     the New Testament Scriptures             (inerrantly) preserved in Holy         study the Word of God, make it
     Gods revelation to the church            Writ by divine inspiration. And        our business to know its teach-
     was complete. God had no new             the Spirit of Pentecost so leads       ings, and then in gratitude con-
     thing to proclaim to the church          the saints that they understand        fess it before men. 0
                                              this revelation of God, rejoice in





     Editorially speaking. . .


       The worshio service held on              Now you join your two sisters           Those who might wish to com-
     the northwest side of Chicago on         in Lynwood and South Holland            municate with the Bethel church
     the evening of March 29, 1989,           as cities of God, shining with the      can write the clerk, Mr. Alfred
     to organize the Bethel Protestant        light of truth and holiness in the      Stob, at 1960 Stockton Ave., Des
     Reformed Church, was a joyful            spirit,ual and moral darkness of a      Plaines, IL 60018.
     event - a highlight in the               great city of man and in the doc-
     church-life of those who partici-        trinal and ethical gloom of                As we go to press for this
     pated. In the goodness of God,           churches whose candlesticks are         issue, we are saddened by the
     believers and their children en-         being removed from their places.
                                                           -  ._  - - -   -           news of the very serious illness
     joyed the fruit of the organization        Mayyou  yourselves enjoy fel-         of Prof. H.C. Hoeksema, who has
     of a Protestant Reformed church          lowship with God and with each          been diagnosed as having cancer
     upon the mission-work of the             other in the light (a "house of         throughout his body. He and Mrs.
     church - the wise, diligent work         God" - a real "bethel"!); and           Hoeksema have returned home
     of Missionary Ronald Van                 may your light so shine before          from Tasmania, cutting short
     Overloop; the zealous, unstinting        men, that they may see your             their stay in Burnie, where they
     labor of the South Holland PRC;          good works, and glorify your            had been working on behalf of
     and the full cooperation of the          Father which is in heaven.              the Evangelical Presbyterian
     denomination in money, in                                                        Church. May God mercifully sus-
     prayers, and in supervision                                                      tain our brother, his wife, and
     through the Mission Committee.                                                   their family by the Spirit of the
       We rejoice with the saints of                 The Shepherd                     exalted Christ so that they know
     Bethel!                                  "Although the road be rough and         that "our light affliction, which is
       As the husbandman of James                  steep,                             but for a moment, worketh for us
     5:7 waits for the precious fruit of        I go to the desert to find my         a far more exceeding and eternal
     the earth, and has long patience                sheep."                          weight of glory" (II Cor. 4:17). 0
     for it, so you waited for the            But none of the ransomed ever                                              - D J E
     precious fruit of a church that               knew
     faithfully proclaims the Word of           How deep were the waters
     God according to the inspired                   crossed,
     Scripture as interpreted by the          Nor how dark was the night that
     Reformed confessions. God has                 the Lord passed through
     rewarded your patience and                 Ere He found the sheep that was
     granted your desire.                            lost.
                                                                      -Anonymous

                                                                                         May  15,1989  I The Standard Bearer I365


Editorial                                      Still the Spirit of Truth

   A strange "Spirit" is abroad in                The peculiar "Spirit" of our         filled with this "Spirit" are either
the churches today. It is ac-                  day is a critic of Scripture. It ex-    happily ignorant of doctrine or
claimed as the Holy Spirit of God,             poses Genesis l-l 1, with the doc-      sharply antagonistic to it.
indeed as the Holy Spirit in a full-           trines of creation, the fall, the          One striking feature of this
ness of power, a treasury of gifts,            original gospel-promise, and the        "Spirit's" unconcern with doctrine
and a glory of operations such as              flood, as unhistorical, unreliable,     is its perfect willingness to dwell
have not been experienced by                   and false. With.a kind of hissing       richiy and work powerfully in
the church since the day of                    sound, it asks church members,          churches that preach the lie and
Pentecost. But this "Spirit" is                "Yea, has God said?"                    in persons who receive and con-
strange. It behaves oddly.                        It adds to the Bible. Sometimes      fess the lie. This seems to bother
   The strangeness is not its                  it does this by giving people           the "Spirit," or hinder its work,
mysterious character. Like the                 special revelations directly from       not at all. Explaining the
wind, the Holy Spirit is                       heaven. At other times it leads         apostle's teaching in I John
mysterious, as Jesus pointed out               learned scholars to reveal to the       2:20 ff., that the believer has an
in John 3:8: "The wind blows                   church truths that are not found        anointing of the Holy Spirit so
where it wills, and you hear the               in Scripture, usually at the ex-        that he knows the truth and so
sound of it, but cannot tell                   pense of truths that are found          that he detects the liar who
whence it comes, and whither it                there, e.g., the truth of the head-     denies that Jesus is the Christ,
goes: so is every one that is born             ship of the husband in marriage         Calvin insists, correctly, that this
of the Spirit." But this "Spirit" has          and the family. In this way, this       liar is not only the one who out-
a strange "sound," or voice. It is             "Spirit" judges Scripture to be in-     rightly denies the Godhead of
not only that it talks in tongues,             sufficient.                             Jesus, but also the one who
although one who has learned                     The strange "Spirit" displays         denies that Jesus is a complete
from 11 Corinthians 12:12 and                  an indifference towards, if not a       Savior by sovereign grace alone:
Hebrews 2:3, 4 that the                        disdain for, doctrine. The confes-      Then broke out Pelagius, who, in-
miraculous works and extra-                    sion of sound doctrine is by no         deed, raised no dispute respecting
ordinary gifts of the Spirit were              means the main mark of the              Christ's essence, but allowed Him to
apostolic - attached to the                    churches in which this "Spirit" is      be true man and God; yet he trans-
apostolic office and intended to               mightily at work. Pure preaching        ferred to us almost all the honor that
attest apostolic doctrine  - will              of the truths of Scripture is not       belongs to Him. It is, indeed, to
be suspicious of a "Spirit" that               primary in the worship services         reduce Christ to nothing, when His
                                                                                       grace and power are.set aside. So
suddenly reintroduces miracles                 where this "Spirit" presides.           the Papists,,at this day, setting up
after 1800 years. But the voice of             Rather, it encourages its people        free-will in opposition to the grace of
this "Spirit" is radically different           to regard doctrine as cold, love-       the `Holy Spirit, ascribing a part of
from that of the Holy Spirit Who               less, divisive, and dead. It            their righteousness and salvation to
is made known to us in the Bible               brushes the church's creeds aside       the merits of works . . . have a sort
and with Whom we have become                   as irrelevant to the church's pres-     of fictitious Christ . . . . We now see
familiar by virtue of His dwelling             ent situation. It is either un-         that Christ is denied, whenever those
in the church for almost 2,000                 willing or unable to teach people       things which peculiarly belong to
years.                                         to distinguish between truth and        Him, are taken away from Him
                                               error, much less to love truth so       (commentary on I John 2:22).
                                               that they embrace it at any cost        But the strange "Spirit" of our
                                               and to hate the lie so that they        time is not at all displeased with
                                               repudiate it. Men and women             Pelagius' son, Arminius; indeed,

366  I The Standard Bearer  I  May  15,1989


this "Spirit" seems to delight in          The Holy Spirit is truth, for He     wonderful feelings). Peter
the doctrine that the honor of          is God; and God is truth.               preached a sermon - a doctrinal,
Christ in saving sinners is shared         In the Triune Being of God, the      Biblical sermon. Thousands were
by the sinner himself who co-           Third Person eternally conducts a       converted by believing the
operates with Christ by making          full, thorough examination of the       message. The first thing said
the decision for Christ by free-        reality of the Godhead. He is           about the life of the church after
will, upon which his salvation          always studying the Truth in            Pentecost is that it was a life of
hangs,                                  order to know It (Him) with huge        adherence to right doctrine.
  By means both of ignorance of         delight. "The Spirit searches . . .       It is as the Spirit of truth that
and contempt for doctrine, our          the deep things of God . . ." (I        He is of any benefit to the church
modern "Spirit" is accomplishing        Cor. 2: 10).                            and to the Christians. Every
a most astonishing union of                The Holy Spirit can no more          blessing that the Spirit gives, He
people and churches. Protestants        ignore, minimize, or despise the        gives by means of the Word. He
of the widest and sharpest doc-         truth than He can deny Himself.         works faith - by the truth; He
trinal differences are now able to         In keeping with what He is in        forgives T by the truth; He
come together in the unity of this      Himself, the Spirit is the Spirit of    makes men and women holy -
"Spirit" in worship and in the          truth also as the Pentecostal           by the truth; He comforts the
fellowship of the Lords Supper. It      Spirit, sent by Jesus to the            distressed and fearful - by the
even unites professing Protestants      church. He came as the witness          truth; He preserves believers to
and Roman Catholics who remain          to the truth. He came speaking.         eternal glory - by the truth; He
faithful to the Roman Catholic          That which He speaks is the             unites the saints - by the truth.
Church.                                 truth, namely, Jesus the Christ as        The'Reformed faith confesses
  Feeling is the main thing to          made known in the gospel which          the indispensable instrumentality
this "Spirit," if indeed feeling is     is now written in the inspired          of the truth for the saving work
not all. Worship is emotional ex-       scriptures of the New Testament,        of the Spirit in Question 65 of the
citement before God. Joy in             as well as in those of the Old. By      Heidelberg Catechism, when it
Christ is feeling good. Love for        this means, He teaches the elect        says about the faith by which
the neighbor is a warm, accept-         church, guiding her into all the        alone we share in Christ and all
ing, tolerant feeling. The peace of     truth. By this means, He also           His benefits that it is worked in
the church is the member's feel-        convicts the world of sin,              us by the Holy Spirit "by the
ing for the other members,              righteousness, and judgment.            preaching of the gospel." The Re-
especially his or her deep feeling         Always, the Spirit has been the      formed believer who makes this
for the others.                         Spirit of the Word, of Scripture,       his or her own is really saying, "I
  A strange "Spirit," this!             of doctrine, of preaching, of con-      believe in the Spirit as the Spirit
  For it is not the Spirit of truth.    fessions, of intellectual knowl-        of truth."
By its own cheerful admission, it       edge of propositions that are in          We should act accordingly.
is not the Spirit of truth.             harmony with the reality of God.          As a believer, do I seek the
  The Holy Spirit of God, how-          He inspired Scripture (writing! a       riches that are in the risen
ever, the Spirit received by the        book!). He moved prophets and           Christ? I should! I must attend to
glorified Jesus to be the Spirit of     apostles to teach. He created the       the Word and doctrine, to the
Christ, the Spirit poured out on        church a confessing church. He          truth. I must see to it that I am a
the church on Pentecost, the            put in the church the office of         member of a church that main-
Spirit with Whom we have                "pastor and teacher." He guided         tains the truth. 1 must use the
become familiar after some 2,000        the church in rejecting heresies        means of grace diligently. I may
years of church history under the       and in approving and understand-        leave this church, whether for a
new covenant - this Spirit is the       ing right doctrines (orthodoxy!)        church that corrupts the truth or
Spirit of truth. Three times in the     by the formulating of creeds. He        for no church at-all,-for no
great passage of .promise  con-         illumined the minds of countless        reason. I may not despise the live
cerning the Spirit, John 14-16,         men, women, and children to             ly preaching of the truth. To do
Jesus calls the Spirit, "the Spirit     know the sound words of Scrip-          so is to forfeit the presence,
of truth' (14:17;  15:26;  16:13).      ture.                                   operations, power, and gifts of
Truth is His nature. Truth is His          That He came as the Spirit of        the Spirit, if not to "do despite
business. Truth is His unmistak-        truth was evident at once on the        unto the Spirit of grace," (Heb.
able, identifying mark - His            day of Pentecost. The Spirit-filled     10:29; cf. v. 25), for He is the
"sound," or voice.                      believers spoke the wonderful           Spirit of truth.
                                        works of God (and not their

                                                                                   May 15, 1989  I The Standard Bearer  / 367


   As a preacher, do I desire,                   As a body of elders, do we               What then must we make of
ardently desire, a spiritual con-             take seriously our responsibility         the strange "Spirit" of our day -
gregation - a congregation of                 to keep the flock of Christ? We           indifferent to doctrine; friend of
saints who love God and who                   should! We must above all else            the lie; critic of Scripture; con-
love each other for Gods sake                 make sure that the preaching on           temptuous of creeds; disparaging
(which is different from, though it           the Sabbath and the catechism             of pure preaching?
includes, having deep feeling for             instruction during the week are             One of two things must be
each other)? I should! I must give            the sound, faithful explanation of        true. Either the Holy Spirit of
myself to preaching and teach-                God's Word. This will guard and           Jesus Christ has changed recent-
ing. There will never be a                    build up the church, not because          ly, so as no longer to be the
spiritual church where the truth              preaching and teaching in them-           Spirit of truth, or this strange
is not faithfully preached. There             selves have this power, but               "Spirit" is not the Spirit of Christ.
cannot be. If there is, the Spirit            because the Spirit is the Spirit of         But the Holy Spirit cannot
has ceased being the Spirit of                truth, making Christ's words              change. He is still the Spirit of
truth.                                        spirit and life.                          truth. 0                        -DJE





Letters


   "Ye shall know them by their               the ordinance of God: and they            many evangelicals today" . . .
fruits." I see two trees. One is              that resist shall receive to them-        "Operation Rescue" is bad
called "Christian Resistance," the            selves damnation." "Christian re-         because it is antinomianism. The
other, "Christian Submission."                sistance" is a contradition in            evangelical folks who are part of
The "Christian Resistance" tree               terms, like "holy idolatry," or           "Operation Rescue" do not
has borne the fruits of the Prot-             "evangelical adultery," or                understand the . . . 5th Corn-
estant Reformation, the Bible in              "theistic evolution." Revolution is       mandment . . . .We want no part
our own tongue, the Puritan                   not now, has never been, and              of a left-wing or right-wing social
revolution, the Scottish                      never will be good fruit produced         gospel. We want the gospel of
covenanters,  and the American                by the Spirit of Christ from a            the Reformation . . . . As always I
Revolution. The "Christian Sub-               good tree.                        -Ed.    read all of The SB. It is really
mission" tree has borne the fruits                                                      helpful. I love it. Keep up the
of popery, no Bible, tyrannical                                                         good work for our Savior and
persecution, infanticide, sodomy,               I want to thank you for the             King.
and feminism. Even so, every                  stand you have taken on "Opera-                    Mark J. Williams
good tree brings forth good fruit;            tion Rescue" in the pages of The                   Haddonfield, NJ
but a corrupt tree brings forth               SB. I make this statement both as
evil fruit. The tree is known by              a member of the Orthodox Pres-
his fruit . . . . Cancel my subscrip-         byterian Church and as the vice-            Was there ever a "War for In-
tion to  The Standard Bearer.                 moderator of the Camden County            dependence" against the lawful
          Robert Dominica, Jr.                chapter of the Christian Action           government in the history of the
          Belle Vernon, PA                    Council . . . . Mr. Clarke is cor-        world which was justified? I
Response                                      rect that Samuel Rutherford did           would say yes; and that puts me
                                              make a departure from the Re-             in the camp of those who agree
  "Resistance" in this discussion             formed religion when it comes to          with Calvin. I am referring to the
is revolution by the citizen                  the civil magistrate. Mr. Lanting         "80 Year War," fought between
against civil government. It is the           hit the nail on the head when he          Spain and the Republic of the
sin named and warned against in               said, "The distinction between            Seven United Netherlands in the
Romans 13:2: "Whosoever there-                civil disobedience and civil              years 1568-1648. Luther was in-
fore resisteth the power, resisteth           rebellion is being ignored by             fluenced by the Peasants' Revolt,

368  / The Standard Bearer  I May  15,1989


which, like the French Revolu-         the people were being slaughtered        during the ceasefire, our fathers
tion, was done by the people in        before his very eyes? No! I dare         put the weapons down and
the street, with devastating           say by Gods grace he chose, as           hosted the Great Synod of Dor-
results. In The Netherlands, how-      being the lower magistrate, to           drecht, which produced the
ever, it was a totally different       cut the tie with Spain, declare In-      Canons we so highly esteem.
situation. There the governor of       dependence and start the war.               In closing, I again like to sub-
the land (Holland and Zeeland),        Imagine, a tiny country against a        mit to you that I firmly believe
Prince William of Orange, of           world power!                             there were extreme cases in
blessed memory, knew of the               We all know the miraculous            world and church history where
plans of the Spanish Inquisition to    outcome. We also know the                the LOWER MAGISTRATE had
lay waste the Church in Holland        haven of freedom The Nether-             the duty to defend the people
in short order, as they had done       lands became for thousands of            against their own government.
in Spain. What was his duty now?       the oppressed from other parts of                 Case Veldman
Should he just protest, which he       Europe. We had better know that                  Wyoming, MI 0
did, and let it go at that, while      it was in the midst of that war,


                                       Jesus  Builds  His  Church:
                                            The  Organization  of  Bethel
                                            Protestant  Reformed  Church
                                                                               Rev. Ronald VanOverloop
                                       A  Brief  History  of  the  Northwest
                                           Chicago  Mission
contrh.lt~ons                                                                            Mrs. Alice Stab



Jesus Builds His Church:                  The organization of this mis-          portion of the service. His text
The Organization of                     sion field into an established,          was Matthew 16:18: "And I say
                                        local congregation culminated six        also unto thee, That thou art
Bethel Protestant                       years of prayers that the Lord of        Peter, and upon this rock I will
Reformed Church                         the harvest would bless the              build My church; and the gates of
                                        labors performed.                        hell shall not prevail against it."
    On March 29, 1989 that which          The institution of this new con-       His theme being I Will Build My
was known as the "Northwest             gregation was under the super-           Church,  he spoke first of the
Mission" in the Protestant Re-          vision of the Council of the South       building, then of the foundation
formed Churches became "Bethel          Holland church (as a committee           of that building, and finally of the
Protestant Reformed Church."            of Classis West, which gave the          safety of the building. His beauti-
The new church.is located in the        final approval to the request to         ful exposition was instructional
northwest suburbs of Chicago, Il-       organize). This Council extended         and comforting to everyone
linois, with the worship services       a call to worship to their ,congre-      present.
being held in rented facilities in      gation and to those involved in            South Holland's diaconate took
Elk Grove Village.                     the Mission field for the evening         the offering, which they desig-
                                        of Wednesday, March 29.                  nated for the Benevolent Fund of
                                          Prof. David Engelsma, who             the new congregation. The
                                        had been involved with the work          amount collected that evening
                                        directly and indirectly as the          was $1,253.85.
_.__.  -      ______..  -.-- ___.
Rev. VaiOverloop  is a missionary-     former pastor of the Protestant             Missionary Pastor Ronald Van
pastor of the Protestant Reformed      Reformed Church in South                  Overloop, who has labored in
 Churches.                             Holland, conducted the worship           this mission field for almost five

                                                                                    May 15, 1989 I The Standard Bearer I369


                                                                                    visited his relatives living in
                                                                                    South Holland, Illinois. It was a
                                                                                    Sunday and they attended the
                                                                                    worship services of the South
                                                                                    Holland Protestant Reformed
                                                                                    Church where they heard their
                                                                                    new minister, the Rev. David J.
                                                                                    Engelsma, preach. These sermons
                                                                                    so impressed the young visitor
                                                                                    that he never forgot them.
                                                                                      About this time in the North-
                                                                                    west suburbs of Chicago lived a
                                                                                    family whose members attended
                                                                                    a church of the Reformed persua-
                                                                                    sion. It was their custom to have
                                                                                    coffee together at one another's
Congregation of the Bethel Prot-            formed Church is now instituted         houses each Sunday morning
estant Reformed Church, present-            as a true church of Jesus Christ        after the worship service. Though
ly meeting in Elk Grove Village,            on the earth." He followed this         they had long attended the
IL.                                         declaration with a brief review of      church and believed it to be a
                                            the history of the work and with        true church, perplexing doubts
years, shared the responsibilities          appropriate comments of con-            and questions were now coming
of the institution of the Mission           gratulation and encouragement.          into their minds regarding in-
with South Holland's present                Letters of greetings and congrat-       creasing changes in the church.
pastor, the Rev. Charles Terpstra.          ulations were read from the             During this time the young man
  The membership certificates               denominational Mission Commit-          from Wisconsin married into this
and requests for membership                 tee, the Stated Clerk of Classis        family.  _
were presented totaling twelve              West of the Protestant Reformed           During the fall of 1982 and the
families and three individuals.             Churches, and from two sister-          spring of 1983 various couples of
This breaks down as 27 con-                 congregations. Pastor Terpstra          this family group would make the
fessing members and 24 children.            then led the (now) two congrega-        95-mile round trip to South
These people were then asked to             tions present in a prayer of            Holland in order to listen to
give testimony of each other as             thanksgiving and supplication for       preaching which they found
being faithful in attendance and            God's blessing.                         spiritually edifying and fellowship
upright in faith and in walk.                  A wonderful time of fellowship       they loved.
After this testimony was given,             followed- the service, during             Rev. Engelsma, noting the in-
there was the election of two               which the new consistory held its       terest shown, offered, with the
elders and two deacons. These               first meeting.                          approval of his Council, to teach
men were immediately ordained                  Jesus, the Head of the Church,       a Bible study class which studied
and installed into office. The For-         does build His Church. God be           the Canons of Dordt. This class
mula of Subscription was then               praised! Cl
                                              _  .-  -  .-.  -. .                   began in March, 1983 and was
read and publicly signed by the             A Brief History of the                  held on the second and fourth
newly elected and installed                                                         Monday evenings at one of the --
officebearers. God is to be                 Northwest Chicago                       family's homes. In attendance
praised for raising up men who              Mission                                 were the old parents of the fami-
are committed to defending and                    __        .- --      --.          ly, four couples with their
                                            A&e  Stob, a housewife, is a charter
propagating all the points of doc-                                                  children, and one individual.
                                            member of the newly organized
trine contained in, the three               Bethel Protestant Reformed Church         About a year later Rev.
Creeds of Reformed churches.                in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.    Engelsma, again with the ap
  On behalf of the consistory               She is the pianist/organist of the      proval of his Council, offered to
responsible for this institution of         congregation. She is also one of the    preach for us twice monthly -
this local congregation of Christ,          founding members who met in living      an afternoon service. We were
Pastor Terpstra read the follow-            rooms early in 1983 studying the        able to rent the St. Bede's
ing declaration, "In the Name of            Canons of Dordt.                        Episcopal Church in Bensenville,
the Lord Jesus Christ, we declare             In the year of our Lord 1974, a       Illinois, and our services began
that the Bethel Protestant Re-              young man from Wisconsin                on February 5, 1984.

370 /The Standard Bearer  / May  15,1989


  Soon, Rev. Engelsma helped us
form a letter requesting that a
missionary be sent us. On a Mon-
day evening, representatives of
the Mission Committee met with
us; then the request was brought
to South Holland's Council and
finally approved by Synod, 1984.
  Rev. Ronald J. Van Overloop
was sent by the South Holland
Council to this work, and in
August, 1984 he arrived in Elk
Grove Village, where a house
had been purchased by the Mis-
sion Committee. Shortly after his
arrival full-time worship services
began at St. Bede's.
  A time of labors and prayers
followed. Not always were we pa-       the South Holland Council re-         Meeting place for Bethel's Sun-
tient as we asked God to give          questing that we be organized in-     day (PM) worship services.
fruit. We grew in the knowledge        to a congregation.
of the Reformed faith. And we            Among us is an old father (85
experienced the blessing of God        years of age). The next age           our worship services summer and
in adding to our number - but it       group is nearing their sixties.       winter. What can we say, but
seemed to be so slow. We               There are mostly younger              that, with all our hearts, we
learned patience, finding out that     couples - and many children.          thank God for them?! We also
He would bless in His time. Dur-       Also five young single  people at-    thank God for denominational
ing those years three families         tend.                                 support through the Mission Com-
joined our core group, but later         There is a variety of occupa-       mittee.
two of these were forced to leave      tions within our mission. There         "Hitherto hath the Lord helped
our fellowship for work related        are those who work with com-          us!" 0
reasons.                               puters, there are accountants, a
  The St. Bede's facility was used     carpenter, office workers,
until the first of 1988 when the                                                   All In All To Me
                                       students. The Northwest suburbs
services were moved to a new           of Chicago are a good place in        All in all to me is Jesus!
location in Elk Grove Village.         which to live, work - and go to         Every need His grace supplies;
This move enabled us to hold a         church!                               Day by day He guides and keeps
morning service, which is at 10          We thank God for all past and            me,
AM and is held in a public school      present blessings. We continue to       No good thing to me denies.
gymnasium. The 6 PM service is         love and appreciate our mis-          All in all to me is Jesus,
at a Lutheran church which is          sionary pastor, Rev. Van                Lord, Redeemer, Savior, Friend;
across the street from the school.     Overloop, and his family. He has      Tender Shepherd, He will guard
In March and again in August           most faithfully and cheerfully
new people came! - a good              labored among us these years            Any?rom  ev'ry foe defend.
number of them! - many                 and we delight to see God's bless-
children! Oh, we were amazed at                                              All in all to me is Jesus,
                                       ing upon his prayers and labors.
what God was doing! Presently                                                  Blessed One of Calvary;
                                       Also our heartfelt gratitude goes
those in faithful attendance of the                                          I will never cease to love Him
                                       to Prof. Engelsma and to the
worship services number four-                                                  Who has done so much for me.
                                       South Holland Council for their
teen families and four individuals     faithful labors and support during                         -Charles Gabriel
(including our missionary pastor       these years. Outstanding (to our                           S.B. July 15, 1928
and family). There are thirty-four     minds) and worthy of special
children! This growth has              mention is the faithful support of
brought us to the point that the       the members of South &oiiand?s
first business meeting of 1989         congregation, who would visit
was spent in forming a 1,etter to

                                                                                May 15, 1989  I The Standard Bearer  / 371


                                              Little Children, Keep
In His Fear
Rev. Arie denHartog                           Yourselves From Idols

       The above exhortation is the           there are no other gods. That is a     Man is an idolator when his heart
last word of the inspired apostle             truth very basic and simple for        is set on the material things of
John in his first epistle. It was             us. We know that the Lord is the       the world, the glory and pleasure
written out of great love and con-            creator of heaven and earth and        of the world rather than on God.
cern. Therefore John addresses                the sovereign Lord over all. He is     The idol worshiper spends all his
his hearers as "little children." He          the God of our salvation, He ,         time and effort thinking about
writes to those who are children              alone is the one who blesses us        and seeking to obtain the things
of God by the wonder of the                   with all spiritual blessings. He is    of this world. He has no heart for
regeneration of the Holy Spirit.              our helper and keeper. He sup-         God. He imagines that there are
John has said much in his first               plies all our needs. We know that      no greater things than the
letter about the fact that we are             the Lord is the God of infinite        material things of this world. He
the children of God. The fact that            glory and majesty. Therefore He        has no knowledge of the spiritual
we are called the children of God             alone is to be worshipped by us.       things of God. He has no under-
is the great evidence of the love             All thanksgiving and praise            standing of the fact that the
which God has bestowed upon                   belong to Him alone. We must           things of this world are perishing
us.                                           serve Him and give Him thanks          while the things of the kingdom
   We might imagine that there is             for all things. All our glorying       of God, of righteousness and
hardly a need for the above ex-               must be in Him alone. If indeed        truth, shall endure forever.
hortation for those who are                   we would always live by that             Americans have many idols.
called the children of God. Fur-              knowledge and confess that             These idols are as (or more)
thermore, we might imagine that               truth, then there would be no          abominable in the sight of God
such an exhortation is wholly un-             danger of idolatry.                    than the idols of heathen nations.
necessary for us. After all, we do              But idolatry is as much a            Money, houses, lands are the real
not here in America live in a                 danger for us as it was for the        gods of most Americans today.
pagan country where we are sur-               children of God in the day that        Sports, pleasure, entertainment,
rounded by idols. We are at least             John wrote his epistle. We can         immorality have become gods in
in name a Christian country. We               understand that only when we           our land. Witness the tremendous
have many Christian churches.                 understand what idolatry really        amount of interest in these things
We are enlightened with respect               involves. Idolatry is not only         and the unbelievable amount of
to the truth of God. We surely                bowing down to images made by          time and energy and money
would not be so foolish as to turn            man's hands, images of wood and        spent on these things. Compare
from the true and living God to               stone, as the heathen do in far-       with that then the interest there
worship a dumb idol. We know                  away lands. Idolatry is all forms      is, or lack of interest, in the
that there is only one God who is             of worshiping and serving the          things of God, of His truth and
the Lord. He alone is the true                creature rather than God the           kingdom. Consider the very little
and living God. Besides Him                   creator. An idol is any person or      time and energy there really is
                                              thing on which man sets his            spent in learning and maintaining
                                              heart besides or instead of God.       the truth of God and being ac-
                                              Man is an idolator when he lives       tively involved in the life of the
Rev. denfiartog  is pastor of the Prot-       for and glories in the creatures of    church and the business of the
estant Reformed Church of Ran-                the world, the things of this          kingdom of Christ.
dolph, Wisconsin.                             world as an end in themselves.           Idolatry is a very terrible sin.

372  I The Standard Bearer  / May 15; 1989


All idols are a denial of the one      these kinds of things and to make       flict between two kinds of ac-
only true God. When a man wor-         them the most important things          tivities, which one takes priority
ships an idol he robs God of the       in our life. We are attracted by        and which one is set aside to
service and love that he owes to       the sports, the entertainment and       make room for the other? How
God. The idolator gives the            pleasure of the world. And we           enthusiastic are we about the
honor and glory that belongs to        say over and over to ourselves,         wonderful truths of God in com-
God alone to a god who is no           "There is nothing wrong with            parison to our great excitement
god. God is a jealous God. He          these things, they are not sinful       about our favorite ball club? The
will not allow His glory and           in themselves."                         answer to these questions will
praise to be given to another.           But we have to be oh so               reveal whether or not we are
Therefore He is filled with holy       careful. We must constantly be          really idolators.
wrath against all idolators. That      on our guard for the dangers of           Idolatry is both wicked and
is just as true today as it was in     idolatry. We must constantly ex-        foolish. No idol can help us or
the days of Israel. God has not        amine our lives and put away all        save us. No idol can bring
changed His attitude towards           idols from us. How much do              ultimate satisfaction in life. We of
idolatry. What awful wrath of          material things really mean to          course know that very well. How
God is upon our nation and all of      us? Could we part with these            tragic it is then when a man lives
its wicked idolatry.                   things if the Lord would suddenly       all his life and spends all his time
  It is spiritually impossible to      require that of us? Are we willing      and energy in the service of an
have an idol and at the same           to make large material sacrifices       idol. What will it profit a man if
time to worship God. All forms of      in order to maintain the prin-          he gain the whole world and lose
idolatry steal the heart of man        ciples of the Word of God? Are          his soul? What a fool such a man
away from God. All idolatry will       we always ready to live with less       really is. Our Lord told us that it
lead to great spiritual evil and       than the world because we are           is harder for a rich man to enter
corruption in the lives of men.        called upon to give for the cause       into the kingdom of heaven than
That is what we are witnessing in      of the church and kingdom of            it is for a camel to go through
our land.                              God? How much time and energy           the eye of a needle. Yet how
  But perhaps as you read this         do we spend on such things as           many make riches their idol in
article you are saying to yourself,    sports and entertainment? Do we         life. How few there are in the
what has all of this to do with        constantly make the necessary           world who take heed to the
me? I am a child of God by His         comparison with the time and            solemn warning of Scripture
grace. I know and love the true        energy we spend in equipping            against the great evil of the love
God and am no idolator. Let us         ourselves with the truth of God         of money.
be careful as we say this. There       and being actively involved in            Israel often fell into the sin of
is a great danger for idolatry all     the life of the church? Do we           idolatry. In fact we might say, in
around us. Our sinful nature is        make ourselves so busy with our         great amazement, "How was that
prone to idolatry.                     secular occupation that we have         ever possible, how could a nation
  God has given us all things in       no time for church activities dur-      repeatedly fall into this same
the world. He has given us all         ing the week? Have we perhaps           sin?" But our generation is not
things to enjoy. He has also com-      made an idol in our life with           one wit better. The Bible is full of
manded that we should use all          which we cannot part? Is it really      most dreadful warnings against
things in our life to serve and        more important for us and our           the evil of idolatry. It contains
glorify Him. How hard it is            children to attend the weekly           the record of the terrible
always to do that. It is possible      sports activity than it is to attend    judgments that came upon Israel
only by grace. Because of our          a weekly meeting in church?             again and again because of the
sinful nature there is a great         When there is a scheduling con-         sin of idolatry. It is certain that
danger for idolatry. It is so very                                             these same judgments will come
easy for it to happen, also with                                               upon our land. In spite of all the
us who are called children of          Since thy Father's arm sustains         warnings which God gave, Israel
God, that we make an idol in our         thee, Peaceful be;                    still returned each time again to
life. Material things, riches, hav-    When a chastening hand restrains        idolatry and forsook the only
ing new and stylish clothes, ex-         thee, It is He.                       true and living God. Do we pay
pensive houses, the latest model       Know His love in full completeness      attention to those warnings?
car, etc. can easily become far        Fills the measure of thy weakness;        The opposite of idolatry is to
too important for us. It is very       If He wound thy spirit sore,            keep God always central in our
easy for us to set our hearts on       Trust Him more.                         lives. If we love God with all our

                                                                                  May  15,1989  I The Standard Bearer  /  373


heart and soul and strength and               volves a great struggle. No man         and by the power of His love
mind as He solemnly calls us to               can possibly stand against the          separated us unto Himself. The
do, there will be no possibility for          temptations of idolatry in his own      love of God within us must con-
idolatry in our lives. Always we              strength. But we confess that we        strain us always to have only one
must be on our guard that                     are the children of God. We have        God in our life and to live only
nothing whatsoever steals our                 been made such by His grace             unto Him in thankfulness unto
hearts away from God. That in-                and Holy Spirit. We are children        Him and for His glory. Cl
                                              of God because God so loved us





 The Day of                                   A Disappearing
 Shadows
Rev. john Heys                                Distinctive Difference.
      . ._

   In the mother promise of                   woman, has suffered death at the        to the lake .of fire from which
Genesis 3:15 the word translated              hands of the seed of the serpent        they -will never come out to have
as bruise is more correctly trans-            from the day of Cain and Abel           an enjoyable life once again.
lated as crush. The seed of the               onward. What is more, there             Christ, the Seed of the woman,
woman shall crush the head of                 have been many- bloody persecu-         did return with life in the body
the serpent and his seed, and the             tions upon the church with an           that was dead and in the grave.
seed of the serpent shall crush               untold number of deaths. And we         And the church does today have
the heel of the seed of the                   are told clearly in Holy Writ that      to cripple through this life and
woman. We do well to take note                the days come when we will not          more and more be limited by the
of the tremendous difference be-              be able to buy or sell, and thus        seed of the serpent. In places
tween the head and the heel of a              will be put to death slowly and in      where no Christian schools exist
person, and also between                      a very painful and cruel way.           because there are not enough
crushing one's head and crushing              Revelation 13 and II Thessalon-         families to support such a school,
one's heel. Crush the head and                ians 2:1-4 make that very plain.        their children may not pray in
you have ended that man's life.               And life will be very hard and          the schools of the seed of the ser-
Crush one's heel and you will                 painful even before that day ar-        pent. They may not maintain that
bring pain and suffering and                  rives. Persecution is not a rare        God created the heavens and the
cause that person to be crippled;             thing. Many of the saints have          earth and all that they contain.
but such a crushing will not bring            been murdered, and we can be            They must in their test papers
death.                                        sure that, as the antichrist ap-        present the evolutionistic lies as
   Now it is true that the seed of            proaches, we will be afflicted          fact. And our time here below is
the serpent did kill Christ, the              while attempts are made to              going to get rougher. Yet the fact
Seed of the woman. In a literal,              silence us and to keep the truth        remains that Satan and his fallen
physical sense that is true. Christ           from being proclaimed as we are         angels and unbelieving human
did die. His body did lose its life,          now free to proclaim it in some         servants are going to enter ever-
and His spirit was commended                  parts of the world.                     lasting torment. The children of
into God's hand. He did give up                 However, that death of Christ         God will die but through death
the ghost. Luke 23:46 states the              and the persecutions to come do         will go to higher glory than
fact literally. It is also true that          not deny the fact that this             Adam and Eve had before they
the church, the seed of the                   mother promise is being fulfilled.      fell.
                                              Christ's death does not deny it.           Satan had the power to kill
                                              The fact is that all the seed of the    Christ but not to keep Him from
Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in           serpent are going to die and go         rising again with a life that he
the Protestant Reformed Churches.

374  I The Standard Bearer  I May 15, 1989


could not touch. He cannot pre-           However, as pointed out last        they cannot, and we cannot,
vent Christ from raising their          time, we should also note careful-    bring forth children who are
bodies and from giving them             ly the development of sin in the      spiritually alive. It pleases our
heavenly glory. Cain's killing of       church. Satan succeeded in get-       God to cause some of them to be
Abel was a shadow of what we            ting Abel killed, and the church      born again, that is, to be born by
can expect and of what did              of that day had no seed of `the       His Spirit with a new spiritual
follow a few years after that first     woman to carry on the battle of       life, very early in their days here
crushing of the heel of the Seed        faith. Adam and Eve were there        below. Did He not do that to
of the woman. But Christ's resur-       and undoubtedly had daughters,        John the Baptist who, before he
rection is an evidence that we          but no son to bring forth descen-     was born physically, leaped in his
did not and will not receive a          dants whom God would make to          mother's womb when Mary who
fatal blow from the world that          be seed of the woman. The pic-        was carrying the Christ child
keeps us from the kingdom of            ture was dark. It seemed as           spoke to her in a salutation? But
heaven and its joys and blessed-        though the head of the seed of        in the Old Testament dispensa-
ness, with a covenant fellowship        the woman was crushed, rather         tion God did this to those who
with God wherein we can walk            than the heel, even though Adam       were of the seed of Abraham
with no crushed heel but with           and Eve were still alive. But in      with some exceptions.
power to glorify Him by our             faithfulness to His promise God         Now, since it did not please
walk.                                   gave them Seth, who was not           God to give that spiritual birth to
  What is a comforting truth, for       simply a son who could bring          every descendant who is of the
it underscores that promise of          forth more members in the cove-       seed of the woman, we find
safety and everlasting blessedness      nant sphere. There was now            much evil in the church. And
for the seed of the woman in that       hope for the future of the church.    since even these seed of the
mother promise, is that wonder          Seth had been born again and          woman still have their sinful
of God's grace and faithfulness to      become a member of the seed of        nature, we not only simply ex-
His promises when the seed of           the woman, and he was one who         pect but also often find sin
the serpent tried to kill Enoch         would instruct his children and       developing in the church.
who walked with God. In all their       warn them in regard to the              It is true that outwardly Cain
harassment and visible anger, in        unbelieving descendants of his        behaved as though he were of
all their opposition of Enoch in        brother Cain.                         the seed of the woman. He
his preaching, they bruised his           Now, all who are born in the        brought offerings to God in a for-
heel; but they did not crush his        sphere of the church militant are     mal sense. He seemed to be
head. Our faithful covenant God         not born-again children of God.       keeping the first table of the law;
took him away from the seed of          Or, if you will, those-who are the    and no breaking of the second
the serpent and their violence,         seed of the woman do not bring        table on his part is mentioned in
and brought him where he could          forth only children who are the       Genesis until he kills his brother.
be beyond and above all            -    seed of the woman. It is not          Then one of his descendants,
crushing of the heel by the seed        without reason that God so            Lamech, broke the seventh com-
of the serpent. Here is a shadow        ordered and decreed in His            mandment when he took to
of what God will do to all the          sovereign counsel that the very       himself two wives. This he added
seed of the woman. Their bodies         first child to be born to con-        to his breaking of the sixth com-
may have crushed heels and may          verted and believing Adam and         mandment by killing a man. Sin
even have lost their life; but their    Eve would be of the seed of the       is developing in the realm of the
souls will be lifted above and          serpent. That is all that man can     seed of the serpent.
away from all the seed of the           bring forth. Jesus' words to            However, we must not over-
devil to be with Christ, the Seed       Nicodemus are so very impor-          look the development of sin that
of the woman. Today, in amazing         tant: "Except a man be born           was also there in the realm of the
surgery and transplanting even of       again, he cannot see the kingdom      seed of the woman, In Genesis
organs of the body by man, the          of heaven." One must be born by       6:1, 2 we read that the sons of
cripple can be and often is able        the Spirit of Christ to become of     God - the members of the
to walk freely and to leap for joy      the seed of the woman. We             church of God in that day - saw
at the restoration. If man can do       always bring forth what is the        the daughters of men, that is, the
that, surely the almighty and           seed of the serpent. As God said,     seed of the serpent, that they
ever faithful God will give perfect     Adam and Eve died spiritually         were fair and took them to be
healing to our crushed heels.           the day they ate of the forbidden     their wives. Here we.have the
                                        fruit. Without any spiritual life     seed of the woman marrying the

                                                                                 May  15,1989  I The Standard Bearer  / 375


seed of the serpent. Here we                  killed the holy Brother at               find in what calls itself the
have that devilish craftiness of              Calvary. And the reason both             church world today. And the
Satan striving - and to a degree              times was the same. They hated           number of those who are the
succeeding - to cause the whole               the truth that He whom they              seed of the serpent is so over-
human race to be one people                   killed had presented to them. In         whelmingly much greater than
again. Only this time the human               fact these brethren of the seed of       that of those who reveal them-
race, that in Adam and Eve for a              Abraham dared to cry out, "We            selves as true seed of the woman.
brief time walked in love to God,             have no king but Caesar."                Jesus knew what He was saying
began to please Satan by                        When we look at the picture of         when He called this seed a "little
strengthening the seed of the ser-            the church world today, we can           flock."
pent and by pushing the seed of               see that we are rushing to the             Today the distinctive dif-
the woman aside. At least they                days like those when only eight          ference between the church and
were going to cover up their                  souls were saved in the ark and          the world is disappearing. What
identity as.seed of the woman                 by water. That distinct mark that        calls itself church is not always
and to say by their deeds how                 reveals whether one is of the            truly the seed of the woman.
nice and wonderful the seed of                seed of the woman, or of the             Even as just-before Noah's day
the serpent is.                               seed of the serpent, is hard to          many took unbelievers as wives
   Sin was practiced openly not                                                        because they were fair looking to
only in the sphere of the seed of                                                      them, so today so many that call
the serpent. It was clearly to be                                                      themselves church find much
seen also in the realm of the seed                     His Blood On Us                 delight in the seed of the serpent
of the woman. The church was                  The frenzied mob, ferocious, fear-       with their entertainment and sin-
becoming worldly. The world                     ing nought,                            ful stand and lives.
was not striving to become                    Pressed closer, shouting for the life      What a tragedy today that
spiritual. We have here already a               they sought,                           many who label themselves as
clear shadow of what lies before              And raised their voices in a mighty      seed of the woman present the
us in the days of the coming anti-              flood:                                 seed of the serpent as nice
christ. There just is not today the           "On us and on our children be His        people, and deal with them as
sharp distinction between church                blood."                                friends rather than as enemies,
and world as there was between                The scarlet stains, on that spike-       which they really are. They are
Adam's and Eve's believing de-                  studded cross                          Satan's tools which try to crush
scendants, after Abel's death, and            Where hung the bleeding body,            the heel of the true church by
the driving away of Cain which is               with each toss                         their false doctrines and by the
presented to us in Genesis                    Of pain re-echoed that rebellious        sins they allow and advocate. But
4:13-16. And there is not today                 cry                                    let us be warned by what we
the sharp distinction between                 Until it reached beyond the              read in Genesis 3-6. An anti-
Noah and his family and the                     vaulted sky.                           Christian kingdom was there
world population that died                                                             before the flood, and it was a
through the flood.                            Soon streets ran red; and women,         shadow of a more clever and
  These things were written and                 children, men                          subtle attempt of Satan to try to
preserved for us so that we may               Were slain with sword: and               crush the head of the seed of the
be on guard and fight vigorously                through all time since then            woman. Beware of false doctrines
against all the inclinations today            The revel race has had its wish          and of churches that look like
in the church world to be one                   fulfilled.                             seed of the woman by Satan's
with the seed of the serpent.                 His blood on them, they were             craftiness, as they appeal to the
  As the saying goes, "History                  despised and killed.                   flesh and introduce sin into the
repeats itself." That is true in the          But another cry had reached the          church world. Remember God's
church world as well as in the                  Father, too,                           word that He has put enmity be-
nations of this world. Cain's kill-           It was: "Forgive; they know not          tween church and world. Look
ing of Abel foreshadowed the                    what they do."                         for a church that loves God as He
killing of Jesus by the Jews. The             And those forgiven can pray amid         is presented in Holy Writ. 0
Jews who were the seed of                       sin's flood,
Abraham killed Christ Who like-               "Lord, on us and our children be
wise was of the seed of Abraham.                His blood."
Brother killed brother in the                                        James Jonker
garden of Eden. But brothers also              (from Beacon Lights, by permission)

376  I The Standard Bearer  I May  15,1989


Decency and                            Supervision of the
Order
Rev. Ronald Cammenga                   Ministry

  "No one shall be permitted,          but not without continued             wanted, how they wanted, and
neglecting the ministry of his         ecclesiastical supervision.           for as long as they wanted, and
church or being without a fixed          2) Ministers of local congrega-     then moved on to greener
charge, to preach indiscriminate-      tions perform their ministerial       pastures. It is the intention of Ar-
ly without the consent and             duties under the supervision          ticle 15 to forbid such indiscrimi-
authority of synod or classis.         aIways of their consistories, and     nate  preaching.
Likewise, no one shall be per-         are not free to preach in other         Article 15 also forbids the in-
mitted to preach or administer         places without the consent of         discriminate preaching of a
the sacraments in another church       their consistory.                     minister who is guilty of ". . . ne-
without the consent of the con-          3) No minister may preach in        glecting the ministry of his (own)
sistory of that church."               any church of the denomination        church . . . ." This also happened
INTRODUCTION                           without the consent of the con-       frequently at the time of the
  The principles set forth in this     sistory of that church. The pulpit    Reformation, and continues in
article are deduced from previous      is always under the supervision       our own day. For one reason or
Church Order  articles. Article 3      of the local consistory. Only if a    another a minister became dis-
specifies that none shall be per-      minister has the consistory's con-    illusioned with his own congrega-
mitted to administer the Word          sent and has been invited by the      tion or dissatisfied with their
and sacraments unless he be law-       consistory may he preach in           treatment of him and simply
fully called. Article `4 describes     another congregation than his         abandoned them to go else-
the lawful call and the examina-       own.                                  where. This is forbidden to Re-
tion of those who have been law-       INDISCRIMINATE PREACHING              formed ministers of the gospel.
fully called to the office of the      FORBIDDEN                             And no Reformed congregation
ministry. Article 7 teaches that a       Article 15 prohibits indiscrimi-    may receive such a man, open its
minister is to be stationed in a       nate, and therefore unsupervised,     pulpit to him, or enlist his ser-
particular place. Article 9 speaks     preaching: "No one shall be per-      vices as minister.
of the way in which "preachers         mitted . . . to preach indiscrimi-      The Article even forbids those
without a fixed charge" are to be      nately . . . ."                       who are `&. . . without a fixed
admitted to the ministry.                Often those who were guilty of      charge . . . ." to preach indiscrim-
  On the basis of these previous       indiscriminate preaching during       inately. Those without a fixed
articles, Article 15 teaches:          the years shortly after the Refor-    charge may be those ministers
  1) A minister who has been           mation were those self-appointed      who have been dismissed from
examined and admitted to the           preachers who wandered from           service according to Article 11.
ministry by the Classis and            one city to another. There was a      Or it may refer to ministers who
Synod, and duly ordained by his        large class of such "preachers,"      through no fault of their own
consistory, is authorized to           many of them former monks,            have been deprived of their con-
preach the Word and administer         priests, or Anabaptists. Refusing     gregations. In the past it has
the sacraments in all the              to place themselves under the         happened that congregations
churches of the denomination,          supervision of any local con-         dwindled because the members
                                       sistory, much as the "evangelists"    were forced to move out of the
                                       and "revivalists" of our own day,     area due to repeated crop failure.
Rev. Cammenga is pastor of the         they were a law unto themselves.      It has happened that a congrega-
Protestant Reformed Church of Love-    They preached where they              tion severs its relationship with
land, Colorado.

                                                                                May 15,  I.989  I The Standard Bearer I 377


the denomination, so that a faith-           ducted by the local consistory.            The supervision of candidates
ful minister through no fault of             This is also why the local con-          is twofold. As far as their
his own is without a fixed                   sistory, not Classis and Synod,          membership is concerned, candi-
charge. Even in the case of                  must suspend and depose from             dates are under the supervision
ministers without a fixed charge,            office, should this become               of the consistory of the church to
they are not permitted to preach             necessary. This is why it was            which they belong. As far as
indiscriminately and unsuper-                wrong for Classis Grand Rapids           their labors as candidates are
vised. The Dutch reads "hier en              East of the Christian Reformed           concerned, they are under the
daar te gaan prediken," that is,             Church (December, 1924) to               supervision of the consistory in
"to go preaching here and                    depose Rev. H. Hoeksema, and             which church they are laboring.
there."                                      for Classis Grand Rapids West              Often the ,question  comes up
SUPERVISED PREACHING                         (January, 1925) to depose Revs.          about ministers from other
  The important issue raised in              H. Danhof and G.M. Ophoff. The           churches and denominations
Article 15 is the right to preach            right to preach, the office itself,      preaching in our churches, or our
the Word and administer the                  resides in the local congregation.       ministers preaching in churches
sacraments. In whom does this                   Although Classis and Synod            outside our denomination.
right inhere? Who gives a                    supervise admission into office,           It is the implication of this arti-
minister the right to preach?                the ongoing supervision .of the of-      cle that ministers of other
  The emphatic teaching of this              fice of the ministry is the respon-      churches and other denomina-
article is that this right does NOT          sibility of the local consistory.        tions are not permitted to preach
reside in the man himself. It                They supervise who shall ad-             in our pulpits. This is a common
makes no difference how tal-                 minister the Word and the sacra-         practice today in our ecumenical-
ented, how gifted, how popular,              ments in the congregation. They          ly inclined age. Our churches
how effective a speaker, how im-             supervise how the Word and               must have no part of this prac-
portant an individual he may be.             sacraments are administered, the         tice. The article prohibits those
None of these things give him the            "how" being according to the             who have not gained "the con-
right to preach the Word.                    Word of God.                             sent and authority of classis and
  Neither does the right to                  SUPERVISION OF                           synod," who have not therefore
preach reside in the Classis or              CANDIDATES                               been examined by the Classis or
Synod. This does not deny that                  A decision with respect to            the Synod, from preaching in the
Classis and Synod have some                  candidates has been appended to          churches. The exception to this
jurisdiction in this matter. Article         Article 15.                              would, of course, be churches
15 says that no one is permitted               In case any one of our candidates      with whom we have established
to preach &`. . . without the con-           has not received a call after three      fraternal relations, sister
sent and authority of synod or               years and still desires that his can-    churches.
classis." There certainly is a               didacy remain in effect, he shall ad-      This does not, however, forbid
mutual supervision of the                    dress himself to Synod, who shall        our ministers from preaching in
ministry in the churches of the              treat his case as may be proper.         churches not part of our
federation (denomination)                      This decision fits under Article       denomination. This is permitted
through the Classis and Synod.               15 because of the "consent and           and has been permitted by the
This is especially the supervision           authority of synod" mentioned in         Reformed churches in the past. If
exercised at the time of admis-              the article. It also makes sense         this is done, two conditions must
sion into the ministry. Admission            that since Synod declares can-           be met. First, before a minister
into the ministry of the churches            didacy, it should also be the body       does this he must obtain the ap-
of the denomination requires ex-             to extend candidacy.                     proval of his own consistory. And
amination by both Classis and                  Notice that the initiative for         second, although he preaches in
Synod. And apart from the ap-                extension of candidacy is to be          another church, he remains
proval of the Classis and Synod,             with the candidate himself. He is        under the supervision of his own
no one may be ordained into the              to address Synod, if he desires his      consistory.  0
ministerial office.                          candidacy to remain in effect. If
  Still, the inherent right to               he fails to do this, his candidacy
preach and administer the sacra-             automatically expires at the end         Shrink not from the right strife
ments is not the right given by              of three years.                            unequal,
Classis and Synod. This is why                                                        With the best is always hope;
Classis and Synod do not ordain                                                       But ever in the sequel,
into office, but ordination is con-.                                                  God holds the right side up.

378  I The Standard Bearer I May  15,1989


                                         Exposition of
From Holy Writ
Rev. George Lubbers                      John  2I:I5-I9

 The threefold "Simon, Simon, Son        all be offended in such a power-       must have been pricked in their`
 of Jonas"  - continued                  ful Christ who dies according to       consciences. Had they too not
 (John 21:15-19)                         the Scriptures, and who is raised      forsaken their Lord? Had they
       Perhaps it might be beneficial    again on the third day according       not been offended in the Christ
 to the reader that at this point        to these same Scriptures. They'        of God in the night in which
we stop and consider briefly the         are confident that they will stand     Jesus was betrayed?
 terms wherewith Jesus designates        and that the Scripture's prophecy        This first question makes every
 His church to Simon. Such a             of their being utterly scattered       one  naked and opened before the
study often gives opportunity to         will not come to pass. In a word,      eyes of God with whom they had
unfold some more of the riches           they are offended at the word of       to do!
of the words of life of Jesus.           the Cross! And, lest we forget, it       No, Simon had not loved Jesus
       To each of these questions we     was at this point that Christ          more than the other disciples
will now turn our attention.             specifically stated to Peter and to    loved Jesus! Nor had he loved
       In the question to Simon,         the rest of the disciples that         Him less than they had. He had
Christ reminds him of his self-          "after I am raised up I will go        fallen into the sin of denying his
confident boasting! He had               before you into Galilee." This         Lord. And, o awful moment, had
stated very boldly that "if all be       word too they all had refused to       he too been denied before the
offended in thee this night, I will      believe. This doubt and unbelief       face of his Father in heaven in
never be offended in thee" (Matt.        became very apparent on the            that awful moment in that well-
26:33). We must remember that            morning of the resurrection,           known courtyard outside of
these words were uttered by              when they refused to believe the       Caiaphas' hall? God alone be
Peter, and were also foolishly           report of the women (Luke              praised in the boundless mercy
agreed to by the other ten               24:6-12).                              wherewith He smote that
disciples, in reply to Jesus'              Now it was in Jesus' power to        shepherd that night. For this
quoting from Zechariah 13:7:             have come and asked this ques-         smitten shepherd, who was
"Awake, 0 sword, against my              tion very personally to Peter          wounded for our offenses, looked
shepherd, and against the man            alone. He could have taken him         in infinite pity and love upon
that is my fellow: smite the             aside and spoken to him private-       Peter and also the others; He
shepherd and the sheep shall be          ly. But such was not the divine        loved Peter to the end. His peti-
scattered . . . ." Peter, as a           wisdom of God in this case. Not        tion to the Father that the faith
spokesman, and all the others            only Peter must confess that hor-      of all these true disciples might
refused to,believe the Old Testa-        rible sin of unbelief in the words     not "fail" was heard for these
ment Scripture's prediction of           which Jesus had quoted from            tempest-tossed souls!
the suffering and dying of the           Zechariah 13:7, but the others           There was really infinite love
Shepherd of Israel, which                here present at this breakfast         and faithfulness in this heart-
Shepherd had power to lay down           must hear these questions              searching question: Lovest  thou
His life and had power to take it        directed to Simon. Although they       Me more than these, Simon, son
up again (John 10:18). They shall        did not need to answer audibly,        of Jonas? Simon does not deny
                                         John and the others too must be        outright that he loves Jesus more
-.-                                      humbled in the self-humbling of        than does the beloved disciple
Rev. Lubbers is a minister emeritus      Peter at Jesus' feet. They too         John and the others. He leaves
in the Protestant Reformed Churches.

                                                                                   May 15, 1989  / The Standard Bearer  I 379


the question unanswered. He                   answer this question, but that the      fection." Peter cannot escape. He
does not say, "No, I don't                    Lord alone can and should               must face the reality whether he
believe that I do love Thee more              answer it. Here is something of         really loves Jesus in that pro-
than John does." Neither does he              that basic and humble attitude          found sense in which love is
dodge the question. He looks                  which says that it is better to fall    called the bond of perfection by
with pleading eyes to Jesus his               into the merciful arms of the lov-      the Holy Spirit in Colossians 3:14.
"Lord." He leaves it in the wise              ing knowledge of Jesus than to          Does Peter have such a love for
and loving judgment of his Savior             put up a great argument in self-        Jesus? If not, then the tender af-
- Lord. Thou knowest Lord that I              defense. There is not one grain of      fection really is empty of spiritual
have a deep affection for Thee!               the self-confidence of the men          content. Do you love Me, that
He is utterly silent concerning               who put their trust in self here at     crucified Christ, the risen Lord,
the love of the others. He leaves             all. It is the attitude of the peni-    so that you will never be of-
that judgment where it properly               tent. Peter has found the mercy         fended at the Word of the Cross,
belongs.                                      of forgiveness, and we taste in         which is the only truth of the
   There is something about the               these words a complete and total        Gospel which you must go out to
verb used in the Greek text                   looking away from self to the           preach presently in all the world.
which we ought to point out to                tender mercies of the Lord!             For blessed is he that is not of-
the reader of these lines. For                  Finally, we must notice that          fended in Me (Matt. 1 l:l-6)!
Peter employs the word for "to                Peter in utmost sensitiveness              Also here Peter casts himself
know" very wittingly. The term                avoids saying, "I do love you," in      upon his Lord who knows Peter's
is oidas, in distinction from the             the sense that the Bible says that      heart better than what Peter
verb ginooskein. Both verbs are               "God is love" (I John 4:8 ff.). For     himself does. For from this deep
translated in the English with the            Jesus truly, if I may so speak          heart flows all the issues of
verb knowest. However, the                    reverently of Jesus my Lord, pins       Peter's life. Christ alone knows
former term refers to seeing                  Peter down in these questions.          the secret resources of love. He
clearly with the mind's eye, while            There is here not a hounding to         knows whether Peter will preach
the latter refers to experiential             terrify or to dismay Peter; but         the Word of envy or of good will
knowledge, the knowledge of                   the full truth must be confessed,       (Phil. 1:15, 16). "Peter, will this
loving fellowship and life. Now               both of sin and of grace. For,          love for Me throb in every
Peter appeals in this first ques-             mark you well, Peter is the prime       syllable of your preaching until
tion, as well as in the second                candidate to be the chief-under-        your dying day?"
question of Jesus as we shall see,            shepherd of the Great Shepherd             It is Jesus that takes the ini-
to the penetrating omniscience of             of the sheep! Of this one we read       tiative here at this early morning
Jesus who knows what is in man                in Hebrews 13:20: "Now the God          meal. This too is part of His self-
(John 21:15, 16). However, in his             of peace, who brought again             manifestation. Hear Him intone:
reply to Jesus in the third ques-             from the dead the great shepherd        Simon, Son of Jonas, lovest thou
tions he expands the answer in                of the sheep with the blood of          Me more than these? Is your love
acknowledging that Jesus knows                the eternal covenant, even our          for Me greater and more intense
what is in his heart in both                  Lord Jesus, make you perfect in         in fervor than that of John and
senses of the terms. For he                   every good work, working in us          James? Jesus here does not ques-
employs both the Greek verb                   that which is well-pleasing in his      tion Peter's love, nor the love of
oidas and ginooskeis. Lord Thou               sight, through Jesus Christ; to         the others. He knows that Peter
dost not only know with a bare                whom be glory for ever and              loves Him. But Peter is here be-
omniscience, but Thou tastest my              ever. Amen."                            ing installed, and in a sense
love for Thee with spiritual ap-                Hence, there is here a very           reinstated, into office of apostle-
prehension of the fellowship of               emphatic pedagogical stepping up        ship. This is a solemn hour in
reciprocal love between the                   of the questions to Peter. When         history, a great moment in the
Savior and the saved.                         he silently confesses that even         church. Here is a servant who
  We should also not overlook                 his "affection" is not to be            can only be great when he is like
that each time when Peter                     viewed in terms of greater or           his master. Do you still compare
answers Jesus he says, "thou,                 lesser than his peers, then Jesus       your love with that of others in
Lord" except the third time,                  asks the more basic question:           your sinful, boastful, and self-
when he speaks the very                       Simon, do you love Me? Jesus            confident manner, Peter?
pleading and plaintive "Lord." In             will not allow the issue of the           Peter feels the full impact of
the first two instances Peter em-             ethical love to be substituted by       this question in his sanctified con-
phasizes that not he must really              the lesser "warm and hearty afi         science. This word is sharp and

380  I The Standard Bearer  / May 15, 1989


alive and goes into the marrow         lovers of Christ? Meanwhile, bear           the very delicate and high labor
and bones of Peter, and it is a        in mind that this was an appeal             and toil to which he is called.
discerner of the intents of his        to the Lord Jesus, who knows all            Feed My lambs whom I loved so
heart. Yes, all things are naked       things in Peter's heart. It is not          much that I laid down My life to
and opened with God, with              any more what Peter thinks of               free them from all sin and guilt
whom Peter has to do.                  himself in his own self-evaluation,         - these lambs which none can
   Simon now replies as a              but what the Lord thinks of him             or may pluck out of My hand!
"Peter," the rock. He humbles          and knows of his heart which                These lambs must be fed and
himself under the mighty hand of       counts! Here Peter comes to his             nourished with spiritual food of
God, and replies, "Yes, Lord,          de profundus! He sings Psalm                the word of God.
thou knowest that I have a deep        139:23, 24 in minor key. He                   We would think that this
affection for Thee." He avoids in      walks softly with his God                   would now suffice.
holy sensitiveness employing that      amongst his fellow co-laborers in             But Jesus loves His sheep very
strong word "love" (agapein),          the gathering of the harvest.               dearly; and no hireling may from
which is the term used in the            But the Lord Jesus persists. No,          now on tend these sheep. For it
words "God is love." That is the       He does not doubt Peter's confes-           is as Ezekiel had said: There shall
deep, ethical love which is the        sion. For, even upon this first of          be showers of blessings. This will
bond of perfection (Col. 3:14).        the three answers, Peter is                 be at the time when the Lord
How would he dare to assert that :     already admitted into office. Says          shall place one Shepherd over
he loved God with the perfection       Jesus to Peter, "Feed my lambs."            His flock, and will appoint
of love in heaven, and that, too,      But this is still spoken as a               faithful shepherds. Confer Ezekiel
more than all these other six          "charge" to Peter, circumscribing           24:11-16.  0
                                                                              -





                                       Book Review

CALVIN: GENEVA AND THE                 terested in the work and                    "Decisive Issues in a Mundane
REFORMATION, by Ronald S.              theology of Calvin will enjoy and           Setting, " "The Struggle for
Wallace; Baker Book House,             profit from this work.                      `Spiritual Government'," "Rumors,
1988; pp. viii-310 (cloth).              Perhaps one of the most ap-               Slanders and Cases," "Economics
(Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko)           pealing features of the book is             in Geneva," "Education and the
   Ronald Wallace is Professor         the author's ability to weave the           Humanities in Geneva,"
Emeritus of Columbia Theological       life of Calvin into discussions of          "Towards a Christian Society."
Seminary in Georgia. He now            Calvin's views and writings.                  There are many parts of the
lives in Edinburgh, Scotland           Although especially the first part          book which particularly struck
where he also earned a Ph.D. in        of the book is biographical, the            my attention, of which we men-
Divinity. He is a Calvin scholar of    author intersperses gems out of             tion a few. The author includes
-the first rank and has put his        Calvin's life throughout his                important information on the
massive learning into an impor-        discussions. And he deals with              relation between the Council in
tant, interesting, and excellent       Calvin's multi-faceted labors and           the city of Geneva and the Con-
book. His book gleans its              astounding genius in a fair and             sistory, in which he demonstrates
material from all of Calvin's          compelling way. The three main              that Calvin was far from being
writings, including Calvin's Com-      sections of the book are: 1) The            the dictator he is often described
mentaries, his Tracts and              Reformer and his City, 2) Church-           as being (pp. 54-64). While the
Treatises, his correspondence, as      man and Pastor, 3) The                      Council in Geneva abolished feast
well as Calvin's magnum opus,          Theologian. Under the first main            days, the author claims that
"The Institutes of the Christian       heading, the author deals with,             Calvin himself was in favor of
Religion." Anyone who is in-           "The Aim and the Plan."                     them (p. 58). Although Calvin

                                                                                      May 15, 1989  I The Standard Bearer  I381


held firmly to the idea of private          and evaluating it in the light of       of the atonement, a subject being
ownership of property, he dif-              present-day theological discussion      much debated these days, is
fered from modern capitalistic              and dispute.                            relegated to a footnote on page
theory. On p. 109 Calvin's con-               An example of this latter is the      251; and the conclusion of the
demnation of instrumental ac-               author's treatment of Calvin's          author is that Calvin is not clear
companiment of singing is docu-             views of grace, which are dis-.         on it. Again, W. Cunningham
mented; but the author demon-               cussed especially in the chapter        cites important evidence from
strates how balanced Calvin real-           on education. The author main-          Calvin's writings that Calvin held
ly was in his application of the            tains that Calvin called the good       to the doctrine of limited
regulative principle. There is an           in the wicked, grace, and holds         redemption, even though the
excellent chapter on Calvin's               that Calvin even went so far as         specific references are relatively
thoughts on education (pp. 102ff.)          to say that common grace is             scanty.
in which Calvin's emphasis on its           redeeming grace which has its              While Calvin's views on pre-
importance is set forth. On                 origin in the cross (p. 104). A cer-    destination are, for the most part,
Calvin's views concerning the               tain argument can surely be             accurately presented, the author
relation between church and                 made in support of the first prop-      does find certain ambiguities on
state the author is correct in his          osition, but the simple fact is         this subject in Calvin; but it ap-
analysis of Calvin's position. One          that: 1) Calvin did not write in        pears as if the author does not
of the most moving and enlight-             the context of the modern con-          reckon sufficiently with Calvin's
ening chapters, in my opinion,              troversy over the subject of corn- refusal to enter into questions,
was the chapter which dealt with            mon grace, and, 2) Calvin's             especially concerning reproba-
Calvin's pastoral work both in              theology as a whole certainly           tion, on which Scripture itself is
Geneva proper and through his               militates against any kind of com-      silent.
correspondence. Generally speak-            mon grace. As far as that ele-             All those who are spiritual
ing, the author also does justice           ment of common grace is con-            children of Calvin will find this
to Calvin's theology, although it           cerned which is called "the free        book delightful and instructive
sometimes seemed to me that the             offer," even William Cunningham         reading, and not many books can
author occasionally fell into the           is forced to the conclusion that        be as valuable an addition to
mistake of putting Calvin's                 Calvin did not teach it.                one's "Calvin Library" as this
theology into a modern context                Calvin's doctrine of the extent       one. 0



                                            News From
Mr. Benjamin Wigger                         Our Churches

                                                                  May 15,1989       School. Donations were for the
                                            CONGREGATIONAL                          1989 Young People's Convention.
                                            HIGHLIGHTS                                 There was another congrega-
                                              A special congregational meet-        tional meeting held in April, this
                                            ing was scheduled on April 24 at        one on April 4 at the parsonage
                                            the Lynden P.R.C. in Lynden,            of the lmmanuel P.R.C. in
                                      `
                                      .     WA. The agenda dealt with ap-           Lacombe, AB, Canada. One it6m
                                            proving the plans for their new         considered that night was what
                                            church building.                        direction the congregation ought
                                              Also from Lynden: their Young         to go regarding a church build-
                                            People's Society sponsored a sup-       ing. Should they look further into
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Prot-         per of hamburgs and fries on            the Nazarene Church, look fur-
estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-          April 21st at Covenant Christian        ther into the Grace Chapel, look
ville, Michigan.                                                                    for a suitable piece of ground on

382 I The Standard Bearer I May  15,1989


which to build a new church, or        tion in Norristown, PA. First he        April 14 to enjoy the All-School
do nothing at the present time?        informed the "News" that his            Spring Program of Adams St.
More information will have to          father and mother and three             Christian School. Their theme
wait until the "News" receives         sisters would be in Norristown on       this year was the TULIP doctrine.
more information from lm-              April 2 to witness and take part          On Wednesday night, April 12,
manuel.                                in his installation as pastor of the    around 8 PM the band of Cove-
  Also from lmmanuel: on behalf        church there. And second, he            nant Christian High School in
of the congregation, the Con-          and his family hoped to leave for       Grand Rapids, Ml left for Hull,
sistory presented a pulpit Bible to    Northern Ireland, for six to nine       Iowa by way of a chartered bus.
the congregation of the First          months, around the first of July.       At about 10 AM the next morn-
P.R.C. in Edmonton, AB, Canada           Prof. David Engelsma preached         ing they arrived in Hull and went
at their church dedication pro-        a sermon based on Matthew               directly to the Hull P.R. Christian
gram in February.                      16: 18: "I Will Build My Church,"       School. There in the afternoon
  And one final item from lm-          on the occasion of the organiza-        they presented a band concert to
manuel: the annual Prayer Day          tion of the newest P.R. church,         students, parents, and supporters
Service, normally conducted on         the Bethel P.R.C. in Elk Grove          of Hull, the Free Christian School
the second Wednesday of March,         Village, IL. Missionary Rev. R.         in Edgerton, MN and the North-
was held on April 7 instead. The       Van Overloop, along with South          west Iowa P.R. Christian School
Consistory decided that a later        Holland's newly installed pastor,       in Doon, IA.
date was more in line with the         Rev. Terpstra, were responsible           After the concert, the band
sowing of crops.                       for the organization itself. I thank    members had time for activities
  The Evangelism Committee of          Rev. Van Overloop for supplying         with their hosts, the families and
the Randolph P.R.C. in Randolph,       the "News" with the following in-       young people of our Hull P.R.C.
WI sponsored a Spring Lecture          formation. Bethel was organized         Band members spent the two
held on April 14 at the Central        with 12 families and 2 in-              nights in their homes. Then on
Wisconsin Christian High School.       dividuals, 27 confessing members        Friday the band took part in a
Prof. H. Hanko spoke on the sub-       and 24 children. The clerk is Al        Band Festival at Dordt College.
ject "I Believe in God the             Stob,. 1960 Stockton, Des Plaines,      They performed individually and
Creator." Besides this the congre-     IL 60018. Treasurer: Fred lwema,        as part of a combined band from
gation was also invited to see a       706 Michigan Lane, Elk Grove            nine different high schools com-
video of our churches' Jamaican        Village, IL 60007.                      prised of some 500 members.
Missions work. This was shown          MINISTERIAL CALLS                       After another night in Hull the
at the church on March 30.               The Bethel P.R.C. called Rev.         band left for home Saturday mor-
  The Choral Society of the            R. Van Overloop to be their first       ning. Mr. Andy Kamper, Cove-
P.R.C. in South Holland, IL pre-       pastor from a trio that included        nant's band director, wanted the
sented their annual Easter pro-        also Revs. Key and Moore.               "News" to convey his special
gram on April 2. And many of             Rev. R. Dykstra declined the          thanks, as well as thanks from
our churches sponsored, or were        call he received from the Peace         the entire band to the members
invited to attend, Easter singspir-    P.R.C. in Lynwood, IL.                  of Hull for making their time dur-
ations at neighboring churches.          Faith P.R.C. in Jenison, Ml           ing the Festival so enjoyable. 0
Can there be any better way to         formed a new trio consisting of
conclude a Sunday than by sing-        Revs. Slopsema, Van Overloop,
ing praises to our Lord and            and Dykstra.                            NOTICE!
Creator?                               CHURCH ACTIVITIES                         Crandville Protestant Re-
  The Reformed Fellowship, also          A Mr. & Mrs. plus Adult Bible         formed Church of Crandville,
of South Holland P.R.C., met           Societies Spring League Meeting         Michigan is requesting funds to
after the evening service on           was held on April 11 at the Hud-        help finance the construction of
March 26. Two papers were              sonville P.R.C. in Hudsonville,         their new sanctuary.
presented, with a discussion to        Ml. Prof. David Engelsma spoke            .Those interested in loaning
follow on "The Appropriateness         on "The Battle for the Family."         money for periods of 3 years or
of Symbols in Reformed                 SCHOOL ACTIVITIES                       more at an interest rate of
Worship."                                Parents, supporters, and              8-10% are requested to contact:
MISSION ACTIVITIES                     friends were invited to First                  John Gise Van  Baren
  The "News" received a note           Church in Grand Rapids, Ml on                  6487 Sunflower Drive
from Rev. K. Hanko, pastor of                                                   Byron Center, Michigan 49315
our newly organized congrega-                                                         Phone (616) 530-9233

                                                                                  May  15,1989   I The Standard Bearer  I  383


 -IRE
sllww!!!!                                   _                                                        SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                     Postage Paid at
BIHRER                                                                                               Grand  Rapids, Michigan
i?O. Box 6064.                                   -___ __-               _____-  -. -.. ---~
Grand Rapids, MI 49506

                                                                                               .

WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                tit-rue to bless them with good    ATTENTION TEACHERS!
  On May  30,1989,  our parents,                   health and all spiritual bless-      Hope Christian School of
MR. AND MRS. THOMAS                                ings.                              Redlands, CA is seeking to add
SPRIENSMA  will celebrate their                    Ike  & Jeanne Spriensma            a teacher to its staff beginning
40th wedding anniversary. We                       Peter  & Dorothy Van Der Schaaf    the 1989-90 school year. Teach-
are thankful to our Heavenly                       Audred  & Alva Spriensma           ing assignment would be either
Father for the many happy                          Howard  & Eileen Pastoor           grades  K and 1, or 2nd  - 4th.
years He has given them to                         Randy  & Sue Spriensma             Those interested may call Ed
each other and to us their                         Phil  & Helen Vander Wal           Karsemeyer (Principal) at school
children and grandchildren. It is                    and 22 grandchildren             (714-793-l 504) or at -home (714-
our prayer that Cod will  con-                                                        793-7166), or Mike Critters (Sec-
                                                                                      retary of School Board), at (714-
                                                                                      739-4439). Applications or
                                                                                      resumes should be sent to Hope
                                                                                      Christian School, 1309 E.  Brock-
                                                                                      ton, Redlands, CA 92374.
                                                                                                              -.
                                                                                      . NOTICE!
                                                                                        Prof. H.C. Hoeksema, on his
                                                                                      return from Tasmania, was
                                                                                      assigned a new telephone
                                                                                      number. It is (616) 534-3042.
                                                                                      NOTICE!
                                                                                        According to the decision of
                                                                                      Synod 1988, the Hull Protestant
                                                                                      Reformed Church was appointed
                                                                                      the calling church for the 1989
                                                                                      Synod. The Consistory hereby
                                                                                      notifies our churches that the
                                                                                      1989 Synod of the Protestant
                                                                                      Reformed Churches in America
                                                                                      will convene, the Lord willing,
                                                                                      on Tuesday, June  13th, 1989 at
                                                                                      9:00 AM in the Hull, Iowa Prot-
                                                                                      estant Reformed Church. The
                                                                                      Pre-Synodical Service will be
                                                                                      held Monday evening, June 12th
                                                                                      at  7:30. Rev. G. Van  Baren,
                                                                                      President of the Synod of 1987,
                                                                                      will preach the sermon.  Synodi-
                                                                                      caLdelegates are requested to
                                                                                      meet with the Consistory before
                                                                                      the service. Delegates in need
                                                                                      of lodging should contact Mr. E.
                                                                                      Critters, RR  #I, Hull, IA 51239,
                                                                                      Phone  712-439-2194.
                                                                                        In the service of our Lord.
                                                                                      For the Consistory
                                                                                      E. Critters


384  /  The  Standard  Bearer  I May 15, 1989


