 A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
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VUI.  uu,
january 75, 7990


 Contents                                                           january 75, 7 990                    THE
                                                                                                    SENIVD~
Meditation  - Rev.  lason  L. Kortering
   THE INSEPARABLE LOVE OF GOD                                                              171         B E A R E R
EDITORIALLY SPEAKING.. .  -  Prof. David/.  Engelsma                                        173      ISSN  0362-4692
                                                                                                    Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
Editorial  - Prof. David  1. Engelsma                                                               and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
                                                                                                    lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
   THE TASK OF THE PRC WITH THEIR SEMINARY (2)                                              173     at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
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Taking Heed to Doctrine  - Rev. Bernard  /. Woudenberg                                              Standard Bearer, P.O. Box 6064, Grand Rapids, MI
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   "ALL MEN" AND THE GOSPEL                                                                 176     EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
                                                                                                    Editor: Prof. David  j. Engelsma
When Thou  Sittest  in Thine  House  - Mrs. Mary Beth Lubbers                                       Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                    Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
   A VIRTUOUS WOMAN . . . A CROWN TO HER HUSBAND                                            179     DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                                    Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
Contribution  -  Mr.  loel D. Sugg                                                                  Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
                                                                                                    Critters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
   SUICIDE - SELF MURDER (1)                                                                181     Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John  Heys,  Rev.
                                                                                                    Kenneth Koole, Rev. Jason Kortering, Mr. James
All Around Us  - Prof. Robert D. Decker                                                             Laming, Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs.  Marybeth  Lub-
                                                                                                    bers, Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev. Charles  1.erpstra,
   FOUR SIGNIFICANT CONFERENCES                                                             184     Rev.  Cise  VanBaren,  Rev. Ronald  VanOverloop,
   HEADSHIP  REPORT OF THE CRC                                                              184     Mr. Benjamin Wigger, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg.
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   THE REC LOSES ANOTHER MEMBER                                                             185     The Standard Bearer           Mr. Ben Wigger
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Church and State  - Mr. lames Lanting                                                               Crandville,  Ml 49418         Hudsonville,  Ml 49426
   COURTS SANCTION SUNDAY WORK REFUSALS                                                     185     EDITORIAL POLICY
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Guest Article  - Rev. Rodney C. Miersma                                                             terest from our readers and questions for The
   THE FOOTSTEPS OF OUR LORD AS HEARD IN NEW ZEALAND                                        187     Reader Asks  Deoartment  are welcome. Contribu-
                                                                                                    tions will be  limited  to approximately 300 words
The Day Of Shadows  i  Rev.  lohn  A. Heys                                                          and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
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   A SMALL BEGINNING OF THE NEW OBEDIEN'CE                                                  189     the fifteenth of the month. All communications
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NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES  - Mr. Benjamin Wigger                                               191     editorial office.
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170  I The Standard Bearer I January  15,199O


                                         The Inseparable
Meditation
Rev. jason Kortering                     Love of God

   "Who shall separate us from              The thought of condemnation            to changes that occur in our lives
the love of Christ? Shall tribu-         by or separation from Jehovah,            which affect Gods love for us?
lation, or distress, or persecu-         the God of my salvation, is over-            It is evident that the burden elf
tion, or famine, or nakedness,           whelming. By contrast, the                the text is Gods love for us and
or peril, or sword? As it is             guarantee of its impossibility af-        not our love for God. "Who shall
written, For thy sake we are             fords for us infinite comfort.            separate us from the love of
killed all the day long; we are             The words of this passage give         Christ? We are "more than con-
                                         us such a guarantee.                      querors through him that loved
accounted as sheep for the                  In verses 33 and 34 the Holy           US. " Also, nothing "shall separatle
slaughter. Nay, in all these             Spirit sets forth the challenge,          us from the love of God which is
things we are more than con-             "Who can lay anything to the              in Christ Jesus our Lord. "
querors through him that                 charge of God's elect?" Just im-             Gods love for us is the heart-
loved us. For I am persuaded,            agine for a moment, can your              beat of the covenant of grace.
that neither death, nor life, nor        enemy stand before God and pro-              Love is the power of the heart
angels, nor principalities, nor          duce evidence that you should be          which is attracted to another per-
powers, nor things present,              condemned for your sins? Can              son in such a way so as to form a
nor things to come, nor height,          the old devil, can any man, cai1          bond of friendship.
nor depth, nor any other                 your own conscience, which is                God has said about Himself,
creature, shall be able to               often smitten with guilt, stand           "God is love" (I John 423). His
separate us from the love of             before God as Judge and show t0           very Being partakes of the
                                         Him that you have done some-              character of love. Just as God is
God, which is in Christ Jesus            thing so wrong that you must t 1          light, God is truth, God is eternal,
our Lord. " (Romans 8:35-39)                                                 )E
                                         sentenced to everlasting condem-          so also God is love. Because God
                                         nation? The answer is no, a thou-         is all His attributes, they in-
  Two things strike fear in us           sand times no! The reason is not          fluence each other and determine
when we think about our rela-            that we are innocent, but, "It is         the very nature of God. Gods
tionship with God. The first is          Christ that died, yea rather, that        love is eternal, infinite, light, etc.
this: will God as Judge condemn          is risen again, who is even at the           This love of God comes to ex-
me for my sins? The second is            right hand of God, who maketh             pression within Himself as the
this: will something in my life so       intercession for us" (vs. 34). God        Person of the Father loves the
affect me that I will make myself        as Judge has declared that we             Person of the Son through the
unworthy of His love and there-          are righteous in Christ, and there-       Person of the Holy Spirit within
fore I will lose it?                     fore no evidence can be pro-              the one heart of God. The same
  To express it a bit differently,       duced before Him that would oc-           is true as the Son loves the
do I have a right to Gods love,          casion a sentence of condemna-            Father in the Spirit.
and if I do, can anything snatch         tion for us. The judicial aspect is          Amazing love.
me out of the arms of my                 settled for eternity.                        This love is the love that God
Heavenly Father?                           Now the apostle is concerned            has for us.
                                         about God's love for us. Can any-            Nothing is more precious to us
                                         thing take place in our lives             than to be an object of the love
                                         which would occasion a change             of God. In that love of God, we
Rev. Kortering is pastor of the Prot-    of heart in God, so that even             have been predestinated: "in love
estant Reformed Church of Grand-         though we have a right to glory           having predestinated us unto the
ville, Michigan.                         we may never arrive there due             adoption of children by Jesus

                                                                                   January  15,199O  I The Standard Bearer  I171


Christ" (Eph. 1:4, 5). In that love              which could unjustly imprison or               This is not ivory-tower
we have been redeemed, "For                      execute).                                   theology for Paul.
God so loved the world that He                          As if that is not enough, the in-       Just read II Corinthians
gave his only begotten Son"                      spired apostle draws a series of            11:21-28 and learn this is exactly
(John 3:16). In that love we are                 contrasts in verses 3.8, 39 that are        what he experienced.
brought to salvation by the                      presented as areas of possible                 We experience this as well.
gospel: "And hope maketh not                     threat. We have death-life (cir-               How can that be? The list is
ashamed; because the love of                     cumstances we experience while              fearful. It produces terror in our
God is shed abroad in our hearts                 we are alive - but what about               souls even to think about some
by the Holy Ghost which is given                 the time we die?); angels; princi-          of those things mentioned as
unto us" (Romans 5:5).                           palities; powers (a reference to            possible threats.
   Who shall separate us from                    different positions among the                  These words form a doxology
that love? Is there any power on                 angels and devils - could the               of praise which form a conclu-
the face of the earth, anything                  spirit world threaten us?);                 sion, drawn from the beautiful
we might experience which could                  present-future (one thing to deal           truths which the Holy Spirit
possibly have such an effect on                  with our circumstances now -                wrote in the preceding verses.
us to cause God to stop loving                   what about the uncertain                      Why will we be more than
us?                                              future?); height-depth (any force           conquerors and never separated
   Such a question is not just in-               that might come down from                   from the love of God?
teresting and academic; it deals                 heaven or ascend out of hell that             Two reasons are given.
with the only ground for our                     would endanger us); and finally               God will never stop loving us!
assurance. If we can possibly be                 any other creature (within the              That is first. This is expressed so
separated from God's love, we                    whole realm of creation).                   beautifully in the golden cha.in of
are of all creatures the most                      Can any of these powers or                salvation mentioned in verses
miserable. What we cherish most                  persons so affect us that we                28-30: "All things work together
might be taken away. If, how-                    would act in such a way as to               for good to them that love God,
ever, it is impossible to be                     cause God to stop loving us?                to them who are the called
separated, then we have the                        The answer is not only, no, but           according to his purpose. For
greatest delight.                                that in all these things we are             whom he did foreknow, he also
   The answer given by the Holy                  more than conquerors.                       did predestinate . . . moreover
Spirit is that nothing can separate                What a thrill, what security for          whom he did predestinate, them
us from the love of God.                         us!                                         he also called, and whom he
   Look with me how thoroughly                     The things we fear most will              called, them he also justified,, and
the Holy Spirit explores the                     not separate us from the love of            whom he justified, them he also
various possibilities: tribulation               God. They will rather bring about           glorified." By the chain of
(afflictions such as disease,                    a greater victory.                          predestination, divine calling,
injury), which produces distress                   To conquer an enemy is to be              justification we are drawn into
(the inner response to pain, the                 able to subdue him. The enemy               glory.
hurt, the fear, the bitterness of                desires to separate us from Gods              And the heart of it all is fore-
soul); persecution (hurt that                    love. Even the devil would like             knowledge. To know is to love.
comes from an enemy who treats                   to see adversities destroy us so            Love moved God to predestinate
us wrongfully, which is so com-                  that we give up, we forsake God,            us in Christ Jesus. We are chosen
mon to the church in the world                   we say it's not worth it. The prom-         in love, redeemed in love, called
that Paul quotes Ps. 44:22, "For                 ise is that, "in all these things           in love. That love of God is firm-
thy sake we are killed all the day               we shall conquer." We shall deal            ly grounded in Christ Jesus. God
long, we are accounted as sheep                  with all these forces and not               will never stop loving us. With
for the slaughter"); famine and                  allow them to take us from God's            that kind of love flowing in us,
nakedness (the results of poverty,               love. That is not all, we are more          we will never be separated from
whether as a result of persecu-                  than conquerors in all these                God.
tion or natural calamity); peril                 things. We experience that these              There is more. God will enable
(dangers we.face in life - crime,                things turn out for our good, they          us to love Him in return. This is
drunk drivers, civil strife); sword              make us stronger in the bond of             expressed earlier in this chapter
(reference to the state, the                     Gods love. Instead of tearing us            (vs. 14-17). We have received the
authority which holds the power                  away from God, they occasion us             spirit of adoption whereby we
of the sword; war, a legal system                to draw nearer to Him.                      cry, "Abba, Father." By the Holy
                                                                                             Spirit He energizes us in our love

172 I The Standard Bearer  I January 15, 1990


for Him so that, no matter what           what he wrote. The Editor or a             terian), The Presbyterian (Presby-
our outward conditions are in             writer may, of course, choose to           terian, in England), The Pillar
life, we continue to love God.            respond in certain instances.              and Ground of Truth (Reformed,
  And the bond of covenant                   One reason for not responding           in Singapore), and The Reformed
fellowship cannot be broken.              to every dissenting letter is to en-       Herald (Reformed), among
  Nothing can separate us from            courage our readers to respond             others, reprinted articles from
the love of God!                          to The SB.                                 The SB. We are happy about this.
  I am persuaded. We may not                      * * * * * * *                      Our witness to the Reformed
always "feel" that love, but God                                                     faith and life reaches more
does not deal with love on the               Our readers will be interested          people. Also, The SB is helpful to
basis of feelings. Persuasion is a        to know that articles published in         brothers and sisters in their pro-
process of the mind whereby we            The SB are frequently reprinted            motion and defense of the faith
confess on the basis of God's             in other religious magazines. Dur-         in other circles.
promises that we believe they             ing the past year, Christian News            Our "reprint policy" appears
are true.                                 (Lutheran), Journey (Presby-               on the masthead. 0                     -DJE
  If God be for us, who can be
against us!
  In all these things, more than
conquerors!
  What a doxology of praise to            Editorial
our great God! 0
                                          The Task of the PRC
Editoria I/y
Speaking. . .                             with Their Seminary @]I
   The first month of the new
year is a good time to remind the
reader of the policy concerning              (Unfortunately, the brief series on     from seminary who prove to be
editorial response to letters that        the task of the Protestant Reformed        poor preachers and blundering
appear in The Standard Bearer.            Churches with their seminary, begun        overseers? Must a man spend
This policy was stated at the time        in the November 15, 1989 issue of          four years in seminary learning
that the "Letters" column was in-         The Standard Bearer, had to be in-         Hebrew, Greek, dogmatics,
troduced (The SB, Nov. 1, 1988):          terrupted. The first installment con-      church history, the theory of
  The Editor will not feel himself        tended that the task of the seminary       preaching, the principles and
constrained to respond to every let-      is the training of gifted men to be        method of counseling, and many
ter, whether he agrees or disagrees,      able Reformed pastors in the con-          more subjects besides? Have not
since the purpose of the column is        gregations, or missionaries. Because       some of the most outstanding
not public debate, but to hear from       of the worth and necessity of the of-      preachers been men who never
our people.                               fice of pastor, the seminary, though
  Response will not be given to           in the background, has an important        had a day of seminary training?
                                          place in the labor of the denomina-
every letter, even though the let-                                                      I am struck by the fact that
                                          tion. The third installment will follow
ter is in disagreement with some                                                     this question continually comes
                                          directly.)
article in the magazine. The                                                         up in the church. Augustine had
                                             The importance of the task of
absence of response does not im-                                                     to answer this question in his
                                          the seminary derives from the
ply agreement with the letter.                                                       day. He treats it in his work, On
                                          importance of the office of the
Neither is it tacit admission that                                                   Christian Doctrine,  16.33:
                                          ministry of the gospel, inasmuch
the letter's criticism of something                                                  Now if any one says that we need
                                          as the seminary prepares men for
written in                                                                           not direct men how or what they
               The SB is in fact cor-     this work in the churches.                 should teach, since the Holy Spirit
rect. When there is no response              But is this task really                 makes them teachers, he may as
to a letter that is critical of an ar-    necessary?                                 well say that we need not pray, since
ticle, or of some point in an arti-          Does not the Holy Spirit                our Lord says, "Your Father
cle, the reader may assume that           qualify ministers? Is it not some-         knoweth what things ye have need
the writer of the article stands by       times the case that men graduate           of before ye ask Him". . . .

                                                                                     January  15,199O  / The Standard Bearer  I  173


Pointing to Paul's instructions to               Machen, felt it necessary to                Scripture must answer this
Timothy and Titus what and how                   justify the seminary training of          question. There are Biblical
they are to preach, Augustine                    Presbyterian pastors. In his ad-          precedents. Jesus trained the
continues:                                       dress in 1929, "Westminster               apostles for some three years in
What then are we to think? Does. the             Theological Seminary: Its Pur-            the school in which He Himself
apostle in any way contradict                    pose and Plan," he insisted:              was the professor. After the
himself, when, though he says that               . . . we believe that a theological       resurrection, there was yet ,a
men are made teachers by the                     seminary is an institution of higher      special, "crash" course in
operation of the Holy Spirit, he yet             learning  whose  standards should  not    preaching the kingdom that
himself gives them directions how                be inferior to the highest academic       lasted for forty days, as we read
and what they should teach?                      standards that anywhere prevail
The great African father then                                                              in Acts 1:lff. When Christ called
                                                 (What is Christianity?, p. 226).
concludes with an apt com-                                                                 Paul to the apostleship, He did
                                                    I would be surprised if some
parison between seminary in-                                                               not at once miraculously bestow
                                                 among us did not wonder
struction and the use of medicine                                                          on His servant the gifts he
                                                 whether all this time, all this ef-
to heal:                                                                                   needed, particularly knowledge
                                                 fort, all this money, and all this        of the mystery of the gospel, but
For as the medicines which men ap-               manpower are really necessary.
ply to the bodies of their fellow-men                                                      sent Paul to Arabia, where He
                                                    We readily acknowledge that
are of no avail except God gives                                                           Himself revealed the gospel to
                                                 only Jesus Christ makes the Re-
them virtue . . . and yet they are ap-                                                     the apostle (cf. Gal. 1:llff.).
                                                 formed pastor. Pastors and
plied . . . so the aids of teaching, ap-                                                     Even in the age of special!
                                                 teachers are the gift to the
plied through the instrumentality of                                                       revelation, therefore, men were
                                                 church of the risen and exalted
man, are of advantage to the soul,                                                         trained for the ministry after a
only when God works to make them                 Christ. In recognition of this, the       fashion corresponding to
of advantage . . . _                             Reformed church has always                seminary training today.
Augustine answers those who                      allowed for the possibility that            These precedents are instruc-
question the necessity of                        her Head might give a pastor              tive. The mandate is obligatory:
seminary training by asserting                   apart from the man's pursuing             In order to have pastors whso will
that, although it is true that God               the regular course of study in            teach the congregations the
alone gives teachers to the                      -preparation for the ministry.            gospel, "the same commit thou to
church and that although                         Therefore, Article 8 appears in           faithful men, who shall be able to
seminary training cannot produce                 the Church Order of Dordt.                teach others also." This is not the
a single, genuine pastor unless                     But the question is not                task of committing the Truth to
God gives this training "virtue,"                whether Jesus or the seminary             the people of God, but the task of
still seminary training is                       makes preachers. Rather, the              committing the Truth to certain
necessary because it is the means                question is, does the Lord give           men so that they can teach the
that God ordinarily uses to give                 preachers - good, capable, effec-         saints. Since the church commits
pastors to His church.                           tive preachers - with or without          the Truth to these men - the
   In the 19th century, the                      training by the churches in their         future pastors - by instructing
Presbyterian theologian, Robert                  seminary? Nor is the question             them, the mandate is the
L. Dabney, had to face this                      whether Jesus.is able to prepare          seminary. To prepare pastors, the
challenge to seminaries from the                 a pastor apart from the seminary.         church is not simply to pray over
ranks of southern Presbyterian-                  Of course He can, just as His om-         men, or to lay hands on them,
ism. In 1883, he wrote "A                        nipotence enables Him to make a           but to commit by teaching.
Thoroughly Educated Ministry,"                   man a medical doctor without his            The Reformed "Form for the
in which he argued for keeping                   going to medical school, or a             Installation of Professors of
the requirement of "a classically                woman a skilled secretary                 Theology" speaks of "the necessi-
learned ministry." This is                       without her taking courses in typ-        ty . . . of training youths and
necessary, he thought, because a                 ing and shorthand. But the ques-          men for the holy ministry under
trained and learned ministry is "a               tion is whether Jesus prescribes          the ordinary dispensation of the
true source of increased efficien-               as the rule for His church that we        Spirit by the regular methods of
cy" (cf. his Discussions: Evangel-               look for His preparation of               education."
ical and Theologicai,  Vol. 2, pp.               pastors in the training of the              The Reformed and Presbyte-
656, 657).                                       seminary. In short, does Jesus            rian churches, therefore, have
  The great champion of or-                      use means to give pastors and             always insisted on an educated,
thodox Presbyterianism in the                    teachers?                                 indeed a well-educated, ministry.
20th century, J. Gresham                                                                   Protestant Reformed pastors

174  / The Standard Bearer I January 15, 1990


should have a full, solid liberal      study with the young person for        ing upon graduation from
arts education - four years of         whose soul he is wrestling, and        seminary. Who would want to in-
learning after high school in an       on the occasion of his presenting,     trust his 1980 model car to a
accredited, preferably a Re-           not so much the Protestant Re-         mechanic who stopped learning
formed, college. This is especially    formed Churches as the Re-             in 1950?
urgent in our day and in our           formed Faith, as held by the Prot-        Ministers may not entangle
society. The seminary builds on        estant Reformed Churches to            themselves in various matters of
this, giving a thorough theolog-       people who ought to know and           earthly life that are interesting,
ical education, every aspect of        embrace this Faith.                    pleasurable, or financially
which will help aspiring                 The worth, the difficulties, the     rewarding, but that detract from
preachers to teach the Word to         demands of the Reformed pastor         the work of the ministry (v. 4).
others in the congregations. This      at the end of the 20th century         Like the prospect of hanging, war
theological education will include     are not inferior to those of           (and the pastor, we remember, is
knowledge of the original              medical doctors who, although          a soldier) has a way of wonder-
languages of Scripture;                they are used only to heal             fully concentrating the mind. So
knowledge of the content of            bodies, are rightly required to        is the pastor to devote himself
Scripture; knowledge of the            prepare by a long and rigorous         singlemindedly to the ministry.
church's systematic and logical        education.                                Seminary will warn the men
arrangement of the content of            In this connection, I note that      against crippling their ministry
Scripture in her theology and          the Protestant Reformed ministry       by the rashness, headiness, and
dogmas; knowledge, how to              is worthy of the ablest sons of        eagerness to fight that is a typical
interpret the Bible (hermeneutics      these churches. I speak now to         weakness of the young preacher.
and exegesis courses); knowl-          you fathers and mothers of             These are the "youthful lusts" of
edge, how to preach the Bible          bright, gifted, godly boys and         verse 22.
(homiletics); knowledge of the         young men. The Lord has need              Often these lusts to mix it up
history of the church whose ser-       of them! Not as though He can-         in the ecclesiastical arena are due
vants the men will be, which           not and will not use lesser            to pride and carnal ambition: th.e
history is replete with warning,       talents, for in the ministry as in     young minister likes to be some-
instruction, and encouragement;        other vocations fidelity and in-       body in the church world - a
and knowledge of the govern-           dustry count for much, often for       Martin Luther or a Herman
ment of the church. This is only       more than superior ability. But        Hoeksema. But the servant of the
a partial list.                        the very best minds will not be        Lord must not strive (v. 24) must
  The work of the Reformed             wasted in the ministry, indeed         not strive about words to no
pastor is demanding of all this        cannot be put to better use. You       profit (v. 14). Pastors must exert
training and knowledge! The            may not keep them back because         themselves to show themselves
ministry is not child's play! The      you prefer other, more                 approved unto God (v. 15), rather
Reformed pastor carries on a           prestigious or more lucrative oc-      than to seek the religious lime-
many-sided work; and every             cupations for them.                    light.
aspect is grave (in the sense now        In any case, careful, thorough         This kind of instruction too
of the Latin gravitas, "weighty,       training is required.                  prepares men for the pastorate
serious") with the solemnity of          The training given at seminary       and is the task of the churches in
the glory of Christ in His church      should not be only academic. It        their seminary.
and of the salvation of the elect.     must also be spiritual. Over a            Next issue: The role of the
He is responsible for many             period of four years, experienced      seminary in the maintenance and
duties; he confronts hosts of prob-    pastors can caution young men          development of theology. Cl -DIE
lems and difficulties; he must         to avoid the pitfalls that attend                                               I
answer many questions. Chiefly,        the ministry. II Timothy 2 refers
he must rightly divide the Word        to some of these threats.              Count up thy mercies, child of
of God, publicly and privately -         The would-be pastor must not                   clay -
on the pulpit and in the               be lazy. A pastor is a workman         Recount them o'er and o'er;
catechism room, but also in the        (v. 15). Since his work is a life-     Yet canst thou tell, in life's short
consistory chambers where men          long interpreting and applying of                day,
and women are excommunicated           the Word, he must also be a stu-       The sounds upon the shore, oh
from the kingdom of Christ, in         dent all his life both of Scripture          child?
the living room of the couple          and of theology. The minister          The sounds upon the shore?
who are about to divorce, in his       may not stop reading and study-                                       S.B., 1928

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  Taking Heed                                     "Al I Men"
 to Doctrine
 Rev. Bernard Woudenberg                          and the Gospel

     The Lord is . . . not willing                 within himself, "which is the         would, if He could, save all men.
 that any should perish, but                       name I chose to give should I be      It is well, therefore, for us to ex-
 that all should come to repen-                    captured in this way." Supposed-      amine a few of their favorite
 tance. II Peter 3:9                               ly this then made his falsehood       verses.
                                                   true and left his conscience free.       Before doing that, however,
    Casuistry was once a respected                It was casuistry gone awry.            we ought to acquaint ourselves
 area of Christian study. Among                      Nor was it just with morality;      with this particular idiom with
 the early Puritans it had to do                  doctrine was affected as well. Dr.     which we are concerned, and do
with the study of the conscience.                 David Wyer of Greenville, SC           it apart from the doctrinal prob-
Those were godly men, dedicated                   recently made a study of the en-       lem involved. This we can do
to living in good conscience                      trance of doctrinal perversion in-     nicely by turning to Mark 15,
before God. But they were                         to the early American Presby-          "And there went out unto him all
realistic too, and, being good                    terian Church. He tells of those       the land of Judaea, and they of
students of Scripture, realized                   who, having affirmed adherence         Jerusalem, and were all baptized
that difficulties do inevitably                   to the confessions, explained that     of him in the river Jordan, con-
arise. Of these cases they made a                 their oath was "declarative" and       fessing their sins." The passage
study and called their study                      not "promissory," or, in their         has to do, of course, with John
casuistry. The great English                      words, "We declare our present         the Baptist and the multitudes
Calvinist, William Perkins, in his                agreement with it, that is, our        who came to hear him preach,
Cases of the Conscience was one                   agreement with it as a system;         and to be baptized by him. Elut
of the earliest and greatest practi-              but we do not pledge our agree-        what interests us is the fact that
tioners of it.                                    ment to that tomorrow." It was a       in this passage the word "all" is
   As it is in this sinful world,                 kind of doctrinal casuistry not un-    used twice with three different
however, wherever there is use,                   common to our day.                     points of reference. What doles it
there soon arises abuse; and so                     Moreover, as with morality           mean? Are we being told tha.t
was it here. Very shortly the pur-                and doctrine, the interpretation       literally every person in Judaea
suit of casuistry became, not a                   of Scripture has been dealt with       and every last inhabitant of Jeru-
pursuit in purity, but a studied                  the same. Having their minds set       salem made his way to the Jor-
evasion instead. The story is told                on what they think the Bible           dan to hear John preach, and
of a certain catholic friar, named                should say, there are many who         that every last one of them
Champion, who came covertly in-                   search it, not to find what it has     bowed to confess his sins and
to puritan England with the pur-                  to say, but with it to prove what      was baptized by him? Of course
pose of promoting the cause of                    they want to hear; and few             not. We know that wasn't so, and
the papacy there. In time he was                  passages have been more favored        no one just reading through this
caught, however, and when                         by them than the "all men" texts       passage would come to that con-
asked his name replied, "John                     of Scripture. These people are         clusion. The only thing this
Smith," while silently adding                     generally determined that man          passage says is that there we're a
                                                  must be left in charge of his own      large number of people who
                                                  destiny; and these passages, they      went from Judaea and Jerusalem
                                                  feel, provide their strongest proof    to hear John preach; and that of
Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the                  that predestination, and par-          them a goodly number were
Protestant Reformed Church of                     ticularly reprobation, is not ac-      moved to confess their sins and
Kalamazoo, Michigan.                              tually what God intends. He            were baptized. The overall con-

176  I The Standard Bearer  I January  15,199O


text of the Gospels makes this          cept through Christ. To go             Old Testament had foretold, the
plain. It isn't difficult; we often     beyond that only does violence         gathering of people from all na-
speak the same way today. The           to the text.                           tions into His church (Isaiah
word "all" and its equivalents            And the same is true with John       11: 1 l), the breaking down of "thle
("every," "everyone," "the              12:32, "And I, if I be lifted up       middle wall of partition" which
world," etc.) are common collec-        from the earth, will draw all men      had so long kept them apart
tives whose extension, if taken in      unto me." This text is eminently       (Ephesians 2:14-22). Thus we
context, are easily understood in       beautiful; but if torn out of con-     have our text, "And I, if I be
this passage and in those to            text in an effort to prove that        lifted up, will draw all men -
which we now turn.                      God would like to save everyone,       men of all nationalities - unto
  The first of these is Romans          its real message is lost.              me." The New Testament age
5:18: "Therefore as by the of-            The text follows, and relates        was pressing in upon Him; and
fense of one judgment came              directly to, the touching account      He rejoiced. This was ultimate
upon all men to condemnation;           of "certain Greeks" who came to        encouragement for His death.
even so by the righteousness of         Philip seeking to talk to Jesus          Somewhat similar, although
one the free gift came upon all         (12:20, 21). Philip didn't know        with a different focus, is I
men unto justification of life."        what to answer. His whole              Timothy 2:3, 4: "For this is good!
Here we do have, at least in one        background told him to have as         and acceptable in the sight of
instance, the word "all" used in a      little as possible to do with Gen-     God our Saviour; who will have
most comprehensive sense. Cer-          tiles, especially at feast time        all men to be saved, and to come
tainly the "all" upon whom judg-        when contact with them could           unto the knowledge of the truth."
ment is come includes the               render one unclean; and the            Taken by itself it too has a
broadest possible extension of          thought of bringing them to the        universalistic sound, but in con-
the term, every human person -          Master was particularly abhorrent      text it says something quite dif-
with the exception of Jesus -           to him. But neither, having been       ferent. All we have to do is to go
has come under judgment                 with Jesus, did he feel free to ig-    back a few verses to the begin-
through Adam. But our knowl-            nore them. So he went to consult       ning of the chapter (vss. 1, 2), "I
edge of this hardly derives from        with Andrew. But Andrew didn't         exhort, therefore, that, first of all,
the use of the word "all" in this       know any better; and thus they         supplications, prayers, interces-
text. The fact is that all of Scrip-    brought the problem directly to        sions, and giving of thanks be
ture brings this out, and this text     Jesus. His response, however,          made for all men; for kings, and
is neither needed nor designed          was far from what they might           for all that are in authority; that
for that end. It isn't here to tell     have expected (vs. 23). "The           we may lead a quiet and peace-
us that all men are sinners, but        hour is come," He exuberantly          able life in all godliness and
rather that all those who are sin-      exclaimed, "that the Son of man        honesty." Clearly Paul's concern
ners have come to be that way           should be glorified," and from         here is with a particular group of
through Adam. And so, in turn,          there He went on to give one of        people, those in government. Ap-
the rest of the text is not de-         the most glorious expositions on       parently there were Christians
signed to tell us that every per-       His death found anywhere. In           who were unwilling to pray for
son who has come to sin through         fact, so amazing was it that the       them, which we can understand.
Adam is now saved in Christ;            heavens themselves were com-           Those were days of persecution,
that we know isn't so. Nor, on          pelled to join in - after which        and the government was
the other hand, is it telling us        we find our text, "And I, if`1 be      devastating the church. These
that God really would like to           lifted up from the earth, will         Christians were more inclined to
save every human person if only         draw all men unto me." And             pray for their destruction than
He could. That kind of thinking is      what was Jesus seeking to ex-          for their salvation. But with this
altogether foreign to the passage.      press, some ambitious dream that       Paul would not agree. Gods
The design here is simply to            by his death every individual per-     grace is unconditional, and it
teach that, just as all who sin         son in all the world would be          always goes forth to those who
came to their sinfulness through        drawn to him, even when He             are enemies of God and His
Adam, so all who are saved              knew it wouldn't be - and had          cause (Ephesians 2:1, 5). It isn't
come to that salvation through          once prayed (Matthew 11:25, 26)        because of what he is that any-
Christ. They are "many" - as the        it shouldn't? Of course not. Jesus     one is saved. And government of-
next verse states specifically; and     had been struck by the coming of       ficials were no different; they
the concern is to emphasize the         these Greeks, for to Him this was      were to be prayed for just as well
fact that there is no salvation ex-     the beginning of what all of the       as anyone else, both that they

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should cease their persecution                    and that is explained in verse 9:      glory of God." It is simply the in-
and that they should be saved,                    "The Lord is not slack concern-        explicable goodness of God ex-
"for this is good and acceptable                  ing his promise, as some men           tended unconditionally which
in the sight of God our Saviour;                  count slackness." God has made         saves.
who will have all men [men of                     a promise, that which we read in         And so, finally, it is not for us
every status in life, including                   Genesis 17:7, "I will establish my     to judge who can be saved and
those in government] to be                        covenant between me and thee           who not, to whom the Gospel
saved, and to come unto the                       and thy seed after thee in their       should be preached, or from.
knowledge of the truth."                          generations for an everlasting         whom it may just as well be
   Which brings us to one of the                  covenant, to be a God unto thee,       withheld, Mark 16: 15, "Preach
most commonly misconstrued                        and to thy seed after thee." He        the gospel to every creature, He
texts of all, II Peter 3:9: "The                  knows who that seed is; and            that believeth and is baptized
Lord is not slack concerning his                  therefore He "is longsuffering to      shall be saved; but he that
promise, as some men count                        us-ward," that is, He is willing to    believeth not shall be
slackness; but is longsuffering to                suffer the blasphemies of the          damned." 0
us-ward, not willing that any                     scoffers for a long time until
should perish, but that all should                every last one of them [us] has        NEW YEAR 
come to repentance." Here the                     been born, brought to repentance                      (continued from pop  1.91)
context is particularly important.                and saved, for God is "not willing     And through the city streets
If we go back to the beginning of                 that any [of this promised seed].        Disease runs rampant with
the chapter, or for that matter in-               should perish, but that all [of          companions Death and Grave.
to the whole of the epistle, we                   them, the elect] should come to        The desperate teeming masses,
find that Peter is concerned with                 repentance." God can wait and            running to and fro, seek one
the coming of the end of the                      will wait; and when the last one         to save.
world; and rather than saying                     has come to repentance, the end        His Day draws hear. On earth's
that God is not willing that any-                 will come, as Jesus once said,           horizon dimly shines the light
one at all should perish, he tells                John 6:37, "All that the Father        That hails Christ's glorious rising
us (vs. 7) "the heavens and the                   giveth to me shall come to me,           with all power and might.
earth, which are now, by the                      and him that cometh to me I            Spirit and Bride, we hungering,
same word are kept in store,                      shall in no wise cast out."              thirsting, would our Bride-
reserved unto fire against the day                  And so there are several things        groom's waiting supper taste.
of judgment and perdition of                      we should note.                        Ev'n so we cry, "Come, our Lord
ungodly men." God is actually                       In the first place, each of these      Jesus. Come with haste!"
very determined that this group                   texts has to be understood within                            -Sue Looyenga
of people, the scoffers of the last               the logical flow of the Scriptures.
days, shall perish; and He has                    The Bible is not just a con-
reserved a day for that to be.                    glomerate of true but separate              IT CANNOT LAST
The question is not whether He                    propositions, so that one may go       Weary now it is, and must be,
is willing; the real question is,                 through it picking and patching          All my sky is overcast;
why does He wait? And it is to                    together passages at his own           But no cloud can be eternal,
this that Peter now addresses                     choosing. There is a current of           This one cannot always last!
himself. In the first place he tells              thought which runs all through
us, in verse 8, "But, beloved, be                 the Bible, and each passage must       Drearily the storm is beating,
not ignorant of this one thing,                   be understood within the flow of          Chilling rain is falling fast.;
that one day is with the Lord as                  logic in which it is found. Apart      I am wet, and cold, and cheerless;
a thousand years, and a thousand                  from that its revelatory power is         But it cannot always last.
years as one day." God can wait                   gone.                                  Walls of granite, stern forbidding,
because He is eternal; He doesn't                   In the second place, if these           Separate me from the past,
see time in the way we do, as                     passages have one common               That was erst so glad, so joyous; -
Psalm 90:4 tells us, "a thousand                  message, it is that the salvation        But they cannot always last!
years in thy sight are but as                     of God is unconditional, it is not
yesterday when it is passed, and                  determined by anyone's race, his       And what sorrows lie before me
as a watch in the night." That is                 status in life, his willingness to        In the future drear and vast;
why He can have patience, and                     cooperate, his works or anything       Ah! I know not! But it cheers me
wait with punishing these scoffing                else, Romans 3:23, "All have              That they cannot always last.
wicked. But He also has a reason;                 sinned, and come short of the                                          S.B., 1928

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When Thou
Sittest in                               A Virtuous Woman. . .
Thine House
Mrs. Mary Beth Lubbers                   a Crown to Her Husband

   Who can find a virtuous               Price. And the Apostle John on        CARAT: THE WEIGHT
woman? for her price is far              the Isle of Patmos envisions a        OF A GEM
above rubies. (Proverbs 31:lO)           city, the New Jerusalem, which is       The exact Hebrew term for
                                         structured with such a glittering     virtuous can be expressed by
  There it lay. Rich. Rare. A            array of costly jewels that man's     carat: the virtuous woman is
dazzling treasure filled with fire       imagination is fired to behold it.    strong, able, solid, and trust-
and sparkle. Flawless, it glints           A rare jewel is timeless; the       worthy. She is principled, stand-
and winks dispassionately inside         fashion of the day cannot tarnish     ing squarely upon timeless, God,-
the burglar-proof glass which en-        it nor diminish its value. From       centered mores. She is prudent
cases it. The fabled Hope Dia-           antiquity, jewels have served         and of sound judgment. We may
mond, now housed in the Smith-           kings and rulers as barter, wages,    think of Abigail, first the wife of
sonian Institution in Washington,        and ransom. They were and still       foolish Nabal, later the wife of
D.C., continues to hold its myriad       are today conveniently carried        King David, about whom I
visitors in thrall.                      about, easily pawned, and quick-      Samuel 25 says, ". . . she was a
   Crowns ablaze with pearls and         ly cashed - usually with a'           woman of good understand-
clustered with diamonds; sap-            marked increase in value. Often       ing . . . ."
phires, and rubies of spectacular        jewels of rare and legendary            The virtuous woman of Prov-
size and- clarity. Bracelets of          value are bequeathed to               erbs 31 is ambitious, energetic,
thick, shimmering gold. Tiaras           museums where they are hand-          and resourceful. There is much
studded with priceless opals and         somely displayed. Pliny the Elder     work to be done in the home,
topazes. Scepters encrusted with         (A.D. 23-79) has called jewels,       and she tackles homemaking
magnificent emeralds. A galaxy           "The most highly valued of            with vigor and efficiency. She is
of breath-taking and brilliant           human possessions."                   not idle or lazy, and spares little
jewels displays England's Crown            So, with a commodity this           time for chitchat over the fence
Jewels, exhibited and guarded in         priceless and precious, is the Bi-    or phone. She is a woman with
the Tower of London.                     ble telling the truth when it says    fortitude and purpose.
  Man's ceaseless quest for rare         that a virtuous woman is far             You will ask, does this ideal
and priceless stones has lured his       more priceless? Does the writer       woman work outside her home?
steps throughout history. To find,       of Proverbs in a flowery phrase       Is she really a thinly-disguised
to possess, the rare gem has in-         of chivalry exaggerate a little       real estate agent? Careful reading
trigued him. Even God's Word             when he claims that a virtuous        of this classic chapter on the
does not underestimate the time-         woman is of inestimable value?        woman indicates that she uses
less value of jewels. Malachi says,        Jewels, especially diamonds,        resources local and from afar all
"And they shall be mine (those           are regularly classified according    for the purpose of enhancing an.d
that fear the Lord), saith the Lord      to carat, color, cut, and clarity.    maintaining her household. She
of hosts, in that day when I make        Jewelers refer to these as the 4      does not buy a field and then
up my jewels . . ." (Malachi 3:17).      C's which, consequently, deter-       resell it at a profit to buy more
Jesus, in Matthew 13:45 and 46,          mine a gem's worth. Most              fields. From earliest pastoral
speaks of the Pearl of Great             jewelers also agree that a gem        times, women have tended
                                         must be both beautiful and            gardens and vineyards; they have
&h-s. Lubbers is a wife and mother in    durable. And if the jewel is          assisted their husbands in all
the Protestant  Reformeh  Church of      shrouded in mystery and               kinds of manual labor. In the
South Holland,  Illinois.                romance, its value is enhanced.       New Testament, for example, thle

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Book of Acts tells us that Aquila                 Leah, which two did build the           and mercy for all the poor and
and Priscilla were tentmakers                     house of Israel . . ." (Ruth 4:ll).     needy with whom we come into
(Acts 18:3). Priscilla also assisted              Truly, a virtuous, noble woman          contact. We may not minimize
her husband Aquila in church                      is, as the old adage claims, worth      the pot of chicken soup, the
work (Acts 18:26), and Paul on                    her weight in gold!                     warm extra coat, the comforting
one occasion thanks them both                     COLOR: THE ABILITY OF A                 words of encouragement for the
for their assistance (Romans                      GEM TO REFLECT, REFRACT,                sick and distressed fellow saint or
16:3, 4).                                         AND DISPERSE LIGHT                      unsaved sinner which we women
   However, the God-ordained                         A virtuous woman is a reflec-        are uniquely able to give. And a
role for women is homemaking                      tion of the church, fair and love-      woman has to be minding the
(See Titus 2:5). It is the woman's                ly. As such, her beauty is not          home front in order to be able to
responsibility to make her home                   reckoned by costly gold, or             disperse acts of charity.
her castle, a retreat from the                    braiding of hair, but hers is the       CUT: FACETS OF A GEM
stress and storms of life, a little               beauty of one who serves her            FILLED WITH FIRE AND
fortified city in which her hus-                  husband (Christ) and family             SPARKLE
band and her family delight to                    (fellow saints) because she fears          The virtuous woman takes
live. I, for one, do not believe                  God (I Timothy 2:9, 10). Her            some time for herself. Especially
that Titus intends by "keepers at                 work-a-day conduct reflects prac-       after children are included in the
home" to mean "stayers at                         tical godliness. She is the faith-      family, it becomes important that
home." Rather, I interpret                        fully submissive woman, totally         the wife does not completely
"keepers" to mean managers or                     engaged in practical, loving ser-       neglect herself. She makes sure
caretakers of the home. This, no                  vice to her "lord" husband              that she is well-groomed, anld she
matter what other duties a                        because she is willingly sub-           cares for her appearance. Even
woman takes on, must be her                       missive to Lord Jesus. The hus-         though the woman in the thirty-
primary interest. And each                        band of this woman is not afraid        first chapter of Proverbs is
woman must know for herself                       to leave on a business trip or at-      diligent for her husband,
when she has stepped over those                   tend his many church and school         children, and household, she
bounds and shoved aside those                     meetings because he knows his           finds and makes time for herself.
interests.                                        wife will manage the household          Notice v&-se 22, "She maketh
   Proverbs 31 indicates that the                 well while he is away. The              herself coverings of tapestry;: her
virtuous woman works day and                      children will be taught their           clothing is silk and purple." Here
night in order to manage her                      catechism, the toddlers will be         we do not see the wife as little
household. She is industrious and                 trained and disciplined, and the        more than a drone, beaten down
economical. Her hands are work-                   routine of his home will be un-         and hunched over her kett1e.s or
ing, serving hands as she tends to                interrupted.                            sewing machine all day. This
husband, children, maids (all our                   The loving, compassionate ser-        ideal woman is no slattern. She
modern day conveniences such                      vice of this woman extends out-         has what we so often hear about
as washer, dryer, dishwasher,                     side her home to include the            today, "self-worth" - a good,
vacuum, micro-oven, etc.). The                    poor and needy. She is the Dor-         healthy, spiritual kind of self-.
candle of this woman burns late                   cas described in Acts 9, immers-        worth. This woman is carrying
into the evening, and it is lit ear-              ing herself in good works, alms-        out her tasks joyfully and willing-
ly in the morning. This chapter                   deeds, and hospitable acts. She         ly, and so she feels good about
seems to corroborate the saying,                  manages her household so effi-          herself.
"Man's work is from sun to sun;                   ciently that she still has time and       Nor is she a mental dullard.
but a woman's work is never                       energy for the needy neighbor.          Verse 26 of this chapter informs
done." Her well-run household is                  What a reflection of Christ's own       us that she can hold an in-
the envy of the sluggish woman.                   ministry on earth! ". . . the Son       telligent conversation. She spleaks
   The virtuous woman is like                     of Man came not to be min-              with wisdom. She keeps herself
Ruth, about whom the people of                    istered unto, but to minister . . ."    informed on theological and
Bethlehem said, "The Lord make                    (Matthew 20:28). We women               political matters. She knows
the woman that is come into                       often fret over ways in which           what's happening in the world
thine house like Rachel and like                  we can be a witness in our              around her. She's interesting to
                                                  homes to the unchurched. Well,          be with. And although she speaks
                                                  here we have an example of a            with wisdom, her tongue is ruled
                                                  powerful witness from the home          by kindness. Hers is not the cut-
                                                  front: doing deeds of kindness          down, the back-biting, the

180  I The Standard Bearer  I January  15,199O


  slanderous tongue. For then, who                honor because of her being the              laundry load; it alleviates the
  would seek her company and                      busy energy behind him. A noble             wearisome hours of chasing
  benefit from her wisdom and ex-                 and god-fearing wife will do her            toddlers.
  perience? Neither her husband,                  husband good all the days of her               According to studies done, it
  nor her children. "It is better to              life - even when they are both              would cost over $75,000 a year
  dwell in the wilderness, than                   aged and gray, and the once                 to pay a wife for all her services
  with a contentious and an angry                 fiery passion has died down to a            rendered. But with the blessings
  woman" (Proverbs 21:19).                        few tender, glowing embers.                 of her children falling on her
CLARITYz  T H E                                     She is the glory of her husband           tired brow like gentle rain, and
  FLAWLESSNESS OF A GEM                           (I Corinthians 11:7). And her hus-          the praise from her husband ring-
     Just as impurities reduce the                band acknowledges this. Prov-               ing in her soul, the virtuous wife
  value of a jewel, so do impurities              erbs 31:28 says that her hus-               feels amply rewarded. She is
  diminish a woman's worth. The                   band praises his wife. This is              well-satisfied with her lot in life.
  virtuous woman has no visible                   reward enough for the virtuous                 Do you know this woman? I
  imperfections. With all her work-               woman. Husbands, may I gently               do. I have seen her many
  ing and serving, it is her husband              remind you what a wonderful                 beautiful faces throughout the
  who is raised to honor in the                   reward this is for your wife -              history of the church. She is the
  gates. "A virtuous woman is a                   that you praise her! Praise from            many-faceted woman in the
  crown to her husband" (Proverbs                 you takes the sting out of house-           church today, too.
  12:4). Her husband is raised to                 work's hard bite; it lightens the             She is a ruby, the rarest and
                                                                                              costliest of gems. 0
                                             -                                           -                                                -



                                             Suicide -
   Contribution
  Mr.  joel Sugg                             Self Murder (1)

    (The following essay was originally           within the believer wherein he              the indefinable dread of a thing
  prepared at the request of a Bible              struggles earnestly to put off the          so appalling and seemingly inex-
  study society in one of our congrega-           old man, his adversary who                  plicable, but also because no sane
  tions as a guide for an after-recess            deceitfully schemes to wrench               man stands on a violent battle-
  discussion. The writer attempted an             the child of God out of the                 field without fear, especially one
  outline but fell into a kind of pro-            sovereign hands of his Father,              who justifiably trembles at his
  vocative meditation. This work was                                                          own inadequacy for the task. It
  not intended for publication, but               were that possible. The burden of
  with this caution, and some minor               these words is to encourage                 might be better that we not even
  editing, it is offered here.)                   believers to confront radically the         talk about it, that we avoid the
     Suicide, like all sin, is not just           sin of suicide, albeit with anguish         issue, abandon the field to fight
  a matter of an overt act. It begins             for some, anxiety for others, and           some other battle. Yet, while the
  in the heart; and although it                   disquiet for us all. It is done in          Preacher in Ecclesiastes cautions
  might not be committed outward-                 the hope of our spiritual growth            that there is a time to be silent,
  ly, it is nevertheless very real                whereby we may become better                he also exhorts that there is a
  within. The child of God is not                 equipped to war against the                 time to speak; and this is the
  immune to the ravages of this sin               vicious sin, whether within our             time to speak of a sin which is
  and for some this sin may be the                own hearts or as manifest in                epidemic throughout the world
  very center of that battlefield                 others whom God has placed us               today, and, when radically de-
                                                  near.                                       fined, is causing great harm to
  Mr. Sugg is a ruling elder in the Prot-           This statement, however bold              the body of Christ. The latter
  estant Reformed Church of Houston,              it may seem, is made with great             problem is our principal subject
  Texas.                                          trembling, not only because of              here.

                                                                                              Jantiary 15, 1990 I The Standard Bearer  I `181


    Suicide is self murder. But -                  not kill," deaf to the law of both       from the truthful reality that, as
 listen well - it is not the murder                mounts, Sinai and Zion. Yet he           the self is more and more emp-
 of the self but the murder by the                 must bear the responsibility for         tied out of the child of God, then
 self of the person whom God has                   his personal disintegration,             that vessel begins to experience
 created. The self is the very seat                because it is being carried out          being filled with true personal
 of the man of sin within us. That                 essentially by words from his            life, a life not only enlivened: and
 man is so seated within ourselves                 own self which he has chosen to          enlightened by the presence of
 that, except we be born again,                    listen to.                               God, but finding its highest per-
 his thoughts are our thoughts, his                   This is not to ignore that the        sonal fulfillment in the ultimacy
 will is our will, his power is our                believer may be under intensive          of God in every particle of its be-
 bondage. The terms self and old                   assault from the outside or that         ing and experience.
 man of sin are used without                       he may be experiencing a                    The word suicide does not ap-
 distinction in this paper.                        peculiar physical illness which          pear in Scripture, but the Bible
    Now in the believer, the                       uniquely produces agonizing              contains at least four instances of
 dominating power of the old man                   depression. When these are pres-         its being carried out in the com-
 has been broken by Jesus' death;                  ent, they must be acknowledged           monly understood meaning, the
 and the new man, born from                        and dealt with. Yet it remains           purposeful taking of one's
 above, is the seat of the power of                the case that if the self is             physical life by one's own ha.nd:
 Christ within him. However, in                    silenced, these other matters can          I Samuel 31:4 . . . Saul took a
 the counsel of God, the old man                   be handled with only a fraction               sword and fell upon it.
 retains great strength as long as                 of the trauma caused when that             II Samuel 17:23  . . . Ahithophel
 the believer is in this world. This               evil-speaking old man within is               saw that his counsel was nlot
 results in a lifelong struggle be-                allowed to amplify upsetting                  followed. . . and hanged him-
tween the drive of the self to sin                 problems to a deafening roar.                 self and died.
and the desire of the new man to                      The battle objective of the old         I Kings 16:18.  . . and Zimri
obey God. The outcome of this                      man is to keep the believer                   burned up the palace and him-
                                                                                                 self
struggle is as certain as the ab-                  focused on his own self at all             Matthew 27.5. . . Judas. . . went
solute sovereignty of God, but its                 times, and thus frustrating the               and hanged himself
course is one of a battle to the                   child of God's steady concentra-            But the heart of the matter lies
death. The self, using weapons of                  tion upon Christ. The old man is         not in these occasions, but in the
flattering strokes, sympathetic                    constantly encouraging "self-            command, "Thou shalt do no
pats, and vicious slashes, is futile-              concern" and dulling the life of         murder." And this commandment
ly but desperately seeking to re-                  the new man within. However              includes the murder of one's own
establish the old chains of Satan                  futilely, he would thwart the in-        person. To know this we need
and to wreck the new bonds of                      exorable purposes of God, which          only read Ezekiel 18:4, "Behold
Christ, or to tear the person apart                are to diminish more and more            all souls are mine . . . ." and
in the process.                                    the strength of self and to fill         Deuteronomy 32:39, ". . . I kill
   This tearing apart is suicide                   the believer more and more with          and I make alive . . . ."
within the heart when the                          Christ.                                    This solemn decree of God is
believer, falling into the black                     At its heart, suicide is the sin-      specifically explained in the
depths of depression, listens to                   ful manifestation of miserable bit-      Heidelberg Catechism in part of
the self and not to God, when his                  terness with any part or all of          its answer to question 105:
ears hungrily feed upon the siren                  one's life. Like all sin, its essence      What does God require in the
song of sympathy for his suffer-                   lies within the person, and one          Sixth Commandment?
ing of injustice, or when he in-                   need not commit this sin out-              . . . that I not harm myselt nor
consolably agrees with the                         wardly to be guilty of it. Suicide       willfully run into any danger.
destructive accusations of his                     is surrendering to self-induced            All creatures and the whole of
own hopeless, sinful condition.                    despair or bitterness and remain-        creation belong to'the great
This renders the believer as good                  ing deaf to the sovereign com-           Creator, who has brought all
as dead, a doleful and useless ser-                mands and uplifting promises of          things into being and brings them
vant of the Lord. In his despair                   God. It has as its companion that        to their end Himself, out of the
he is deceived into believing God                  lying deception that unless the          power and purpose of His
has abandoned him, and he may                      self is served and given place,          sovereign counsel. The dear and
even seek actual death. He turns                   then the vessel can hold nothing.        foundationally true words at the
away in anquish from God's ar-                     This evil pair run for their lives       beginning of the catechism are
resting command, "Thou shalt                       - and finally to their deaths -          that my only comfort in life and

182  / The Standard Bearer I January  15,  1990


death is that I am not my own                 following it there is no opportuni-       those affected are bvstanders
but belong unto my faithful                   ty to confess, to repent, and, fur-       whose emotional wounds will
Savior, Jesus Christ. Man is not              ther, to live in the thankfulness         heal in time? And when this
his own, the lie of the world not-            of loving obedience to our mer-           quandary does arise, isn't calling
withstanding.                                 ciful God. This idea of uniqueness        in professional help, before the
   This sin is one of peculiar                is greatly weakened when we               fact, to remedy the mental or
Scriptural gravity. It is the                 picture at least the possibility of       emotional illness, the responsiblle
unusual case that there is no ac-             the drunkard dying in the crash           and practical answer to the prob-
count in the Bible of a godly per-            of his ill-controlled vehicle, the        lem, much like calling a physi-
son physically taking his own life            glutton choking to death while            cian in case of a critical sickness
in suicide. A study of the lives of           stuffing himself, the fornicator          or injury? Why distress the whole
Saul, Ahithophel, Zimri, and                  suffering a fatal stroke in the           church with this problem when
Judas reveals that they were                  very midst of his fleshly in-             they are really not involved?"
ungodly men whos,e wickedness                 dulgence, or the gossip experi               Their words are smooth, their
preceded, as well as included,                encing heart failure while giving         reasonableness is persuasive, the
their murders at their own hands.             ear to a poisonous morsel. Few            alternatives are uncertain. But
   By contrast, there are at least            of God's people would be guilty           God sends His light to shine upon
four instances of godly men who,              of such gross manifestations of           our vexation, and we hear the
out of their discouragement in                sin, but not one of us is exempt          Lord Himself say:
their calling, solitary desponden-            from any of these sins them-                 Ye have heard that it was said by
cy, excruciating pain, or hatred              selves. It would be presumption           them of old time, Thou shalt not kill,
of life, appealed to God for death,           for a child of God to believe that        and whosoever shall kill shall be in
and they were, along with all ac-             he would never die with uncon-            danger of the judgment. But I say
tual suicides, guilty of the sin of           fessed sin on his heart. Rather           unto you, that whosoever is angry
hopelessness in life. Yet they did            than debate whether taking one's          with his brother without a cause
not take their own lives, and                 life is unique in this way, we            shall be in danger of the judg-
Moses, Elijah, Job, and Jonah                 should fall upon trembling knees,         ment . . . [and]. . . that whosoever
                                                                                        looketh on a woman to lust after  hler
were spared from death in the                 beg forgiveness in repentance for         hath committed adultery with her
time of their testing, although               our own sins, whatever they are,          already in his heart (Matthew 5:21,
each one sought it most earnestly:            and then, in God's strength, walk         22, 28).
  Moses cried, ". . . I am not able to        as if we meant it. Only in the               In his heart! How could we
bear all this people alone . . . kill me      way of presumptuous sin can we            miss that suicide, like all sin, is
if I have found favor in thy sight"           think for a moment that the               foundationally a matter of the
(Numbers 11:1415).
   "                                          great, towering wickedness of             heart within:
    . . . It is enough now, 0 Lord,           another somehow will over-                  For from within, out of the heart
take away my life, " pleaded the              shadow our own shortcomings               of men, proceed evil thoughts,
lonely and fearful Erijah  (I Kings 9:14).    from the just judgment of God.            adulteries,  fornications,  murders,
   Job muttered in anguish, ". . . My                                                   thefts, covetousness, wickedness,
soul chooseth strangling and death              By grace, we receive this
                                                                                        deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye,
rather than life" (Job 7:lS).                 earnest admonition, yet we must           blasphemy, pride, foolishness  - all
   . . . and the sun beat upon the            admit that the dreadful serious-          these evil things come from within
head of Jonah, that he fainted, and           ness of the sin of suicide remains        and defile the man (Mark 7:21-23).
wished himself to die . . . (Jonah            undiminished.                                Is it possible that even a great
4:8b).                                          Now the tactic of Satan is to
   Some might suppose that these              deceive us by leading us to be-           multitude of God's people now
passages of Scripture, and others             little the sin, find the justifying       living are guilty of real and
which show God's loving care of               side of it, treat it as a kind of ill-    damnable suicide, a suicide
His children, tend to support the             ness, or by causing us to follow          within their own hearts? How
idea that no godly person can ac-             a thousand other diverting                many of us are `guilty, and how
tually take his own life. But                 treacheries. So we are not sur-           often are we guilty of this in-
nowhere does the Bible present                prised when the ministers of              sidious destruction of our own
this assumption as incontro-                  Satan, "transformed as the                living persons? Is suicide not only
vertible truth. It is silent on the           ministers of righteousness" (II           physical destruction, but also an
specific question.                            Corinthians 11:15), suggest some          inward resentment against some
   Also offered in support of this            "helpful" questions: "But isn't this      aspect, or the whole of one's own
same supposition is the .argument             a problem that only rarely occ,urs        person, whom God made? 0
that suicide is the unique sin, for                                                                            (to be continued)
                                              in the visible church, and most of

                                                                                        January  15,  1990  I The Standard Bearer I183


                                                   Four Significant Conferences
                                                   Headship Report of the CRC
                                                   The REC loses Another
 All Around Us
 Prof. Robert Decker                                     Member

Four Significant                                     The August l-3 conference will             general subject of this conference
Conferences                                        also offer a range of workshops on           is: "The Person and Work of the
                                                   practical use of the psalms in home          Holy Spirit." Delegates and
    The Calvin Studies Society (of                 and church settings. Copies of the           observers from The Evangelical
which our professors are mem-                      papers presented will be made                Reformed Churches in Singapore,
bers), an international society                    available . . . . The registration, food,    from Australia, New Zealand,
which has as its purpose the                       and lodging fees have been set low           Northern Ireland, England, thle
study of John Calvin and                           enough to encourage family partici-
                                                   pation , . . . The conference provides       U.S. and Canada will be in atten-
Calvinism is sponsoring the "Fifth                 a unique opportunity to meet key             dance, D.V. Further information
Colloquium On Calvin Studies"                      leaders in many of the groups which          on the conference, which will be
on January 19 and 20. The Collo-                   participate in the  Christian Observer       held in our First Church in Grand
quium is hosted this year by                       and to catch up on the life of the           Rapids, will be forthcoming from
Davidson College. Among the                        conservative Reformed  communuity            the Committee For Contact With
subjects to be treated are: "The                   on an informal basis.                        Other Churches. The meetings
Doctrine of the Holy Trinity:                        Further information on the                 will be open to the public.
Gregory of Nazianzen and                           conference may be obtained by
Calvin," "Heinrich Bullinger's                     writing the conference director,             Headship Report
Theology: Thematic, Comprehen-                     Arthur Lamoureux, 209 Tanner                 of the CRC
sive, Schematic," and "Calvin's                    Ave., Warwick, Rhode Island
Doctrine of Eternal Life." Two of                  02886.                                          The long awaited and muclh
our professors, David Engelsma                       Classis West of our PR Churches            anticipated study report on head-
and Herman Hanko, plan to at-                      is sponsoring an officebearers               ship was recently sent to church
tend.                                              conference on March 6 in our                 councils throughout the Christian
   Christian Observer (December                    South Holland, IL PRC. Prof.                 Reformed Church for study and
22, 1989) reports that a Con-                      Robert Decker will present the               reflection before the June, 1990
ference on Psalmody will be held                   opening lecture on the subject,              meeting of that church's synod.
this coming summer at the                          "Preaching in the Reformed                   John Van Dyk (Christian
Bonclarken Assembly Conference                     Tradition." This will be followed            Renewal, Dec. 11, 1989)
Grounds near Hendersonville,                       by several sectionals on various             observes:
North Carolina. Prof. Herman                       aspects of preaching. Among                     While the committee makes sure
Hanko is serving on the planning                   these are: "Preaching from the               to emphasize that it is not a stua!y
committee for this conference                      Old Testament," "Heidelberg                  committee on women  S ordination,
and will also be one of the lec-                   Catechism Preaching," and "Ap-               the implications of their judgments
turers. Prof. Hanko's subject is:                  plicatory Preaching." While the              and conclusions speak resoundingly
                                                                                                in favor of opening all offices to
"The Psalms: A Christian's                         conference is aimed at preachers             women . , . . "The overall sweep of
Biography." We are told that:                      and ruling elders, non-office-               Scripture is toward Christ's restora-
                                                   bearers are cordially invited to             tion of the original order of men and
                                                   attend. There will be no fee.                women living and working side by
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical               The Synod of the PRC is spon-              side, on a par, mutually supporting
Theology in the Protestant Reformed                soring a conference with their               and ministering to each other in  ,pur-
Seminary.                                          sister churches in early June. The           suit of their common task. This is the

184  I The Standard Bearer  I  January  15,1990


biblical sweep . . . . With Jesus the          The Christian Reformed Churches           The Christian Reformed
restoration begins to take place. In         in the Netherlands (CGKN) formally        Churches (CGKN) in the Nether-
Him and through Him the kingdom              withdrew its membership in the            lands is not to be confused with
of God draws near. As a result we            Reformed Ecumenical Council at its        the Christian Reformed Church in
see Him live in a remarkable open-           synod meeting in October. The             North America. The CGKN is the
ness toward women, allowing them             CGKN suspended its membership at          mother church of the Free Re-
to join His band of disciples and            the REC synod in  Harare. The prin-
choosing women to be the first                                                         formed Church in North Americ,a.
                                             cipal reason given was the  CGKN's
heralds of His resurrection. "               differences with the Reformed             Perhaps the reader will recall
  According to Van Dyk the                   Churches in the Netherlands (GKN),        that some of the younger
thrust of the committee's findings           also a member of the REC. The             ministers of this latter denomina-
is that "head" or kephale in the             CGKN believes that the GKN should         tion received their ministerial
Greek is primarily translated in             have been requested to resign from        training at our seminary.
two ways. Some lexicons inter-               the REC, but the REC refused to do          Perhaps the question of what
pret the word to mean "authori-              so. A secondary reason given for          the REC will do with the GKN
ty" while others interpret it to             withdrawal was the alleged politick-      will become moot if the latter
                                             ing going on at  Harare. Although
mean "source of origin." The                                                           church withdraws from the REC
                                             this charge has been denied, the
committee leans toward the                                                             as one of its leading ministers is
                                             committee reporting on the  Harare
meaning "source" or "origin" as                                                        advocating.
                                             synod defended its conclusion. Its
opposed to "authority."                      chair, Rev. P. den Butter, said they        Another interesting question or
  It is not difficult to predict             were "fully convinced" of the truth of    questions is, will there be a re-
where the CRC will go with this              this charge. The synod further            alignment of the more conserva-
report.                                      debated the nature of their future        tive Reformed and Presbyterian
                                             relations with the GKN. Several pro-      churches? If so, will the Prot-
The REC Loses                                posals were made, but a full debate       estant Reformed Churches be in-
                                             and a decision will not come until
Another Member                                                                         vited? Only God knows. Our
                                             the synod's November meeting.             prayer and fervent hope is that
  The Reformed Ecumenical                    (Christian Observer, Dec. 8, 1989)        the Reformed Faith may be pre-
Council lost yet another member                                                        served in this sin-darkened
denomination.                                                                          world. 0




Church                                       Courts Sanction
and State
Mr. lames  Lanting                           Sunday Work Refusals

  "What would Sunday be today if                Sunday Work. Do Christian              working five years for Ithaca
professional football, baseball,              employees have the religious             when, because of production
basketball and tennis were barred.            freedom to refuse work on Sun-           demands, his supervisor asked
Today Sunday is not only a day for            days without fear of being fired         him to work on Sunday. Dean
religion, but for . . . rest, recreation,     or of other employer reprisals?          refused, stating that he could not
business, industry and labor. Such a                                                   work on Sundays because of his
change is not surprising but is dic-          The answer is a qualified yes.
tated by the American way of life. "          Two recent court decisions have          religious beliefs. A few weeks
      Frazee v. Illinois                      expanded the Christian's right to        later Dean was asked a second
      (Illinois Appellate Court, 1987)        refuse Sunday work on the                time to work a Sunday shift. He
                                              grounds of sincerely held                again refused and was promptly
                                             religious beliefs.                        fired. Dean then filed a religious
Mr. Lanting, a member of South                  In the case of E.E.O.C. U.             discrimination claim with the
Holland Protestant Reformed                  Ithaca Industries, Inc. (1989),           Equal Employment Opportunity
Church, is a practicing attorney.            employee Dannel Dean had been             Commission (E.E.O.C.).

                                                                                       January 15, 1990  I The Standard Bearer  /  185


   On appeal, the federal court                   "on the Lords day." Frazee later        clearly had no "state interest suf-
ruled that Ithaca's discharge of                  applied to the state of Illinois for    ficiently compelling to override a
Dean was unlawful. First, the                     unemployment benefits. His ap-          legitimate claim to the free exer-
court held that S703 of the Civil                 plication was denied because he         cise of religion."
Rights Act of 1964; Title VII,                    had "refused an offer for work            Religious Freedom and Sunday
makes it unlawful practice for an                 without good cause." Frazee ap-         Work. In the past, many consci-
employer to discriminate against                  pealed to Illinois courts.              entious Christians lost their jobs
an employee on the basis of his                      The Illinois court opinion con-      and were denied unemployment
or her religion.                                  tained a lengthy discussion of          benefits thereafter because of
   Employer Accommodation.                        modern Sabbath day observance           their principled refusal to work
Secondly, the court held that                     in America (see quote above),           on Sunday. Surely a believer
S701 of the same Act requires an                  held that "if all Americans were        should always be prepared to
employer to make reasonable ac-                   to abstain from working Sunday,         make this profound sacrifice
commodations to the religious                     chaos would result," and accord-        rather than to violate the Fourth
beliefs and practices of its                      ingly ruled against Frazee.             Commandment. But for now,
employees. Moreover, the burden                      But the U.S. Supreme Court,          Christian workers may be pleased
is on the employer to offer such                  overruling the Illinois court, un-      to know it is unlawful for an
accommodations, so long as this                   equivocally held that the denial        employer to discharge or ta:ke
does not result in "undue hard-                   of Frazee's unemployment                any other measures against a
ship" for the employer. Ithaca                    benefits constituted a violation of     Christian because he refuses to
had the duty to offer such accom-                 the free exercise clause of the         work Sundays. On the contrary,
modation, said the court, even in                 First Amendment. The Court              the employer has the burden to
the face of Dean's absolute                       ruled that "since Frazee unques-        take specific action short of "un-
refusal to work Sunday shifts.                    tionably had a sincere belief that      due hardship" to accommodate
   But what kind of accommoda-                    his religion prevented him from         reasonably an objector's sincerely
tions must an employer offer                      doing such work," he could not          held religious beliefs regarding
when confronted by a worker                       be denied unemployment                  work on the Lord's day.
who refuses Sunday work? The                      benefits.                                 The right to work and the
court suggested that the                            Personal Religious Beliefs. The       freedom of religion are precious
employer may look to other                        Supreme Court's decision to             liberties  - liberties which people
shifts to find a substitute worker,               honor Frazee's religious convic-        of many countries no longer en-
advertise for qualified substitutes,              tions regarding Sunday work is          joy today. And perhaps in the
permit shift transfers, or en-                    especially noteworthy because           not too distant future we will be
courage the employee to post his                  Frazee did not belong to a              denied these freedoms also. But
own notices at the workplace in                   church or sect that opposed Sun-        meanwhile, as Reformed citizens,
an attempt to secure a replace-                   day work. In other words, to re-        we have the right and duty to
ment. The employer's failure to                   quire protection under the First        assert these freedoms which pro-
initiate such accommodations                      Amendment a religious belief            tect our jobs and livelihood. We
constitutes religious discrimina-                 must be "sincere," but it need not      also should thank God for thle
tion in violation of Title VII of                 be a "tenet or dogma of an              liberties we still enjoy and clan-
the Civil Rights Act.                             established religious sect."            tinue praying for our government
   Freedom of Religion - First                    Frazee's personal religious belief      leaders "that God may rule and
Amendment. In the more recent                     regarding Sunday work, when             guide them in all their ways that
case of Frazee u. Illinois (1989),                "sincerely held," was worthy of         we may lead a quiet and peace-
the U.S. Supreme Court ruled                      protection under the Constitution.      able life in all godliness and
that Illinois' denial of unemploy-                  Finally, the Supreme Court was        honesty" (Art. 23, Belgic Confes-
ment benefits to an unemployed                    duly unimpressed with the Illinois      sion). 0
person who refused employment                     Court's opinion that ascribed
requiring Sunday work violated                    great significance to "America's
the free exercise clause of the                   weekend way of life." Nor was           In His love I am abiding,
First Amendment. William Frazee                   the Supreme Court persuaded of            Ev'rything to Him confiding;
refused a temporary retail posi-                  the lower court's fear that "if all     `Neath His wing my soul is
tion offered him because the job                  Americans were to abstain from               .hiding,  -
required him to work on Sunday.                   working on Sunday, chaos would            He is all in all to me.
Frazee told the employer that, as                 result." On the contrary, the                                        S.B.:, 1928
a Christian, he could not work                    Supreme Court held that Illinois

186  / The Standard Bearer  I January  15,199O


                                        The Footsteps of
                                        Our Lord as
Guest Article
Rev. Rodney Miersma                     Heard in New Zealand

  Christ is coming! This is a truth       As you read these words we             Whereas in the days of Noah,
which every child of God knows,         will be living in a new year. We       even though surrounded by
yet so often ignores as he is           will have left another decade, the     water, the ungodly scoffed at the
caught up on the whirlwind of to-       80's, behind us, the new decade        idea of a flood whereby they
day's fast life. It has been so long    of the 90's having been ushered        would be destroyed, so also to-
ago that He was taken from us in        in. In another ten years, in A.D.      day, even though surrounded b:y
a cloud to heaven that we do not        2000, we begin another century,        fire, men scoff at the truth that
daily live in living hope of His        and another millennium. Almost         by fire will God destroy the pres-
return. However, the Lord will          two thousand years have elapsed        ent creation. Here in New
not let us forget. He has given us      since Christ ascended to glory.        Zealand we have ample
many signs that show that He            Scoffers have therefore risen in       testimony of the nearness of fire,
will come again in judgment, so         these last days to say, "Where is      destructive fire. We are quite
destroying the wicked and this          the promise of his coming? for         aware that deep within the earth
present world and thereby bring-        since the fathers fell asleep, all     the earth's core consists of
ing about the final realization of      things continue as they were           molten rock. When under
God's covenant with His people          from the beginning of the crea-        tremendous pressure this molten
as He gathers them unto Himself         tion" (II Peter 3:4).                  rock finds a weak spot in the
in the new earth and the new              0, but they are ignorant, will-      earth's crust it breaks forth in
heavens where He shall taber-           ingly ignorant; for all things have    volcanic fury. The central part of
nacle with them evermore.               not continued as they were from        the northern island of New
  In this article we will take note     the beginning of time. No, the         Zealand is such a weak spot.
of these signs, these footsteps of      first world perished, being over-      Auckland, the largest city, has
Christ, as they are heard in New        flowed with water. That was the        hills, mountains, and craters
Zealand. In this way you will           first judgment, the typical judg-      caused by some 48 volcanoes.
learn a little more about our little    ment of the final judgment. In         Midway between Auckland and
country on the other side of the        that final judgment the heavens        the capital city of Wellington are
world while at the same time we         and the earth shall be destroyed,      large mountains formed by
might create within all of us an        not by water, but by fire. "But        volcanoes, mountains which are
awareness of the nearness of our        the heavens and the earth, which       expected to erupt again, even
redemption for "when these              are now, by the same word are          now periodically smoking and
things begin to come to pass,           kept in store, reserved unto fire      steaming. "On a world scale,
then look up, and lift up your          against the day of judgment and        New Zealand's volcanoes rank as
heads; for your redemption              perdition of ungodly men . . . .       some of the most devastating. Of
draweth nigh" (Luke 21:28).             But the day of the Lord will           the 53 biggest known eruptions
                                        come as a thief in the night; in       in the earth's history, one quarter
                                        which the heavens shall pass           have been in New Zealand' (The
                                        away with a great noise, and the       Evening Post, Oct. 28, 1989).
                                        elements shall melt with fervent         This same area is also known
Rev. Miersma is pastor of the Prot-     heat, the earth also and the           for its many geysers, hot springs,
estant Reformed Church of New           works that are therein shall be        and hot, bubbling mud pools
Zealand.                                burned up" (II Pet. 3:7, 10).          much like the ones in Yellow-

                                                                               January  15,199O  / The Standard Bearer  /  I87


stone National Park. Huge under-                  assured that "all these things         BEARER I have included an in-
 ground pools of superheated                      must come to pass" (Matt. 24:6).       vitation to come over and meet
water are tapped as geothermal                    Whereas the ungodly are filled         your fellow saints on the other
 energy for the production of elec-               with fear, yea, even terrified, the    side of the world. After reading
tricity.                                          child of God recognizes the hand       about earthquakes and volcanoes
    What causes these weak spots                  of his Savior shaking the nations      your zeal and enthusiasm to, do
through which molten magma                        as a precursory sign of judgment       so may be correspondingly
can burst through and which ex-                   upon the wicked. These are signs       dampened. However, as we live
plains why whole areas are                        of assurance confirming Christ's       and visit in the way of the Lord
covered by geysers and hot                        promise to come again to judge         we are assured that we are
pools? The surface of the whole                   the quick and the dead. Fearful        always in the hand of our cove-
world is divided into vast and                    judgment, this will be, for the        nant God and Father. It is truly
moving plates. The lines that                     ungodly reprobate, but salvation,      exciting to see and feel these un-
divide these plates are the weak                  redemption, public justification       mistakable signs of Christ's com-
points. Such a'line you have run-                 and vindication of Christ and His      ing again, to hear His footsteps
ning the length of California,                    people.                                loudly and clearly.
along which line is San Francisco                    This has been the Word of God          It is our prayer that this little
which was recently shaken by an                   to His people all through history.     insight to New Zealand will not
earthquake. New Zealand is a                      That fact is driven into our minds     only provide you with some in-
chain of islands thrust up from                   and hearts presently as we study       formation, but that in the light of
the ocean bed along such a line.                  the Minor Prophets in our Bible        Gods holy Word it may fill you
The fault surrounds the Pacific                   Study. Over and over the people        with comfort in that you are not
Ocean where the continental                       of God would turn away from            your own but belong unto your
blocks press against the plate                    their Maker so that God would          faithful Savior Who shakes the
which holds the sea. Because of                   chastise them by sending op-           earth unto the salvation of all of
its volcanic nature, this boundary                pressing enemies. But God              His own Who have been pur-
is sometimes called the Pacific                   always sent His Word by His            chased by His precious blood. As
Ring of Fire. Thus in New                         prophets who promised salvation        a little congregation we ex-
Zealand one is literally living on                which would come by way of             perienced this comforting and
top of a very powerful sign and                   judgment upon their enemies.           strengthening truth in a very par-
significant footstep of our Lord.                 Many times this announcement of        ticular way when in October the
   It is along these same fault                   judgment would include the             Lord took unto glory our felllow
lines that one hears yet another                  "shaking of the nations" pointing      saint and officebearer, Elder An-
footstep of Christ in the form of                 to the final shaking of the whole      ton Vooys. Even though we feel
earthquakes. Volcanoes and                        creation in the final judgment.        this loss keenly, yet we go for-
earthquakes go hand in hand. In                     These prophets would also            ward in faith knowing that our
New Zealand there are in an                       point out the sins of the people       faithful Savior will be with us
average year about 60 to 100                      and call them to repentance.           even unto His return. May ylou
earthquakes of Richter                            Many times the sins of those in        continue to remember us before
magnitudes 4 to 5, 10 to 20 with                  high places stood out. How true        His throne of grace. 0
magnitudes of 5 to 6, and 1 of                    that is also today, all over the
magnitude 6 or more. In com-                      world, including the little country
parison San Francisco experi-                     of New Zealand. The locals call         THEN SHALL I  JdCbW
enced one of 6.9.                                 New Zealand "Godzone" because                     (I Cor. 13:12)
   Since arriving in this country                 of its incomparable beauty; but
we have felt numerous quakes,                     that is far from the truth with        Not till the loom is silent,
since the fault runs but a few                    respect to the populace as a             And the shuttles cease to fly,
miles from our house. One feels                   whole and with respect to those        Shall God unroll the canvas,
the tremendous power of the                       in high places in particular. In         And explain the reason why
Almighty while at the same time                   this we are no different than any      The dark threads are as needful,
experiencing utter helplessness to                other country. We live in days           In the Weaver's skilful hand.
do anything about the shaking.                    when "iniquity shall abound'           As the threads of gold and silver
Terra firma does not seem so                      (Matt. 24:12) because "the days          In the pattern He has planmed.
firm and indestructible anymore.                  are evil" (Eph. 5:16).                                              S.B., 1930
What comfort to be able to turn                     Each time that I have written
to the Scriptures and be re-                      an article in The STANDARD

188  / The Standard Bearer  I January  15,199O


 The Day                                 A Small Beginning
Of Shadows
Rev.  john Heys                          of the New Obedience

  When Adam and Eve ate a                fession of sin. Running away            He make a mistake? Was He mis-
piece of fruit of the tree of            from God when they heard Him            interpreting His word to Adam,
knowledge of good and evil, it           coming into the garden was not          when He told him that the day
may have looked to us as a               an evidence of remorse and              he sinned he would die?
minor sin. It may even look              hatred of their sinful deed. In all        Then, too, instead of running
strange that a "little sin" like this    this they showed absolutely no          to God to express sorrow for
should call for death and ever-          love for God but only for self. In      their sins, Adam and Eve ran
lasting punishment in the lake of        no way did their actions reveal         away and were trying to defend
fire. But if we realize that it was      that they now realized that what        themselves in their sins. They
an act of hatred against God; a          they called good was spiritually        made fig-leaf aprons to try to
denial of His right to forbid man        evil, and that the tree was God's       escape the punishment of sin, but
to do this or that; an act whereby       word as to what is spiritually          not to escape acting as sinners;
man sought to dethrone God;              good and evil for man.                  They were not trying to run
and, as the devil told them                Yes, Adam and Eve were only           away from the devil. In fact, they
through the serpent, an act              adding to their sin, not striving to    did not run to the devil to rebuk:e
whereby they sought to become            get away from sin. They sought          him and to tell him that they
gods; we can then see that "little       to get away from God. Cornered          hated him for leading them into
sin" as a shadow of all the god-         by God, and finding out that they       this sin. They even dared to talk:
lessness, violence, and cruelty          could not hide from Him, Adam           back to the almighty, sovereign
that is in the world today. We           did say, "I heard Thy voice in the      God, rather than point out to the
can also see that this sin was a         garden, and I was afraid, because       devil what a liar and deceiver he
shadow of what the man of sin,           I was naked; and I hid myself."         is. They ran to hide from God but
the coming antichrist, will bring        This was not a confession of sin.       not to hide from Satan so that he
into this world.                         Hatred of the punishment that sin       could lead them no further into
  Consider also the fact that they       calls for is to be found also in the    sin.
did not make fig-leaf aprons             devil and in all the fallen angels        And let us not water down and
because they felt the shame of           and in the seed of the serpent.         twist God's words when He told
having sinned against God, or            That hatred in no way and to no         the devil that He, get that, HE,
because they still loved Him.            degree proves a partial depravity,      and not man, would put enmity
They did not fall into partial but       but instead reveals a total             in the heart of the woman and
into total depravity. They died          depravity. It reveals spiritual         her seed. The awesome truth
spiritually that day, and did not        death and not merely spiritual          here is that man did not have
simply become seriously sick             weakness.                               any of that hatred against sin and
spiritually. They were deeply              Shall we call Paul a liar when        the seed of the serpent. Thus the
concerned about getting away             he wrote in Ephesians 2:l and 5         truth that he did become
from the punishment of that sin,         that not only the Ephesians but         spiritually dead is found in God's
but not from sin itself. Making          we - himself included - are             words to the devil. God promised
fig-leaf aprons was not a confes-        spiritually dead in sins and not        to put into man that which he no
sion of sin or even a partial con-       simply weak in them? When God           longer had: love for God and
                                         moved David and led him to              hatred for sin. And we sin today
                                         write in Psalm 51:5 that he was         when we deny God's word that
Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in      shapen in iniquity, and that in sin     man died spiritually the day
the Protestant Reformed Churches.        his mother conceived him, did           Adam sinned, and that we all

                                                                                 January 15, 1990  I The Standard Bearer  / 189


come into this world completely                   where an idol was worshiped, to         sions we see what man can do,
incapable of doing anything                       have such implicit trust in             not simply in breaking the sec-
pleasing in God's sight. Go back                  Jehovah, the only true God. And         ond table of the law in the im-
to Ephesians 2: 1. Paul, and God                  here is a man already seventy-          morality and adultery of today,
through him, states that we were                  five years old and unable thus far      in the murder of abortion and in
dead in trespasses and sins. He                   to have a son born unto him. Yet        killing to get earthly possessions
does not say "dead because of                     he has full confidence in God's         or in violent anger, in the theft,
trespasses and sins." They were                   promise to make him a great na-         deceit, and covetousness, but
not physically dead when Paul                     tion, and that in him all families      also in disregarding the first table
wrote to them, but they were                      of the earth shall be blessed. He       of the law even in the church
certainly spiritually dead. And                   is sure that every letter in the        world! What a lot of devilish false
God promised spiritual life, when                 words of Gods promise will be           doctrines are defended and wide-
He promised to put enmity in                      fulfilled.                              ly propagated today! And th.e
them over against the devil and                      However, that sin of Adam            walk of life of "believers" is
his host.                                         cast a shadow of what Abraham           allowed in many circles to ble no
   But what we are coming to,                     did after arriving in Canaan and        different from that of the most
and should take hold of us as the                 after dwelling there briefly. As        ungodly and immoral persons in
truth that our holy God presents                  pointed out, even though a child        the world of entertainment. The
to us in Scripture, is that when                  of God receives the beginning of        church's music, sad to say, rnust
Adam and Eve fell into sin, we                    a new spiritual life, he retains        be like the worlds. Instead of ad-
have a shadow of the world of                     that old man of sin. And in all         vocating a walk like that of those
sin into which even the elect,                    Gods reborn children we are go-         who are called "the heroes of
born again children of God, will                  ing to find sin. Adam's sin was a       faith," presented in Hebrews 11
time and again fall because of                    shadow of the sin that appears in       (a better name would be "The
their old, sinful nature which                    every human being who comes             giants of faith"), churches some-
they received from Adam.                          into this world, with the excep-        times fail to condemn worshiping
   As we considered last time,                    tion of Christ Whose Father is the      the ungodly "heroes of unbelief"
Abraham is presented to us in                     almighty and holy God. That old,        and enjoy them in their sins.
Genesis 12 as a reborn child of                   sinful nature remains in us until         Let us not call Adam's sin a
God who was called, that is, com-                 we die. That new principle of           "minor misdemeanor." Let u.s see
manded, by God to leave his                       spiritual life we keep everlastingly    it as an awesome shadow of all
country, kinsmen and father, and                  by God's grace. And that we find        the antichristian godlessness and
that he obeyed Him and went                       Abraham sinning in Genesis 12 -         devilish behavior of man ever
from Haran to the land of Ca-                     the same chapter in which we            since that day. And let us see it
naan. Now, leaving his country is                 have presented to us his strong         as that which tells us what still
one thing. Leaving his kinsmen                    and amazing faith - reveals that        lies ahead of us.
can be much harder. But leaving                   we do have a constant struggle            Look then at Abraham's sin as
his father was far more difficult,                in this life, and will not get the      well as at Adam's. Even as
even though he did have a wife                    victory over sin until God              Adam, seeing his nakedness,
to take along, and did take the                   separates our souls from our sin-       made himself a fig-leaf apron to
son of his brother with him. Not                  ful flesh the moment that we die.       hide his sin, and did not try to
only did he go to a far away                        We do well, therefore, to take        get rid of the sin by running to
country, but he did that when he                  note of the fact also that sin          God for salvation, so Abraha.m,
knew absolutely nothing about                     always leads to more sin. What          instead of coming to God in
where God wanted him to go. It                    Adam and Eve did may seem               prayer and asking Him whether
turned out to be a land where                     mild in comparison with what            he should go to Egypt for food,
the seed of the serpent far out-                  man has done since - that is,           follows the desires of his flesh.
numbered the seed of the                          mild in man's eyes, not in Gods.        He let go of that promise of God
woman. But he trusted complete-                   Their sin was terrible in light of      and did not continue to put lhis
ly in God. He was sure that he                    what it brings all of us, not simp-     trust in Him. How many Ca-
would be brought to the right                     ly as far as punishment is con-         naanites survived that faminse?
place, and that God would fulfill                 cerned, but also as far as what it      Was that famine so serious, when
His promise.                                      brings forth in us today. What a        there is an almighty God, and we
   What a gift of faith that was!                 wicked world this is wherein we         have His promise?
What a gift of grace it was for a                 live today! With all men's latest         This sin made it necessary for
man, brought up in a house                        inventions and earthly posses-          him to commit the next sin of ly-

190  / The Standard Bearer  I January  15,199O


ing about his wife, calling her his       But do not seek comfort in            Hell-hot. God speaks, and winds
sister. Here too, like Adam's and       that shadow. Get out into the              of judgment tear away
Eve's sin, which brought no             light and let the new principle of      Life's fragile trappings. Now great
physical pain or violence to any        life show you Gods Son as our              mountains sway
other person, it did not seem to        complete Savior. He is the Light        As violent tremors shake Earth
be a grievous sin. Yet we do well       of the World (John 812) and in            to its very core.
to take hold of the truth that in       Him is the light of life. Do not try    Creation, dying, groans and
God's eyes there is no sin that is      to cover your sins, but run to            trembles for deliverance once
not grievous. Did not their sin         God and His Son and pray for               more.
bring death and a slippery slide        strength to fight the good fight of     Above the raucous wailing of the
into hell? That all comes out of        faith. In the days that lie ahead          drunkards song,
their sin of listening to the devil     we will need that as surely as          The martyred souls `neath
and of not running away from            Adam and Abraham did. For in              Heaven's altar cry, "How
him in hatred towards him for           us also is but a small beginning          long?"
suggesting to them that they            of that new obedience. Cl               "How long?" we echo, "`til this
deny and oppose God!                                                              weariness, this sin-dark night
  And as far as Abraham was                                                        is past?"
concerned, we have a reborn                         New Year                    He answers yet again. Walls that
child of God falling into sin and       Time's page is lifted, torn away,          have long imprisoned men
revealing the truth that the life of      discarded once again,                    now fall,
God's born-again child still has a                                              And through all lands the White
constant and difficult struggle         And worldlings celebrate the               Horse rides triumphant. Hear
with the flesh.                           passing of its grief and pain,           the Gospel's call.
  Adam's sin cast a shadow of           Toasting a better year to come.         Many are gathered from all
what all men are going to do -            He lifts the tattered page and           nations to the Holy Life,
with the exception of Christ,             takes it up,
                                        For it is His, Who numbered all         While others, hearing, rise in
Who came in our flesh with a                                                       enmity and strife
sinless, holy life as the Second          its days. Beside Him also rests       To quench this fire that burns
Person of the holy.Trinity in our         a cup.                                  and purifies.
flesh. Abraham's sin was a              Now nearing fullness, its foul          The increase of a poisoned land
shadow of what sins we will find          content foams and churns                 grows smaller. Noxious gases
in believers as long as they are        And spews a vile stench-until His         cloud once azure skies,
on this earth.                            anger burns                                                    (continued on  pop   178)




                                        News From
Mr. Benjamin Wigger                     Our Churches

                   January  15,199O     ship in Larne, Northern Ireland         asked if there are any con-
MISSION ACTIVITIES -                    for a period of approximately           sistories in our own churches
  Rev. Ken Hanko, along with            nine months. However, due to            who would be willing to release
his family, returned home to Nor-       difficulties in .Norristown, Rev.       their pastors for a period of a
ristown, PA in the middle of            Hanko returned home earlier             month to six weeks between the
December. You may remember              than expected.                          first of January and Synod
that Rev. Hanko was on loan to            We can also report that there         meeting in June, to help carry on
the Covenant Reformed Fellow-           is a group of about 40 people, in-      the work started by Rev. Hanko.
                                        cluding 19 children, which make           Currently Rev. Kortering has
                                        up the group in Larne. Because          consented to go to Larne, for a
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Hud-      of this interest, the Committee for     period of seven weeks, beginning
sonville Protestant Reformed Church.    Contact with Other Churches has         the middle  of January.

                                                                                January  15,199O  I The Standard Bearer  I  1191


i                                                                                                                                     -
            7HE
          STANDARD                                                                                                 SECOND  C-LAss
           BEARER                                                                                                  Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                   Grand Rapids, Mic:higan

           /?O. Box 6064
          Grand Rapids, MI 49506



          CHURCH ACTIVITIES                                 ville P.R.C. in GrandviIIe, MI        peared in the December issue! of
             The Choral Society of the Hud-                 distributed a letter to their con-    the Heritage Heralder, a publiica-
          sonville P.R.C. in Hudsonville, MI                gregation explaining a project to     tion of Heritage Christian Sch0 0 1
          presented their annual Christmas                  raise money for a new piano, for      in Hudsonville, MI, written by
          program on December 10 in their                   their soon-to-be-completed            Gerald Kuiper, administrator.
          church auditorium.                                church auditorium.                       1. 75% of all the worlds in
             There also seems to be a surge                 CONGREGATIONAL                              formation has occurred c)r
          of young people's activities in                   HIGHLIGHTS                                  been articulated in the past
          many of our church bulletins this                   Rev. K. Koole was the speaker             25  years.
          time of year. The Jr. Young                       at the annual Young People's             2. Information to man doutrles
          People's Society of the Southwest                 Christmas Mass Meeting held at              every  2% years.
          P.R.C. in Crandville, MI spon-                    the Faith P.R.C. in Jenison, MI on       3. 90% of information tauglht
          sored a pancake breakfast in ear-                 December 17.                                to children who entered
          ly December to raise money for                      The Federation Board of our               school in September 198;8
          this year's convention. The                       churches' Young People's                    and who graduate in 20C
          Young People's Society of the                     Societies also invited everyone             will have been created a
          Hope P.R.C. in Redlands, CA                       from congregations in the West              1988.
          sponsored a Rummage Sale to                       Michigan area to join together          As we enter the last decade
          cover this year's convention ex-                  and participate in a Christmas        before the 21st century, we 1~:
          penses as well. And the Young                     Singspiration held at the Hudson-     to be aware that the signs of (
          People's Society of the Doon                      ville P.R.C. also on December 17.     Lord's return are everywhere,
          P.R.C. in Doon, IA had a rather                   MINISTERIAL CALLS                     even in man's refusal to give (
          unique idea for a fund raiser. At                   The Consistory of the Hope          the praise and honor for the
          least it's a project that I had not               P.R.C. in Isabel, S.D. presented a    wonder of His creation, and tl
          heard of before. All young people                 trio to their congregation con-       knowledge that it contains. El
          were urged to give of their time                  sisting of the Revs. Key, FIik-
          to pick up corn.                                  kema, and T. Miersma. They
             Being a city boy, I asked one                  were to call a pastor from that       RESOLUTION OF  SYMPATIH
     t    of my fellow members in Hud-                      group on December 26.                    The  Cdnsistory and  Congrt
          sonville,  who has his roots in                     And from a trio of the Revs. R.     tion of the  Edgerton Protest;
          Iowa corn, just what that meant,                  Dykstra, M. DeVries, and S.           Reformed Church express the
          and he told me that a group will                  Houck, the congregation of the        heartfelt sympathy to Mrs.
          get together and glean a picked                   Randolph P.R.C. in Randolph, WI       Verna Buys, Harley and  Marl
          corn field. They can have all the                 has extended a call to Rev. R.        Buys and family, David Buys
          corn the corn picker "leaves                      Dykstra.                              Cal Buys, and other relatives
          behind." They can then take this                    The congregation of the Peace       whose husband, father, and
          corn and sell it at market value                  P.R.C. in Lynwood, IL has ex-         grandfather, MR. WILLIAM
          and keep the profit. I would also                 tended a call to the Rev. S.          BUYS, was taken by the  Lore
          assume that these funds were                      Houck, presently serving as           his heavenly home on
          raised for this year's convention.                home missionary to our                November  30,1989.
             And finally, the Young Adult                   churches.                                May they experience the
          Society of the Southeast P.R.C. in                SCHOOL ACTIVITIES                     blessed truth that: "It is of tl
          Grand Rapids, MI sponsored an                       Covenant Chr. High School           LORD'S mercies that we are
          evening of volleyball and pizza at                presented their annual Christmas      consumed, because His  con111
          Covenant Chr. High School on                      Band and Choir Concert on             sions fail not. They are new
          December 1.                                       December 14 at the Hudsonville        every morning: great is Thy
            The Consistory of the Grand-                    P.R.C.                                faithfulness." (Lamentations
                                                              The following items were            3:22, 23)
                                                            taken from an article which ap-       Rev. Michael  DeVries, Pres.
                                                                                                  Allen Hendriks, Clerk

          192  I The Standard Bearer  I January  15,199O


