 A Reformed
 Semi-Monthly
Magazine
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                    Hudsonvik Protestant Reformed Church

                            See "News From Our Churches"
                                                - page 95



Vol. 67, No. 4
November 15,199O


Contents                                                                                               THE
                                                           November15, 1990                       slYmID!!!
Meditation - Rev. James D. Slopsema
   FORGET NOT THE LORD THY GOD                                                              75        fEARfiR
Editorials - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                               ISS N 0362-4692
   THE APPROACH TO COVENANT CHILDREN (2)                                                    76    Semi-monthly, except monthly during June,  July,
                                                                                                  and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
                                                                                                  lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
L E T T E R S                                                                               78    at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                                  POSTMASTER:  Send address changes to The
                                                                                                  Standard Bearer, P.O. Box 6064, Grand Rapids, MI
Taking Heed to the Doctrine - Rev. Man/in Kamps                                                   49516.
   THE BIBLE IS GOD'S WORD                                                                  79    EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
                                                                                                  Editor: Prof. David  I. Engelsma
                                                                                                  Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
In His Fear - Rev. Arie deni-lartog                                                               Managing Editor: Mr. Do-n Doezema
   THE JEALOUS LOVE OF GOD                                                                  81    DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                                  Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
                                                                                                  Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
Church and State - Mr. James Lanting                                                              Critters, Rev. Carl Haak, Prof. Herman Hanko,
                                                                                                  Rev. John Heys, Rev. Marvin Kamps, Rev. Kenneth
   SUPREME COURT DISCOVERS A CONSTITUTIONAL                                                       Koole,  Rev. Jason Kortering, Rev. Dale Kuiper, Mr.
       RIGHT TO DIE                                                                         83    James Lanting, Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs.
                                                                                                  Marybeth  Lubbers, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.
                                                                                                  Charles Terpstra, Rev. Cise  VanBaren,  Rev. Ronald
Strength of Youth - Rev. Russell J. Dykstra                                                       VanOverloop,   Mr.  Benjamin Wigger, Rev. Bernard
   JOHN  CALVIN  TAUGHT THAT?                                                               85    Woudenberg
                                                                                                  EDITORIAL OFFICE              CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer           Mr. Ben Wigger
Decency and Order - Rev. Ronald L. Cammenga                                                       4949  lvanrest                6597  - 40th Ave.
   FAMILY VISITATION                                                                        87    Crandville,  Ml 49418         Hudsonville,  ME 49426
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   THE REFORMED FAMILY: WOMEN IN THE CHURCH                                                 89    Reader Asks Department are welcome. Contribu-
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Guest Article - Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                                             and must be neatly written or typewritten, and
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   NEWS FROM THE CONTACT COMMITTEE                                                          92    the fifteenth of the month. All communications
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NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES -Mr. Senjamin Wgger                                                  95    articles in our magazine by other publications,
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74 I The Standard Bearer I November 15,199O


                                       Forget Not the
Meditation                             Lord Thy God
Rev. James Slopsema


   When thou hast eaten and art        there are some who must work                God would establish His covenant
full, then thou shalt bless the        very hard to provide for their mate-        with Israel. There He would live
Lord thy God for the good land         rial needs; and others find them-           and dwell with Israel as their Gold,
which he hath given thee.              selves in financial straits. But for        blessing them with every good
                                       the most part we enjoy great plenty.        thing. And the material plenty of
   Beware that thou forget not         Never has the church prospered              Canaan was a part of that covenant
the Lord thy God, in not keep-         materially so much as the church in         blessing. Canaan's prosperity w.as
ing his commandments, and his          our land.                                   an outward token of God's favor
judgments, and his statutes,             And so, especially as Thanksgiv-          towards His people, Israel. And it
which I command thee this day:         ing day draws near, we must hear            spoke of greater, spiritual blessing
  Lest when thou hast eaten            the same word of God that Moses             yet to come in a heavenly Canaan.
                                       proclaimed to Israel of old. When              We too enjoy great plenty at the
and art full, and hast built           you have eaten and are full, then           hand of this same covenant God.
goodly houses; and dwelt               bless the Lord your God for the                As our covenant God the Lord.
therein;                               good land which he has given you.           accomplishes for us what He did
  And when thy herds and thy           Beware that you forget Him not.             typically for Israel. He has deliv-
                                                 *  *  *  *  *  +*
flocks multiply, and thy silver                                                    ered us from the spiritual Egypt of
                                         Moses spoke of the great pros-            bondage to sin. He is leading us
and thy gold is mtiltiplied, and       perity Israel would enjoy in                through the spiritual wilderness of
all that thou hast is multiplied;      Canaan. It was a good land into             this world. One day He will bring
   Then thine heart be lifted up,      which the Lord would bring Israel.          us into the heavenly Canaan, where
and thou forget the Lord thy           It was a land of brooks of water, a         His covenant will be perfected and
God, which brought thee forth          land of wheat and barley and vines          we will enjoy the boundless riches
out of the land of Egypt, from         and fig trees and pomegranates, a           of His grace forever.
                                       land of olive oil and honey....                And as we continue our pil-                 "
the house of bondage.                    In this land Israel's possessions         grims' sojourn toward Canaan in
            - Deuteronomy 89 O-l 4     would multiply: their flocks, their         this spiritual wilderness, we find
                                       silver and gold, and all that they          that God has given us a great
                                       had. They would be able to build            plenty. Certainly the earthly plenty
                                       good homes. They would eat bread            we enjoy today does not have the
  Moses was addressing Israel in       without scarceness. They would              same significance that it did for Is-
the plains of Moab. He informed        lack nothing.                               rael in Canaan. Earthly plenty is
them that the land of Canaan into        This great prosperity that Israel         no longer a token of God's blessing.
which they were about to enter         would enjoy in Canaan was part of           However, the material abundance
would be for them a land of plenty.    the covenant blessings of the Lord          we do enjoy has been given to us
For this reason Moses felt con-        their God. For, as Moses went on            by our covenant God in His love
strained also to warn Israel not to    to explain in the rest of this chapter,     and grace to provide for our needs
forget the Lord their God in the       it was the Lord that brought Israel         here below that we may reach
midst of Canaan's plenty.              out of Egypt. The Lord had pre-             Canaan's shore.
  This warning is very pertinent       served them in the waste howling                      *******
for us today. God has placed us        wilderness for the past 40 years.              Beware, however, when you
also in a land of plenty. Certainly    And the Lord would now bring Is-            have eaten of your plenty and are
                                       rael into the plenty of Canaan, ex-         full, that you do not forget the Lord
                                       actly that He might establish His           your God.
Rev. Slopsema is pastor of Hope        covenant with them, as He had                  What a great danger this is for
Protestant Reformed Church in          sworn to their fathers that He              God's people in the midst of plenty.
Walker, Michigan.                      would.                                         Moses showed Israel how this
                                         It was in Canaan, therefore, that         happens. When God gives us
                                                                                  November 15,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 75


plenty, very easily our hearts are               The next step in this process is          Beware! Pray earnestly  folr grace
lifted up in pride (vs. 14) so that we         that we take to ourselves the credit      not to forget the Lord, your
say within ourselves, "My power                for what God has provided for us.         covenant God.
and the might of my hand has got-              We begin to imagine that our                      ********
ten me all this gain" (vs. 17).                plenty is the result of our work, our.      Rather, when you have eaten
  How different it is when we find             ingenuity, our planning, our wis-         and are full, bless the Lord your
ourselves in poverty. When the                 dom, our saving. . . .                    God.
cupboard is bare and we are not                   Once we have gone this far, God          This presupposes that you re-
sure where tomorrow's food and                 is virtually gone from our thoughts       member the Lord (vs. 18). Remem-
rent will come from, we live                   and life. If we have gotten our           ber that the Lord must supp'.ly  all
humbly every day out of God's                  plenty through the power and              your needs, or your needs will go
hand, relying upon Him for every-              might of our own hands, certainly         unfulfilled. Remember that it is the
thing. And then, when we receive               we will not give thanks to the Lord.      Lord that has given you your
from our heavenly Father our daily             Neither will we rely upon Him for         plenty. Remember that the Lord
bread, we thankfully acknowledge               our needs. Neither will we feel           has given this plenty to you espe-
Him as the Giver of every good                 compelled to serve him with our           cially as your covenant God that
and perfect gift, even of our daily            plenty. We will rather use our            you may continue your pilgrims
bread.                                         plenty for a life of pleasure and         journey to Canaan's shore.
  Strangely enough, our tendency               ease, serving ourselves rather than         Remembering all this, bless the
is quite different in the midst of             the living God.                           Lord your God in your plenty.
prosperity. For when we have                     Then we have forgotten the Lord         Praise and thank Him for all His
plenty., we tend not to rely upon the          our God!                                  good gifts.
hand of God as we ought. In pride                Israel did this time and time             Do this in prayer and song.
we begin to think that we really do            again in her history.                       Do this also by using all your
not need God anymore. We can do                  Many today in the church are            plenty in the service of His cause
quite well without Him.                        doing the same thing.                     and covenant. Cl




                                               The Approach
                                               to Covenant
Editorial                                      Children (2)

  In the November 1,199O  Stan-                place until some years after their        confessions, whether it is the Re-
dard Bearer, two representatives of            baptism. It is fair to say that, ac-      formed truth.
the Netherlands Reformed Congre-               cording to the NRC, this does not           The reader will appreciate, I
gations (NRC) sketch and defend                as a rule take place until many           trust, that my concern is not to crit-
the view of baptized children held             years after baptism.                      icize a particular Reformed denom-
by the NRC.                                       All infants, therefore, and all the    ination. Rather, I critically examine
  The editorial in that issue de-              children in the NRC are regarded          a certain doctrine. In addition to
scribes this view as the view that             as unsaved. All the children are          the challenge put to the Protestant
insists on regarding all the bap-              taught to regard themselves as un-        Reformed Churches' teaching on
tized children as unregenerated                saved. And this view of the chil-         this matter, there is good reason to
and outside of Jesus Christ. If, in            dren determines the approach              examine the position of the NRC in
later years, some of these baptized            `taken to the children in the rearing     the fact that the view of the :NRC is
children experience "inward-work-              of themby  parents, church, and           widespread among Reformed  and.
ing graces" and give evidence of               Christian school.                         Presbyterian churches.
"outward-working fruits," they                    In this editorial, I will test this      It is exceedingly strange, ion the
may be viewed as saved children                covenant-conception of the NRC            very face of it, that a Reformed
of God. But this does not take                 by Scripture and the Reformed             church would respond to God's

76 / The Standard Ikarer I November 15,199O


promise to be the God also of the          the children. Jehovah addressed            ment is the same in the New
children of believers by declaring         the children as the God of their sal-      Testament. Jesus and the apostles
that all children are unregenerated,       vation. He loved them. He had re-          did not view the children as merely
outside the kingdom of God, and            deemed them too, with their par-           outwardly related to the covenant
unsaved. This is as odd as it would        ents, from bondage.                        and kingdom of God.
be if parents whose children had             On their part, the children were            In Luke l&15-17, Jesus regards
just been willed a fabulously rich         to honor their parents in thankful         the little children as citizens of the
inheritance were solemnly and              love toward Jehovah as the God of          kingdom of God. Since one be-
mournfully to decide to view their         their salvation. They were to do           comes a citizen of the kingdom of
children as paupers.                       this from their tenderest years, as        heaven by being born again (John
  Apart from any detailed inter-           soon as they could understand the          3:3-81, Jesus views them as regener-
pretation of various passages of           command to honor and obey. But             ated. These children receive the
Scripture, one would think that            this was an utter impossibility un-        kingdom, in their infancy, in the
God's covenant promise in Genesis          less the children were "in the             only way anyone ever receives it,
17~7 and Acts 2:39, to be the God of       covenant in an inward manner               namely, by a sovereign, gracious.,
our children, would lead the Re-           through personal regeneration and          irresistible act of the Holy Spirit
formed church to view the children         conversion to God," to quote Mr. J.        within them.
as saved, not unsaved; as living           W. Beeke.                                     The apostles' view of baptized
saints, not dead sinners; as united          The NRC and the other Re-                children is plain in Ephesians 6:1.-4.
to Christ, not spiritually separated       formed churches that share the po-         Here Scripture explicitly states that
from Him.                                  sition that our baptized children          the covenant with Old Testament
  Does not the covenant promise            must be regarded as unsaved will           Israel and the covenant with the
to our children mean anything for          not view their little children as          New Testament church is one IZS re-
them?                                      loved and redeemed by God in               gards the inclusion of children in the
  Yes, say the NRC, it means that          Christ. They are unable to address         covenant.
they are outwardly related to the          them as true, spiritual friends of            Believers' children are members
covenant; that they are raised un-         God. They must deny that the little        of the church with their parents.
der the sphere of God's covenant;          children are empowered by the              They are members in the same way
and that someday some of them              Spirit to love God and the neighbor.       that their parents are members,
may have the conversion experi-              But Jehovah regarded the chil-           namely, by being "quickened...to-
ence.                                      dren of believers as His saved peo-        gether with Christ" (Eph. 2:5X The
  But this explanation fails to do         ple. This was His view of the chil-        children are not only outwardly re-
justice to the richness and comfort        dren from their earliest years. To         lated to the church but they are "`in
of the covenant promise.                   Jehovah, the children in Israel were       the Lord" (Eph. 6:l). This is true of
  In Question 74, the Heidelberg           not little, lost sinners perishing un-     the children, not by virtue of some
Catechism explains the covenant            der His wrath. Rather, they were           conversion experience years after
promise to mean that the children          little sinners who were washed in          their baptism, when they are
of believers, in their infancy, are in-    the blood and Spirit of the Lamb.          twelve or eighteen or thirty, but by
cluded in the covenant and church          The children were not little vipers        virtue of their being children of be-
of God "as well as the adult." The         who could only strike out at God           lievers and baptized, already when
adult is the adult believer who is in      and the neighbor. Rather, they             they are two or three.
the covenant by regenerating grace         were new creatures in Christ who              To the children of believers from
and who is in the church as a living       honored their parents because they         their earliest years comes the
member. Exactly in this way, and           reverenced the majesty of their            covenant gospel, `You too are in
no differently, are the infants in the     covenant God.                              the Lord Jesus! Because you are,
covenant and church.                         To those who insist on viewing           you are living members of Jesus'
  Who would presume to interpret           baptized children as unregenerate,         church! As members of the church,
the covenant promise in Genesis            spiritually dead, and in reality out-      you too have a calling from your
17~7 this way: "...to be a God unto        side the covenant relation with            Lord to live a holy life by honoring
thee (believing parent), by placing        God, I have this question: "How            your father and mother!"
thee (believing parent) in the             could Jehovah say to the children             This view and approach differ
covenant in an inward, spiritual           under the old covenant that He was         radically from the view and ap-
manner, and to thy seed after thee,        their God who had redeemed them            proach of the NRC.
by placing them in the covenant            and that therefore, as members of             Scripture's view of the children
only in an outward manner"?                the covenant people, they were             as included in the covenant "in an
  The fifth commandment of                 called to love their neighbors (par-       inward manner" is everywhere
God's Law conclusively proves that         ents) for God's sake? And how              adopted by our Reformed confes-
the children in Israel were included       could little children obey the fifth       sions.
in the covenant and church of God          commandment?"                                 I have already pointed out that
in the sense that there was spiritual        The view that God took of be-            Question 74 of the Catechism views
fellowship between Jehovah and             lievers' children in the Old Testa-        newly born infants as members of

                                                                                     November 15,199O  / The Standard Bearer / 77


the covenant and church of God.                 fancy and on the basis of God's           ject to all miseries, yea, to condem-
That. this membership is not merely             covenant promise to be a God to           nation itself." The contrast ("yet
outward connection with a visible               these children?                           that they are sanctified in Christ")
church is evident from what imme-                 In order not to prolong the dis-        clearly shows that the form teaches
diately follows: "redemption from               cussion unduly, I limit myself to         that our children are reborn in holi-
sin by the blood of Christ, and the             one other confessional statement.         ness and are delivered from all mis-
Holy Ghost the author of faith, is              This is the "Form for the Adminis-        eries, yes, from condemnation it-
promised to them no less than to                tration of Baptism." In the first         self.
the adult...."                                  question to the believing.parents            That the form intends actual,
  Similar is the teaching of the Bel-           (or parent) who present their chil-       spiritual cleansing is put beyond all
gic Confession in Article 34. With              dren for baptism, the form de-            doubt in the prayer of thanksgiving
reference to the infants who are to             mands that the parents view their         after baptism. The Reformed
be baptized, the creed states that              children as "sanctified in~christ."       church thanks God, not that He es-
"Christ shed His blood no less for              This is true of the children already      tablishes an outward connection
the washing of the children of the              before they are baptized, for it is a     between the children and the visi-
faithful, than for adult persons." It           reason why they ought to be bap-          ble church, but that He forgives
is true that the reference is not to            tized.                                    them their sins through Jesus
regeneration, but to the atonement,               The NRC and the other churches          blood and receives them through
although there is allusion to regen-            who share their position explain          His Holy Spirit as members of His
eration when the creed speaks of                "sanctified in Christ? (and I Cor.        only begotten Son.
the "washing of the children." But              734 whence it derives) as referring          The prayer continues with the re-
it surely is not less significant to            only to the external, formal setting      quest, not that God may someday
speak of our children's redemption              apart of believers' children from         regenerate them and give them the
by Jesus' blood than to speak of                the children of the world. It means       conversion experience, but that
their new birth by Jesus' Spirit.               only that they will be reared under       God will always govern them by
  The creedal, Reformed view of                 good teaching in a church. As far         the Spirit and give them to increase
believers' children, in their infancy,          as the spiritual condition of the         and grow up in the Lord Jesus from
is that they are the redeemed of Je-            children is concerned, they are           their earliest years.
sus Christ. This must be the par-               dead, just like the children of hea-         Our form for baptism views our
ents' view of them. This must be                thens. And so they must be viewed         children as regenerated, living,
the Reformed church's view of                   until they undergo a conversion ex-       spiritual members of the covenant.
them. And this must be their own                perience.                                 With this, the view of the NRC and
view of themselves, from their ear-               This, however, is not what the          other Reformed and Presbyterian
liest years.                                    form has in mind with "sanctified         churches is in conflict.
  I ask, do the NRC view their in-              in Christ." For, first, "sanctified in       Viewing the children as unsaved
fant children as redeemed by the                Christ" is contrasted in the first        also involves a church in practices
blood of Christ? Do they view                   question with the spiritual condi-        that are both indefensible for a Re-
them as redeemed, not in their later            tion of our children by nature:           formed church and injurious> to the
life and on the basis of a conversion           "our children are conceived and           children. We will look at this in the
experience, but in the children's in-           born in sin, and therefore are sub-       next issue, God willing. Cl




                                               Letter

Presumptive                                     among our Reformed churches the           we must not view our children as
Regeneration?                                   error of "common grace," "the             being unsaved heathens for this is
                                                well-meant offer" of the gospel to        presumptive unregeneration,  that
                                                all people, and "conditional              is, presuming our children to be
  Your series of editorials in The              covenantal theology" show the             unregenerated unless it shows oth-
Standard  Bearer on the covenant has            compromises our churches have             erwise in their lives. You are also
been truly a blessing. It is good to            made with respect to Arminianism.         correct in pointing out that this
see that there are still those who                 In your fifth article on the           presumption leads to problems
are faithful to the scriptures and              covenant (July 1,199O)  you are           with assurance of salvation and
hold to a unilateral, unconditional,            quite correct in pointing out that        sometimes even mysticism. (I
and unbreakable covenant. Even                                                            know this first hand since my de-

78  / The Standard Bearer/November  15,199O


nomination sometimes leans this           God." Does this perhaps not lean            commands believers to train their
way...).                                  towards presumptive regeneration,           children in the ways of the Lord. It
   You state in your article that         that is, an equally dangerous error         also says that our children are con-
"Viewing their children as God's          of presuming our children to be re-         ceived in sin and are spiritually
covenant children, believers must         generated unless it shows other-            dead and need to be born again by
approach them as elect children in        wise in their lives? Hasn't the error       the Holy Spirit applying the fin-
their teaching and discipline, even       of presumptive regeneration al-             ished work of Christ in their lives.
though there may indeed be repro-         ways been rejected by the Protes-              I would be most appreciative if
bate and unregenerated children           tant Reformed Churches? The                 you would clarify your position on
among them," and also, `We do not         Bible never says that believers are         this matter. 0
view them as unsaved heathens....         to treat their children as though                                     Paul Wiersma
But we view them as children of           they were regenerated, but rather, it                            Hamilton, Ontario




 Taking Heed  To  The  Bible  1s
 The Doctrine                             God's Word
Rev. Marvin Kamps


ITS ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY                    spiration. We have consciously re-           Word. It ought to be plain to any
   It hardly seems necessary, for         jected every attempt from without            thinking man that, should he 10~
members of our Protestant Re-             to undermine our heartfelt trust in          confidence in the Bible as the Word
formed Churches, to write on the          the Scriptures as the Word of God.           of God, he then would have no ba-
authority of Scripture. We have al-         Our faith in the sole and abso-            sis whatsoever for any doctrine of
ways enjoyed, as a denomination           lute authority of the Bible is to be         the Christian faith. .Without  the
of Reformed churches, a united            attributed exclusively to the grace          foundational doctrine, from a for-
commitment to this fundamental            and goodness of God to us. Let us            mal viewpoint, of the absolute au-
understanding of God's Word. It is        not lift our heads in pride and              thority of Scripture, the whole
impossible to find in any of our          boast of our strength, for we, as            structure of Christian doctrine falls
ministers' writings, of past and          any other body of churches, are              into a heap. Therefore, when in the
present, or in any of our ecclesiasti-    ever inclined to reject the Word of          individual church or denomination
cal decisions throughout all the          God. Unbelief lurks in the breast            men deny and attack the sole au-
years of our existence, any ques-         of every saint. But let us lift our          thority of Scripture, they are at-
tioning of the sole authority of the      voices in thanksgiving to our heav-          tacking Calvary itself. They do vi-
Bible. This is truly an evidence of       enly Father, who has preserved us            olence to God and His Christ.
the blessing and care of Christ Je-       in the faith by His irresistible grace.        Reformed believers make a
sus for us as His church. This fail-        Let us be aware that the doctrine          beautiful confession in regard to
ure on our part to attack or even         of the authority of Scripture is             the authority of Scriptures. I call
question the authority of Scripture       most fundamental to the Christian           your attention to the fifth article of
is not due to the fact that we have       faith. This is true, of course, from a       our Be&c Confession: `We receive
not been exposed to the writings          formal viewpoint. Certainly the              all these books, and these only, as
and urging of others who would            doctrines of the Trinity, the divinity       holy and canonical, for the regul.a-
show us a better way. The oppo-           of Christ Jesus, and the abiding             tion, foundation, and confirmation
site has been true. Outside of our        presence of the Holy Spirit, from a          of our faith; believing without any
churches the church of Jesus Christ       material viewpoint are above all             doubt, all things contained in
has been constantly engaged in a          fundamental. But from a formal              them, not so much because the
battle over the Bible, its authority,     viewpoint the authority of Scrip-           church receives and approves them
its inerrancy, and its infallible in-     ture as the Word of God takes first         as such, but more especially be-
                                          place. The reason is obvious. We            cause the Holy Ghost witnesseth in
                                          would have no knowledge of God              our hearts, that they are from God,
                                          as our Savior and Redeemer by His           whereof they carry the evidence in
Rev. Kamps is pastor of Southwest         Son in our flesh if the Scriptures          themselves. For the very blind are
Protestant Reformed Church in Grand       were without authority. All Chris-          able to perceive that the things
Rapids, Michigan.                         tian doctrine has its basis in God's        foretold in them are fulfilling."

                                                                                     November 15,199O  /The Standard Bearer J 79


  The above confession was based               is written of me,) to do thy will, 0      God's Word is something we en-
upon the Scriptures' own testimony             God" (Heb. 10:5,7X  Besides, the          counter subjectively. This "Word"
concerning themselves. This is an              whole of Psalm 119 is a song of           of God one cannot just pick up and
important and often overlooked                 praise to God in regard to the            read. The church and believers
principle. The Bible claims for itself         beauty, saving power, goodness,           must ever recognize that that
this sole authority. The church                and authority of the Scriptures. In       `Word of God" is different for ev-
does not impose upon Scripture a.              addition, we may be reminded of           ery culture and age. Others, in the
duty and responsibility which it is            those classic passages II Timothy         same vein of thought, boast and re-
unwilling to bear. The opposite is             3:16,17;  II Peter 1:X-21; and Reve-      joice in the movement of the Spirit
true: the Bible demands of the                 lation 22:18,19. But I would also         of Christ, His leading and guiding
church and of the individual be-               call your attention to the instruc-       of the church, even then when the
liever that it rule the faith and life         tion Jesus gave indirectly to the au-     Bible is contradicted by their and
of the church. The Scriptures claim            thority of Scripture, when He sent        the church's pronouncement:s  and
for themselves the supreme, no, the            out the disciples to preach the           decisions.
exclusive, honor and position of               gospel to the lost sheep of Israel:         What a blessing for God's people
Master over all. Not the human                 "He that heareth you heareth me;          it would be if Christian discipline
mind or reason is lord; not the                and he that despiseth you de-             could be exercised in the churches
church is lord; not the learned doc-           spiseth me; and he that despiseth         of our land and throughout the
tors of theology and philosophy are            me despiseth him that sent me"            world. But all too often the partic-
the lords. The Bible alone is Lord             (Luke 10:16).  And, in Matthew            ular churches have lost the spiritual
and Master in all matters of faith             lo:40 we read, "He that receiveth         strength to discipline those who
and life. In addition, the Bible has,          you receiveth me, and he that re-         rend and pervert God's Holy Word.
under the blessing of the Spirit of            ceiveth me receiveth him that sent          It should not escape us thait our
the exalted Christ, fulfilled this po-         me." I believe that no more com-          confession of the sole authority of
sition and responsibility of absolute          forting words could ever be spoken        God's Word, the Bible, is of utmost
Master in the life of the church               to a preacher of God's Word. The          significance for us as Protestant Re-
most effectively and beautifully.              disciples were sent out to preach         formed Churches and as individual
Not one saint given to Christ from             the gospel that in Jesus of Nazareth      believers. Our Reformed Creeds
all eternity has been lost. Through            all the Old Testament promises            have a subordinate and only formal
the means of the Scriptures the                were fulfilled. That Word is so au-       authority in the life of the churches.
saints have been kept from the                 thoritative for faith and life that he    They may never have supreme au-
wiles of the Devil and from perdi-             that believed and received the            thority. Sometimes it is said that
tion through unbelief. The Bible is            preacher believed and received            we are to preach God's Word in the
Lord and Master! And it is such be-            God. The converse was and is true         light of the Heidelberg CateChism.
cause it is the very Word of God!              for unbelievers.                          Those who speak thus do not know
We believe that all is well when                 Men today though they claim             what they are saying. It must be
and where the Scriptures rule                  faith in Christ Jesus and demand of       just the other way around. In addi-
alone.                                         us that we receive them as                tion, how could there be in the
  What in fact does the Bible say of           brethren, refuse to confess with us       church a "creedal consciousness"
its own authority? Jesus, when He              that the Bible is in its entirety the     unless it be that we believe that the
was tempted by the Devil, an-                  Word of God. Some reject the his-         Scriptures demand of us a definite
swered him with these words: "It               toricity of Adam and Eve and of           and exclusive confession of our
is written" (Matt. 4). Jesus thus ap-          the first eleven chapters of Genesis.     faith. The authority of the Scrip
pealed to the authority of the Old             For them this portion of Scripture is     tures demands confession of the
Testament Scriptures. The Scrip-               myth. Be sure, they assure us, it         truth. This conscious awareness of
tures were His Master for they                 has gospel value; but what it             the authority of Scripture will not
were the Word of His God. Jesus                records really never happened.            allow us to tolerate the lie anId the
unquestioningly submitted to the               Others claim that revelation is a dy-     perversion of God's Word. But
Word. When the fearful reality of              namic reality, not to be considered       where the authority of God's Word
the shame and suffering on the                 something "static" and limited to         is no longer operative in the con-
cross stood before the Lord, did He            the pages of a book, not even The         gregation, one can believe and
then reject the authority of the               Book. The Bible, they claim, is the       teach whatever he pleases.
Word of God? No, but He con-                   word of men, of the ancient He-             Besides, it is the authority of
fessed, "Thy will be done." Paul               brew people. It is, therefore, only       Scripture as our living confession
tells us what was the Lord's confes-           the ancient church's response to the      that motivates the church to pro-
sion in that moment: `Wherefore                Word. The Word of God is not              vide a trained ministry, insists
when he cometh into the world, he              written. It does not havean  objec-       upon exegetical preaching in the
saith, Sacrifice and offering thou             tive, tangible form. We are not to        pulpit on the Lord's day, and thus
wouldest not, but a body hast thou             equate the Bible with God's Word.         moves the preacher of the Word to
prepared me...Then said I, Lo, I               They assure us too that they believe      declare uncompromisingly, "Thus
come (in the volume of the book it             in Jesus and have faith in God. But       saith the Lord." Good, lively

80 I The Standard Bearer I November 15.1990


preaching cannot be found where            Let the children be taught the Re-          violation of God's Word, sinful life-
men have undermined the author-            formed doctrine of Scripture. Let           style, neglect of the means of grace,
ity of the Bible. It is spiritually and    their catechism and Christian               rebellion against the State, and
psychologically impossible. Where          school training ring with the au-           whatever else may call for disci-
the authority of the Bible is denied,      thority of the Scriptures. And be-          pline, they in effect undermine the
all that the people can get is one         lieve, dear saints, that God will           authority of the Bible in the life of
"preacher" after another who offers        bless that instruction to your chil-        the congregation. Let all heartily
his suggestions and opinions to the        dren and grandchildren.                     acknowledge that the authority of
people for their consideration and           The doctrine of the authority of          the Scriptures demands the exercise
reflection. The preaching then has         Scripture must not be left simply in        of Christian discipline in the church
lost its power.                            the realm of theory. Far too often          of Jesus Christ.
  What made the Reformers of the           this is done, it would seem. The               If the doctrine of the sole author-
church, Calvin and Luther, great           authority of Scripture must have a          ity of Scripture is not upheld con-
men of God? Their deep and pro-            concrete and definite application in        cretely in the Reformed church by
found conviction of the sole and           the individual believer's life and in       the exercise of Christian discipline,
absolute authority of God's Word.          the corporate life of the churches.         then that church must join those
That this is true, a thousand differ-      Especially in our day of lawless-           who debate ceaselessly the theory
ent writers give testimony to the          ness and fierce individualism is this       of the authority of the Bible. If we
fact. What has made the Reformed           above all necessary. Elders must            would fail to exercise the authority
church a powerful witness to the           not let their pastor go to the pulpit       of the Bible, we would lose its
gospel in ages gone by? Preaching          to preach the authoritative Word of         power. Only by a constant and
that was permeated with and arose          God while they themselves as of-            concrete application of the author-
out of a commitment to the sole au-        ficebearers are unwilling to enforce        ity of Scripture can we silence those
thority of the Bible. What then            the authority of the Word in the            who will not acknowledge its sole
must we say for the future, for our        congregation's life. Then the minis-        authority and right to rule in all
children and grandchildren and for         ter in effect has no consistory. If the     matters of faith and life. Cl
the church in coming generations?          elders will not discipline for public




                                           The Jealous
In His Fear                                Love of God
Rev. Arie denHarfog


  Fearful and wonderful is the             highest good for those whom God             nion with Him. God Himself
love of God. It is absolutely              loves. God loves His people with            makes His people so that they are
sovereign. It has all its reason and       such sovereign, infinite, holy, per-        the proper objects of His love and
cause in God Himself alone. It is          fect, and unchangeable love. From           so that they can dwell with Him.
not dependent upon nor deter-              eternity He has chosen them to be           His people are of themselves sinful
mined by any creature. It is per-          the objects of His love. He is full of      and corrupt and could not be th.e
fectly holy, never in any way de-          personal tender compassion and              objects of the holy love of God;
filed or corrupted by evil passions        affection towards them. He de-              But God in love makes His people
or affections. It is unchangeable,         lights in His people. He loves His          holy as He is holy. The ultimate
the same from eternity to eternity.        people with a covenant love. He             purpose of the love of God for His
It is full of compassion and tender        would be their God and have His             people is that He might have a
affection. It is faithful. Never does      people to be Hisown  special peo-           people who dwell with Him for-
God forsake those who are the ob-          ple, distinct from all the people of        ever in heaven, ever enjoying His
jects of His affection and loving          the earth. He desires to make Him-          goodness and worshiping and
kindness.  It  ever seeks only the         self known to them as the God of            praising His glorious name.
                                           infinite goodness and glory. He                God has revealed the sover-
Rev. denHartog  is pastor of Hope          ever longs to draw His people to            eignty, faithfulness, perfect holi-
Protestant Reformed Church in Red-         Himself to enjoy His favor and              ness, and covenant-keeping charac-
lands, California.                         goodness and to live in commu-              ter of His love in His Son Jesus

                                                                                      November 15,199O  I The Standard Bearer / 81


Christ. God so loved His people                revelation of Himself on Mount            with jealous love. He called them
that He.determined  from eternity              Sinai, after Israel had committed         out of this ungodly world and sep-
to give His Son for their salvation.           the great sin of making and wor-          arated them unto Himself in jeal-
In His Son Jesus Christ, God kept              shiping the golden calf; and when         ous love. He reveals Himself unto
His covenant promise to His people             Moses was pleading for the salva-         His people and makes known to
and revealed the wonderful faith-              tion of Israel. In one of the amaz-       them His sovereign goodness and
fulness of His love. In Jesus Christ           ing visions that God gave to              the glory of His name in order that
God revealed that His love is a per-           Zechariah we read that the prophet        His people might acknowled,ge
fect and holy love. Therefore He               heard the angel of the Lord say, "0       Him as God and worship and glo-
sent Jesus to the cross to atone for           Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou         rify and praise Him as their Cre-
the sins of His people and to satisfy          not have mercy on Jerusalem and           ator, Lord, and Redeemer.
His wrath and justice. Through Je-             on the cities of Judah, against             The jealous love of God is ,a fear-
sus Christ God took up His                     which thou hast had indignation           ful thing for ungodly, disobedient,
dwelling with His people, He set               these threescore and ten years?"          and rebellious men. God burns in
up His tabernacle among them.                  Then we read the answer of the            jealous love for His own honor and
Through Jesus He makes His glory,              Lord: "And the Lord answered the          glory against those that forsake
goodness, and truth known to His               angel and talked with me with            .--Him and refuse to acknowledge
people. Through the Spirit of Jesus            good words and comfortable               YErn as God and rebel against His
Christ God came to live in the                 words." After this the angel speaks       holy commandments. In jealousy
hearts of His people and abides                again. "So the angel that com-            for the honor and glory of His own
with them and they with Him.                   muned with me said unto me, Cry           name He will pursue the ungodly
Through Jesus Christ God will live             thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of      in His anger and will finally de-
with His people in the most blessed            hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem         stroy them in His wrath.
intimate covenant communion and                and for Zion with a great jealousy"         Because God loves His people
fellowship possible.                           (see Zechariah 1:12-14X                   with jealousy He will redeem them
  One of the amazing and wonder-                 It is evident from Scripture that       from their enemies and destroy
ful attributes of the love of God is           jealousy is a perfection of the love      those who seek to make war with
that it is a jealous love. When we             of God. We can understand this            His beloved people. In jealous love
first consider this aspect of the love         when we realize that God first of         He guards His elect people as the
of God it may trouble us. We might             all loves Himself. God loves Him-         apple of His eye and will not let
imagine that jealousy is entirely out          self as the triune God: Father, Son,      anyone hurt them. Sometimes God
of character with a holy and perfect           and Holy Spirit. God the Father           will use the ungodly nations to
love. Jealousy among men is an                 loves the Son with perfect love.          chasten and to purify His people,
awful vice, an evil that God hates             The Son and the Spirit love the Fa-       but after this loving purpose has
in man. The wise Solomon says in               ther and one another in perfect           been accomplished God will bring
the book of Proverbs that jealousy             knowledge and delight and fellow-         His people out from among their
is the rage of man and that there-             ship with one another. God seeks          enemies and in His holy wrath de-
fore he shall not spare in the day of          Himself and delights in Himself as        stroy their persecutors.
vengeance (see Prov.  6%). Jeal-               the only and highest good. He glo-          That God loves His people with
ousy causes man to devise and                  ries in Himself alone. It is evil for     jealous love means that He d'e-
commit great evil against his neigh-           man to seek himself and glory in          mands of them all their love (and
bor. If a man continues in jealousy            himself because he is not God. He         devotion. He commands them to
it will consume and destroy him.               was created by God and receives all       love Him with all their heart and
How then can jealousy be a perfec-             things from God. Therefore man            soul and strength and mind. God
tion in God?                                   must seek only God and not him-           requires that His people live and
  The Bible speaks often of God's              self. He must glory in God alone          exist only for Him. Most often in
jealousy. In the decalogue it is spo-          and not in himself. It is good and        Scripture the jealousy of God. is
ken of in connection with the first            holy for God to love Himself be-          spoken of in connection with the
and second commandments. Be-                   cause He is Himself the source and        great evil of idolatry in Israel.
cause God is a jealous God, He will            standard of all good and perfection.      When Israel lived in idolatry God
visit iniquity upon them that hate             God loves His own perfect good-           was filled with jealous anger
Him to the third and fourth genera-            ness and seeks His own glory in all       against them. God was jealous for
tion, and He loves the thousands               things as the sovereign God.              the love that His people owed to
who keep His commandments. In                    Because God loves Himself with          Him because He was their Lord
Exodus 34:14  God commands His                 a jealous love He has made all            and Redeemer. When man today is
people to worship no other God,                things for Himself and for His own        filled with pride, when he loves
"for the Lord, whose name is jeal-             glory. He created the heavens and         and seeks himself rather than God,
ous, is a jealous God." The name of            earth and all creatures in them to        when he glories in himself and
God reveals the nature and charac-             serve His purpose and to bring            seeks to make himself great in the
ter of God. The Lord revealed this             glory to His name. The Lord               earth, God is filled with jealous
name to Moses in the wonderful                 formed and redeemed His people            anger against him. When man

82 I The Standard Bearer I November 15,199O


lives in materialism, covetousness,        husband in love takes her into ac-          man to keep secret his unfaithful-
and worldliness and God is not in          count in all of his plans and pur-          ness from his wife. He might be
his thoughts and heart then God is         poses in life. She will feel hurt and       able to hide the fact from his wife
filled with jealous wrath against          offended when she is left out of            that he is thinking about and desir-
him. But God's people must be dif-         major things in her husband's life.         ing another woman. God's people
ferent from the world. They must             All of this aptly illustrates the         cannot do this in God's sight, for
love only the Lord their God and           jealous love of God for His people.         He knows all that is in their heart
live their whole life in devotion to       He loves His people with such a             and is offended if even their
Hirnand for His glory.                     great love that He wants His peo-           thoughts and desires exclude Him.
  Often in Scripture the jealousy of       ple always to think of Him in all           He wants His people to think of
the love of God is illustrated by          their thoughts. They are to desire          Him in all their plans and purposes
marital love between a husband             Him alone. They are to exist and            and in everything they do in life.
and wife. This is the central figure,      live for Him alone. They are to de-         He wants  their joy  and glorying to
for example, in the book of Hosea.         light in Him and glory in Him               be only in the Lord their God.
While most of the jealousy of man          alone. They are not to worship                 Are we troubled by the jealousy
is condemned by Scripture, the jeal-       idols; they are not to seek them-           of God's love? Remember that
ousy that exists between a husband         selves and their own glory; they are        God, our Lord and Redeemer, loves
and wife in marriage is holy. Their        not to live in materialism and cov-         us with a love by which He would
relationship is an exclusive rela-         etousness and worldliness. When             draw us unto Himself in covemmt
tionship. God made it to be that           the Lord's people do that, they             fellowship and communion. The
way. If a husband is not jealous of        commit spiritual adultery and               Lord in jealous love seeks our high-
his wife when another man seeks to         whoredom. God is grieved, God is            est good. To think and live only for
come between him and his wife, or          offended by all of this. His perfect        God, to desire always in all things
when an adulterer comes into his           love to His people is slighted. The         His praise and glory, will bring the
house to sleep with his wife, then         more holy and perfect love is, the          greatest imaginable joy and satis-
he does not truly love his wife. It is     more grieved that love is when it is        faction to the child of God. God
right that the godly wife desires          violated and spurned. That is in-           alone is good, and to know and
that her husband think only of her,        finitely more true with God than it         love Him perfectly, to dwell with
that he is attracted only to her, and      ever could be with man. God                 Him in eternity, is the great good
does not look on another woman.            knows the lives and hearts of His           and highest glory to which man
She has a right to expect that her         people. It might be possible for a          can attain. It is heaven. 0





   We assume that the United States        federal courts have no business in this     spectfully dissent. Nancy Cruzan is
Constitution  would  grant  a competent    field; that American law has always         entitled to choose to die with dignity.
person a constitutionaZly  protected       accorded to the States the power to         [Justice Brennen (dissent), Cruzan v.
right to r#use lifesaving hydration -      prevent, by force if necessa y, suicide     Missouri Dept. of Health (1990,)l
and  nutrition.  [Majority opinion,        - including suicide by rqfusing  to            Recent advances in medical
Cruzan v. Missouri Department of           take appropriate measures necessa y to      technology have enabled hospitals
Health (199011                             preserve one's  life.... [Judge Scalia       "to keep the human body alive for
  I would have preferred that we an-       (concurring opinion), Guzan v. Mis-         longer than any reasonable person
nounce, clearly and promptly, that the     souri Dept. of Health (199O)l               would want to inhabit it," as Jus-
                                              Because I believe that Nancy             tice Scalia has wryly put it. As
                                           Cruzan has a fundamental right to be        many as 10,000 patients are being
Mr. James Lznting,  a member of South      free from unwanted artificial nutrition     maintained in persistent vegetative
Holland Protestant  R#ormed  Church,       and hydration, which right is not out-      states in the U.S. Respirators de-
is a practicing attorney.                  weighed by any State interest, I re-        veloped over the past two deca.des

                                                                                      November 151990 /The Standard Bearer  J 83


are capable of resuscitating people            Missouri Supreme Court which re-         taining nutrition and water, even
long after they have stopped                   versed, holding that the parents         when that person is not confronting
breathing and suffered irreversible            had not proved by "clear and con-        imminent death from a terminal ill-
brain damage. Moreover, whereas                vincing" evidence that Nancy her-        ness (see majority opinion quote
in the past people inevitably died             self would have desired to refuse        above).
when they were unable to swallow               food and water under these condi-          This alleged constitutional right-
and digest food, there now exist               tions.                                   to-die is very troublesome fo:r vari-
various methods of artificial feed-              On appeal, the U.S. Supreme            ous reasons. First, since a majority
ing that maintain patients metabol-            Court affirmed, holding that Mis-        of states consider the taking of
ically for years, even decades.                souri's requirement of "clear and        one's life as a criminal felony; how
  Although numerous state courts               convincing" evidence in such cases       can we then distinguish a compe-
have been deciding right-to-refuse-            involving incompetent persons was        tent person's refusal of nutrition
treatment cases since the well-                not unconstitutional.                    and water from suicide? As Justice
known Karen Quinlan case in 1975,              Incompetent Persons and With-            Scalia properly noted in his concur-
the U.S. Supreme Court confronted              drawal of Medical Treatment              ring opinion, we cannot differenti-
its first such case this summer. At              At issue was Missouri's procedu-       ate suicide from refusal of life-sav-
issue was the parents' right to with-          ral requirement that before an in-       ing medical attention merely be-
draw food and water from their                 competent person can be denied           cause the patient is permanently in-
daughter who had been in a "per-               lifesaving food and water, the           capacitated and suffering. Suicide
sistent vegetative state" for seven            guardians must prove by "clear           cannot be sanctioned just because
years.                                         and convincing evidence" that such       the patient or family does not have
The Cruzan Case                                deprivation of nutrition and hydra-      the patience or fortitude to endure
  On a cold January night in 1983,             tion would be the desire and wish        the suffering contemplated.
Nancy Beth Cruzan lost control of              of the incompetent.                        Secondly, we cannot rely on the
the car she was driving. She was                 Although the Cruzans intro-            false distinction between "action"
found lying facedown in a ditch,               duced evidence that several years        and "inaction" resulting in death,
not breathing and without a pulse.             prior to her accident Nancy had ca-      saying, for example, that suicide is
Paramedics on the scene, after                 sually remarked to an acquaintance       always an affirmative act, whereas
managing to restore her breathing              that she would not want to live          refusing nutrition and water is pas-
and heartbeat, transported her to a            should she face life as a "veg-          sive. Starving oneself, suggests
hospital in an unconscious state. It           etable," the Court held that this        Justice Scalia correctly, is no differ-
was estimated that she was without             was not "clear and convincing" evi-      ent from putting a gun to one's
oxygen for 12 to 14 minutes.                   dence of her wish regarding with-        head.
  Subsequent rehabilitative efforts            drawal of food and water. Further-         Finally, it cannot be argued that
proved unsuccessful. It was deter-             more, stated the Court, this eviden-     unwanted (artificial or natural)
mined that Nancy suffered massive              tiary requirement is not an uncon-       feeding is an unlawful and uncon-
irreversible brain damage; she re-             stitutional deprivation of Nancy's       stitutional violation of one's "lib-
tained no cognitive or reflexive               "liberty," as the parents contended.     erty, self-determination, or bodily
ability to swallow food or water to              The parents also argued alterna-       integrity," as the right-to-die #advo-
maintain her daily essential needs.            tively that even if Nancy had not        cates argue. This is because the
She was diagnosed as being in a                clearly expressed her wishes re-         state has a recognized interest in
"persistent vegetative state," a con-          garding refusal of medical treat-        preventing suicide - an interest
dition in which a person can live              ment (in a "living will"), the courts    which arguably includes the right
for years and years, exhibiting                should nonetheless heed the "sub-        and duty of hospitals or medical
some natural reflexes but no signif-           stitutional judgment" of the family.     authorities to invade and pump out
icant mental function. To ease                 The Court disagreed. Even though         the stomach of a person who has,
feeding, the hospital implanted an             in this case the Cruzans' motives        for example, overdosed on barbitu-
abdominal tube through which she               were perhaps honorable, there is no      rates, despite that person's co&u y
was fed food and water.                        "automatic assurance" that family        wishes.
  After a number of years her par-             members will always have the               Accordingly, the Court's blanket
ents were informed that she had                same view of refusal of treatment        affirmation of a competent person's
virtually no chance of regaining her           as would the incompetent person.         alleged constitutional "liberty' to
mental awareness. They then  re                Competent Persons and Refusal            refuse even nutrition and water
quested the hospital to withdraw               of Medical Treatment                     when death is not otherwise immi-
all nutrition and hydration. The                 Although the Supreme Court de-         nent, seriously threatens the state's
state hospital refused, and Nancy's            nied the Cruzans' request because        historical interest in preserving life
parents petitioned a Missouri court            of the absence of clear evidence of      and forbidding suicide.
for permission to remove her feed-             Nancy's wishes, the Court nonethe-       Self Determination and
ing tubes.                                     less affirmed a competent person's       Death With Dignity
  The trial court granted their re-            constitutional right to refuse medi-       From a Christian perspective, the
quest, but the state appealed to the           cal treatment, including life-sus-       Court's treatment of death from re-

84 / The Standard Bearer I November 15,199O


fusal of medical treatment is funda-         pletely abstracted from the interest of     refusal of food and water when
mentally flawed. This is because             the person living that life....             death is not imminent is essentially
the Court's reasoning for allowing              The philosophical and moral              suicide or death by starvation, and
refusal of essential life sustaining         irony of such "thorough-going" hu-          accordingly is ethically and morally
medical treatment is boldly human-           manism is that, as in the case of           suspect. But healthy  and unhealthy
istic. The dissent in Cruzan  wrote:         abortion, humanistic arguments are          Christians should be guided, not by
   Anglo-American law starts with the        employed to sanction the very tak-          principles of "thorough-going  self-
premise of fhorough-going self-defer-        ing of human life.                          determination," "quality" of life, or
minafion.  If follows that each man is         This is not to say, of course, that       the desire for a "dignified" death,
considered to be a master of his own         a Christian patient must endure all         but by a prayerful search to dis-,
body, and he may, if he be of sound          heroic and extraordinary medical            cover and submit to the will of the
mind expressly prohibit...medical            procedures calculated to prolong            sovereign Giver of Life. Cl
treatment. The State has no legitimate       life for a few days or weeks. But
general interest in someone's rife, com-     surely the deliberate withdrawal or




                                            John Calvin
                                            Taught That?
Strength                                    Or. . . How to get a great Reformer,
of Youth                                    dead 400 years, to support an
Rev. Russ Dykstra                           un-Reformed position

   The title of this article points to a
very real and common trial for col-
lege students. The Reformed
young person enters college
grounded by years of solid biblical
instruction from the home, Chris-
tian school, and catechism. Some
Reformed truths are firm convic-
tions, distinctly etched into his
mind and soul. Other doctrines
and practices may be less familiar
and somewhat vague. But in the
mind of most, one thing is certain,
namely, that John Calvin is Re-
formed! Calvin is a writer we can
trust. He is not, of course, infalli-        have been taught for years! Typi-           course, at a distinct disadvantage
ble; but he is reliable. His works           cally, students react to such news          which might well crush your origi-
set the standard for what is Re-             in either of two different ways.            nal determination. For, in the first
formed. It can be a severe shock,            The great majority of students in           place, you have daily assignments
then, to learn from a professor or a         class seem unperturbed by it. Oth-          to keep up with, papers to write,
fellow student that Caivin-taught            ers, however, refuse to believe it          and tests to study for. Hours of
this or that, contrary to what you           and begin to search Calvin's writ-          unassigned research in Calvin's In-
                                             ings for the truth of the matter.           stitutes will not favorably affect the
                                               If you find yourself in the latter        grades. And secondly, the profes-
Rev. Dyksfra  is pastor of the Profes-*'     position and want to argue your             sor knows the arguments before
fanf Reformed Church of Doon, Iowa.          case with the professor, you are, of        you raise them. He has probab1.y

                                                                                        November  15,199O  I The Standard Bearer  / 85


heard them every year he has                   tremely presumptuous to claim              faithful adherence to the Scrilptures.
taught the course. When you add                Lincoln as a fellow advocate of            A good rule of thumb is, therefore,
to that the reality that the bulk of           abortion rights on the basis of his        that any instruction that contradicts
the class will have little interest in         stand on slavery. In.fact, it would        Scripture and/or the Reformed
your points, it takes much courage             be unethical to do so.                     confessions is not the teaching of
of your convictions to face the is-              The same thing is true of using          Calvin.
sue.                                           Calvin to support a "side" of a              A third, blatant perversion. of
  From a practical point of view, I            twentieth century controversy.             Calvin's teaching is accomplished
can understand why you probably                Keep in mind that even meanings            by quoting words out of context.
pass up many opportunities to re-              of words change over time. Theo-           When a man's words or sentences
search and publicly defend Calvin              logical controversies have forced          are taken from one context and put
or any Reformed doctrine. But I                the church to clarify and explicitly       into a completely different one, the
urge you to do so whenever possi-              define doctrines as well as words.         man can be presented as saying
ble. It will greatly enrich your edu-          After a controversy an informed            something he never intended.. This
cation and you will leave college              writer may well use a particular           is what the Heidelberg Catechism
settled and grounded in the Re-                word in a more careful and techni-         calls falsifying a man's words - a
formed faith, not doubting it. Let             cal sense than before the contro-          violation of the ninth command-
us examine how men sometimes                   versy. Thus when you go back 400           ment. Check the context whenever
use Calvin to "support" un-Re-                 years and read Calvin, remember            in doubt about a quotation. %me-
formed ideas.                                  that he might not (COULD NOT)              times you will discover that the
  One of the most disturbing as-               be as clear on some doctrines as we        quotation - in context - actually
pects of wrongfully appealing to               can (and SHOULD) be today, and             REFUTES the very position it sup-
Calvin is the, at best, carelessness,          that some words he used then have          posedly proved!
and at worst, dishonesty, of some              a different, or at least added, mean-        When you face this improper use
professors at Christian colleges               ing today.                                 of John Calvin, it helps to be aware
who quote John Calvin to support                 A second dangerous practice is           of a few technical considerations as
their un-Reformed teaching. Three              that of proving a position is Calvin-      well. The translation and editing
aspects of this practice are particu-          istic or Reformed by quoting a             can vary significantly in a given
larly troubling.                               "Calvinist" of a later age. The ar-        passage. Not only should the
  First, in a discussion of a mod-             gument (usually implied) runs              translator be concerned about mak-
ern-day controversy some quote                 something like this:  1) This posi-        ing an accurate translation, but he
Calvin to support their unbiblical             tion, call it "position A," is historic    must also be careful not to put
position. The problem is that                  Calvinism. 2) Proof: "Mr. F.R.             Calvin's 16th century writing,s into
Calvin never faced the issue, at               Calvinist," in his book, p. 37, writes     words unfamiliar to Calvin just to
least not in its modern-day form or            thus.  3) Because this man is from         be more relevant for today's read-
context. Exactly because it was not            the Calvinist tradition, this is what      ers. This can change the meaning
an issue in his day, it is dangerous,          Calvinism teaches on this issue, or        significantly, as can headings
and even unethical, to quote Calvin            what Calvin would have taught if           added by the editor.
as though he were addressing the               he were alive today. This is a com-          Finally, please remember that
issue at hand. (Examples: women                mon tactic of modern writers on            Calvin wrote a staggering amount
deacons, the free offer of the                 Calvin and/or Calvinism. Books             of material - letters, commen-
gospel, common grace, etc.)                    on Calvin should be read with care-        taries, treatises, and catechisms.
  I would compare this to a politi-            ful attention to the sources and ref-      And when he was not writing, he
cian or activist today using Abra-             erences. Take the time to check            was preaching, and (Genevan)
ham Lincoln to support his pro-                them out if what the man says              council-appointed listeners copied
abortion stance. He might argue                sounds un-Reformed.                        down the sermons nearly word-for-
that, after all, Lincoln supported               Once again, you see the problem.         word. Obviously some sermons,
the right of freedom for slaves.               "Position A" is not necessarily            commentaries, letters, and treatises
Lincoln maintained that no one had             what Calvin taught. It is rather           were written early in his life. Oth-
the right to own and control an-               what Mr. F.R. Calvinist taught,            ers were composed after Calvin
other human. Therefore, the  pro-              who, it is CLAIMED, is in the tradi-       had developed much in his think-
abortionist could conclude, Lincoln            tion of Calvin on this issue. This is,     ing. What is the point? Two
would never support laws that re-              however, exactly the point at issue.       things. First, any one who wrote
stricted the freedom of women over             Is he or is he not? Only a careful         that much was bound to contradict
their own bodies. Lincoln is (or               study of Calvin's writings will re-        himself at times. And, secondly,
would be) pro-choice.                          veal whether or not this is the place      because he was so diligent in his
  But what is wrong here? It is                to which Calvin's teaching leads           studies, Calvin certainly developed
this: Abraham Lincoln (so far as I             and therefore is consistent with           in his understanding of the truth
know) never addressed the issue of             true Calvinism. Calvin was a RE-           over the years. In order to avioid
abortion, because it was not an is-            FORMER in the true sense of the            misrepresenting Calvin, be aware
sue in his day. It would be ex-                word. A Reformed man insists on            of this and be sure you have his

86  ! The Standard Bearer/November  15,1990


current teaching, that is, not an iso-              man's depravity, as well as about          false instruction concerning John
lated statement which was contra-                   election and reprobation, and in-          Calvin's teaching which college
dicted in different places in his                   fant baptism, to name a few. But           students have faced, beginning
writings, but rather the main line of               on others, he was not so plain.            with women in church office (did
his teaching, and, if possible, the                 What did he say about a democ-             you know that Calvin approved. of
more mature (later) works. This re-                 racy as we have it in America?             women deacons?!?). If you have
quires a fair amount of reading of                  Nothing. About common grace, as            faced this sort of instruction in the
Calvin. But it is well worth it!                    we know it? Nothing, directly. We          past, feel free to write. For the sake
  So when you ask or answer the                     must be very cautious about simply         of future students, perhaps  your
question, What did Calvin teach                     believing that Calvin taught this or       particular question should be dis-
on...?, be careful! On some doc-                    Calvin approved of that, when              cussed here. (No names of stu-
trines and practices, the answer is                 "this and that" contradict Scripture.      dents, professors, or colleges will
obvious. He wrote clearly about                       We plan, the Lord willing, to ex-        be revealed.) 0
the sovereignty of God, about                       amine some concrete examples of




Decency
and Order "                                         Family Visitation
Rev. Ron Cammenga


  One of the main duties enjoined                   and of admonition, as well in the          visitation or gives a description of
upon the elders in Article 23 of the                ministry of the Word as in Chris-          family visitation. Family visitation
Church Order is family visitation:                  tian teaching and family-visiting."        is rather implied in those passages
"The office of the elders (is) . ..both             One of the questions put to the            of Scripture that call the elders to
before and after the Lord's Supper,                 consistory at the time of the annual       watch over the souls of the people
as time and circumstances may de-                   church visitation is: "Is family visi-     of God, the sheep as well as the
mand, for the edification of the                    tation conducted faithfully, so that       lambs: John 21:15-17;  Acts 20:20,
churches, to visit the families of the              each family receives an official visit     23; I Thessalonians 5:12-14;  He-
congregation, in order particularly                 once a year?" In the "Ministerial          brews 13:17; I Peter 5:1-5.
to comfort and instruct the mem-                    Call Letter," among the duties ex-            Anyone who is interested in fur-
bers,and also to exhort others in re-               pected of the minister, mention is         ther reading on the subject of fam-
spect to the Christian religion."                   made of his participation in family        ily visitation may refer to the fol-
  Family visitation is a                            visitation.                                lowing: Taking Heed To the Flock, by
distinctively Reformed practice.                      Various names have been used             l?Y. DeJong;  "Visiting the Member-
No other churches that I am aware                   to describe the practice of family         ship," chapter 7 in The Elders Hand-
of regularly and systematically                     visitation. The name "consistorial"         book, by Gerard Berghoef and
conduct visitation of all the mem-                  or "elders' visitation" has been           Lester  DeKoster;  "Family Visita-
bership by the elders. Family visi-                 used, the emphasis being on those          tion," Profestant Reformed Theologi-
tation was first introduced into the                who conduct the visits. The name           cal Journal, December, 1972, Vol.. VI,
Reformed churches by John Calvin.                   "house visitation" has been used.          No. 1, by Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
  Besides the reference to family                   This designation is a carry-over            (copies available through the Theo-
visitation in Article 23 of the                     from the Dutch huisbezoek,  the com-       logical SchooI of the Protestant Re-
Church  Order,  there is also reference             mon name for family visitation in          formed Churches, 4949  Ivanrest
to the practice in Article 55: "To                  The Netherlands. This is a poor            Ave., Grandville, MI 49418).
ward off false doctrines and errors                 designation because it is not the
that multiply exceedingly through                   house, the building, that is being         HISTORY OF
heretical writings, the ministers                   visited, but the home. The best            FAMILY VISITATION
and elders shall use the means of                   designation is "family visitation."           The history of family visitation
teaching, of refutation, or warning,                This name reflects the purpose of          is reflected in the decisions malde
                                                    the visits, and is also the name that      regarding this practice by various
Rev. Cammenga is pastor of the                      is used in the Church Order.               Reformed synods. It is worth
Protestant Reformed Church of Love-                   There is no specific text of Scrip-      quoting the decisions of these bod-
land, Colorado.                                     ture that mandates annual family           ies, not only for their historical
                                       ----- .__
                                                            -- -.._ _ _                       November  15,199O  I The Standard Bearer I 87


value, but also because the deci-              properly prepare the congregation for             moting the proper relation between
sions express rather clearly what              this sacred activity.                             the individual believer and the
the Reformed intended family visi-                    The Synod of Middelburg, 1581,             church.
tation to be.                                  decided:                                            The Church Order  specifies at
   The very first synod of the Re-                    The office of elder is, besides what is    least four purposes for family visi-
formed churches of The Nether-                 said above that they have in common               tation. First, family visitation is an
lands, the Synod of Wezel,  1568,              with the ministers of the Word, to ex-            important means by which the el-
called for weekly family visitation            ercise supervision  that the ministers            ders guard the sacrament of the
by the elders.                                 fogefher with fheir other helpers and             Lords Supper. It is often forgotten
   No doubt therefore their (the elders'1      deacons faithfully exercise their office,         that this was one of the main rea-
office demands that each diligently            and when fhe celebrafion of the Lord's            sons for the introduction of the
keep watch over his own parish or dis-         Supper is approaching, to visif  fhose            practice in the first place. Still to-
tricf, and visit the members under             who have planned to partake so that               day this ought to be an important
their care from house to house at least        they may better prepare themselves for            purpose of family visitation, that
once a week, and furthermore as offen          it.                                               by means of family visitation the
as is the custom according to the regu-               The Synod of `s Gravenhage,                elders are assured that the confess-
lation of each church. This shall be           1586, ruled:                                      ing members of the congregation
done especially close to the time of the              The ofice of elder is. ..according to      are worthy partakers of the Lord's
celebrafion  of the Lord's Supper. They        the circumstances of time and place to            Table. For this reason, too, family
shall faithfully investigate whether           conduct  family visiting for the edifica-         visitation provides an excellent op-
they (fhe church members) manifest             tion of the congregafion  insofar as this         portunity for the elders to confront
themselves uprightly in walk and con-          can be done before and after the Lord's           the young people with their calling
duct, in the duties of godliness, in fhe       Supper, to teach, and also to exhort              to make public confession of faith
faithful insfrucfion  of their households      others to (profess) the Chrisfian reli-           and partake of the sacrament.
in the maffer of family prayers, morn-         gion.                                               Article 23 lists two other pur-
ing and evening prayers, and such like                The decision of the Synod of               poses: "For the edification of the
matfers; they shall admonish fhem to           Dordrecht, 1618-19, is essentially                churches," and "to comfort and in-
these duties with consideration, but           the same as Article 23 of our                     struct the members."
also in all seriousness and according to       Church Order.                                       Article 55  of the  Church Order
conditions and circumstances; they                                                               adds a fourth purpose for family
shall admonish them to stedfastness,  or       PURPOSE OF                                        visitation: "To ward off false doc-
sfrengfhen them to pafience,  or spur          FAMILY VISITATION                                 trine and errors."
them on to a serious-minded fear of                   An important question is:
God; such as need comfort and admo-            `What really is the purpose of fam-               WHO SHOULD  CONDUCI
nition, and if need be they shall report       ily visitation?"                                  FAMILY VISITATION?
a matter to their fellow elders, who to-              Prof. Hoeksema writes:                       There can be no doubt that pri-
gether with them are appointed to ex-                 We may summarize the purpose               marily family visitation is the work
ercise discipline; and besides these           (of family visitation) as follows:                of the elders, the ruling elders.
matters they shall correct that which          1) To inquire into the spiritual con-             Mention of family visitation is
can be corrected, according to the             dition and well-being, the life and               made in Article 23 which describes
gravity of the sin committed; nor shall        walk, of the sheep.                               the office of the elders, not in Arti-
they neglecf, each one in his disfrict,  to    2) To inquire into their knowledge                cle 16 which describes the office of
encourage them to send their children          of the truth and into their growth                the ministers. In its origins, too,
to catechism.                                  in grace and knowledge.                           family visitation was primarily the
   The Synod of Dordrecht, 1574,               3) To give comfort, guidance, ad-                 work of the elders.
ruled:                                         monition, and warning, according                    For this reason the elders ought
   The ministers shall pay careful at-         to need.                                          not to shirk this duty or delegate it
tention at home visitation of fhe mem-         4) Thus to render to the individual               to the ministers. Neither ought
hers of the congregation whether they          members, the families, and the con-               they to suppose that they are not
have de frimen tal books in their homes        gregation as a whole spiritual bene-              qualified to do the work of family
so that they may exhort them to get rid        fit and upbuilding in the faith and               visitation, or that the ministers are
of such books.                                 in a sanctified walk ("Family Visita-             more qualified. This is not at all
  The Synod of Dordrecht, 1578,                tion," PRTJ, Dec., 1972, Vol. VI, No.             the case. From a certain point of
decided:                                       1, p. 36).                                        view the elders are more qualified
   Before the Lord's Supper ministers                 Dr. P.Y. DeJong  states a threefold        than the ministers to do this work.
and elders shall visit the members of          purpose to family visitation in his               For the most part they have lived
the church, especially the weakest ones        book Taking Heed To the Flock: 1)                 many years in the congregation,
and those who need it the most, so that        Encouraging the faith of the indi-                probably grown up in it. The;y
they may, as much as in them lies by           vidual believer; 2) Pointing out the              know the weaknesses,  problelms,
teaching,  admonition,  comforting,  and       believer's Christian obligations in               and needs of the membership bet-
removal of difficulties that have arisen,      home and in society; and 3) Pro-                  ter than the ministers often do.

88 I The Standard Bearer I November 15,199O


  Besides, there are good benefits        however, that the demands of fam-             As far as the frequency of the
for the elders themselves, as well as     ily visitation do not become so            visits is concerned, strictly speak-
for the congregation, when the el-        great upon the minister that they          ing, Article 23 calls for as many as
ders conduct family visitation.           begin to interfere with the other          eight visits per family per year --
  Nevertheless, family visitation         equally important aspects of his           one before and one after each cele-
does also belong to the work of the       calling. In a congregation of 30           bration of the Lord's Supper. How-
ministers. As already pointed out,        families or fewer the minister may         ever, the article does add the quali-
it is mentioned as a duty of the          well be able to go out on all the          fying phrase, "...as time and cir-
ministers in the "Ministerial Call        family visits. But in congregations        cumstances may demand . . . . II
Letter" and in the questions for          much larger than 30 families, the el-         Two questions for Church Visita-
Church Visitation. Article 55 of the      ders ought to take half of the visits,     tion speak of at least one official
Church Order calls both the elders        and in congregations larger than 70        visit of each family of the congrega-
and the ministers to ward off false       or 80 families the elders ought to         tion in the course of the year: "Is
doctrines and errors by conducting        take two-thirds of the visits. This        family visitation conducted faithr
family visitation.                        way every other year, or at least ev-      fully, so that each family receives
  The ministers ought to assist the       ery third year, each family will           an official visit once a year?" This
elders in family visitation, there-       have the minister for family visita-       is the practice generally followed in
fore. The elders must be careful,         tion.                                      our churches. 0              . ..to be confimud





When Thou . The Reformed
Sittest In                                Family: Women
Thy House                                 in the Church
Mrs. MaryBe th Lubbers


  And they remembered his words..3        ents of these children wake up to          unto these things....If any man
was May Magdalene, and Joanna,            digitally-controlled, soothing mu-         shall take away from the words of
and May the mother of James, and          sic or to some talk-show host hold-        the book of this prophecy..." certain
other women that were with them,          ing forth on Saddam Hussein and            doom is his.
which told these things unto the apos-    the latest gasoline price increase.           One of the norms of God's Word
tles (Luke 24).                           Some even stir to the sophisticated        which is being viciously attacked
  Afterward  he appeared unfo the         beeps and whirs of their own               today is the place of women in the
eleven as they sat at meat, and up-       wristwatches. The jangle of the            church. With little concern for the
braided them with their unbelief and      alarm clock is an anachronism; it          past history of the church, and
hardness of heart, because they be-       has been relegated to the past             with even less care for the future,
lieved not them which had seen him        along with the rug beater (in an-          many are determined to breathe
after he was risen (Mark 16).             tique circles, humorously known as         new, however deadly, winds of
  There are some things which are         the wife beater), coffee perking           doctrine into the offices of the
very dated. This was made clear to        over an open flame, the apron, and         church. The offices of the church1
me when my kindergarten class             the soon-to-be-shelved typewriter.         (minister, elder, and deacon), once
was asked to identify the sound of           But unlike the antiquated alarm         sacrosanct to men, are being
an alarm clock ringing on a cas-          clock, some things are timeless.           opened to women after years of
sette tape. For the past three years      These are the missives and direc-          subjugation and repression. Or so
now, no student has been able to          tives laid down in God's Word.             the proponents of women in the
identify that sound. This is under-       These directives, upon the peril of        church offices would have us be-
standable. Today, most of the par-        our soul, may never be stuffed into        lieve.
                                          a musty chest in the attic or tossed          Like the animals in George Or-
Mrs. Lubbers is a wife and mother in      carelessly into the trash bin. The         well's Animal Farm, we should be
the Profesfant Reformed Church  of        closing words in the Book of Reve          suspicious of a Squealer-the-pig
Soufh Holland, Illinois.                  lation warn, "If any man shall add         "frisking from side to side" (p. 81),

                                                                                    November 15,199O  I The Standard Bearer / 89


explaining in obscure double-talk              bers-and highly, too, because            select band of twelve disciples.
the freshly-painted rules on the               Christ esteems them highly. Roger        Later, when He named these same
barn.                                          Nicole, professor of theology at         men to apostleship, no women
   For centuries, the Reformed                 Gordon-Conwell Theological Sem-          were given that distinction; nor
church has understood a day to                 inary, says,"No book more appro-         were they entrusted with the Great
mean a day. (A concept which                   priately supports the dignity and        Commission which accompanied
kindergartners understand also.)               worth of women than the Bible; no        the office, "Go ye into all the world,
Today, great and learned scientists            teacher of world repute proves           and preach the gospel to every
"frisking from side to side" tell us           himself more supportive and              creature" (Mark 16). Jesus was
that a day doesn't mean a 24-hour              friendly than the Lord Jesus             careful not to do this. This was not
stretch of time, but rather, great, ex-        Christ" (Women, Authority b The          an oversight on Christ's part.
tended periods of time, even mil-              Bible, edited by Alvera Mickelsen).      Later, when a twelfth apostle was
lions of years.                                Women, conversely, have always           named to assume Judas Iscariot's
   For centuries men and women in              been deeply religious creatures and      defunct role, what an opportunity
the Reformed church have under-                eagerly receptive to the Gospel          was Christ's to name someone, say,
stood Adam and Eve to be real peo-             message.                                 Mary Magdalene, to this capacity.
ple, created by God on the sixth                 Jesus, in His public ministry on       Surely, she was one of the highly
day. Today, great and learned the-             earth, on more than one occasion,        qualified ones among the 120 be-
ologians "frisking from side to                extolled the faith and spiritual         lievers who huddled in the upper
side" tell us that Adam and Eve are            virtues of specific women. He had        room. What an appointment that
no more real than Hansel and Gre-              compassion on the widow of Nain          would have been! The Magdalene
tel.                                           (Luke 7). He graciously accepted         was not just an eyewitness to the
   For centuries men and women                 Mary's gift of costly perfume over       resurrection (a requirement for
everywhere have pinned their                   against the criticism of wanton ex-      apostleship); she was the FIRST
hopes on a God-breathed, infallible            pense (John 12). In Matthew              eye-witness of Christ's resurrection.
Scripture. Today, a species called             21:31,32, Jesus says that the prosti-    To her Christ had said on tha.t glad
higher critics "frisking from side to          tutes will enter the kingdom before      resurrection morning, "Mary...Go
side" tell us that some of The Book            Jewish religious leaders because         to my brethren..." (John 20:16,17).
is authentic, some isn't. In other             they accepted the preaching of John      What an apostle she would have
words, the entire Book is unreli-              the Baptist.                             been to spread the Gospel! But,
able.                                            Jesus spent much time in               alas, Christ did not choose women
   Is it any wonder then that the              Bethany at the home of his friends       for this task, not even such an illus-
place of the woman in the church               Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. The           trious one as Mary Magdalene.
was destined to be turned upside               Son of God thought it not beneath          The ready receptivity of women
down? And is it any wonder then                Him to discuss kingdom matters           to the Gospel message is also evi-
that we of the Reformed persuasion             with these two women. He lis-            denced in the apostle Paul's ~mis-
will not listen to or believe these            tened to their concerns; He an-          sionary work. When Paul entered
"seducing spirits and doctrines of             swered their questions; He even          the city of Philippi, he heade'd for
devils" (I Timothy 4:1)? For they              refereed their petty squabbles           the riverside where the local
speak lies in hypocrisy to us; they            (Luke 10:38-42).  John 11:5 says that    women were accustomed to Ipray.
subvert all the old and simple                 Jesus loved these two sisters.           Here Lydia, a woman of some im-
truths into corruptible heresies.                When Jesus was ready to open           portance, was converted and as-
And like Squealer-the-pig, with the            the doors of salvation to the            sisted Paul's labor in this city
women in office issue, these Scrip-            Samaritans, it was to a woman that       through her hospitality.
ture-tamperers have fallen off the             He revealed His true identity and          Other women, too, assisted Paul
ladder and quite a lot of white                Gospel intent. The woman, in turn,       in his labors just as women today
paint has splashed onto their faces.           ran into the city witnessing to the      assist their husband/minister, bus-
   What is our response to such                authority of this soul-searching         band/elder in church work.
bold and brazen assertions? Has                Rabbi, bringing back her relatives       Women, in the manner of Priscilla,
God's mandate, long understood to              and friends to hear His electrifying     Phebe, Junia, Mary, and Julia (Ro-
be silence for women in the church,            message. Scripture tells us that         mans 16), are called upon by their
been misunderstood these 2000                  many Samaritans believed on              husbands or the local minister or
years? Has the Reformed tradition              Christ because of the testimony of       the elders and deacons to assist the
and practice of limiting the offices           this woman (John 4:39).                  needy, explain the godly conduct of
in the church to men led us up a                 Many women accompanied Je-             mature Christian women to new
dead end street? Have we women                 sus during His ministry in Judea.        converts, open their homes to Bible
all unwittingly contented ourselves            Jesus did not send them back home        study groups, and counsel and en-
with being second-rate citizens in             nor hinder their endeavors in any        courage saint and stranger. "IEarly
the church these many years?                   way (Luke &l-3; Mark 15:40,41).          church evidence indicates that
   The church of Jesus Christ has al-          However, He never appointed one          women did much if not all of their
ways esteemed her women mem-                   of these God-fearing women to His        teaching in homes, and that they

90 / The Standard Bearer I November 15,199O


primarily instructed other women,         day journey from his home -                lowship among believers. Rahab's
either prospective converts or cate-      rather than behind his own tent in         hospitality was literally her salva-
chumens" (Clark, Stephen B., Man          the back yard. When Jehovah                tion. Receiving and hiding the He-
and Woman in Christ, p.107).              speaks, we have only one duty -            brew spies was the difference be-
      But it is Paul's epistles, even     listen. Listen well, and obey.             tween physical as well as spiritual
more than the historical account of         So, what is a woman's calling in         life and death for her. Like Rahab,
his missionary work (detailed in          the church?                                we women are "not forgetful to en-
the Book of Acts), which are being          In Hebrews 11, the soul-stirring         tertain strangers: for thereby some
interpreted under new lamps of            passage on the heroes of faith, there      have entertained angels unawares"
scrutiny. Particularly, these ac-         are two, only two, women men-              (Hebrews 13:2X
counts on the woman's place in the        tioned by name. (Strikingly, Debo-            And what more can be said
church are found in I Corinthians         rah, often cited as a church leader        about the supremely high calling
11, I Corinthians 14, and I Timothy       in Old Testament history, is not           of the woman in the church to be a
2.                                        mentioned, although Barak, her             Sarah, conceiving by faith the
      Because William Tyndale's desire    captain, is.) The first woman men-         priceless wealth of the church, her
to put the Holy Scriptures in the         tioned by name is Sarah, and the           sons and daughters. It is a calling
hand of every "plow girl" was ful-        second is Rahab, Jericho's harlot.         second to none. Martin Luther
filled, this is what I read in these      And why were these two women               says: "The most important voca-
passages: "Let your women keep            included in this honored list? For         tion any man or woman can have is
silence in the churches; for it is not    the two most important .virtues            raising a family. Married people
permitted unto them to speak...for        which any God-fearing woman in             should know that they can perfo,rm
it is a shame for women to speak in       the church should covet: Sarah, for        no better and no more useful work
the church." And if this is not to        conceiving a child; Rahab, for her         for God, Christianity, the world,
one's liking, I Timothy 2:ll states:      gracious act of hospitality in receiv-     themselves, and their children,
"Let the woman learn in silence           ing the spies.                             than by bringing up their children
with all subjection." Furthermore,          It is as true today as it was thou-      well...."
according to Titus, all the teaching      sands of years ago that women in              A woman's role in the church,,
that women do is of the younger           the church, including wives of bish-       with or without a hat on (I
women. And what they teach has            ops and deacons, must be hos-              Corinthians 11:13),  has not changed
to do with domestic matters.              pitable. How life in the church            all that much through the years.
      On the other hand, there can be     would cripple along without the            Older women still teach the
no doubt as to Paul's commitment          warmth and loving service of her           younger women in the home con-
to marriage and homemaking as             women in opening heart and home            text how to be good Christian
the proper vocation for women (I          to saint and stranger. The woman           wives and mothers (Titus 2:3- 5X
Timothy 295; I Timothy 4:1-5). If         has always excelled at this high           And obedient women from every
Paul had one important message            calling because God has uniquely           walk of life keep silent in the
for women, it seems to me that it is      gifted her with the necessary              church, not because men have
plainly spelled out in I Timothy          virtues. And in so doing she has           clapped a hand over their mouths,
5:14: "I will therefore that the          greatly assisted in keeping peace          but willingly, for God's sake. Cl
younger women marry, bear chil-           and harmony and the closest fel-
dren, guide the house, give none
occasion to the adversary to speak
reproachfully."
      I do not know why women are                                           Christ Is All
prohibited from preaching or occu-
pying the elders' or deacons'                                   We are dust, and God rememb'reth,
bench. Some students of Scripture                                  Yea, our frame He knoweth well.
maintain that since Eve was de-                                 But His mercy's everlasting,
ceived first in the fall, God has for-                              Like a deep exhaustless well.
ever restricted her church activities
(I Timothy 2:11- 14). We may not                                When we know our utter weakness
question the reason God has not al-                                Full dependence on the Lord,
lowed the offices in the church to                              Trusting to the Spirit's guidance,
be exercised by women. Just as                                     And are feeding on His Word.
Naarnan the leper might not ques-
tion why the waters of Damascus                                 Then it is we're safe from stumbling,
were not as effective as the waters                                Leaning on His own strong arm,
of the Jordan River to heal leprosy;                            And if thus we cross the desert,
just as Abraham might not ques-                                    He will shield us from all harm.
tion why he had to offer up his son
Isaac on Mount Moriah - a three-                                                        - SB, &-ill, 1932

                                                                                    November 15,199O  /The Standard Bearer / 91


                                               News From the
Guest Article                                  Contact Committee
Prof. Herman Uanko

  Many events have taken place in              an important organization for the        rian Church, Presbyterian Church
the work of the Committee for                  work of a missionary when the            in America, and the Reformed Pres-
Contact With Foreign Churches,                 Lord provides us with such a man.        byterian Church in North America.
and it is time to report to our peo-              While Prof. Engelsma was in           Eighteen other churches, including
ple on some of these activities.               England, he spoke also for a group       our own denomination, will be
  In the latter part of August and             of about 20 people in Bristol on the     sending observers. At the date of
the first part of September, Prof.             sovereignty of God in salvation and      this writing, Prof. Decker has not
David Engelsma traveled with his               genuine Reformed missions. This          yet left for this meeting. We will
wife to England to speak at a Fam-             group was hastily assembled and          have opportunity to report to you
ily Conference in Wales on August              the turnout was encouraging to           on his trip in a later issue of The
31 to September 2. On the Sunday               those in Bristol who have long           Standard Bearer.
of August 26 Professor Engelsma                worked and prayed for a Reformed           Last June Rev. Bernard Wouden-
preached for the Covenant Re-                  congregation to be established           berg made a trip to Romania and
formed Fellowship in Lame,                     there. Mr. Tony Horne arranged           Hungary. Although he went for
Northern Ireland. While there he               the meeting. Those who attended          other purposes than as a represen-
baptized two children of members               the International Conference held        tative of our churches, he discussed
of the Fellowship. The Conference              in First Church last June will re-       his trip with the Committee f,or
itself, held at a beautiful Confer-            member Mr. Home, who was pre-            Contact, and, upon his return, sub-
ence Grounds near Abergele,                    sent at the Conference. He is the        mitted a detailed report of his trip.
Wales, was sponsored by the                    publisher of a small paper called        He informed us that he had oppor-
British Reformed Fellowship. Prof.             The Presbyterian. If any of our read-    tunity to visit with some of the key
Engelsma spoke five times from                 ers are interested in learning of        leaders in the Reformed churches
Ephesians 5:22-6:4 on the Reformed             events in the'British Isles, they        in these countries to discuss with
view of marriage and the family                ought to subscribe to this paper.        them their own heritage and prob-
Twenty-five to thirty adults were                 This will probably be the last        lems. He also visited two Seminar-
present at the Conference along                work of the Committee for Contact        ies in Hungary and one in Roma-
with some children. Most of the                in Great Britain for some time. The      nia. He found churches which had
people from Lame also attended.                work there'has been transferred to       held up well, spiritually, under the
Prof. Engelsma reported to the                 the Domestic Mission Committee,          adversities of communist rule, and
Contact Committee that his ad-                 which committee is working with          who are now struggling with prob-
dresses were well received and                 Hudsonville congregation in the          lems which arise out of their newly
much interest in the Reformed faith            calling of a missionary to Larne,        acquired freedom. He found a peo-
was generated. During. times of                Northern Ireland and the British         ple who have clung throughout
fellowship between the speeches                Isles.                                   their history to the Heidelberg Cat-
and sermons many different sub-                   On November 8 and 9 a meeting         echism as their creedal basis, and
jects were discussed, not the least            was held in Atlanta, Georgia of          he was able to distribute several
important of which was the rela-               NAPARC (The North American               copies of The Triple Knowledge
tion of the Christian to civil gov-            Presbyterian and Reformed Coun-          among the leaders. In reporting to
ernment. The British Reformed Fel-             cil). Our churches have been in-         our Committee on his trip, Rev.
lowship is an organization formed              vited to send an observer to this        Woudenberg opened up several
for the promotion of the Reformed              meeting, and the Contact Commit-         lines of contact which the Contact
faith in the British Isles and will be         tee appointed Prof. Robert Decker        Committee is now in the process of
                                               to attend. The member churches of        pursuing.
                                               this organization are the following:       Preparations have also been
                                               Associate Reformed Presbyterian          made for Rev. Woudenberg to go to
Prof. Hanlco is professor of Church            Church, Christian Reformed               Bumie, Tasmania for four months.
His toy and New Testament in the               Church, Korean American Presby-          As'our readers know, the Contact
Protestant Reformed  Semina y.                 terian Church, Orthodox Presbyte-        Committee has been trying tot ob-

92 / The Standard Bearer / November 15,199O


tain supply for Bumie since the                impossible to have full sister-           Singapore. Particularly, they  dis-
time Prof. H.C. Hoeksema returned              church relations with the EPC of          cussed with us the opportunities
to this country. The Lord has now              Australia, we are exploring what          they have to do mission work, es-
given us the opportunity to send               precisely our Constitution means          pecially in India, and the pressing
Rev. Woudenberg. He will be leav-              by "less than sister-church rela-         need for the establishment of a Re-
ing, the Lord willing, December 4              tions." Their Contact Committee           formed Theological School in Sin-
and will be staying till the first of          and our Contact Committee are             gapore for the training of ministers.
April. Needless to say, the saints in          also discussing the whole question        Rev. Mahtani has twice visited In.-
Bumie are eagerly looking forward              of purity of worship, one of the dif-     dia and finds there an open door to
to his coming. For the most part,              ferences between us. Both Contact         the gospel. A Committee has also
they listen to tapes of sermons in             Committees have submitted papers          been formed by the Classis of the
their worship services which-are               outlining their respective positions.     ERCS to oversee theological in-
-prepared in our various congrega-             The original papers are being pub-        struction. These two matters espe-
tions here in the states. We com-              lished in our Acts of Synod, 1990.        cially have a high priority, and this
mend Rev. Woudenberg's work in                   The Synod of our churches               is the reason why one delegate is
Tasmania to the prayers of God's               which met in June, 1990 decided to        going from our Theological School
people.                                        send one delegate from the Contact        and one from our Foreign Mission
  In the meantime, the contacts be-            Committee and one delegate from           Committee. While there are a num-
tween us and the Evangelical Pres-             the Foreign Mission Committee to          ber of problems which have to be
byterian Church continue. Two of               Singapore to discuss matters of mu-       worked out, the labors of the ERCS
the ministers of the EPC, Revs.                tual interest and concern. Decisions      are exciting. Not only is a door to
Chris Coleborn and Philip Burley,              were made in our Contact Commit-          the spread of the gospel standing
were present at our Conference last            tee and Foreign Mission Committee         open in India, but a theological
June and also attended our Synod               to send Rev. Russ Dykstra and Prof.       school in Singapore could, under
meetings. In a meeting with repre-             Herman Hanko. They are making             God's blessing, be a powerful too,1
sentatives of our Contact Commit-              plans to go from December 18 to           in the spread of the gospel in
tee, these two brethren gave some              January 14.                               Southeast Asia. A report will be
suggestions on how we could make                 At a meeting between the Con-           given to you after the return of the
our contacts more significant. Vari-           tact Committee and Revs. Lau Chin         delegates.
ous matters relating to their plans            Kwee and Jaikishin Mahtani, held             Money has been collected in our
to send their students to our Semi-            at the time of Synod, our two             churches for needy causes through-
nary for instruction were also dis-            brethren from Singapore explained         out the world which warrant our
cussed. While, for the present, it is          to us the work that is being done in      help. Recently a check for $2,000..00
                                                                                         was sent to the Measbro Dyke con-
                                                                                         gregation of Barnsley England of
                                                                                         which Rev. Philip Rawson is pastor.
                                Father's Care                                            Rev. Rawson was also present at
                                                                                         our Conference in June and many
               Is this the way, my Father? `Tis, my child.                               of our people were able to meet
               Thou must pass through the tangled, dreary wild,                          him and speak with him. Rev.
               If thou wouldst reach the city undefiled -                                Rawson  distributes Protestant Re-
                 Thy peaceful home above.                                                formed literature throughout Eng-
               But enemies are round. Yes, child, I know                                 land and defends vigorously the
               That where thou least expect'st thou'lt find a foe;                       doctrines of sovereign grace.
               But victor thou shalt prove o'er all below -                                 These are some of the more im-
                 Only, seek strength above.                                              portant activities with which the
                                                                                         Committee has been busy since
               My Father, it is dark. Child, take my hand;                               Synod met last June. As apostasy
               Cling close to me, - I`ll lead thee through the land;                     spreads rapidly in so many of the
               Trust my all-seeing care, - so shalt thou stand                           churches in the world, God pre-
                 `Mid glory bright above.                                                serves groups, often small, of saints
               My footsteps seemto  slide. Child, only raise                             whose desire it is to maintain the
               Thine eye to me, then in these slippery ways,                             truth of Scripture. Some of these
               I will hold up thy goings; thou shalt praise                              groups we have the privilege of
                 Me for each step above.                                                 knowing. With them we desire
                                                                                         greater and closer contact. We
               Father, I'm weary! Child, then lean thy head                              earnestly seek the prayers of Gods
               Upon my breast; it was my love that spread                                people as we struggle with the
               Thy rugged path; hope on, till I have said,                               work, for we know that without
                 Rest, rest for aye, above!                                              Gods blessing, all our labors are in
                                            - SB, September 15,1932                      vain. Cl

                                                                                        November 15,199O  / The Standard Bearer I 93


                                               All Around Us
Prof, Robert Decker


H The Continuing                               "Repent, and believe on the Lord           n Korean CR
   Decline of the GKN                          Jesus Christ!"
                                                                   Centraal Weekblad         Churches Disturlbed
                                                                           The Banner
  Evidence of the continuing de-                                                            The women-in-ofice  issue is so
cline of the Reformed Churches in                                                         critical to them that an emergency
the Netherlands (GKN), in which                n Westminster May                          meeting of the Korean Church
most of us have our spiritual roots,              Lose Accreditation                      Council, which represents all the
is evident from two decisions of its                                                      Korean churches within the CRC,
latest synod. With only nine dele-              The Middle States Association of          was called in mid-September in
gates voting against the motion, the           Colleges and Schools, one of six re-       Cerritos, California. The Rev. John
synod passed a decision making                 gional accrediting agencies in the         E. Kim, considered to be the titular
the second worship service on the              country, gave Westminster Semi-            head of the Korean churches, said
Lord's day optional. The synod                 nary in Philadelphia until Septem-         that his council at Los Angel.es Ko-
changed Article 70 of its Church               ber 15 to "show cause why its ac-          rean Christian Reformed Church
Order so that it now reads: "On the            creditation should not be removed          has already decided to leave the
Lord's Day, the consistory shall call          because the school has no women            CRC if the Synod's 1990 dec:ision
the congregation together for wor-             on-its 24-member board of                  on women in office is ratified in
ship, if possible twice, but at least          trustees." Westminster has replied         1992. There are some 44 congrega-
once, and further, at least once on            that the threat is a violation of reli-    tions with 7,000 members in the
Christmas, Good Friday and As-                 gious rights. We hope Westminster          Korean Church Council. Some esti-
cension Day" Given the fact that               will stand fast on this issue.             mate that about half of these
so few attend second services in                                   Christianity Today     churches and members are so dis-
Reformed churches in our country                                                          turbed by this issue that the!y will
it probably will not be long before                                                       leave the CRC.
these too are considered optional.             H Book Claims  `-                                                    The Banner
   The GKN also decided that the                  Woman Wrote Part
Church Order reference to "mission                                                        H Thoughts Worth
to the Jews," is no longer accept-                of the Bible
able. The reason? Each religion, in-                                                         Pondering
cluding Judaism, has its own legiti-             Liberal higliercri&s of the Bible
mate way to God. Jews, therefore,              have long ago denied that Moses              Commenting on the hermeneu-
are no longer to be considered sub-            was the instrument used by the             tics and higher criticism of the
jects for conversion. Rather Chris-            Holy Spirit to write the Pentateuch.       Bible some fifty years ago, Dr. J.
tians and Jews ought to dialogue               Rather, they say, there are four dif-      Gresham Machen said, "I verily be-
with one another.                              ferent human authors. A recent             lieve that the new Reformation, for
  Unconverted Jews deny that Je-               publication, called The Book of J,         which we long, will be like tlhe Re-
sus is the Christ. Jesus said, "I am           now claims that one of these au-           formation of the 16th century in
the way, the truth, and the life: no           thors was a woman. The author ar-          that it will mean a return to plain
man cometh unto the Father, but by             gues that J was probably a woman           common honesty and common
me" (John 14:6). There is nothing              "because the most striking charac-         sense. At the end of the middle
to dialogue about with the uncon-              ters in Js early writings were             ages the Bible had become a book
verted Jew (or Gentile, for that mat-          women, not men, and that much of           with seven seals; it had been cov-
ter!). All that the church can and             the writing is from a feminine per-        ered with the rubbish of the four-
must say to the unconverted is:                spective."                                 fold sense of Scripture and all that.
                                                 We guess we can expect such              The Reformation brushed all that
                                               nonsense in our day. May God               rubbish away. So again today the
                                               give us grace to hold fast to the          Bible has been covered with #an
                                               Bible's own testimony as to its au-
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical                                                    elaborate business of `interpreta-
                                               thorship.
Theology in the Protestant R@rmed                                                         tion' that is worse in some respects
                                                                    The Detroit News
Semina y.                                                                                 than anything that the midd1.e ages

94 I The Standard Bearer I November 15,199O


could produce. The new Reforma-           capists looking for a shortcut to                         Repentance
tion will brush all that away. There      nirvana. Like drug addicts, they
will be a m-discovery of the great        are trying to bomb out' of their de-      On  bended  knees, replete with godly
Reformation doctrine of the per-          pressing world. There is no aufo-            grief,
spicuity (clarity, RDD) of Scripture;     matic joy. Christ is not a happiness      See where the mourner kneels to seek
                                                                                       relief,
men will make the astonishing dis-        capsule; he is the way to the Father.     No "God, I thank Thee," freezes on his
covery that the Bible is a plain          But the way to the Father is not a           tongue,
book addressed to plain men, and          carnival ride in which we sit and         For works of merit that to Him belong;
that it means exactly what it says."      do nothing while we are whisked           Deep in his soul conviction's
                                                                                       ploughshare  rin s
  Calvin Miller, in his book, The         through the various spiritual sen-        And to the surface iis corruption brings;
Taste of&j, makes this comment:           sati0ns.N   0                             He loathes himself, in lowest dust he lies,
"Many Christians are only `Chris-                                                   And all abased "Unclean, unclean,"
taholics' and not disciples at all.                                                    he cries,
Disciples are cross-bearers; they                                                   From his full heart pours forth the
                                                                                       gushing plea,
seek Christ. Christaholics seek                                                     "God of the lost, be merciful to me!"
happiness. Disciples dare to disci-                                                 The light of life descends in heavenly
pline themselves, and the demands
they place on themselves leave                                                      An?~~gels shout, and sing, "Behold, he
                                                                                       prays."
them enjoying the happiness of                                                                           - SB, Augusf  25,1!932
their growth. Christaholics are es-




                                          News From
                                          Our Churches
ML Benjamin Wigger


  How time flies. It has been over.       the congregation decided to build a       Hudsonville's 7th and present pas-
ten months since our last church          church of their own.                      tor.
profile. Well, this issue seems like a      A budget of $25.00 per week,               In 1975 the congregation decided
slow news month, so let's include a       amounting to $1 .OO per family, was       to build a larger house of worship.
profile of the Hudsonville PRC.           adopted, and their first house of         Ground-breaking ceremonies took
  July 26,1926  is a date which           worship was dedicated on April 1,         place in the spring of 1976, with
brings pleasant thoughts to the           1927.                                     dedication coming the following
members of the Hudsonville PRC              Hudsonville now had a church,           January.
in Michigan. It was on that date          but as yet no pastor was available           The congregation now numbers
that about 25 families banding to-        to lead them. Almost three years          around 160 families with a total
gether decided to organize as a           passed before the Lord answered           membership of 600.
congregation.                             the prayers of the congregation.             Among the activities the mem-
  The first service was held in           On October 3,1929,  Rev. Gerrit Vos       bership supports is the "Reformed
what was known as Spoelman's              was installed as their first pastor.      Book Outlet," a small Christian
barn. Cold weather forced the con-        In 1932 Rev. DeJong  became their         bookstore located in a plaza in
gregation to abandon that place,          next pastor. He remained until            Hudsonville. This store opened in
and services were then held in the        1941 when Rev. Bernard Kok occu-          1985 and continues to serve as an
house which later served as Hud-          pied the pulpit. Soon after Rev.          excellent bridge between the
sonville's first parsonage. Realizing     Kok left in 1947 for the Holland          church and community.
the need for a more suitable edifice,     congregation, Rev. Gerrit Vos re-            The congregation is also
                                          turned for the second time. He re-        presently busy with the work of
                                          mained until sickness forced his re-      calling a man to serve as mission-
                                          tirement in 1965. His pastorate was       ary to Lame, Northern Ireland.
Mr. Wigger  is a member of the Pvotes-    followed by that of Rev. H. Veld-            Hudsonville's make-up has
tant Reformed Church of Hudsonvil2e,      man and of Rev. C. Hanko. And in          changed over the years from a
Michigan.                                 1977 Rev. G. VanBaren  became             mostly rural congregation to one

                                                                                   November 15,199O  /The Standard Bearer / 95


   THE
SlAlUD~                                                                                                        SECOND CLASS
 Bi!ARER                                                                                                       Postage Paid  at
                                                                                                               Grand Rapids, Michigan

 EO. Box 6064
 Grand Rapids, MI 49506



which still includes farmers, but               WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                            WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
also builders, teachers, doctors,                  On November 2,199O our par-                   We rejoice in God's covenant
and factory workers. One thing                  ents, MR. and MRS. BERNIE LUB-                 faithfulness shown to our dear par-
has remained constant however:                  BERS, celebrated their 40th Wed-               ents and grandparents UILKE and
the close communion of the saints.              ding Anniversary. We thank our                 JOANNE TOLSMA as they cele-
Despite its size, Hudsonville re-               gracious Lord for blessing us with             brare their 40th wedding anniver-
mains a close church; and by God's              faithful, God-fearing parents. We              sary, the Lord willing, on December
grace she will go into the 90s as a             pray that our heavenly Father will             6, 1990. We are thankful to tour
faithful witness.                               continue to strengthen them in their           heavenly Father for giving us God-
EVANGELISM NEWS                                 way and give them joy in Him.                  fearing parents and for the Chris-
  The Council of the South Hol-                    "But the mercy of the Lord is               tian love and instruction we have
land PRC in South Holland, IL                   from everlasting to everlasting upon           received from them in these many
made a decision to send their pas-              them that fear Him, and His righ-              years. It is our prayer and hope
tor, Rev. C. Terpstra, and Mr. Ed               teousness unto children's children;            that the Lord will continue.to keep
Stouwie, Sr. to Boise, Idaho for a              to such as keep His covenant and               and bless them in the years that He
weekend to do investigative work                to those that remember His com-                may give them. "Know therefore
among a group of people who are                 mandments to do them" (Ps.                     that the Lord thy God, he is God,
seeking affiliation with a Reformed             103:17, 18).                                   the faithful God, which keepeth
denomination. This request came                 Jerry and Bonnie Lubbers                       covenant and mercy with them that
through South Holland's Evange-                    Scott, Jeremy, Eric, Jessica, Melissa       love him and keep his command-
lism Committee which has had                    Linda Lubbers                                  ments to a thousand generations"
contact with these people for close             Bruce and Deb Lubbers                          (Deut. 7:9).
to a year.                                        Jonathan, Joshua, Joseph, Carmen,            Art and Helen Tolsma (Edmonton)
CONGREGATIONAL NEWS                                Carrie                                         Tracy, Philip, Ryan, Jason,
  The Congregation of the PRC in                Gord and Sue Lubbers                              Benjamin, Travis, Loralie
                                                Ed and Melanie Hekstra
Hull, IA adopted a proposal to                                                                 Fred and Netty Tolsma (Edmonton)
                                                   Amanda, Amy, Jared, Laura
purchase the Andy Scholten prop-                                                                  Russell, Rachel, and one child in
                                                Ken and Machele Elzinga
erty that was adjacent to the prop-               Jason,  Hollie, Rachel, Nicholas              dory
erty of the Hull PR Christian                                                                  Rick and Sharon Tolsma (Loveland, CO)
                                                Brad and Heather Lubbers                          Kimberly, Jennifer, Michelle.
School. This property was pur-                  Doug Lubbers          Hudsonville, Michigan       Stephanie
chased with the view to building a                                                             Brian and Carolyn Tolsma (Lacclmbe)
new church on that site, the Lord               NOTICE!!                                          Derek, Cindy, Curtis, Justin, #Julie
willing.                                           Classis  East will meet in regular          Irwin and Yvonne Tolsma (Lacombe)
MINISTERIAL CALLS                               session on Wednesday, January 9,                  Melissa, Steven
  The Congregation of our Kala-                 1991 at the Byron Center Protes-                                  Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
mazoo PRC in Kalamazoo, MI, the                 tant Reformed Church. Material to
calling church for a missionary to              be treated at this session must be             RESOLUTION OF  SYMPATIHY
Venice, FL, has called Rev. R. Dyk-             in the hands of the Stated Clerk by               The Council and congregation of
stra to serve in that capacity.                 December 10,199O.                              the Protestant Reformed Church in
  On Sunday                                                                                    South Holland, Illinois express their
                 evening, October 21,           Jon J. Huisken
the congregation of the First PRC               Stated Clerk                                   Christian sympathy to Mrs. Theresa
in Grand Rapids, MI met after the                                                              Lenting and family in the death of
service and extended a call to Rev.             NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS:                         MR. WILLIAM LENTING on Octo-
Kortering to serve as missionary                                                               ber 10, 1990.
                                      to          Are you moving soon? Changes
the island of Jamaica.                          of addresses should be sent to our                May they be comforted by the
  And on that same night the con-               business office at least two weeks             words of the Lord in John 11:25, "I
gregation of our Hudsonville, MI                before the change becomes eff ec-              am the resurrection and the life: he
PRC met to call a missionary to                 tive to assure receiving The Sfan-             who believes in me, though he
Lame, Northern Ireland. A call                  c&d Bearer without interruption.               were dead, yet shall he live."
                                                                                               Rev. C. Terpstra, President
was extended to Rev. M.                                                                        Gil F. VanBaren, Clerk
Kamps.  q



96 I The Standard Bearer  I November 15,199O


