A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Magazine             .BBR
                             m





Vol.  66,  No.  Y
February 7, 1990


 Contents                                                   February I,? 990                 THE
                                                                                        SE4lVD~
Meditation  -  Rev.  lames  b. Slopsema
   THE  IMMPOSSIBILITY  OF A RICH                                                           BRER
   MAN ENTERING THE KINGDOM                                                      195     ISSiJ 0362-4692
Editorial - Prof. David ). Engelsma                                                     Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
                                                                                        and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
   THE TASK OF THE PRC WITH THEIR SEMINARY (3)                                   197    lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
                                                                                        at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
LETTERS                                                                                 POSTMASTER:  Send address changes to The
                                                                                 i99    Standard Bearer, P.O. Box  6064, Grand Rapids, MI
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The Reader Asks  . , .  - Rev. Cornelius Hanko                                          EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
   DEFENSE OF "PRO-LIFE"                                                         200    Editor: Prof. David  J. Engelsma
                                                                                        Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                        Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
Contribution  - Mr.  loel  D. Sugg                                                      DEPARTMENT EDITORS
  SUICIDE                                                                               Rev. Ronald  Cammenga.  Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
               - SELF MURDER (2)                                                 202    Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
                                                                                        Critters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
Search the Scriptures  - Rev.  Cise  1.  VanBaren                                       Hanko. Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John  Heys,  Rev.
                                                                                        Kenneth  Koole,  Rev. Jason Kortering, Mr. James
   "NOW, A WORD ABOUT MYSELF..  ."                                               205    Lanting,  Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs.  Marybeth  Lob-
                                                                                        bers, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev. Charles Terpstra,
                                                                                        Rev. Gise  VanBaren,  Rev. Ronald  VanOverloop,
Guest Article  - Rev. Kenneth W. Hanko                                                  Mr. Benjamin Wigger, Rev. Bernard  Woudenberg.
   REPORT ON WORK IN NORTHERN IRELAND                                            207    EDITORIAL OFFICE              CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
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   EXPOSITION OF ISAIAH 6 (1)                                                    208    EDITORIAL POLICY
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The Strength of Youth  - Rev. Barrett L. Critters                                       terest from our readers and questions for The
   THE END TIMES (2):                                                                   Reader Asks Department are welcome. Contribu-
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   THE SIGN OF DIVORCING THE TRUTH                                               210    and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
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   ABORTION AND EVOLUTION                                                        213    editorial office.
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REPORT OF CLASSIS EAST - Mr. Jon).  Huisken                                      213    articles in our magazine by other publications,
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194  I The Standard Bearer  / February 1, 1990


                                      The  Impossibility  of  a
                                      Rich  Man  Entering
Meditation
Rev. /ames Slopsem                    the  Kingdom

   Then said Jesus unto his             But impossible as that may be,        Jesus spoke of the kingdom of
disciples, Verily I say unto you,     it is nevertheless easier for a       God and the kingdom of heaven.
That a rich man shall hardly          camel to pass through the eye of      These are not two different
enter into the kingdom of             a needle than for a rich man to       kingdoms, but are one and the
heaven.                               enter into the kingdom of             same. This kingdom is the
  And again I say unto you, It        heaven.                               glorious kingdom God has
is easier for a camel to go             This can only mean that it is       established in heaven at the
                                      forever impossible for a rich man     ascension of Jesus.
through the eye of a needle,          to enter into the kingdom of God.       God promised this kingdom to
than for a rich man to enter          This was Jesus' instruction to His    His people already in the Old
into the kingdom.                     disciples.                            Testament. He gave them an
   When his disciples heard it,         Just prior to this instruction      earthly picture of this kingdom
they were exceedingly                 Jesus had been confronted with        through the kingdom He
amazed, saying, Who then can          the question of the rich young        established for Israel in the land
be saved?                             ruler of the synagogue, "Good         of Canaan.
  But Jesus beheld them, and          Master, what good thing shall I         Both John the Baptist and
said unto them, With men this         do, that I may have eternal life?"    Jesus spoke of this kingdom in
is impossible; but with God all         Jesus' answer to this young         their ministries, proclaiming it
things are possible.                  man was, "Go and sell that thou       was at hand.
                                                                              This kingdom has been
               Matthew  1923-26       hast, and give to the poor, and
                                      thou shalt have treasure in           established on the basis of Jesus'
                                      heaven."                              atoning death on the cross. For
  Take a sewing needle; take the        When the young man heard            that reason all the blessings of
largest needle you can find. Look     that saying, he went away sor-        salvation belong to this kingdom
at the eye of this needle. Many of    rowful: for he had great posses-      and its citizens.
us have a rather difficult time       sions.                                  Although this kingdom was
passing a strand of thread              In response to this, Jesus          established at Christ's ascension
through that eye.                     turned to His disciples and taught    into heaven, it is not yet com-
  Now imagine trying to get a         them a very important truth in        plete. The kingdom will not be
camel to pass through the eye of      conjunction with what they had        complete until the coming again
that needle. "Totally impossible,"    just witnessed.                       of Christ from heaven.
you say? "How absurd even to            A rich man shall hardly enter         Jesus spoke of entering this
try such a thing"? Of course. It's    into the kingdom of heaven. In        kingdom.
impossible for a camel to pass        fact, it is easier for a camel to       We enter the kingdom when-
through the eye of a needle.          pass through the eye of a needle      ever we enjoy the blessings of
                                      than for a rich man to enter into     the kingdom, which are the bless-
                                      the kingdom of God.                   ings of salvation. That means that
                                        When the disciples heard this,      we are able to enter the kingdom
                                      they were exceedingly amazed.         already in this life. It is true, of
Rev. Slopsema is pastor of Hope       Are we perhaps also amazed at         course, that the kingdom is in
Protestant Reformed Church of         this truth?                           heaven and we are yet on the
Walker, Michigan.                     *  *  *  *  *  *  *  ;k  *  *

                                                                            February  1,199O I The Standard Bearer  / 195


earth. Yet, by faith in Jesus                     sider, for example, Abraham,           portant to him than eternal life.
Christ we are able to enjoy even                  Job, David, Solomon . . . .               Such like shall not enter into
now the riches and salvation of                     If we will find who the rich are     the kingdom of heaven so long
the kingdom and in a very real                    of whom Jesus- spoke we must           as they continue to put their trust
way enter into the kingdom.                       turn to a parallel passage. Mark       in riches: not in this life, not at
   We enter into the kingdom                      in his gospel also records this        the moment of death, not in the
more fully at the moment of                       same instruction of Jesus. There       day of final judgment.
death. For in death the soul of                   Jesus defined the rich as those           It is easier for a camel to pass
the child of God is glorified by                  who put their trust in riches. For,    through the eye of a needle than
God in heaven where the child of                  according to Mark, Jesus said,         for these to enter the kingdom.
God enjoys the blessings of the                   "Children, how hard is it for           *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
kingdom as he never could dur-                    them that trust in riches to enter
ing his earthly pilgrimage.                       into the kingdom of God! It is            In light of this truth, entering
   Finally, we enter into the                     easier for a camel to go through       the kingdom is totally impossible
kingdom in the full sense in the                  the eye of a needle, than for a        from the viewpoint of man's
day of Christ's return. For then                  rich man to enter into the king-       ability.
every child of God will be                        dom of God" (Mark lo:24 & 25).            This was the conclusion of the
brought body and soul into the                      How often do not men put             disciples. Upon hearing that it is
kingdom in its completed form to                  their trust in riches!                 easier for a camel to go through
enjoy the salvation of God in all                   There are essentially two            the eye of a needle than for a
its fulness.                                      things that everyone seeks in life:    rich man to enter the kingdom,
  According to Jesus a rich man                   security and happiness. In the         the disciples were exceedingly
can not enter into the kingdom.                   midst of a life filled with so many    amazed and said, "Who then can
It is easier for a camel to go                    uncertainties, everyone is looking     be saved?"
through the eye of a needle, than                 for something to provide him              No doubt the disciples'
for a rich man to enter into the                  with safety and security. And,         response was prompted by
kingdom.                                          closely connected to that,             something they saw in them-
  Who are the rich of whom                        everyone is looking for joy and        selves. Although none of them
Jesus spoke?                                      happiness.                             possessed any wealth to speak of,
  The rich are not merely those                     Many find this safety and joy        they saw their own tendency to
who possess earthly wealth.                       in earthly riches. They count on       put their trust in earthly riches.
Were Jesus speaking here only of                  their riches to provide for their      Hence, they were exceedingly
those who possess earthly                         needs in the future. Their riches      amazed, saying, "Who then can
wealth, He would have excluded                    will provide for them when they        be saved?" In light of what Jesus
most of us from the kingdom.                      become sick, when the economy          said, they saw no possibility of
Oh, we like to complain about                     is poor, when they become old          entering the kingdom and
how poor we are. But the fact is                  and feeble. They feel very secure      possessing its salvation.
that we live in a time of unheard                 about the future. And their               And Jesus only confirmed their
of prosperity. And most of us                     security is the riches they            conclusion. With men this (enter-
have a good share of that pros-                   possess. Besides all this, their       ing the kingdom) is impossible.
perity. Were the rich of whom                     riches afford them a life of           As far as his own ability is con-
Jesus spoke merely those who                      pleasure and comfort. They are         cerned, man is able only to put
possess earthly wealth, the only                  able to afford many luxuries and       his trust in riches. Hence, he can
way for us to enter the kingdom                   conveniences in life. Their riches     not enter the kingdom.
would be to sell what we have                     even give them the esteem of             The reason for this is his own
and give it to the poor.                          men. And this is the joy of their      depravity. Depraved, fallen rnan
  However, this is not Scripture.                 soul. Their trust is in riches!        hates God with his whole being.
Nowhere does Scripture condemn                      An example of this is the rich       The result of this is that he is not
the mere possession of earthly                    young ruler who came to Jesus          able to find in God the things he
riches. Nor does Scripture elevate                to inquire what he must do to          needs and desires the most:
poverty as a requirement for en-                  possess eternal life. Obviously he     security and happiness for this
trance into the kingdom.                          had placed his trust in his riches     life and for eternity. All he has
                                                                                         left is earthly riches. For these he
  Fact is, many of the saints who                 to the point that they were
have entered the kingdom of God                   everything to him. Nothing was         works and to these he clings. His
                                                                                         trust is in them. He can do none
possessed the wealth of this                      more important than his riches.
world in great abundance. Con-                    His riches were even more im-          else.

196  / The Standard Bearer  I February  I,1990


  Entering the kingdom is im-          greater joy to us than the joy of       security in God's care of us in
possible for man.                      God's fellowship in Jesus Christ.       J e s u s   C h r i s t .
  What is impossible with man,         Hence, we seek that fellowship in          Our trust is in Jesus Christ and
however, is possible with God. It      the blood of Jesus. And in that         Gods salvation through Him. In
is even possible for God to bring      fellowship we place our trust, to       this way we also are brought into
man into His kingdom.                  provide us with true happiness in       the kingdom to taste of the great
  God accomplishes this for all        this life and for all eternity.         salvation of God and to enjoy thle
those whom He has ordained to          Earthly riches have lost the            eternal pleasures and securities
eternal life in Jesus Christ. God      charm and the importance they           God has provided for His own..
brings them into the kingdom by        once had. The joys of God's fel-           Let us then turn away from all
changing them through a new            lowship in Jesus Christ are our all.    trusting in the riches of this
birth. For when we are born              And being born again we               world. And let us put our trust in
again in Jesus Christ we are           come to see that our future is          God alone and in the provision of
brought to love the God Whom           secure only in God's care and           His grace in Jesus Christ.
we by nature hate. And because         provision. Hence, we turn away             That we may enter into the                     '
we now love God there is no            from the false security of earthly      kingdom of God. Cl
                                       riches to find our safety and




                                       The  Task  of  the  PRC
Editorial                              with Their Seminary (3)

  The task of the Protestant           calls theology, "Queen of               books of the Bible are; but they
Reformed Churches with their           Sciences."                              are not trained rightly to inter-
Seminary, as argued in two               Sharp warning must be                 pret the content and message of
preceding editorials, is training      sounded against viewing the             the Bible so that they can carry
men to be able ministers of the        Seminary as a laboratory for "do-       out the eminently practical task
Word of God. This task the             ing theology," or as a think-tank       of instructing the congregation in
Churches have as a mandate             for theological reflection. This is     the Word of God.
from the apostle of Christ: "And       a plague in the churches today.            What is going on in the
the things that thou hast heard of     Professors use the classroom for        seminaries today, and has been
me among many witnesses, the           theological speculation that has        going on for a long time now,
same commit thou to faithful           not the remotest relation to the        was indicated by the notorious,
men, who shall be able to teach        students' future work as                19th century higher critic of
others also" (II Tim. 2:2).            preachers. Seminaries make the          Scripture, Julius Wellhausen,
  It is not the primary task of the    students aware of all the com-          when he. explained why he
Seminary to develop the science        peting and conflicting doctrines        resigned his position as professor
of theology. "Doing theology" is       of our age, without teaching            of theology in Greifswald:
not even a purpose of the              them the sound doctrine of Scrip-         I became a theologian because I
Seminary alongside the training        ture and the confessions that           was interested in the scientific treat-
of pastors and teachers. I say this    they must preach to the people.         ment of the Bible; it has only
even though I love theology, find      Seminarians are trained to be ex-       gradually dawned upon me that a
the study of theology meat and         perts in discovering who the            professor of theology likewise has
drink, and take huge delight in        authors of the books of the Bible       the practical task of preparing
the fact that the Reformed "Form       were, when the books were writ-         students for service in the
                                                                               Evangelical Church, and that I was
for the Installation of Professors     ten, how many parts each book           not fulfilling this practical task, but
of Theology" (hereafter, "FIPT")       has, and often how human, con-          rather, in spite of all reserve on my
                                       tradictory, and prone to error the      part, was incapacitating my hearers

                                                                                February  1,199O  I The Standard Bearer  I197


for their office (quoted in Richard                 not the main task. It is not even      cautions the would-be castors
Elliott Friedman,  Who Wrote the                    a task alongside, and therefore        with regard to heresies; and it
Bible?, New York: Summit Books,                     somewhat independent of, the           vindicates sound doctrine against
1987, p. 165).                                      main task of the seminary.             the heresies, as both the "FIPT"
  If ever a liberal did the honest                  Rather, the study of theology is a     and Article 18 of the Church
thing, Wellhausen did: He re-                       necessary part of the main task.       Order of Dordt require.
signed his position as professor.                   It stands in the service of that         Especially must the Seminary
  This is not to say that a                         main task. The seminary studies        warn the students concerning er-
Reformed seminary has no                            theology in the activity of hand-      rors of "the new day" - a happy
theological task whatever. It cer-                  ing over the sacred deposit of         phrase in the "FIPT."
tainly does. A Reformed                             truth to men who will be pastors         The Seminary must not live,
seminary must study, maintain,                      and teachers to the people of          and wage war, in the past,
and develop theology. Better                        God. The seminary's labor in the       whether 1953, or 1924, or the
said, the church herself has a                      "Queen of Sciences" is part and        16th century. There are contem-
theological task, which she                         parcel of its one, great task:         porary threats to the faith and to
undertakes in part in her                           preparing preachers for                the faithful. There is the attack
seminary. Our Reformed "FIPT"                       preaching.                             on Scripture by cunning theories
states that the church has a call-                    To this theological task of the      of "hermeneutics" (theories of the
ing to "study theology," which                      PRC with their Seminary belong         interpretation of Scripture), <all of
calling she pursues in her                          the following. First, there is a       which begin with the fatal
"theological school." In his                        body of truth possessed by the         assumption that the Bible is a
Reformed Dogmatics, Herman                          Churches which is to be passed         human word, at least in part.
Hoeksema writes that the                            on to future ministers by means        There is the attack on creation
church's work in her seminary is                    of the seminary. This body of          and providence by theistic evolu-
"the cultivation of theology, that                  truth is well-known and well-          tion. There is the attack on
the truth may be maintained and                     defined: the things that we have       redemption by liberation
become ever richer in the con-                      learned from Paul and the other        theology and the "gospel" of self-
sciousness of the church" (p.                       apostles in the inspired Scripture.    esteem. There is the attack on
630).        '                                      It is the gospel concerning Jesus      predestination by universalism.
  The apostle makes the study of                    Christ, the Son of God, crucified      There is the attack on the truth
theology the church's task in the                   and risen. It is the apostolic doc-    of the Christian life and ex-
very passage that mandates the                      trine as systematized and author-      perience both by the charismatic
seminary, II Timothy 2:2. For he                    itatively defined in the               movement and by the advocacy
requires that Timothy teach                         ecumenical and Reformed creeds.        of sheer lawlessness - revolu-
aspiring pastors by handing over                    Even for Timothy, during the life-     tion; divorce and remarriage;
to them a definite body of truth,                   time of the apostle, there had to      feminism; and homosexuality.
a body of truth made up of the                      be a standard of the truth that he       The PR Seminary must, and
doctrines which Timothy had                         was to teach: the many witnesses       does, cast down all these high
heard from Paul. This body of                       among whom Timothy heard the           things that exalt themselves
truth ("theology") the seminary                     apostle's doctrine (II Tim. 2:2).      against the knowledge of God at
intrusts to the students, so that                   These witnesses are now the            the end of the 20th century (II
they will teach it to the churches.                 church's creeds.                       Cor. 10:5).
And the seminary does this -                          We call this body of truth the         This does not imply that the
"commits" it to the future                          Reformed faith.                        past struggles of the PRC are of
pastors, to use the language of                       To this, the PR Seminary is          no interest or value any longer,
the King James Bible - by                           committed.                             any more than this is implied
teaching this body of truth to the                    This, the professors have            about the great Protestant strug-
seminarians. This necessarily in-                   bound themselves with an oath          gle for the faith in the 16th cen-
volves the study, the                               before God to teach the students.      tury. Like Protestantism in the
maintenance, and the develop-                         Second, the Seminary defends         16th century, the PRC have con-
ment of the truth, i.e., "doing                     the Reformed faith against all at-     tended for the gospel of the
theology."                                          tacks by the lie; and in the light     sovereign grace of God in Jesus
  But the crucially important                       of the Reformed faith it exposes       Christ. This is the struggle of the
truth about this theological task                   errors. This too is part of the        ages. Besides, our own particular
of the church with her seminary                     theological task of the PRC with       struggles on behalf of particular
is that the study of theology is                    their Seminary. The Seminary           grace, an unconditional cove,-

198  / The  Standaid  Bearer  I February  1,1990


nant, and the antithesis have put       tained. The Seminary does not             defends the faith against error,
us in a position of strength for        spurn the creedal Reformed faith          and especially as it always goes
fighting the good fight today           as out-dated scholasticism, but           back to divine Scripture (all in
against modern errors that are          regards the Reformed faith as             the course of urgent, practical
destroying Protestant churches          God's own truth, to be passed on          teaching), there will be develop-
on every hand, e.g., universalism       to the children and grandchildren         ment of Reformed theology.
as regards salvation and the            of the present generation, un-              This is an important task of thle
worldliness of the church in the        diminished and uncorrupted.               Churches.
realm of life and conduct.                 Because the Seminary studies,            For theology is the knowledge
  Contending.for the faith in the       maintains, and defends Reformed           of God.
course of teaching men to be            theology, as it commits this faith          Whether "Queen of Sciences"
pastors, the Seminary trains these      to future preachers by teaching,          or not, theology - Reformed
men to be defenders of the faith        there is also development of              theology - is essential
in their ministries, for the welfare    theology. Since the development           knowledge, without which all the
- the salvation! - of the               of theology was a main part of            sciences are monumental ig-
believers and their children who        my recent speech at the annual            norance, deceit, and folly. And in
will be their charge. Although          meeting of the Reformed Free              theoIogy - Reformed theology --
young men may not strive fool-          Publishing Association and since          is the peace, the power for living,
ishly, to get a name for them-          the R.F.P.A. decided that this            the hope in dying, and the chief
selves, strive they must against        speech should be published in             end of believers and their
heresy; as Paul himself does in II      The S& I can be brief about it            children.
Timothy 2 against the denial of         here. Suffice it now to say that            For those who teach in the
the resurrection. This striving is      there has been development of             Seminary, a solemn responsibility
necessary, for the errors eat as        the Reformed faith in the PRC             is implied.
does a cancer (II Tim. 2:17).           through her theologians and                 Fulfilling that responsibility "in
  Third, exactly in this way the        preachers. I need only mention            dependence on the Lord's help
Churches maintain the truth in          the particularity and sovereignty         and the light of the Holy Spirit,"
their Seminary. The Seminary is         of grace; the nature of the               they may expect the cooperation
an important factor in the              gracious covenant of friendship;          (the working together!) of the
Churches being pillar and ground        church government; and the an-            people of God, as described by
of the truth (I Tim. 3:15).             tithetical Christian life.                the "FIPT": "that our Seminary
  The Reformed faith is main-             As the Seminary studies the             may continue to enjoy the
tained in the PR Seminary. It is        faith, as it explores the faith, as it    respect, the support, the ap-
maintained there solely by the          compares each aspect of the faith         preciation, the love and the
grace of God, but it is main-           with the other aspects, as it             prayer of the Church." q              -DJE



Letters

The SB on Cassette                         Personally, we would like to           Response
  On page 100 under the head            be on the list of those who                 We have asked the Evangelism
"Editorially Speaking . . ." you        receive the tapes; for my hus-            Society of the Southeast Protes-
have an article about the               band, Edwin Elliott, Sr. is legally       tant Reformed Church in Grand
Standard Bearer  on cassette tape.      blind. We find it difficult to get        Rapids, MI to write the article
  The Christian Observer is in-         material for the blind which is           that you request. They will also
terested in doing an article about      worth very much so we are con-            be delighted to serve readers of
that. Would you be kind enough          stantly seeking -material which           Christian Observer who have "vi-
to send it or to ask one of the         will be of interest and some              sion problems" by sending them
other editors to do so. We have         value to him . . . .                      The SB on cassette tape. The
many readers with vision prob-                      Mrs. Edwin P. Elliott, Sr.    Evangelism Society has added
lems.                                        Features Editor, The Christian       Mr. Elliott's name to the list of
                                               Observer,  Manassas, Virginia

                                                                                  February  1,199O   I The Standard Bearer  I199


those who regularly receive these                 of Israel, the hope of both               Although the name of the
tapes.                                            heaven and earth!                      "Life-Giver" is not mentioned in
                                                    May the Lord continue to             the form, to "acknowledge the
On the Special Issue                              strengthen your hands. Readers,        doctrine contained in the Old and
   It was ever a pleasure to be a                 pray for these faithful writers,       New Testaments and in the Ar-
reader of The Standard Bearer                     that they may continue to con-         ticles of the Christian.faith" is to
for these past sixty years. Recent-               tend for the faith once delivered      profess the name, Jesus, because
ly this joy of receiving our paper                to the saints. Without such            not only is He central to this doc-
has not been dimmed. Fact is, I                   bearers of the banner of the           trine, He is the reason for its ex-
read the articles with increased                  truth, who lift aloft the banner of    istence. This doctrine, "taught
joy and profit. I have never sent                 the truth, there shall cease to be     here in this Christian Church,"
a letter to the editor before, but                a Standard Bearer worthy of the        has been carefully fought for,
the last issue triggered this little              name!                                  over the many centuries since
note to you and the staff and our                   Yes, then our readers in all the     the resurrection of our Lord.
readers far and wide.                             world must know the truth of the       Therefore I believe it is very
   The exalted theme, the strong                  gospel of the cross and resurrec-      proper that our young people be
and courageous stance that ours                   tion which makes men free to           asked to remain faithful to this
is the "Theology of Hope,"                        press the footsteps of Abraham,        "true and complete doctrine of
caused my heart to burn within                    Isaac, and Jacob to seek the city      salvation" as it is set forth par-
me!                                               which has foundation, whose ar-        ticularly in the Protestant Re-
   In my considered judgment the                  ,chitect and builder is God, who       formed Churches.
great theme was well subdivided,                  does not fail His own promised           Although I must agree, "There
nicely arranged under suggestive                  glory.                                 is no salvation apart from th.at
headings, and presented in a                                (Rev.) George C. Lubbers     blessed, essential name," that
very readable and compelling                                        Grand Rapids, MI     name needs particular doctrines
form. Congratulations to all the                                                         and creeds to differentiate it from
                                                  More on the "Form Of
worthy workmen who par-                                                                  the name of Jesus that is used all
ticipated.                                        Public Confession"                     about us. This becomes especially
   It is my feeling that here we                    After rereading the derogatory       apparent at this Christmas season
have a good example of what                       statements . . . pertaining to our     when even the world tries to
Luke so fondly calls "all with one                "Form of Public Confession," I         force its views of humanistic lov-
accord." Brethren, fellow-readers                 still fail to understand all the       ing and giving upon that name.
of The Standard Bearer, you and                   criticism. Although I would have         In conclusion let me state that,
I heard a mighty, united testi-                   no difficulty if at some time our      although the "Form" may have
mony from bearers of the stan-                    churches decided to add to the         its imperfections, it is a very far
dard! May none of these witnesses                 form the name of- Jesus Christ,        cry from a "powerless" or "life-
faint in the fray. When filthy er-                this should be done in such a          less" form and definitely doe.s
rors sweep through the Reformed                   way that He could be distin-           not smack of stagnancy. It did
church world with a horrible                      guished from the Jesus that is         not when I made profession and
unified assault (Acts 7:57), may                  professed in some of the so-called     it does not now.
we stand in one accord for the                    Protestant denominations of this                           Edward Hoekstra
defense of the truth of the hope                  land.                                                      Hudsonville, MI Cl




 The Reader Asks
Rev. Cornelius Hanko                              Defense  of  "Pro-life"

                                                     One of our Bible Study groups       area of life may this principle be
                                                  asks in connection with I Peter        used?"
Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in              2:11-17, "When must we obey              In the passage of Peter's epistle
the Protestant Reformed Churches.                 God rather than man? In which          referred to above, Scripture iis

200  / The Standard Bearer  I February  I,1990


pointing to our calling as Chris-      not men. And if we are punished         no longer an evil to be con-
tian pilgrims in regard to the         for our submission to the law of        demned, The world round about
magistrate, emphasizing our duty       God we bear that punishment             us is no longer ashamed of im-
to "submit yourselves to every         willingly as persecution for            morality or promiscuity. Dating
ordinance of man for the Lord's        Christ's sake. That also belongs to     has become in many instances an
sake."                                 our Christian liberty. We have          all night or week-end "ex-
  The Word of God goes on to           the example of our Lord Himself         perience"; "living in" is no longer
say that this includes every form      and of the apostle Paul in willing      frowned upon; sexual relation-
of government and authority            submission to punishment for            ships outside of marriage are con-
placed over us, whether that be a      what is right.                          doned. Young people are only
king or a president, whether that        With that the Bible Study             warned to prevent unwanted
be a governor or a mayor, or           Group that sent in these ques-          consequences. In such a world
whether that be a sheriff or a         tions have no problem. They are         young and old within the church
police officer, a stop sign or a       more concerned about the area           must be reminded of their obliga-
speed law, or any other law or         of life to which these principles       tion to love the Lord their God
ordinance of man.                      apply. And then more specifically       by fleeing from every form of
  The basis for this submission        they ask: 1. How should we as           fornication, knowing that their
lies in the fact that God is a God     Christians respond to our govern-       bodies are temples of the Holy
of law and order, who has "or-         ment's legalizing of the evil prac-     Spirit, for we are not our own,
dained the powers that be" as          tice of abortion? 2. Is the pro-life    but we are purchased with the
ministers of God for our good          practice of carrying signs, hand-       precious blood of Jesus Christ (I
(Romans 13:1-5). When we sub-          ing out literature, etc. at the         Corinthians 6: 18, 19).
mit to the higher authority we         abortion clinics a proper Chris-          In the church of Jesus Christ,
submit to God, because we love         tian response?                          not only abortions should be
Him and keep His command-                In regard to the first question,      foreign among us, but also the
ments. That is our Christian liber-    we should not sit idly by while         sins that bring about the desire
ty. God has freed us from the          evils are being perpetrated by          for resorting to this evil. We are
bondage of sin and death. Sin has      our government, whether that be         called to be a shining light in a
no more dominion over us. By           local, State, or federal govern-        world that is rapidly becoming
the grace of God we can, and           ment. We so often take the at-          ripe for the coming judgment.
may, and must keep His com-            titude of "what's the use?" in-         Our calling is, "Come ye out from
mandments. We are His chosen           stead of giving expression to our       among them, and be ye separate,
people, His witnesses in the midst     objections and convictions. We          saith the Lord, and touch not the
of an evil world to let our light      should take a firm stand for what       unclean thing, and I will receive
shine in obedience and faithful-       is right and make that known.           you, And will be a Father unto
ness to our God. To refuse to          There are proper means whereby          you, and ye shall be my sons and
submit to those in authority over      we can express ourselves. These         daughters, saith the Lord
us would bring dishonor to God's       means should be used. For exam-         Almighty" (II Corinthians 6: 17,
name and cause on the earth.           ple, we can write our represen-         18). Cl
  From this it becomes evident         tatives in the State capitol and in
that there is only one occasion in     Washington, or wherever they
which we refuse to obey the            are located, being ready at all               CONSECRATION
magistrate, and that is when the       times to give account of the
rulers make laws and ordinances        reason for the hope that is within      Blessed Saviour, may we ever,
which are contrary to the laws of      us (1 Peter 3:15).                        By each act, each word, each
God. In that case we say, as the         Possibly our strongest witness             thought,
apostles declared shortly after        against the evil of abortion is to      Show to men Thy saving power,
Pentecost, "We ought to obey           impress upon our teenagers the            May they see what God hath
God rather than men" (Acts             privilege of their Christian liber-          wrought.
5:29). When the government re-         ty. Parents should begin to warn          So our daily joy will be -
quires of us that which is con-        their children, at an early age, of       To glorify and honor Thee.
trary to God's law we may not          the evils of the world round                                     -E.W. Carlisle
obey, lest we transgress our           about them, in which God is no                                          S.B., 1929
Gods commandments. We can-             longer recognized, God's com-
not, we may not obey, for con-         mandments are despised, sin is
science sake. We must obey God,        no longer sin, and fornication is

                                                                               February 1, 1990  I The Standard Bearer  I 201


                                                  Suicide  -
Contribution
Mr. joel Sugg                                     Self  Murder  (2)

   Is it possible that even a great                  As the heat of his rhetoric           "self-esteem," and with this key
multitude of God's people now                     dissipates, the light of God's           guide in our quest, we turn to
living are guilty of real and                     Word illuminates, and we find            face the multi-faceted turrets in
damnable suicide, a suicide                       that this "self-esteem" is nothing       the fortress of pride, leaning: into
within their own hearts? How                      but filthy pride, clothed in ap-         the Devil's merciless barrage as a
many of us are guilty, and how                    pealing psychological garb. This         wayfaring pilgrim leans into the
often are we guilty of this in-                   is the same pride which is               whipping rain of a thunderstorm.
sidious destruction of our own                    manifest in everything we do,            The words of the Accuser are
living persons? Is suicide not only               great and small, that is done            barbed missiles which whir into
physical destruction, but also an                 without regard for the God of            the heart of the child of God:
inward resentment against some                    Scripture. In His Word, God has          Why did I take the chance?
aspect, or the whole of one's own                 spoken scores of passages about           How can I bear the shame?
person, whom God made?                            this evil. These passages are sum-         Why have my friends deserted me?
  At this point a highly-placed                   marized simply in part of Prov-             Why was I born this way?
churchman impressively steps                      erbs 16:5, "Everyone that is proud                Why did I let this happen?
forward and, diverting our                        in heart is an abomination to            Why are we so unhappy?
thoughts for a moment, compli-                    the Lord . . ." and in Jesus' own         Why is he so cruel and critical?
ments us for such insight in                      words in Luke 14:26, "If any man           Why won't she stop her incessant
recognizing what he and others                    come unto me and hate not his              complaining?
have been preaching for years.                    . . . own life also, he cannot be           Why are my children so buried in
We certainly understand - don't                   my disciple." This "good self-               vanity?
we - that this inward suicide has                 image" is nothing more than the                   Why are my parents so heart-
been destroying our "self-esteem"                 image of the old man of sin                       lessly strict?
all these years, and that this                    whose very seat within us lies in        Why can't I be happy, or popular, or
destruction of "a good                            the self.                                rich?
self-image" is one of the greatest                  Now we see that suicide, in its         Why can't I be pretty, or thin, or
evils in the church and in the                    radical definition, is not destruc-       handsome?
world today, accounting for no                    tion of the.self;  but destruction by      Why can't I be taller, or smaller,
end of actual suicide, poverty,                                                              or smarter?
                                                  the self; of the very person whom           Why does she hate me?
crime, school failure, dope addic-                God has created. We'realize that                  Why does he act as though I
tion, sexual promiscuity, homo-                   in the message of `"self-esteem"                  didn't exist?
sexuality, and other such human                   we have been listening to echoes
ruin. He boldly concludes that                    of the very words of Satan from          Why won't someone help me?
                                                                                            Why won't they let me help?
the church must lead the way to                   this "minister of righteousness,"          Why do I do these things?
build up those who are poor in                    and we recognize that we have                Why won't anyone listen to me?
"self-esteem" and fight every-                    very nearly fallen victim to what                 How can I go on?
thing that would diminish a                       happens to the foolish and the           Why is school so impossible?
"good self-image."                                wicked when "pride compasseth             Can't they see they are destroying
                                                  them about as a chain" (Psalm             me?
                                                  73:6).                                     Why can't they see my anguish?
                                                    In our determination to find               Who cares about me?
                                                  the stronghold of the sin of                      Why.do I think of nothing but
Mr. Sugg is a ruling elder in the Prot-           suicide, we have been spared the                  me?
estant Reformed Church of Houston,                deadly diversion of the pursuit of
Texas.

202  I The Standard Bearer  I February  1,199O


Why do I have a job that eats me              of the child of God within. This is 1 warmth of the loving forgiveness
alive?                                        the height of self torment, the        of my Father. I am restored to
     Why can't 1 find decent work?            torment of my godly person by          my calling once again to live the
      Why can't I have a baby?                my sinful self. This is the heart of ' thankfulness of loving obedience:
       These kids are driving me crazy.
        Why can't I quit drinking?            suicide, just as surely as if I had    to the gracious Sovereign God
                                              blown that heart in pieces. At         who is Love. The night of living
Why did I have to say that?                   last I have reached the inner,         death is dispelled, and in the Son-
     Why didn't I say something?              most powerful redoubt of the           kissed dawn, the joy of life
      Why don't they ask me to serve?         enemy, and I have sinned the
       Why can't they get somebody                                                   returns:
       else?                                  great sin of the vicious, violent,       For his anger endureth but a
        Why can't I make enough               vindictive murder of my own                moment;
        money?                                person. Exhausted, I collapse in a       in his favor is life.
                                              pitiful heap, woefully blaming all       Weeping may endure for a night,
Why am I so tired?                                                                     but joy cometh in the morning
     Why can't I sleep?                       on my own person in the depths             (Psalm 31.5).
      Why can't I get up?                     of self pity or pridefully seeking       But the war goes on; and there
       Why have I been such a fool?           the heights of self-justifying mar-    is no discharge in this war, for
        This pain is driving me out of        tyrdom, both but two sides of the
        my mind.                              same coin - the central 1, me,         the Lord in His sovereign counsel
                                                                                     has ordained that the old man of
Doesn't anyone understand?                    and mine of self-intoxication.         sin, even with his dominance
     How can I call myself a child of God?       Then the calm, firm voice of        broken, will yet remain seated in
      Why am I so weak?                       Paul comes into my ears, "Nay,
       Why am I so alone?                     but, 0 man, who are thou that          my own wicked self until I die. I
        Why has God abandoned me?             repliest against God?" (Romans         know that there will be times
                                                                                     when I may fall under demoraliz-
I, I, I . . . my, my, my . . . me, me, me!    9:20). The still, small voice draws
                                              me up, ". . . What doest thou          ing assault from outside forces, or
      This torrent of arrows marked           here, Elijah?" (I Kings 19:13). And    that I may experience some
/, me, and mine pour into my                  the sweet psalmist of Israel sings     peculiar physical illness which
soul, bewailing the trials and cir-           in my heart:                           uniquely produces tormenting die-
cumstances which beset me; and                   Why art thou cast down, 0 my        jection.  When these occur, I must
my self, the old man of sin within                 soul? and                         acknowledge and deal with them
me, twists each one in my heart.                 Why art thou disquieted within      in good judgment, in God's grace
I am utterly consumed by self; I                   me?                               taking the skilled and sanctified
cannot think beyond that self; I                Hope thou in God: for I shall yet    counsel of other brethren when
am totally self-intoxicated. I                     praise Him,                       the measuring rod of my own
groan in confusion of unbelief,                 Who is the health of my              judgment is only twisted confu-
thinking that the shackles which                   countenance and my God            sion. Yet it remains the case that,
Christ broke at the cross still                    (Psalm 42: 11).                   if the self is silenced, these other
fetter my body, because the                     And finally Jesus says, ". . . If    matters can be handled with only
grounds of the Devil's attack                 any man will come after me, let        a fraction of the trauma caused
seem sound. I roar against the in-            him deny himself and take up his       when that evil-speaking old man
justice in my life! Anger arises in           cross, and follow me. For              within is allowed to amplify
my heart against all the nagging              whosoever will save his life shall     upsetting problems to a roaring
realities of my life in a hatred of           lose it; and whosoever will lose       din. I must shut my ears against
all these things, a hatred of all             his life for my sake shall find it"    the sly and murderous invectives
those whom I think cause them,                (Matthew  16:24-25).                   of my vicious self against the
and, finally, a blasphemous                     The incessant demands of my          new man within me. I must fill
hatred of God Himself.                        ungodly self are vanquished by         my eyes with the Word of God,
      Here am I, the pot of clay,             the Living Word of God! I am ad-       eyes that are opened by the Holy
muttering, ". . . I do well to be             monished to speak to that self;        Spirit. I must seek, with complete
angry, even unto death" (Jonah                but to deny him place and listen       dependence on Christ, to obey
4:9). I shake my fist in the face of          not for a moment to his viperous       God's perfect Law, not simply
the Potter and wickedly demand,               hisses.
"                                                                                    because He has commanded it,
     . . . why hast thou made me                The coursing poisons of self-        but because I love Him and
thus?" (Romans 9:20). The over-               intoxication are stayed, and I         earnestly desire to show my
bearing, burgeoning cancer of                 breathe again the breath of Life.      thankfulness to Him by doing
my odious self is crushing the life           At last I am revived in the            that which He has given for my

                                                                                     February  1,199O  / The Standard Bearer I203


good as the principal means for                   our dismissing part of our orders         God's merciful grace than that
my knowing Him.                                   which seem to us very minor, the          battle against our proud and
   In the midst of this deep war-                 neglect of which causes us to             hateful hearts as we strive to
fare of the spirit, what a joy it is              miss the objective and fall into          obey God's command that we
to behold our Most Wise and                       the Slough of Despond, be-                love one another, for Christ's
Powerful Commander, whose vic-                    smirched and nearly strangled by          sake. Here the sinful self must be
tory is already secured, and of                   the mud of our own sins.                  utterly driven out, even as the
whom the whole congregate of                        Then putting aside his counsel-         Canaanites. He calls us to lolok at
all the world's most famous cap-                  ing tone, the old soldier bursts          the spilling of Jesus' very own
tains make but a shadow. But                      forth as though he were giving a          blood upon the ground of this
with that shadow as an example,                   command in the very heat of bat-          earth as the ultimate and unut-
the soldier of the cross covets                   tle, "Carry the wounded to                terable expression of perfect
and imitates the virtues of the                   safety!" We must never give               love, God's love for His people.
warriors who surrounded David,                    ground for the enemy's                    How unthinkable it is that we,
Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon,                      venomous accusation that the              who have received the in-
Jackson, and Lee in ultimate ex-                  Christian church is the only army         estimable benefits of that love,
pression of love for, trust in, and               in history that shoots its own            could so desecrate it by disobey-
obedience to their beloved                        wounded. He soberly points out            ing His command to reflect that
generals as they took their battle                that there is no struggle in all our      love by loving Him in response,
places.                                           spiritual warfare more needful of         with our love for Him being
   In the height of such valorous                                                           manifested by our love for our
words, we do well to take heed                                                              neighbor, our love even for `our
to the cautions of the old soldier                MY GOD SHALL SUPPLY                       enemies, and especially our love
who has been much fired-over.                     0, the grace our Saviour giveth,          for the household of the faith,
He speaks few words, terse~and                      When the trials sore distress,          laying down our very necks for
hard-bitten in the main.                          And the path our feet must travel         our brother. He calls us to mdnd
   He warns that the enemy is so                    Leads through lonely wilder-            that God uses no greater hurnan
powerful that were it not for our                        ness.                              means of relief when the saint is
great God of Battles, and Him                     Grace, full, free, unmeasured!            in the throes of radical self
alone, we would be hopelessly                       Token of His love and care,             destruction than that of the effec-
overwhelmed and destroyed, and                    Proving His own promise,                  tive, loving concern of the
that calling upon our own selves                    "All thy burdens I will bear."          brethren. They may be fearful,
for strength is complete vanity,                                                            but they are not hesitant to place
because it is calling for aid from                0, the peace our Saviour giveth,          themselves close beside the suf-
the very enemy against whom                         As we journey here below,               fering brother or sister, always
we fight.                                         In grim disappointments often,            and only in the strength of the
   He puts us on guard that no                      Mid life's sorrow, toil or woe.         love of God.
war in itself is glorious, but                    Peace past understanding!                   Then he closes his dear-bought
rather its battles are marked by                    When our mind on Him is                 words of wisdom by steadily
unwitting firing upon our own                            stayed,                            looking deep into our eyes with
people because of our inex-                       And His Spirit whispers,                  an assurance that is other-
perience and heedlessness, by                       "All thy debt the Lord hath             worldly, and by declaring that
our ignorance in failing to                              paid."                             the issue of the war is not the
recognize the stealthy enemy                      0, the hope our Saviour giveth,           strength of the enemy, or his
who has infiltrated our lines to                    Sure and steadfast in the soul,         deadly wiles, or our powers, or
destroy within, by confusion,                     As with patient perseverance,             our special assignments, or amy-
uncertainty, distress, anxiety,                     We press onward to the goal.            thing else, but alone the perflect
deadening watches through                         Hope that fadeth never!                   character of our Beloved Com-
perilous nights, with grim dawns                    That some day His face we'll            mander, who has given us the
revealing horrible evidence of                           see.                               desire to follow Him with all our
the treacherous enemy who has                     And this sinful mortal,                   heart, with all our soul, with all
slashed gaping wounds, even                         Put on immortality.                     our mind, and with all our
while we, in ignorance, thought                                                             strength, by faith, to the ends of
ourselves most vigilant.                                                      S.B., 1929    the earth, and to the end of the
  He admonishes us of the near-                                                             world, and beyond, as He
ly unbearable consequences of                                                               wills. 0

204  I The Standard Bearer  I February  I,1990


Search the                                "Now,  a  Word  about
Scriptures
Rev. Cise VanBaren                                               if  ."
                                          M     y s
                                                          e        l l 





   In verses 12-26 of Philippians 1       could better be translated, "the        that Paul would suffer because of
the apostle Paul writes concern-          praetorium," that is, the guard         that.
ing his own situation. Most letter        who kept watch over Paul. These            Yet others, more noble,
writers, understandably, will first       understood that Paul's bonds            preached the same gospel out of
tell about their own circum-              were not for some criminal act,         "good will." These were not con-
stances. Paul's concern, of               but "in Christ." This had its effect    cerned with praise of men, but
course, is not to gain sympathy           upon the guard. Some of them            with preaching of the Christ.
from the readers nor even mere-           believed and gave expression to         Their sole joy in this life was to
ly to inform them concerning              their faith.                            set forth the cross of atonement.
himself. Paul understood that the              There were also other brethren        Paul was not going to enter in-
church of Philippi  was worried           in Rome who were emboldened             to this type of fray. He rejoiced
about him - but even more so,             because of Paul's situation. These      that by both detractors as well as
they were concerned about the             had evidently been fearful -            admirers, Christ was preached.
church of Christ which seemed to          concerned about the possibility of      This was true whether the
need Paul and his labors in their         their own imprisonment. But             preaching was in pretense or in
midst. Paul had been imprisoned           when they observed Paul's con-          truth.
now for almost four years: two            fidence, and considered also the           The apostle was encouraged
years in Caesarea and two years           fact that he would possibly soon        too through the prayers of the
in Rome. A verdict was forth-             be freed, this served to en-            Philippians and the blessings of
coming. Would Paul be released            courage them in speaking out            the Spirit upon him in all of his
so that he could resume his               confidently too.                        trial. Even as he himself constant-
ministry - or would he be ex-                  However, Paul recognized that      ly prayed God's blessings upon
ecuted?                                   not all the Christians in Rome          the Philippians, he knew that
  He assures the Philippians first        sympathized with him. There             they also had him in their own
of all that God controls all the          were some preachers who pro-            prayers. And God used all of this
things which take place - and             claimed Christ - but in envy            to work toward the final
not only does He control, but He          (against Paul) and strife. These        deliverance, salvation, of Paul.
does so that His purpose might            were evidently jealous of Paul's           Paul's great concern was that
be served. The things which hap-          popularity and recognition in the       Christ would be "magnified in my
pened to Paul, served to the "fur-        city. Though Paul was bound,            body, whether it be by life, or by
therance of the gospel."                  there were many who admired             death." Whatever might happen
  Paul's imprisonment and bold-           him and sought to encourage and         to Paul, he was assured that it
ness in speaking the gospel in            help him. But these jealous ones        was to the glory of God and the
that situation, served to the fur-        thought that Paul received too          honor of his Lord Jesus Christ.
therance of the gospel. This was          much praise. They too worked            He could be bold, even now in
true, first of all, in that Paul's        hard in the preaching of the            bonds, knowing that this would
"bonds in Christ" were manifest           gospel. They deserved surely as         be to the praise of his Savior.
to "all the palace." The "palace"         much honor as did the apostle             Then follows the familiar con-
                                          Paul. In preaching Christ, these        fession of verse 21. Paul insists
                                          sought to do it in a manner that        that to "live is Christ and to die is
Rev.  VanBaren  is pastor of the Prot-    Paul would be put down. Possibly        gain." Whatever may happen to
estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-        by seeking to gain the praise of        him, Paul is convinced that it is,
vile, Michigan.                           men for themselves, they hoped          for good. To remain on this earth

                                                                                   February  1,199O  / The Standard Bearer  I205


"is Christ." In life he could                     this earth in order to provide for         tioned in verses 15 and 16?
preach the gospel, comfort the                    ministry to the church. Paul               How must we account for
saints, build up the church of                    could understand very well that            this? Can this still occur to-
Christ. He would be encouraged                    the churches, established only a           day?
and led by the Spirit of the Son.                 few years before, still needed the      8. How could these sinful
Life would be the means of serv-                  strong hand of guidance he could           preachers "add affliction" to
ing His God. But to die would be                  provide. To abide in the flesh             Paul's bonds?
"gain." Then he would be                          was more needful for them.              9. How could Paul rejoice when
delivered from the sufferings of                     So Paul was in a "strait betwixt        Christ is preached "in
this life. No more would he be                    two." One can .understand the              pretence"? Does not this
oppressed by wicked men nor                       difficulty. His interest in the            position allow for false
imprisoned for Jesus' sake. He                    church and his desire to help that         teachers in the church?
could fellowship with his Lord                    church to the best of his ability      10. What does Paul mean in
and with the saints of God who                    would be reason to remain. And             verse 20 when he states,
had been made perfect. To die                     Paul is convinced that this is             "Christ shall be magnified in
would truly be gain.                              what will happen too. God will             my body"? Can we say this
   What would Paul personally                     do that which is the very best for         concerning ourselves too?
prefer? The fact that he em-                      His church. There is need that         11. Paul mentions the prayers of
phasizes that death is "gain"                     the apostle help them to grow in           the Philippians in verse `19.
would surely indicate that Paul                   their faith and the joy of that            Did Paul also pray for the
saw that as far better. Death                     faith.                                     Philippians? Ought we to
would be the "doorway" to eter-                     That is also what took place.            pray for one another? Is
nal glory. But there are other fac-               Shortly after the epistle was writ-        there special need to pra.y
tors which must be weighed.                       ten, Paul was freed and con-               for preachers of the gospel?
There is the need to continue on                  tinued his labors for a number of      12. How can we say of our-
                                                  years. God had work for Paul to            selves: To live is Christ, to
    A SONG OF PRAISE                              do - and after that was finished,          die is gain?
                                                  Paul could be with His Lord in         13. Did Paul have greater reason
I may not understand, dear Lord,                  heaven to enjoy that which is far          to desire the heavenly than
   How I can see,                                 better.                                    we do?
When others' eyes are closed.                     QUESTIONS:                             14. .lf death is such great gain,
      They have                                    1. Explain how the things                 why do we not seek it? Do
   No sight of Thee.                                   which happened to Paul                we not rather cling to this
                                                       were indeed to the "further-          life with all possible means?
I may not know how thou hast                           ance of the gospel."                  Is this not wrong?
      filled                                       2. Do all those things which          15. In verse 22 Paul menti0n.s
   My heart with love;                                 happen to children of God             his "flesh." What does he
When others' hearts are empty of                       also work for the furtherance         mean by that? In what dif-
   Joy from above.                                     of the gospel? If so, how? If         ferent senses is this word.
One fact I know - the blood of                         not, why not?                         used in Scripture (see a con-
      Christ                                       3. Do trials and other adver-             cordance).
   Was shed for me.                                    sities work more towards the      16. Discuss the "strait" in whlich
He bore my sins, my Substitute,                        furtherance of the gospel             Paul found himself.
   Upon the tree.                                      than do more pleasant             17. Could we also insist that it is
Tis all of grace, no merit mine,                       events?                               more needful for ourselves to
   I'll humbly praise                             4. If trials work to the "further-         remain? How do we know
Thee, blessed Redeemer, King                           ance of the gospel," ought            when that "need" ceases?
      divine,                                          we not to desire these            18. On what basis does Paul con-
   Through all my days.                                things?                               clude that he must remain?
                                                  5. What is the idea of "bonds in           What would be the fruit of
For boundless mercies,                                 Christ"? vs. 13.
      undeserved,                                                                            that for the Philippians?
                                                  6. In what ways did Paul's
   I thank thee, Lord.                                                                   19. What is the cause for the re-
Oh! Jesus! May'st thou ever be                         bonds encourage others to             joicing of the Philippians
  Alone adored.                                       become bolder?                         when Paul comes to
                                                  7. What can you say of the two             them? Cl
                              -S.B., 1929             kinds of preaching men-

206  I The Standard Bearer  I February 1, 1990


                                                                                                                            -



                                         Report on Work .in
Guest Article
Rev. Kenneth Hanko                       Northern  Ireland

   The name of the Covenant Re-          done the day before. It seemed          Larne now belongs, is legalistic.
formed Fellowship is not new to          to me also that there was a             Historic Calvinism is not much
the readers of  The Standard             greater emphasis on the necessity       more appreciated there than
Bearer. Synod of 1988 decided to         of separation from the world.           here.
send a delegation to Larne to            Nevertheless this does not mean           It was because of this that the
help the saints there. Rev. Kamps        that the spiritual condition of that    Covenant Reformed Fellowship
and Prof. Engelsma went and the          country is good. The oIder Pres-        decided not to affiliate itself with
report of their visit is found in        byterian churches are liberal.          any of the churches already ex-
the December 15, 1988 issue. It          The Free Presbyterian Church,           isting in Northern Ireland, but in-
gives a brief history of the             which was started by Rev. Ian           stead to seek the help of the
fellowship, and details of the           Paisley, is more fundamentalistic       Protestant Reformed Churches.
visits and work of the delegates.        than Presbyterian, and in fact has        The Fellowship began to meet
  Synod also decided to instruct         close ties in both doctrine and         in January of 1988, and until I ar-
the Committee for Contact "to            practice with the fundamentalists       rived in July of 1989 listened to
secure the labors of one of our          of North America. The more con-         taped sermons of Protestant
ministers to work in Larne and to        servative Presbyterian churches,        Reformed ministers. Many of th'e
pursue, if possible, other contacts      such as the Reformed                    people indicated to me that they
in the British Isles, for a period of    Presbyterian Church and the             were very thankful to have this
6-9 months."                             Evangelical Presbyterian Church,        means of instruction, but that it
  In January 1989 the Commit-            have adopted for the most part          was, nevertheless, far from ideal.
tee for Contact asked me to go,          the theology of the free offer of       It was much more difficult for the
and shortly afterward the elders         the gospel and common grace.            children to listen and learn in
of the PRC in Norristown gave            The Free Presbyterian Church of         that situation than when a
their permission. Though the con-        Scotland, to which denomination         minister of the word was present.
gregation in Norristown had just         the Bible Presbyterian Church of        Furthermore they were
been organized, the elders felt
that the work of the PRC in the
UK was too important, and the
need of the Covenant Reformed
Fellowship too great, to refuse.
  The spiritual condition of North-
ern Ireland is probably a little
better than the spiritual condition
of our own country. For exam-
ple, most stores and shops are
closed on the Lord's Day. It is dif-
ficult to buy bread or meat in the
supermarkets on Monday because
little baking and butchering are
                       .

Rev. Hanko is pastor of the Prot-
estant Reformed Church of  Norris-
town, Pennsylvania.                      Covenant Reformed Fellowship, Larne, N. Ireland

                                                                                 February  I,1990  I The Standard Bearer  / 207


somewhat hesitant about inviting                  thesis to contemporary life, the       families to talk about the
visitors to the worship.                          role of women in the church,           possibility of a Reformed work in
   The church has two worship                     etc.). We had visitors at every        England.
services every Sabbath: at 11:OO                  meeting, and three people from            Out of this visit came the plans
a.m. (a late morning service is                   outside the fellowship attended        for a conference of interesteld
customary in Northern Ireland),                   these meetings regularly. Two of       men at which this idea woulld be
and 6:00 p.m. In the morning I                    them, young people who drove           discussed. Just before we left, fif-
preached a series on the life of                  an hour in order to be present,        teen men (five from Larne, flour
Jacob, and in the evening I                       requested catechism. I began to        from the Measbro Dyke Evangel-
preached from the Heidelberg                      teach them from the Belgic Con-        ical Church in Barnsley, and the
Catechism, because the people                     fession on Friday evenings before      rest from various parts of
had expressed a desire for in-                    the lectures. The ladies had a Bi-     England) met in Barnsley. We
struction in Reformed doctrine,                   ble study which met every other        were able to meet for only a few
and especially in the doctrine of                 week, and in November we               hours, and so were not able to
the covenant. Their worship is                    began a study of the application       accomplish as much as we would
very simple: singing of three or                  of the doctrine of the covenant to     have liked, but we did agree to
four Psalms, prayer, reading and                  the raising of children.               meet again in May 1990 to talk
preaching of the Word, and giv-                     We met five nights in a row in       further. At the conference Mr.
ing of alms.                                      early September to discuss the         Tony Horne, editor of The
   Already before my arrival the                  work and qualifications of the of-     Presbyterian,  outlined the reasons
people of the fellowship began to                 ficers of the church. The fellow-      for the calling of the conference
plan various things in addition to                ship is very eager to be orga-         and suggested some objectives
the weekly services. I conducted                  nized, and is preparing for it now     toward which the group can
family visitation at their request.               though we do not know when it          work. I spoke on what it means
Catechism classes for the children                will be.                               to be Reformed, and Mr. John
were begun almost immediately.                      If the spiritual condition of        Clarke talked about the work in
Since there are fourteen children                 Northern Ireland is poor, then         Larne. We also had some time
among the five families who at-                   the spiritual condition of England     for discussion and fellowship.. At
tend regularly it was necessary to                is appalling. Only a small part of     the meeting in May one of the
have four classes: one for the five               the population goes to church,         subjects discussed will probably
four to six years olds, one for the               and of these most are members          be the adoption of one of the
eight year old, one for the twelve                of the apostate Church of              Reformed creeds.
year old, and one for the two fif-                England. There are only a few            Though we had to return to
teen year olds.                                   Reformed or Presbyterian               America earlier than we had
   In October we began public                     churches in the whole country,         originally planned, we are very
meetings in the Larne town hall.                  and those few people who still         thankful for the opportunity ?we
The lecture topics were on                        hold to the Reformed faith are         had to serve God's people in the
various aspects of Reformed doc-                  often unable to find a Reformed        United Kingdom, and feel even
trine (e.g., infant baptism, the                  church to attend.                      more strongly now than we did
covenant, and Premillennialism)                     I made two visits to England.        before we went that this work is
and current issues (the applica-                  The first was with my family in        so important that we must be
tion of the doctrine of the anti-                 August. We did some sight-             willing to make large sacrificles in
                                                  seeing, but also visited with three    order that it may go on. Cl




From Holy Writ
Rev. George lubbers                               Exposition of Isaiah 6 (I)

                                                  The Vision of the Throne of            saw the Lord (Adonai) upon the
Rev. Lubbers is a minister emeritus               God in the Temple                      throne, high and lifted up, and
in the Protestant Reformed Churches.                "In the year that Uzziah died I      his train (skirts) filled the

208  / The Standard Bearer  / February 1, 1990


temple."                                is heard the TRIS HAGION from          the whole earth will then be
  It is of utmost importance for a      the lips of the Seraphim standing      filled with the glory of God!
correct interpretation of this          before the throne of the majesty       There is prophecy in this vision
beautiful chapter to notice that        on high. Jehovah Adonai sitteth        of the Lord upon His throne as it
we are here dealing with a divine       on the throne in serene majesty        shall be established in righteous-
theophany, which Isaiah saw at a        even in the darkest hours of the       ness forever (John 12:31, 32).
very critical point in the history      seventy years of cruel captivity         What a sharp contrast is here
of the coming of the Son of God         in Babylon!                            symbolized between the
to save a11 His people from their          Such is the beautiful prophetic     sovereign manifestation of
sins. God appeared here as the          perspective symbolized here!           Jehovah and the vain gods of thse
God of all glory at the close of           We should notice that this          reprobate kings, priests, and
the long reign of king Uzziah.          revelation of Gods throne, high        prophets in Israel! Yes, in this
This king reigned for 52 years in       and lifted up, is in the temple        very temple they introduced all
Jerusalem on David's throne. He         where God meets His people at          the idol gods of the nations; they
reigned in what is known as the         the mercy-seat, the Ark of the         perpetrated the great ABOMINA-
Southern Kingdom, in distinction        testimony. There mercy is pro-         TION (Deut. 7:26; 1:9-13; Ez. 8:6,
from the Northern Kingdom, the          claimed; justice and mercy kiss        9, 13, 15, 17, etc.)! When we
ten tribes. The capital city of this    each other there. Hence, Jehovah       read the great apology of
kingdom was Samaria. The coun-          will never forsake His people,         Stephen before the Jewish Coun-
try was therefore often simply          whom He foreknew (Rom.                 cil in Jerusalem, we hear him
called "Samaria."                       11:2-7). He will dwell in the midst    quote the sin-convicting words
  The kingdom of David stands           of His people forever. Such is the     quoted from the prophet of
here at the crossroads of her           clear message of the Gospel of         Tekoa, Amos 5:25-27  (read this
history under David's royal             the glory of the blessed God in        passage, by all means). One can-
scepter. We must bear this in           Isaiah 6:lff.! God will surely         not read such passages from the
mind. God had promised David            make, out of the remnant accord-       lips of the prophets without
that He would build him a house,        ing to the election of grace, a ho-    trembling in awe before the song
and that his son would sit upon         ly people, a royal priesthood. He      of the Seraphim before the great
David's throne forever (II Sam.         will purify their hearts. Em-          throne of God in Jesus Christ Hi.5
7:14, 15). But now, at the time of      blazoned here in this theophanic       Son!
Uzziah's death, God is sending          vision is this: "I the LORD            The Effect of Such Over-
His judgments upon the kings of         change not; therefore ye are not       whelming Glory upon the
Judah and Jerusalem, which              consumed." I will bring greater        Prophet Isaiah (vss. 4, 5)
seem to indicate that the Lords         things to pass only for my great         We read here: "And the foun-
word of oath will need to fail.         NAME'S sake (Ez. 36:20-23;  39:7,      dations of the threshold shook at
  It is after the death of Uzziah       16, 25; 43:7, 8; Mal. 3:6).            the voice of him that cried, and
that this great decline in Judah          The Seraphim beings about the        the house (temple) was filled with
will come to a speedy manifesta-        throne symbolize in their very         smoke. Then said I, woe is me!
tion. The royal throne will be          name and place the Holiness to         for I am undone, because I am a
broken down, the temple will be.        the Lord, as this was written in       man of unclean lips, and I dwell
burned, and Israel shall become         letters of pure gold, in the           in the midst of a people of
the laughingstock among all the         engravings of a signet HOLINESS        unclean lips: for mine eyes have
heathen nations.                        TO THE LORD. This was worn             seen the king: Jehovah of Hosts!"
  However, it will only be such         by the high priest in his priestly       Isaiah's cry, "I am undone,"
seemingly. Even in these darkest        mitre. This Israel was accepted        reminds us of the words of Moses
hours of Israel, the just will live     before the Lord (Ex. 26:36-38)!        which he uttered when the LORD
by faith which is the substance of      This is the theme of the eternal       appeared in the glory at Sinai.
things hoped for, the evidence of       anthem of the Seraphim: HOLY,          We read in Hebrews 12:21, "and
things not seen!                        HOLY, HOLY IS JEHOVAH OF               so terrible was the sight, that
  Behold, a remnant shall be            HOSTS. The whole earth is full of      Moses said, I exceedingly fear
saved; there will be manifestation      God's glory (vs. 3). Here is a vi-     and quake." All that Peter had to
of greater things in the BRANCH,        sionary manifestation of the glory     see from out of his fishing boat
the very Son of God, born from a        of the Son of Man, who through         was the great catch of fish, and
virgin. Such is the beautiful           His death and resurrection will        he exclaimed, "Depart from me,
perspective symbolized here in          bring in the great tabernacle of       for I am a sinful man, 0 Lord."
the vision of the throne, whence        God dwelling with man. Indeed,         Let us then too take the shoes

                                                                               February  I,1990 I The Standard Bearer I209


from off our feet at so great a                    the cleansings of many washings        thy sins are forgiven thee" (Matt.
manifestation of Jehovah's glory.                  required by the Levitical or-          9:4b). Yes, the heavy burden of
Nay, let us draw nigh and see                      dinances, but the cleansing of the     the poor sinner's heart rolled
this great sight in the face of                    tongue, which proceeds from a          away. Thus also Isaiah can now
Jesus Christ our Lord by the                       pure heart (Ps. 19:14). Gods           say, "I believe, therefore I
transforming power of a glory                     promise is that He will make            speak." The live coal was taken
which changes us from glory un-                    Israel truly a holy nation, a royal    with a tong from off the great
to glory as by the Spirit of the                   people, who have their lips puri-      altar where the sacrifice was
Lord (II Cor. 3:17, 18).                           fied by the holy fire of the Spirit    brought for the expiation of sin,
   For the gospel-truth stands as                 of sanctification. Thus there will      and sprinkled upon the mercy-
spoken by the glorified Son of                    be fruit of the lips (Heb. 13:15).      seat. It was the type of the blood
Man, which He spoke to John on                       God in His pity from where He        of Jesus, which speaks better
the isle of Patmos: "Fear not, I                   dwells between the Cherubim            things than Abel. It was the
am the first and the last: I am he                 upon the mercy-seat causes             witness of God that He will
that liveth and was dead; and,                     Isaiah to obtain grace and to find     remove all our sins in the blood
behold, I am alive forevermore.                   mercy in his (Isaiah's) great hour      of the Lamb who was slain
Amen. I have the keys of hell                      of need.                               before the foundation of the
and death."                                          We read in verses 6 and 7,           world. For this throne, high and
   But only when a sinner's con-                  "Then flew one of the seraphims         lifted up, is the throne of God
science has been purified by                      unto me, having a live coal in his      and of the Lamb (John 12:41.;
redeeming grace can he be fear-                   hand which he had taken with            Rev. 5:6, 7, 8, 9, 13). These Iive
less before the great and glorious                the tongs from off the altar" and       coals are life-giving coals fro,m
Christ. Isaiah needed such a pure                 he laid it upon my mouth, and           the Christ who was to be slain
heart and clean tongue. This                      said, "Lo, this hath touched thy        and to live forever. In this light
Isaiah sought when the founda-                    lips; and thine iniquity is taken       we can understand the beautiful
tions of the threshold of the tem-                away, and thy sin purged." These        words, "Lo, this hath toucheld thy
ple shook at the voice of the                     are very wonderful words which          lips, thine iniquity is taken away
Lord from His holy throne, high                   only the Christ on the throne           and thy sin purged': you are
and lifted up. He is himself a sin-               could utter efficaciously. They         both justified and sanctified in
ner and he dwells amongst a                       are the equivalent of what Jesus        the LORD THY RIGHTEOUSNESS
"people of unclean lips." They all                spoke to the man sick of the            (Jer.  23:6;  33:16).  0
need cleansing. No, not merely                    palsy: "Son, be of good cheer;                               (to be conti:nued)



                                                  The End Times (2):
 The Strength                                     The  Sign  of  Divorcing
of Youth
Rev. Barrett Critters                             ,the  Truth

   No, we cannot know the day                     or even the year. But, you say, if      hour, there are many things Twe
and the hour that Jesus is coming                 we cannot pinpoint the time the         know about the times shortly
again to make all things new. We                  Lord will come, is there any prof-      before the return of Christ.
can't know when He will return                    it in studying about those days,          Many young people have prob-
to take the church to glory. We                   and even asking how close they          ably spoken to those who
may not try to determine the day                  are? Definitely, yes! It's not for      believe that there will be no
                                                  nothing that the Bible gives us in-     warnings as to when the end will
Rev. Critters is pastor of the Prot-              formation about the end times,          be, and that Christ will return
estant Reformed Church of Byron                   even details. Even though you           without notice to rapture the
Center, Michigan.                                 cannot know the day and the             church from the earth. These

210  I The Standard Bearer  I February  1,199O


people misinterpret the "thief in      truth doesn't mean that he once        intellectual pride and hatred for
the night" idea (see last article),    believed but now doesn't, or that      what cannot be explained logical-
and argue that all the "signs of       some elect "divorced" the. faith.      ly, subtly and slowly teach the
the times" in the Scripture refer      But it means that some who held        lie. The professors in the schools
to when Jerusalem was destroyed        the truth of the faith no longer       raise subtle questions without giv-
in A.D. 70, and not to the end of      want it. They used to teach the        ing good, conclusive answers,
the world. The error of this           truth about Jesus Christ, about        causing gnawing doubts in the
reasoning is that in Matthew 24:2      His manhood, about His God-            minds and hearts of students. The
the disciples ask about both (the      head, about His creating the           ministers come to the pulpits
destruction of Jerusalem and the       world, about His election, about       with the same questioning
coming of Christ's kingdom); and       His preservation of us, about His      methods. Instead of saying from
the Lord gives instruction about       rule in the church through office-     the pulpit, "Thus saith the Lord'
both (even a careful study of the      bearers. But they don't want it        they say, "Let me suggest to
rest of the chapter is not             any longer. They never truly           you . . . ."
necessary to see this).                believed.                                 And the leaders' punishment
  So we take a middle road here.         The seriousness is that it is        for this apostasy will be great.
Although we cannot predict the         departure from and divorcing of        Just as the great sin of Jeroboam
day and hour of Jesus' return, we      Christ, for Christ is the truth of     the son of Nebat was not so
know that it will not be a com-        the Scripture.                         much that he served idols, but
plete surprise for believers. We         Practically, this means that this    especially that he "taught the
don't say that there are no signs      sign of apostasy takes place in        people to sin," so the judgment
of His coming and of the end of        what was the true church. We           of God will fall most heavily
the world. Jesus wants the             don't call Buddhists or Moham-         upon these heretics, not only
church on earth to live with her       medans apostates. Apostasy hap-        because of their own unbelief,
eyes wide open, with her ear to        pens in the church, where the          but especially because of all the
the ground, listening carefully for    faith was preached, learned, and       sheep they led astray.
the hoofbeat of the coming of          loved. Paul says to the elders at          But that's not the only way
Jesus to judge, so that she may        Ephesus, "Of your own selves           this happens. For the teachers to
be spiritually ready when He           shall men arise, speaking              bring in damnable heresies, the
comes. And He says, "These are         perverse things, to draw away          people must be willing and ready
the things I want you to look for      disciples after them." That is,         5  *IIs  r  -,/. ,  )  /- *  :,.    _"  `;
and listen for . . . ."                "Out of your own people . . . ."       ,wj~f&&&(j$  ,fo~:,wdis&&$~i;::
  One of the most subtle, devas-         Very practically, young people,      `:;;l;-;$n  whatways  is  the"Re2:  '
tating, and grievous signs that the    that's why you must be so careful      -; :`:;lformed, faith being `grad:
Lord says we should anticipate is      in your learning of catechism          :,;: :::: ually undermined today?-
a massive departure from the           lessons. You and your friends will     .@. ` What..shouId, j;du:`do if'you
faith, a great departure like the      be the elders and elders' wives        *,,`: ::;. believe' the teacher in your
world has never seen. "Be not          some day in the church. In these       -`i ,`
                                                                              /.. i :school(high  ~school or co&
deceived," Jesus says through His      latter days, especially the elders
apostle, "for that day shall not       need to know sound doctrine, so
come, except there be a falling        that when the ministers or pro-
away first, and that man of sin,       fessors bring in false teaching,
the son of perdition be revealed."     they will know it.
In other words, this sign will be        A serious-minded young per-
present in the entire New Testa-       son will ask, "How could this
ment, but especially it will ac-       ever happen in a true church? If
company the coming of the An-          the people loved the Lord, taught
tichrist himself.                      the Lords truth, obeyed the
  Apostasy is the word for it.         Lords commandments, how can
Apostasy is the great evil of put-     that same church now teach and
ting away the faith. Just as a man     believe the lie?" The answer is
puts away his wife, divorcing          that both the leaders and the
her, so men and women put              members in the church sin to
away the faith, divorcing it. The      bring this about.
Bible even uses a similar word           The leaders (some of whom
for both. That a man divorces the      may be unbelievers), because of

                                                                              February  1,199O  I The Standard Bearer  / 211


to swallow them. Peter says,                         This doesn't happen overnight.        church it comes as intentional
"Many shall follow their per-                        Think of it in this way. When a       deception (except for those
nicious ways." The members of                     train comes to a switching yard          leaders and teachers who have
the church, then, must either be                  and transfers to a track that will       been deceived themselves for a
just as willing to divorce the                    eventually turn the train around,        while). Paul tells Timothy th.at
truth, or know nothing about                      the change seems innocent                the divorce of the faith will come
what the truth is. If the members                 enough. But after a short time of        when men speak "lies in
of the church would rise in holy                  uneasiness because of the lurch          hypocrisy" (I Timothy 4:2). They
horror immediately, and not after                 to the other track, it is not bother-    will put on a false front of or-
two or three generations; if the                  some to find out that it's going in      thodoxy to make you think they
church members were willing to                    a slightly different direction. In       are not crooked. They are wolves
discipline the preachers and pro-                 fact, it probably will seem natural      in sheep's clothing. Intentionally
fessors who teach heresy; the                     and comfortable enough; and soon         their doctrine is cloaked in
false doctrines would be kept out                 the train will be going in the           Reformed terminology; inten-
of the church.                                    opposite direction and no one will       tionally they will claim to have
   The problem is that the church                 either know or care.                     history on their side; but their
members sometimes care more                          At first, the lies that are being     purpose is to destroy the ch,urch.
about their own hide than about                   taught sound dangerous. Re-                That's hard to believe. But the
the truth of the Word of God, put                 formed and biblical sensitivities        devil himself is behind this decep-
a greater value on "peace in the                  are touched. The parents feel            tion. They are smooth-talking,
church" than on Christ's Word.                    guilty, perhaps, when they don't         kind men; but they are nothing
We need to be men and women                       object. But then, after they have        less than demonic. Freshly mani-
and young people who care                         argued with and eventually ig-           cured personalities may be the
about the faith of Jesus Christ,                  nored their conscience for a             serpent from the garden of Eden.
the head and ruler and Savior of                  while, it doesn't bother them            Eve was not struck by the ser-
the church.                                       anymore. Perhaps they are                pent's falsity, but by his apparent
   But how can this happen in a                   believers who will be saved, but         sincerity. Smooth as silk. Slippery
church that consists of believers                 because of their horrible failure        as a snake. "Sincere."
and their children? How can                       in this one vital area, their              But their purpose is to destroy
Gods elect divorce the truth?                     children will believe the lie and        the church.
God's elect cannot divorce the                    teach it when they become old.             Young people, you must be
truth. But a true church can                      And God will cut off their genera-       reminded of these things. A
become apostate. And for that to                  tions. What an astounding                minister is not faithful if he does
happen, two things must occur.                    thought!                                 not teach the congregation about
First, there must be unbelievers                    We need to be warned about             this. "If thou put the brethren in
in the congregation as well as                    this in our own lives.                   remembrance of these things,
believers. Bringing in "damnable                    This, young people, is why you         thou shalt be a good minister of
heresies," these unbelievers are                  need to be encouraged to study           Jesus Christ . . ." (I Timothy 4:6).
the wolves among the sheep,                       hard in catechism, to learn the          The coming again of Jesus Christ
who do a good job of pretending                   doctrines. This is why your              will be preceded by this horrible
to be believers. But this alone                   pastors are so concerned when            departure from the faith that you
isn't enough. There must be                       you don't know and understand            hold. dear. Beware!
believers who fail in one impor-                  the questions and answers, when            Learn.
tant aspect of their calling: to                  your eyes are a mile away in               Study.
teach their children well. For                    catechism. And this is why your            Be not deceived.
then the children will listen to                  pastor is so thrilled when you             Pray.
the lies that are taught and will                 know the lesson, when you show             And when you hear the lie,
begin themselves to question the                  interest during the class -              speak.
Reformed faith because they                       because he sees evidence that              "Now unto him that is abEe to
were not taught it. And because                   God will preserve the church             keep you from falling, and to pre-
the lie is always easier to swallow               perhaps for another generation.          sent you faultless before the
than the truth, they will take it,                And this is the fervent desire of        presence of his glory with ex-
morsel by poisonous morsel. The                   his heart, for Gods sake!                ceeding joy, To the only wise
parents are saved, but the children                 But don't think that it's all so       God our Saviour, be glory and
perish. The church that once was                  innocent. God's apostles tell us         majesty, dominion and power,
true, now is false.                               that when heresy comes into the          both now and forever. Amen." 0

212  I The Standard Bearer  / February  1,199O


Contribution
Mr. Henry De long                        Abortion  and  Evolution

  Much in the news, in recent            over against the practitioner of       alone does not have the right to
months, is the practice of abor-         abortion for hire?                     control the processes of life and
tion for hire. The secular world is         The strongest, best, most           death. Therefore the theory of
steaming. with unbelieving fear,         biblical stance against abortion,      evolution teaches that God alone
fear that the "fundamental right         infanticide, and euthanasia is the     does not have the right to control
to abort" may be limited by the          historical truth that God created      the processes of life and death.
recent Supreme Court decision in         a deathless world. If one denies       But who then controls the pro-
Webster.                                 biblical creation, one opens the       cesses of life and death? Evolu-
  According to published reports         door to justified or excused kill-     tion appears to posit one answer.,
in the Reformed press, some              ing, both legally and morally, in      the humanistic answer that might
faculty members of Calvin Col-           Reformed circles. For the biblical     makes right, that the weak there-
lege teach the theory of evolu-          doctrine of creation reveals that      fore have no human rights. As a
tion as true, contrary to the            Jehovah is the sole Author of life,    consequence, we may assert that
biblical doctrine of creation. A         because He alone is the sole           to weaken the biblical doctrine of
question may therefore be asked:         Author of creation. Because            creation by teaching evolution as
Can a faculty member who                 Jehovah is the sole Author of life,    true in the circle of Reformed
teaches evolution as true con-           He alone has the right to control      believers weakens the Reformed
sistently stand against abortion?        the processes of life and death.       pro-life stance.
If so, is there other biblical basis,    Therefore the biblical doctrine of       The theory of evolution is
anchored in God's revealing of           creation reveals that Jehovah          used, at many law schools today,
Himself, that consistently stands        alone has the right to control the     to justify and excuse abortion foi
                                         processes of life and death. But       hire. This is so because no quali-
Mr. De Jong is a confessing member       the theory of evolution teaches        tative difference exists between
of the Protestant Reformed Church        that God is not the sole Author of     justifying or excusing evolution
in South Holland, IL. He is a law-       life, because God is not the sole      in a science course at Calvin and
student of Valparaiso University,        Author of creation. If God is not                                (con 2. on page 214)
Valparaiso, IN.                          the sole Author of life, then He



                                         Report  of  Classis  East
Mr. jon Huisken


January 10, 1990                         Each church was represented by         visitors. The only churches
Hope Protestant Reformed Church          two delegates. Rev. G. Van Baren       visited this past year were Norris-
                                         served as chairman of this ses-        town and Covenant. The report
  Classis East met in regular ses-       sion. Present at this session, at      regarding these visits was treated
sion on Wednesday, January 10,           least for a short time, was the        in closed session and therefore
1990 at the Hope Protestant Re-          church history class of Covenant       the actions of classis can not be
formed Church, Grand Rapids.             Christian High School.                 reported here.
                                           Reports were received from              One of the major items for
                                         the stated clerk, the classical        classis' consideration was an
                                         committee, and from the church         overture to synod from Rev. K.

                                                                                 February  1,199O  I The Standard Bearer I213


Hanko to compile a completely                     Koole to a three-year secundus           CONTRIBUTION (con% from page 21.3)
new psalter. This overture was                    term as delegates  ad examina.           justifying or excusing Roe v.
sent to synod with the disap-                     Rev. W. Bruinsma was elected to          Wade in a constitutional law
proval of classis on the grounds                  serve a three-year term on the           course at, say, Harvard Law
(summarized) (1) that an entirely                 classical committee. Rev. J.             School. The denial of creation
new psalter is not necessary and                  Kortering and Rev. G. Van Baren          causes the spirits of men to
(2) that such a project would not                 were elected to serve as church          justify and excuse both evol.ution
be wise with respect to our                       visitors, with Revs. Woudenberg          and its deathly practice in tlhe
people and for the spiritual                      and Slopsema as alternates. The          abortuary.
harmony of our churches.                          following delegates to synod                In opposing abortion for hire
   Classis also heard appeals from                were elected: MINISTERS: Primi:          within the circle of believers,
two brothers against their con-                   M. Joostens, J. Kortering, J.            citizens of the kingdom of
sistory. Classis decided that the                 Slopsema, G. Van Baren; Secundi:         heaven do well to contemplate
appeals were not finished in the                  W. Bruinsma, B. Critters, M.             the voice of Isaiah the prophet:
consistory and therefore declared                 Kamps, K. Koole. ELDERS: Primi:          "0 Jerusalem, that bringest good
them not legally before the                       C. Kregel, C. Kuiper (SW), D. Lot-       tidings, lift up thy voice with
classis.                                          terman, G. Terpstra; Secundi: G.         strength; lift it up, be not afraid;
   One other overture to synod                    Boverhof, H. Kuiper, Sr., C.             say unto the cities of Judah,
was received from a brother                       Pastoor, R. Pastoor.                     Behold your God! Behold, the
regarding synod's action with                       Expressions of thanks to the           Lord God will come with strong
regard to a matter brought to an                  classis were given by Faith and          hand, and his arm shall rule for
earlier synod. Classis decided that               Norristown for the pulpit supply         him: behold, his reward is with
this overture was not legally                     given them in their vacancies.           him, and his work before hi.m.
before it since it judged the over-                 Subsidy requests were ap-              He shall feed his flock like a.
ture to be an appeal and there-                   proved for 1991 for Kalamazoo            shepherd: he shall gather thle
fore illegal in that appeals must                 for $6500 and for Covenant for           lambs with his arm, and car:ry
appear at the very next synod.                    $28,000.                                 them in his bosom, and shall
The overture will be sent to                        Expenses for this session of           gently lead those that are with
synod with this decision.                         classis amounted to $1612.49.            young." Isaiah 40:9-l 1. Cl
   The January classis is the time                  Classis will meet next in
when classis does its voting for                  Kalamazoo on Wednesday, May
positions on committees and for                   9, 1990.
synodical delegates. Rev. M.                             Respectfully submitted,
Joostens was elected to a three-                         John J. Huisken,
year primus term and Rev. K.                             Stated Clerk 0



                                                  News  From
                                                  Our  Churches
Mr. Benjamin Wigger


                       February 1, 1990           Candlelight Christmas Concert             concert that was. What a great
CONGREGATIONAL                                    after their evening service on            way to begin the celebration of
HIGHLIGHTS                                        Christmas Eve, December 24.               the birth of our Lord and Savior
   The Choral Society of the Faith                Please correct me if I am wrong,          the following day.
P.R.C. in Jenison, MI presented a                 but this is the first time that I can       On December 20 the Choral
                                                  remember any of our choral                Society of the Lynden P.R.C.. in
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Prot-               groups presenting a candlelight           Lynden, WA presented their
estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-                concert. And what a wonderful            Thanksgiving/Christmas Concert.
ville, Michigan.                                                                            A variety of old and new music

214  I The Standard Bearer  I February 1, 1990


was performed.                         come prepared for general clean-      their pastor, Rev. B. Gritters; for
   The Council of the First P.R.C.     ing, painting, wall-papering, and     a period of one year,. so that he
in Grand Rapids decided to reac-       yard clean-up. Evidently this         could have been sent to Burnie,
tivate a five-year old plan to         work went on throughout the           Tasmania.
micro-film the important parts of      month, up until the den Hartogs          May God in His grace also con-
their archives. Some of their          arrived.                              tinue to provide according to the
minute-books are already in sorry         Prof. R. Decker and his wife       need in our churches, and for the
condition, because they sustained      spent two Sundays in Redlands.        saints in Tasmania as well. q
water damage in the old archives       Not only did Prof. Decker preach
room in their church on Franklin       for the congregation, but on
St. Most of the writings are           December 31 he installed Rev.         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
however still legible. So the          den Hartog as Redlands' pastor.          The consistory and congrega-
Council feels they should do             A Welcome Program for Rev.          tion of Grandville Protestant  Rle-
whatever they can to preserve          den Hartog and family was held        formed Church expresses its
for posterity what they still have.    on January 5.                         sincere sympathy to Mr. Henry
Especially is that the case            DENOMINATIONAL NEWS                   Kuiper, Mr. and Mrs. Richard
because the records of First             One of our emeritus ministers,      Peterson, Mr. and Mrs. Ronald
Church are important not only to       Rev. Robert Harbach, continues        Corson, in the death of their
them as a congregation, but also       to suffer from the effects of         father, MR. JACOB KUIPER.
in our denomination.                   Parkinson's Disease. He finds it         "For we know that if our
  The Council of the Hull P.R.C.       more and more difficult to walk,      earthly house of this tabernacle
in Hull, Iowa proposed to install      and consequently he no longer         were dissolved, we have a build-
air conditioning in their present      can get out and about.                ing of Cod, an house not made
building. This proposal was re-          The congregation of the             with hands, eternal in the
jected by Hull's congregation at       Grandville P.R.C. in Grandville,      heaven." (I I Cor.  5:l)
their annual congregational            Ml where Rev. and Mrs. Harbach             Pastor Jason Kortering
meeting held in December, not          are members, have been provid-            Tom Bodbyl, Clerk
exactly a warm month.                  ing the Harbachs with assistance.
  On Sunday evening, December          Members come and stay for a           ANNOUNCEMENT
3, all the members of Discussion       period of time, allowing Mrs.           The Protestant Reformed
Groups in the Hope P.R.C. in           Harbach to get out and get            Christian School of South
Walker, Ml were invited to meet        groceries or whatever. I know         Holland, Illinois, is in need of
together at their church for a         I've mentioned it before, but find    several teachers for the
short program followed by sing-        some time to drop the Harbachs        1990-I 991 school year. Please
ing and refreshments.                  a card or note. It would mean so      contact Mr. Lamm Lubbers
  Sunday, December 17, the             much. Their address is 3409           (16535 Elm Court, South
Choral Society of the Loveland         Goodman, Wyoming, Ml 49509.           Holland, IL 60473;  [708]
P.R.C. in Loveland, CO presented       SCHOOL ACTIVITIES                     339-6585)  administrator, or Mr.
their Christmas Concert to their         "Christ the Anointed" was the       Bert Wories, Jr. (18757  Bernar-
congregation. Looking at the pro-      theme of the Christmas Program        dine St.,. Lansing, IL 60438;  [708]
gram, there was one special            presented by the Loveland P.R.        474-4926),  Board Secretary.
number that caught my attention:       Christian School in Loveland, CO.     RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
"Orchestra Bells." There was also        And the students of the South         The Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Society
a special note of thanks from          Holland, IL P.R. Christian School     of Faith Protestant Reformed
Loveland's consistory to all who       presented their annual Christmas      Church extends heartfelt sym-
helped to re-shingle the roof of       program entitled, "The Mind of        pathy to Mr. and Mrs. John
the old church.                        Christ: He Humbled Himself."          Hoekstra and family  inthe
  Somewhat similar to the              MINISTERIAL CALLS                     death of her father, MR. JACOB
above, there were quite a few an-        God in His providence has led       KUIPER, SR.
nouncements in the bulletins of        Rev. S. Houck  to accept the call       May they find comfort with
the Hope P.R.C. in Redlands, CA        extended to him by the con-           the words of  .Psalm   16:ll.
during the month of December           gregation of the Peace P.R.C. in      "Thou wilt show me the path of
regarding parsonage clean-up for       Lynwood, IL.                          life: in thy presence is  .fulness  of
Rev. den Hartog and his family.          The Consistory of the Byron         joy; at thy right hand there are
Early in the month, congregation       Center P.R.C. in Byron Center,        pleasures for evermore."
members were encouraged to             Ml has decided not to release             J  en'ison, MI


                                                                             February 1, 1990  I The Standard Bearer  I215


                                                                                                               SECOND  CLASS
                                                                                                                 Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                 Grand Rapids, Michigan





NOTICE                                            law, Mr. Richard Bloem and Mr.               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   Classis  West of the Protestant                Peter Petroelje, and to Mrs.                   The Ladies Society of  Hud-
Reformed Churches will meet in                    Kuiper and her family.                       sonville Protestant Reformed
South Holland, Illinois, on                         "The eternal God is thy                    Church expresses sincere sym-
Wednesday, March  7,1990,  at                     refuge, and underneath are the               pathy to one of its members,
8:30  AM, the Lord willing. All                   everlasting arms."                           Mrs.  Freda Zwak, in the loss of
material for the Agenda is to be                  (Deuteronomy  33:27)                         her brother, MR. ERNIE
in the hands of the Stated Clerk,                     Dewey Engelsma, Pres.                    MIEDEMA.
30 days before  Classis  convenes.                    Arnold Dykstra, Sec.                       "The Lord gave, and the Lord
All delegates in need of lodging                                                               hath taken away; blessed  bte the
or transportation from the air-                   ANNOUNCEMENT                                 name of the Lord." (job  1:21)
port should notify the Clerk of                     The Northwest Iowa Prot-                       Rev.  G. VanBaren, President
South Holland's Consistory us-                    estant Reformed Christian                        Mrs. C. VanBaren, Secretary
ing the forms provided for that                   School of  Doon,  Iowa, is in                IN  MEMORIAM
purpose.                                          need of one teacher for grades                 On December  31,1989,  our
     Rev. R. Hanko, Stated Clerk                  3, 4, 5 for the 1990-1991 school             beloved husband, father, grand-
                                                  year. Please contact Mr. Chester             father, and  great-grandfathler,
RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                            Hunter (106 5th Ave.,  Doon,  IA             JACOB KUIPER, SR. was  ta.ken
   The Men's Society of Hope                      51235;  [712]  726-3381),  adminis-          from his earthly family and
Protestant Reformed Church of                     trator, or Mr. Robert Mantel (RR             called to his heavenly  homle  at
Walker, MI mourns the death of                    2, Box 92, Hull, IA 51239;  [712]            the age of 78.
one of its members, MR. JACOB                     726-3478),  Board President.                   Though we sorrow, we can re-
KUIPER, SR. We extend Chris-                                                                   joice knowing that for many
tian sympathy to his  brothers-in-                                                             years he dedicated his life to
                                                                                               the spreading of the word
                                                                                               through the tape ministry.  \Ne
                   CONFERENCE ON PREACHING                                                     pray that the godly example he
                                                                                               set before his family and  thle
                                       March 6, 1990                                           church will remain in our hearts.
                                                                                               May we be comforted in the
                                South Holland Protestant                                       knowledge that our loved one
                                     Reformed Church                                           now rests safely in the eternal
                                 16511 South Park Ave.                                         care of Cod.
                                  South Holland, Illinois                                        "Thou wilt keep him in
  9:00 AM - Keynote Address:                                                                   perfect peace, whose mind is
     "The Reformed View of Preaching" . . . . . . . . Prof. Robert Decker                      stayed on thee: because he
  lo:30 AM - Sectionals:                                                                       trusteth in Thee." (Isaiah  26:3)
     "Organization and Homiletics". . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rev. Ronald Hanko                    Cornelia Kuiper
     "Preaching from the Old Testament". . . . . . . . . . Rev. John A. Heys                       Henry  J. Kuiper
     "Heidelberg Catechism Preaching" . . . . . . Rev. Ronald Cammenga                             Ike  & Jane Kuiper
                                                                                                   Jay  & Nan Kuiper
  1:00 PM - Sectionals:                                                                            Cer  & Bonnie Kuiper
     "The Importance and Improving of Delivery" . Rev. Gise VanBaren                               Bob  & Etta  VanDyke
     "The Elders' Oversight of the Preaching" . . . , Prof. Herman Hanko                           Clare  & Jan Kuiper
     "Missionary Preaching" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma                AI  & Sharon Brummel
  3:00 AM - Sectionals:                                                                            Art  & Mary Bleyenberg
     "Series Preaching" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rev. M. Kamps        John  & Marie Hoekstra
                                                                                                   Rich  & Betty Peterson
     "Preaching as Teaching" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rev. Thomas Miersma                   Bob  & Laurie Kuiper
     "Applicatory Preaching" . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rev. C. Haak          Ron  & Linda Corson
               Coffee breaks and noon dinner will be provided.                                       54 grandchildren
                                                                                                      9 great-grandchildren
                                                                                                                         Hope PRC, Walker, MI


216  I The Standard Bearer  I February 1, 1990


