A Reformed
Semi-Monthly       BBR
M a g a z i n e





VoI. 66, No.  7
October 7, 7989


 Contents                                                    October 7, 7 989 1                     THE
                                                                                          `SiANDARD
Meditation  - Rev. Jason L. Kortering
   HELP MY UNBELIEF                                                                  3    BEARER
                                                                                          ~ ISSN  0362-4692
Editorials  - Prof. David J.  Engelsma
   CHANGES AND SAMENESS  - A NEW VOLUME OF The  SB                                   5     Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
                                                                                           and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
   "ISBE"  - SIGNIFICANT PUBLISHING VENTURE                                          6     lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
                                                                                           at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                           POSTMASTER:   Send address changes to  l-he
LETTERS                                                                              7     Standard Bearer, P.O. Box 6064, Grand Rapids, MI
                                                                                           4 9 5 1 6 .
Search the Scriptures  - Rev. Cise  J. VanBaren                                            EDITORIAL   COMMITTEE
                                                                                           Editor: Prof. David  I. Engelsma
   A PLAN OF ACTION                                                               11       Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                           Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
The Day of Shadows  -  Rev. John A. Heys                                                   DEPARTMENT   EDITORS
                                                                                           Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
   THE MAN OF SIN FORESHADOWED (2)                                                13       Arie  denHartog.  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
                                                                                           Critters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko. Prof. Herman
All Around Us  - Prof. Robert D. Decker                                                    Hanko. Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John  Heys,  Rev.
                                                                                           Kenneth  Koole,  Rev. Jason Kortering, Mr. James
   SYNODS AND GENERAL ASSEMBLIES                                                  16       Lanting,  Rev. George Lubbers. Mrs.  Marybeth  Lub-
   THE ORTHODOX PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AND THE                                                bers, Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev. Charles  Terpstra,
                                                                                           Rev.  Cise  VanBaren,  Rev. Ronald  VanOverloop.
      REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH                                                16       Mr. Benjamin Wigger, Rev. Bernard  Wouclenberg.
   THE EVANGELICAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH                                            17       EDITORIAL   OFFICE            CHURCH   NEWS   EDITOR
                                                                                           The Standard Bearer           Mr. Ben  Wiggel
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                                                                                           Every editor is solely responsible for the contents
Guest Article  -  Rev. Steven R.  Houck                                                    of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
   A REFORMED LOOK AT THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT (1)                                    18       terest from our readers and questions for the
                                                                                           Question Box Department are welcome. Contribu-
                                                                                           tions will be limited to approximately 300 words
In His Fear  - Rev. Arie  denHartog                                                        and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
   HOME, CHURCH, AND SCHOOL                                                       20       must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first and
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BOOK REVIEW                                                                       22       editorial office.
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NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES  - Mr. Benjamin Wigger                                     23       articles in our magazine by other publications,
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 In this issue . . .                                                                       made;  c) that a copy of the periodical in which
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2  I The Standard Bearer I October 1, 1989


Meditation                               Help My Unbelief
Rev.  jason Kortering



   "Jesus said unto him, If thou         of disease and able to subdue the        and he has come to the right
canst believe, all things are            devil. All this is true; but there is    place - he has come to Jesus.
possible to him that believeth.          much more. There is gospel.              He cries for help.
   "And straightway the father             We come to understand the                To be sure, this father has pro-
of the child cried out, and said         gospel as we take a careful look         gressed in his faith. He has come
with tears, Lord, I believe, help        at the son who is so sorely              to realize that his son can do
                                         tormented. He is deaf, he is             nothing for his deliverance, for
thou mine unbelief "                     dumb, he has terrible epileptic          he is helplessly and hopelessly in
                     Mark 9:23,24        seizures, and he is possessed of a       the grip of Satan and disease. For
                                         devil. This devil makes use of the       this reason, he has turned to
  Lay your eyes upon a pitiful           seizures to endanger the young           Jesus. Are you at that point in
scene.                                   man's life, by causing them to           your spiritual pilgrimage? Do you
  A young man is on the ground,          take place when he is near water         know that you cannot save your-
thrashing about in convulsive            and fire. What misery this               self? The nature of sin and the
seizures.                                brought to the life of this son and      treachery of Satan is such that he
  He's foaming at the mouth.             father.                                  would like to have us imagine
  Look away from him, and gaze             In him we see a reflection of          that the natural man can at any
into the eyes of his father. What        our own spiritual condition. By          time decide to be saved. What
pain, what sorrow, what shame            nature we are spiritually deaf and       deception! The deaf and the
exudes, caused by this public            dumb. We have not ears to hear           dumb cannot even hear the
spectacle. The disciples, the            the gospel, nor lips to praise God.      gospel, much less respond prop-
multitude, the scribes are all           We cast ourselves about in the           erly. Are you at the spiritual
gawking at his only son.                 froth of sinful pleasure. Satan          level of this father? Be acknowl-
  Listen to him as he turns to           knows exactly how to take ad-            edged that he needed Jesus for
Jesus, "If thou canst do anything,       vantage of us, to tempt us in            salvation.
have mercy on us and help us."           those areas where we are                   Still more.
  As we approach this narrative,         spiritually the weakest.                   He also understood that no
we do well to remind ourselves             The father, now, is the con-           other human being could help
that the account given to us in          science of this son. The two go          him. I am sure this father con-
Matthew and Luke, as well as in          together. The son can't express          tacted many doctors. He loved
Mark, records an actual event. It        himself, but the father speaks for       his only child. It tore his heart to
is part of the record of sacred          him. "If thou canst do anything,         see him suffer and be abused this
history. Such history must not be        have compassion on US." The              way. Their life was a shambles.
moralized, it must be interpreted.       father expresses the grief, the ut-      You can well imagine that he
By this account, we learn that           ter frustration, the hopeless            sought out the best medical help
Jesus had compassion upon the            despair, the public shame. As            and turned to anyone who could
father and son and delivered             such he represents the depraved          possibly have helped. But none
them from great distress. Indeed,        sinner who has come under the            could. How we are forced to
Jesus has compassion. He is Lord         work of grace. The representa-           acknowledge this point. Must not
                                         tion here is not that of a sinner        the drunkards, the drug addicts,
                                         who does not care, who is                those who come under the power
Rev. Kortering is pastor of the Prot-    hardened and complacent in sin.          of nicotine, sex, blind ambition,
estant Reformed Church of Grand-
ville,  Michigan.                        No, he is burdened, he struggles,        lust for power, the craze for

                                                                                     October 1, 1989 I The Standard Bearer  I3


pleasure and sports, come to this             the "if" rests with thee. Canst           your conscience. Do you really
point? Human help, without the                thou believe?                             believe that the blood of Jesus
presence of God's Spirit, is vain.              The father still had doubts             washed away all those sins, that
   Then he heard of Jesus. How,               about Jesus' ability to help. These       in the way of sincere repentance
we do not know, but we can well               doubts must now be removed.               God has dismissed them from His
imagine that the fame of Jesus                The answer of Jesus forces him            own mind so that they do not in-
went throughout the country.                  to take a hard look into his own          terfere with His dealings with
Jesus did more than preach; He                heart. Does he really believe in          you? How wonderful it is to say,
also performed miracles. Driven               Jesus? Do you really believe in           I believe!
by the desire for deliverance, this           Jesus when you come to Him                   Also, as we continue to deal
father persisted in taking his son            with the burden of past sins and          with the influence of sin in our
to Jesus. When he approached                  the need for deliverance from the         lives today, many of us deal with
the disciples, he learned that                power of sin?                             mighty forces. We look at the
Jesus was not there. Christ was                 Faith includes the following: an        son, frothing at the mouth, ma-
on the Mount of Transfiguration               acknowledgment that God is                nipulated by Satan, and we see
with Peter, James, and John. The              holy, and that in His presence            ourselves in our daily struggle to
man therefore asked the disciples             our sins carry the penalty of             throw off Satan's assaults and our
if they could help him. They                  death. Awareness of this fact             own failures. How beautiful it is
tried, but failed. That, too, added           causes us to cry out in sorrow for        for us to say, I believe. Yes, we
to his humiliation. The Scribes               sin. The main burden is not the           are able to triumph over evil in
observed this failure and began               fear of hell, rather, it is the desire    any form. We say with Paul, I
publicly to ridicule the disciples.           for divine acceptance. The rela-          can do all things through Christ
They were arguing back and                    tionship between the believer             who strengthens me.
forth when Jesus suddenly ap-                 and God is one of friendship,                He adds, "Help thou my un-
peared. It was then that this                 even the most heartwarming                belief."
father ran to Jesus and cast him-             friendship of Father and child.             When we come to terms with
self down in His presence and                 We long for His presence and              our faith, we also are able to deal
cried, "If thou canst do anything,            blessing. Our sins cause us to            honestly with our unbelief. Does
have compassion on us and help                realize that we have forfeited            that sound contradictory? It isn't.
us."                                          this. We have turned our back             We cannot know the weaknless of
  But wait!                                   upon Him. We have breached the            our faith unless we examine our-
  There is something wrong with               bond of love. There is hope as            selves with the eye of faith. In
his request.                                  we turn to Jesus. He is not mere          response to the gospel, this father
  It's that little word "if." If thou         man; He is the God-man. He                cried out, "I believe, help m:y
canst do anything!                            came into this world to meet the          unbelief." He still realized that
  Jesus didn't like that "if."                demands of the holy God by                Christ was right; he has his
  Do you approach Jesus with                  bearing the penalty of death for          doubts about Jesus' ability to
your deepest spiritual needs and              our sins. To come to Jesus is to          help. Do you have some doubts?
say, "if"? The "if" betrays doubt.            believe that His blood covers all         Do you question the blood of
Do you doubt whether the blood                our sins, and that in His exalta-         Jesus as being sufficient for your
of Jesus can cover your sins? Do              tion He is able to deliver us from        sins? Do you wonder whether the
you doubt whether Jesus is able               the power of any sin, even the            Spirit of Jesus is able to deliver
to deliver you from the power of              devil himself. Such salvation is by       you from the power and tempta-
your sins? Do you doubt whether               grace alone.                              tion of sin in your life?
you are included in the number                  When Jesus forced this father             Such doubts are not to be ig-
of the redeemed?                              to examine himself, to evaluate           nored; they must be faced. Here
  Jesus deals with this doubt by              that "if," the father concluded           the father does not make excuses
saying, "If thou canst believe, all           that he did believe, that he did          for his doubts. We may not do
things are possible to him that               possess this faith. Hence his             that either. Doubt is unbelief.
believeth." This is a play on                 response was, "I believe."                This father saw that. Hence he
words, especially the "if." To                  May that be your answer too.            cried to Jesus, "Help my unbelief
summarize Jesus: you say, if thou             Look back in your life. How               Take it away, deliver me fr0.m
canst? 0 brother, you have that               many past sins still roar in your         any doubt that I still have." We
wrong. I can. The "if" does not               memory? It doesn't take too long          do well to draw near to Jesus
rest with me. I am able. Rather,              to uncover them. There is a raw           with the same spiritual desire.
                                              nerve of guilt that still festers in

4  I The Standard Bearer I October 1, 1989


  With a mighty command, Jesus        ly thrashed about until suddenly        death. Behold the cross, the
helps his unbelief by displaying      he lay on the ground so that the        empty tomb, the crown.
His power over his son. "Thou         people said, he is dead.                  May all our doubts be taken
dumb and deaf spirit, I charge          Jesus took him by the hand            away as we gaze upon the power
thee come out of him and enter        and raised him up.                      of our Savior.
no more into him." Bow before           Does that help your unbelief?           Peace was restored to that
the authority and power of Jesus.     Jesus is our complete Savior. He        home and family.
  The spirit shrieked. What a         is Lord not only over disease and         May that peace be amongst us
thing that must have been to          over the devil. He is that to be        as the family of God. Cl
hear! The son shook and violent-      sure. He is Lord also over sin and



                                      Changes and Sameness - AL
                                           New Volume of The 93
                                      "ISBE"  - Significant
Editorials                                 Publishing Venture

Changes and Sameness                  beginning with the early, post-         Mrs. Marybeth Lubbers will high-
- A New Volume of                     apostolic church. The emphasis          light the life of the covenant
                                      will be on the life of the "fathers"    family in some eight articles on
The SB                                (and "mothers"). By means of            "The Reformed Family." About
  Every earthly thing that is         these biographical sketches, we         the importance of this subject,
alive changes. Whatever does not      intend to instruct our readers in       not only for families but also foi
change is dead; and it changes        church history. Secretly, we hope       the church, nothing needs to be
too - it decays, or becomes stag-     to whet their appetite for more         said. Missions will be the subject
nant.                                 reading in the fascinating area of      regularly addressed by Rev.
  Very much alive, The Standard       church history on their own. We         Ronald Van Overloop. Rev. Van
Bearer does not resist all change.    encourage our young people in           Overloop has served for some 10
  Volume 66 of The Standard           particular to read these articles.      years as home missionary of the
Bearer, which begins with this          We look forward to "new"              Protestant Reformed Churches.
issue, will see several changes       writers and rubrics. Rev. Bernard       He has deep convictions about
both of writers and of rubrics.       Woudenberg will share the               the church's calling to do mis-
  Rev. Jason Kortering will share     responsibility for "Taking Heed         sions and some well-reasoned
with Rev. James Slopsema the          to the Doctrine" with Rev.              ideas as to how the church
writing of the meditations. Pro-      Ronald Hanko. Rev. Woudenberg           should carry this calling out. Mr.
fessor Robert Decker will take        has written in the past; and we         James Lanting, practising at-
over the column, "A11 Around          welcome him back to the staff of        torney in South Holland, Illinois.,
Us," noting and commenting            regular writers. He plans to begin      has agreed to write at least five
briefly on significant develop-       with a short series on the nature       articles on current issues or cou.rt
ments in the ecclesiastical realm     of gospel-preaching. Rev.               decisions touching on the rela-
as brought to light in the            Woudenberg is finishing up the          tionship of church and state. His
religious press. Professor Herman     requirements for a ThM degree at        rubric will be "Church and
Hanko will produce a series of        Calvin Theological Seminary in          State."
articles in which he sketches the     Grand Rapids. We will benefit             We have also planned a
life and labor of notable persons     from some of the fruits of his          number of guest articles, in-
in.the history of the church,         studies. Rev. Kenneth Koole and         cluding articles from our sister

                                                                                October  1, 1989  I The Standard Bearer  / 5


churches; from the denomina-                   tury is to give expression to this        cross-referenced; bibliographies
tional Contact and Mission Com-                faith, also as the Holy Spirit has        are provided to assist in further
mittees; from various ministers;               developed it in the PRC. At the           study of many subjects.
and others. One of these- "others"             same time, we intend to subject              Volume Four contains the en-
appears already in this issue. We              all doctrines and practices in the'       tires, Q-Z.
have asked Rev. Steven Houck,                  sphere of the churches, as well as           The  Encyclopedia  contains a
home missionary of the PRC, to                 developments in the world, to ex-         world of Protestant scholarship in
shed light for our readers on the              amination according to this               Scripture and will be of benefit to
"new age movement." Two more                   standard.                                 all Bible-students, whether
installments will follow. Again,                 May the Holy Spirit of our              ministers or laymen. Does the
we urge the young people par-                  Lord Jesus Christ bless our               preacher want an overview of
ticularly to read Houck's "A                   writers, our readers, and all who         "Sacrifices and Offerings in the
Reformed Look at the New Age                   contribute to the publishing of           OT"? Is a member of the con-
Movement."                                     The SB so that the Reformed               gregation interested in a com-
   One change calls for special at-            faith is promoted and so that all         plete description of the
tention, since it requires coopera-            those who love this faith are en-         Sanhedrin, including its history,
tion from the Bible study classes              couraged and strengthened, as             composition, working, and ap-
and societies. Rev. Gise Van                   well as that others may come to           pearance in Scripture? Is a young
Baren will work up exegetical                  know and love this faith.                 person required to introducle
outlines on a book of the Bible,                      Brothers and sisters, pray for     some aspect of the temple for
to serve as a guide and help                   us!                                       Young People's Society? Pull
especially for the various Bible                 And write us.                           "ISBE" off the shelf!
study groups. He intends to begin                One column, in our judgment               The quality of the articles
with the book of Philippians.                  an important one, will depend             varies, as is to be expected, from
These study guides may later be                entirely on you, the readers -            one contributor to the other.
published separately. We ask the               "Letters." 0                      -DJE    A.A. Hoekema's article on the
societies and other groups to con-                                                       "Seventy Weeks" (of Daniel 9) is
sider studying the book of Philip-             "ISBE" - Signif  icant                    excellent, a great improvement
pians this season, availing them-                                                        on the article that appeared in
selves of the guide in The 93. Of              Publishing Venture                        the edition of 1929. C. Plani:inga,
course, this guide will serve also                    With Eerdman's publication         Jr. has a thorough treatment of
for personal and family study of               in 1988 of the fourth volume, the         the "Trinity," including a good
Holy Scripture. We would like to               ambitious project of producing a          account of the history of the doc-
hear from the Bible study groups,              fully revised edition of the well-        trine.
what they think of publishing                  known and highly regarded The               Generally, the contributio,ns  of
such guides for their help.                    International Standard Bible En-          the General Editor, the in-
  These are the changes.                       cyclopedia ("ISBE") is completed.         defatigable Geoffrey W.
  We make them in the interests                The International Standard Bible          Bromiley, are sound, and wcell-
of the spiritual growth of our                 Encyclopedia has long been a              done. Especially interesting to a
readers; and we make them, as                  standard Bible reference work -           Reformed student of the Bible is
we do all the plans for The SB in              a classic in its field. As a Bible        Bromiley's posing the question, in
the coming year, subject to the                encyclopedia, "ISBE" consists of          his article on "Substitution," "Of
"condition of James," "If the Lord             articles on the names of all the          whom is Christ the Substitute?"
will."                                         persons and places mentioned in           Although Bromiley's answer is
  What remains the same?                       the Bible, as well as the other           not satisfactory ("We can hardly
  All of the other writers and                 Scriptural terms that have                say that He is the substitute only
rubrics, for one thing. We ex-                 theological or ethical meaning.           of some men, for on good
press our thanks to these writers              Although based on the Revised             biblical grounds all responsiible
for their readiness and reliability.           Standard Version of the Bible,            theologians have always
  Most importantly, the witness                "ISBE" contains cross-reference           recognized that He identifield
of The SB to the Reformed faith                entries to the forms used in the          Himself with the race and offered
and life as defined in the Re-                 King James Version and in the             a sufficient sacrifice for all"), a
formed confessions remains the                 New English Bible, so that those          Reformed man does appreciate
same. If this changes, The SB will             who use these English versions            that Bromiley calls attention to
have perished. Our purpose in                  can also easily use the En-               the fact that, as he puts it, "The
the last decade of the 20th cen-               cyclopedia.  Related articles are         doctrine of substitutionary

6  / The Standard Bearer  / October 1, 1989


representation gives sharper edge            Roman Catholic deception and                Having adopted Darwin's expla.-
to the problem of the scope of               superstition, foisted on an in-             nation of the origin of the
salvation," and that he concludes            curably credulous people."                  universe, Bube, as a professing
that, "This may be worked out in                More serious is the evidence of          Christian, must wrest Genesis 1
the narrowly Calvinistic form or             a weakening of the doctrine of              and 2, so that Scripture subserves
otherwise," warning that "the ob-            Scripture throughout the En-                the theological and scientific
jective universality of substitution         cyclopedia, betraying the aban-             monstrosity of evolution. Correct-
must certainly not be applied in             donment of the orthodox doc-                ly noting that "Christian anti-
the direction of an unbiblical and           trine of Scripture widely within            evolutionists . . . have concluded
dangerous universalism."                     evangelical Protestantism. Far              that the general theory of evolu-
Bromiley should consider that                too much attention is given to              tion and the Genesis Creation a.c-
universalism is not the only, or             the unbelieving views of higher             count are mutually exclusive"
even the chief, danger of a doc-             critical scholars; and some weight          and that they "have seen ad-
trine of "the objective universali-          is ascribed to these positions (cf.         vocacy of the general theory as a
ty of substitution," but that the            the article, "Son of Man"). In              direct assault on the reliability,
central danger is the necessary              response to the charge of the               authority, and integrity of the Esi-
denial of substitution itself - if           liberals that the entire history of         ble," Bube assures us that we
Christ died in the stead of every            Samson is a "solar myth," "ISBE"            "Christian antievolutionists" have
man, but many yet perish,                    concedes that "the story may                "uncritically accepted specific
Christ's suffering was not in fact           contain some solar features."               traditional interpretations of
substitution.                                   In a new article, "Science and           these biblical passages without
       Not all is well with the revised,     Christianity," R.H. Bube sells out          thoroughly evaluating the reuela-
updated "ISBE." At least one arti-           the, Biblical truth of creation:            tional purpose behind their
cle is mostly sheer, superstitious           There is . . . no a priori reason why       writing" (p. 355; my emphasis -
nonsense. Under "Shroud," one                a world view based on creation, as          DJE). Therein lies a heterodox
contributor conducts a lengthy,              biblically described above, cannot be       doctrine of Holy Scripture, which
serious study of the Shroud of               consistent with . . . the mechanism         is fatal to the Christian religion.
Turin, which concludes, amazing-             . . . of creation by process in time          Volume Four, with the three
ly:                                          (usually called evolution) . . . Ample      preceding volumes, is published
                                             scientific evidence suggests that living
Thus, the Shroud of Turin remains a          creatures undergo changes in                by the William B. Eerdmans
fascinating, unfinished puzzle, whose        physical and biological structures,         Publishing Company of Grand
pieces are not yet all in place . . .        particularly in response to changes         Rapids, Michigan. It contains
The possibility that it was the burial       in environmental conditions. This is        12 11 pages, taking the reader
shroud of Jesus cannot at this point         the basic scientific foundation for         from Q. (a hypothetical source of
be either proved or disproved. . . .                                                     the gospels, not the letter) to
The author ought to have writ-               evolutionary theory . . . The general
                                             theory of evolution, which supposes         Zuzim ("One of the peoples sub-
ten, if he wasted space on this              that all living forms developed from        dued by Chedorlaomer . . . Gen.
hoax at all, "Thus the Shroud of             less complex forms that in turn             14:5"). It sells for $39.95. 0 -DJE
Turin is still another piece of              developed from nonliving matter, is
                                             a reasonable hypothesis . . . .





Letters

Lying - Is It                               I Standard Bearer of August 1.               in Scripture. He writes that,
Always Wrong?                                 1989, entitled: Lying (2j. We'             although Scripture does not
                                              would have no criticism of this            specifically condemn these lies,
       That lying is indeed always            article except for the incidents           and also that the saints who com-
wrong is the contention of Prof.             which he cites. In this article he          mitted these lies were always
H. Hanko in his article in the                refers to certain incidents of lying       properly motivated, the lie, ac-

                                                                                           October 1, 1989  I The Standard Bearer  I7

                                                                                                                                         I


cording to the Word of God, is                 believed that the reason the           on the part of Hushai. Hushai
always wrong, and these lies                   Word of God does not condemn           knew that he was not speaking
must also be condemned. He                     them is that they are not to be        the truth to Absalom. Was this
refers to Rahab who lied to the                condemned. Now notice that all         wrong on the part of Hushai.? I
police of Jericho (see Joshua                  these incidents occur when there       think not. Besides, Absalom
2:2-7), the midwives of Israel                 is conflict between the Cause of       believed Hushai, and this was of
when they lied to the servants of              the Lord and its enemies, be-          the Lord.
Pharaoh (see Ex. 1:15-22), and                 tween the seed of the woman              And, finally, there is the i:nci-
the woman of Bahurim who lied                  and that of the serpent. I would       dent which is.recorded  in Joshua
when she sent the messengers of                designate these incidents as           8 and which I would particularly
Absalom away in search of                      military strategy. To use an il-       call to the attention of Prof.
Hushai's messengers when in fact               lustration, do not field com-          Hanko. We understand the
they were hidden in her well (see              manders always resort to the           strategy employed here by
II Samuel 17: 15-2 1). Now I wish              strategy of deception when in-         Joshua. A certain detachment of
to add two other incidents to                  volved in battle? Do they not          Israel's troops is ordered by
these to which Prof. Hanko                     always attempt to confuse their        Joshua to lie in ambush behind
refers: II Samuel 15:32-37 and                 opponents? In fact, to use             Ai. Then another detachment of
Joshua 8: 1, 2. In II Samuel                   another illustration, do we not        Israel's men of war is adviseld to
15:32-37 we read that David sent               resort to the same tactics when        advance upon Ai, and then to
Hushai to Absalom to affiliate                 engaged in a game of chess or          flee as the men of Ai came forth
himself with the cause of his                  checkers? Is this necessarily          to meet them. That they fled was I
rebellious son, Absalom, in order              wrong?                                 also deception1 It served to draw
to frustrate the good counsel of                 But here we are dealing with         the men of Ai away from the city
Ahithophel; and in Joshua 8:1, 2               the saints of God in their con-        and give the men of Israel, who
we read of the Lord's counsel to               stant conflict with the forces of      were hiding in ambush oppor-
Joshua to destroy Ai.                          darkness. Why did the messen-          tunity to come out of their hiding
  We have already remarked                     gers of Pharaoh believe the lie of     place and destroy the city. All
that Prof. Hanko concedes that                 the midwives? Was this not of          this was deception. And, mind
Scripture does not condemn                     the Lord, and do we not read           you, this counsel of deception
these incidents of lying, and also             that because of what these mid-        was given to Joshua by the Lord.
that these saints were properly                wives told the king of Egypt the                    (Rev.) H. Ve1dma.n
motivated. Scripture, however,                 Lord therefore dealt well with                      Jenison, MI
does more than this. It is not on-             them? Were these emissaries of
ly true that the Word of God                   Pharaoh not fools to believe             Although it is true that 1yi:ng is
does not condemn Rahab, but                    these midwives? Indeed, were           rooted in the sin of man and the
she is called a heroine of faith,              not the messengers Absalom             deception practised by Satan,
and this exactly in connection                 fools to believe the woman of          your articles on lying (June 11 and
with her action in her dealings                Bahurim, and must this not also        August 1, 1989) do leave some
with Joshua's spies, as recorded               be said of the messengers of the       questions. You say that the spies
in Hebrews 1:31. And, in connec-               king of Jericho who believed           could have been saved in solme
tion with the Hebrew midwives,                 what Rahab told them? And, yet,        other way if Rahab had told the
recorded in Exodus 1: 15-2 1,                  these emissaries of Pharaoh, the       truth. My question is this, would
notice what we read in verse 20,               messengers of Absalom, and the         not this have been tempting God?
immediately after they lied to                 messengers of the king of Jericho      Surely if the hiding place of ,the
Pharaoh (vs. 19): "Therefore God               believed these tales. That was of      spies had been revealed it would
dealt well with the midwives."                 the Lord.                              have meant the death of the
The Lord dealt well with these                   Did David sin when he sent           spies and also of Rahab and her
midwives exactly because of                    Hushai to Absalom, as recorded         family. Although lying was not
what we read in verse 19.                      in II Samuel 17: 15-2 l? Mind you,     involved when the Devil tempted
  Now Scripture does not con-                  Hushai was advised by David to         Jesus to cast Himself down from
demn these acts of lying of these              affiliate himself with the cause of    the pinnacle of the temple,
saints. Prof. Hanko concedes this,             Absalom? Was this wrong? This,         nevertheless, Jesus declared that
but his reasoning does not con-                we understand, was deception.          this type of trusting on the Lord
vince the undersigned. Why do                  When Hushai told Absalom that          would be tempting the Lord. One
not the Scriptures condemn these               the counsel of Ahithophel was          can apply the same kind of t.hink-
acts of lying? I have always                   not good, this too was deception       ing to the act of some Dutch

8  / The Standard Bearer  I October  I,1989


families when they hid certain          Response                               and naked in his tent. In fact,
people from the German Gestapo                                                 when he woke from his drunken
and then lied about it. Some-             My correspondents and I are          stupor he prophesied (Genesis
times, don't you think, that in-        confronted with the clear              9:20-27). Does this mean that we
dividuals are placed in the posi-       teaching of Scripture that we          are to condone Noah's sin of
tion of choosing the lesser of two      must never lie and must always         drunkenness because Scripture
evils? The instances you men-           speak the truth. I have shown          does not condemn it and because
tioned from Scripture fit this          this in the first of my articles,      it became the occasion for a
category and probably this is           and I cannot find a way to get         prophecy? I think not.
why Scripture does not condemn          around Scripture's insistence on         I do not think Samuel lied
in such instances.                      the point. Undoubtedly it is true      when he went to Bethlehem to
   However, I have a further            that we are left with problems         anoint David. He did, as a matter
comment to make regarding in-           and questions, but we ought to         of fact, sacrifice in Bethlehem as
stances in the Bible in which ly-       admit that these problems and          was his usual custom as he
ing is commanded. There is the          questions do not arise from any        traveled about among the tribes.
case of Samuel recorded in I            ambiguity in Scripture's teach-        He was under no obligation to
Samuel 16: l-4. As I read this inci-    ings, but in our apparent inability    tell Saul that he was also going to
dent it appears that the Lord told      to put Scripture's teachings into      anoint David, that, in fact, to
Samuel to purposely deceive             practice in our lives.                 anoint David was his chief pur-
Saul. Then there is the case of           I do not consider trusting in        pose in going. Withholding infor-
Ahab in which the Lord put a ly-        God at times when telling the          mation is not necessarily lying.
                                        truth endangers our lives to be
ing spirit in the mouth of the                                                   The lying spirit which God put
                                        "tempting God." Shadrach,
prophets, I Kings 22:23. You                                                   in the mouth of Ahab's prophets
                                        Meshach, and Abednego did not
might also take a look at Judges                                               was a devil, and the text is proof
                                        tempt God when they told king
9:23. The case of Gideon and the                                               that God's sovereignty extends
                                        Nebuchadnezzar: "0 Nebuchad-
Midianites might apply also in                                                 also over the wicked devils. That
that Gideon under the command           nezzar, we are not careful to          they should be present in heaven
of God deceived the enemy by            answer thee in this matter. If it      ought not to surprise us, for the
making them think that Gideon's         be so, our God whom we serve is        devil himself was present in
band was a great number.                able to deliver us from the burn-      heaven when God brought up the
   In general, however, lying is a      ing fiery furnace, and he will         matter of Job's righteousness.
sin and although Scripture does         deliver us out of thine hand, 0          Nor can Gideon's strategy be
not condemn certain cases of ly-        king. But if not, be it known unto     characterized as lying. Was he
ing, all lying is rooted in original    thee, 0 king, that we will not         under an obligation to tell the
sin; but the cases I have men-          serve thy gods, nor worship the        Midianites that he intended to at-
tioned, and there may be more,          golden image which thou hast set       tack? And was he morally bound
cause me to think that none of          up" (Daniel 3: 16-18). Daniel was      to inform them that he was com-
us has the last answer on the           not tempting God when he               ing with only three hundred
question of lying. One can add to       prayed at his window towards           men, although the noise they
this the question of killing, for in    Jerusalem contrary to the king's       would make would leave the im-
many places in the Bible the            commandment, even though he            pression that there were more?
Lord commanded to kill, even            knew that the result would be be-        The same holds true for the
women with child and small              ing thrown into the den of lions       strategy used at Ai. Was Joshua
children.                               (Daniel 6).                            under some moral compulsion to
   Perhaps you might comment              If Scripture categorically con-      inform the citizens of Ai that he
 on these questions in a future         demns lying whenever the Holy          had troops in hiding behind the
 issue of The Standard Bearer.          Spirit discusses the subject, but      city? Of course not. Military
 You might also comment on the          does not specifically point out        strategy (much like that of a
 intent of lying. It seems to me        that lying is a sin when it            game of chess, although the ob-
 that the Heidelberg is pointed to      describes a child of God as lying,     ject is quite different in war and
 the idea of lying with the intent      it seems to me to be stretching a      in chess) is not lying, for a
 to destroy a brother's reputation      point to say that the sin is not       general is under no moral obliga-
.and to be honest in a court of         condemned by Scripture in every        tion to inform the enemy of his
 law that justice might be served.      instance. Scripture condemns           plans in the battle.
             Howard Van Manen           drunkenness, but does not con-           It appears to me that the effort
             Grand Rapids, MI           demn Noah when he lay drunken          is being made to carry over the

                                                                                  October 1, 1989 I The Standard Bearer I9


whole point to the life of the                  of the king of Jericho . . . be-       clear whether what one does is
child of God in the world: "But                 lieved what Rahab told                 actually lying, the course of ac-
here we are dealing with the                    them . . . ." It was truly of the      tion is to avoid even the ap-
saints of God in their constant                 Lord that "the emissaries of           pearance of evil.
conflict with the forces of dark-               Pharaoh, the messengers of Ab-           At any rate, not only does our
ness." The argument then ap-                    salom, and the messengers of the       God Who knows the heart ex-
pears to be: 1) Israel was fighting             king of Jericho believed" the          amine the motive and deepest
against the powers of darkness                  tales told them. It was also of the    impulse of everything we say and
and sin. 2) Fighting against the                Lord that out of David's adultery      do, but He also passes righteous
powers of sin justifies lying. 3) In            and murder the Christ was born.        judgment on every outward
our spiritual fight with the                    Neither we nor Scripture approve       deed. If we take the position'that
powers of sin we are permitted                  these sins.                            lying for good reasons is pleasing
to use the lie. If this is the argu-              It is true that the verse which      in God's sight, then we have
ment, the dangers of taking such                speaks of Gods blessing the mid-       adopted an ethics which teaches
a `position are apparent. Every                 wives in Egypt (Exodus 1:20) is        that the end justifies the means.
part of our life is a facet of the              introduced with the word "there-       And you know what horrible
battle of faith which we are                    fore:" It is not necessarily true      evils have been perpetrated over
called to fight in this world in                that this must be interpreted to       the ages in the name of this
which we live. Hence, because                   mean: "Because the midwives            ethical premise.
we are engaged in a life and                    lied, God dealt well with the mid-       The discussion on lying re-
death struggle against the forces               wives." It is more likely that the     mains interesting and impori:ant.
of darkness all our life, we are                "therefore" stands connected           May God give us grace to "s,peak
permitted to lie - or to commit                 with the work of the midwives in       the truth in love." Cl    -H. Hlanko
any other sin for that matter, I                keeping the male children of
may steal when I am no longer                   Israel alive in spite of the com-
able to buy or sell. I may cheat                mand of Pharaoh. That this is              "In Remembrance
when the government requires                    likely the meaning is suggested                      Of Me"
taxes which prevent me from                     also by the rest of verse 20
supporting the cause of the                     which speaks of how specifically       Dear Jesus, Thou this feast hast
gospel. I may lie when my posi-                 God's blessing came upon the                spread,
tion as a Christian is threatened               midwives, and through their               Invited guests are we;
in the courts  - when, e.g., (as                work, upon Israel: "And the            We come as Thou hast bid us
shall some day happen) I am                     people multiplied, and waxed                come,
charged with teaching my                        very mighty."                             Thus to remember Thee.
children doctrines forbidden by                   Yet the point you make is well       We come from sinful thought and
the State. Not only have we then                taken that the line between lying           aim,
reached the point where we                      and telling the truth is not always       More earnestly to flee;
operate on the basis of the Jesuit              so easily drawn. I have wondered       Pardon to seek and grace to find,
ethic, "the end justifies the                   whether it is possible for a Chris-       As we remember Thee.
means," but we have adopted a                   tian to be a spy - even in war-        We come to thank Thee for Thy
truly situational ethic, i.e., that             time when he is required to gain            love
the rightness or wrongness of an                information behind enemy lines.           So rich, so full, so free;
act is determined by the situation ' Although cloaking his identity                    To bless Thee, praise Thee, lose
in which the act was performed                  would not necessarily be lying,             ourselves
and by the motive for doing it.                 he would be forced to lie with            As we remember Thee.
   It will not do to justify lying              false and forged papers wherever
by appealing to the fact that the               he was stopped for interrogation.      We come to lay the burdens down
Lord sometimes used the lie for                 Yet the Lord commanded Israel             That press most heavily;
good. Our God is a very merciful                to send spies into Canaan. The         To enter into perfect peace
God Who is mindful of our                       point is not, however, whether            As we remember Thee.
human frailties and whose great                 lying is always wrong, or right        Our penitence, our love, our hope,
mercy is not only revealed in                   under certain circumstances; the          Oh condescend to see,
forgiving our sins, but Who even                point is to define what actually       And let us "bear a song awa.y"
on occasion uses our sins for                   constitutes lying. And it would           As we remember Thee.
good. That is amazing. It is truly              seem to me that if under some                            -S.B. Oct. 15.. 1927
of the Lord that the "messengers                circumstances it is not crystal

10  / The Standard Bearer  / October 1, 1989


Search
the Scriptures
Rev. Cise VanBaren                       A Plan of Action

   With this article, a new rubric       We must continue this practice if      how the "trees" fit into the
begins in the Standard Bearer. In        we are to know Scripture proper-       "forest."
earlier years, in both Beacon            ly and understand the doctrines           Next, one ought to take careful
Lights as well as in the Sunday          of that Word.                          notes on the passage which is be-
School magazine, Our Guide, ar-                 Perhaps a few pointers are      ing studied. Some sort of note-
ticles have presented a study of         necessary to assist each in his        book ought to be used for this.
passages and books of the Bible          study of Scripture. There are          Perhaps each verse could be
as a guide for discussions in            complaints made about societies:       listed, followed by your notes
societies or Sunday School. After        the study proceeds at too slow         and questions. These notes could
a period of time, this practice fell     (or fast) a pace; the discussion is    consist of three distinct parts:
by the wayside - perhaps                 uninteresting; certain parties         first, a list of questions which oc-
because it was difficult for             monopolize the discussion. The         cur to you as you read and study
societies to keep pace with the          difficulty is often with ourselves.    the verse; secondly, a list of
studies. Still, it was the opinion of    Though no society is perfect,          thoughts or comments which
the Standard Bearer staff that a         though there is always room for        come to your mind as you have
study guide for a book of the Bi-        improvement, still, societies are      been studying; thirdly, adequate
ble in this magazine could profit-       what we make of them. It is a          space should be left to add com-
ably be used for our societies           truism: we get out of society          ments or thoughts of significant
still. Possibly through the current      what we are willing to put into it.    points made in the study at socie-
year, societies will not be able to      If we are unprepared, we won't         ty. Allow me to illustrate this, us-
make use of the material which           learn much when we do attend.          ing Psalm 23:l as an example:
follows. At any rate, the articles       If we are not regular in atten-          Psalm 23 - What is a shepherd?
can be saved and used in follow-         dance, we quickly lose interest in     What specific tasks make him a
ing years. Also, it might be very        the society itself. So, allow me to    figure of God's care of His people?
profitable for families to use this      make several suggestions.              What tasks are identified for the
guide for family devotions -                    First, one ought to have an     shepherd in the rest of this Psalm?
discussing the outlines and seek-        overall picture of the Bible book      Does the author of this Psalm use
ing answers to the questions.            that is being studied. One ought       the figure of "shepherd" because of
                                                                                his own acquaintance with
  It is, surely, a lofty goal to         not to lose the "forest" while         shepherds? Where else in Scripture is
"search the Scriptures." The             considering the "trees." There-        the figure "`shepherd" used? What
thought comes from Acts 17:ll            fore, before entering into the         does the word "want" signify?
where we read of the Jews in             details of a book, make (or find)        Comments which could be made:
Bera that they were "more noble          a detailed outline of that book.       `<LORD"  with the four capital letters
than those in Thessalonica, in           That will give an understanding        means "Jehovah" (the covenant-
that they received the word with         of what the book is about, how it      name of God which emphasizes His
all readiness of mind, and               is presenting the principal            changelessness). He is MY Shepherd
searched the scriptures daily,           thoughts, and how these are in-        - this has wonderful personal  melan-
whether those things were so."           terrelated. Keep that outline          ing for me. In connection with "not
That practice was noble indeed!          available and consult it frequent-     wanting," I must remember always
                                                                                to distinguish between what I think I
                                         ly*                                    need and what in fact I do need. I
                                           Secondly, there ought to be          `can point out how Jesus uses the
                                         made a more detailed outline of        figure of "good shepherd" concern-
Rev. VanBaren  is pastor of the Prot-    the passage which one is study-        ing Himself in John 10. Calvin states:
estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-       ing. A careful study will show         "He who has Jahve, the possessor of
ville,  Michigan.

                                                                                  October 1, 1989 I The Standard Bearer  Ill


all things, himself has all things, he          "want." One can then turn back            passages of Scripture. In Berea
lacks nothing . . . ."                          to the concordance to find where          those worthy Jews "searched the
  Notes made on the verse in                    the word is used as "fail" or             Scriptures daily." We ought ,to do
society:                                        "decrease" in Scripture. So one           some of the same sort of search-
   In process of study, one ought               could do the same thing with the          ing. We have so many more tools
to make good use of a concor-                   word "shepherd."                          than they did to do this search-
dance. Three, I believe, are com-                 All of this, obviously, takes a         ing!
monly used:  Cruden's, Strong,                  lot of hard work and much time.              Then one can make good use
and  Young's  The latter is the                 Yet the more one does this, the           of a cross-reference Bible. There
one I use. Practice in the use of a             easier it becomes. But the impor-         are usually cross references
concordance can serve one well                  tant point is that in this way one        which are listed either in the
in his studies. In the case of                  becomes acquainted with the               center column or under an in-
Psalm 23:l several words could                  usage of various significant words        dividual verse. By checking `each
be checked in a concordance.                    in the passage studied - as well          of these, one can gain further in-
The word "LORD" would,                          as their importance in other              sight into the meaning of a text.
perhaps, not be checked because                                                              Finally, there are available
there are so many different                                                               various commentaries which can
places in which it is used. If we                      Life's Promises                    help our understanding of the
do look it up, we find that there                                                         meaning of a passage. Sever(a1
are 13 different Hebrew words                   Oh, human life, thy promises are
                                                                                          New Testament commentaries
used for "Lord' and one in Greek                     sweet,                               which can be used include
(plus three variations). We find                  They fall upon the ear
                                                In cadence charming, and their            Calvin's commentaries, those of
the word of Psalm 23:l under the                                                          Hendriksen, and also Lenski (who
fifth division. The Hebrew word                      tones repeat
                                                  In accents clear.                       is Lutheran and opposed obvious-
is listed - but then a transliter-                                                        ly to Calvinism - but does give
ation is given (Hebrew letters                  But dost thou keep thy promises?          some good explanations of a
written into our alphabet so that                    Can I trust                          passage).
we can pronounce it - in this                     Thy silvery voice,                         I mention commentaries last.
case, Yahweh). One then turns to                Will it awaken echo-tones that            These are not unimportant -- but
the back of the concordance to                       must                                 ought rather to be used with
the section on Old Testament                      Bid me rejoice?                         care. Often, a careful study aa
Hebrew and finds Yahweh. In this                Ah no! one voice alone my soul            outlined above will make the use
instance, the word is not listed                     hath heard                           of a commentary superfluous.
there because of its very frequent                That ne'er deceived,                    Still, there are thoughts or ques-
use. Most words are found in a                  One Heart alone the depths of             tions which a good commentator
similar manner - and the                             mine has stirred                     might present which are worth
Hebrew or Greek section in the                    Yet never grieved.                      considering. Choose at least one
back of the concordance shows                   Jesus, I turn to Thee! oh let me          good commentary to use in your
how the same word is translated                      hide                                 study. Make note of significant
by various different English                      Within Thy breast,                      points. Do not take what is writ-
words. So one could find the                    Refuge and shelter, peace and             ten uncritically. Do not simply
word "want." There are ten dif-                      grace provide,                       quote a commentator in socilety
ferent Hebrew words and four                      And needed rest.                        - but freely repeat what you
Greek words which are translated                                                          believe to be profitable.
as "want" in the King James Bi-                 For in the mazes of a troublous             Let none be ashamed to be
ble. One finds the "want" of                         hour                                 wrong when speaking. Societies
Psalm 23:l under the fifth                        I make my way;                          are for exchange of ideas and
Hebrew word (chaser). Checking                  Oh come to me, Thou hast the              thoughts. There these can be ex-
the Old Testament Hebrew in the                      will, the power,                     amined in the light of Scripture.
back of the concordance, one                      Be mine alway.                          Far better to have an incorrect
finds that chaser is translated                                     -S.B. Nov. 1, 1927    idea corrected in the light of
with other English words as well:                                                         Scripture itself, than to retain an
once as "be abated," once as                                                              incorrect interpretation for all of
"decrease," twice as "fail," once                                                         one's life.
as "have need," five times as                                                               May your studies in society
"lack," and seven times as                                                                this season be blessed indeedl! Cl

12  I The Standard Bearer  / October 1, 1989


The Day                                The Man of Sin
of Shadows
Rev.  john Heys                        Foreshadowed (2)

  The tower of Babel of the            would have been wiped off the          designed by God to work
kingdom of Nimrod, who tried to        face of this earth. But that is not    together for the work He de-
unite the whole human race as          the most serious reason for this       signed for that body. Each
`one worldwide kingdom, was a          `confounding of their language.        member has its place and work.
shadow of what lies ahead of us.       The Seed of the Woman, namely,         Look at your thumb and the
As pointed out last time, another      Christ, had yet to be born, to die     direction in which it moves as
Nimrod is coming, namely, the          on His cross, and to be exalted to     contrasted to the other four
antichrist as king of the one-         God's right hand with absolute         fingers on your hand. If that
world kingdom presented to us in       control over the whole human           thumb moved up and down, as
Revelation 13.                         race, so that He could prepare         did the others, instead of from
  Way back before the days of          the way for His return and the         left to right, could you easily pick
Abraham, and after the judgment        establishment of a holy kingdom        up a pencil or piece of paper?
of God in the Flood in the days        upon the new earth wherein             Try it once! Think of your ribs,
of Noah, it was possible for the       righteousness and holiness would       which give effective protection to
seed of the serpent to attempt         shine forth in perfection.             your important organs of heart
the formation of such a one-             And now today the world re-          and lungs. How different they are
world kingdom. What makes it so        mains divided into nations,            from that heart and those lungs.
hard to do so today is the sharp       tongues, and tribes, people and        Yet they work together. And so
difference between the various         races so that the various              it is with the members of the
peoples of this world, because of      members of the body of Christ,         body of Christ, His church. For
the confusion of man's speech by       His church, may all be formed as       that reason also God changed the
God for the safety of His church.      well as saved by a rebirth, and        natures of man in that confusion
This difference of speech was due      faith may be wrought in them by        of their language. The human
to a difference of natures which       God in His grace. The elect, the       race must be divided into dif-
God wrought in the descendants         exact and complete number of           ferent kinds of people for the
of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.             members of the body of Christ,         realization of that beautiful and.
There was by no means agree-           must not all be alike, except in       perfect body of Christ.
ment then among the people of          the sense that they are spiritually      Now, as pointed out last time,
the world in that day; and a           perfect and have hearts that love      the human race is rapidly moving
kingdom in which they could            God in every part of them. At          toward the day when the anti-
work together was impossible.          first God gathered them only out       christ will arise and mankind will
And God wrought this for the           of Abraham and his seed with           be united as a one-world king-
good and safety of His church.         very few exceptions. But since         dom. It is an important and
  This confusion of the language       the day of Pentecost He gathers        amazing thing to note the "earth-
of man in that day God wrought         His people from the whole Gen-         quakes in diverse places" of
in His grace for the good of the       tile world, so that the body of        which we read in Matthew 24:i'.
seed of the woman. Had God not         Christ, the church which God           The last few months there was
scattered them by this confound-       chose eternally, will have all its     one in Canada, followed by one
ing of their language, the church      various members for the glory of       in California, and than that terri-
                                       God's name.                            ble one in Armenia, which was
                                                                              followed the next week by one in
Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in      Take a look at your own body.
the Protestant Reformed Churches.      What a variety of members              Alaska! Talk about diverse

                                                                                October 1, 1989 I The Standard Bearer  I13


places! And they do not simply                     A little more electronic ad-          that is not a shadow. A shadow
display Gods almighty power.                    vances added to our computers            may reveal merely that the ob-
They reveal His faithfulness to                 and video cassette tapes, and the        ject has round or square corners.
His promises, and His mercy and                 ability to show what they took           The tower of Babel, and the one-
grace for His church; for they                  upon the TV screen, reveal how           world nation which Nimrod
reveal His intention of sending                 the members of the body of               ruled, do not show us all that
Christ back to this earth for the               Christ cannot hide from that an-         which is revealed to us in Revela-
good of His church.                             tichrist who demands his mark            tion 13. In verse 1 we read that
   But now, as far as the coming                on the right hand or forehead. It        John saw a beast rise up out of
of the antichrist and his world-                also reveals how he can have             the sea - that is, out of the
wide kingdom is concerned, the                  awesome rule over all people, all        human race - a beast havin.g
amazing inventions of man in the                the seed of the serpent, and why         seven heads and ten horns. Then
last few centuries, if not indeed               it is said in Revelation 1323 that       in verse 4 we read that one of
in the last few years, make it                  all the unbelievers shall worship        these heads was wounded to
very, very plain that such a one-               him as one worldwide kingdom's           death; but that this wound was
world kingdom is coming. This                   king.                                    healed.
globe is shrinking rapidly. And it                 This all makes it plain also that       Plainly here we have that
is becoming more and more                       we will be forbidden to buy or           shadow kingdom of Nimrod; and
possible for one government to                  sell. Think of how much spying           the wound is the disruption of
rule the whole human race.                      can be done now already, and is          that kingdom by the confoun.ding
   Not only do we today have                    done by electronic devices that          of man's language. The other five
commercial aircraft that fly over               have been invented. Can not              kingdoms were those of Assyria,
600 miles an hour and military                  then the antichrist have our             the Babylonian empire, -the
aircraft that can break the speed               house "bugged" and have awe-             Medo-Persian  empire, the Greek-
of sound; but we are now able to                some control over the whole              Macedonian empire, and the
see what is happening on the                    human race?                              Roman empire. But remember
other side of the earth while it                   Besides, all the powerful             that they are all heads of one
happens! Babylon and Jerusalem                  weapons which have already               beast. That beast is the serpent
were far from where London and                  been invented and which                  whose seed, as God told Adam
Paris now are in the day when                   threaten the wiping out of the           and Eve, would in Gods time
John wrote in Revelation of the                 whole human race, and which              have its head crushed, but would
fact that, when the antichrist                  can wipe out cities like New York        also, and especially in the days of
comes, "all that dwell upon the                 and Los Angeles by an atomic             this one-world kingdom, crush
earth shall worship him." We,                   bomb, reveal how man must                the heel of the seed of the
here on this side of the Atlantic               come to the point of joining             woman. Yes, that serpent did
Ocean will see that antichrist;                 together as one nation. More and         crush the heel of Christ when it
and he will see us. The amazing                 more we can see that, and hear           crucified Him. Indeed He was
invention of color television not               government leaders in other              killed, and it seemed as though
only, but also the production of                countries as well as in our own          Satan got the victory. For wh.en
those satellites that can make it               emphasizing that we must work            Christ died the royal seed of
possible for us to see what is hap-             together for peace to save the           David came to an end. But do
pening on the other side of the                 whole human race. In Nimrod's            not forget that He had blotted
globe reveals how small this                    day they thought it would be             out our guilt and earned the
earth is getting, and how it can                more profitable to join all the          resurrection of our bodies, in-
become one world, a worldwide                   human race in one place as a             cluding His own, and did rise the
kingdom ruled by one govern-                    kingdom of peace. That being the         third day and reveal to Satan
ment. Today we can be seen, as                  case then, they reveal how much          that, though he crushes the heel
well as see things that happen,                 more necessary it will be in the         of the elect, his head and that of
Bll over the earth. And the an-                 days ahead.                              the seed of the serpent is going
tichrist will see and govern all                  Now, a shadow does not show            to be crushed. Christ's death
the tribes and tongues and races                all the details of the object which      looked like a crushing of His
upon the face of this earth with                casts it. It is true that a beautiful    head, but it was not. Before He
more contact and control than                   mountain scene may consist of            died He could and rightfully did
our own government now has                      the trees and snow-capped peaks          :a11 out, "Father, into Thy hauds
over the fifty states that make it              of the mountain reflected in the         do I commend My spirit." With-
one nation.                                     water of the lake before it. But         out His cross the crushing of .the

14  I The Standard Bearer  I October 1, 1989


head opens the door to hell and       takes place. And as the sovereign     ful, godless, devilish,
its everlasting punishment. But       and only God He has the right to      blasphemous world that will soon
before He died physically Christ,     plan everything that happens,,        appear, and of which that
for His elect's sake, took away       even all the sins that are com-       kingdom of Nimrod was only a
that death for His elect in hell      mitted.                               shadow, is where that first sin of
wherein the seed of the serpent          Remember and take hold of          Adam and Eve brings the whole
are going to be cast.                 what God Himself declares             human race. But what God did to
  What does this confounding of       through Solomon in Proverbs           the whole human race at that
man's language there at that          19:2 1: "There are many devices       tower of Babel also reveals God's
tower of Babel mean? Of what is       in a man's heart; nevertheless the    grace upon His church. Her
it the shadow? Certainly it was a     counsel of the Lord, that shall       enemies He will destroy utterly
shadow of Gods holy wrath             stand." And Jesus Himself said,       when the last of His elect has
against the seed of the serpent,      "The Son of man goeth, as it was      been born and born again. The
but also of His wisdom and            determined: but woe unto that         head of the seed of the serpent is
almighty power. He knows how          man by whom He is betrayed."          going to be crushed! q
to stop the seed of the serpent       And plainly the idea here is that
from sweeping His church away         God determined that sin of the
and from wiping it out. And we        unbelievers killing His Son. For                        Race
may be sure that all is well for      in Acts 2:23 we read: "Him being                    (Hebrews 12)
the church in the dreadful days       delivered by the determinate
that lie ahead. As surely as          counsel and foreknowledge of          A cloud of witnesses surrounds,:
Nimrod's kingdom melted away,         God, ye have taken and by             Those who have run;
so shall the coming antichrist's      wicked hands have crucified and       Those who by faith have won
kingdom be wiped off the face of      slain."                               The victors' crowns.
this earth. And the elect children      The shadows in the Old Testa-       Now you must run His Course.
of God will not be forced to take     ment Scripture were there             Lift up your feeble hands,
the mark of the beast. Not one of     because God designed and              Your strengthless knees. Before
them will do that!                    brought into being the objects          you stands
  Let it be understood and let it     that cast these shadows.              The Saviour, your faith's Source.
comfort every child of God that       However, shadows need a light         Author and Finisher He is;
God did not need to confound          to be shining on the objects. God     Look unto Him your spent
the speech of man because things      Himself is that light, and He           strength to renew.
temporarily slipped out of His        causes His Word, the Holy Scrip-      He gives the eagles' wings to you.
control. No, in His wisdom as         tures, to shine down on these         You shall not weary grow - the
well as in His sovereign rule over    deeds so that we may see what           race is His.
all things, this devilish work of     lies ahead, as well see what He
mankind in Nimrod's day was           already did for us through His        Already He the victory has won.
decreed by God in His eternal         Son.                                  His life He has laid down
counsel. And the raising up of          Let.us then stand in awe as we      To gain for you a crown.
the other five world powers,          look at that of which the             Rise up with joy and run!
culminating presently in the          kingdom of Nimrod was a               Throw off the weight that would
seventh one, namely that of the       shadow, namely, the coming anti-        delay.
antichrist, was all eternally         Christian kingdom that will           Lay at the foot of Calvary's tree
planned by God for the good of        persecute the seed of the woman       The sin that would a hindrance be.
His church, and for the glory of      in a worldwide torment with           Go on your way!
His own name.                         death. In those days we will see      The laurel wreath awaits him that
  Nothing ever - not even for         the truth which God gave to             endures
one split second - causes God to      Adam when He told him that if         And Jesus Christ your victory
lose control of anything, or to       he ate of the forbidden fruit he        assures.
make things difficult for Him.        would die spiritually that day,       His chastening hand supplies
Every heartbeat of every living       and physically die the moment         Your healing exercise.
creature occurs because He            God eternally decreed for him.        You shall not faint but thrive,
wants it to take place, and makes       Adam's and Eve's eating of a        So for the finish strive.
it occur at the right rate and for    piece of fruit may have looked        You are His chosen One,
the exact number of beats, so         harmless and as a minor sin. Not      So run!
that what He eternally planned        so! Be not deceived. The dread-                         -Suzanne Looyenga

                                                                              October 1, 1989  I The Standard Bearer  / 15


                                              Synods and General Assemblies
                                              The Orthodox Presbyterian Church
                                                  and the Reformed Presbyterian
                                                  Church
                                              The Evangelical Presbyterian
                                                  Church
All Around  Us                                Other Interesting News
Prof. Robert Decker                           Concerned CRC


Synods and General                            Mackay of Clashfern, the Lord             the Orthodox Presbyterian
Assemblies                                    Chancellor, for attending two Roman       Church (OPC) and the 160th
                                              Catholic requiem masses. However,         Synod of the Reformed Presbly-
   In the past our churches and               supporters of Lord Mackay regard          terian Church in North America
some of our ministers have had                this issue as only the `straw which       (RPCNA) met concurrently at
contacts and correspondence                   broke the camel's back'. They have        Geneva College in Beaver Falls,
with the Free Presbyterian                    felt that their church has for long       PA early last June. Reporting: on
Church of Scotland. This church,              been denying to its members and           the OPC General Assembly Dlavid
we recently learned, has suffered             ministers that liberty of conscience
                                              which Scripture and the Westminster       Kiester informs us:
a split.  The Banner of Truth                 Confession of Faith declare to be a         Stung by recent defections of con-
(August-September 1989) reports:              Christian's inalienable right. Lord       gregations and ministers to the
  At the Free Presbyterian Church of          Mackay has stated that he has left        Presbyterian Church in America the
Scotland Synod meeting in Inverness           the Free Presbyterian Church. These       Orthodox Presbyterian Church de-
held on Thursday, May 25th this               events will be watched eagerly by         voted itself to sensitivity and unity
year, a critical division took place.         friend and foe alike. The prayers of      . . . but that unity did not instantly
As many as 14 ministers out of a              many who read the magazine will           spread to embrace without con-
total ministerial strength of about 36        be for wisdom and grace to be given       troversy their host and fellow
have broken away from their church            to esteemed brethren on both sides        NAPARC  (National Association of
to form the Associated Presbyterian           of the debate as they face the future.    Presbyterian and Reformed
Churches. They are supported in the             We do not know what issues              Churches; the Christian  Reformsd
move by a number of officebearers,            causing dissent in this denomina-         Church is also a member of this as-
members, and adherents of the                 tion led to this "straw that broke        sociation, RDD) member, the Re-
church. At a subsequent meeting in            the camel's back." What we do             formed Presbyterian Church in  North
Inverness, the emergent group                                                           America . . . . A joint protest action
discussed prayerfully the way they            know is that divisions such as            against abortion was also planned.
ought to take in coming days. The             this do very little to help the           This turned out to be a sticking point.
immediate cause of the dissent and            cause of the Reformed faith and           The exact details of the planned pro-
withdrawal was the Synod decision,            a great deal to harm it.                  test were not known to the OPC
made by majority vote, to uphold the          The Orthodox Presby-                      Assembly until after their arrival;
suspension from office of Lord                                                          and rumors circulated. When de,tails
                                              terian Church and the                     became known, several OPC com-
                                              Reformed Presbyterian                     missioners (delegates, RDD) voiced
                                                                                        reservations, and an amendment to
Prof Decker is professor of Practical         Church                                    the docket to allow a recess forjoin-
Theology in the Protestant Reformed                                                     ing in the protest failed after
Seminary.                                       The 56th General Assembly of

16 I The Standard Bearer I October  1,1989


rigorous debate. The following day,       is a denomination about the same        The Christian Reformed Church,
a renewed plea from the RPCNA             size as our Protestant Reformed         and the Associate Reformed Pres-
resulted in reconsideration and the       Churches. Relative to their             byterian Church. The Assembly
docket amendment carried. However,        numbers of members this church          ". . . instructed its representatives
several commissioners (including          does a great deal of work. It was
Moderator, Rev. Donald Duff of Ox-                                                to seek to develop and foster
nard, CA, who had communicated            reported to their Synod that: 297       greater working relationships
his objections to the RPCNA commit-       young people graduated from             with these denominations as well
tee by mail prior to the Assembly)        their college, Geneva College,          as withmember churches of the
refrained from joining in the joint       last May; 154 students were             World Alliance of Reformed
protest, objecting both to protesting     enrolled in their seminary last         Churches."
as a church (as opposed to objecting      year (of these 15 were RPCNA
as private citizens) and to protesting    students); and eight new RP             Other Interesting News
under the American flag (thought to       students are anticipated for the
be an Americanizing of the gospel).                                                  Many of us are familiar with
                                          fall. This church also took the
  Sadly, what had been proposed as                                                the Rev. Iain Murray who has
                                          "bold step" to open a new mis-
a unity venture had instead high-                                                 recently been appointed as the
                                          sion in Liberia. The RP church
lighted one of the most serious doc-                                              first minister of the two-year-old
trinal impediments to organic union.      also has a mission in Japan. This       Cambridge Presbyterian Church,
  The Assembly dissolved on 16            church too struggles with the           Cambridge, England.
June, with the 57th General               issue of women in office. A final         Mr. Murray was assistant minister
Assembly scheduled to meet in San         report on this matter will be           to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones at West-
Diego, in mid-June of 1990.               presented to the Synod of 1990          minster Chapel, London, from
  The prevailing sentiment upon ex-       (Covenanter Witness,  August            1956-1959 during which time he was
iting seemed to be, "How  can we          1989).                                  co-founder of the Banner of Truth
pull the church back together."                                                   Trust, an organization which re-
(Christian Observer,  July 21, 1989)      The Evangelical                         publishes Reformation and Puritan
  In the same article Kiester in-                                                 literature long out-of-print as well as
forms us that the Assembly was            Presbyterian Church                     modern works of a similar character.
concerned with the great diversi-           This denomination, organized          From 1961-1969 Mr. Murray was
ty within the OPC over worship            eight years ago out of the              minister of Grove Chapel,  Camber-
practices. In addition, the com-          Presbyterian Church U.S.A., has         well, London, and moved to St.  Giles
missioners dealt with a complaint         grown -to 133 churches and over         Presbyterian Church, Sydney,
from one of the Presbyteries over         38,500 members. Its General             Australia, in 1981. Mr. Murray is the
women in places of authority. It          Assembly met last June in               author of a number of books and ar-
appears that all is not well within       Clayton, Missouri. In its Press         ticles including The Life of Jonathan
                                                                                  Edwards, The Life of Dr. D. Martyn
the denomination which J.                 Release from the office of the          Lloyd-Jones, and The Forgotten
Gresham Machen  helped to found           Stated Clerk we learned that:           Spurgeon  (Press Release, B of T
in the 1930s. There have been               Highlights of the Assembly in-        Trust).
some significant changes in prac-         cluded the recognition of  twentyone       There is an effort currently to
tice since its founding, and cer-         new churches this past year, in-        revive historic and conservative
tainly not all of these are for the       cluding the reception of the 3,600-     Presbyterianism in England, and
good. One significant point of dif-       member Second Presbyterian Church       Cambridge Church and Rev. Mu.r-
ference lies between those who            of Memphis, Tennessee upon its          ray are part of that effort. We
favor joining the Presbyterian            withdrawal from the Presbyterian
                                          Church (U.S.A.).                        wish Rev. Murray God's blessing
Church in America and those                 The Senior Pastor of this large       as he takes up the labors of this
who do not. The OPC recently              church is Dr. John R. de Witt. Dr.      pastorate.
decided not to merge with that            de Witt has written for the
denomination. It will be in-              Standard Bearer,  lectures often at     Concerned CRC
teresting to observe future               Banner of Truth Conferences as             Christian Observer (August 25,
developments in this denomina-            well as other conferences, and          1989) reports that new chapters
tion which has in the past been a         has taught for a few years at Re-       of this movement within the
staunch defender of the                   formed Theological Seminary in          Christian Reformed Church have
Calvinism of the Westminster              Jackson, Mississippi.                   been formed in Whitinsville, MA;
Confession and Catechisms.                  The Press Release also reports        Lansing, IL; Hamilton, ON; and
  The Reformed Presbyterian               that fraternal delegates and            Toronto, ON. "A covenant to
Church of North America, a                observers were present from the         unite our membership and clear-
much older church than the OPC,           Presbyterian Church in America,                                      I~~r~lI'l   1111  ,`U&t   3


                                                                                    October 1, 1989  I The Standard Bearer  I17


                                               A Reformed Look at thle
 Guest Article
Rev. Steven Houck                              New Age Movement (I)

   The New Age Movement is not                 Gnosticism of the early church,        the newspapers, and even at
a structured organization like the             the paganism of ancient Greece         your local health-food store.
Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses,                and Rome, and Spiritism and Oc-        Sports and exercise programs,
but is a loosely connected move-               cultism. Thus the New Age Move-        motivational training,
ment. It is made up of all kinds               ment is a mixture of spiritual,        psychological counseling, and
of different people - some who                 social, and political forces that      religious classes are all pipelines
adhere very closely to its beliefs             are extremely anti-Christian.          for New Age thinking.
and practices and others who                     The adherents of the New Age           New Age beliefs and practices
embrace only some of them. This                Movement believe that the world        are very popular among movie
is one of the fastest growing                  is God, that God is a force, and       stars. Shirley MacLaine is an out-
movements in the country. That                 that we are all a part of that         spoken proponent. Others in-
is why we must be concerned                    world force. They believe that         clude: Linda Evans of Dynasty,
about it. This movement is ex-                 man is God and therefore good.         Helen Reddy, Tina Turner, and
tremely anti-Christian, anti-God,              He has within him infinite poten-      Sharon Gless. The singer, John
and anti-Christ. Its beliefs and               tial if it can only be brought out.    Denver, is deeply involved in the
practices are directly contrary to             Their highest goal is to become        movement.
all that we believe as Christians.             enlightened so that they are con-        But this movement is also hav-
   The contemporary roots of the               scious of their oneness with God.      ing a tremendous influence upon
New Age go back to the counter-                In their search for enlightenment,     respected professions such as the
culture of the past decades. The               they involve themselves in all         medical prof.ession. Many physi-
beatniks of the fifties and their              kinds of wicked practices such as      cians, even though they may not
fascination with Zen, the Hippies              mysticism, spiritism, the occult,      adopt the religious aspect of New
of the sixties and their acid                  witchcraft, yoga, transcendental       Age, practice the holistic method
dreams and Eastern gurus, and                  meditation, and ESP. They wor-         of health care. Community men-
the human potential movement                   ship the earth, goddesses, and         tal health centers in the state of
of the seventies with their                    even the devil.                        New York have used spiritism as
mysticism, all came together in                  This is so far out that we might     a supplementary healing system
the eighties to form the New Age               think that few would ever fall for     since the mid-1980s. Many
Movement.                                      this kind of thing. The very op-       psychological institutions and
   Ultimately, however, the roots              posite is true, however. The in-       counseling centers teach and.
of this movement go back to                    fluence of this movement is            practice New Age principles.
some of the oldest religions in                everywhere. It has been said that        The New Age Movement is
the world - the Eastern mystical               this movement has the potential        making a big impact upon cor-
religions. The New Age Move-                   to be as sweeping as the               porate America. A 1986 survey
ment is a Westernized version of               Renaissance and Reformation. It        indicates that more than half of
Hinduism, Buddhism, Japanese                   is the fastest growing "alternative    the Fortune 500 companies
Zen, and Chinese Taoism. It has                belief system" in the country -        surveyed used some form of con-
also been influenced by the                    not just among extremists, but         sciousness-raising technique. Such
                                               among the well-educated middle         firms as Merrill Lynch, Ford,
                                               class. It touches every aspect of      Westinghouse, RCA, Boeing,
Rev. Houck is a home-missionary of             contemporary life. It can be seen      Scott Paper, and Calvin Klein
the Protestant Reformed Churches.              on the television, in movies, in       have sent employees to seminars

18  I The Standard Bearer I October 1, 1989


conducted by New Age groups.            we can avoid the errors of this         say, "Kneel to your own self.
  The New Age has found its             wicked movement.                        Honor and worship your own be-
way into the public school                 The most basic principle which       ing. God dwells within you as
system. In Los Angeles City             underlies all the beliefs and prac-     you!"
Schools children have been              tices of the New Age Movement             Because man is God there is
taught to imagine that they are         is the principle: all is one.           within every individual infinite
one with the sun's rays. They are       Ultimately there is no difference       potential - infinite knowledge,
told that they are part of God.         between God and man, birds and          power, and truth. It is all there
New Age practices are used in           trees, flowers and rocks. Any ap-       just waiting to be unlocked.
training athletes. Its influence can    parent difference between things          That raises a very important
also be seen in music and art.          is not real. The World is pure          question. Why aren't we ex-
  Many of our politicians adhere        and undifferentiated. This "one"        periencing the fact that we are
to the principles of this move-         is described as energy, conscious-      God? What is the problem? The
ment. Congress has funded many          ness, life force, principle, or even    New Age Movement answers,
New Age projects. Even the              mind. This oneness includes man-        "The problem is ignorance." We
military has come under the             kind. Humanity, like everything         are blind. We all have meta-
spell. At one time there was a          else, is only an extension of the       physical amnesia. We have
military battalion called "First        "one."                                  forgotten our true identity. They
Earth Battalion" which was to be           Since all things are one, includ-    blame that on our Western
a New Age militia of warrior            ing God, it is but a short step to      culture, specifically rationalism
monks attuned to resolving con-         conclude: all is God. All things        and Christianity. For this culture
flict through yoga, meditation,         are not only one but all things         of ours has deluded us with a
and the martial arts.                   partake of one divine essence.          fragmented vision of ourselves
  The New Age Movement has              Man is God. Animals are God.            and the universe so that we do
even influenced the Christian           Plants, rivers, mountains, trees        not see true reality.
religion. It is openly embraced by      are also God. Everything is God.          The solution to this problem is
many of liberal Christianity. "The      This erroneous view of God is           found in a change of one's con-
power of positive thinking" of          called Pantheism. That all is God       sciousness. We must have an
Norman Vincent Peale and                means that God is not a personal        awakening experience by which
Robert Schuller  bears a striking       God. If trees, rocks, rivers, and       our divine nature is actualized.
resemblance to the human poten-         mountains are all God, He can           This change in consciousness is
tial philosophy of the New Age          not be a personal God. Rather He        known by many different names.
Movement.                               is an impersonal force or energy.       It is called a transforming ex-
  This great influence ought not           This leads us to one of the          perience, a cosmic consciousness,
surprise us, for it is the stated       most important principles of the        God-realization, enlightenment, il-
goal of the New Age Movement            New Age Movement: humanity is           lumination, nirvana (Buddhists),
to transform the world. They            God. You are God and I am God.          satori (Zen), and at-one-ment
want New Age beliefs and prac-          Every person is God. Man, like          (Hindu). This change in con-
tices to become universal. They         everything else, is a mode of ex-       sciousness is accomplished by
even have a political agenda to         pression of this one life force or      many different means such as:
bring this about. In fact, that is      energy.                                 transcendental meditation, yoga,
how they received their name.              One promoter of the New Age          chanting, mood-altering music,
They seek the coming of a new           Movement put it this way: "It has       mind-expanding drugs, religious
age.                                    long been held that whoever             mysticism, guided imagery,
  In order that we might                denies God asserts his own divini-      balancing of energies, hypnosis,
recognize the great danger which        ty. In dropping God, man                body disciplines, fasting, the mar-
this movement represents and be         recovers himself. It is time that       tial arts, mechanical devices thalt
able to resist its influence, I         God be put in his place, that is,       measure and alter bodily pro-
would like us to take a Reformed        in man, and no nonsense about           cesses, and various mental pro-
look at the New Age Movement.           it."                                    grams.
First, I want to explain the beliefs       Shirley MacLaine, in one of            Since all is one, so that there is
and practices of this movement.         her TV programs, stood on               no distinction between things,
Secondly, I want to examine             Malibu beach and shouted, "I am         much of our world is considered
those beliefs and practices in the      God."                                   to be only an illusion - a matter
light of Holy Scripture. Finally, I        Another advocate of the New          of our own darkened conscious-
want to suggest ways in which           Age philosophy went so far as to        ness. For instance: disease and

                                                                                  October 1, 1989  I The Standard Bearer I19


suffering are illusions. They can             there are no moral standards.          Charles Manson  was involved in
be eliminated simply by altering              There is no such thing as sin.         several New Age groups whlen he
your state of consciousness. Even             You can do anything you want to        committed his heinous crimes. He
death itself is not real. War with            d     o    .                           said that he saw himself free to
all of its killing and pain is not                 One New Age advocate put it       kill since he had reached a state
real. Thus a New Age advocate                 this way, "If you had come to the      of consciousness with the One
said of the Vietnam War, "If we               realization of your own divinity       which put him beyond morality
all stop thinking about it, if we             you could do anything, even rob        where there was no good or evil.
all stop agreeing on its objective            a bank, and it would be all               These are the wicked and
reality, it will cease to exist."             right."                                dangerous beliefs of the New Age
   When this principle is applied                  Therefore some of the New         Movement. The Lord willing, in
to moral issues, we discover that             Age Movement are involved in           the next article we will consider
there is no such thing as right               very evil things such as drugs, il-    the practices of the New Age
and wrong. There is no dif-                   licit sex, the occult, devil wor-      Movement which come out of
ference between good and evil or              ship, witchcraft, abortion, and        these beliefs. Cl
between God and the devil. Thus               even murder. The infamous




                                              Home, Church,
 In His Fear
Rev. Arie  denHartog                          and School

   Some time ago we attended an                    During the years of high          life, decisions that will have very
informational meeting for pro-                school our children will be in         great significance for the future
spective freshmen at the Chris-               their adolescent years. Those          of their life. They face many
tian High School in our area. Our             years of life are not always the       pressures and temptations from
family has come to a new stage.               easiest, either for the teenagers      the world and are not yet mature
Our oldest child begins high                  themselves or for their parents.       enough to deal with all of these.
school this fall. We are conscious            This is the time of life when          Adolescence more than any
of the change this will involve for           young people begin to think            other time of life is a time when
our family. High school has its               more and more for themselves.          young people are strongly in-
own challenges, temptations, and              This in itself is good and             fluenced by their peers. The
difficulties for young people.                necessary. We as parents have          friends our young people make
Some major adjustments no                     to teach our young people to           during this time of life will be of
doubt will have to be made in                 make mature decisions in life. At      greatest importance during h.igh
the routine and order of our                  the same time young people are         school days.
family life. The years of high                still very much in need of the in-       Even when we send our
schools will inevitably make a                struction, counsel, guidance, and      children to a Christian high
great impact on our young                     discipline of their parents. With      school there will be many things
people. All of this gives us occa-            teenage years comes the strong         that we as parents will have to
sion to stop and consider what                desire for more independence           warn our young people against.
lies ahead.                                   from parents. Often, because of        They will have to be told over
                                              the sinful nature of young people,     and over of the need of living an
                                              there will also be the inclination     antithetical life of holiness and
                                              towards rebellion in some young        obedience to the Word of God.
                                              people. Our young people in this       They will have to be told thait by
Rev. denHartog  is pastor of the Prot-
estant Reformed Church of Ran-                stage of life are faced with some      the grace of God they have to be
dolph, Wisconsin.                             of the most serious decisions of       different and separate even from

20 I The Standard Bearer I October  I,1989


many of their peers in Christian        establishing genuinely Reformed          business meetings, in order to at-
High. It is simply a fact, tragic as    and Christian Schools? It is so          tend properly to the urgent needs
it may be, that many young              much easier just to accept               and concerns of the family. Our
people at Christian High do not         whatever else is available. But          families have far more important
live as genuine Christians ought        we know that as time goes on             needs than merely bringing home
to live. Because of the strong          the situation. is not getting better.    a large pay check that will be
desires to be accepted among            We dare not send our children to         able to buy our young people
their peers and to go along with        public schools because of the            their own cars and all the latest
the prevailing trends and life          humanistic and worldly                   gadgets of the world.
styles, there will be many strug-       philosophy that is promoted by             As we look forward to high
gles and trials. Young people           these, and the increasingly im-          school days for our young people
very easily imagine that they           moral and wicked life style of to-       we can see another great area of
know better than their parents.         day's youth. Yet we wonder how           concern. High schools more and
They soon become wise in their          much better some of the modern-          more monopolize the time which
own conceits and turn from the          day Christian high schools are. If       young people spend there. Be-
wise counsel and advice of              ever there was a time when we            sides the many hours a week
parents. How we as parents need         need schools to train our young          they spend in academic pursuits
the grace and wisdom of God to          people in the doctrine and life          there are also extra-curricular
deal with our young people in           that we preach in our church it is       activities. At the meeting men-
this stage of their life! How much      today.                                   tioned above I noticed that these
we need to go on our knees to             As we look forward to the high         activities are now called "co-
pray for them that they might           school days of our children, one         curricular activities." A subtle
not be led astray.                      of our greatest concerns is that         name change, this is I suppose, in
  There are three spheres of in-        we maintain our home as the              order to leave the impression
fluence that we raise our young         predominant sphere of influence          that such activities are virtually
people in: home, church, and            for our young people. We know            as important for high school
school. We hope by the grace of         that that will not be easy. Life is      students as their regular studies.
God to maintain these three in          becoming increasingly complex            Most of these so called co-
that order of priority. Ideally         and more and more busy. Times            curricular activities involve
there would be harmony be-              when the family can be together          sports. In order to be active in
tween these three, so that all          are often few and far between.           one of these sports, young peop1.e
three would be guided and con-          Our young people need the bond           must often come to school two or
trolled by the truth of the Word        and the influence of the Christian       three nights a week. Along with
of God. How we wish that we             home. Parents must work hard to          other great concerns about the
could send our children to our          maintain an open relationship of         emphasis on such co-curricular
own Christian high school. It is        communication, love, and con-            activities is the simple and ob-
quite obvious that many Christian       cern with their young people. We         vious concern about the fantastic
high schools in our land leave a        as parents must always be ready          amount of time involved. When
lot to be desired, with regard to       to sit down with our young               are our young people ever home
their being genuinely Christian         people and sympathetically dis-          anymore with their families?
and Reformed. As the world              cuss with them the great issues of       How can we in such a situation
grows increasingly wicked and           life and give spiritual guidance at      ever expect that our homes will
the church more and more                the time in their life when they         remain the main influence factor
apostate, there is increasingly         so urgently need it. We must be          in the lives of our young people..
urgent need for our own schools.        ready to spend the time and              Ought we as parents not to be
I often wonder whether we in            energy and concern with our              alarmed by all of this and do
our Protestant Reformed                 young people to help them face           something about it? Should we
Churches are aware of this. I           the great struggles and tempta-          not tell our school administra-
wonder whether we are truly             tions of this sinful world. All of       tions that there must be a severe
willing to strive as hard as we         that takes a great deal of time.         limitation put on co-curricular ac-
should to establish our own             Parents must be willing constant-        tivities so that we can have our
Christian schools wherever this is      ly to make personal sacrifices for       young people home at least a
possible. Are we still as covenant      the sake of the welfare of their         couple of nights a week?
parents ready to make the great         Christian families. Fathers have           Love for the church must be
sacrifices and face the great           to be ready to say no to overtime        central in the life of the Chris-
struggles that are involved in          work sometimes and to evening            tian. Such love must be evident

                                                                                   October 1,  1989  I The Standard Bearer  I21


     in the lives of God's people by                 church. We hope and pray that           find an excuse to miss a meeting
     their active and zealous participa-             our young people will find their        at church. The same person who
     tion in the activities of the                   life's partners in the sphere of the    "yells his head off" at a sports
     church. We may not as Christians                church. So many things in our           game sometimes has very little
     content ourselves with going to                 modern day world are pressuring         zeal and interest in a Bible
     church twice on the Lord's day,                 and influencing us and making us        discussion in church. This ought
     as important as that is in itself,              too busy to be involved in the          to be cause for alarm among us.
     and then for the rest of the week               church as we should be.                 This is a sign of decline and
     seldom ever be found in church.                    It is a great concern of mine,       apostasy in our own midst a.nd in
     We must teach our young people                  both as a father and pastor, how        our lives as Christians. We are
     that the most important place for               often it is evident that life in the    not the first to express great con-
     them to go outside of the home                  high school and all -the activities     cern about this. Our homes and
     is the church. We must teach                    it sponsors is apparently so much       our Christian schools must en-
     them to be zealously involved in                more exciting and important to          courage our young people to be
     church activities. We must teach                our young people and their              servants of the Lord in His
     them to have great concern and                  parents than life in the church.        church. May God help us to do
     interest in what goes on in the                 The same people that would not          this. This is of great importance
     church. We must teach them to                   think of missing a practice for         for the future of our churches. 0
     find their close friends if at all              sports at school and even less a
     possible in the sphere of the                   game at school will quite easily





                                                Book Review

     FAITH & REASON, by Ronald                       tentative answers to these peren-       describes the major tenants of
     H. Nash, Zondervan, 1988, 295                   nial problems from a contem-            both world-views and explains
     pages, $15.95 (hardcover). (Re-                 porary evangelical perspective.         why these competing systems
     viewed by James Lanting)                          A major claim of the book is          clash irreconcilably at almos,t
        Is the historic Christian faith              that every issue investigated in        every point.
     rational? Is Christianity philo-                the area of philosophy of religion        It is Nash's central thesis that
     sophically respectable or some-                 must be seen in the context of          traditional apologetics and
     how epistemologically inferior to               competing "world-views." Every          natural theology were largely un-
     other world-views? How can a                    person, whether he admits it or         successful because they triecl to
     Christian convince the atheist of               not, asserts Nash, has a "world-        do the impossible - prove the
     the reasonableness, say, of                     view" - a conceptual scheme by          existence of God with "logic.al
     miracles or of the Incarnation?                 which we order everything we            certainty." The historic attempts
     Are there convincing answers to                 believe and by which we inter-          to use the deductive cosmological
     the serious challenges to the                   pret reality. A typical world-view      or teleological arguments are
     Christian faith (such as the "prob-             includes what a person believes
     lem of evil")?                                  on at least five major topics: God
        These kinds of heavy-duty                    (theology), reality (metaphysics),      ALL AROUND US (con% [room pop 17)
     questions are treated in this book              knowledge (epistemology), moral-        ly state our desire to reform the
     which is designed primarily as a                ity (ethics), and humankind (an-        Christian Reformed Church
     text for introductory college and               thropology). The two major con-         rather than divide it is being
     seminary courses in the                         temporary competing world-              developed under the guidan.ce of
     philosophy of religion and                      views are Christianity and              Dr. Robert Godfrey."
     apologetics. Dr. Nash, a Professor              Naturalism, the latter being the           This movement continues to
     of Philosophy at Western Ken-                   view that nothing exists outside        grow. The outcome of its ac:-
     tucky University, also offers some              the material, natural order. Nash       tivities only the Lord knows. Cl

~    22  I The Standard Bearer  / October 1, 1989


"logically inconclusive," claims          1. We quite properly know                At the end of the book, Nash1
Nash, and thus of little or no         and believe, without requiring           carefully distinguishes between
value to the natural theologian        any proofs or evidence, many             believing that and believing in,
seeking a "coercive" proof char-       "basic" truths (e.g., self-evident       the former being mere intellec-
acterized by logical necessity or      propositions, belief in the ex-          tual assent, the latter being a
certainty.                             istence of other people's minds,         confession of the heart, a gift of
  Nash's approach to Christian         etc.). Such truths are nonetheless       faith from the Holy Spirit. None-
apologetics is much less am-           rationally held.                         theless, in the light of I Corin-
bitious. As an "inductive" pre-          2. Belief in the existence of a        thians 1 and 2 ("That your faith
suppositionist, Nash embraces the      personal God is such a "basic"           should not stand in the wisdom
more modest goal of demonstrat-        belief.                                  of men, but in the power of
ing that the Christian world-view        3. Every person unavoidably            God"), 1 remain somewhat scep-
is "logically probable" and there-     has a world-view built upon cer-         tical of the efficacy of the
fore rational. To demand logical       tain "basic" truths or presupposi-       philosophy of religion as a mean-
certainty in such matters is           tions.                                   ingful apologetic device. For ex-
"bizarre," he claims, and is total-       4. The Christian world-view,          ample, will a staunch atheist be
ly unnecessary.                        when inductively tested by               favorably impressed by Nash's
  Nash's inductive presupposi-         generally accepted epistemolog-          admittedly modest claim that the
tionalist approach is heavily in-      ical standards, commends itself as       Christian faith is "logically prob-
debted to the work and writings        a "logically probable" world-            able"?
of Alvin Plantinga, an interna-        view.                                       But, on the other hand, the
tionally acclaimed philosopher            5. Christianity is, therefore, ra-    Christian world-view is the most
and Christian apologist (who           tional.                                  probable, the most rational view
recently left Calvin College to           The author mercifully treats          of reality, isn't it? And if so, it's
teach at the University of Notre       many of these profound issues            hard to see why we would omit
Dame). Nash admittedly borrows         with studied simplicity and clari-       this feature when witnessing to
much from Plantinga's thesis that      ty, a feature which makes the            the unbeliever about "the reascm
belief in God is properly a            book eminently readable for a            for the hope that is within us." Cl
"basic" presupposition that needs      layperson who has had a
no proof or supporting evidence        philosophy or logic course
to be held rationally, not unlike      somewhere in his or her past.                     Autumn Anthem
our belief in the existence of         Nash is a prolific writer (this is       The glowing trees are tinged with
other persons' minds. (Apparently      his eighteenth book) and is ob-            flame;
no philosopher has ever con-           viously competent in this intrigu-
structed a satisfactory proof for                                               The fiery forests with colors blaze.
                                       ing area where apologetics and           And written there 1 see His name
the existence of other minds.)         the philosophy of religion coin-         And hear the silent call to prais(e.
  Nash's apologetic, then, could       cide.
perhaps be crudely summarized                                                                               James Jonker
as follows:                                                                       (from Beacon Lights, by permission)


                                       News From
Mr. Benjamin Wigger                    0u.r  C h u r c h e s

                                       MINISTERIAL CALLS                        happy to write that, from that
                                         Our congregation in Pella,             group, Pella extended a call to
                                       Iowa formed a trio from which to         Pastor W. Bekkering, and that he
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Prot-    call a pastor consisting of the          has subsequently accepted that
estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-     Revs. W. Bekkering, R. Cam-              call.
ville,  Michigan.                      menga, and M. Joostens. I am

                                                                                  October  1,1989  I The Standard Bearer  I23


                                                                                                       SECOND  CL4SS
                                                                                                       Postage Paid at
                                                                                                       Grand Rapids, Michigan





   The Hope P.R.C. in Redlands,                 tures would make a worthwhile          That's in light, first of all, of
CA has extended a call to Rev. C.               topic to cover for after-recess in     First's own position that "we
Haak from a trio of the Pastors                 our societies. Interested? - send      ought not again send a man to
R. Dykstra, C. Haak, and J.                     your request to Grandville P.R.C.      Jamaica alone"; in light albo of
Kortering.                                      Extension Committee, 4300              the unlikelihood of First's being
   Pastor R. Cammenga has                       Pineway, Grandville, MI 49418.         able to obtain two missionaries;
declined the call he received                      Grandville also wanted you to       and finally in light of Synod's re-
from the Peace P.R.C. in-Lyn-                   know that Prof. H. Hanko is will-      jection of the Mission Commit-
wood, IL.                                       ing to present this seminar again.     tee's recommendation that in the
   And, finally, the Consistory of              Perhaps there is one of our            interim First be allowed to send a
the Grandville P.R.C. in Grand-                 churches outside the west              co-laborer who is not an or-
ville, MI has declined the request              Michigan area that would be in-        dained minister.
of our Contact Committee to                     terested. If so, give Prof. Hanko a    CONGREGATIONAL NEWS
release their pastor, Rev. Korter-              call.                                    Cancerous growths were found
ing, for a year to labor in Burnie,                The Young Adults of our             in the throat of Alice Hanko,
Tasmania, the work Prof.                        Lynden P.R.C. in Lynden, WA            daughter of Rev. C. Hanko, one
Hoeksema labored in over a                      held a Summer Retreat in late          of our churches' "retired"
period of eight months before be-               August. Rev. and Mrs. Haak,            ministers, presently active in
ing called home to glory.                       along with the young adults,           Bradenton, Florida. The doctors
CONGREGATIONAL                                  hoped to enjoy a few days of           in Bradenton are presently
HIGHLIGHTS                                      camping, with spiritual growth         waiting for medical reports from
   The Council of our Hope                      through several speeches and           Ann Arbor, MI before either
P.R.C. in Walker, MI received a                 discussion groups, and some            surgery or chemotherapy is de-
letter of acknowledgment from                   good Christian fun and fellow-         cided upon.
the Covenant Evangelical Re-                    ship.                                    Seminary Convocation exer-
formed Church of Singapore. The                    At the request of the Activities    cises were held Wednesday,
money which Hope's children                     Committee of the First P.R.C. in       September 6 at the Byron Center
gave this past year in their                    Grand Rapids, MI the Council has       P.R.C. in Byron Center, MI. Our
catechism collections was                       given permission to begin a            new professor, David Engelsma,
designated for the needs of this                "Greeters" program. The em-            spoke on the topic, "The Task of
sister church. With catechism                   phasis is to be on greeting            the P.R.C. with their Semi-
starting up again in all our                    visitors to their church.              nary." q
churches, it seems that this idea                 The Council of First is also
could be considered by all of us                looking into the feasibility and
as well.                                        advisability of building a par-        RESOLUTION OF  SYMPATIHY
  I also received a call from the               sonage on the church property.           The Board of the RFPA here-
Church Extension Committee of                   MISSION HIGHLIGHTS                     with extends its Christian sym-
our Grandville P.R.C. in Grand-                   The Council of First has also        pathy to our fellow Board
ville, MI. You may remember                     decided to postpone calling mis-       member, Arnold  Haveman, and
that earlier this year Grandville               sionaries to Jamaica until after a     to his family in the death of
sponsored a Creation Seminar for                committee consisting of members        their father, grandfather, and
several weeks with Prof. Hanko                  of their Jamaican Committee and        great grandfather MR. CARL
as the speaker. Evidently these                 the Mission Committee studies          HAVEMAN at the age of 93 on
lectures were rather well re-                   the ramifications of Synod's deci-     September 11, 1989.
ceived. Grandville wants to in-                 sions concerning the work of mis-        "Precious in the sight of the
form you, the readers of the SB,                sions in Jamaica. Of special con-      Lord is the death of his saints."
that these lectures are available               cern is the question of what to        Psalm 116:15
in a set of four tapes for $5.00 or             tell prospective missionaries                Board of the RFPA
in printed form for $3.00. This                 about plans for on-the-field sup-            P. Koole, Secretary
cost covers postage. These lec-                 port of some kind in Jamaica.                                       (Hudsonville,  MI)

24  / The Standard Bearer  I October 1, 1989


