 A Reformed       BBR
Semi-Monthly
Magazine





VOI.  63,  NO.

july 7, 7989


 Contents                                                                                   THE
                                                                  july 7,7989         sTANDfl!!4RD
Meditation  - Rev.  lames D. Slopsema
   BENEDICTION                                                                 411        IEARER
Editorials  -  Prof.  David  /.  Engelsma                                              ISSN 03624692
   DOES "REFORMED" MAKE A DIFFERENCE?                                          413    Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
                                                                                      and  Aueust.  Published  bv the Reformed Free Pub-
   INTERVIEW WITH HENRY VANDER WAL:                                                   lishing  J\ssociation,  Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
      PRESENT-DAY COLPORTEUR                                                   415    at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                      EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
                                                                                      Editor-in-chief: Prof. David  J. Engelsma
LETTERS                                                                        417    Managing Editor: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                      Editors' Assistant: Mr. Don Doezema
THE READER ASKS                                                                418    DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                       Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
The Day of Shadows  -  Rev.  lohn  A. Heys                                            Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
                                                                                      Critters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
   A BLESSED SHADOW                                                            418    Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John  Heys,  Rev.
                                                                                      Jason Kortering, Rev. George Lubbers, Rev. James
All Around Us  - Rev. Cise VanBaren                                                   Slopsema, Rev. Charles Terpstra, Rev.  Cise
                                                                                      VanBaren,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
   OLD FASHIONED VALUES?                                                       421    EDITORIAL OFFICE
   C.R.C. YEARBOOK 1989                                                        422    The Standard Bearer
                                                                                      4949  lvanrest
                                                                                      Crandville,  Michigan 49418
In His Fear  - Rev. Arie  denHartog                                                   CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
   SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE                                                  425    Mr. Ben Wigger
                                                                                      6597  - 40th Ave.
                                                                                      Hudsonville,  Michigan 49426
Bible Study Guide  - Rev.  jason  L. Kortering                                        EDITORIAL POLICY
   I  &II SAMUEL - THE BEGINNING OF THE KINGDOM (2)                            427    Every editor is solely responsible for the contents
                                                                                      of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
BOOK REVIEW                                                                    429    terest from our readers and questions for the
                                                                                      Question Box Department are welcome. Contribu-
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REPORT OF CLASSIS EAST  - Mr. Ion  /. Huisken                                  430    and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
                                                                                      must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first and
NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES  - Mr. Benjamin Wigger                                  431    the fifteenth of the month. All communications
                                                                                      relative to the contents should be sent to the
                                                                                      editorial office.
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 Inside this issue . . .                                                              Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of
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knows how many plates made! All without a word of complaint - and on                  The Business Office will accept standing orders
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operation. Mr. Vander Wal did the job well - with the old machines, the               tion of a volume. A limited number of past
                                                                                      volumes may be obtained through the Business
drawers of metal plates, and the dual-cards-filing system in his basement.            Office.
And he could be depended on. Now he retires. We owe him a debt of                     16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm and 105mm
                                                                                      microfiche, and article copies are available
gratitude.  See "Interview with Henry Vander Wal" inside this issue. 0                through University Microfilms International.


410  / The Standard Bearer  / July 1, 1989


Meditation
Rev. James Slopsema                     Benediction

   The grace of the Lord Jesus          As a result of that original sin we       It's rather striking, though, that
Christ, and the love of God,            sin every day against the living       the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the communion of the                God. This makes us completely'         should be mentioned, first in this
Holy Ghost, be with you all.            unworthy of any favors from any        benediction. For being the
Amen.        -II Corinthians 13:14      source. Our sin renders us             Mediator of salvation, the Lord
                                        worthy only of Gods wrath and          Jesus Christ is not the source of
                                        judgment, both now and eter-           salvation but only the means
  With these words the apostle          nally.                                 through Whom the Source, God,
Paul concluded his second epistle         The benediction ascribes this        accomplishes our salvation. We
to the church of Corinth. These         saving grace to the Lord Jesus         might therefore expect the love
words are really a benediction          Christ.                                of God to be mentioned first, to
Paul pronounced on the behalf of          The Lord Jesus Christ is the         be followed by the grace of the
God upon the church. Many of us         eternal Son of God come in the         Lord Jesus Christ.
reading these words will                flesh to be our Mediator. Because         However, this benediction ap-
recognize them as the concluding        the Lord Jesus is our Mediator,        proaches us from the viewpoint
benediction in our own worship                                                 of our experience. And in the ex-
services. This beautiful benedic-       we receive all the blessings of
                                                                               perience of our salvation the
tion proclaims to the church the        salvation only through Him.
                                                                               grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is
glorious gospel of salvation and        Thus, for example, our salvation
                                                                               first.
assures her that the salvation of       is based solely on His suffering
                                        and death at the cross. In turn,          Since Jesus is the Mediator of
God is hers.                            we actually receive and enjoy the      our salvation, we can approach
* * * * * * * * * *                     blessings of salvation only            unto God only through Him.
  The grace of the Lord Jesus           through the same Jesus, Who dai-       Jesus is the way to the Father.
Christ.                                 ly appears before the face of God      No man comes to the Father but
  Simply put, grace is unmerited        for us in heaven. He is, indeed,       by Him. The only way to God is
favor. When someone is gracious         our Savior, as His very name           through the work of Jesus Christ.
to you, he does you a favor you         "Jesus" indicates.                     In salvation, therefore, we deal
don't deserve.                            By speaking of the grace of the      first of all with the Lord Jesus
  The grace spoken of here is           Lord Jesus Christ, this benedic-       Christ.
the grace of salvation. The salva-      tion teaches us that Jesus' work          And as we contemplate the
tion of our souls is the greatest       of salvation on our behalf is          salvation we enjoy through the
favor we can possibly receive.          strictly a matter of grace -           mediating work of Jesus Christ,
There is no meaning in all of life,     undeserved favor. It was grace         there is one thing especially that
if we perish everlastingly in hell.     that moved Jesus to submit to          deeply impresses every sincere
  Salvation is a favor we               the agonies of the cross to obtain     child of God: it's all of grace.
definitely do not deserve. For we       our salvation. It is grace, and           The grace of the Lord Jesus
have sinned against God. We             grace alone, that motivates the        Christ!
sinned against God in Paradise          Lord Jesus Christ to shower us         *  +  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
through our first father, Adam.         from heaven with the blessings of
                                        His salvation day by day. It's all        And the love of God!
                                        grace: nothing that we have               The Bible has a great deal to
                                        earned or deserve but purely a         say about the love of God.
                                                                                  Here follows the sum of Gods
Rev. Slopsema is pastor of the Prot-    matter of undeserved favor.
estant Reformed Church of Walker,                                              love. God's love is eternal. In the
Michigan.                                                                      endless ages of eternity God

                                                                                         J u l y   1 ,   1 9 8 9   I   T h e   S t a n d a r d   B e a r e r   I 4 1 1


chose unto Himself a people in                      And the communion of the           us means that they are always
Jesus Christ. And eternally He set               Holy Spirit.                          present with us to accomplish our
His love upon them.                                 The Holy Spirit is very much       salvation.
   This means that Gods love is                  involved in our salvation.               How important that this be the
first. God does not love us                         We have seen that all our          case! If the grace of the Lord
because we first loved Him. Were                 salvation is in Jesus Christ.         Jesus Christ, or the love of God,
this the case, none of us would                  Through His death Jesus earned        or the communion of the Holy
ever know the love of God. For                   our salvation. Through His resur-     Spirit is not with us, we will most
of ourselves we are hopelessly in-               rection and exaltation into           certainly perish. Your salvation
volved in sin, prone to hate God                 heaven, Jesus obtained our salva-     and mine depends on these being
and our neighbor. Being an eter-                 tion. And from heaven Jesus           with us.
nal love, Gods love is first; our                showers the blessings of this            And, now, the beauty of it all
love for Him only follows.                       salvation upon us day by day, so      is that what is proclaimed here is
   In fact, God loved us even                    that we both enjoy them and live      not merely a wish but a benedic-
while we were yet sinners. We                    in their power.                       tion. The apostle Paul, as he con-
will praise God every day for                       But Jesus showers these bless-     cluded his second epistle to the
this, as we travel the endless cor-              ings upon us only through the         church of Corinth, was not mere-
ridors of eternity.                              Holy Spirit. For, to receive the      ly stating a wish when He
   And we will also praise Him                   blessings of salvation in Jesus       penned these words. He was
for the fact that in His love He                 Christ requires that we be            speaking on behalf of the living
sent His only begotten Son into                  brought to a true and living faith    God, pronouncing Gods blessings
the world for our salvation.                     in Jesus. Faith is that which         upon the church.
   Because God loves His people,                 brings us to Jesus Christ, the          The grace of the Lord Jesus
He seeks their welfare. He will                  Fount of all blessings. Faith is      Christ, the love of God, and the
save them from their sins. He                    that which unites us to Christ, so    communion of the Holy Spirit are
will deliver them from the. cer-                 that we become partakers of His       with the church! They are with
tain destruction they have fool-                 salvation.                            all who are truly members of the
ishly brought upon themselves. In                   That faith Christ works in our     church: elect in Christ, redeemed
fact, God in love purposes to                    hearts through the inner working      by the blood, belonging to Jesus
bring His people to the gIory of                 of the Holy Spirit. When Christ,      by faith.
His own eternal home, where                      through the Word, calls His             With this assurance the apostle
they may know the joy of His                     people to repentance and faith,       Paul also concluded this benedic-
friendship and fellowship forever.               the Holy Spirit works irresistibly    tion with a resounding, Amen
   But this requires a payment for               within them, leading them to lay      (i.e., it shall truly be). In that con-
their sin, a payment that only His               hold of the Savior in true faith.     fidence we, as the church of
Son can make. The payment for                    Through the work of the Holy          Jesus Christ, also live. The grace
sin requires that His only begot-                Spirit every child of God is          of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love
ten Son enter into our flesh and                 brought into saving communion         of God, and the communion of
suffer the agonies of hell on the                with Christ.                          the Holy Spirit are with us and
cross in our place.                                 And so, in addition to the         shall be with us forever and ever.
   Herein is love, not that we                   grace of the Lord Jesus Christ          With that we lift up our hearts
loved God, but that He loved us,                 and the love of God, there is also    and voices with thanksgiving.
and sent His Son to be the pro-                  the communion of the Holy               Blessed be God the Father, and
pitiation for our sins. This love of             Spirit.                               His Son Jesus Christ, along with
God for His people stands as the                 * * * * *  * * * * *                  the Holy Spirit, for the love and
eternal fountain of all the saving                  The grace of the Lord Jesus        grace they have shown to us and
work of Jesus our Mediator.                      Christ, the love of God, and the      of which they also assure us for-
   And so, after calling attention               communion of the Holy Spirit be       ever unto our salvation!
to the grace of the Lord Jesus                                                           Amen! El
Christ in our salvation, the bene-               with you all.
                                                   To be with someone means to
diction of God now calls our at-                 be present with him at all times,
tention to the love of God that                  to aid and assist him. For the
stands behind it all.                            grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
   The grace of the Lord Jesus                   the love of God, and the commu-
Christ!                                          nion of the Holy Spirit to be with
   And the love of God!

412  I The Standard Bearer  I  July  1,  1989


                                       Does "Reformed" Make
                                            A Difference?
                                       Interview With Henry
                                            Vander Wal: Present-Day
Editorials                                  Colporteur

Does "Reformed" Make                   Reformed churches in the                 children religious instruction, par-
A Difference?                          Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic         ticularly instruction as to the dif-
                                       Confession, and the Canons of            ference between right and
   (Less than a month ago, many        Dordt makes a difference in the          wrong. The family no longer
children and young people              education that believing parents         reads the Bible for the benefit of
among us graduated from Re-            give their children and in the life      the children, a necessary thing,
formed, Christian schools. Many        that the young people live by the        says this perceptive unbeliever.
others completed a year's study.       power of this education.                    "Reformed" makes a dif-
A goodly number of men and               Reformed, Christian education          ference!
women looked back on a year's          is costly, to be sure; but it is also       It makes a difference in educa-
work of teaching or of adminis-        priceless.                               tion. The difference is simple and
tration in these schools. Parents        This was brought home to me            radical: the difference is God, the
gathered at the graduation exer-       in a forceful way, a couple of           God Who is truly God. The faith
cises to rejoice, not only in their    years ago, in the devastating            called Reformed acknowledges
child's finishing the course, but      criticism of higher education in         God - the Triune God and
also in the covenant community's       the United States by the Universi-       Father of Jesus Christ the Lord.
maintenance of the school for          ty of Chicago professor, Allan           He is sovereign, which is to say
another year. Many others              Bloom: The Closing of the                "truly God," and not merely
celebrated, viewing the children       American Mind (New York:                 some idol dependent upon
of the church as their children        Simon and Schuster, 1987).               almighty man. He is Creator of us
too and supposing themselves to        Higher education in America              and of all things. He saves the
have a stake in these children's       does not educate. It is im-              church that He has chosen. He
education. To all these - is any-      poverishing the minds and souls          governs all for the sake of this
one overlooked? - is this              of students. The reason is that it       church.
editorial directed.)                   believes nothing, stands for               This is Gods own testimony
                                       nothing, and really knows                about Himself in Isaiah 45. "I
   Graduates, faculty and adminis-     nothing. Not a Christian himself,        have made the earth, and
tration, families of the graduates,    Bloom notes with alarm that the          created man upon it: I, even my
and friends of Christian educa-        product of education in America          hands, have stretched out the
tion, "Reformed" makes a dif-          is a life of nihilism, of immorality,    heavens, and all their host have I
ference!                               and of despair, and this, on the         commanded' (v. 12). The LORD
   "Reformed' makes a difference       part of the youth - a nation's           calls Himself "the God of
for education!                         most valuable resource.                  Israel . . . mine elect" (vss. 3, 4).
   "Reformed' makes a difference         This is not the fault only of the      He declares that He has raised up
for life!                              schools. Bloom sees the relation         Cyrus, mighty head of the Per-
   The faith that the Holy Spirit      between home and school and              sian world-power, so that this
of Jesus Christ restored to the        blames the home equally. The             heathen monarch "shall build my
church by the Reformation in the       home no longer gives the                 city and . . . let go my captives,"
1500s and that is confessed by

                                                                                    July 1, 1989  I The Standard Bearer I413


     even though, in fact, Cyrus has               the Word of the sovereign God, it           thing a professor in an American,
     not "known me" (vss. 13, 4).                  has authority. This is a second             secular university or college can
     Such is the relationship between              way that "Reformed" makes a                 be absolutely sure of is that
     the God revealed in Scripture -               difference in education. We                 almost every student believes
     our God - and- even the most                  humbly receive this Scripture by            that truth is relative. Students are
     powerful of humans - a Cyrus, a               faith as the very Word of God,              sure of nothing except this, that
     Gorbachev, or a Bush - that God               breathed out of God by the Holy             nothing is sure. For them, there
     is Potter and humans are clay (v.             Spirit.                                     is no such thing as truth - rock-
     9).                                              Scripture not only gives us              solid, unchanging truth. The
            Because God is God, He is the          knowledge of heavenly things,               apostle of the Truth described
     beginning and the end, or goal,               e.g., the forgiveness of sins               them in II Timothy 3:7: "ever
     of education, as He is of every               through the cross of Jesus, but             learning and never able to come
     aspect of human life and labor.               also of earthly reality. As John            to the knowledge of the truth."
            The basic flaw in modern               Calvin wrote in his Institutes of             Necessary for education is a
     American education is that it has             the Christian Religion, the Scrip-          source of truth, a basis of truth, a
     left God out, indeed has banished             tures are the glasses through               standard of truth. This is the
     God. Bloom sees this:                         which we blind people can see               Bible, the Word of God Who is
            The critical standpoint from which     the truth of creation for the first         Truth Itself. And this is found in
     to view modern culture is its essen-          time.                                       good Christian schools which,
     tial atheism (p. 197).                          Just as old or bleary-eyed men            although they do not specialize
            To banish God from education           and those with weak vision, if you          in teaching the Bible, teach all in
     makes a difference. If God is not             thrust before them a most beautiful         the light of the Bible. Therefore,
     in all their thoughts and theories,           volume, even if they recognize it to        there can be knowledge, rather
     education disintegrates. If Gods              be some sort of writing, yet can            than ignorance - young people
     blessing of the educational enter-            scarcely construe two words, but            do come to the knowledge of the
     prise is rejected, His curse blasts           with the aid of spectacles will begin       truth. This knowledge is certain,
     it, To banish God is to invite the            to read distinctly; so Scripture,           not doubtful, whether it be the
     devil.                                        gathering up the otherwise confused
                                                   knowledge of God in our minds (re-          real existence of the creation, or
            Where the living God is the            ceived from the creation  - DJE),           the law of non-contradiction, or
     beginning and goal of education,              having dispersed our dullness, clear-       the resurrection of the bodies
     where He is the foundation on                 ly shows us the true God  (I.vi.1,  Bat-    and final judgment of every
     which all teaching builds, where              tles edition).                              human, or that killing the unborn
     He is the light that illumines the               Not only do we know God                  is murder.
     instruction, where He is the very             from the Scriptures, but we also              This happy knowledge of the
     life of that mystery that we call             know ourselves, the starry                  truth is the privilege of the
     learning, education has meaning,              heavens, the course of history,             children of believers. "Reformed'
     integrity, coherence, worth, and              and right behavior in distinction           makes a difference, not only as
     profit. Things make sense. Every-             from sin. Without the glasses of            regards God, the beginning and
     thing hangs together. There is                Scripture, modern, well-educated            end of education, and as regards
     good reason to know the world                 American people cannot even                 the Word of God, the authority in
     and to live knowledgeable and                 see the difference between pro-             education, but also as regards
     wisely in it.                                 tecting the life of unborn human            you who are being educated.
            The fear of the LORD is the            beings and their murder.                    Precious knowledge is not a right
     beginning of knowledge.                          Scripturally based education             or a possibility for all children. It
            Yes, and education is joyful. I        does not close minds, but opens             is a gift. And God graciously
     hope that some of you graduates               and expands them. They now                  gives it, through education, to
     have felt the sheer joy of learn-             think great thoughts - thoughts             the children of believers. It is a
-    ing! I trust that all of you                  about God; about the world as               covenant gift.
     teachers have experienced the                 bearing the impress of Gods                   The Reformed faith has an eye
     sheer delight of teaching!                    glory; about human life, not as             for the covenant of God with
            It is the outstanding mark of          the accidental and meaningless              believers and their children.
     the Reformed faith that God is                movement of rational slime, but             Gods sons and daughters must
     honored as God.                               as devotion to the living God or            be Godly taught.
            This great God has made Him-           as revolution against Him.                    We must have good Christian
     self known in His Word, Holy                     At the very beginning of his             schools!
     Scripture. Because Scripture is               book, Bloom remarks that one

     414  / The Standard Bearer  I July 1, 1989


         We must have good Christian              Nobody really believes in anything           I make myself so bold as to
      high schools and colleges, as wel         anymore, and everyone spends his            urge us all to carry on in the
      as grade schools. If this is possi-       life in frenzied work and frenzied          great work of the God of truth
      ble, we ought to have a Re-               play so as not to face the fact, not to     and covenant, education that is
      formed university in North                look into the abyss (p. 143).               Reformed. q                           - D J E
      America. But they must be                    ". . . so as not . . . to look into
      schools that are Reformed in              the abyss"! The abyss is death,
      reality, and not in name only:            which not only cuts life off final-
      God-centered schools! Scripture-          ly, but also renders all of life            Interview With Henry
      honoring schools! Covenantal              futile, senseless, absurd, vain.
      schools!                                  You hear the despair in their               Vander Wal:  Present-
         From them, and from genuine-           music. You see it in their drug-            Day Colporteur
      ly Reformed homes, we expect a            culture. You find it in their
      difference in the life of the young       promiscuity.
      people.                                     If God is not, nothing matters.
         "Reformed' makes a difference          Human life is one absurd thing
      in life.                                  after another, and death is the
         It sends you young people into         thing after that. The apostle of
      the world. It requires you to use        the living God Who has con-
      your abilities. It permits you to        quered death and the grave in
      enjoy every creature of God. It          the resurrection of Jesus and
      involves you in all the ordinances       Who has brought life and immor-
      of human life - work, govern-            tality to light through the gospel,
      ment, marriage and family. We            put it this way: to be "without
      must have nothing of fleeing the         hope and without God in the
     world, huddling fearfully off in a        world' (Ephesians 1:lZ). You
     corner, waiting for Jesus to              hear the melancholy winds howl-
     come.                                     ing; you feel the chill of infinite
        But in the world, it calls you to      cold; you get a glimpse of the
     devote yourself, not to the world,        vast void; you shudder with the                By August 1, Henry Vander
     but to the great, sovereign God,          soul's sense of unutterable lone-           Wal will have turned over the
     to Whom you owe everything -              liness. ". . . without God in the           last of his responsibilities on
     your creation and your salvation.         world," and therefore "without              behalf of The Standard Bearer to
     You may not conform to the                hope."                                      others. Henry is one of the
     world of godlessness. Your mind             But for you, God lives. With all          "unsung heroes" in the story
     is claimed - by God. Your                 He is, He is your God in Jesus               If the spreading of the witness
     bodies are claimed - by God.              the Christ. Everything matters.              o the truth by the Protestant
     Your abilities are claimed - by           Your life has worth and purpose:             teformed Churches. At the
     God. Your possessions are                 knowing God and enjoying Him                time of the Reformation of the
     claimed - by God. Your time is            forever. Your work and play                 C:hurch in the 16th century, one
     claimed - by God. "I am the               need not be "frenzied," but may             Crf the important ways in which
     LORD, and there is none else,             be  hearty, because you are                 the Reformation made advances
     there is no God beside me"                always looking into the heights             in Europe was the peddling of
     (Isaiah 45:5). Such a life (the Bi-       of eternal life in the Day of               Fteformation  literature - books
     ble calls it a holy life) is a life of    Christ.                                     2u-rd pamphlets - by men known
     obedience, rather than self-will,           Reformed education nourishes              21s colporteurs. Henry Vander Wal
     and a life of self-discipline, rather     hope.                                       irs a contemporary  colporteur.
     than self-indulgence.                      Therefore, I congratulate you              Pdot only has he sent out count-
       This is a hopeful life.                 graduates on completing this                11ess issues of The Standard
       Allan Bloom points out the              chase of a Reformed education.              L3earer and innumerable copies of
     well-nigh universal despair of              I thank you teachers and ad-              Fleformed Free Publishing Asso-
     young people. These are not the           ninistration for serving us                  iation publications, as well as
     deprived ghetto-dwellers, but the         larents, our children, and God in           ;Found volumes of The SB, but he
     university students - university          :he high calling of Christian               hIas also slipped into the mailings
     students at the University of             education  this past school-year.           nnany pamphlets, reprints of ar-
     Chicago.                                                                              ticles that appeared in The SB,

L                                                                                              July 1, 1989  I The Standard Bearer  / 415


 catalogues of RFPA publications,              copies to the radio stations. Mrs.      changes of address. I mailed out
 and First Church bulletins. These             Vander Wal would make coffee            renewal notices. I made the ba'nk
 have gone all over the world.                 and cookies for the ministers.          deposits. I acknowledged the
    Theinterview with Colporteur                  DJE: You must have had some          gifts. Often, I would enclose a
 Vander Wal by the Editor took                 interesting sessions recording all      bulletin in my mailing. I mailed
 place in Vander Wal's basement                the ministers.                          all the copies of each issue of
(unostentatious headquarters of                   HVW: In the years right after        The SB, usually by myself at
 his work) at 1047 Alto Ave. in                the split of `53, we recorded           Wobbema's (printer of The SB -
Grand Rapids, Michigan. With his               radio sermons in Ed Kooienga's          DJE). This would take me from 9
wife, Dorothy, Henry has lived at              home. The preacher sat in the           o'clock in the morning until 2:30
this address and in the house                  living room. I was in the base-         in the afternoon. And it had to
across the street for 50 years.                ment with the recording equip-          be done twice a month. Also, I
    DJE: Henry, tell us a little               ment. We put the phone in the           mailed the bound volumes.
about your background in the                   closet. Once I could not figure            DJE: You have seen some
PRC.                                           out why Dominie Hoeksema                changes over the years, haven't
   HVW: I was baptized in                      began speaking before I was             you?
Eastern Avenue Christian Re-                   ready. When I went upstairs to             HVW: When I began mailing
formed Church by old Dominie                   find out, I discovered that a sales-    The SB back in the late 60s it
Groen in the Dutch language.                   man had knocked on the door.            cost $9.42 for the bulk mailing of
Dominie Hoeksema came to                       Thinking that this was his signal,      each issue. The cost of mailing a
Eastern Avenue when I was 11                   Rev. Hoeksema began preaching.          single copy in the United States
years old. In those days, there                  DJE: Who was your favorite            was 4 cents. Now it costs 65
was a Dutch service in the after-              minister to record?                     cents to mail a single copy. And
noon, besides the English service                HVW: Dominie Hoeksema.                the cost of the bulk mailing of
in the morning and evening. I                  After he recorded his sermon, we        each issue is $227. It has been a
used to attend the Dutch service               would go upstairs together to the       great improvement that we
every Sunday afternoon with my                 radio room in the old First             recently changed the method of
grandmothers even though I                     Church to play the sermon back.         mailing The SB. It goes much
could not understand Dutch,                    I always gave him some Dutch            faster. I always had to address
besides going to church in the                 Master cigars. He would sit there       each copy by pulling the lever of
morning and evening. My family                 smoking a cigar as though he            the addressograph.
went with Rev. Hoeksema and                    were almost asleep. But all of a          DJE: What work are you still
his Consistory when they were                  sudden he would say, "Watch it          doing?
put out by the CRC and were                    now, Henry, a mistake is coming           HVW: Sending our renewal
members of First PRC from the                  up on the tape." Once I noticed         notices; recording changes of ad-
very beginning.                                that instead of referring to Ephe-      dress; making out two cards for
   DJE: What work have you                     ;ians 2:8, he said, "Ephesians          every new subscriber; and going
done over the years in spreading               3:2." When I called this to his at-     to the post office for The SB mail
the Protestant Reformed witness?               :ention, he said, "Never mind.          every day except Sunday.
   HVW: I was Business Manager                 lobody will ever notice it." And          DJE: What was the most ag-
of The SB for some 21 years. I                 robody did.                             gravating part of the work?
mailed books for the RFPA for 6                  DJE: What about your other              HVW: People procrastinating
or 7 years up until a year ago.                luties?                                 paying for their subscription to
And I served with others on the                  HVW: For the RFPA book pub-           The SB. I have to keep sending
Reformed Witness Hour radio                    ishing committee, I mailed out          renewal notices. This takes time.
committee for about 10 years.                  111 the books that people ordered       And it is costly for The SB.
   DJE: What was involved in this              md saw to it that Kregel's Book         People should pay right away.
work?                                          <tore had a supply of all our             DJE: What work did you enjoy
  HVW: For the Reformed                        looks to distribute to the book         the most?
Witness Hour committee, I used                 ;tores. I had to get the books            HVW: It was certainly not
to record the ministers. I did this            `ram a warehouse in Grand               mailing the books! I think I en-
for about 33 years, until about a              iapids.                                 joyed recording the ministers the
year ago. Then I would take my                   DJE: What work was involved           most, although the work for The
turn in making copies from the                 1s regards The SB?                      SB was interesting too.
master tape and mailing these                    HVW: I kept all the records on          DJE: What aspect of the work
                                               ;ubscriptions,  renewals, and           was most rewarding?

416  I The Standard Bearer I  July 1,  1989


   HVW: Receiving letters and             HVW: We should raise the           being relieved of all your duties
gifts for The .SB. Without gifts,      subscription rates to other coun-     on behalf of The SB?
The SB could not survive. Many         tries. It costs 74 cents to mail a       HVW: I am 77 years old. Some
send in a few dollars extra when       single copy to Canada. It costs       things, I am not able to do any
they renew their subscription.         $1.88 to air mail a single copy       more. I can't do the maiIing. I am
Others send in good-sized contri-      across the ocean. $12 per year        willing to help yet in other ways,
butions during the year.               for 21 issues is not enough. It is    if necessary. I have enjoyed the
  DJE: Are there any changes           not enough for a subscription in      work.
that you think should be made?         the United States.                      DJE: Henry, thank you for
                                         DJE: Do you look forward to         your work! 0                          -DJE




Letters . . .

   It appears to me, that the word     asthmatic pastor, who later mar-        We know we will always be a
"Resistance" has caused a lot of       ried my wife and me. My own           minority, wherever we are, walk-
confusion and misunderstand-           father, guarding the sealed royal     ing on a tight rope in the shadow
ing . . . .                            palace of The Hague, hid and          of death. But God knows our
   It should be understood and         protected during five years up to     motives.
respected, that those who lived        300 young men in the cellars,              J.P. de Klerk
in The Netherlands during the          risking his life day and night,           Ashhurst, New Zealand 0
war and who were of the Re-            refusing taking holidays or sick
formed faith, were often involved      leave. Soon after the end of the
in a form of resistance against                                              Response:
                                       war he became ill; he died at the
the occupation of a foreign            age of 49 years.                        I note these crucially important
political power.                         Our government and our              words in your letter, ". . . a form
  The resistance there had at          queen Wilhelmina were in Lon-         of resistance against the occupa-
least thirty different faces.          don. We listened to their instruc-    tion of a foreign political power."
Identity-papers had to be printed,     tions by radio, in secret, because      In addition, by the "freedom of
stamps falsified, food-coupons         the enemy did not allow that. So,     Gods children" you refer, no
captured, as to save the lives of      in London was our civil govern-       doubt, to their earthly freedom.
many young men, and amongst            ment, not in Berlin.                  The defense of the spiritual
them again many of the Re-               My father stood every day in        freedom of believers and their
formed faith.                          front of the huge statue of Prince    children is the work of the Holy
  The resistance was not only a        William I, who sacrificed every-      Spirit through the pure preaching
movement, with weapons, it was         thing he had for the defence of       of the gospel of Jesus Christ and
also very personal - spreading         the Protestant, Reformed faith in     of the grace of God in Him. IJ
news and information, hiding           The Netherlands. We are descen-                                            -Ed.
pilots of the Royal Air Force, car-    dants of the Huguenots.
ing for the wounded at secret            We defend the freedom of
places, etc. Also, gathering of        Gods children, against Spaniards,
young people of the church (the        against Nazis, against Com-
youth group of which I was the         munists, and who else will come
president was forbidden by             yet in the future. Fiat Voluntas
name) was difficult, but it was        Tua.
done, every week at another ad-
dress. Mind you, all the Reformed
ministers I knew were in the
leadership of resistance groups,
including my own small brave

                                                                                July 1, 1989  I The Standard Bearer  I417


The Reader Asks . . .
71
1

                                             Testament sabbath and also the           Answer:
i / Before asking my question, I
would like to make two prefacing             day of rest according to the crea-         I appreciate your question con-
remarks. First, thanks so much               tion ordinance? I have thought           cerning my article in the April 15
for the abundance of articles you            that the resurrection of Christ          issue of the 
have written. From them I have                                                                         Standard Bearer. You
                                             changed  the day to the first day        are correct in your observation
gained invaluable insights in so             of the week . . . and then that          that the Sabbath on the first day
many areas of life. Second, the              day could hardly be the same             of the week is a change of the
question I am about to ask is just           day as the creation ordinance,           creation ordinance. It is true, as
that, a question. So often people            could it? I don't question that a        you say, that the setting aside of
assume that asking a question im-            day of rest is a continuing part of
plies also a criticism. Rather, I            the creation ordinance, only that        a day is the ordinance of God's
                                                                                      creation, but the change from the
am assuming that I personally fail           the first day of the week is this        seventh day to the first day was
to understand something . . . and            day.                                     brought about by our Lords
I would like to understand it!                 Please enlighten me . . . and          resurrection.
      In the April 15, 1989 issue of         thanks!                                    It is interesting to note in this
The Standard Bearer  you had a                       A fellow observer of the         connection that all the or-
section of WALKING IN THE                            Lords Day,                       dinances of creation, including
LIGHT devoted to "Sabbath Dese-                         Carol Brands                  the institution of marriage, were
cration." In this section you                           Edgerton, MN                  not annulled by Gods work of
wrote: "The Lord's will is that the                                                   redemption in Christ, but were
first day of the week, as part of                                                     raised to a higher level in keep-
the creation ordinances, is the                                                       ing with God's redemption of His
Lord's Day." This sentence con-                                                       entire creation.
fuses me. Is not the seventh day                                                        Thank you for calling this to
of the week, Saturday, the Old                                                        my attention. Cl




     The Day
of Shadows                                   A  Blessed  Shadow
R e v .   John  Heys




                                               The most awesome thing in                However, to understand and
                                             life is death. It separates us from      realize the awfulness of death we
                                             our loved ones, and from the rest        should look at it as God presents
                                             of the human race, as well as            it to Adam, and through this
                                             from all the pleasures and               presentation shows us its awful-
                                             treasures our flesh enjoys. It           ness. Adam was told that the day
                                             brings a complete end to all the         he ate of the forbidden fruit he
Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in          activities of this life as far as our    would die. And since Adam did
the Protestant Reformed Churches.            bodies are concerned.                    live for 930 years after that day

418 I The Standard Bearer  I July 1, 1989


that he sinned, it is an                from God, and in fact to try to        would DIE the day he committed
undeniable fact that he died            take His place. Do not minimize        the first sin! It is not true that
spiritually that day. God said that     that awful sin of Adam and Eve.        men come into this world with
he would die that day. He did not       They tried to become gods who          ability to do some things that
say that death would merely             decide what is good and what is        from a spiritual point of view are
begin in him. Complete spiritual        evil. They decided that God is a       good works. He may do things
death took hold of Adam that            liar, and that Satan spoke the         that please God, because in those
day that he committed his first         truth when he said that they           works God's counsel is being ful-
sin.                                    would not die but would "be as         filled. The crucifixion of Christ
   Had man not died spiritually         gods, knowing good and evil"           was a devlish deed, but it pleased
that day there would be no              (Genesis 3:5). They decided to         God to have it happen for our
physical death. The holy angels         push God aside. They could not,        salvation. Spiritually dead men
who have not sinned have not            but that is the awfulness of their     just cannot do one brief work
lost one bit of their physical life     sin. They wanted nothing to do -       that pleases God from a spiritual
and glory. Spiritual death calls        with Him, since He was trying (so      point of view. And when Jesus
for the physical death as its           Satan made them believe) to            said that a man must receive a
punishment. A man who will not          deny them the fleshly joy they         new life - that is what it means
use God's creation in the way of        wanted. It was no little sin but       to be born again, or born from
serving Him, and to glorify Him,        that which revealed that man           above - before he can. even see
must not only be separated from         wanted to commit all the sins          that there is a kingdom of
that creation. He must be pun-          that we see in the world around        heaven, He teaches us that we do
ished for every sin that he com-        us today. All these sins are but       not have that life and are
mitted.                                 aspects of that first sin. Sin         spiritually dead.
  We must not take the unscrip-         always reveals spiritual death. It       What is more, even as no dead
tural position that physical death      reveals that man wants to kill         man can raise himseIf, or raise
brings the existence of man to an       God and get rid of Him!                any one else by his words, so no
end. Man's soul never dies in the         All this makes it possible for us    man already spiritually alive, by
sense that its existence comes to       to see and understand the              a rebirth which God caused to
an end. It dies in the sense that it    development of sin that has been       take place, can truthfully say that
loses all its ability to do anything    in the world since that day.           he accepted Christ. Dead men
,that is right in God's sight. Man      Adam's and Eve's first sin reveals     just cannot do that. No person
loses all ability to keep God's law     why Cain killed Abel, why              who ever came into this world
until and unless he is born again.      Lamech killed a man and took to        can rightfully say that he asked
And that means that he receives         himself more than one wife, and        his parents to bring him forth.
a new life for his soul. In fact,       why there followed all the sin         Arminians, with their idea that
what Jesus said to Nicodemus ac-        that brought forth the flood, and      man fulfills conditions and must
tually is that except a man be          will bring forth the awful devil-      take the first step of accepting
born from above, he cannot even         ishness in the days of the anti-       Christ in order to be saved, also
see that there is a kingdom of          christ, when, according to II          commit Adam's sin. That theory
heaven. Just go a few verses far-       Thessalonians 2:4 and Revelation       of Arminianism makes God
ther. In John 3:31 we read, "He         13:6, he will exalt himself above      dependent upon man. God would
that cometh from above is above         all that is called God, sit in the     like to save him; but man is the
all." Strikingly enough, the word       temple as though he is God, and        one who decides and - though
here translated as "above" is the       blaspheme His name. Adam's sin         spiritually dead - performs that
same word that is translated in         was a shadow of what is here to-       important act of letting God do
John 3:3 as "again." For the            day and is still coming as far as      what He, the almighty God,
same Greek word appears in              sin is concerned.                      wants to do, but depends upon
both of these verses. And, of             Adam's sin explains why God          the works of dead people to get
course, being born from above           said before the flood that EVERY       His way.
does make one born again. His           imagination of the thoughts of           Now, we will the Lord willing
first birth is from a life that is      man were ONLY evil CONTIN-             come to this later, but we are
here below.                             UALLY (Genesis 6:5). We err            very swiftly approaching the
  We must insist that Adam and          greatly, and walk in the sin           days of which the godlessness,
Eve died spiritually the day that       Adam introduced, when we take          the deviltry that brought forth
they ate of the forbidden fruit.        the position that God spoke an         the punishment of the flood was
Satan got them to turn away             untruth when He said that man          but a shadow. Those days lie just

                                                                                   July 1, 1989  I The Standard Bearer  /  419


around the corner for us, and in             Noah was building the ark, and            works are allowed and openly
fact they are here in a far greater          during the seven days when he             performed with church approval.
measure and in more vile deeds.              and his family were in the ark            If the world was ready for judg-
Sin developed rapidly those first            before the rain began to fall, not        ment in Noah's day, surely it is
1600 years of man's existence,               one person believed Noah's word           ready for the final judgment to-
from the day man did die                     about the punishment God was              day. And the woe that falls upon
spiritually and could only bring             going to send. Even when the              man when Christ returns will be
forth children who were spiritual-           rain began to fall, not one person        more terrifying for the world
ly dead. But in the almost 4,400             ran to the ark and began to               than the shadow judgment that
years since that flood, sin has              knock on the door. They laughed           the unbelievers saw in Noah's
developed tremendously, so that              those seven days under clear              day.
we can expect shortly that of                blue sky and made their sinful              One thing we had better hold
which the flood was only a                   and foolish ridicule of Noah and          on to is that we are rushing
shadow. A few people will be                 his family. Sin had developed             toward the days of the antichrist
saved by Christ when He returns.             greatly and rapidly.                      and the final judgment which will
But the host of them that died at              That it took Noah 120 years to          fall upon the whole world. The
the flood is a small percentage of           build the ark should not make us          earth does not rotate one hour
the hoards in the kingdom of the             question this truth and fall into         faster, and our days are still
antichrist, who will begin to                the unbiblical position of theistic       twenty-four hours long with sixty
know the agony and torment of                evolution. In Noah's day they did         minutes in each hour.
hell.                                        not have the tools we have, nor             We do well, therefore, to live
   The homosexual wickedness                 the electrical power that makes           close to God's Word. These
that brought down fire and brim-             things so much easier and                 shadows of things to come are
stone upon Sodom and Gomorrah                swifter. But consider also that           presented to us and preserved for
is not only much more wide-                  with the tremendous strides man           us in Scripture. It must not be a
spread today but is also allowed             has made in invention and                 closed book for us. It must not be
and approved of by governments,              discovery of the power God put            a book occasionally used, and
whose calling it is to keep Gods             in this creation, that all this is be-    read without thought. It is so
commandments. No government                  ing used by man in many sinful            easy to read the newspaper and
may have laws and constitutions              ways that were impossible in the          news magazines, to listen to the
that ignore and approve of acts              days before that flood. If then           radio and watch the newscasts
of breaking God's law. Govern-               every imagination of the heart of         on TV, and leave Gods book
ment also must have no god                   man was only evil continually,            closed. It is more satisfying to
before Jehovah! Should govern-               what an awful world does the ho-          hear what men have to say about
ments provide financial support              ly God of our salvation see today!        what is happening a11 around us.
for the murder of unborn babies?             How far and swiftly can man not           In fact, count once the minutes
Should governments approve of                reveal his sins by printed                you spend every day reading
the research for a cure for the              material, radio and television, to        God's Word and studying it. Com-
deadly disease of AIDS - not                 say nothing of tape recordings            pare that with the time you
simply for those who by a blood              and VCRs. Things are not getting          spend reading what worldly men
transfusion - not by their own               better. Christian nations are             wrote, or hearing what they
sin - contracted the disease?                allowing more antichristian ac-           spoke about world events.
The purpose of mankind today is              tivity than in days of the past.            Now there are shadows
to find a cure so that men can               Rather than boldly to curse and           presented to us in Gods Word
commit the sin and escape the                swear in years gone by, by fully          which make it plain to the child
punishment. They cannot. Death               printing the words, they went on-         of God, who has spiritual eye-
may be delayed by a cure that is             ly as far as writing the d---,            sight, that the judgment day is
discovered. But no man can keep              although they meant damn.                 coming, and is not far away. As
the sinner from going to hell for            Words of sexual suggestiveness            pointed out before, the shadow
his sins, when he enters into                and deeds of fornication are to-          of an huge airplane becomes big-
physical death.                              day used so freely and openly             ger and bigger as the plane ap-
   What reveals how greatly sin              that one wonders whether he is            proaches the land. And we ought
developed in the first 1600 years            living in Sodom and Gomorrah or           to see by all that which God
when man was on this earth is to             in what calls itself God's                caused to fall upon Sodom and
be seen in the fact that all during          Jerusalem. The Sabbath is SO              Gomorrah, and upon the
those 120 years during which                 openly violated, and wicked               kingdom of Judah when

420  / The Standard Bearer I July 1, 1989


Nebuchadnezzar came and took            protects from the burning sun.           Iniquity abounds today. Much
that kingdom away from the              And the return of Christ will be a     that calls itself church is joining
Israelites that God punishes sin.       wonderful thing for the true           the world and letting go of its
These were shadows of what lies         church. The shadow of His com-         doctrines and practices which
ahead of us and is coming down          ing should encourage and com-          God's Word gave it in the past.
upon this earth.                        fort us. The wars and rumors of        We are getting near the day of
   But remember that a shadow           wars, the earthquakes in diverse       Christ's return.
can bring benefits and blessings        places, the famines and                  As believers we do see by
to the believer, even as there are      pestilences (Matthew 24:6, 7) cast     Gods grace a blessed shadow of
shadows of that which will hurt         a shadow of Christ coming for          a perfect salvation that has been
the unbelievers. A shadow can           our blessed life in His coming         promised us, and is soon to be
make it hard for one to read,           kingdom. Let a11 these troubles        enjoyed by the whole church
because of the poorer light. But        and woes in the world today be         from Adam onward. Have no
there is also comfort and               seen asshadows which assure            fear, but be thankful for what
coolness caused by a shadow that        the child of God that Christ is        God is saying to us. Cl
                                        coming for our glory.




                                        Old Fashioned Values?
AI/ Around Us
Rev. Cise VanBaren                      C.R.C.  Yearbook  1989

Old Fashioned Values?                     This is being done under the        standard of morality. Those who
   During the past number of            claim that there is to be separa-     express concern are not inter-
years there has been an attempt         tion between church and state.        ested, likely, to return to the
to remove religion and Christian        Religion is supposed to be prac-      standard of morality which God
morality from all public institu-       ticed in the church or confines of    sets forth in Scripture. Yet these
tions. Prayer is not allowed in         the home. Education and govern-       know that some absolute
public schools (though one does         ment are to be "neutral," that is,    standard must be recognized.
wonder what kind of prayers             have no ties whatsoever with any         Cal Thomas, a nationally syn-
could be uttered in schools with        religion.                             dicated columnist, wrote in the
students of various religious             But the result has been that we     Grand Rapids Press, April 18,
backgrounds - or no religious           have raised a generation with no      1989:
background whatsoever). It is not       moral values whatsoever. There          At a news conference announcing
permitted to post the ten com-          is no longer any standard by          the administration's strategy, At-
                                                                              torney General Richard Thornburgh
mandments on the walls of the           which morality can be measured.
                                                                              touched on the ultimate solution to
public schools. The scriptures are      The current theory is that what is    the drug problem. He said that only
not to be read or studied as part       "moral" is that which is decided      the restoration of "values" in
of devotions within these schools.      upon by majority vote or estab-       America would break the siege on
Attempts are being made to              lished by court decree. Without       America's cities.
remove any religious slogans            any absolute standards, it is easy      I agree. The government's re-
from the coins (as: in God we           to understand how abortion can        newed emphasis on fighting drugs
trust).                                 be approved, how drugs can            will fail if it is not accompanied by
                                        permeate society, how crime of        restoration of standards for belief
                                        the most evil sort can take place.    and behavior in our children that the
Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Prot-      Some are even- beginning to         national Education Association once
estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-      recognize the sad consequences        viewed as gospel. . . .
ville,  Michigan.                       for a society which has no

                                                                                   July I, 1989  I The Standard Bearer  I421


  The fact is, it will take nothing            I was wrong. As I shifted my pro-        requirements of God. Still, these
short of a national assault on               fessional focus to divorced in-            writers do recognize that the
"crime, wrongdoing, evil and sin" to         dividuals, the truth was difficult to      problem today is the lack of
reverse the process. But in order for        avoid: treating divorce as "morally        proper standards for morality. The
that to occur, a generation must             neutral" - an option no better or          message of the church has been
again embrace the standard by                worse  than staying married  - was         that there must be repentance
which lawfulness, rightdoing, the            irreparably damaging to the very           and true conversion - thus a
good and righteousness are                   people I wanted to help . . . .
measured.                                      . . . The knowledge gained during        return to the Word of God. The
  In pressing for the rights of every-       the sexual and social exploration of       church has those standards, and
one to live by his own standards,  so-       the '60s and '70s should have proved       by God's gi-ace, lives according to
called civil libertarians have created       to us the sanity of many rules we've       them. Whenever any depart from
a cultural Three Mile Island, whose          discarded.                                 that Standard which God has
fallout has infected us all. What has          There  are  sound benefits to the        given us, the sad consequences
the abandonment of moral and                 old-fashioned virtues that foster a        follow - which is becoming very
ethical standards produced? For one,         faithful marriage and a stable fami-       evident in our own society. q
a society so racked by drug violence         ly. And those virtues are now begin-
and abuse that the president declares        ning to regain popularity. Let's not
a national crisis. Unrestrained free-        ignore their lessons.                      C.R.C. Yearbook 1989
dom uninformed by standards has                Another article, treating the
proved to be an empty and                    subject of drug abuse, contains               The editor of the Banner
dangerous philosophy. The nation             this statement:                            presents a brief report on their
should return to what was once a                                                        1989 Yearbook in the issue of
                                               . . . Dr. Nahas warns, "it? difficult
self-evident truth, even to the  motion-     to teach kids healthy habits in the        May 1, 1989. The opening para-
picture industry which, like the             absence of a moral message. Today          graph states:
educational establishment, saw itself        in some countries  - notably the             Yearbook 1989  is now available.
40 years ago as "directly responsible        United States  - we've reached the         Faithful readers of this annual
for spiritual or moral progress, for         point where it seems to be immoral         manual will note that the total
higher types of social life and for          to moralize. "                             number of members in the Christian
much correct thinking."                         Interesting indeed! It is true          Reformed Church went down from
   The Reader's Digest, May,                 that none of the above writers             310,159 at the beginning of 1988 to
1989, presents several articles              direct the attention of the reader         309,445 at the end of the year. Many
which show the same line of                                                             different explanations will be offered
                                             to Scripture or to the ten com-
thought. In "The Trouble with                                                           for the decline . . . .
                                             mandments. That, of course, is
Divorce," Diane Medved states:                                                             I could offer possible reasons
                                             also their fatal error. There can
  In my private practice as a mar-                                                      for that decline too, but that
                                             be no proper morals nor morality
riage counselor and psychologist, I've                                                  would serve no useful purpose. It
                                             apart from the demands of the
helped plenty of struggling couples                                                     is worthy of note that the last
through separation and "liberation.  "       absolute standard set forth in             Synod of the C.R.C. set the goal
I originally thought that staying            Scripture. It is also true that in-        of 400,000 members by the year
together in turmoil was more                 sisting on following the demands           2000, I believe. At least in the
traumatic than making the break,             of Scripture apart from regenera-          year of 1988 they appeared to be
that striking down taboos about              tion and conversion is an im-              headed in the wrong direction. Cl
divorce was part of modern                   possible demand. The depraved,
enlightenment.                               dead sinner will not submit to the


 Decency and
 Order                                       Duties 
Rev. Ronald Cammenga                                                  of the Minister

                                               "The office of the ministry is to        brethren, the elders and deacons, as
Rev. Cammenga is pastor of the               continue in prayer and in the minis-       well as the congregation, and finally,
Protestant Reformed Church of Love-          try of the Word, to dispense the           with the elders, to exercise church
land, Colorado.                              sacraments, to watch over his              discipline and to see to it that every-

422 I The Standard Bearer I July  1, 1989


     thing is done decently and in good       DUTIES OF THE MINISTER                   carrying out this calling he must
     order. " Church Order, Article 16.       AS MINISTER                              regularly occupy the pulpit on
     Introduction                                The duties mentioned in Arti-         the Sabbath Day.
       This article concerns itself with      cle 16 belong to the work of the            The article also calls the
     the duties of the minister of the        minister in the public worship           minister to dispense the
     gospel. The article defines the          services of the congregation. The        sacraments. The administration of
     work to which the minister is            first duty that is mentioned is          the sacraments is closely con-
     called, mentioning specifically          prayer. The prayers referred to          nected to the minister's calling to
     several of his duties.                   are not the minister's own per-          preach the gospel. That connec-
       These duties of the minister           sonal prayers, as important as           tion is brought out by Christ in
     are OFFICIAL duties. For this            these are in the life of every           the Great Commission (Matt.
     reason the article speaks of the         minister. But the prayers referred       28:19, 20; Mk. 16:15, 16) where
     "office" of the minister of the          to are the prayers of the minister       He calls the disciples to preach
     Word. The labor of the minister          in public worship, the congrega-         and to baptize. Administration of
     of the gospel is to be regarded as       tional prayers. This is an impor-        the sacraments belongs to the of-
     official labor in the church. To         tant aspect of the calling of the        ficial work of the minister of the
     this labor he has been appointed         minister. Special attention is           gospel. Only one who is a
     by Christ. In this labor he works        given to this calling of the             minister of the gospel may ad-
     as the representative of and on          minister in I Timothy 2:1-8. The         minister the sacraments.
     behalf of Christ.                        importance of this duty comes              Although the minister is called
       It is not the purpose of the arti-     out in the fact that it is men-          actually to administer the sacra-
     cle to list the duties of the            tioned first in the article.             ments, this does not rule out the
     minister exhaustively. Only the             The minister is also "to con-         supervision of the elders. Always
     fundamental duties of the                tinue . . . in the ministry of the       the sacraments are to be ad-
     minister are mentioned. For a            Word." The reference is to the           ministered under the strict super-
     fuller treatment of the duties of        official preaching of the gospel,        vision and careful oversight of
     the minister consult the Formula         the main duty of the minister.           the elders.
     Of Subscription,  the  Form For          From a certain point of view, it         OTHER DUTIES NOT
     Ordination Of Ministers, Ques-           can be said that this is the             MENTIONED IN ARTICLE 16
     tions For Church Visitation,  and        minister's only calling (cf. I Cor.         Besides these main duties of
     the Ministerial Call Letter in use       1:17, 18; II Tim. 4:1-5). Every          the minister, there are other
     in the Protestant Reformed               other duty of the minister is only       duties not mentioned in this arti-
     Churches.                                an aspect of and subservient to          cle.
       Generally the duties of the            his main calling to preach the             An important duty is catechet-
     minister are described in the            gospel.                                  ical instruction. Reformed
     names by which this office is              The Synod of Wezel, 1568,              churches take the position that
     referred to in the Scriptures.           stated concerning the calling of         catechism instruction is official
     Some of the more common desig-           the minister:                            ministry of the Word. It is a
     nations of the office are: elder (I        For it is beyond doubt that the of-    means of grace especially
     Tim. 5:17-19;  I Pet. 5:l); minister     fice of ministers (whom Scripture        adapted to the children and
     (Rom. 15:16); pastor (Jer. 23:1, 2;      calls shepherds and overseers, and       youth of the congregation.
     Eph. 4: 11); bishop (I Tim. 3: 1);       sometimes also elders) consists pre-     Because this is an official work of
     preacher (Rom. 10:14; II Tim.            dominantly of proclaiming and ap-        the ministry, catechism instruc-
     4:2); evangelist (Eph. 4: 11; II Tim.    plying God's Word correctly, in          tion should not be given over to
     4:5); teacher (Eph. 4: 11; I Tim.        public as well as in private, unto       others besides the minister of the
     4: 11); servant (II Cor. 4:5).           teaching, admonition, and comfort,
                                              according to the given circumstances.    gospel, as is often done today.
       The duties mentioned in Arti-            The minister himself, the con-           Another important duty of the
     cle 16 can be distinguished in a         sistory, and the members of the          minister is the visitation of the
     twofold way. First, there are                                                     sick. This too is an official
I                                             congregation must recognize that
     those duties which belong to the                                                  ministry of the Word. Although
I                                             the chief task of the minister is
     minister as minister of the gospel.      preaching. Never must anything           the visitation of the sick, the
     Secondly, there are those duties         be permitted to interfere with or        elderly, and the shut-ins is the
     which belong to the minister as          replace this task. With a view to        duty of every member of the
     an elder.                                this duty the minister must be           church (Matt. 25:34-40; James
                                              diligent in studying Gods Word           1:27), and also belongs to the
                                              and preparing his sermons. In            calling of the elders and deacons

                                                                                               July 1, 1989  I The Standard Bearer  I423


  (cf. Form Of Ordination Of Elders                An interesting question was            which are among you 1 exhort,
  And Deacons), this is peculiarly              put to this same Synod concern-           who am also an elder . . . ."
  the calling of the minister of the            ing whether or not a minister                The duty of the minister, as an
  gospel. He is called to be a pastor           was obligated even to visit those         elder,,is "to watch over his
  to God's people. We need only                 members of his congregation               brethren, the elders and
  think of Jesus' ministry of mercy             who were suffering from the               deacons." This watching over of
  to see that this belongs to the               plague, thus exposing himself to          his fellow officebearers concerns
  calling of the minister.                      the deadly disease. The answer            not only their doctrine and life,
     The Reformed Church of                     of the Synod was:                         but particularly their faithfulness
  Geneva at the time of Calvin                    Since God has commanded to visit        in carrying out the duties of their
  adopted the following with                    the sick and has not made a distinc-      office. This supervision is not due
  respect to the visitation of the              tion between diseases, they are guilty    to the fact that the ministers
  sick:                                         if they, having been summoned to          have a higher or greater authori-
     Because many are negligent to              such persons, do not go. They must        ty than the other officebearers.
  console themselves in God with His            go since they do not know at the          This is not the case in the Re-
  Word when they find themselves in             time that they are called what the        formed system of church govern-
  necessity through illness, and conse-         problem is. However, the ministers        ment. But this is an aspect of the
  quently many die without any ad-              must not act wrecklessly and care-        mutual supervision that the
  monition or teaching, which is then           lessly in such cases, and if they find    officebearers exercise over each
  more than ever salutary for man, for          they are doing more harm than
  this reason we have decided and               good, they should inform the con-         other. It is not only the calling of
  ordered that no one is to remain              sistory and ask for advice.               the minister to watch over the
  three full days confined to bed                 Besides these labors, the fol-          elders and deacons, but the call-
  without seeing that the minister is           lowing may also be mentioned as           ing of the elders and deacons to
  notified, and that, when any wish a           duties of the minister of the             watch over each other and over
  minister to come, they shall take             gospel: family visitation, officiat-      the minister (cf. Church Order,
  care to call him at a convenient              ing at weddings, conducting               Articles 23 and 81).
  hour, so as not to distract him from          funerals, leading Bible study               As an elder the minister has
  that office in which he and his  col-         classes, pastoral counseling, serv-       the calling to participate in
` leagues serve the Church in com-              ing on classical and denomina-            church discipline. Because he is
  mon. It is to remove all excuses that         tional committees, etc. We will           an elder, the minister is called to
  we have resolved on this course, and          have opportunity to comment on
  especially we enjoin that relations,                                                    take part, along with the other
  friends, and guardians are not to             many of these other labors in             elders, in this important aspect of
  wait until the man is at the point of         connection with subsequent ar-            the elders' work. A word of cau-
  death, since in this extremity conso-         ticles in the Church Order.               tion, however, is in order. Even
  lations are for the most part of little                                                 though the minister must partici-
                                                DUTIES OF THE MINISTER
  avail. (Quoted from  The Register Of                                                    pate in the work of discipline, his
  The Company Of Pastors Of Geneva              AS AN ELDER                               office must still be kept distinct
  In The Time Of Calvin, edited and               The minister of the gospel is           from the office of the ruling
  translated by Philip Edgcumbe                 also an elder, a teaching, not a          elder. It is wise, in this regard,
 Hughs, p. 46.)                                 ruling elder, but an elder for all        that the actual work of discipline,
     The Synod of Dordrecht, 1574,              that. The Scriptures make this            the committee meetings that are
  stated:                                       clear. One passage is I Timothy           involved, be conducted by the
     Visiting the sick belongs to the of-       5: 17: "Let the elders that rule          elders. The minister's participa-
 fice of the ministers of the Word, and         well be counted worthy of double          tion in Christian discipline should
 it is risky to assign other persons to         honor, especially they who labor
 that task. Therefore, the ministers            in the word and doctrine." The            be limited to the pulpit and to
 shall request the elders and deacons           Apostle makes a clear distinction         the consistory room.
 to help them with their task. They             between two types of elders,                It also falls to the minister that
 shall do so because their office in            both of whom "rule" in the New            he ". . . see to it that everything
 comparison with other Christians re-           Testament church. Those who               is done decently and in good
 quires more with respect to visiting,                                                    order." A special responsibility
 comforting, and strengthening the              labor in the Word and doctrine,           rests with the minister to see to it
 sick, the poor, and members in need            an obvious reference to ministers         that matters in the congregation
 of comfort.                                    of the gospel, are also elders. In I      and in the consistory are handled
                                                Peter  5:l the apostle Peter, a           properly. Decently and in good
                                                minister of the gospel, refers to         order means according to the
                                                himself as an elder: "The elders          principles of the Word of God

  424  / The Standard Bearer  /July   I,1989


and the articles of the Church            that the church's worship is char-      to it that all matters brought
Order.  As the one charged by the         acterized by decency and good           before the consistory are dealt
Word of God with leading the              order. As the president of the          with in decency and good
congregation in worship, it is the        consistory, it is his calling to see    order. 0
calling of the minister to see to it




                                          Speaking  the  Truth
 In His Fear
Rev. Arie dentiartog                      in  love

   The Lord has redeemed us as              God has revealed His glorious         wonder of regeneration He gives
His people in order that we               truth to His special chosen             to His people a new heart and
might testify of His truth for the        people. When man fell he lost the       mind whereby they can know
glory of His name. We are to do           truth of God. His understanding         Him and the truth that is in Him.
this out of love for God. We must         was darkened. He believed and           The knowledge of the true God is
do this as individual Christians          followed after the lie of the devil.    the very essence of the blessed-
and also corporately as the               The devil is the father of lies who     ness of life eternal. "And this is
church of Jesus Christ. This is a         deceived the whole world. Fallen        life eternal, that they might know
great calling which we must               man cannot and does not know            thee the only true God, and Jesus
fulfill by His grace and Holy             the truth of God. He loves              Christ, whom thou hast sent"
Spirit.                                   darkness rather than light. He          (John 17:3). God has caused His
   Love and truth are both from           denies the true God and makes           truth to be preached throughout
God. The Lord is the source and           unto himself a false idol god that      the world. He has preserved His
standard of them both. There is           he worships and serves. He pro-         truth by causing it to be infallibly
neither love nor truth without            fesses himself to be wise but he        recorded by the wonder of in-
God. Love and truth are in-               has become a fool. Proud fallen         spiration in the Bible.
separably related to each other.          man continues to imagine that             We who are the people of God
God is the God of truth. He is            his own mind is the ultimate            must know and confess His truth
also the God of love. The truth           standard of all truth. He hates         in the world. Gods people are
reveals the glory and greatness           and denies the true God. From           His witnesses. We must speak the
of our God. God has made His              fallen man's corrupt mind pro-          truth first of all out of love for
truth known in the greatness of           ceeds all false religion and            God. If we love God we will love
His love in Christ Jesus. He              human philosophy,                       to speak His truth. If we love
created all things that they might          After the fall God has revealed       God we desire that God should
reveal His glory and truth. God           Himself in a more glorious and          be glorified. God is glorified
made man in His own image so              wonderful way in His Son Jesus          when His truth is known and
that He could know the true God           Christ. He has revealed the glory       confessed and maintained by His
and speak of Him in love and for          and greatness of His truth in His       people in the world,
His glory.                                sovereign and gracious salvation          The calling of the Christian to
                                          of His people. God has revealed         speak the truth of God will
                                          His truth to His people whom He         always involve a great spiritual
                                          has chosen and loved with an            struggle. That struggle will be
                                          everlasting love. He has formed         with the devil and with wicked
                                          His people as His own and made          men. The devil always opposes
                                          Himself known to them as their          the truth of God. He is the great
Rev. denHartog  is pastor of the Prot-    God and Father. He translated           enemy of God. He does all in his
estant Reformed Church of Ran-            His chosen people from darkness         power to contradict and oppose
dolph, Wisconsin.                         into His marvelous light. By the        the truth of God. He teaches men

                                                                                      July 1, 1989 I The Standard Bearer  I425


false doctrine and lies. He is the            greatness and goodness of men.           of the truth of God and makes
author of all false religions and             It denies that sin is indeed a           man's private interpretation the
pagan philosophies. He influences             great offense against the holy           absolute standard of the `truth.
men to oppose the church and                  majesty of God and minimizes                The Christian must know and
the children of God in their                  the need of salvation.                   maintain and confess the truth of
testimony of the truth. Therefore               One of the most common                 God. That is his great calling.
when the Christian seeks to                   forms of opposition to the truth         God alone is the absolute stan-
speak the truth of God he will be             in our day is the notion that truth      dard of the truth. God has re-
immediately contradicted and op-              is relative. According to this no-       vealed the truth in His Word, the
posed, ridiculed and persecuted               tion, there is no such thing as ob-      Bible. His truth can be known by
by the world which hates the                  jective truth. No one knows the          His people. It can be known by
truth of God.                                 truth absolutely. Truth changes.         every Spirit-filled child of God
   The opposition to the truth of             Every age has its own under-             who humbly and earnestly
God takes on various forms. It                standing of the truth. Everyone          searches the scriptures. God has
can take the form of pagan                    has a right to believe what he           revealed His truth in a simple
philosophy and heathen religion.              wills. We must be tolerant of            and plain manner so that the
We in America are not often                   everyone's belief. Each man is           simplest of His children can
faced with this form of opposition            for himself the standard of truth.       know and understand it. Know-
to the truth. In America the op-              Those who hold this notion in its        ing the truth of God we must
position takes on the form of                 most extreme form take the posi-         speak of that truth in love.
modern day worldly philosophy                 tion that we must tolerate all             Speaking the truth will always
that arises in nominal Christian              other religions and opinions of          involve at the same time the call-
nations. This opposition is very              men. All religions after all have        ing to oppose and contradict the
subtle and attractive. The worlds             some elements of truth in them.          lie. That is inevitable. One often
philosophies are presented in                 None has an absolute corner on           hears in our day the notion that
such a way that they seem so in-              the truth. One of the greatest           in our speaking the truth we
tellectually respectable. They can            principles of supposed godliness         must always only be positive. We
be "proven" by the worlds                     in America is the tolerance of           must never condemn other
greatest scientists and by high               everyone and the appreciation of         people for what they believe. We
sounding and technical experi-                everyone's personal beliefs.             must never categorically say that
mentation. They are proposed by               Tolerance is so nice and kind.           someone is wrong in what he
the great and most glorious of                Tolerance avoids strife and con-         believes. There is no need of this
men. They are believed by the                 flict among men. Tolerance will          kind of thing. It is unpleasant.
vast majority of intellectually               yield peace and harmony among            There is really no such thing as
respectable people in the world.              all men. But all of this is vain. All    heresy any more today. There is
They are supported by carefully               of this will result in a denial of       only difference of opinion and
orchestrated studies and surveys              God and His truth.                       perspective. We need not be
in the world.                                   Others will pretend at least to        negative. This whole line of
   The strongest opposition to the            limit truth to the Christian             thinking however is wrong. It is
truth of God always comes from                religion, though they will be mild       contrary to the Bible. In the Bible
modern apostate Christendom.                  in condemning false religions.           we find the prophets and apostles
The false church presents the lie             But they say that there are many         constantly condemning false doc-
as though it is the truth. It uses            different. interpretations of Chris-     trine. The Lord Jesus Himself did
many of the Bible's terms. It pre-            tian doctrine. There is none that        plenty of that because it was
tends to believe in God and His               is absolutely right. All have their      necessary. He soundly con-
Son Jesus Christ. It often uses the           strengths and shortcomings.              demned the false teachings of the
name of Jesus and often speaks                Everyone has the "right" to inter-       Scribes and Pharisees. Much of
of salvation in Jesus. But the                pret the Bible in his own way.           the letters of the apostle Paul are
false church has entirely changed             We must appreciate everyone's            polemics against false doctrines.
the meaning of the truth of God.              opinions and beliefs as long as          Speaking the truth in love for
It has in reality substituted the             they are sincere. There are after        God means that we oppose and
philosophy of men for the truth               all many different possible inter-       contradict all that which denies
of God. It does not glory in God              pretations of the Bible, and none        the truth of God and seeks to rob
but in the wisdom of men. It pro-             is to be condemned as being ab-          God of the glory of His truth.
poses a doctrine that does not                solutely wrong. But this notion            We must speak the truth of
glorify God but rather exalts the             also ultimately leads to the denial      God in love to our neighbors. We

426  I The Standard Bearer  I July  1,1989


are called to love our neighbor. If      friendship with our neighbor. We      might present the truth of God
we truly love our neighbor we            must avoid the great evil of          faithfully and in the best possible
may not be silent before him             speaking the truth without love.      manner to our neighbor, always
with regard to the truth of God.         We do the latter when we speak        with the highest purpose that
There is no greater love for our         the truth out of a spirit of pride    God might be glorified and His
neighbor than to bring to him the        and exalting our own wisdom.          people might be saved.
truth of God and of His salvation        We may speak of the truth of             We are to speak the truth in
in Jesus Christ. Love for our            God only in deepest humility,         love in the midst of the commu-
neighbor is not tolerating the           acknowledging that this truth is      nion of the saints. By means of
humanistic and worldly philos-           not ours but Gods only. We            the truth we must seek to ad-
ophy that he holds to and lives          speak the truth in love when we       monish and exhort and comfort
by. Love for our neighbor is not         have genuine compassion for our       one another in the church of
allowing him to continue in the          neighbor and a sincere desire to      God. In this manner the saints of
lie and in sin to his own destruc-       do him good and not evil. We          God edify one another and the
tion. This kind of thing might           speak the truth in love to our        whole church grows up unto the
result in external and humanistic        neighbor when we speak with           `measure of the fulness of the
peace and friendship. But this is        genuine sympathy for the situa-       stature of Christ. Speaking the
not love for our neighbor. In            tion of our neighbor and are          truth in love is the most beautiful
order to speak the truth in love         ready to become all things to all     manifestation of the communion
with our neighbor we must avoid          men in order that by some             of the saints. God delights in such
two great evils. We must avoid           means we might gain some. We          speaking and blesses His saints
the evil of compromising the             speak the truth in love when we       together when they so speak to
truth only to maintain peace and         speak with carefulness so that we     one another. 0



                                         I  &  II  Samuel-
Bible Study                              The  Beginning  of  the
Guide
Rev. jason Kortering                     Kingdom. (2)

  We begin our outline of the              A man of Ephraim, Elkanah,          than ten sons?" (l:l-8).
books of I and II Samuel by              had taken two wives, Hannah             Hannah left the table and
following the three main divi-           and Peninnah. Peninnah had            prayed to God in bitterness of
sions - chapters 1-12 which deal         children, but Hannah was barren.      soul, asking for a son. She vowed
with the history of Samuel;              Yearly, Elkanah went to the           to the Lord that if He would give
chapters 13-31 which cover the           house of the Lord at Shiloh to        her a son, she would return him
rule of Saul; and chapters l-24 of       sacrifice. During this time he        to the Lord all the days of his
II Samuel which give us the              showed his love to Hannah by          life. Eli the priest interpreted her
details of David's reign as king.        giving her a worthy portion of        action as drunkenness and ad-
BRIEF OUTLINE                            the meal, for he knew that-she        monished her to put away her
  1. The history of Samuel as he         was of troubled soul, being child-    wine. She in turn informed him
restores the theocracy in Israel         less. Peninnah added to her woe       of her prayer and he encouraged
(chapters 1-12).                         by mocking her during these an-       her to go in peace and the God
                                         nual pilgrimages, so much so that     of Israel grant her petition. As a
Rev. Kortering is pastor of the Prot-    she wept during the meal.             result of this her countenance
estant Reformed Church of Grand-         Elkanah tried to comfort her by       was no more sad (1:9-18).
ville,  Michigan.                        asking, "am not I better to thee        They returned home to Ramah

                                                                                   July  1,  1989  I The Standard Bearer  / 427


and Hannah soon conceived and                 die in one day, (2:22-36).                    of God in the temple of Dagon at
bore a son, Samuel, "for I have                 Samuel continued to minister                Ashdod. The image fell down
asked him of the Lord." During                before the Lord in the temple.                twice before the ark. During the
the subsequent annual pil-                    The word of the Lord was                      second time the head and palms
grimages to Shiloh, Hannah re-                precious and there was no open                of his hands were cut off upon
mained home as she prepared                   vision. Samuel received his first             the threshold. The Lord struck
Samuel for the day she would                  call from God when he had lain                the men of Ashdod with emerods
take him to the temple that he                down to sleep. Three times he                 and many died. The Philistines
might abide there forever.                    heard his name called and he                  reaiized it was the hand of God
   This time came when she had                went to Eli, only to learn that Eli           because of the ark, so they car-
weaned him. She and Elkanah                   had not called him. Eli instructed            ried the ark to Gath. The same
traveled to Shiloh and gave him               him to say, "Speak, Lord, for thy             thing happened there and also.in
to Eli the priest in fulfillment of           servant heareth." The Lord then               Ekron (5: 1-12).
her vow (1:19-28). She expressed              told Samuel that He would bring                  After the ark was in the land
her gratitude to God in a song of             to pass the judgment He had pro-              of the Philistines for seven
praise, in which she acknowl-                 nounced upon the house of Eli                 months, the priests and diviners
edged that God had done great                 for his refusal to restrain his evil          among them suggested they
things. He maketh the barren to               sons. The next morning Eli asked              return the ark to Israel and fill it
bear seven and she that hath                  him about this and Samuel told                with an offering (5 golden
many children is waxed feeble                 him all. From this time forth, the            emerods, 5 golden mice, one for
(2: l-10).                                    Lord appeared to Samuel, and all              each of the lords of the Philis-
   Samuel began to minister unto              Israel from Dan to Beersheba            -     tines). They should place it upon
the Lord before Eli, the priest. He           knew that Samuel was estab-                   a new cart drawn by 2 milk
had to contend with the two sons              lished to be a prophet of Jehovah             cows, but the calves had to stay
of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, who              (3:1-21).                                     in the stall. If the cows take the
were sons of Belial, who knew                   The judgment that fell upon                 ark to Israel they will know that
not the Lord. They demonstrated               the house of Eli came in connec-              it was Jehovah who sent the
their contempt for the sacrifice              tion with Israel's battle with the            plagues and not chance. The
by forcefully taking meat from                Philistines. Israel was in Ebenezer           cows took the ark straight to
the people, even when it was still            and the Philistines were in                   Bethshemesh. The men were in
raw, rather than using what re-               Aphek. When the first attack was              the fields harvesting at the time.
mained. This made the people                  made, 4000 men of Israel were                 They rejoiced to see the ark.
abhor the offerings. They even                slain. Israel decided to fetch the            They cut up the wood and of-
lay with the women that                       ark out of the tabernacle in                  fered the cows as a burnt offer-
assembled at the tabernacle                   Shiloh. When the sons of Eli                  ing. The Levites placed the ark
(2:1.1-17, 22). Samuel was of a dif-          brought it into the midst of the              upon the great stone in the field
ferent spirit. He grew and was in             camp, the Israelites shouted, and            , of Joshua.
favor both with the Lord and                  that struck fear in the hearts of               When the lords of the Philis-
with men.                                     the Philistines. With greater                 tines saw this, they returned.
   When Samuel's parents came                 determination they fought. The                But the men of Bethshemesh
yearly to sacrifice and his mother            result being that 30,000 footmen              looked into the ark and Jehovah
brought him a little coat, Eli                of Israel were killed, the ark was            smote them, killing 50,070 men.
blessed them and said to Hannah,              taken, and Hophni and Phinehas                In desperation they sent notice to
the Lord give thee seed. She                  were slain.                                   Kirjathjearim to come and fetch
became the mother of 3 sons and                 When the messenger of this                  the ark. They came and placed
2 daughters (2: 18-2 1, 26).                  sad news came to Eli at Shiloh,               the ark in the house of Abinadab
   Eli by now was very old and                the 98 year old man fell back                 and sanctified Eleazar his son to
he heard about the evil done by               from off the seat and broke his               keep the ark. The ark remained
his sons. He admonished them,                 neck and died. The wife of                    there for 20 years (6:1-7:3).
but failed to discipline them or              Phinehas was with child. When                   Samuel exhorted Israel to put
remove them from the priest-                  she heard that her husband was                away the strange gods, Baalim
hood. A man of God came to Eli                dead she went into labor and                  and Ashtaroth, and to return to
to admonish him for honoring his              died in childbirth. She named her             the worship of Jehovah with the
sons above Jehovah. He warned                 child Ichabod, the glory is                   assurance that God would deliver
him that his household would be               departed from Israel (4: l-22).               them from the Philistines. As
cut off and his two sons would                  The Philistines placed the ark              Samuel prayed and offered

428  / The Standard Bearer I  July  I,1989


sacrifice at Mizpeh, the people         "desire of all Israel" (9:1-24).        saw that he was taller than all
repented and the Lord thundered         They spent the entire day and           the people from the shoulders up-
upon the Philistines and they           night together. When they               ward. The duties of his rule were
were smitten before Israel.             walked alone outside the city,          written in a book. Saul returned
Samuel erected the stone with           Samuel poured a vial of oil upon        to Gibeah and the children of
the name, Ebenezer, hitherto            Saul and said, "The Lord hath           Belial rejected him (10:17-27).
hath the Lord helped us. The            anointed thee captain over his in-        Nahash the Ammonite came to
cities from Ekron unto Gath were        heritance." He gave him signs to        Jabeshgilead and offered to make
restored to Israel. Mention is          prove that God had called him:          a covenant of peace with them if
made of the judgeship of Samuel,        first, two men would meet him at        he could thrust out their right
and of his yearly circuit from          Rachel's sepulchre and inform           eyes. During the seven days of
Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpeh to           him that the asses were found.          waiting they contacted Saul who
Ramah where he lived (7:4-17).          Second, he would meet three             in turn raised an army of 300,000
  When Samuel was old he made           men in the plain of Tabor, on           men of Israel and 30,000 of
his sons Joel and Abiah judges in       their way to sacrifice, and they        Judah and completely destroyed
Beersheba. They were wicked             would give two loaves of bread          the Ammonites. The people were
and sought after money and took         to Saul. Finally, at the garrison of    encouraged and wanted to kill all
bribes and perverted judgment.          the Philistines, a company of           who had rejected Saul. Saul
This prompted the elders of Israel      prophets would meet him, they           prevented this and the kingdom
to come to Ramah and ask                would prophesy, and the Spirit of       was renewed at Gilgal (11: 1-15).
Samuel to make a king like all          the Lord would come on Saul               Samuel testified of his faithful
the nations (8:1-5). Samuel took        and he would prophesy with              ministry among the people. They
his displeasure to the Lord and         them. He was to go to Gilgal and        agreed that their request for a
He instructed Samuel to give            wait seven days for Samuel to           king was not due to the failure of
them their request, only he             join him there. All these things        Samuel. He rehearsed before
should protest solemnly. This           took place as Samuel had said           them the care of God during all
Samuel did and warned the               (9:25-10:16).                           the years of their history. He
people that such a king would             While Israel was gathered at          warned them to obey Jehovah,
make slaves of their children and       Mizpeh, Samuel warned them              and by the sign of the thunder-
would tax them heavily so that          that they had rejected God as be-       storm during wheat harvest the
they would cry to Jehovah, but          ing their king. The new king was        people were brought to fear
He would not hear. The people           chosen by casting of lots. The          Jehovah greatly. He called them
persisted in their request (8:6-22).    tribe of Benjamin, the family of        to repent and be confident that
  Reference is made to Kish,            Matri, Saul the son of Kish was         Jehovah would not forsake His
father of Saul, whose asses were        taken. Saul hid among the stuff         covenant; and he assured them
lost. He requested of his son, a        and God revealed to them his            that he would continue to pray
choice young man and goodly,            location so they could find him.        for them (12:1-25). Cl
that he take one of the servants        As they took him to Samuel they
and seek the asses. When they
arrived at the city of Zuph, Saul
was of a mind to return to his
father. The servant suggested he
visit a prophet (which before was       Book  Review
called a seer) in the city and
perhaps he could assist in finding
the asses. With a fourth part of a
shekel in hand, Saul encountered        AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST AR-                 five points of Arminianism
the maidens going out to draw           MINIANISM,  by Christopher              originally published in 1700.
water. They guided him to the           Ness; Still Waters Revival Books,       Ness, an English preacher,
place of sacrifice where they met       1988; 126 pp.; $6.95. Available         demolished the Arminian errors
Samuel.                                 by mail from Still Waters Revival       of conditional election, universal
  The Lord had told Samuel              Books, 12810-126 St., Edmonton,         atonement, free will, and the fall-
ahead of time to expect Saul and        AB, Canada T5L OYl (Reviewed            ing away of saints, showing that
to anoint him as king. Samuel           by the Editor).                         these teachings are both un-
assured Saul the asses were               This is the most recent reprint       biblical and absurd. At the same
found and greeted him as the            of the vigorous refutation of the       time, he defended the Reformed

                                                                                    July  1, 1989  I The Standard Bearer I429


doctrines of salvation by grace              his response to the Arminian ap-         is God's, as a gift to bestow, can-
alone against which the Arminian             peal to Matthew 23:37, "0 Jeru-          not be man's duty to per-
errors were directed.                        salem, Jerusalem . . . how often         form . , ." (p. 72, 73). For Ness,
   Brief, clear, and pointed, this           would I have gathered thy                God does not command all men
short book will serve well to                children . . . ," was to deny that       to believe in Jesus, only elect,
refresh Reformed people in the               the gathering spoken of is a work        regenerated men. Therefore,
"five points of Calvinism" and to            of salvation:                            Ness could also write, "When
remind them of the God-                        This gathering does not design a       God giveth command to spiritual
dishonoring and comfort-robbing              gathering of Jews to Christ internal-    acts He granteth power to obey
character of the only alternative,           ly, by the Spirit and grace of God;      the same" (p. 54).
"Arminianism." The book can                  but a gathering of them externally,        The book is marred by many
also be put into the hands of one            to hear Him preach, so that they         annoying typographical mistakes:
who thinks after the Arminian                might be brought to an assent unto       "distributely" for "distributively"
fashion (setting up "the rotten              Him as the Messiah (pp. 98, 99).
                                               A poor defense of the truth is         (p. 73); "everylasting" (p. 73);
Dagon of man's freewill, before                                                       "persuastion" for "persuasion" (p.
or above the ark of God's special            the worst attack upon it. Also,          93); "bon" for "bonds" (p. 115);
                                             Ness was a genuine hyper-
predestinating grace," as Ness                                                        "convenanted" for "covenanted'
                                             Calvinist (I say "genuine" because
pungently puts it) to point out to                                                    (p. 116); and others. All those
                                             in our day "hyper-Calvinist" is
him the issues involved in his                                                        who have been reprinting An An-
confession of salvation by free              the name given to-the few who            tidote must be copying the same
will and, God being gracious, to             do still boldly and consistently         original without correcting the
                                             confess the "five points of
serve as an "antidote" against                                                        errors in that original. I have also
that spiritual disease.                      Calvinism"). Ness, like John Gill        a 1982 edition of the book,
   Ness is not the best opponent             whom he quotes, did not believe          published in West Virginia. It has
of the Arminian heresy, however.             that God externally called, or           all the same typos on the very
He accepted a "natural grace"                commanded, both reprobate and            same pages. If Still Waters does a
and a "supernatural common                   elect to believe in Jesus Christ.        second printing, it ought to see to
grace" (pp. 102 ff.). More than              Answering the Arminian objec-            a thorough proof-reading of the
once, he evaded Arminian objec-              tion to particular redemption,           original. 0
tions to Reformed doctrine by                that it is the duty of all men to
                                             believe, Ness argued that "what
twisting Scripture. For example,



                                             Report of Classis East

May 10, 1989                                 Southwest who protested the              treated since it did not meet the
Hudsonville Protestant                       decisions taken by the January           criteria of Article 31 of the
Reformed Church                              classis in regard to their appeals       Church Order.
   Classis East met in regular ses-          re the erection of a cross in the           Requests for classical appoint-
sion on Wednesday, May 10,                   sanctuary of Southwest Church.           ments were granted for Holland,
1989 at the Hudsonville Prot-                Classis had decided in January           Faith, and Norristown (in the
estant Reformed Church. All the              not to sustain these brethren.           absence of their pastor who will
churches were represented by                 Again in this session, classis           be working in Ireland for six
two delegates. Norristown, hav-              decided that the January classis         months). The following schedules
ing been organized by the                    had acted properly and that the          were adopted: HOLLAND: June 4
January, 1989 classis, was                   issues of their protests had been        - Woudenberg, June 11 - Key,
represented by delegates for the             treated by the January  classis.         June 18 - Joostens, July 2 - Grit-
first time.                                  Classis, therefore, did not sustain      ters, July 9 - Slopsema, July 23
   Classis' time was devoted                 the protests of these brothers.          -Kortering. FAITH: June 4
primarily to consideration of pro-           One of the protests was not              -Kamps, June 11 - Van Baren,
tests from four brothers from                                                         June 25 - Kortering, July 2

430 I The Standard Bearer I July 1,  1989


-Kamps, July 9 - Woudenberg,              ters. NORRISTOWN: September             amounted to $1226.39. Classis
July 16 - Joostens, August 6              16, 23 - Key, August 6, 13              will meet next on Wednesday,
-Slopsema,  August 13 - Wouden-           -Kamps, August 20 - Flikkema,           September 13, 1989 at First
berg, August 20 - Gritters, August        September 3, 10 - Van Baren,            Church, Grand Rapids.
27 - Bruinsma, September 10               September 24, October 1 -Korter-             Respectfully submitted,
-Flikkema, September 17                   ing.                                         Jon J. Huisken
-Slopsema, September 24 - Grit-             The expenses of this classis               Stated Clerk 17



                                          News  From
Mr. Benjamin Wigger                       Our Churches

                          July 1, 1989      We also extend our somewhat           Committee of our Loveland
MINISTERIAL CALLS                         belated congratulations to Rev. C.      P.R.C. in Loveland, CO.
  From a duo of Revs. A. den              Hanko, who celebrated his 82nd            While Rev. Houck was labor-
Hartog and M. DeVries, the con-           birthday on May 19. May he as           ing in Colorado, Rev. Camminga,
gregation of First Church in              well as all of our "retired'            Loveland's pastor, was taking
Grand Rapids, Ml extended a call          ministers continue to enjoy the         part in a conference on
to Pastor den Hal-tog to serve as         blessings of God through all of         eschatology sponsored by the
missionary to Jamaica.                    their days. Rev. C. Hanko was           Norristown P.R.C. in Norristown,
  Rev. Ron Hanko, currently of            hospitalized in late May in             PA. Five lectures were given
Houston, TX has received the              Florida. He had experienced a           dealing with the theme, "The
call from our Pella congregation          faintness and rapid heartbeat. He       Coming of the Kingdom." Besides
in Pella, IA.                             was released later that week and        Pastor Cammenga, Rev. Ken
  Rev. Slopsema declined the              tests showed no problems which          Hanko (Norristown's pastor) and
call he received from Faith               could account for this.                 Prof. H. Hanko also spoke.
Church in Jenison, Ml, and Rev.           CHURCH ACTIVITIES                       Topics and speakers were as
Gritters declined the call from              The Consistory and Congrega-         follows: "The Church One, From
Peace in Lynwood, IL.                     tion of our Lynden P.R.C. in            Jews and Gentiles," Prof. Hanko;
  Faith has formed the following          Lynden, WA wrote a letter to            "Optimism Versus Pessimism?"
trio: Revs. A. den Hartog, R.             Professor and Mrs. Hoeksema,            Pastor K. Hanko; "Thy Kingdom
Dykstra, and K. Koole.                    expressing their prayers for God's      Come, or Biblical Amillennial-
  Peace has the trio: Revs. A den         mercies upon them in this time of       ism," Pastor Cammenga;
Hartog, T. Miersma, and G. Van            affliction, and their thanks to God     "Heaven: Father's House," Prof.
Baren.                                    for Prof. Hoeksema's years of ser-      Hanko; and "Depart From Me, or
  Rev. R. Van Overloop, who               vice in our churches. All               the Reformed Doctrine of Hell,"
served as our churches' home              Lynden's members were asked to          Pastor Cammenga.
missionary to the group in North-         sign this letter, before it was sent      On Sunday, May 2 1, Pastor
west Chicago until their organiza-        on to Michigan.                         Cammenga preached in the
tion into an instituted congrega-         . On May 17, Missionary Steve           Sovereign Grace Church of Mor-
tion (the Bethel P.R.C.), has ac-         Houck presented a lecture on the        rill, Nebraska, at their request
cepted the call extended to him           subject, "A Reformed Look at the        and with the approval of his con-
to become their first pastor.             New Age Movement" in the                sistory. Rev. Cammenga reports
                                          Westminster Reformed Presby-            that the preaching was well re-
                                          terian Church in Westminster,           ceived. And on that following
                                          CO, a community which is near           Wednesday Rev. Houck lectured
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Prot-       Denver, CO. This effort was spon-       in Morrill on the "New Age
estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-        sored by the Church Extension           Movement."
ville,  Michigan.                                                                   The Consistory of the Cove-

                                                                                      July 1, 1989  I The Standard Bearer  / 431


r~----T                                                                                    .-
  THE
 sl!.JwDrn                                                                                                 SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                           Postage Paid at
 BIWER                                                                                                     Grand Rapids, Michigan
 EO. Box 6064
 Grand Rapids, MI 49506



 nant P.R.C. in Wyckoff, NJ ap-                 was raised for the Covenant                upon them that fear Him, and
 proved the establishment of a                  Building Fund.                             His righteousness unto
 "Church Extension Committee."                    The day provided an excellent            children's children." (Psalm
    And from our "First time ever               opportunity for healthy exercise           103:17)
 announcements":                                and Christian fellowship for a11           Gerry and Kathy Schut
    There was a combined meeting                who came along. Cl                           Doug, Todd
 of the Bethel, Peace, and South                                                           Ron and Barb Schut
                                                                                             Brad, Shauna, Leah
 Holland P.R.C. societies held in               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                     Scott  and Joan Anderson
 the chapel of the Illiana High                    The Consistory of the  Doon,              Melissa, Chad, Jeff
 School in South Holland, IL. They                                                         Pat Schut
                                                Iowa, Protestant Reformed
 studied James 4. I say first time,                                                        Pam Schut
                                                Church would like to express
 because a year ago two of those                their Christian sympathy to its            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
 churches, Bethel and Peace, were               fellow-member, Elder  Joawn
 not yet organized.                                                                           The Council and Congrega-
                                                Van Oort and family in the loss
    There was a note on a recent                                                           tion of the Hope Protestant Re-
                                                of his father, HENRY VAN
 bulletin of the Peace P.R.C. in                                                           formed Church expresses their
                                                OORT.
 Lynwood, IL thanking the con-                                                             Christian sympathy to Elder
                                                   May our Heavenly Father
 gregation of their "mother                                                                John N. Dykstra and Deacon
                                                comfort the bereaved with the
 church," the South Holland                                                                Gerald Dykstra and their
                                                assurance that He doeth all
 P.R.C., for having received the                                                           families in the loss of their
                                                things well.
 balance of the gift of                                                                    father and grandfather, NEIL
                                                Rev. R. Dykstra, Pres.
 $125,000.00,  whereupon the clos-                                                         DYKSTRA, on May  24,1989.
                                                Peter Van Den Top, Clerk
 ing and purchase of their par-                                                               "Blessed are the dead which
 sonage became a blessed realiza-                                                          die in the Lord from henceforth:
                                                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
 tion.                                                                                     Yea, saith the Spirit, that they
                                                   The Mens Society of the  Hud-           may rest from their  labours; and
 SCHOOL ACTIVITIES                              sonville Protestant Reformed
    On Saturday, May 13, the                                                               their works do follow them."
                                                Church expresses its Christian
 Covenant Christian High School                                                            Rev.  J. Slopsema, Pastor
                                                sympathy to Mr. Richard                    Don Lotterman, Clerk
 Building Fund Boosters spon-                   Teitsma in the loss of his wife,           Grand Rapids, MI
 sored a Bike-a-thon. The route                 ANN TEITSMA.
 selected led down Port Sheldon                    May he be comforted in the              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
 Road from Hudsonville, MI to                   truth expressed in Psalm 116:15              The consistory and congrega-
 Kirk Park on Lake Michigan and                 - "Precious in the sight of the            tion of the Loveland Protestant
 back to Hudsonville, a total of 50             Lord is the death of His saints."          Reformed Church express their
 miles. The event started at 830                Hilbert Kuiper, Pres.                      heartfelt sympathy to Mrs.
 A.M., with a11 the bikers arriving             Henry Bergman, Sec'y.                      Louise Griess and family in the
 at Lake Michigan by 11:00 A.M.                                                            death of  -her beloved husband,
 After lunch and rest, the bikers               WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                        MR. ALBERT  GRIESS.
 returned by the same route to                     On June  18,1989, our dear                May the grace of God and
 Hudsonville. Each rider was sup-               parents and grandparents,                  the comfort of the Holy Spirit
 posed to raise funds for Covenant              PERLIN  A N D   A G N E S   S C H U T ,    be with our sister, her children,
 by getting as many sponsors                    celebrated their 35th wedding              grandchildren, and great-grand-
 lined up as possible, with these               anniversary. We are thankful to            children. "Blessed are the dead
 sponsors contributing a certain                our Heavenly Father for giving             which die in the Lord from
 amount for each mile ridden.                   us God-fearing parents, and for            henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit,
    Ninety people took part in this             the love and Christian instruc-            that they may rest from their
 bike-a-thon. The youngest partici-             tion they have given us through            labors; and their works do
 pant was an 11 year old boy, the               these years.                               follow them." (Rev.  14:13).
 oldest a 58 year old woman.                       "But the mercy of the Lord is           Rev. Ron Cammenga, Pres.
 From these 90 people $8,000.00                 from everlasting to everlasting            Mr. Robert Brands, Clerk

 432 I The Standard Bearer I  July  1,  1989


