                         If we hunger and thirst for
                     &hteousness, we want to be
                     right in our doctrine and our life.
                    We cannot hold to any doctrine
                     unless we are sure it is in har-
                     mony with the Word of God. We
                     cannot practice one thing unless
                    we know it is divinely approved.

                           See "Hungering After Righteousness"
                              - page 459
                               .-





VOL. 66, NO. LU
September I,2990


Contents                                                                                                II-It
                                                            September I, 1990                     SiANDrn
Meditation - Rev. Jason L. Kortering
   HUNGERING AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS                                                                      BEARER
                                                                                                   ISSN 0362-4692
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                               Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
   FEMINISM ENTRENCHED IN THE CRC                                                     461         and  August.  Published by the Reformed Free Pub
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LETTERS                                                                               463         at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
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The Day of Shadows - Rev. John A. Heys                                                            49516.
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   THAT WONDERFUL COVENANT (1)                                                       4 6 5        Editor: Prof. David  I. Engelsma
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Search the Scriptures - Rev. Gise J. VanBaren                                                     Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
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   THE AMAZING EXAMPLE OF CHRIST                                                      467         Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
                                                                                                  Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
When Thou Sittest  In Thine House - Mrs. Mary'Beth  Lubbers                                       Critters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
                                                                                                  Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John Heys, Rev.
   THE REFORMED WIFE: MOTHER (2)                                                      469         Kenneth  Koole,  Rev. Jason Kortering, Mr. James
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   THE WORK OF THE MEASBRO DYKE CONGREGATION                                               471    Mr. Benjamin Wigger, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg.
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458 I The Standard Bearer / September 1,199D


                                            Hungering After
Meditation
Rev. Jason Korkering                        Righteousness

   "Blessed are they which do               the need and desire for food and          for it. This is the great guarantee,
hunger and thirst after righ-               drink have long gone. The same is         all who hunger and thirst shaZ2 be
teousness: for they shall be                true for a spiritually dead person.       filled. There is no doubt about iit.
                                            He has no spiritual life; hence he           0, that God may give to each. of
filled ".                (Math 5:6)         has consumed no spiritual food or         us an awareness of the lack of righ-
                                            drink and he has no hunger pains          teousness that we have in our-
                                            for more. If, however, you hunger         selves, and grant us a hunger and
                                            and thirst after righteousness, you       thirst for the provision that we
   The Lord Jesus tells us in this          are most blessed, for the hunger it-      have in Jesus.
brief verse that it is blessed to be        self and thirst itself is proof that              May we be as David, "As the
hungry and thirsty for righteous-           you are alive and seek after refresh-     hart panteth after the water brooks,
ness.                                       ment which Jesus provides.                 so panteth my soul after thee, 0
   It is blessed, mind you, to be             Jesus makes this point at this im-       God. My soul thirsteth for God, for
hungry and thirsty! For the happi-          portant juncture in His sermon.            the living God, when shall I come
ness of the child of God is not sim-          This is now the fourth beatitude.        and appear before God?" (P.s. 4:2:1,
ply in being filled. That, to be sure,      In each of these statements of spiri-      2).
is most blessed; but even the               tual blessedness, Jesus describes a               Why is righteousness so impor-
hunger pangs and dire thirst itself         certain spiritual quality of each of       tant in the kingdom of heaven?
are most blessed.                           the citizens of the kingdom. The                  The word itself means to be
   We have to be spiritually-               order is significant. Basic to our         straight, upright. To use the lan-
minded to understand this.                  understanding of ourselves is the          guage of the carpenter, it is to be
   From the natural point of view,          fact that we come to terms with our        plumb.
our lack of food and drink is not           own worthlessness. "Poor-in                       God is righteous, and anyone
occasion for joy, but bitterness of         spirit" is Jesus' way of saying, we        who will have fellowship with Him
soul. The only conceivable blessed-         do not have what is necessary to be        must himself be righteous. "He is
ness in such a situation is that we         in the kingdom. When we stand              the Rock, his work is perfect: for
may be filled. Spiritually, however,        before the majesty of God, and the         all his ways are judgment, a God of
it is different.                            Spirit of Christ works in us, our          truth and without iniquity, just and
   Why is this?                             proper response is, I am nothing, I        right is he" (Deut. 32:4). This ap-
   Hungering and thirsting is the           am spiritually bankrupt. I am in           plies to God's very Being. He is
first sign of spiritual life. A spiritu-    debt and can never pay. We are not         three Persons in one Being. The
ally dead person has no hunger or           indifferent to this spiritual lack;        three Persons of the Godhead all
thirst for the righteousness of the         rather we cry to God by reason of          express themselves righteously.
kingdom of heaven. He may well              our need, we cry to God for mercy          This means there is no sin in God.
be likened to a corpse that is              and seek forgiveness of our sins.          The thoughts of the Father, Son,
washed on the shore of the sea.             Hence, we "mourn." All boasting            and Holy Spirit are in perfect
Such a dead body has no life, hence         and self-advance are gone, we are          agreement with His own standard
no need for food or drink. The              "meek," we acknowledge that we             of right. The law which He ma:in-
body may come ashore near a pic-            cannot attain unto divine approval.        tains for Himself is that He lives in
nic area with tables laden with the         The only hope is that God will deal        the sphere of holiness and trutht.
best of food and drink. It means            mercifully with us. Hence, when            Even God's sovereign desires are
nothing to such a dead corpse, for          Jesus comes to this spiritual quality,     perfect expressions of that which is
                                            we begin to see the opening at the         right in His own eyes. This applies
                                            end of the tunnel. We have come to         equally to His works. God's righ-
Rev. Kortering is pastor of the Protes-     appreciate that righteousness is the       teousness is expressed in His eter-
tant Refortned Church in Grandville,        way that we can be accepted in             nal counsel and good pleasure. He
Michigan.                                   God's sight. We hunger and thirst          manifests His righteousness in the

                                                                                      September 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer / 459


creation of His hand and in the sal-             are they who hunger and thirst af-          Are you so sensitive toward God
vation of His people.                            ter righteousness." The righteous-       that His righteousness and holiness
   This standard of right and wrong              ness which is in Jesus is rooted in      produces a deep sense of unworthi-
is communicated to us His crea-                  the eternal election of God: "Ac-        ness and lack? Does your soul
tures. It is not so that we do not               cording as He has chosen us in           crave for this supply? Do you have
know what the righteousness of                   him, that we should be holy and          a ravenous appetite which drives
God is all about. Through His                    without bZume before Him" (Eph.          you to seek this necessary supply?
dealings with the saints of both the             1:4X Or listen to the words of II           My dear brother and sister, you
Old and New Testaments, He re-                   Corinthians 5:21: "For he hath           need not guess. Do not say, "I
vealed His sense of right and                    made him to be sin for us who            think so.n Be sure that your answer
wrong. These were recorded for us                knew no sin, that we might be            is a resounding, "Yes!"
in the Holy Scriptures.                          made the righteousness of God in           We can tell when our inner soul
   If we want to know what is right              him." If you ever ask, where is          longs to be right with God. We are
or wrong in God's eyes, we need                  righteousness to be obtained, then       well aware that the Bible is the rev-
but study His Word and know His                  gaze upon that cross. God gave           elation of God. In it He tells us
law.                                             His Son to obtain righteousness for      what is truth and error, what is
   The righteousness of the king-                us. This Jesus did by His willing-       obedience and disobedience. If we
dom of heaven is clearly set forth.              ness to bear the penalty for our sins    hunger and thirst for righteous-
   Do you hunger and thirst for                  and make payment before the Fa-          ness, we want to be right in our
such righteousness?                              ther. He kept the law perfectly by       doctrine and our life. We cannot
   If you do, you confess that you               descending into hell as an act of        hold to any doctrine unless we are
do not have it in yourself. Such                 perfect love.                            sure it is in harmony with the Word
spiritual awareness is exactly in                  The righteousness that flows           of God. We cannot practice one
harmony with God's description of                from Jesus is twofold.                   thing unless we know it is divinely
man. "God saw that the wicked-                     There is in Him imputed righ-          approved.
ness of man was great in the earth               teousness. This is a legal term            At the same time, hungering and
and that every imagination of the                which means simply that God re-          thirsting for righteousness drives a
thoughts of his heart was only evil              ceived the perfect work of Jesus as      wedge between ourselves and the
continually" (Gen. f35). Or from                 payment for the sins of His elect        world around us. We cannot be the
the New Testament, "For the wrath                and credited the account of each of      friends of the world and a friend of
of God is revealed from heaven                   His own so that the payment of Je-       God. We cannot love the world
against all ungodliness and unrigh-              sus became their own. Canceled           and love God. Righteousness re-
teousness of men, who hold the                   debt lays the foundation for loving      quires spiritual separation.
truth in unrighteousness" (Rom.                  friendship.                                The more we practice this daily
1:lS). We will then understand                     There is also infused righteous-       the more our hungering and thirst-
clearly that the ungodly man can-                ness. This refers to the work of the     ing for righteousness will bring us
not live a good life in the sight of             ascended Jesus, Who from His             to the house of God faithfully on
God. Even his so-called civic good               glory in heaven sends forth the          the Lord's Day. It will not be al ques-
is not evidence of righteousness be-             gospel through the Person of His         tion of being forced to attend church
fore God; for he cannot even use                 Holy Spirit, and works a spiritual       regularly, we will recognize the
the glimmerings of natural light                 transformation in the hearts and         need for ourselves and our families.
aright, not even in things natural or            lives of His people. By this work,         This hunger and thirst will cause
civil (Canons of Dordt, Head III                 we more and more hate sin and be-        us to pray daily and seek His direc-
and w, Art. 4). Neither can the                  gin to walk in the way of obedi-         tion through the open Word of
child of God who is saved by grace               ence. We become spiritually alive.       God.
ever contribute toward His righ-                 We struggle against our sins and           The filling is guaranteed in that
teousness before God by doing                    seek the blessed life of obedience.      way.
good works, for even the best of                 In this way we enjoy  loving friend-       As guilty sinners we repent and
our works are polluted with sin                  ship with the ever blessed God.          receive forgiveness at the cross. As
and cannot contribute towards our                  This work of God makes us hun-         stumbling saints, we receive
righteousness with God (Heidel-                  gry and thirsty for righteousness.       strength by the grace provided.
berg Catechism, Lord's Day 24).                    Are you really hungry and                What a day that will be when we
   The only righteousness that God               thirsty for this righteousness?          will be completely filled. `When I
reveals to .man apart from Jesus                   Physical hunger and thirst is a        in righteousness at last thy glorious
Christ is the due reward for sin,                matter of pain. The body cries out       face shall see, when all the weary
which is the curse of God tempo-                 for nourishment, and the throat is       night is past and I awake with thee
rally and eternally.                             parched and dry. Most of us have         to view the glories that abide, then,
  The Lord Jesus anticipated His                 not experienced this in the extreme.     then, I shall be satisfied."
work on the cross as He instructed               Some children of God have. The             The white robes will be an ,ever-
His disciples and His beloved                    lack produces pain!                      lasting testimony of our right'eous-
church in those words: "Blessed                                                           ness in Jesus. Cl

460 / The  Standard Bearer I September 1,199O


                                           Feminism
                                           Entrenched
Editorial                                  in the CRC

  How deep the division is be-             quiring the female members of the          band over his wife. But Scripture
tween the Protestant Reformed              congregation to learn there in si-         makes the closest comparison be-
Churches and the Christian Re-             lence with all subjection (I Tim.          tween the husband's headship lover
formed Church became painfully             2:llff .). This includes the prohibi-      his wife and Christ's headship over
evident this June with the decision        tion against women leading in pub-         the church, especially in Ephesians
of the synod of the CRC opening            lic prayer in the worship services of      5:22-33.  Thus, denial of the head-
the offices of minister and elder to       the church. Only men may lead in           ship of the husband carries with it
women.                                     prayer in the services of divine           denial of the headship  of Christ.
  The decision was to "permit              worship (I Tim. 2%).                          The way in which this has been
churches to use their discretion in          By thus setting aside the will of        done in the CRC, in the interests of
utilizing the gifts of women mem-          the Lord for the government of His         women in office, is the reinterp:reta-
bers in all the offices of the church."    church, the CRC challenged the             tion of headship  as merely "source"
  It was a major decision.                 headship  of Christ. It was signifi-       or "origin." The husband is merely
  The CRC broke with the long tra-         cant that the issue of women in the        the source of the wife. He is not the
dition of Reformed churches going          offices of pastor and elder was de-        authority over her. How I could1
back to Calvin that reserved the           cided in connection with a synodi-         ever be conceived to be the source
special offices in the church for          cal report on headship - the head-         of my wife is a mystery to me.
qualified men. Indeed, this has            ship of husbands over their wives          Ephesians  5:22ff. very plainly
been the tradition in the church           and the headship of Christ over the        means by the headship of the hus-
from the earliest post-apostolic           church. So inextricably does the           band his authority over the wife.
church. She did this even though           Bible bind together the exercise of        For the fitting response of the wife
she herself acknowledged that she          authority at church with the head-         to the headship  is that she submits
had no clear, compelling biblical          ship of the husband over the wife          (vss. 22,241 and that she reverences
basis for breaking with her own,           and with the headship of Christ            him (v. 33). But the astounding,, in-
and the catholic church's, tradition.      over the church that to pronounce          escapable implication of this rein-
The grounds for the decision to            on the first necessarily involves          terpretation of the headship of the
open the offices to women do not           saying something also about the            husband is the stripping of author-
include a single biblical reference.       last two matters.                          ity also from the headship of
  By the decision, the denomina-             Permitting women to hold office          Christ, for the husband is head of
tion rebels against the sovereign          in the church is a direct challenge        the wife even us Christ is the head
Lordship of the Head of the church         to the headship of Christ in two           of the church (v. 23).
with regard to the spiritual policy        ways. First, the church disobeys              Although the challenge to
by which the true church must be           the command of Christ in Scripture         Christ's authority is the more
governed. As the creed of the CRC,         that women not be permitted to             grievous evil, the attack upon the
the Belgic Confession, states in arti-     teach or to exercise authority at          headship  of every husband in his
cle 30, the Lord teaches this policy       church. This is a challenge to             marriage and family is no minor
in I llmothy  2 and 3. The will of         Christ's headship just as is a child's     matter. With the introduction of
Christ for the government of His           defiant disobedience to an order of        rule by the wife at church, the au-
church is that the church be ruled         his parents. Second, because the           thority of the husband at home is
by bishops, whose qualifications in-       Bible relates the man's rule at            lost, including the authority to
clude that they are men (I Tim. 3:1-       church to the husband's headship           "give direction," as those despelr-
7; cf. also Titus 1:5-g). He forbids       over his wife, the church that al-         ately trying to preserve something
women to teach or to exercise do-          lows women to hold office must             yet of the genuine, full-blooded
minion over the man at church, m-          also deny the headship of the hus-         headship  of the Bible weakly put it.

                                                                                     September I, 1990 I The Standard Bearer I 461


This is a daring assault upon the                  Contributing to this decision of          I say this, not because there is
fundamental structure of marriage                the CRC was her decision sixty-six        any feminist agitation in the PRC,
and the home as ordained by the                  years ago adopting the doctrine of        but because the feminist movement
Creator. The practical conse-                    common grace. I do not mean by            is a real and powerful force today.
quences of a headless, or of a two-              this that there lurks in the terminol-    It is an aspect of the mighty spirit
headed, home will be calamitous.                 ogy of that decision some hitherto        of the age. Already in 1914, in his
   The possibility of the decision to            overlooked phrase suggesting              book, De Eerepositie Der Vrouw (The
open the office of women is a view               women elders. But the doctrine of         Honorable Status of the Woman),, re-
of Holy Scripture different from the             common grace opened the CRC up            ferring to the feminist movement,
creedally Reformed, indeed Protes-               to the unbelieving world. It was in-      Abraham Kuyper warned, `The
tant, view of Scripture as the in-               tended to do this. The party that         spirit of the age is such an almost
spired Word of God. The CRC de-                  stood for the antithesis - the spiri-     irresistible force." He added,
cision on women in office ex-                    tual separation from the world of         "Also in our own circles, whoever
pressed a view of Scripture that can             ungodliness - was rejected and            does not take a very firm stand (wie
reject the authority of explicit apos-           expelled.                                 niet zeer vast in zijn schoenen strut)  is
tolic con-mands for church and                     The drive for women in ecclesi-         easily swept away with the move-
home on the ground that the com-                 astical office is one aspect of a         ment."
mands reflect the limitations of the             movement. The movement is femi-             It will not do to laugh the move-
time and culture in which the apos-              nism. Feminism did not originate          ment off, putting down the quest
tle gave them. The decision                      in the church, but in the world. It       by women for the office of preach-
charged Scripture with obscurity in              is not a Christian movement. It is        ing with the witticism, "God made
critically important areas of church             the revolt of the female segment of       roosters to crow and hens to lay
and family. And it permitted the                 the ungodly world against the will        eggs." The feminists are in dead
Holy Spirit to lead the church into              of God for the woman as His will          earnest. We must take the move-
truth in these areas, not only apart             was expressed in creation and as it       ment seriously.
from the written Word, but also in               is made known more fully in the             The rule holds: Resist the begin-
direct conflict with it.                         revelation of His Word. The world         nings! The CRC decision of 1990
   Put simply, the issue, women in               regards subjection to a husband,          began with the decision of 1957 to
office, is not whatsoever the issue              marriage, and the work of a mother        permit women to participate in
of male and female, but the issue of             in the home as slavery. To escape         congregational meetings and con-
the doctrine of Holy Scripture and               all this is liberation. To this move-     tinued with the decision of 1984 to
therefore the issue of the headship              ment, the CRC has opened herself.         open the office of deacon to
of the Lord Jesus in and over His                Sixty-six years of viewing the            women. Both of these were deci-
church.                                          world as good, of seeking accom-          sions that allowed women to rule
   A synod that can open the                     modation with the world, and even         in the church. Both of these deci-
preaching and ruling offices to                  of regarding the world's wisdom as        sions are referred to in the gmunds
women in the face of the plain pro-              regulative for the church, under the      for the decision of 1990.
hibition of the Bible can also decide            influence of common grace, has as-          In the gracious providence (of
anything at all that a determined                sisted in bringing this about.            God, the PRC are in a strong posi-
group in the church fights for over                I doubt that the synod of 1990          tion to withstand the gale-force
a period of years. Scripture no                  will be the last synod to deal with       wind of feminism. For almost sev-
longer functions in the church as                matters of "women's liberation."          enty years now we have learned to
the infallible rule of faith and life            Feminism has made clear that it           think and to walk antitheticall@.
(Belgic Confession, Art. 7). The                 considers the "patriarchal" Bible to      We are unimpressed with the
people see this and become skepti-               be a book full of male chauvinism;        world's wisdom. We are suspi-
cal about the Bible. This is the price           that it regards Christianity as a ma-     cious of the world's proposals. We
that the CRC synod will pay                      jor cause of the oppression of            are prepared to be a scorned minor-
among its people. It will not be                 women; and that it will be satisfied      ity, saying "no" when all the world
that the people leave the church, as             with nothing less than the radical        is saying "yes." For we know the
was the obvious fear of the victori-             overhaul of the doctrine of the Be-       world. The world crucified the
ous majority. History teaches that               ing of God and of all traditional         Lord of glory and was judged by
the people stay. But it will be the              theology. The CRC will have its           His cross. The world is made up of
far more expensive price of the loss             hands full with feminism for a long       natural men and women who can-
of trust that Scripture is the Word              time.                                     not know the things of the SpYit of
of God. The cynical will laugh at                  The FRC must take heed! Not             God about male and female, albout
the ability of the theologians to                nervously, not suspiciously, not in a     marriage and family, about office
make the Bible say whatever con-                 reactionary fashion, so that they try     and government in the church of
temporary society dictates. The                  to curtail the legitimate use of the      Christ.
more devout will conclude, at the                gifts of women in the office of be-         Such knowledge requires grace.
very least, that they cannot under-              liever. But they must be watchful           And the world is without God
stand the Bible.                                 in this area nonetheless.                 and without grace. Cl             -- DJE

462 / The Standard Bearer / September 1,1!390


                                             Letters

The SB on Tape                                law, Cathy, and their "Standard            religious worship semice, I agree with
   I received this very nice letter           Bearer Tape Ministry." The cover of        The SB's assessment.
and thought you might be able to              this issue of the magazine has a pic-         Consistency is a jewel. In the
use it or part of it in a future issue        ture of Southeast's church building.       August 1,199O issue of The SB, the
under "Letters." We are still look-           Anyone desiring to get this particu-       Synod of the Protestant Reformed
ing for additional subscribers who            lar issue, or to become a regular          Churches defends the use of a cross
have reading problems, and even               subscriber, should write  Christian        in the worship services. With this I
those who do not find the time to             Observer, 9400 Fairview  Ave., Man-        disagree. Is it any less blasphe-
sit down and read each issue and              assas, VA 22110.               - Ed.       mous?
would prefer to use their personal                                                          The use of the cross in Reformed
cassette player at home or in their                                                      churches has led to all kinds of
                                                                                         aberrations. I know of one church
Car.                                          SB Reprint in
   Thanks again for your support.             New Zealand                                that displays a cross with a wreath
                           Ken Rietema                                                   of thorns on the upright, and a red
                                                This is to inform you that I have
                     Grand Rapids, MI                                                    cloth draped across the arms. An-
                                              reprinted an article from The Stan-        other displays a cross on the floor
Dear Mr. Rietema,                             dard Bearer (Vol. 66, # 16, "The           with a red cloth draped from the
   Thank you for sending me each              Gospel of Christ," by Rev. James           top of the pulpit down to the'anns
month the cassette copy of The                Slopsema). It will be used as a            of the cross. The cross also had a
Standard Bearer.  Each copy has               "flier" and will have various con-         wreath of thorns on the upright.
something which I especially enjoy            tact names and addresses of our            Another church has three crosses
and find enriching to my thoughts.            PRC members, according to the              behind the pulpit and a red banner
There is plenty of material avail-            area in which it is distributed.           draped from above the pulpit to
able for a person who cannot see,               The only alterations I've made           the ceiling of the sanctuary. Two
but so much of it is undesirable              are to some spellings which I've           churches I know of have crosses
from some point of view.                      brought into line with NZ conven-          and banners displayed around the
   When I get                                 tions.
                  The Standard Bearer I                                                  perimeter of the sanctuary. Enough
know it is going to be theologically            Thank you for an unfailingly ex-         of this, but can the Synod of the
accurate and clear and decent to              cellent magazine.                          PRC guarantee that this will not
                                                                          R.J. Kane
read. I pick it up with a sense of re-                                                   happen in their churches?
lief.                                                   Wellington, New Zealand             An empty  cross probably means
   I have no ability left to read, so                                                    very little unless one places a figure
depend on what I can remember or              Response                                   on it. Can the PR Synod guarantee
absorb from hearing.                                                                     that not one of the members of the
                        Sincerely yours,        Such use of articles published in        PRC does not in his or her imagina-
                    Edwin R Elliott, Sr.      The SB is permitted, indeed en-            tion place a figure upon it? It mat-
                          Manassas, VA        couraged. We ask that the reprint          ters little whether this is done in ac-
                                              make proper acknowledgment and             tuality or that it is done in imagina-
                                              that a copy of the reprint be sent to      tion. In either case it becomes il
Response                                      the edi,torial office of The SB. - Ed.     crucifix. And can the PR Synod
   We remind our readers that ev-                                                        guarantee that no one will in his
ery  issue of  The Standard Bearer                                                       mind genuflect before that cross?
                                       is
available on cassette tape, espe-             Synodical Decision                         Again, it matters little whether this
cially for those who are blind. To            on Crosses                                 is done in actuality or in the mind.
obtain this service regularly, write             In the May 1,199O  issue of The            The Synod makes much of the
Mr. Ken Rietema, c/o Southeast                Standard Bearer, the practice of the       fact that displaying a cross is only
Protestant Reformed Church, 1535              "Moonshine Ministry Center" of             symbolic and not imagery. But is
Cambridge Ave. S.E., Grand                    publicly displaying a cross with a         there that much difference between
Rapids, MI 49506. The July 20,                man upon it (wonder why it wasn't          a symbol, a sign, or an image? Al-
1990 issue of Christian Observer fea-         a woman) was condemned as blas-            though there are distinctions, there
tured Mr. Rietema, his daughter-in-           phemous. Although this was not a           is also a relationship between tlhese
                                                                                         words. And I would ask the

                                                                                        September 1,199O  ! The Standard Bearer I 463


Synod, what is the purpose of dis-              an image and a symbol. He and           on crosses, does not condemn the
playing a cross in the worship ser-             other interested persons who are        symbol of a cross in or on a church
vice? The. Lord has left us with                not members of the PRC can obtain       building as transgression of the
only three symbols, signs, or im-               a copy of the "Acts" from the syn-      Second Commandment. Calvin
ages. These are the water in bap-               odical stated clerk, Rev. M. Joost-     condemns the use of crosses by the
tism and the bread and wine in                  ens, 2016 Tekonsha Rd. S.E., Grand      Roman Catholic Church to do that
Communion. This is enough, as                   Rapids, MI 49506 for $5.                which can only be done by the
He has left no instructions as to                 As to the danger of abuse, the        preaching of the Word, namely,
displaying crosses in the worship               PRC will ward it off, with the host     teaching the people the gospel of
services. The Lord will not have                of other threats to pure worship,       Christ's atoning death. `What pur-
His people taught by "dumb im-                  only as the Holy Spirit preserves in    pose did it serve for so many
ages" and, I may add, "dumb sym-                their midst the worship of God "in      crosses...to  be erected here and
bols," but by the pure preaching of             spirit and in truth." Symbols of        there in churches, if this fact had
His word. Can the PR Synod guar-                crosses have appeared in PR church      been duly and faithfully taughtz
antee that not one child, young per-            buildings for many years (on bap-       that Christ died on the cross to bear
son, or adult will have his attention           tismal fonts; Lord's Supper tables;     our curse.... From this one fact they
drawn to the cross displayed and                communion sets; etc.) without re-       could have learned more than from
neglect hearing the preaching of                sulting in any of the oddities men-     a thousand crosses...."
the Word?                                       tioned by Mr. VanManen. If he will        The decision of synod was unan-
  The PR Synod states that "this is             visit any PR church service at any      imous. This unanimous decision
not out of step with Reformed tra-              time anywhere, he will find only        followed careful study of the issues
dition and the writings of the Re-              the simply, sober, spiritual service    raised in the appeals and free, thor-
formed fathers." They have not                  that has always characterized Re-       ough debate. Whether there is  una-
mentioned names but I give you                  formed worship and that is de-          nimity in the denomination on the
John Calvin, Institutes 1.11.7, who             manded by the Heidelberg Cate-          matter is of no consequence as re-
condemns the use of crosses in the              chism in Questions 96 and 103.          gards its being settled. According
worship service.                                  I do not believe that "the use of     to Article 31 of our Church Order,
  I gather that most of the day was             the cross in Reformed churches has      the venerable Church Order of
spent on the cross-appeal. I was                led to all kinds of aberrations."       Dordt, having been agreed upon by
not there, but could it be that a               Rather, aberrations in Reformed         majority vote, the decision of synod
spirit of unanimity was not existent            churches have led to all kinds of       is settled and binding in the PRC,
in this matter and that it is far from          superstitious uses of the cross.        unless it be proved to synod that
settled?                                          The passage in Calvin, the            the decision conflicts with Scripture
               Howard E. VanManen               strongest passage in the lmtifufes      or the church order. Cl            - E d .
                    Grand Rapids, MI

Response                                        Comforted of God
  The decision of the Protestant                When filled with sorrow and despair,    When from loved ones I'm called to
Reformed Synod 1990 concerned                   O'er trials more than I can bear;          part,
the lawfulness of a plain cross, not            These precious words dispel each        An:esght  can soothe the aching
of a crucifix or of the dramatic re-               fear:
enactment of the once-for-all sacri-                        "Comforted of God!"         He bids'my sighs and tears depart.
fice of Christ. The issue before the                                                                I'm "Comforted of God."
synod was whether a symbol of a                 When lonely and forsaken, too,
cross in or on a church building in             By those I thought were friends, and    I thank Thee, Lord, that Thou dlost
itself constitutes violation of the               tn.=,                                   hear
                                                How precious are these words,           When sorrow's weeping brings Thee
Second Commandment, not                           though few,                             near:
whether such a symbol can possi-                            "Comforted of God!"         And giveth to the heart this cheer,
bly be abused. Synod did not ap-                                                                    "Comforted of God!"
prove "use of a cross in the wor-               When weak the body, racked with
ship services." There is no use of                                                      Believe His Word, 0 sufferin one,
crosses in the worship of Protestant            An!lyfering,  seek for rest in vain;    When thou art burdened antun
Reformed churches. Crosses                      There comes the soothing, sweet           done.
merely appear on or in some                       refrain,                              Rejoice in Him, that blessed One:
church buildings. If Mr. VanManen                           "Comforted of God!"                     Be "Comforted of God."
will read the complete decision in                                                                        - SB, Janua y 1!5,1931
                                                In moments dark, and sorely pressed
the "Acts of Synod 1990," other                 With cares, from which there seems
questions he raises about the issue               no rest,
will be answered, particularly the              I go to Him, and on His breast,
question of the distinction between                         Am "Comforted of God."

464  I The Standard Bearer/September  1,199O


The Day                                    That Wonderful
of Shadows
Rev. John Heys                             C o v e n a n t   ( 1 )

  Are you aware of the fact that           ment "a covenant, an agreement            Christ as "the mediator of a better
the two main sections of our Bible,        between persons or parties." He           covenant," we also find in some
which are called the Old Testament         says that to make a testament             Bibles the marginal note that we
and the New Testament, can also            means "to make one's will." Theo-         can here read of a better "testa-
be called the Old Covenant and the         logically, he says, a testament is        ment." The word used in the
New Covenant? Did you ever no-             "the promise of God revealed in the       Greek Bible, that is, in the original
tice that even though we call the          Scriptures."                              language, may be translated either
first 39 books in our Bible the Old          We likewise speak of a man's last       as covenant or as testament.
Testament, we cannot in the King           will and testament. What we mean             Now the truth upon which we
James Version of our Bibles find the       is that a man wills to have his           must insist is that although we may
word testament even once?                  earthly possessions given to certain      speak of an Old Testament or Old
  Given the privilege recently of          persons or institutions when he has       Covenant, and of a New Testament
speaking on the subject "Preaching         passed away by death and can no           or New Covenant, there is only one
From the Old Testament," at a con-         longer use these possessions. The         covenant that God established with
ference in our South Holland, Illi-        point is that we must keep in mind        man, not two of them. What w'e
nois church, I addressed the differ-       that God's covenant is His will to        have are two different forms of pre-
ence between the Old Testament             bestow heavenly blessedness upon          sentation of that one covenant.
and the New Testament, and also            us through the death into which He        What we have are different presen-
that which these testaments have in        entered. Yes, Christ Jesus our Sav-       tations of the same promises of that
common. Because there is spiritual         ior is the second Person of the Holy      covenant. But there is only one
edification, benefit, and                  Trinity, Who came into our flesh in       covenant that God established.
encouragement in the fact that             His sovereign grace. And His                 Do we not in Malachi 3:6 read,
these two testaments bring us one          covenant is the will and testament        "For I am the Lord, I change not"?
glorious truth about God's                 that decrees everlasting blessedness      As the sovereign, almighty God He
covenant with His elect children, I        for us through that death. Because        cannot be changed by our works or
plan to present some of that speech        of His death we may enter into His        by our lack of interest in His
in a few installments in this rubric.      house of many mansions and have           covenant. What He eternally de-
We certainly will be dealing with          an intimate covenant fellowship           creed stands exactly as it was d:i-
the day of shadows in these arti-          there with Him.                           vinely determined. No creature
cles.                                        It is interesting to note - as al-      can by his mind, will, or acts cause
  Let it first of all be established       ready suggested -that although            God to change His mind and will.
that a testament is a covenant, and        the Hebrew word berifh, which             As Jehovah, the I AM, He never on
that our covenant God presents             means covenant, appears 250 times         His own part ever changes I-Es
that covenant to us in both the Old        in the Old Testament, it is always        mind or will.
Testament and the New Testament.           translated as covenant, not testa-           That we in Hebrews 8:6 are in-
You may turn to Webster's diction-         ment. We, as the Old Testament            formed by our covenant God that.
ary and find that he calls a testa-        clearly and powerfully teaches us,        Christ is the mediator of "a better
                                           have a covenant God. We have a            covenant which is established upon
                                           God Who establishes a relationship        better promises" does not meant
                                           of friendship and fellowship with         therefore that He is the mediator of
                                           us through the death of His Son.          a covenant that is basically differ-
                                           Then, too, the New Testament              ent and that rules out what had
                                           word in its Greek form, namely,           been promised in the old or first
                                           diafheke,  is translated 20 times as      covenant. It does not mean that this
                                           covenant, but also 13 times as testa-     better covenant presents gifts that
Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in the    ment. When we find that word in           are of a different nature than those
Profesfanf Reformed Churches.              Hebrews 8:5, where we read of             enjoyed and promised by the old or

                                                                                    September  1,199O   I The Standard Bearer I 465


first covenant. That which is better            the saints in that period of time,       of Eden. They came to the tree of
is always basically the same as the             which we call the Old Testament          life by going around the tree of
former thing with which it is com-              dispensation, knew God's promises        knowledge of good and evil, leav-
pared. A better house is just as                to us. There David wrote, `The se-       ing it alone, refusing to sin against
surely a house as the object with               cret of the Lord is with them that       God by eating its forbidden fruit.
which it is compared. The word                  fear Him; and He will show them          Eating of that fruit - as they did -
better stands between good and                  His covenant."                           revealed a lack of desire for fellow-
best, not between bad and worst. It               Now, that covenant which God           ship with God. They revealed that
speaks of that which is compared                will show us, and did show to the        Satan was their friend with whom
with something that is good. God's              Old Testament saints, and is men-        they desired to sit down for fellow-
covenant, presented to us in the                tioned there in Psalm 25:14, pre-        ship. They threw away God's
Old Testament, presented to the                 sents God's will and testament to        covenant fellowship and chose the
saints of that day something very               bless us through the death of            curse which is in Satan's covenant.
good. Did not the psalmist say in               Christ, so that we may enjoy His           But God in His sovereign grace
Psalm 34:8, "0 taste and see that               secret. And that secret very plainly     came and, in their hearing, told Sa-
God is good"? He promises some                  David enjoyed. We today will en-         tan that He would establish a :new
very, very good things in that Old              joy that secret more fully when we       covenant with part of the human
Testament. However, what He pre-                look at the meaning of that Hebrew       race. Satan and his spiritual seed
sents in Christ in the New Testa-               word which is translated as secret.      will be hated and punished. They
ment is a richer measure of good-               The Old Testament saints who             will have their heads broken and
ness, a richer measure of the same              spoke the Hebrew language knew           thus suffer a fatal blow. The He-
goodness.                                       the richness of what David wrote.        brew word which Moses used, as
  In fact, we may go a step further.            They saw this as a very wonderful        led by God, is better translated as
As already stated, the word better              promise of God, a very rich bless-       `break: not merely `bruise." It is
stands between good and best.                   ing which His covenant assures us        used that way in Job 9:17 whe:re  we
Therefore we may be assured by                  will be ours in His grace.               read, "For He breaketh me with a
the New Testament that we are go-                 Indeed, a secret is a wonderful        tempest, and multiplieth  withlout
ing to enjoy a higher blessedness               thing. God's secret is that which        cause." And do we not also in Ro-
than we can enjoy in this life. We              the unbelievers cannot and will not      mans 617 read that the wages of
do and can enjoy now, more fully                enjoy. They laugh at us, and             sin is death? To.break one's head is
than the Old Testament saints                   laughed in the Old Testament dis-        to kill him!
could, the blessings of God's                   pensation at the people of God who         Now, since the love of God as-
covenant. For we see Christ and                 confessed that they were Jehovah's       sures us that He has prepared a
His cross, while they saw the hu-               covenant children. They today            love seat for us and has caused
man high priests and the sacrifices             consider us to be fools, a very silly    David to reveal that to us, we cer-
of lambs. We see Christ in His res-             people. However, look up that            tainly have the truth established
urrection, ascension up into                    word "secret" in a Hebrew diction-       that, in the Old Testament, God's
heaven, and being seated at God's               ary and you will see how tremen-         covenant with His people is pre-
right hand. That is shown to us in              dously rich the truth is here that       sented very richly, even before the
this better covenant or testament.              God's secret will be with us. Gesen-     giving of the better covenant, .after
What is more, the best is yet to                ius, in his Hebrew die tionary  tells    Christ was born and earned salva-
come! We will soon see Christ per-              us that the root meaning of this         tion for us by His cross. The Old
sonally and will live with Him in               word is "divan" or "couch." He           Testament types and shadows did
the new Jerusalem. Then we will                 also tells us that the word secret       richly present to the church God's
have the best knowledge and en-                 means "a circle of people sitting to-    wonderful covenant; and the r;aints,
joyment of God's covenant.                      gether." We may, therefore, explain      as is plain from Hebrews 11 in the
  All this, however, does not mean              that word "divan" or "couch" as a        New Testament, enjoyed a very
that the Old Testament saints did               "love seat" upon which God sits          good presentation of that covenant.
not enjoy the same covenant bless-              with us in a most intimate fellow-       The shed blood and clothes of skin
ings, the same good that we now                 ship of friendship. That is what         not only gave Adam and Eve .the
know better and enjoy more richly.              God's covenant is, namely, a rela-       promise of Christ's coming but also
Christ having come reveals Himself              tionship of friendship and fellow-       the beginning of the enjoyment of
far more richly to us. We see a far             ship between God and those whom          that secret of the Lord, His fellow-
more wonderful and powerful high                He chose in His Son, and gave the        ship because of His love and con-
priest. And we see more fully how               right for them to have this by His       cern for His elect. He came to a
our covenant God realizes His                   Son's death. Does this not reveal        spiritually dead man and brought
covenant promises, but also why                 how rich the Old Testament is in         him spiritual life. And we, in the
we can be so sure of that covenant.             presenting God's covenant with           New Testament dispensation, have
Turn to Psalm 25:14, which we find              His elect children?                      that Old Testament promise to en-
in the Old Testament or Old                       Adam and Eve enjoyed covenant          courage and comfort us. Let us ap-
Covenant. There we see how richly               fellowship with God in the garden        preciate how rich the Old Testa-

466 I The Standard Bearer I September 1,199O


ment presents to us God's                 stand and enjoy the New Testament          Testament for our comfort and spir-
covenant. Doing so will help us to        promises.                                  itual joy. Without that very good,
enjoy the richer, better promises of        We will, the Lord willing, con-          that very rich Old Testament, we
the New Testament. Without that           tinue this truth next time and point       cannot even see the better promises
Old Testament we cannot under-            out the richness of the Old                of the New Testament. Cl




Search The                                The Amazing
Scriptures
Rev. Gise VanBaren                        Example of Christ

Read and study Philippians 2:1-11.        not all peace and unity in the                 If the church enjoyed the "com-
  The church at Philippi was              church at .Philippi.                        fort of love," the same humility
surely one of the favorites of the          Perhaps this sounds bizarre to            should follow. God so loved us
apostle Paul. He had labored there        our ears. ,Why should there be dis-         that He gave His only begotten
under great duress. He had been           unity in this newly established             Son. His Son loved us even unto
imprisoned in the city for healing        church? Its members must have               death. That love shows itself also
of the demon-possessed fortune-           spoken often of the fact that they          within the church: there is the love
telling slave girl. But here also he      had been saved from the evils of            of brother for brother. Those who
had the joy of observing the first        heathendom and from idol wor-               reveled in this glorious love of God
converts: Lydia the seller of pur-        ship. They must have rejoiced in            and confessed that this love was
ple, and the jailor.                      the deliverance through the cross           shed abroad in their hearts should
  In the first chapter, and again in      of Jesus Christ. So should not they         also display that love properly in
the fourth, Paul has fine words in        live in close unity and Christian           their relationships within the
commending the church. In chap            love? One would surely think so.            church.
ter 1:3, he expresses thanks to God         Yet notice what Paul writes to               These too claimed the fruits of
for "every remembrance" of them.          this church - and to every church.          `bowels and mercies," or other-
In chapter 4 Paul calls them "my          In verse 1 he speaks of the "conso-         wise translated, "tender mercy and
joy and crown." Again, he extols          lation in Christ." The word "con-           compassion." The members of the
their kindness shown to Paul him-         solation" could also be translated          church had experienced these mer-
self (vs. 10, "your care of me hath       "comfort." There is a close correla-        cies of God Who saved them. They
flourished again..."). One might          tion between this word and that             insisted that the fruit of mercy and
begin to think that this church was       name given the Spirit: the Com-             compassion was present in their
some kind of an ideal one. With           forter. In John 14:26,  Christ calls        own lives. And if that were true
such great words of commenda-             the Spirit Whom He will send, the           (Paul will not deny or question it),
tion, who would not want to be            Comforter. So here, there is "com-          then this also must be seen in the
part of such a church?                    fort in Christ," that is, the Com-          humility within their lives.
  But all was not perfect at              forter has worked within their                 When these three fruits of salva-
Philippi. There was a tendency to-        hearts according to Christ's                tion are present, then Paul can
ward, if not open expression of,          promise. That Comforter has re-             rightly expect that they will "fulfill
dissatisfaction of members of the         generated and converted His peo-            his joy." The beginning of joy for
church to each other. It appeared         ple at Philippi. He has applied             Paul was their conversion and
that there was elevation of some          Christ's Word to their hearts. They         early zealousness within the
above fellow members. There was           have confessed together that won-           church. The joy of Paul is "ful-
                                          derful "consolation." Paul speaks           filled" or "filled up" when he sees
                                          of this in a conditional form: if this      appropriate and continuing fruit in
                                          be present in them. He does not             their lives. He looks for that as
                                          doubt or question its presence. He          well as prays for it.
                                          only affirms in the strongest possi-           Paul's joy is fulfilled when three
Rev. VanBaren is pastor of fhe Profes-    ble way that since (if) it is present,      things become seen within the
fanf Reformed Church of Hdsontille,       then the conclusions of verses 2            church at Philippi. He expects first
Michigan.                                 through 4 must surely follow.               a proper oneness (vs. 2: "like-

                                                                                    September  1,199O  I The Standard Bearer  I  467


minded"); secondly, `lowliness of               der-work of our God. Christ was           2. Can you explain how it is possi-
mind" (vs. 3); thirdly, that they as-           ready to conceal His infinite power       ble that one could be on very
sist one another (vs. 4).                       and glory so that He could come           friendly terms with Christians~  in
   There must be in the church a                into our flesh in the form of the ser-    distant places -but not show that
proper unity - not a unity which                vant. He made Himself of no repu-         same consideration for those
is based on indifference to doctrine,           tation. He is born of a virgin, in a      within the same church?,
but unity of faith and confession.              manger. He had no place where to          3. What am some of the things
This is of vital importance within              lay His head. He came to serve,           which give rise to divisions and
the church.                                     giving His life for His people.           disagreements within the church?
   But that unity can exist only                  The death He must face is that of       4.  Do you see in yourself anything
where there is proper "lowliness of             the cross. It is the accursed death       which corresponds with what Paul
mind." Where there is constant                  (Deut. 21:23).  The crucified One is      writes of in verses 2-4?
fighting  (strife) about non-essen-             suspended between heaven and              5. Does not the unity which Paul
tials, or where members seek a                  earth. He is rejected both by God         sets forth require also that we be
"vain glory" (an honor which is es-             and man. We can never begin to            one with Lutheran, Roman
sentially empty or selfish), there              fathom the wonder of this great           Catholics, and others?
will be no unity either. Each must              work of our God. Still, it is the         6. In what ways are we to be "`like-
consider the other better than him-             only possible way of delivering           minded"? Can all be identical to
self. With Paul, each confesses, "I             from sin and death.                       others?
am the chief of sinners." There is                God exalted this same Christ            7. In what ways can something be
no room for boastfulness or pride.              over all things. Every moral,             done "in strife and vainglory"?
   And in the church there is the               rational being must also be subject       8. How can one esteem a lazy, in-
willingness to assist one another.              to Him. He is given a "name above         different Christian `better than
Each ought not look on "his own                 every name." His "name" is the            himselp?
things," that is, be so concerned               revelation of His perfections. Our        9. Discuss examples of `looking ev-
with his own affairs that he has no             names merely distinguish us from          ery man on the things of others."
time for other members of the                   one another. God's names and              10. How was Christ "made in the
church. Rather, each is interested              Christ's names are revelations. The       likeness of man"? How `like" was
in assisting the various members of             "name" is the way in which we can         He?
the body.                                       know God and Christ.                      11. Why was it necessary that hour
   In verse 5, Paul points to that                Even wicked men and the devil           Savior be in the likeness of man?
great example, Jesus Christ. The                with his hosts must finally bow be-       12. Mention several reasons why
"mind of Christ" must be seen in                fore Him. These confess too His di-       the cross was the way Christ MUST
His people. The mind of Christ is               vinity and glory. They are con-           die.
to save His people from their sins              strained to do this in the day of         13. If Christ is God, in what sense is
in the way of His great humiliation             judgment. Though now they                 He highly exalted? Is not Godl eter-
unto death and hell itself.                     would deny His existence and              nally exalted?
   The Son of God is in the "form"              power, the time comes when they           14. What is the significance of a
of God. This "form" is not simply               are forced to say what now they           "name above every name"?
a resemblance to God, but the very              deny. They shall then see and             15. Do the wicked in hell confess
likeness or Being of God (cf. Heb.              grant that He is truly Jesus Christ       Christ's name?
1:3; Col. 1:15,17). He is God Him-              the Lord. In this way God Himself         16. What is the meaning of the
self. Infinite are His perfections:             receives all the glory.                   names: Jesus, Christ, and Lord? Cl
eternal wisdom, almightiness, infi-               When we see this great wonder
nite love. Christ did not consider it           of grace, that Christ humbled Him-
robbery to be equal with God - for              self to death for us, ought not that
He was God. If any would exalt                  same mind be in us? He washed
himself, Christ could. If any would             His disciples' feet. Ought we not                 Not All the Words
seek his own things, Christ could.              willingly serve in order that
But He Who justly could maintain                brethren may be properly assisted?        Not all the words of all mankind,
that He is Lord over all, Creator of            When we exactly understand all              However great and wise,
all things, was ready to humble                 that Christ has done for His people,      Can lift a sinner from the dust
himself even to death in our flesh.             can there still be division and trou-       And place him in the skies.
  That Christ "emptied Himself" is              ble in the church because of our          Then let Thy Word, 0 Son of God,
a thought which has often been de-              own sinful natures when Christ              Suffice this heart of mine;
bated. How can God "empty"                      purchased that church with His            And let me count no word as true
Himself? Does this mean that                    own blood?                                  If it conflicts with Thine!
Christ gave up His Divinity? But                QUESTIONS:                                                  - SB, August I,, 1931
that can never be. He must be very              1. Paul shows his great interest in
God when He bears God's wrath                   the church at Philippi. Why was he
on the cross. This is the great won-            so attached to this church?

468 I `he Standard Bearer I September 1,199O


When Thou
Sittest In                               The Reformed Wife:
Thine House
Mrs. Mary Beth Lubbers                   Mother (2)
  "When I call to remembrance            for his mother...even though his fa-    little too far to the right. Now
the unfeigned faith that is in           ther was the eminent preacher,          mothers must "tend to their knit-
thee..." (II Tim. 15).                   Samuel Wesley. The spiritual prin-      ting"; now mothers must expand
                                         ciples which this woman taught          their careers; now mothers must
                                         each of her children is said to have    make time for themselves; now
  How easy it is, when writing           shaken 18th century England out of      mothers must successfully juggle
about women as mothers, so to            its spiritual lethargy; the methods     homemaking and career interests;
glamorize their role that the            and disciplined regimen which she       now mothers must give more time
mother-reader would wonder how           exercised in her home gave,             to community service.. Differing
she ever entertained any doubts as       through her son John, the               demands for mothers remind one
to her calling. One can easily call      Methodists their name. (For an in-      of Aesop's fable of "The Man, His
to mind a Hannah, a Eunice and           spiring book for all women, espe-       Son, and the Donkey." And if we
Lois, a Monica, and all the other fa-    cially ministers' wives, read Su-       women are not careful, we will
mous mothers throughout the his-         sanna, Mother of the Wesleys, by        soon be carrying the donkey! No,
tory of the church who are in-           Rebecca Lamar Harmon.)                  we mothers of the church cannot
stantly remembered for their               The apostle Paul said to his pro-     keep swinging first this way, then
equally well-known children. One         tege, l'lmothy: "I thank                that way, trying to accommodate
could even include the many fa-          God...when I call to remembrance        every new survey or social whim.
mous throughout history who gave         the unfeigned faith that is in thee,    We will not become better mothers
credit for their accomplishments to      which dwelt first in thy grand-         in this way, only dizzy ones. How
their mothers.                           mother Lois, and thy mother Eu-         thankful we can be that the swing
  Augustine, the sainted Bishop of       nice; and.1 am persuaded that in        of our pendulum has been sus-
Hippo, is one of these children. He      thee also" (II Tim. 1:3,5).             pended in God's unchangeable
wrote in his Confessions, "In my           A matriarchal society is to be        Word and has been regulated by
mother's breast Thou hadst already       frowned upon; but a society with-       the traditions of our godly mothers
begun Thy temple.... She betook          out strong mothers is a society des-     and grandmothers.
herself again to intercede to Thee       tined for destruction.                     And yet, there are many ques-
for-me...."                                It would be a mistake to roman-        tions with which we mothers con-
  Abraham Lincoln said, "All that        ticize the word "mother" as one of       scientiously struggle.
I am, or hope to be, I owe to my         the jaded old singers does in his          Motherhood, in America at least,
mother."                                 unctuous croon:                          has been minimized mmarkabl,y  in
  Of Susanna Wesley, mother of 19          `M is for the million things she       the last decade and counted as one
children including the brothers          did for me,                              of the less-than-desirable'occupa-
John and Charles, her son Charles           0 means only that she's grow-         tions. So that a mother, when fill-
wrote, `?t is owing, in a great mea-     ing old,                                 ing out governmental or school.
sure, to somebody's prayers - my            T is for the tears she shed to        forms, is reluctant to write `house-
mother's most likely - that I come       save me..?                               wife" or "mother" on the line
to think as I do...." This accolade      and so on'to make the word              which requests occupation, and to
                                         MOTHER. It would be just as of-         her own embarrassment finds her-
                                         fensive, however, to make it mun-        self writing, "housewife - part-
                                         dane as fo,otball  "heroes" so often     time bookkeeper for husband"
                                         do mouthing, "HI, MOM."                  (even though the line is too short to
                                           The pendulum called mother has         hold such a lengthy appellation).
                                         not always swung evenly through-           We need to be reminded that the
Mrs. Lubbers is a wife and mother in     out history. There were times when       nursery is the child's first and most
the Protestant Reformed Church of        it swung too far to the left, then a     important school, and that the task
South Holland, Illinois.

                                                                                 September 1,199O  /The Standard Bearer I469


of a Christian mother - a task of               making chores and wifely con-                    And (since in those days a man was often
such scope that it will affect all of           cerns, would strike fear in the bold-            absent from home  fir months together on
society - is most effective here.               est of warriors. But it is important             war or business) a very large share in the
The mental, emotional, and spiri-               to keep matters in perspective, too.             management of landed estates.... It is all
tual nourishment, so crucial for the            The years of child rearing and                   VtZ?y Well t0 Say that WOi?UdS ph?t? iiS the
years to come, is embedded during               training do not last forever. Amer-              home-but modem  cidsation  has taken
                                                                                                 all these pleasant  and profitable activities
these formative years. We know                  ica's candid first lady, Barbara                 out of the home, where the women looked
this first and primarily from Scrip             Bush, sa s this most nostalgically,              after them, and handed them over to big in-
ture itself, but it is of some comfort          "This [is a period...of long days
                                                          P                                      dusty, to be directed and organised by men
to know that nearly every pastor,               and short years..." (Simply Barbara              at the head of large factories. Even t,ke
physician, psychiatrist, and                    Bush).                                           dairymaid  in her simple bonnet has gone,
philosopher from Paul to Piaget                   There may be mothers out there                 to be replaced by a male mechanic in charge
substantiates this truth. As Joan               who are quietly content in their                 of a mechanical milking plant.... Now, it is
Beck writes in the Chicago Tribune:             roles as mothers, who set their jaws             very likely that men in big industries do
"A young child's brain grows most               with flintiness for each repeated                these jobs better than the women did them
rapidly during the first years of               task, and even enjoy each moment                 at home. The fact remains that the home
life.... Much of this growth is ge-             of their day. Wonderful! But for us              contains much less of interesting actim3y
                                                                                                 than it used to contain.
netically programmed, of course.                other mortals, I am going to sug-                   Although Sayers uses this argu-
But much of it also depends on the              gest three main reasons for job dis-             ment to explain why women rjeek
amount and appropriateness of the               satisfaction.                                    occupation outside the home, and
sensory stimuli fed into the brain                 1. Usually, the rewards and sat-              cheerfully concedes that most of us
during these irreplaceable early                isfaction of being a mother are not              women would not wish these days
years.... A year of missed learning             immediate; frequently, the rewards               back, nevertheless, it is true that we
opportunities at age 2 or 3 can't be            are greatly delayed until even 20 or             women are often left with such
made up at age 8 or 11 or 17." Or               30 years later, as was the case with             mindless and unfulfilling tasks  as
as Jean Paul Sartre succinctly ob-              St. Augustine. The "paycheck"                    polishing appliances, taxiing
serves: "Childhood decides." Add                does not arrive on the 15th and                  children, running errands, and
the spiritual dimension to Beck's               30th of the month. Raising children              picking up McDonald's And al-
academic concerns, and we moth-                 bears little resemblance to raising              though women today still sew,
ers begin to see the magnitude of               corn. The "peaceable fruit" (Heb.                bake, and can, these tasks lack the
mothering. It is true, as my own                12:ll; also the title of a book on               necessity for subsistence which
mother was fond of saying, "A                   child rearing by Gertrude Hoek-                  they once commanded.
mother needs the wisdom of                      sema)  comes many painful years                     3. The third reason for a sense of
Solomon along with the patience of              after the planting; no farmer must               unhappiness in our work is the sac-
Job."                                           wait this long for his golden                    rificial nature of the mother's work.
  It is a mother's responsibility to            sheaves.                                         Much of a mother's work is en-
develop not only the "unfeigned                    2. The feeling of noncreativity               ergy-sapping and self-denying. It
(genuine) faith" which is to be                 which often accompanies home-                    is a role of selflessness. It is foot-
found in her children, but also their           making and motherhood, espe-                     washing; and footwashing today
grammar and graces, manners and                 cially today. In her little volume,              has the same appeal that it did for
morals, values and virtues, per-                Are Women Human? (you might also                 Jesus' disciples. A mother's work
spective and poise, gentleness and              enjoy this book, a penetrating,                  is often servitude. Was not this Je-
gallantry, charm and culture. They              witty essay of only 47 pages),                   sus' work too? Are we not His dis-
also change the diapers, bandage                Dorothy L. Sayers (scholar, theolo-              ciples? "A disciple is not above his
the knees, kiss away the tears, su-             gian, lecturer, essayist, author of              master..." (Matt. l&24). The mother
pervise the homework, teach the                 detective stories) addresses the                 gives of her time, her energy, lher
catechism, make the unscheduled                 problem that many of the prof-                   looks, her very life for the sake of
trip to the emergency center, and               itable, pleasant, and intelligent (the           the family. The Lord Jesus Himself,
administer the spanking stick.                  controlling and directing of pro-                the One and Only True Sacrifice,
Only a mother can provide the se-               cesses) occupations of women have                became wearied in His ministry of
curity a child needs and guide his              been steadily removed from the                   servant. Often, He sought time
socialization. She gives him his                home to the factory. Sayers takes                apart for prayer and spirituai re-
roots and wings. Mothers under-                 us to the Middle Ages to show us                 freshment. And so, too, we mloth-
stand all too well the Gaelic                   the creative activities which we                 ers must make time for prayer and
proverb: It is not easy to straighten           have been forced to abandon:                     refocus our eyes on the heavenly
in the oak the crook that grew in                  It is a formidable list of jobs: the whole    rewards, renewing our determina-
the sapling. And so, we do not just             of  the spinning industry, the whole  of the     tion and devotion as wives and
happen to be mothers; we must                   dyeing  indust y, the whole of the weaving       mothers.
prove that we are.                              Musty. The whole catering                           I remember a minister once say-
  The responsibility of mothering,              industy...the  whole of the nation's brewing     ing that he had never yet talked to
in addition to all of mothers' home-            and distilling. All the preserving, pickling,
                                                and bottling industry, all the bacon-curing.     a man on his deathbed who said, "I

470 I The Standard Bearer I September 1,199O


wish that I had spent more time          years colored with rainbow hues.            but, mothers, let us never forget
building up my business." But he         It is the promise of the covenant:          our own adage:
had heard the choked confession of       children immaculately groomed for              `The hand that rocks the cradle
many a man who said, "I regret           good Christian citizenship in this          rules the world."
that I did not spend more time with      world and in the world to come.                And the next time that you must
my family."                                    Let men, then, preside over their     identify your occupation, write
  This applies well to us as moth-       businesses and head up their em-            simply, "Mother"...and  be sum to
ers. The years spent training, disci-     '      - and they must do this, too,       give it a most elegant flourish. El
plining, caring for children are         by&s is their calling from God -





                                         The Work of the
                                         Measbro Dyke
Special Article
Rev. Philip Rawson                       Congregation

INTRODUCTION                             activity on the part of that union of       Catholicism, and we have several
  The church of Jesus Christ is the      churches.                                   large Pentecostal and Charismatic
elect of God out of all nations                From 1975 onwards the church          churches. The older non-con-
called and gathered by Christ            has sought to grow and develop as           formist chapels are liberal and ecu-
through the preaching of the             a Reformed church. Over the more            menical.
gospel and by the power of His           recent years we have had many                  It is against such a background
Holy Spirit. In Bamsley, South           struggles as we have sought to              that the Measbro Dyke church wor-
Yorkshire, England, Christ's church      maintain a distinctive testimony,           ships the true and living God,
is to be found in the Measbro Dyke       not walking in the popular moder-           seeking to maintain a testimonly  to
congregation.                            ate Calvinism of our times which            the Reformed faith, which is bibli-
  Historically our roots as a local      embraces the errors of "Common              cal Christianity.
church go back to 1875. For the          Grace" and the "Free Offer of the           MEASBRO DYKE CONGREGA-
greater part of our history we were      Gospel."                                    TION: LOCAL CHURCH LIFE
a congregation within the                      After a period of struggle and           The congregation at Measbro
Methodist tradition. We were until       unrest the Lord in sovereign mercy          Dyke is made up of nine families
4975 affiliated with the Wesleyan        and goodness has been pleased to            and thirteen individuals. We are
Reform Union of Churches.                grant us peace, and once again              some forty-three souls in all. The
  In 1972 I was called as the first      there are signs of growth in our            communicant membership of tlhe
pastor of the Measbro Dyke church        midst.                                      church stands at twenty-three. The
and in 1975 the church was recon-              Spiritually speaking Bamsley is       total congregation is made up of
stituted as an Independent Evan-         a barren area. We have all the              thirty adults and thirteen children.
gelical Church. The decision to se-      problems of large towns and cities,            We believe that Christ is the
cede from the Wesleyan Reform            particularly on our large council           head of the church, and that Christ
Union was on the grounds of in-          housing estates. Vandalism and vi-          has placed the oversight of the (con-
creasing apostasy and ecumenical         olent crime continue to increase.           gregation in the hands of elders
                                         We have one of the lowest crime             and deacons. At Measbro Dyke, for
                                         detection rates in the country, espe-       the present, that means the pastor
                                         cially in our town center. Much of          and Board of Deacons.
                                         this crime is drug and alcohol re-             We believe that men only are
                                         lated. Sadly there is very little true      called of Christ and appointed lby
Rev. Rawson is pastor of the Measbor     gospel preaching in our town. The           the congregation to the oversight.
Dyk Congregation in Barn&y,              predominant religious influences               As you can readily see, we are
England.                                 are Roman Catholicism and Anglo             only a small congregation. That

                                                                                    September 1`1990  I The Standard Beaux I 471


has certain advantages, but it also             MEASBRO DYKE CONGREGA-
presents us with some difficulties.             TION AND EVANGELISM
We seek by God's enabling to                       As a church we take seriously
maintain a full local church life.              the work of Evangelism. Of the
   As you would expect, the Lord's              church of Christ at Thessalonica
Day is the principal day of the                 Paul wrote "From you sounded out
week -the day of rest and glad-                 the Word of the Lord." This is what
ness. We have two worship ser-                  we seek to do in the locality of our
vices on the Lord's Day. These wor-             church and in our town.
ship services are marked by sim-                   Our church building is situated
plicity and, we trust, solemnity.               very well on a busy main road out
The principal parts of worship we               of town. At the front of our church
conceive to be Praise, Prayer, and              we have not only a board upon
Preaching. Our praise consists of               which are displayed the times of
the singing of Hymns and Psalms                 our worship services, but we have
with musical accompaniment.                     also the facilities to display Scrip
Prayers  are extempore and preach-              ture texts (wayside pulpits we call
ing is the exposition of a shorter or           them). Many passing the church
longer portion of the Scriptures.               have their attention drawn to these     Pastor Philip Rawson
We seek to have preaching which is              Scripture posters which are
Scriptural throughout, maintaining              changed every month.                    tion of Jesus Christ - truths which
a balance of doctrinal, devotional,               Within the more immediate             are blatantly denied by the,Bishops
experimental, and practical preach-             neighborhood of the church we dis-      and so-called Christian leaders of
ing. Much emphasis is laid upon                 tribute the Scripture leaflets and      our churches in England.
fundamental truths, the distinctives            booklets published by the Trinitar-       All these means of bringing
of the Reformed faith.                          ian Bible Society. On other occa-       God's Word, the Gospel of Christ,
   The afternoon of the Lord's Day              sions we print a brief tract our-       to men and women are dependent
is devoted to Sunday School and                 selves upon which we place the          upon the power and blessing of the
Bible Class. The Sunday School                  times of our services. We have also     Holy Spirit. We preach and di.s-
caters not only for the young peo-              engaged in door-to-door visitation      tribute the Word; God alone can
ple of the congregation under 16                and open air preaching in our town      give increase. In our own experi-
years of age, but also for several              shopping area.                          ence we have found that in getting
children from the neighborhood.                   We use the local press also to ad-    people along to services to listen to
Although the numbers attending                  vertise our services and have had       preaching, there is no substitute for
am not great, Sunday School does                the opportunity on several occa-        the personal friendliness and per-
give us contact with several people             sions to write a short article on       sonal invitation extended by every
in the area of the church. One                  some specific doctrine which has        member to others.
member of our church today was                  appeared in the "Bamsley Chroni-        MEASBRO DYKE  CONGRElGA-
first contacted through her son at-             cle."                                   TION AND MISSIONS
tending Sunday School. She was                    Over the years we have found            We believe that the great co:m-
brought to conversion and is now                Easter and Christmas to be special      mission is still binding upon the
an active member of our congrega-               occasions for gathering the             church, "Go ye into all the world
tion.                                           unchurched into our services. At        and preach the Gospel." Love to
   Our midweek activities consist               these seasons of the year, which are    Christ demands obedience; the
of Bible Study on a Thursday                    also public holidays, we make a         purpose of God to gather and save
evening. We have around twenty                  point of distributing some suitable     His elect requires it.
members of this meeting. The for-               Scripture leaflet and an invitation       As a small church we have many
mat used is the lecture method. We              to our services. We know that in        limitations placed upon us, yet we
work our way through some par-                  the world and in the false church       do have access to God in prayer
ticular book of the Bible, or deal in           there is much superstition and fool-    and God does give us open doors
more depth with some aspect of                  ishness at these seasons. However,      of opportunity
doctrine. The prayers at this meet-             without engaging in such foolish-         As a church we give some assis-
ing are led by two or three male                ness, we have sought to use such        tance to a small group of believers
members of the congregation.                    seasons in a positive way. We have      who have no pastoral oversight.
  Also, we have a mid-week coffee               been encouraged at the numbers of       With the support of the Board of
morning. This is designed to en-                outsiders who at these seasons will     Deacons the Pastor conducts a. mid-
able us to make contact with local              come along to a church service. We      week Bible study for this group in
people, especially the elderly who              seek to preach on these occasions       the town of Rotherham some four-
call at the Post Office adjacent to             those vital fundamental truths of       teen miles from Barnsley
the church to collect their pension.            Virgin Birth-Incarnation, and of the      One of our members travels fifty
                                                atoning death and bodily resurrec-      miles from the town of Sctmthorpe

472 I The Standard Bearer I September 1,199O


in Humberside. Our services are           ing to come either from a ritualist,           sions, from ministers of the Protes-
all taped and this member dis-            liberal, or Evangelical Arminian               tant Reformed Churches have
tributes them to contacts she is able     tradition.                                     given us opportunities to hold Re-
to make in her work as a consultant          We have within our church a free            formed conferences to which some
anaesthetist in a busy general hos-       literature table upon which are to             of those in England who love Re-
pital.                                    be found a good number of book-                formed truth have been gathered
  We also have access on a regular        lets explaining the distinctive doc-           for instruction and encouragement.
basis to an aged persons nursing          trines of the Reformed faith.                     In the eyes of much of the church
home, where we conduct services.             Many of these booklets are sup              world, this may seem to be of little
  As a church we give prayerful           plied from sources within the                  significance or importance. We do
and practical support to the Euro-        Protestant Reformed Churches.                  rejoice however in this work the
pean Missionary Fellowship. This             The making of this literature               Lord gives us to do in these last
is a protestant mission which seeks       available to our own people in                 days of apostasy and unbelief.
to support and give assistance to         Barnsley and for visitors to our               MEASBRO  DYKE CONGREGA-
pastors and churches of Reformed          church has led to a more                       TIONANDTHEFUTURE
position throughout Europe. Many          widespread distribution than we                   We stand amazed at what God
of the lands, as you well know,           could ever have imagined.                      has done so far in our midst. To us
were strongholds of the Reformed             Visitors to our church began to             the future is uncertain - will God
faith. Now Roman&m and rational-          ask for supplies of these pamphlets            maintain the cause of truth in our
ism are rampant. Over the years           for use in their own churches. Then            midst? Will our congregation go
we have received visits and heard         from different parts of the United             the way of many others -the way
reports of the situation in these         Kingdom, as word was spread, re-               of compromise and then denial?
lands - Spanish, Portuguese,              quests came for further copies.                   We cannot remain standing still
Swiss, French, and Polish pastors         Over the past four years, several              -we know that a Reformed
have spoken at our mid-week               thousands of these booklets have               church must always be reforming.
meetings.                                 been distributed through the post.             There is need for growth and de-
  We give support to a family             I also act as an Agent for the RFPA,           velopment in the truth both in our
from a nearby Evangelical church,         and, from the selling of a few books           individual lives and in our congre-
who are busy in Bible translation         in 1986, we are now selling, mainly            gational life.
work amongst the  "Timbe"  speak-         through the post, in excess of 1200               Our calling is clear -
ing people in Papua New Guinea.           books each year.                                     To stand firm in the truth.
  We support the work of the                 We also operate a Protestant R&                       To preach the truth.
Trinitarian Bible Society and The         formed Tape Library.                                  To contend for the truth.
Scottish Reformation Society, for            All this activity has brought us,              May the God of all grace be
these societies are founded upon          in recent years, into contact with             pleased to keep us faithful to our
clear Protestant and Reformed             those who, often in isolated situa-            calling. We lift up our heads, look-
principles.                               tions, love and seek to maintain the           ing for the coming of our Lord Je-
  In these ways we seek to remind         Reformed faith. We have been                   sus Christ in glory, longing for that
ourselves that the church of Jesus        pleased to welcome into our church             day when all the ransomed chu:rch
Christ is universal, and that within      and homes many people from the                 of God shall be saved to sin no
that one church of Christ we have a       Protestant Reformed Churches in                more. 0
calling, if not to go in our persons,     America. Visits, on several occa-
then by our prayers and giving to
the ends of the earth with the
Gospel.
MEASBRO  DYKE CONGREGA-                   Behold, the potter molds the clay                  And  His electing love employ
TION: OUR DISTINCTIVE                        His vessels forms himself to please            To mark out some of mortal race
WITNESS                                         Such is our Cod and such are we                 And form them fit for heavenly
  We are not Arminian; our dis-              The subjects of His just Decree                       joy?
tinctive witness is to the Reformed          Does not the workman`s  pow?  extend        Shall man reply against the Lord
faith: the doctrine of grace, historic             o'er all the mass which part to           And call his Maker's ways unjust
Calvinism.                                                choose                                The thunder of whose dreadful
  I would impress upon you again                And mold it for a nobler end                       word
that we do not work amongst men                    And which to leave for iller use?         Can crush a thousand worlds to dust?
and women whose background                May not the Sovereign Lord on high                 But oh my soul, if truth so bright
and tradition is Reformed. It is             Display His favors as He wills                     Should dazzle and confound thy
                                                Choose some to life while others                   sight
doubtful whether them has ever                     die                                          Yet still His written will obey
been a witness to the Reformed               And yet be just and glorious still?             And wait His great decisive day!
faith in our town. Those who at-                What if He means to show His                                -old Presbyterian  P!lfer
tend our worship services from                     grace
other church backgrounds are go-

                                                                                        September 1,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 473


                                                Federal Equal Pay
                                                and Minimum Wage!
 Church                                         Laws Applied to
and State
Mr. James Lanting                               Christian Schools

JXSA and Christian Schools                      tion as a vital part of its mission.               schools are an "enterprise" within
   Are private and parochial Chris-             The schools employed about 30                      the purview of the Act.
tian schools subject to federal em-             teachers in Kindergarten through                     Furthermore, the court rejected
ployment laws such as the Fair La-              high school and offered a tradi-                   the church's argument that since
bor Standards Acts (FLSA)?  Yes,                tional curriculum into which bibli-                the school was operated by the
declared a'federal  appellate court             cal material was integrated.                       Shenandoah Baptist Church and
this spring, and held that the                     Because their low salary levels                 shared a common physical plant
Roanoke Valley Christian Schools                made it difficult to attract teachers,             and payroll, the teachers were ac-
in Virginia violated the FLSA by                the Roanoke Valley Christian                       tually employees of the church en-
paying their head-of-household                  Schools had adopted a head-of-                     titled to the "ministerial exemp-
male teachers a salary supplement.              household salary supplement. All                   tion" under the Act. The court was
In addition to condemning this al-              married male teachers received a                   not persuaded that the teachers
leged sexual discrimination, the                salary supplement ($1,200 per                      considered teaching their "personal
court also found that the schools               year); married women were not eli-                 ministry" and thus distinguished
paid some support personnel less                gible. At trial, Pastor Robert Alder-              them from nuns and monks, who
than the minimum wage. Accord-                  man explained the biblical rationale               apparently are exempt from the
ingly, the court ordered the schools            for the supplement:                                FLSA.
to pay to the U.S. government                      When  we fum to the Scri$fures  to de-          Free Exercise of Religion
$177,680 in back pay for female                 termine head  of household, we found  fhaf           The Shenandoah church and its
teachers and $16,800 for minimum                the Bible clearly teaches  that  the husband is    schools also argued unsuccessfully
wage violations.                                fhe head of the house, head of the wife, head      that application of the FLSA imper-
  The U.S. Department of Labor                  of the family.... We moved in that  direc-         missibly burdened their first
brought suit against the Roanoke                tion, thinking that  our opportunity and re-       amendment right to the free exer-
Valley Christian Schools owned                  sponsibilify of basing our pracfice on clear
                                                biblical feaching  wouki  not be a maffer of       cise of religion. The church,
and operated by Shenandoah Bap-                 question.                                          schools, and teachers insisted that
tist Church in Roanoke, Virginia.                  In addition, the government also                their head-of-household pay  lprac-
The independent Baptist Church,                 challenged the schools' history of                 tice was based on a sincerely-held
asserting the "absolute authority of            paying some of the schools' sup                    biblical belief. Allowing their
the Bible," viewed Christian educa-             port personnel (bus drivers, custo-                wages to be set by the federal gov-
                                                dians, kitchen workers, etc.) less                 ernment, they argued, rather than
                                                than hourly minimum wage.                          by church government acting un-
                                                   The Roanoke Valley Christian                    der divine guidance, deprived
                                                Schools argued that the strictures of              them of the blessings they would
                                                the FLSA did not apply to its                      otherwise receive by allowing the
                                                church-operated school. The fed-                   Lord to supply their needs.
                                                eral court disagreed. Pointing to an                 Weighing the alleged burden
                                                obscure amendment to the FLSA                      placed on their religious beliefs
Mr. lanting,  a member of South Hol-            passed by Congress in 1966 and                     against the government's com-
land Protestant Reformed  Church, is a          prior legislative history, the court               pelling interest in eradicating sex
practicing attorney.                            held that private and parochial                    discrimination in employment, the

474 I The Standard Bearer I September 1,199O


court held that the "balance tips to-    lows an earlier decision in Califor-       philosophical and sociological
ward the application of the FLSA to      nia where a federal court similarly        agenda here:
Roanoke Valley Christian Schools."       condemned another Christian                 . ..to remedy a serious and endemic prol&m
The pay requirements at issue, said      school's policy of affording health        of employment discrimination in primte
the court, "do not cut to the heart      insurance benefits exclusively to           industry - they feel that the wage struc-
of Shenandoah's beliefs," since the      male head-of-household teachers             ture of many segments of Amenm  in&-
Bible does not mandate a pay dif-        (E.E.O.C. v. Fremont  Christian School,     try has been based on an outmoded  belief
                                                                                     that man, because of his role in society,
ferential based on sex., The court       9th Cir. 1986). The  Shenandoah and         should  be paid more than  a woman evm
also pointed out that no Baptist         Fmnont  cases clearly establish the         though his duties am the same.
doctrine prevents Roanoke Valley         trend that the federal Department              But it is the government's lim-
from paying women as much as             of Labor and the Equal Employ-              ited biblical duty to preserve peace
men or from paying the minimum           ment Opportunity Commission                 and order in society by punishing
wage.                                    (E.E.O.C.) intend to impose federal         the criminal and protecting the
Excessive Entanglement                   employment regulations aggres-              well-doer (Ram. 13; I Pet. 3).
  The Shenandoah Baptist Church          sively upon Christian schools.              Surely the government has abso-
also contended that applying fed-          This trend is onerous and alarm-          lutely no prerogative or jurisdiction
eral labor standards to Christian        ing for a number of reasons. First,         to interfere with private wage con-
schools would spawn impermissi-          the Shenandoah case illustrates how         tracts in Christian schools because
ble government entanglement with         intrusive the government is becom-          such contracts are, in the govern-
religion, in contravention of the es-    ing in that salary benefits and pay         ment's view, based on "outmoded"
tablishment clause of the first          differentials in private and                beliefs such as the headship  princi-
amendment. The church com-               parochial Christian schools are now         ple or upon family needs. Clearly,
plained that the necessary govern-       subject to government scrutiny.             schools should have the freedom to
ment inspection, monitoring, and         This is a classic example of invidi-        pay their male head-of-household
review nzquired to implement the         ous overreaching so characteristic          teachers a $1,200 annual supple-
FLSA would intrude into church af-       of the federal government in recent         ment based on need, especially
fairs. Not so, insisted the court.       decades. Certification of teachers,         when both the male and female
Although the word-keeping nz-            curriculum requirements, and state          teachers consent to such an ar-
quirements of the FLSA may be            inspections are apparently not              rangement. This recent govern-
"burdensome in terms of paper-           enough; now the government must             ment policy is part and parcel of
work," it held that such review          also interfere in voluntary contrac-        the feminist agenda which sadby
would not be "significantly more         tual arrangements for compensa-             enough is generally harmful to the
intrusive" than fire inspection and      tion between school boards and              family, both in our Christian
building and zoning regulations.         school employees.                           schools and in secular society. Cl
Governmental Regulation of                 Secondly, far more than "fair
Christian Schools                        wage" laws are at stake. The
  This case, Dole v. Shenandoah          Shenandoah  court boldly asserted
Baptist Church (4th Cir. 1990),  fol-    that the Department of Labor has a




Taking Heed
to Doctrine
Rev. Bernard Woudenberg Eternal Adoption

                                            Having tmdestinated  us unto             James Arminius, the father of
                                         #he adop&z of children by Jesus             Arminianism, and Franc&us Ju-
                                         Christ to himself, according to              nius, hero of the Dutch revolution
                                                                                     and professor of theology at the
                                         the good pleasure of his will.               University of Leiden.
                                         Ephesians L-5                                   It began amidst the festivities of
                                                                                     a wedding celebration. Arminius'
Rev. W024d02berg  is pastor  0f the
Protestant Reformed  Church of Kala-        Many years ago, in 1597, a fasci-        aunt had married Johannes Cuchli-
mazoo, Michigan.                         nating debate took place between            nus, regent of the states college at

                                                                                    September 1,199O  /The Standard Bearer I 475


Leiden; and, following the custom               tion and emphasis, while his dis-        `What if God, willing to shevr his
of the day, Arminius visited the                agreement with Arminius was seri-        wrath, and to make his power
newly married couple in their                   ous and basic.                           known, endured with much long-
home. There he met Francis Junius,                 The problem was that through          suffering the vessels of wrath fitted
the now elderly and highly m-                   the years predestination had be          to destruction: and that he might
spected professor of theology at the            come a subject of popular debate;        make known the riches of his glory
University of Leiden. Eagerly                   and Calvin and Beta, committed           on the vessels of mercy, whiclh he
Arminius engaged him in conver-                 defenders of the faith that they         had afore prepared unto glory."
sation concerning a small book Ju-              were, felt committed to answer ev-       Here the "vessels of wrath" are
nius had recently published enti-               ery attack, many of which centered       clearly not something which God
tled The First Sin of Adam, a book              in Romans 9, and especially verses       desires for themselves, but rather
dealing with the problems which                 21-23, leaving the impression that       because they serve as means to be
arise in relating the sovereignty of            this was their central and main con--    used in the making known His
God to the origin of sin. This was a            cem, as though they thought God's        glory to the "vessels of mercy? It is
subject with which Arminius had                 ultimate purpose was to exhibit His      similar to that which we read in I
become increasingly involved dur-               greatness by creating some people        Corinthians 3:21: "Therefore let no
ing his early years in the ministry.            for no other reason than to show         man glory in men. For all things
While preaching through his first               Himself merciful, and others to          are yours; whether Paul, or Apol-
series of sermons, on the book of               show Himself just. And, if that          los, or Cephas, or the world, or life,
Romans, he had touched on this is-              was so, Arminius maintained, God         or death, or things present, or
sue and raised questions among                  must be considered the author of         things to come; all are yours; and
many concerning his doctrinal                   sin.                                     ye are Christ's; and Christ is
soundness. And then, on top of                     In response Junius made two ob-       God's" Or so beautifully in II
that, he had been assigned the task             servations; and we do well to note       Corinthians 4:15: "For all things
of answering two pamphlets relat-               them.                                    are for your sakes, that the abun-
ing to this matter, possibly with the              Predestination, he pointed out, is    dant grace might through the
intent of testing his orthodoxy.                not the first and primary decree of      thanksgiving of many redound to
One was a pamphlet by Dirk Volk-                God; and the theology of Calvin          the glory of God." The purpose of
ertszoon Coornhert, also a hero of              and Beza taken as a whole, as that       God in all things, including the ex-
the revolution but a committed Hu-              of all true predestinarian theolo-       istence of the reprobate and sin, is
manist and a bitter enemy of                    gians, brings this out. The primary      but a means to that great and final
Calvinism, in which he accused                  purpose of God is not that of Ro-        purpose of bringing those He has
Calvin and Beza of making God the               mans 9, but that of Ephesians 1:5:       appointed unto adoption into
author of sin. The other was by                 "Having predestinated us unto the        union with him in eternal life.
two ministers from Delft, Arent                 adoption of children by Jesus              It is something that we must
Corneliszoon and Reynier Dontek-                Christ to himself, according to the      bear in mind for the understanding
lok, suggesting that the problem                good pleasure of his will." God's        of life, and of the working of the
could be resolved if predestination             first purpose is to have a people        Gospel.
were looked at as taking place after            who may be His children through            In this world there is no essential
the fall (now called Infralapsarian-            Jesus Christ; and other decrees, in-     difference between those who have
ism) rather than before the fall as             cluding those to show mercy and          been ordained unto life and tlhose
Calvin and Beza did (Supralapsari-              justice, are secondary means to          who have not, except this one,
anism). In studying the matter                  bring this about.                        namely, God's adopting grace. All
Arminius became increasingly un-                  This leads to a second principle,      are equally sinful, and all have
happy with the Calvin/Beza  ap-                 the need to distinguish between          equally sacrificed their right to life,
proach, first inclining to that of the          things which are corollaries of this     as Romans 310-23  brings out:
Delft ministers, and then, conclud-             primary purpose of God and those         `There is none righteous, no, not
ing that they had not really re-                which are means to attaining it.         one: There is none that under-
solved the problem, toward that of              That is to say, there are some things    standeth, there is none that seketh
Coornhert. And so, sensing that                 which are in themselves part of          after God. They are all gone out of
Junius too might have criticisms of             God's desired end, affording plea-       the way, they are together become
Calvin and Beza, Arminius eagerly               sure to God in themselves; and           unprofitable; there is none that
invited him to a friendly cormspon-             there are the other things which are     doeth good, no, not one.... For all
dence on this matter.                           in themselves abhorrent to Him but       have sinned, and come short `of the
  Soon this was begun, but only to              which He wills in order to serve a       glory of God." All of history veri-
make it immediately apparent that               higher purpose nonetheless.              fies this; the accomplishments of
Junius' differences with Arminius                 It is to this latter category that     man only ever lead to further sin.
were far greater than any he had                the existence of sin and of the            And then into this sinful world
with Calvin and Beza. In fact, es-              reprobate belong. The Bible em-          comes God's Word with astoumd-
sentially he agreed with them, with             phasizes this in a number of differ-     ing effect; it divides between the
reservations only on their presenta-            ent ways, as in Romans 9:22,23:          twain.

476 I The Standard Bearer I September 1,1990


   To the natural man the Word of          Gospel. KS God's doing, not ours.           those who appear the most recep-
God is an utter offense, no matter         He has privileged us with his               tive will only fall away in the end
how it comes; and it comes in              Word, each in our domain, some in           [remember the stony ground,
many different ways, in creation, in       caring for our children, some in            Matthew 13:20,211.  And some-
law, in judgment, and in the Gospel        witnessing to friends and neigh-            times those who appear to be th.e
as well. The reactions may be di-          bors, some as ministers of the              worst of all sinners prove to be cho-'
verse. Some respond with anger,            Gospel, and some who as mission-.           sen children of God [I Tiiothy
some with indifference, and some           aries bring the Word into distant           1:15]. It is as Paul said, II Corinthi-
with hypocrisy; but in every in-           lands. Wherever we work, how-               ans 2:15, "For we are unto God a
stance it is man's way of saying he        ever, resistance will be met, and           sweet savour of Christ, in them that
can be as great as God, as Peter           sometimes with great violence. We           are saved, and in them that perish:
says of Christ and His word, in I          may well wish to draw back, won-            To the one [we are] the savour elf
Peter 2~8: "A stone of stumbling,          dering whether we have done it              death unto death; and to the other
and a rock of offence,  [even to           wrong, or whether he to whom we             the savour of life unto life. And
them1  which stumble at the word,          speak is hopelessly bad. But then           who is sufficient for these
being disobedient: whereunto also          it's time to remember, all is in            things?" Cl
they were appointed."                      God's hand. Sometimes indeed
  And yet, in the end, for those
who are chosen it is different.
Their first reaction, like that of any-
one else, will often be also rejection.
In fact, for them the reaction may
well be more violent and vicious                                     Book Reviews
than that of anyone else, as with
young Saul of Tarsus. When he
stood by the execution of Stephen
and heard him say, Acts 7~56, "Be-
hold, I see the heavens opened, and
the Son of man standing on the             DOCTRINAL INTEGRITY, by                     iS a solemn matter. To sign the
right hand of God," it infuriated          Samuel Miller. Presbyterian Her-            "formula of subscription" insin-
him, and set in his mind a determi-        itage .Publications,  l?O. Box 180922,      cerely is nothing less than the mod-
nation to prove it wasn't so. And          Dallas, Texas 75218. 1989. 137~~.           em form of `lying to the Holy
he did so with a viciousness unsur-        Hardcover. $15.95. (Reviewed by             Ghost" (p. 60).
passed, until one day Christ               the Editor)                                    It comes out that when Miller
stopped him short. Saul met Him              This is the kind of book that a re-       wrote the two works that make up
one day in a vision altogether remi-       viewer is strongly tempted to re-           this volume, The Uti2il-y  and Impor-
niscent of that which Stephen saw,         view by quoting it in its entirety. It      tance of creeds and Confessions and
Acts 9:3: "And as he journeyed, he         is that good. The subject is that im-       Letters to Presbyterians on the Present
came near Damascus: and sud-               portant. Although written origi-            Crisis in the Presbyterian Church in
denly there shined round about             nally in the middle lSOOs,  it is that      the United States, his own church
him a light from heaven: And he            timely. The author's insight into           -the Presbyterian Church in tie
fell to the earth, and heard a voice       what is necessary for the very life         United States, harbored  officebear-
saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why           of a Presbyterian, or Reformed,            ers who opposed the aeeds anti
persecutest  thou me? And he said,         church (and what assures her                signed them falsely. The reason
Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord           death) is that sound.                       was their opposition to the Calvin-
said, I am Jesus whom thou perse-            The aeeds are necessary for a             istic doctrines that the aeeds
cutest: it is hard for thee to kick        Presbyterian, or Reformed, church.          taught (cf. pp. 94ff.X
against the pricks."                       Her officebearers must subscribe               Blame is charged to the "good
  Within the heart of Saul, even           the creeds in all truthfulness, and         men" in the church, those who to-
while he was raging, the Spirit of         without any deceit. The church              day would be called the "conserva-
God had been working, pricking at          herself must guard with all vigi-           tives." They permitted such lying
his conscience, and in the end it          lance against "allowing men to              subscription. Miller pleads witlh
was not to be denied. It was as Je-        subscribe to a confession which             them:
sus had said long before, John 637:        they obviously do not believe" (p.          . ..will you suffer men of coarse and ductile
"All that the Father giveth me shall       88). Objections to creeds are care-         (jlexibk-DIE)  consciences, with the phi-
come to me; and him that comet-h           fully answered. The extent of               losophy and the Zanguage  of Pelagianism
to me I will in no wise cast out:          aeeds should not be restricted to a         on their lips, to be guilty of the solemn,,
Saul's life was changed; grace had         few fundamental articles, but               dishonest mockery of subscribing your
done its work.                             rightly embraces the full range of          Calvinistic Creed, and entering your judi-
                                                                                       catories? If this be admitted, you will :soon
  So it is always; and in the aware-       Reformed truth. Subscribing the            fill our beloved church (with anguish qf
ness of this are we to work in the         creeds, for a preacher in particular,       spirit I write it) not merely with the ek-

                                                                                     September  I,1990 I The Standard Bearer  ,f  477


me&s of Jizrful  repulsion and explosion;             This is a curious little book. The       *common grace'....The  full suffi-
but, what is uns,txakably  more to be               title is intriguing. The subject fairly    ciency of the atonement is the basis
dreaded, with the sees of spiritual  desola-        demands to be treated in Calvinis-         for the universal offer of the
tion and a?ath,.with  which the ears of ev-         tic circles. The authors' hearts are       gospel" (p. 301.
e y Christian who hears, shall fihgle! (p.
230)                                                plainly in the right place: The book         Does "common grace" indeed
   These men were guilty also of                    vigorously defends five-point              flow from the aoss by which the
approving, if not advocating as the                 Calvinism and sharply condemns             Son of God redeemed the elect
solution to the doctrinal division in               five-point Arminianism. They even          church from sin and death and by
the denomination what was then                      dare to mention reprobation as an          which He judged the ungodly
known as "elective affinity/ and                    integral part of Calvinism `In our         world?
today is called "modalities" in the                 study of Calvinism we have seen              Is the mere sufficiency of the
church. Each party creates its own                  that God is sovereign over all             atonement indeed the basis ojf the
formation or organization and tries                 things in His universe, including          call of the gospel? Or does God call.
to live its own church-life within                  the salvation or reprobation of            men to come to Christ on the basis
the denomination. Miller points                     man" (p. 40). The word "reproba-           of the actual redemption accom-
out that this resolution of the prob-               tion" never passes over the lips or        plished in the cross? `Tell them
lem is sin against the unity of the                 through the pens of most profess-          which are called, Behold, I have
church; likely the cause of "painful                ing Calvinists today.                      prepared My dinner...all things are
and fatal division" of the church;                    What is curious is the inclusion         ready..." (Matt. 22:4).
and, eventually, the occasion of the                of "hyper-Calvinism" in the title.           Before Reformed theologians can
spiritual death of the entire body.                 In this regard, the book promises          grapple with the error of hyper-
   Miller was prophetic. Writing in                 more than it delivers. It does not         Calvinism, they must be straight as
1833, he warned the Presbyterian                    clearly identify this doctrinal error,     regards sound, consistent Calvin-
Church of her certain death, if she                 pointing out how hyper-Calvinism           ism. Cl
persisted in her course of relaxing                 deviates from Calvinism. It does
creedal subscription and tolerating                 not substantiate its claim that there      SAFFa IN THE WORLD: THE AS-
the anti-Calvinistic  doctrines:                    is such a threat to genuine Calvin-        SURANCE OF OUR SALVATION,
. ..whenever our                                    ism. Is there a hyper-Calvinistic          by Martyn Lloyd-Jones. West-
                     ecclesiastical judicatories
begin deliberately to admit  of  subscription       threat to the Reformed faith today?        chester, IL: Crossway Books, 1988,
to our public standards on any such princi-         Where is it? Who teaches it? Or is         l-157pp., $10.95, (cloth). (Re-
ples, they are paving the way for troubles          the reference to hyper-Calvinism           viewed by R.D. Decker.)
and dangers  of  the most ruinous kind.             by those professing Calvinism a              This book contains a collection of
They will soon discozvr,  either that they          mere bogey?                                twelve sermons on John 176-19.
have introduced an enemy into the camp,               John Gill, whom many regard as           These sermons were part of a series
who will create all the confusion of  Babel,        a full-fledged hyper-Calvinist,            of sermons Lloyd-Jones preached
and eventually tear them in pieces; or, that        Talbot and Crampton  class with the        in Westminster Chapel on the High
indifference to truth, and that moral torpor
and death, into which the Protestant                "staunch Calvinists" (p. 80).              Priestly prayer of Jesus recorded in
Churches  of  France and Geneva, from this            The fullest and most pointed de-         John 17. The first part of the rseries
ve y cause, and in this very way, gradually         scription of hyper-Calvinism  ac-          was published in 1988 by Crossway
sunk down, and which was, for many                  cuses it of eliminating the need to        under the title Saved in Eterdy.
years, the basis  of  all their tranquility.        evangelize and of holding a "trun-         These sermons were preached in
There is peace among the dead; but it is the        cated view of the free offer" (pp.         1952-1953 on Sunday mornings.
peace 0f amkness, of rottenness and of deso-        76ff.1. But the authors themselves           The sermons in this volume deal
lation. (p. 89)                                     defend a sharp distinction between         with two questions: 1) Why did Je-
   Like the biblical prophets, Miller               the external and internal calls of the     sus offer this prayer? 2) For what
warned so sharply because he                        gospel (pp. 42ff .). Only the internal     did our Lord pray? The sermons
loved his church so greatly, He                     call is saving in nature. And this         are clear, based on good exposition
loved her as a faithful, confessional               call is directed to the elect alone.       of the text, and full of good instruc-
Presbyterian church.                                How is this to be harmonized with          tion, comfort, and assurance. They
   Where are the preachers, profes-                 the conception of the "free offer"         are as applicable today as they
sors, and elders who love the Re-                   now rampant in Calvinistic circles,        were when they were first
formed, or Presbyterian, church so                  namely, the notion that God calls          preached nearly forty years ago.
inourday?  0                                        all alike in grace, with a sincere will    Any Christian looking for good de-
                                                    for the salvation of every person          votional reading or looking for bib-
CALVINISM, HYPEB-CALVIN-                            who hears the gospel? At this cru-         lical instruction on the subject of
PSM & ARMINIANISM, by Ken-                          cial point, the book is silent.            r;iy;oyld do well to purchase
neth G. Talbot and W. Gary Cramp                      The well-intentioned defense of
ton. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada:                     a sound Calvinism is weakened by             The preacher looking for a good
Still Waters Revival Books, 1990. 88                the assertion that "all men benefit        exegetical commentary on this sec-
pages. Paper. $5.95 US/$6.95  Cana-                 from the atonement; they are the           tion of John 17 will find it in this
dian. (Reviewed by the Editor.)                     recipients of what has been called         book. Cl

478 I The Standard Bearer I September 1,199O


                                        News From
Mr. Benjamin Wigger                     Our C.hurches

MINIS'IZRIAL CALLS                      T. Miersma. A congregational                The Consistory of the Covenant
  Rev. C. Haak, pastor of the Lyn-      meeting was scheduled for August         PRC in Wyckoff, NJ recently ap-
den PRC in Lynden, WA declined          27.                                      proved a request from its Evange-
the call he was considering from          Rev. W. Bekkering, pastor of the       lism Committee to have their pas-
the congregation of the Randolph        Pella, PRC in Pella, IA spent two        tor revise the historical section of
PRC in Randolph, WI. Following          weeks of his vacation preaching for      the pamphlet, "Is the Christian
Rev. Haak's decline, Randolph's         the group in Venice, FL.                 Faith Easy?' to correspond with.
con&story formed another trio,          CONGREGATIONAL                           their history as a congregation.
consisting of the Revs. R. Cam-         ACTIVITIES                                  The Evangelism Society of the
menga, T. Miersrna, and R. Moore.         The congregation of the Doon           Byron Center PRC in Byron Center,
  And from a trio of pastors that       PRC in Doon, IA invited the con-         MI reported to their congregatiaa
was included here last month, the       gregations of Hull, IA and Edger-        that the response to the special
congregation in our Hope PRC in         ton, MN to join them in an oppor-        worship service and the offer folr
Isabel, SD has extended a call to       tunity to learn more about our sis-      the tape of the sermon has been
`Pastor T. Miersma, who serves as       ter churches, and to witness part of     strong (see last month% news).
undershepherd of the First PRC in       the fulfillment of Christ's promise      One man wrote, "After listening to
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.              to gather His church out of all the      your tape, `Remember the Lord's
MISSION ACTIVITIES                      earth. These three congregations         Day,' given by Rev. Gritters, I
  The Council of the Hudsonville        met on July 19 to hear Rev. R.           would like another tape so I can
PRC in Hudsonville, Ml presented        Miersma give a speech on the work        send it to a friend of mine . . . . m Sev-
the following trio of ministers to      of his congregation, the PRC of          eral requested additional copies for
their congregation, from which one      New Zealand. Also shown was a            their children or grandchildren.
would be called as missionary to        slide and tape program given to             Kyle Flikkema, son of Rev. and
serve in Lame, Northern Ireland:        our churches at the International        Mrs. R. Flikkema of our Covenant
Revs. M. Kamps, J. Kortering, and       Reformed Conference by the Evan-         PRC in Wyckoff, was m-admitted
                                        gelical Reformed Churches of Sin-        to Columbia Presbyterian Babies
                                        gapore, on their history and work.       Hospital in early July because fluid
                                          A special congregational meeting       had been accumulating around his
                                        was held in late June at the Hope        heart. It was hoped thatmedica-
                                        PRC in Walker, MI. The congrega-         tion would help eliminate this
                                        tion was asked to consider a pro-        problem but further tests indicated
                                        posal from their Council for an ad-      that the fluid was not respondin,g
                                        dition/renovation of their church.       to the medication as well as was
                                        This proposal failed to pass by the      hoped. This meant that Kyle had
                                        two-thirds majority required by          to return to the hospitalas mu& as
                                        Hope's Council. But evidently            twice a week to have this fluid
                                        Hope's Council gave permission to        drained. At the time of this writing
                                        its Building Committee to continue       Kyle and his family are on vaca-
                                        their investigation of the church        tion, so Kyle continues to make
                                        building project with a view to an-      progress. Let us remember the
                                        other presentation to the congrega-      Flikkemas, as well as all God's af-
                                        tion later this year.                    flicted, in our prayers. I7
                                          The Council of the Randolph
                                        PRC in Randolph, WI has decided
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Pmtes-    to have the elders greet the congre-
tant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,    gation after the morning service
Michigan.                               along with the pastor.

                                                                                September 1,199O  /The Standard Bearer ! 479


    THE
STANDARD                                                                                                      SECOND CUSS
  l!E4RER                                                                                                     Postage Paid at
                                                                                                              Grand Rapids, Mkhigan

  i?O. Box 6064
  Grand Rapids, MI 49506



WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                     agenda are a brief program, re-
   On September 1,199O MR. and                        The Adult Bible Class of Faith           freshments, and election of three
MRS. EDWIN GRllTERS celebrate                       Protestant Reformed Church                 new members to the Board from a
their 40th wedding anniversary.                     wishes to extend its heartfelt Chris-      nomination consisting of Cal I<als-
We, their children and                              tian sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Fred         beek, John Kalsbeek, Jr., Harry
grandchildren, rejoice with them                    Hanko in the death of their daugh-         Langerak, Phil Lotterman, Gary
and gratefully acknowledge the                      ter, MRS. ELLEN DICK.                      Nienhuis, and Bill Oomkes.
work of the Lord through them in                      May they be comforted by the                For 66 years men have belen
our lives. We pray that our heav-                   words of the Lord in John 11:25,  "I       willing to write for and direct the af-
enly Father will continue to                        am the resurrection, and the life:         fairs of The Standard Bearer. May
strengthen them in their way and                    he that believeth in me, though he         our good attendance at this meet-
give them joy in Him.                               were dead, yet shall he live."             ing, involving just a couple of hours
   `Yea, thou shalt see thy chil-                           Rev. Kenneth Koole, President      of our time, demonstrate our iinter-
dren's children, and peace upon Is-                          Sandy Tinklenberg, Secretary      est in the SB and our concern for its
rael" (Ps 128:6).                                                                              welfare. And if any of you men are
Jerry and Shirley VanderKolk                                                                   not members of the Association,
   Brian, Brent, and Joel                           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                     you are encouraged to take a.dvan-
Ed and Jeanne Karsemeyer                              The Consistory of the Doon PR
   Shaun, Renae, Todd, and Ryan                                                                tage of this opportunity to join our
                                                    Church would like to express their
Barry and Lori Gritters                                                                        ranks.
                                                    Christian sympathy to their fellow
   Curt, Kevin, Eric, Dan, and Brad                                                                                   The RFPA Board
Mike and Brenda Griiers                             member Joawn VanOort and family                              Peter Koole, Secretary
   Darin, Candace. Julianne. and                    in the loss of his mother, MRS.
         Amber                                      HENRY VAN OORT.
Roger and Hilda Gritters                              May our heavenly Father comfort
   Sharon, Gerrit,  Kaylynn, and Jordan            the bereaved with the assurance
Rick Gritters              Redlands, California    that He doeth all things well.
                                                                 Rev. R. Dykstra, President
                                                                       Ed VanGinkel,  Clerk
WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   On September 5,1990,  our par-                                                                         LYNDEN
ents, MR. and MRS. PETER LUB-                       NOTICE!!!                                            P.R. CHURCH
BERS will celebrate their 50th wed-                   Bible Study at Dordt College
ding anniversary with a family din-                   A group of students dedicated to          The Lynden Protestant Reformed
ner.                                               the historic Reformed faith meets             Church of Lynden, Washington
   We are thankful to our heavenly                 together Monday evenings at 7:00
Father for the many happy years                    in the Dordt College library for a           is offering up to $330,000 in notes
He has given them to each other                    Bible study. The meetings are spon-            to finance the construction of
and to us, their children and grand-               sored by the Protestant Reformed                our sanctuary. (5-years:  8%;
children. It is our prayer that God                Churches in the area. This year we                      IO-years: 8.5%)
will continue to bless them with                   plan to study the Gospel according             These notes will be issued in
good health and all spiritual bless-               to Mark. Any student at Dordt is                      multiples of $1,000,
ings.                                              welcome to attend. If you have any           payable on demand with interest
Jase and Carolyn Redder                            questions, please call Rev. Russ                      paid semi-annually.
Rich and Gloria Smith                              Dykstra (712) 726-3382.                           For further information,
Larry and Sandy Lubbers
Glare and Pat Berens                                                                                     please call or write:
Rog and Kathy Berens                               NOTICE!!!                                               Albert deBoer
   11 grandchildren      Hudsonville, Michigan        Reminder: Thursday, September                       1633 Matz Road
                                                   20, the R.F.P.A. (Ss) will hold its                   Femdale, WA 98248
                                                   ,annual meeting in Southwest                            (206) 384-4148.
                                                   Church at 8 PM. Prof. Herman                  We ask that you give this your
                                                   Hanko will deliver the address                    prayerful consideration.
                                                   based on Psalm 60:4. Also on the

480  I The Standard Bearer I September 1,199O


