 A Reformed





Vol. 67, No. 10
Februa y 25,199l


Contents                                                                                      THE
                                                       February 15, 1991                 STANDARD
Meditation - Rev. James D. Slopsema
  REPENT OR PERISH                                                                219       B'R
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engekma                                                       ISSN 0362-4692
  CREATION AND SCIENCE.. . AND COMMON GRACE                                       221    Semi-monthly, except monthly during June,  luly,
                                                                                         and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
                                                                                         lishing Association, Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
LETTERS                                                                           223    at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                         POSTMASTER:  Send address changes to The
                                                                                         Standard Bearer, P.O. Box 6064, Grand Rapids, MI
The Strength of Youth - Rev. Barreft L. Gritiers                                         49516.
  THE END TIMES (9): THE MILLENNIUM                                               225    EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
                                                                                         Editor: Prof. David  J.  Engelsma
                                                                                         Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
into All the World - Rev. Ronald J. VanOvefloop                                          Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
                                                                                         DEPARTMENT EDITORS
  MISSION PRINCIPLES (Ill): THE MOTIVES                                           227    Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
                                                                                         Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
Contribution - Rev. Michael J. DeVries                                                   Critters, Rev. Carl Haak, Prof. Herman  Hanko,
                                                                                         Rev. John  Heys,  Rev. Marvin Kamps, Rev. Kenneth
  NEWS FROM THE FOREIGN MISSION COMMITTEE                                         230    Kc&  Rev. Jason  Kortering,-Rev.  Dale Kuiper, Mr.
                                                                                         James  Lanting, Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs.
Search the Scriptures - Rev. Gise J. VanBaren                                            Marybeth  Lubbers, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.
                                                                                         Charles  Terpstra.  Rev.  Cise  VanBaren,  Rev. Ronald
  FINAL FAREWELL                                                                  231    VanOverloop,  MT. Benjamin Wigger, Rev. Bernard
                                                                                         Woudenberg.
                                                                                         EDITORIAL OFFICE               CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
Church and State - Mr. James Lanting                                                     The Standard Bearer            Mr. Ben Wigger
  RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN CHURCH/STATE LAW                                         233    4949  lvanrest                 6597  - 40th Ave.
                                                                                         Crandville,  MI 49418          Hudsonville,  MI 49426
                                                                                         EDITORIAL POLICY
A Cloud of Witnesses - Prof. Herman C. Hank0                                             Every editor is solely responsible for the contents
  GOlTESCHALK                                                                     234    of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
                                                                                         terest from our readers and questions for The
                                                                                         Reader Asks Department are welcome. Contribu-
The Day of Shadows - R&. John A. Heys                                                    tions will be limited to approximately 300 words
  ANOTHER ENCOURAGING SHADOW                                                      236    nnd must be neatly written  or typewritten, and
                                                                                         must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first and
                                                                                         :he fifteenth of the month. All communications
NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES - Mr. Benjamin Wigger                                      239    relative to the contents should be sent to the
                                                                                         editorial  office.
                                                                                         REPRINT POLICY
                                                                                         Permission is hereby granted for the  repiinting  of
                                                                                         articles in  OUT magazine by other publications,
In This issue...                                                                         provided: a) that such reprinted articles are repro-
                                                                                         duced in full;  b) that proper acknowledgement is
                                                                                         made;  c) that a copy of the periodical in which
                                                                                         such  reprint appears is sent to our editorial office.
  Have you ever wondered why the Spirit tells us, no fewer than nine times               BUSINESS OFFICE            NEW ZEALAND OFFICE
in a few short verses in Genesis 1, that, in calling into existence all the vari-        The Standard Bearer The Standard Bearer
ous forms of life, God formed the creatures always "after their kind"? And               Don Doezema                c/o Protestant Reformed
                                                                                         P.O. Box 6064                Church
that the herbs and trees were so created that they yielded seed "after their             Grand Rapids, MI           B. Van Herk
kind" - that is, only after their kind? And that each of the creation days was             49516                    66 Fraser St.
                                                                                         PH:  (616)  243-3712       Wainuiomata, New Zealand
marked by an "evening and a morning"?                                                        (616)  531-149C
  The evolutionist insists that life sprang originally, spontaneously, from              SUBSCRIPTION POLICY
                                                                                         Subscription price: $12.00 per year in the U.S.,
non-living material, and that there was gradual change from one "kind" to                $15.00 elsewhere. Unless a definite request for dis-
another, from the simple to the complex, till after immense periods of time,             continuance is received, it is assumed that the
                                                                                         subscriber wishes the subscription to continue
and with the accumulation of small variations, life developed from the                   without the formality of a renewal order, and he
amoeba to man.                                                                           will be billed for renewal. If you have a change of
                                                                                         address, please notify the Business Office as early
  So clearly does Genesis 1 declare the creation of fixed species; so emphati-           as possible in order to avoid the inconvenience of
cally and repeatedly does the creation account of Genesis 1 contradict the               delayed delivery. Include your Zip Code.
                                                                                         ADVERTISING POLICY
evolutionary hypothesis which not only allows for but also necessitates de-              The  Standard Bearer  does not accept commercial
velopment from one kind to another; that there is no possibility, ever, of har-          advertising of any kind. Announcements of church
monizing the two . . . unless one were to discover that the Spirit, after all,           and school events, anniversaries, obituaries, and
                                                                                         sympathy resolutions will be placed for a 83.00
never intended Genesis 1-11 to be a record of historical reality.                        fee. These should be sent to the Business Office
  The truth of the Word of God is that the Creator caused the earth to bring             and should be accompanied by the $3.00 fee.
                                                                                         Deadline for announcements is the 1st and the
forth, in a single day, myriads of plants, a marvelous variety of plant life.            15th of the month, previous to publication on the
Man, puny man, responds by declaring that he has examined scientifically                 15th  OF the 1st respectively.
                                                                                         BOUND VOLUMES
all of the data available and has'determined that it didn't happen that way.             The Business Office will accept standing orders
And theistic evolution adopts that monstrous lie.                                        for bound copies of the current volume; such
                                                                                         orders are filled as soon as possible after comple-
  How could churches which stand in the Reformed tradition ever reach                    tion of a volume.
such a state of affairs? Read, in this issue and next, "Creation and Science . . .       16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm and  l05mm
                                                                                         microfiche, and article copies are available
and Common Grace." Cl                                                       - D.D.       through University Microfilms International.

218 I The Standard Bearer I February 15,1991


Meditation                               Repent or Perish
Rev. James Slopsema


   There were present at that            Galileans, because they suffered           ready been formed by those bring-
season some that told him of the         such things? I tell you, Nay.              ing these tidings. They have con-
Galileans, whose blood Pilate               Rather must those who bring             cluded that these Galileans were
had mingled with their sacri-            this horrible news take pause to see       slain because they were sinners
                                         their own sinfulness and to repent,        above all the Galileans, i.e., they
fices.                                   lest they fall into judgment.              were greater sinners than their fel-
  And Jesus answering said                  Except ye repent, ye shall all          low Galileans.
unto them, Suppose ye that               likewise perish!                              It was a common notion among
these Galileans were sinners                       +  * *  *  *  *' *               the Jews of Jesus' day that personal
above all the Galileans, because            The incident reported to Jesus          tragedy or physical handicap was
                                         was indeed horrible!                       God's punishment for some spe-
they suffered such things?                  Pilate had mingled the blood of         cific sin. This becomes evident
  I fell you, Nay: but, except ye        certain Galileans with their sacri-        from the question Jesus' disciples
repent, ye shall all likewise per-       fices.                                     asked Him as they passed by a man
ish.                                        Although there is no other             born blind, "Master, who did sin,
   Or those eighteen, upon               record of this incident, either sacred     this man, or his parents, that he
whom the tower in Siloam fell,           or secular, the details are not diffi-     was born blind?" (John 9:1,2).
                                         cult to fill in. Certain Galileans            Those who approach Jesus with
and slew them, think ye that             were in the Temple in Jerusalem to         the dreadful news of the Galileans
they were sinners above all men          present their sacrifices to the Lord.      slain by Pilate are of the same memn-
that dwelt in Jerusalem?                 Seldom was anyone but the priests          tality. They have concluded that
  I tell you, Nay: but, except ye        allowed near the great altar before        these Galileans were slain because
repent, ye shall all likewise            the temple. In a few instances,            they were sinners above all the
                                         however, it was required of the            Galileans.
perish.              - Luke 13:X-5       men of Israel to bring their sacrifi-         Interestingly, this same mentality
                                         cial animals directly to the altar,        is frequently found today in the
                                         where their sacrifices were slaugh-        church. The reasoning is simple.
  Jesus is somewhere in Judea  in-       tered by the priest. Evidently the         God punishes sin. He does so not
structing the people concerning His      Galileans in question were present-        only eternally in hell but also in
second coming in judgment and            ing their sacrifices to the priest at      this life with suffering. Hence,
the need to be ready.                    the altar, when Pilate's soldiers          those upon whom great sufferings
  Afterwards a number of His au-         rushed into the temple and slaugh-         come must necessarily be great sin-
dience approach Jesus with horri-        tered these Galileans, thus min-           ners. God is simply punishing
ble news. Pilate has slain a number      gling their blood with the blood of        them for their sin.
of their countrymen in the temple,       their sacrifices.                             This is the attitude some assume
mingling their bloodwith their sac-         We are not told the reason for          when they witness the sufferings-of
rifices. These bearers of ill tidings    this action on the part of Pilate.         those around them. This is even
have already drawn their own con-        Any suggestion would be mere               the attitude taken by some who ex-
clusions about this matter. They         speculation. However, it is not            perience great suffering. Again
now await Jesus' response.               speculation to say that atrocities         and again the question is raised by
  Jesus, knowing their thoughts,         abounded during Pilate's tenure as         those under great suffering, "Why
informs them that their conclusions      governor of Judea.                        is God punishing me?"
are erroneous.                              And now the news of this has                     *******
  Suppose ye that these Galileans        reached the vicinity where Jesus is           Jesus responds to. those bringing
were sinners above all the               laboring. A number of His audi-            Him the news about the Galileans
                                         ence approach Jesus with the report        that their conclusion is incorrect.
                                         of this tragic event. They await Je-          Suppose ye that these Galileans
Rev. Slopsema is pastor of Hope          sus' response.                             were sinners above all the
Protestant Rejimned  Church in             It becomes apparent from Jesus'          Galileans, because they suffered
Walker, Michigan.                        response that an opinion has al-          such things? I tell you, Nay.

                                                                                   February 15,1991/ The Standard Bearer  / 2:t9


  Let us be sure we understand ex-              sin. Hence, when we see the suffer-          Repentance is a change of heart
actly what Jesus is saying.                     ing and misery of others, we ought         and mind concerning sin. It mani-
  Jesus is not denying that God                 to be reminded of the sinfulness           fests itself in a godly sorrow over
punishes sin. Nor is Jesus denying              into which the whole human race            sin, a forsaking of sin in the power
that God punishes sin already in                has fallen, also ourselves.                of Jesus Christ, and a seeking of
this life with terrible sufferings.                        **c*****                        reconciliation with God in the
Nor is Jesus denying that some-                    Except ye repent, ye shall all          blood of Jesus Christ.
times there is an obvious connec-               likewise perish.                             May `God grant us to repent
tion between someone's sin and the                 The meaning is that, without re-        daily of our sins, as we live in a
suffering that befalls him. Obvi-               pentance, those who bring these            world of suffering. cl
ously one who contracts venereal                evil tidings of the Galileans shall all
disease or AIDS through immoral                 perish in the same manner as the
living is suffering the just conse-             Galileans have. Their blood will be
quence of his sin. The same is true             mingled with their sacrifices at the
of the habitual drunkard, who                   altar.
finds one day that drink has de-                   Jesus adds to this. He reminds            Portion Of Christians
prived him of his health and                    His audience of the eighteen that
wasted away his body. Examples                  were killed when the tower of              Rise, my soul! and stretch
of this kind could be multiplied.               Siloam in Jerusalem fell on them.               thy wings,
  None of these realities is being              Think ye that they were sinners              Thy better portion trace;
denied by Jesus. The point of Jesus             above all men that dwelt in                Rise from transitory things
is rather that personal tragedy and             Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay. But ex-           Towards heaven, thy
suffering is not ordinarily a sign              cept ye repent, ye shall all likewise              native place:
that one is a great sinner. When we             perish.                                    Sun and moon and stars decay;
see the suffering of another, we                   And that is exactly what hap-              Time shall soon this earth
ought not quickly draw the conclu-              pened! They all likewise perished!                 remove;
sion that this suffering is the result             Israel had gone apostate as a na-       Rise, my soul, and haste away
of some sin this person has com-                tion, forsaking the law and the               To seats prepared above.
mitted.                                         prophets. Neither did they heed the
   This is the first piece of instruc-          call to repentance, not even when          Rivers to the ocean run,
tion Jesus has for those who bring              proclaimed by the Son of God Him-             Nor stay in all their course;
Him this news. But Jesus is not fin-            self. In fact, they hardened their         Fire, ascending, seeks the sun;
ished. He also makes it clear that              hearts against Him and crucified              Both speed them to their source:
the tragedy and suffering of others             Him!                                       So a soul that's born of God,
ought to make each of us reflect                   Consequently the judgment of               Pants to view His glorious face,
rather on his own sin.                          God came upon Israel as a nation.          Upwards tends to His abode,
   Jesus makes this very clear by               In the year 70 God sent the Roman             To rest in His embrace.
calling to repentance those who                 legions upon Jerusalem to destroy
bring Him this news of the                      it. Destroyed was the temple as            Fly me, riches, fly me, cares,
Galileans. Except ye repent, ye                 well as the walls and towers of the           Whilst I that coast explore;
shall all likewise perish.                      city. During the course of this car-       Flattering world, with all thy snares
   Those who report this tragedy to             nage the blood of many was spilled            Solicit me no more!
Jesus have quite self-righteously fo-           at the very altar of God. Many also        Pilgrims fix not here their home;
cused their attention on the "appar-            lost their lives as the walls and             Strangers tarry but a night;
ent? sinfulness of those who were               towers of the city were razed.             When the last dear mom is come,
slain. They can think only of the                  Except ye repent, ye shall all             They'll rise to joyful light.
great sin of the Galileans. To their            likewise perish!
surprise, Jesus speaks of their own                Bear in mind that the destruction       Cease, ye pilgrims, cease to mourn,
need for repentance. By doing this,             of Jerusalem is a picture of the end          Press onward to the prize;
Jesus is teaching them that this                of the world. As God destroyed             Soon our Saviour will return
great tragedy that befell the                   Jerusalem in judgment, He will one            Triumphant in the skies:
Galileans ought to make each of                 day destroy a wicked world and an          Yet a season, and you know
them reflect on his own sins.                   apostate church with fire on ac-              Happy entrance will be given
   Unspoken, yet implied, is the                count of their grievous sin.               All our sorrows left below,
truth that all suffering and tragedy                Of this impending judgment all            And earth exchanged for heaven.
is the result of the fall of the human          suffering is a warning. Through
race into sin, a fall which rendered            the suffering of others we are re-                         - SB, October 15,1932
all of us corrupt and depraved sin-             minded of our own sin. We are
ners. Before the fall there was no              also reminded that we will all per-
suffering and pain. All these things            ish on account of our sins, except
came only as the consequence of                 we repent.

220 I The Standard Bearer I February 15,199l


                                         Creation and
                                         Science  and
                                                                             n q   n 
Editorial                                Common Grace

  The report of the study commit-        18ff. teaches that they did. It fol-       cial revelation that this theory is
tee of the Christian Reformed            lows necessarily that the fall into             anti-scriptural and thus off limits
Church (CRC) on theistic evolution       sin and the entrance of death into              for the scientist who is a Christian"
is out. This 47-page document            the world did not happen as is                  (cf. pp. 31ff.).
(with a 19-page  concluding scien-       taught in Genesis 3. In fact, theistic            The committee expressly  reco:m-
tific postscript intended to overawe     evolutionists deny the historicity -            mends that the CRC allow for the
the layman with the wonders of           the historical factuality - of Gene-            possibility of "evolutionary fore-
evolution's explanation of the ori-      sis l-11, including the account of         bears of the human race," i.e., that
gin of the universe) is entitled         the flood and the account of the                the first humans evolved from the
"Committee on Creation and Sci-          confusion of language and scatter-              apes. Two members of the commit-
ence." It will be treated by the CRC     ing of the human race at the Tower              tee pull back at the end from the
synod of 1991.                           of Babel. Genesis l-11 is not history      full implications of their advice to
  The report was occasioned by           but religious fiction. Different                the church. Agreeing that the inan-
the teaching and public defense of       names are used to describe this fic-       imate world evolved over billions
theistic evolution by several Calvin     tion: myth (Strauss and Bultmann);              of years, they like to make an ex-
College professors. Theistic evolu-      saga (Barth); legend (Gunkel);                  ception of living things and espe-
tion is the evolutionary explanation     primeval history (John Bright and               cially of man. Man does not have
of the origin of the universe. Over      Howard VanTill);  and "stylized, lit-           an animal-ancestry, but has as his
billions of years, the world devel-      erary or symbolic . . . stories" (the           origin a distinct creative work of
oped by natural processes without        CRC committee on creation and                   God. In a minority recommendat-
"interference" by God. Living            science - p. 38).                               tion, they ask the CRC to declare
things developed from non-living           What theistic evolution is and                that Scripture and the confessions
matter. More complex life-forms          what is involved in accepting it                "rule out all theories that posit the
developed from simpler life-forms.       within the Reformed churches was                reality of evolutionary forebears of
Man developed from animals,              very frankly pointed out by the                 the human race" (p. 44). The ma-
probably one of the primates             Free University professor Jan Lever        jority of the committee, however;
(apes). What is supposed to re-          - ardent advocate of the theory -          recommends that the synod of the
deem the theory for Reformed             in his short, blunt book, Where Are        CRC not accede to this recommen-
Christians is the confession that        We Headed? A Christian Perspective              dation of the minority. One reason
God originally made the mass of          on Evolution (Eerdmans, 1970; cf.               is that "many members of the CRC
gas that got the evolutionary pro-       also his longer work, Creation and              are working in this area and are
cess started, in the "Big Bang," and     Evolution, also published by Eerd-              considering the evidence and, wlhat
that God superintended the evolu-        mans, in 195.8).                           is not yet clear, the impact it may
tionary process of this gas.               The report of the CRC study              have both on scientific theory anId
  In the beginning, God made gas.        committee approves theistic evolu-              the understanding of the biblical
  In order to harmonize this theory      tion in the CRC. It maintains that it      account. The church should allow
of origins with the Bible's account      is "permissible for a biblically in-       them to contribute to a resolution
of creation, the theistic evolution-     formed Christian to accept                 of the problem. Further study in
ists must deny the historical reality    macroevolution (here, theistic evo-        this area is necessav (pp. 45,461.
- the truth - of Genesis 1 and 2.        lution - DJE) as a working hy-                    Since approval of theistic evolu-
The world did not come into exis-        pothesis . ..." It denies that there is    tion rests squarely on the denial of
tence in the way that Genesis 1 and      anything in this theory that is nec-       the historical factuality of Genesis 1
2 says that it did. The first man        essarily "inimical to the biblical ac-     and 2, the committee advises an in-
and woman did not come into exis-        count of origins." It concludes that       terpretation of Genesis 1 and 2, in-
tence in the way that Genesis 2~7,       we do not `know directly from spe- I' deed of all of Genesis l-11, that
                                                                                    Febnmry15,1991/TheStandardBearer/  221


takes none of it literally. All of            which we know nothing) to which             the current scientific view of lori-
Genesis l-11 is a "special kind of . . .      the story of the fall is connected.         gins, with Genesis 1.
history writing" (p. 14). What kind           Perhaps these stories are related             Accordingly, the explanation of
of "history writing" it is, the com-          (we know-not how) to eventsthat             origins advocated in the report is
mittee  illustrates with its explana-         never did really take place in              not the content of the faith of the
tion of the "Tower  of Babel story"           earthly history, and that do not            child of God or of the church, and
in Genesis 11 (pp. 15,161. That               have to take place in our history in        cannot be. The content of the faith
which is described in Genesis 11              order to be "true." The CRC com-            of the child of God and of the
did not happen. There were, in                mittee on creation and science is re-       church is biblical creation.
fact, different languages and differ-         defining "event" and "historical."            Neither is this explanation of the
ent nations long before the time of             But this gallant, almost desper-          origin of all things the found.ation
the Tower of Babel. By the "highly            ate, attempt to rescue the biblical         of the truth of the fall and of the
stylized" report in Genesis 11, the           account of creation from the charge         truth of redemption. For the form-
Bible "intends to illumine the basic          that it is pure fiction and fable fails.    dation of fall and redemption is
nature of human history when it is            Creation is not some unknown                biblical creation.
divorced from the God who is Cre-             event behind Genesis 1 and 2. It is           The report itself calls on the
ator and Redeemer." "In general               the event described in Genesis 1            church to deny the fall. According
we can say that the primary inten-            and 2. Creation is not some event           to the report, the fall into sin and
tion of the historical narratives in          that is radically different from the        the entrance of death into the
Genesis l-11 is to serve the under-           event described in Genesis 1 and 2.         world did not actually happen, ex-
standing of the unfolding history of          It is the event found in Genesis 1          actly as revealed in Genesis 3. Gen-
redemption, not to present us with            and 2, exactly as described in these        esis 3 is unhistorical. Since the bib-
a detailed history of pre-Abrahamic           two chapters. If the explanation of         lical fall is the fall described ii Gen-
times." The committee sums up                 the origin of the universe is not the       esis 3, exactly as described there,
this approval of the denial of the            event revealed in Genesis 1 and 2,          denial of the historic@  of Genesis 3
historic@ of Genesis l-11 this way:           exactly as set forth there, the bibli-      is denial of the biblical fall.
  It is consistent with sound Re-             cal account of creation is not histor-        Where biblical creation and the
f0t-t.d  exegesis, moreover, to achnowl-      ical. It is legend, or saga, or myth.       biblical fall are denied, as they are
edge that the historical narratives of        It is, in plain English, false.             in the theory of theistic evohltion,
Genesis l-11, like those of other parts         This is the condemnation of the-          biblical redemption must be denied
of Scripture, are stylized and com-           istic evolution as defended in the          also.
pressed and may not follow chronolog-         report of the CRC committee on                 If the CRC gives final approval
ical order. It is also consistent with        creation and science. It is not my          to theistic evolution, as this report
sound Reformed exegesis to acknowl-           purpose here to critique theistic           recommends, the day will come (I
edge that the historical narratives of        evolution in detail. This will be           predict, in the life of my gentera-
Genesis 1-11 may be theologically styl-       done is our special issue on the Re-        tion) that a CRC synod will make a
ized, so that a historical event or entity    formed doctrine of creation sched-          declaration that runs like this:
is shaped in the narrative to carry a         uled for May 1. All that needs to be           The church declares that she cannot
theological significance far beyond the       noted here is that the theory pro-          bind her theologians and preachers to
historical event or entity on which the       posed in the report on creation and         the position that the sto y of ths con-
narrative is based (p. 42).                   science as a permissible explana-           ception and birth of Jesus in Luke 1
   Why the report insists on refer-           tion of the origin of the world is not      and 2 and in Matthew 1, or the ok-.
ring to the content of Genesis l-11           biblical creation. It is incontestably      ously stylized and theologized  reflec-
as "historical narratives" when it            not biblical creation. Everyone             tion on the conception and birth of fe-
does not believe that anything in             must acknowledge that it is not             sus in John 1, is to be taken as literally
these chapters actually happened              biblical creation, including the            true. The traditional view of these pas-
as written will be puzzling to some.          committee that drew up the report           sages would be compelling on scrip-
Similarly puzzling will be the re-            on creation and science. For it is          tural grounds were it not that general
port's affirmation of the "event              not the event taught by the Holy            revelation and the overwhelming testi-
character" of the narrative in Gene-          Spirit in Genesis 1 and 2 as the ex-        mony of scientific scholarship s:eem to
sis 1-11 (p. 42).                             planation of the origin of the              be authoritatively telling us something
   The report does not mean by this           world. It is not this event, because        else. Without wishing to deny the
that creation, the creation of Adam,          the explanation proposed by the re-         event character of the sto y of ]esus'
the creation of Eve, the fall, the            port - theistic evolution-is not            birth, we must allow for the po,ssibility
flood, and the Tower of Babel liter-          the event of Genesis 1 and 2 exactly        that Jesus of Nazareth had a human,
ally happened as described in Gen-            as described in Genesis 1 and 2. It         biological  father.  Further study in this
esis l-11. Rather, these fictitious           bears no resemblance to the event           area by our theologians is necessa y.
stories are somehow connected to              set forth in Genesis 1 and 2 what-            When this dreadful day c(omes
history or to an event in history.            ever. This becomes glaringly evi-           for the CRC - let the conservatives
Perhaps there is an event buried              dent when one compares the 19-              give heed -the doctrine of com-
deep in ancient history (about                page "Appendix" of the report, on           mon grace that Abraham Kuyper

222 I TheStandardBearerIFebmq15,1991


and Herman Bavinck injected into          tion to the 1991 synod of the CRC is          This, I will demonstrate in my
the bloodstream of the Dutch Re-          "Committee on Creation and Sci-            concluding editorial on this report
formed churches and that the CRC          ence."                                     in the next issue of the Standard
fatally infected herself with in 1924       The name of the report should            Bearer, God willing. q             - DJE
will be the cause.                        be, "Committee on Creation and
  The name of the report of the           Science...and  Common Grace."
study committee on theistic evolu-



                                         Letters

Rebellious Young                          in infancy? I have always had a             must excommunicate him. In the
People and Children                       hard time understanding what this           case of such a young person who
                                          theological discussion is all about.        has not yet confessed his faith, the
Dying in Infancy                                                 N.  I! Jefferson     Protestant Reformed Churches
                                                           Mount Vernon, NY           practice "erasure," which is disci-
  I appreciated the clarity of the                                                    plinary in nature and takes placle
series of editorials on "The              Response                                    after repeated admonitions.
Covenant of God and the Children                                                         As to your second question, my
of Believers." I have given copies          Children are members of the in-           assertion concerning children of
to others. I have two questions on        stituted church by virtue of bap-           believers dying in infancy was this:
the concluding installment (the           tism. They are, therefore, subject to       "(The Protestant Reformed
Standurd  Bearer, Sept. 15,199O).  I      church discipline even before they          covenant view) gives comfort to,
ask that you answer them in the           make public confession of faith,            parents and children alike. To
SB.  The first concerns your state-       thus becoming members in full               mention only one aspect of its rich
ment that rebellious young people         standing. In the normal course of           comfort, only this doctrine of the
in the sphere of the covenant are to      life, a child would be in his middle        covenant enables believing parents
be disciplined by the church. At          or late teens before he would mani-         to bring the body of their infant
what age can a rebellious child be        fest himself as the proper object of        child to the grave without doubt-
taken by his parents to the elders        church discipline by ungodliness            ing of the election and salvation of
for discipline? Would not such a          of life and rebellion against his par-      the child." I based this on the
child have to be "of age"? Never          ents. Deuteronomy 21:18ff. and              Canons of Dordt, 1117, to which I
having read or heard of this in any       Hebrews 10:25ff.  indicate the be-          also referred:
church, I have no idea what this          havior that requires church disci-             Since we are fo judge of fhe will of
means, how old the youth might            pline in such a case: refusal to at-        God from His Word, which fesfifies
be, or what constitutes behavior se-      tend church and catechism; drunk-           that the children of believers are holy,
rious enough to warrant this.             enness (which today includes drug           not by nafure, but in virtue of the
  My second question has to do            use), as well as general intemper-          covenant of grace, in which they, fo-
with the assertion that the Protes-       ance of life; and persistent, stub-         gefher wifh the parents, are compre-
tant Reformed view of infants as          born disobedience to his parents.           hended, godly parents have no reason
members of the church and                 That especially which calls for             to doubt of the election and dvation
covenant of God brings comfort to         church discipline is his impeni-            offheir chddren,  whom if pleaseth
parents whose children die in in-         tence. Deuteronomy  21% teaches             God to call out of this life in their in-
fancy or early childhood. They are        this: "when they (the parents)
assured that their children are           have chastened him, (he) will not           f"nt?&nan  Hoeksema minimized
saved. If people can accept the fact      hearken unto them." The parents             the importance of this article in the
that some covenant children show          can do nothing with him anymore.            Reformed confession:
in adulthood that they are not be-        There is yet something they can                This article leaves much fo be de-
lievers, why cannot they leave the        and must do: call in the elders. Of         sired as far as clarify and sharpness of
eternal destiny of their children dy-     course, the elders will work pa-            definition are concerned; and it caniit
ing in infancy to the providence of       tiently with such a young person.           be denied fhat in the form in which fhe
God as well? Why do people sup            But if he continues in his wicked           matter is here cast if really cannot be
pose that they must be assured of         life, refusing to repent, the church        considered an item for a confession.....
the salvation of the children dying                                                   From this point of view it certainly

                                                                                     February 15,199l I The Standard Bearer I !D.S


would not have been any great loss if           Canons (as it is of the Reformed             godly parents have no reason to
Artide 17 of Canons, I-A, had never             faith in its entirety), is applied con-      doubt of the election and salvation
been iduded  (Believers and Their               sistently also to the painful experi-        of their children who die in infancy,
Seed, pp. 146-259).                             ence of the death of a-little child.         but that it is understandabIe  and
  With this implicit criticism of the           This too is comfort in Article 17 of         permissible that they doubt any-
article, I do not agree. The article is         the Canons. This keeps God-fear-             way. They may not doubt. They are
important both doctrinally and                  ing parents in that dark hour so             obliged not to doubt. That whtich
practically. It is important doctri-            that they neither faint nor curse.           obliges them is the Word of God in
nally. It contains one of the few ref-          Third, the article offers the comfort        Scripture concerning the covenant:
erences to the covenant in our                  that these parents have no reason            I will be your God and the God of
"Three Forms of Unity." It demon-               to doubt the election and salvation          your children.
strates that it is historically,                of the child who dies in infancy.              Why does the Reformed faith in-
creedally, and essentially Reformed               Debate in the Reformed churches            sist on this comfort?
to teach that the infant children of            over the exact force, and even over            Because the God of all comfort
believers are included with their               the truth, of this consolation often         affords also this comfort to His
parents in the covenant of grace                misses the point. The point is sim-          covenant people in their deep sor-
and, therefore, to practice infant              ply this: The Reformed faith, rich in        row. And the Reformed faith is
baptism The article also makes                  comfort, has comfort for godly par-          jealous that God's covenant people
clear that the Reformed fathers un-             ents in the death of their little child      enjoy all of the comfort that God
derstood the holiness of the chil-              that no other faith can offer. The           wills them to have. 0              - E d .
dren of believers taught in I                   comfort is grounded in the
Corinthians 7~14 as actual holiness             covenant that the God who took
worked in the infants by the regen-             this child makes with believers and
erating Spirit, and not as a mere               their children. A faith that denies
formal setting apart of the children            the inclusion of infants in the                 "Let Everything Tlhat
in the visible church. The article              covenant of grace, e.g., the Baptist
appeals to the words of Paul in I               faith, can never give this comfort to            Hath Breath Praise
Corinthians 214: "... else were                 parents burying a little child. The                     The Lord"
your children unclean; but now are              Reformed faith also has comfort
they holy." The creed explains this             concerning the death of little chil-         Birdie on yon hawthorn tree,
holiness as inner, spiritual renewal            dren because it knows the saving             What a lesson thou teachest  me,
by the Spirit. For it regards this ho-          work of God to be sovereign, un-             Be the weather what it may,
liness as proof of the salvation of             conditioned by the activity of the           Thou art singing all the day.
the children, which, of course, it              sinner. It does not require repen-
could not be if it were only the out-           tance and faith as a prerequisite.           When the sky is pouring rain.,
ward setting apart of the children              There is no reason, therefore, why           We can hear thy sweet refrain,
as members of the visible church,               God should not regenerate, give              If the sun is shining clear,
as some hold.                                   faith to, and sanctify infants. And          Still thy dulcet notes we hear.
  Nor should the practical impor-               in fact He does. For, as Paul pro-
tance of the article be slighted.               claims in I Corinthians 214, the             Oh, my God, teach me to sing,
First, the Synod of Dordt was ex-               children of believers are holy. The          "Giving thanks" for everything,
posing the slander of the Arminian              fact that these children die before          When the sun is bright and high,
foes, that "many children of the                they are able to believe and to show         Or when raindrops cloud my sky.
faithful are tom, guiltless, from               holiness in their confession and
their mothers' breasts, and tyranni-            walk does not exclude them from              Why should I have cause for fear,
cally plunged into hell; so that nei-           heaven.                                      When my Father is so near;
ther baptism, nor the prayers of the               The Canons are forceful in stat-          Dearest Lord let me be still,
Church at their baptism, can at all             ing this comfort. J. G. Feenstra is          Doing always Thy sweet will.
profit them" (cf. the "Conclusion"              correct when he speaks of "a very
of the Canons). The doctrine of                 strong expression" Yeen zeer sferke          Casting all my cares on Thee,
predestination as confessed by the              uitdrukking"-cf. his De Dordfse              For Thou carest, Lord, for me,
Reformed faith implies no such                  Leerregelen, p. 70). Our English             Make my life one praising song,
thing. Second, the article comforts             translation is, "godly parents have          All the night and all day long.
grieving parents at the little coffin           no reason to doubt." The Latin
of their baby by reminding them                 original is, "pii parentes . . . dubifare    So, like birdie on the tree,
that the explanation of the death of            non debent," i.e., "godly parents            Full of praise my God to Thee,
their little one, regardless of the             ought not to doubt." The Dutch               Letting those around me know,
physical cause of death, is that it             has, "ZO moefen  de Godzdige  ouders         All my joy from Thee doth flow.
pleased God to call the child out of            niet twijfelen," i.e., "therefore godly
this life. The sovereignty of God,              parents must not doubt." The                             - SB, November l5,1932
which is the one, great theme of the            meaning of the Canons is not that

224 I The Standard Bearer I February 15,199l


The Strength                              The End Times (9)
of Youth                                  The Millennium
Rev. Barrett Gritters


  We have tried to answer the             our future? Many today say, "The          Some even think that dying at 100
question, so far, that the disciples      great tribulation has already taken      years of age will be young. The
asked the Lord in the beginning of        place." For that reason alone, we        prophecies of Isaiah where the bon
Matthew 24: `When shall these             must know what the Bible teaches         dwells with the lamb, the children
things be, and what shall be the          about the millennium.                     play on the serpent's hole, the
sign of thy coming, and of the end          The word millennium  means              swords are beaten into plowshares
of the world?" In other words,            "one thousand years." You find            and spears into pruninghooks, will
when will the end come? The Lord          this word in Revelation 20 and           be fulfilled on this side of eternity.
answered their question in a way          nowhere else (in each of verses 2-7).    Jesus will return to a converted
that startles: "Take heed that no           There are two main groups               world that has already experienced
man deceive you . . . . N He says, and    whose position differs from ours,         the millennium of peace.
then He went on to list a host of         both of them believing that there            For them, the prophecies of the
signs that would precede His              will be a long period of peace and       Antichrist and the great tribulation
coming and the destruction of             prosperity on earth, sometime in         have already been fulfilled when
Jerusalem. These signs we have            the future.                               Rome opposed Israel and perse-
looked at carefully already.                Pre-millennialists believe that Je-     cuted the church around A.D. 70..
  Another way to ask the question,        sus will come back before (pre) the       There will be no personal An-
"Lord, when will these things be,         millennium and reign for 1,000            tichrist, no great tribulation; the
and when will be the sign of thy          years on earth. His coming  precedes      world will not be getting worse
coming?" is to ask, "At what point        the millennium. Post-millennialists       and worse, but better and better.
in the millennium will Jesus return       believe that Jesus will come back            This is the view of those who
to establish His kingdom and make         after  the millennium. His coming         talk about "conquering the world
all things new?" or, `What does the       p0s taa tm the millennium. These          for Jesus," and "asserting the
millennium have to do with the            views of Revelation 20 are, we be         crown rights of Jesus." Post-mil-
timing of the Lord's return?"             lieve, not the teaching of Scripture.    lennialism becomes the teaching of
  This is a good way for us to ask        (Remember this: the words de-            the churches who find it their call-
the question, because in our day          scribe when Jesus comes in relation      ing to renew society, to solve the
there are such radically different        to the millennium.)                      problem of world hunger, to cure
views about the millennium. And             The pos t-miIIenniuIis  ts believe      the woes of the Latin Americans
most who are not Reformed as we           that the preaching of the gospel          and South Africans. And I would
are have such different views of the      will be successful in converting the     certainly hope that those interested
end that their behavior before the        majority of the world to Christ.          in the education of our children
end is radically different from ours.     This will bring 1,000 years of true       (parents, prospective teachers,
In fact, most of the church-world         Christian peace and prosperity.           school board members, those who
today believes something far differ-      (Some post-millennialists, not all,      buy textbooks) will have their eyes
ent from what we have been                believe that peace and prosperity        wide open for this teaching, so that
taught. Will we be involved in the        will come by natural means, by           it will not become part of the think-
great tribulation? Most today  say,       evolution, by social change, or by       ing of our covenant children.
`The church will not be involved."        forceful means.) Because the ma-             For the young people, my pur-
Will there even be a tribulation in       jority of mankind is saved, the          pose is not to give a detailed analy-
                                          world will be Christianized. All         sis of this view. (Those who are in-
                                          this takes place  before the coming      terested in this, as I indicated re-
                                          again of Jesus.                          cently in a response to a letter, may
                                            Wars will cease because Chris-         write the Sfatdd Bearer for a pa-
                                          tian kings and presidents will not       per that discusses this view in de
Rev. Gritters is pastor of the Protes-    be greedy for land and power.            tail.) But we do not adopt this
tant Reformed Church of Byron             Crime will diminish. Science will        post-millennial view for these rea-
Center, Michigan.                         advance to eliminate most diseases.      sons: First, the millennium of Rev-

                                                                                   February 15,1991  I The Standard Bearer I !D5


elation 20 does not end with a con-               If you listen to Christian radio,       sented as a fullness of time, from
verted world and Christianized so-              you know that this is the view of         God's point of view. This is com-
ciety, but with Satan raging and the            many, many pastors and churches.          plete as far as God's purposes are
hoards of the devil assaulting                    One main error of this view is          concerned - the filling of the cup
God's people. Second, Matthew 24                that it involves outlandish, absurd       of iniquity and the saving of God's
certainly speaks of "the end of the             ideas: Jesus returns to the earth, but    elect.
world" (vs. 3) and not just the de-             sin and death exist with Him; res-           Satan is bound during this "mil-
struction of Jerusalem (read care-              urrected saints and earthly saints        lennium" (vs. 2,3). This binding
fully also verses 14,27,29-31).  The            exist side by side; Old Testament         limits what Satan does. The bind-
destruction of Jerusalem is a type of           sacrifices and ceremonies are re-         ing does not stop him absolutely, so
the very end. Third, Scripture                  stored; Satan and his hosts come up       that he can do nothing, but that he
teaches that the church will always             with guns and bombs against Jesus!        "should deceive the nations no
be a "little flock" in the world.               Second, pm-millennialism  inter-          more" (vs.  3). The devil's purpose
`When the Son of Man returns, wil.l             prets, in the literal manner, pas-        of uniting all nations under An-
he find faith on the earth?" Just as            sages that are obviously symbolic.        tichrist, and establishing his king-
the time before the flood, the                  Third, it teaches that the church is a    dom through this, is thwarted
church will be a little band before             "parenthesis" between the Jews' re-       throughout the New Testament
Jesus returns. Fourth, the Bible                jection at Jesus' first coming and        times. He cannot even build his
teaches that the church, especially             their acceptance of Him at His sec-       kingdom as he did in the Old Testa-
at the very end, must endure suf-               ond coming. (Parentheses are not          ment times with Babylon and
fering and persecution; there will              really important, are not essential.)     Rome. "Something" restrains the
be a falling away from the faith un-            Fourth, the Bible teaches that this is    coming of this man of sin (II Thess.
til Antichrist arises. Finally, the             the last hour, not to be followed by      2). Satan can do many things, but
Old Testament prophecies must be                a thousand years of earthly history,      he cannot bring the man of sin yet.
taken as pictures of spiritual bless-           but by the new heavens and the               At the end of this "millennium"
ings given in the gospel and en-                new earth. But most importantly,          there will be a short time of Satan's
joyed by faith, not as earthly peace            premillennialism  (post-millennial-       loosing (II Thess. 27). Antichrist's
and prosperity and glory.                       ism, too) makes the kingdom of Je-        "church" will attack Christ's
   The pre-millenniul  view is far dif-         sus an earthly kingdom, contrary to       church in a great persecution. Even
ferent. By the time of the millen-              all of Jesus' teaching. We look for a     the heathen nations will be de-
nium of Revelation 20, Jesus has al-            kingdom set up in the heart of the        ceived into coming up against the
ready come (according to them, the              believer, coming through the              "holy city" in battle. But Jesus
events of Revelation 20 take place              preaching, to be established in all       Christ will return to destroy them
after the events in Revelation 19).             creation only at the end of time          all.
Seven years before this coming, Je-             when the present world has been              This view fits with the rest of
sus has raptured  the church, so that           destroyed. Not before.                    Revelation 20. Verses 4 and 6 speak
no church member will be around                   The Protestant Reformed                 of certain saints living and reigning
to experience the great tribulation.            Churches are neither post-millen-         with Christ in the millennium
While the church spends seven                   nial nor premillennial. Our view          reign. This refers to the life of the
years in the air with Jesus, An-                is what is called A-millennialism         elect in heaven after death, not a
tichrist will persecute the Jews in             ("A" means "no"). This does not           reign on earth. John sees "souls" of
Israel. Then Jesus returns from                 mean that we believe there will be        them that were beheaded (vs. 41,
heaven, defeats Antichrist, and be-             no millennium, but that there will        the souls of martyrs for Jesus.
gins the l,OOO-year reign on earth              be no literal one thousand-year              This view fits with the two resur-
from Jerusalem. The Christians                  reign of peace on earth.                  rections referred to. The first resur-
who have died are raised from the                 The millennium of Revelation            rection is the entering of believers
dead to reign with Jesus on earth.              must be interpreted  figuratively, or     into glory in the soul. The second
The Jewish kingdom that had re-                 symbolically. The 1,000 years is a        resurrection is the raising of bodies
jected Him now accepts Him. For a               description of the entire new dis-        of believers to be united to their
thousand years the world exists                 pensation, from Jesus' ascension to       souls (see John 5:25-291.
like this.                                      the second coming. The millen-               Then the two "deaths" make
   But there is still sin in the world,         nium is the present time, during          sense. The first death is physical
the devil has not been destroyed.               which Satan is bound, and some            death. The second death has no
At the end of the millennium, Satan             live and reign with Jesus.                power over those who have a part
is loosed from prison, gathers the                One thousand years is ten times         in the first resurrection (Rev. 20~6).
nations for the battle of Armaged-              ten times ten. In Scripture, ten is a     The second death is everlasting
don. With guns and bombs, the                   symbolic number, representing             death in hell (vs. 14). Of course, the
war rages until Christ defeats Satan            completeness as far as God is con-        second death has no power over us
decisively when the world ends                  cerned. Think only of the ten             who have a part in the first resur-
with another resurrection and judg-             plagues, or the ten commandments.         rection!
ment.                                           So the new dispensation is repre-                     St******

226 I The Standard Bearer / February 15,199l


  God reigns! Through Jesus, God            But our God reigns!! Jesus                with Jesus, sharing in the reign of
governs everything in this world!        Christ sits on the throne, governing         the Lord over all.
  God's people need to know this.
   . .                                   all! Although the time is long, it is           Should we fear? Naturally, yes.
Ee;s comforting for God,            *
                             s clul-     limited by the counsel of God, com-          Knowing God's promises, no! 110
                                         plete for His saving purposes of             not fear the wicked world, the
  We need this comfort. This new         His elect, no longer than necessary          devil, even the Antichrist whose
dispensation is more than a thou-        for the filling of the cup of sin. Al-       behavior sounds terrifying. God is
sand years, when there is much           though Satan is loosed for a season,         for us. God is for us. God is for us.
trouble and sorrow for God's little      it will be a short season; the days          Let that ring in your ears. Let that
church. The devil is furiously rag-      even will "be shortened" for the             be your confession in the midst of
ing during this time - as much as        elect's sakes. And when there is             your tears. Let that be your com-
he is able to do - devouring              sorrow and darkness here, fire and          fort in all your sorrow.
whom he will. In the very last            smoke and blood and tears, we                  God reigns!
days, he will be loosed to rage for a    have the comfort that this tribula-             God be glorified! Cl
short season, in a manner worse           tion is the path to life and glory, life
than ever before.




Into All                                 Mission Principles (Ill)
the World                                The Motives
Rev: Ronald VanOverloop


   It has been established in previ-      limitations (finances, manpower,             more important than God's Word.
ous articles in this rubric that mis-     etc.), she zealously seeks to be obe-        Jesus said to go into all the world,
sions, as well as local evangelism        dient to her God-given responsibil-          to take your sons out of the womb
and the witnessing of the individ-        ities. When the church operates              of warm churches, and to go
ual Christian, is not a matter of         within the limited resources God             through every door He opens, near
choice, but of obedience to King Je-      has given it, then it must not feel          and far.
sus. This is not to say that the          guilty, as long as it is being faithful         Laboring with this perspective
work of missions is the exclusive,        (doing its best) with what it has.           the church serves as God's servant
nor even the chief, purpose of the        We must do the best we can possi-            in the accomplishment of His eter-
church. The true church has a gen-        bly do with the neighbors whom               nal purposes of election and repro-
uine, Scripturally directed concern       God places in the path of our life.          bation. The church seeks espe-
to proclaim the gospel to the fullest       In this regard it is worthy of note        cially the positive fruit of the gath-
of its ability.                           that often the largeness of God's            ering of the elect from all nations,
  We have also established that           heart is larger than ours. Jonah             gathering them into the universal
the objects of mission work are "all      learned forcibly that God's heart            church of God on earth. Thus God
nations," "all the world," and `ev-       certainly was larger than the bor-           is glorified.
ery creature" (cf. the Great Com-         ders of Israel. To put it another                        *******
mission). The local church is not         way, Jonah believed that because                In this article we will consider
limited by Christ's command, just         God dealt with Israel in a special           the motives for the performance of
by His providence. While strug-           way, His heart was no larger than            mission work. Is it necessary to
gling with her providentially set         Israel. Are there Ninevehs today             deal with motives? What should.
                                          toward which there exists the atti-          motivate us in the performance of
                                          tude that they are good for nothing          this work? Are there improper
                                          but judgment? Jonah deemed ev-               motives for doing mission work'?
                                          ery enemy of Israel as being God's              The necessity of dealing with
                                          enemy, as worthy of destruction              motives arises because of the need
                                          and unworthy of the gospel. There-           for constant motivation to do the
                                          fore, when it meant leaving Israel's         work. The earth-dwelling churclh
Rev. VanOverloop is pastor of Bethel      borders and going to Gentile                 and believer are not tire-less and
Profesfant Reformed Church in Elk         "dogs," then his racial pride was            depression-less. Indeed, they are
Grove Village, Illinois.

                                                                                      February 15,1991  I The Standard Bearer / 227


prone to weariness even in well-do-              command, but his motive was far         have "dynamic ministries," jazz up
ing. Hence there arises a constant               from being right.                       their services, and have friendly
need for stimulation.                              By means of the gourd, God            members.
   For example, some churches do                 used a strange and much milder            It is truth that the growth of the
missions only because they see the               means than the storm and great          church is a matter of concern to the
great need of hell-bound souls, and              fish to set Jonah's heart right.        Reformed believer. But we react
the miseries which accompany the                 Jonah had pity for the plant. God       against a carnal fascination with
sinner in every phase of his life.               asks of Jonah whether He, God,          size and success. Size is not one of
However, the mere knowledge of                   may have the same for Nineveh.          the marks of the true church. In
this need will not keep one in the               Jonah did not labor for the gourd;      fact, Scripture and history show
mission field, because the people                he did not make it; it was so tran-     that usually, though not necessarily,
will soon rebuke and repel you.                  sient, yet Jonah wanted it and          the true church is small. In addi-
Once it is apparent that the people,             loved it. The Almighty God made         tion, the Bible warns against this
who are in the greatest need,                    Nineveh, and He sustained it, fill-     fascination with large numbers
blindly and stubbornly decline the               ing it with souls. One gourd over       when it details for us the history of
mi.ssionarJr's every effort, then                against a great city with its multi-    David's sin of numbering the peo-
what is left to motivate him to stay             tudes! Is the value of Nineveh less     ple.
and labor?                                       than that of the gourd?                   Having said this, the Reformed
   There are others who do mis-                    Jonah is an example of comply-        believer must not dismiss or de-
sions being motivated solely by                  ing outwardly with God's com-           spise the growth of the church alto-
God's command to "Go." After                     mand, but being improperly moti-        gether, mystically believing that the
some experiences of rejection and                vated. Nineveh's conversion is a        church will grow of its own accord.
other difficulties, they continue be-            testimony, not of God's blessing on     Rather, the Scriptures advocate the
cause they are under orders. You                 the obedience of His servant, but of    attitude of looking for and working
might hear them-say, "If not for the             the great grace of God that He          towards a healthy church growth.
command, I would not be here."                   would use Jonah even when he was        Acts 2:42-47  teaches that the
They may have lost some or all of                of an improper frame of mind and        growth of the church is not some-
their idealism, but they have not                heart. (Every child of God, and es-     thing carnal, but highly spiritual. If
lost the ideal.                                  pecially every officebearer, thanks     I love the Lord and the salvation of
   But a command by itself is not                God daily that man's usefulness in      His people, then I value church
enough. Not only are commands                    preaching has little or no relation-    growth, then I pray for it, delight in
frequently and easily disobeyed                  ship to his heart's condition.)         it, and look forward to it.
but, also, true obedience involves                       ******a                           The proper balance is achieved
much more than mere external                       We learn to be aware of im-           when we realize that the Scriptures
compliance. It is sad but very true              proper motives!                         show that the growth of the church
that we are capable of rendering                   Many there are who are busy in        is not an end in itself. If it is made
outward obedience without willing                missions and evangelism for the         to be of such exclusive or primary
inward compliance. Our feet can                  sake of pride and prestige. This        importance, then it will be a cancer
be right, but our heart so wrong.                pride is a danger for any Christian     which will ultimately destroy that
How stubborn is remaining sin!                   not yet in heaven. The power of the     congregation.
   Think of the example of Jonah.                old man is very great. It is so easy            *+****a
Whereas at first he was unwilling                when speaking of God's blessings          What are legitimate incentives or
to give even outward obedience,                  to refer only to that which is nice     motivations in the performance of
later he went to Nineveh in obedi-               from the perspective of our flesh.      the work of missions? What moti-
ence to God's commission; but his                  "Church growth" is the "in            vations does the Bible give?
heart was not right. By the stormy               thing." In fact, there is a "church       The supreme motive is to glorify
sea and by the great fish God had                growth movement:' If you were to        God (Matt. 516; I Cor. 10:31:1.  First,
brought Jonah's feet to obedience;               walk into your local Christian          this is the impelling conviction that
and by the dead gourd God sought                 bookstore with the intention of         God is worthy to be known *and
to bring his heart to the same point.            buying something on the subject of      praised for who and what He is.
Even after the chastening storm                  church growth, I would dare say         Notice that the motive for the per-
and life-saving fish, Jonah only                 that you would need to use both of      formance of missions is the same as
went to Nineveh with reluctance.                 your arms to carry the books when       that for worship. The need to pro-
He would go, but it would be to                  walking out. You will find books        claim God's glory is met through
damn them. He would gladly                       extolling the virtues of the mega-      increasing our knowledge o:f God.
preach judgment and hell-fire. He                churches already in existence.          If we have discovered the glory of
anticipated a mighty manifestation               There will be other books describ-      God in the face of Jesus Christ, then
of God's wrath, and he stayed near               ing how you can get your church to      we cannot hold back. And it can be
Nineveh just to watch the great                  grow. Many seminaries now in-           said that to the degree that we have
spectacle of God's quick and sure                clude this subject in their curricu-    learned God, to that extent we are
judgment. Jonah obeyed God's                     lum, describing how churches can        responsible and best equipped to

228  I The Standard Bearer I February 15,199l


 make Him known. "God be merci-           including that of missions. Then                     ers from the fear of failing if there is
 ful unto us, and bless us; and cause     my gratitude for all that God has                    little or no response. It sa';es us
 his face to shine upon us; that thy      done for me gives me the desire to                   from begging and demeaning the
 way may be known upon the earth,         tell others of my Savior and salva;                  Gospel and its Christ. It delivers us
 thy saving health among the na-          tion.                                                from the fear of speaking or of not
 tions." The result of this knowl-          Another motivation is the con-                     .being  sufficiently eloquent (I Cor.
 edge is: "Let all the people praise      viction of and zeal for the truth.                   2:l). It assures us that no one is be-
 thee, 0 God; let all the people          The truth of the sovereignty of                      yond God's power to save. It saves
 praise thee" (Ps. 67~1-3).               God, the truth of the vicarious                      us from pride, for no credit goes to
   With the motivation to glorify         atonement of Christ, the truth of                    man if there is fruit.
 God, we renounce the "God-who-           God's covenant, the truth of God's                      A final motive for the perfor-
 serves-me," and seek to increase         love and grace, the truth of Calvin-                 mance of missions is love for the
 the knowledge of how God is wor-         ism all are stimuli. The truths                      neighbor (Matt. 22:37-40).  The sec-
 thy to be known. Much evange-            themselves, as truths about God,                     ond, great commandment is chiefly
 lism in today's church-world is zeal     are worthy to be proclaimed far                      manifested in a concern for the
 for men, not for the privilege of        and wide. We are to be motivated                     eternal state and spiritual well-be-
 making God known. The Bible              by the desire to see the truth pub-                  ing of my neighbor. This responsi-
 does know man's needs, but the           lished as well and as broadly as                     bility toward the neighbor is deter-
 Great Commission says nothing of         possible.                                            mined, not by God's decrees and
 what men need. Not that man's              When sowing precious seed with                     providence, but by His commands.
 needs are unimportant. But they          tears (Ps. 126), and filled with the                    There is God's command. And
 are not number one. (It is impor-        consciousness of one's own weak-                     there is also God's gloryand  His
 .tant to remember that it is impossi-    ness and sinfulness, then we must                    truth.
 ble to be God-centered, and at the       of absolute necessity be consumed                       Remember Jonah! May our heart
 same time to ignore the needs of         with the motive of confidence and                    and our feet be together. May God
 men.) God's glory is to be re-           trust in the irresistible work of the                grant us to be well motivated in the
 vealed. Hearers are not to be            Holy Spirit and in the power of the                  performance of our every work.  Cl
 trained to ask, `What is in this for     preaching. This confidence deliv-
 me?" But they have to know that
 Jesus is Lord, and that they must
act accordingly.                                                    Because He Is My Savior
   This motivation saves us from
 peevishness toward God when we                    When clouds of despair hide the glory of the,day,
 face disappointments in our mis-                  And weary my feet plod along my pilgrim way,
 sion work. Then we do our work                       Come joy or sorrow, good or ill,
 prayerfully, because we know that                    I yield myself unto His will
 the outcome is solely up to our                      Whose mercy guides and keeps me still,
 sovereign God. Find your inspira-                       Because He is my Savior!
 tion, not in successes, but in God's
 character!                                        He will not forsake me in seasons of distress;
   The absence of the motivation to                My weakness He knows, and He's always near to bless;
 glorify God by making Him known                      His mercy, boundless as the sea,
 as the driving force behind our                      His grace, so rich, so full, so free,
 work of missions puts us out of                      In floods of glory cover me,
 harmony with God's plan of salva-                       Because He is my Savior.
 tion. Fill your mind and heart with
 thoughts of God. The love of God                  The poorest and lowest are not beneath His care;
 constraineth us!                                  No burden, no sorrow too great for Him to share.
   A second motivation, which is                      His ear can hear the faintest call;
 closely related to the former, is                    He sees and marks the sparrow's fall;
 gratitude for so great a Savior and                  In life, in death, He is my all,
 for the salvation of so worthless a                     Because He is my Savior.
 person and people. This gratitude
 is exhibited in an enthusiastic joy               So patiently He walks and talks with me along the way,
 for one's salvation. It is total com-                My soul is sweetly satisfied
 mitment to Christ, "for me to live is                To trust His love, whate'er betide;
 Christ? (Phil. 1:21). It is a genuine             He leads me, cheers me, helps me, keeps me exfry passing day,
 enthusiasm about one's relation-                     In life, in death, He is my Guide,
 ship to God in Christ. This grati-                      Because He is my Savior.
 tude is a constant impetus to be
 obedient to all of God's commands,                                                                            - SB, February 15,1933

                                                                                               February 15,199l I The Standard Bearer  I229


                                                News From the.
                                                Fo:reign  Mission  `.&
Contribution                                    C o m m i t t e e
Rev. Michael De Vries


   The Foreign Mission Committee                countries. In recent months we              Rev. Dykstra and Prof. H. Hank0
of the Protestant Reformed                      have sent books and materials from        departed on December 18,199O  and
Churches continues to labor in the              our Seminary to a pastor in the           returned home on January 14,199l.
consciousness and conviction that               Philippines. We have sent doctri-         This delegation had an extrelmely
`I... it was the will of God, that              nal tapes to a Bible teacher in India.    busy schedule, with a host of mat-
Christ by the blood of the cross,               We have sent letters of inquiry to        ters to discuss with our sister
whereby he confirmed the new                    many others who have contacted            churches in Singapore; and we re-
covenant, should effectually re-                us. (We continue to ap+eciate  it         joice to report that they were able
deem out of every people, tribe, na-            when Evangelism Committees of             to have very fruitful discussions re-
tion, and language, all those, and              many of our PR Churches forward           garding possible joint mission
those only, who were from eternity              to us letters they receive from for-      work. There was discussion re-
chosen to salvation, and given to               eign lands.) We are currently seek-       garding the potential of India as a
him by the Father..." (Canons of                ing and evaluating response from          field for joint mission work. Rev.
Dordt II, Art. 8). Thus, our work is            our regular doctrinal tape recipi-        Dykstra has reported that the dis-
directed toward those who in their              ents in West Malaysia, Kenya, and         cussions also dealt with practical
generations have not belonged to                Nigeria.                                  aspects of mission work, as well as
the covenant. The constituency of                 Over the years we have received         having closer contact and coopera-
the FMC is located in the NW                    many letters from individuals in          tion between our Committees.
Iowa/SW Minnesota area of our                   Ghana, Africa. We have had long-            May we be fervent in prayer that
churches and consists of three min-             standing contact and correspon-           Christ, the King of the Church, will
isters and five elders.                         dence with a Bible teacher in that        open doors to us to preach thie
   We continue to have consider-                country. We have been busy with           Gospel even to the ends of the
able opportunity to distribute pam-             investigation of Ghana as a poten-        earth, and that He will provide ser-
phlets, books, tapes, and Bibles to             tial field of labor. The FMC has de-      vants to go forth laboring in this
individuals in various foreign                  veloped a mandate for sending an          difficult work. For we are assured
                                                investigatory delegation to Ghana,        that,
                                                but we have not been able to imple-         Heathen lands and hostile
                                                ment our plans as yet.                             peoples
                                                  As we reported to Synod 1990,             Soon shall come the Lord to
                                                we continue to view Singapore/the                  know;
                                                Far East as a prime field for foreign       Nations born again in Zion
                                                missions. The Synod of 1990 au-             Shall the Lord's salvation show;
                                                thorized the sending of a delegate          God Almighty shall on Zion
                                                from our Committee and a delegate                  strength bestow,
                                                from the Contact Committee to Sin-          God Almighty shall on Zion
                                                gapore to discuss with the Evangel-                strength bestow.
                                                ical Reformed Churches of Singa-                         Psalter # 237, stanza 2 Cl
                                                pore various matters including
                                                missions. From our Committee,
                                                Rev. Russell Dykstra was chosen to
                                                serve on this delegation to Singa-
Rev. DeVries  is pastor of the Protes-          pore. The FMC drew up a mandate
tant Reformed Church of Edgerton,               for discussions with the Mission
Minnesota.                                      Committee of the ERCS.
230 I The Standard Bearer I February 15,1?91


Search the
Scriptures                                Final Farewell
Rev. Gise VanBaren


Read and study Philippians 4:10-23        From the very beginning, probably         learned therewith to be content."
  We turn to the final verses of the      about ten years before, this church       Much has been written on Chtis-
letter to the Philippians. Paul ten-      had assisted the apostle financially      tian contentment. Contentment is
derly recalls the kindness of that        and, doubtless, prayerfully as well.      the conviction that God knows
church and expresses to them his          It was "from the beginning of the         what one needs, and that He gives
greetings and farewell.                   gospel," that is, from the time that      in His mercy and grace. Therefore,
  In verses 10 and 14-15 the apos-        the gospel first was brought to           whatever that might be, one ac-
tle recalls the gifts which the           them. Other churches had failed in        knowledges that God in His wis-
church of Philippi had repeatedly         this regard. Only Philippi freely         dom knows what is best for us.
sent to him. Paul was still in            gave to assist the apostle.               Paul did not complain. Paul was
prison. But even here, the church           Still, Paul does not state all of       not envious of others who might
of Philippi had provided for his          this in order to flatter the Philippi-    have more than did he. Paul did1
care. Their care had "flourished          ans. Nor does he seek to induce           not grieve that often he had to suf-
again." There was, evidently, a           them to provide still more for him.       fer. Because God directs this all, he
time in which that church was un-         Though he rejoices in their gifts, it     was satisfied. That was true in
able to assist the apostle. The rea-      is not first because of the gifts, but    "whatever state he was." I wonder
sons are not mentioned. It was not        because of God's work which be-           how hard it was for Paul to learn
that these had for a period forgot-       came evident in their giving.             such a lesson. How long did it take
ten the apostle. Rather, they               Verses 11-13 point out the              to impress this truth on the apostle?
"lacked opportunity." Perhaps             blessed truth that Paul was content       Now he knew and confessed: I am
there were no means to bring the          in whatsoever state he was. It was        content.
gifts to the apostle. Now Paul had        a confession of faith, a confession          The heart of that contentment is
received of their generosity once         of absolute trust in God who pro-         presented in verse 13: "I can do all
again.                                    vides according to every need.            things through Christ which
  For this kindness, Paul rejoices          Paul did not have to speak with         strengtheneth me." Christ gave
greatly "in the Lord." He saw this        respect to "want." He had enough          him the power to do that which
both as God's grace to him while in       - for God surely always provided          was required. Christ had bestowed
prison, and also as the fruit of          enough. He was content with what          His Spirit and directed through His
God's work in the Philippians. The        he received as well. This is not to       Word so that Paul could carry out
glory for it all is ascribed to God.      say that the apostle was always           his missionary labors. There was
  In verse 14 the apostle com-            filled. He had learned to endure          no task impossible for the apostle
mends the Philippians for doing           hunger. He knew how to be                 with that kind of "backing." Wh.at
this in his affliction. To receive of     "abased" (humbled). Some of the           confidence, what assurance, this
them this thoughtful assistance           afflictions which the apostle faced       man of God has, though even now
while he remains in bonds was of          he records in II Corinthians 6:4,5        he is imprisoned! Christ sustains
great encouragement.                      and 11:23-28.  Read these passages        him. Christ directs him. What
  But Philippi had always been            and consider the great adversities        more could he ask?
known for this sort of generosity.        this saint of Christ willingly bore.         Nevertheless, in speaking thus,
                                            There were those times too when         Paul does not want to minimize .the
                                          Paul had enough (he "abounded")           gift he had received of the Philippi-
                                          and was full. He did not reject that      ans. They had freely given again
                                          plenty as something which no              and again, years before, while Paul
                                          Christian ought to enjoy. On the          was in Thessalonica (vs. 16). And
                                          contrary, whatever he received, for       Paul rejoices in the willingness of
                                          this he gave God thanks.                  the church to provide for his nee6
Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protes-      He learned his lesson well: "In            Paul sees in the gift the fruit of
tant Reformed Church of Huclsonville,     whatsoever state I am, I have             the work of God in the Philippians.
Michigan.

                                                                                    February 15,199l I The Standard Bearer I 231


He was not concerned first about                  Verse 20 presents the common          5. What is the basis for Christian
receiving gifts, but in beholding               doxology. To God our Father must        contentment?
fruits of righteousness. That is                be glory for ever and ever. That        6. Are we content also in adver-
what he now saw in the Philippi-                glory is God's because of all His       sity? What would be your reaction
ans. There was fruit which                      work in the church i work of            to deprivation?
abounded "to their account." Paul               which the apostle has spoken            7. Is the gift of the Philippians a
presents the picture of a bank ac-              throughout the epistle. He could        "good work"? Explain. Does it
count. The gift from Philippi                   not but acknowledge that God            merit anything of the Lord?
"added up" in their ledger. But                 must be glorified for all things and    8. Why ought we to do good
that was "fruit" -it surely was not             forevermore. And the "Amen" re-         works?
a work which merited salvation or               sounds the assurance, the positive      9. How would we evaluate
reward. One could see the evi-                  assertion: it surely is so.             "need"? Does it in any way differ
dence of the Spirit's presence there              Verses 21 and 22 present the final    from God's evaluation? Fy or
in Philippi. That warmed the heart              salutations from the apostle and        why not?
of the apostle.                                 those who are with him to the           10. What need would God supply
   The gift was as an odor with its             saints at Philippi. He remembers        for the Philippians? What does He
sweet smell that served as sacrifice            each "saint in Christ Jesus." The       urovide for us7,.
which was acceptable to God. The                brethren with him join in this salu-    il. Why is it appropriate to con-
gift was as the incense which was               tation. Some of these were of "Cae-     clude the letter with a doxology
burned in the temple before the veil            sar's household." There were con-       (vs. 20)?
which hid the holiest place. The                verts, perhaps not a few, who were      12. The various "salutations.~ at the
smell ascended to God and was                   workers, possibly slaves, within the    end indicate the deep interest of the
pleasing to Him. And, after all,                very house of Caesar. The gospel        saints in the affairs of fellow saints.
that is the only thing which counts.            had gone far and wide. It had pen-      How do we show this?
God "smells" the fruit of His own               etrated even the house of the ruler     13. What is "grace" and why is it
grace in His people. This is what               of this world. Those saints also        identified with Christ (vs. 231)? Cl
He desires and what satisfies Him.              would express greetings through
  Now the apostle in verse 19 ex-               the apostle.
presses assurance that God will                   Then Paul expresses the beauti-
also provide for His church at                  ful benediction: the grace of our
Philippi. `My God," he says, "shall             Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.          Profession of Faith
provide all your need." God pro-                Amen. This is not simply his wish,
vides for the need, not what one                but it is a statement of fact. God's    Not words alone it cost the L.ord
might want. Philippi will be cared              grace revealed through Jesus Christ       To purchase pardon for His own;
for by God Almighty. This will be               is on His people. These must hear       Nor will a soul by grace restored
"according to His riches...." One               that also. Where that grace of God        Return the Saviour words alone.
notes that God does not merely                  is, there is a people fashioned unto
provide "out of" His riches -                   Himself.                                With golden bells, the priestly vest,
which is true, of course. Rather, He              That benediction is ours also as        And rich pomegranates border'd
provides "according to" His riches.             we conclude our study of this short               round,
His gifts are in harmony with His               book. If it has been a study which      The need of holiness express'd,
eternal greatness and glory. A man              merely involved intellectual activ-       And called for fruit as well as
who owns but $10 would not be                   ity without heartfelt conviction, it              sound.
able to provide another with very               would be to our condemnation.
much. A millionaire, who pro-                   But this Word, applied to our           Easy, indeed, it were to reach
vided according to his riches,                  hearts as well, must cause us to ex-      A mansion in the courts above,
would give abundantly. So God,                  perience anew the riches of the         If swelling words and fluent speech
who is infinite and who possesses               grace of our God to us through Je-        Might serve instead of faith and
all things, can provide according to            sus Christ our Lord.                              love.
those riches so that His church will            Questions:
not lack anything.                              1. What was particularly notewor-       But none shall gain the bliss&l
  But these provisions are always               thy concerning the attitude of the           place,
and only "in Jesus Christ." Within              church at Philippi towards Paul?          Or God's unclouded glory see,
the sphere of His work and His                  2. Explain the reasons why Paul         Who talks of free and sovereign
love, God provides for His church.              was grateful for the gift received.          grace,
No wonder the church glories in                 3. What can we learn about our            Unless that grace has made him
Christ's cross!                                 own giving from this account?                     free!
  What a blessing for the church at             4. What is Christian contentment?
Philippi! They freely gave -but                 How does this differ from a form of                          - SB, January 1,1933
also abundantly they receive from               contentment sometimes seen in the
God's hands.                                    unbeliever?

232 / The Standard Bearer I February 15,199l


                                         Recent-
Church                                   Developments in
and State                                Church/State Law
Mr. James Lanting


H Operation Rescue                       tion from engaging in anti-abortion       renewal was for religious reasons
    and Leader Randall                   activities. A federal appellate court     and that an age-discrimination in-
                                         in Virginia, upholding a permanent        vestigation by the state would com-
    Terry Under Siege                    injunction, ruled that OR's activi-       promise the school's autonomy amd
                                         ties had "crossed the line from per-      violate the school's right to free ex-
  Operation Rescue, the activist         suasion into coercion and operated        ercise of religion. The court dis-
anti-abortion organization founded       to denythe  exercise of the rights of     agreed and allowed the state to ik
by Randall Terry, has fallen on hard     others protected by law."                 vestigate the age discrimination
times. Numerous federal courts             Besieged by numerous trials,            claim.
across the country have imposed          fines, and appeals pending in many          This case illustrates the alarming
injunctions, imprisonment, and           states, Terry recently announced a        trend to hold private schools sub
fines on the organization and its        new strategy - publicizing the            ject to the government's social phi-
leaders.                                 names and home telephone num-             losophy regarding sex and age dis-
  Operation Rescue's tactics of us-      bers of judges and prosecutors who        crimination (previous decisions
ing human blockades to deny ac-          allegedly treat the OR unfairly. He       have held private schools subject to
cess to abortion clinics or doctor's     also plans to organize all-night          federal minimum wage and equal
offices is under heavy legal             prayer vigils in front of homes of       pay provisions).
scrutiny nationwide. The courts are      such judges and prosecutors. But
seemingly unimpressed by Terry's         given the recent indictments
argument that his trespass and           against OR leaders for interstate         n Landlord May Refuse
other unlawful acts are justified to     conspiracy to obstruct justice, the
"prevent a greater harm."                future of the organization looks              to Rent to Unmarried
  Although Terry won an early            bleak indeed.                                 Cohabitating Couples
trial in Los Angeles last year when
the jury accepted his "necessity de-                                                 Notwithstanding state laws pro-
fense," recent trial court verdicts      n Private Schools                         hibiting discrimination based on
and appeals have seriously crip-                                                   "sex" or "marital status," may a
pled the controversial movement.             Subject to More                      landlord refuse for religious rea-
Operation Rescue recently closed             Governmental                          sons to rent an apartment to an un-
its national headquarters at Bing-           Regulation                            married couple? Yes, rules the
hamton, New York, because of                                                       Minnesota supreme court. A land-
debts in excess of $100,000 and                                                    lord refused to rent to a woman
ever-increasing court imposed              Are private schools subject to          who planned to live with a man
fines. Appellate courts in Virginia,     age discrimination regulations?          with whom she was not married.
Pennsylvania, New York, and other        Yes, ruled a Wisconsin Court of Ap-      The trial court and court of appeals
states have upheld permanent in-         peals recently. A private school          held for the unmarried couple and
junctions enjoining the organiza-        board (Sacred Heart School) and its
                                         principal in Green Bay, Wisconsin,        ruled that the landlord violated the
                                         did not renew a fifty-six year old        Minnesota Human Rights Act
                                         teacher's contract for religious rea-    which prohibits "marital status diis-
                                         sons. She then filed an age discrim-     crimination."
                                                                                     The Minnesota supreme court
Mr. tinting, a member of South Hol-      ination suit. A court refused to          overruled, holding that the land-
land Protestant Reformed Church, is a    grant the school's request for dis-       lord's sincerely held religious belief
practicing attorney.                     missal. The school argued the non-        that cohabitation outside of mar-

                                                                                  February15,1991/TheStandard  Bearer! 233


riage was against biblical principles         n  Christian Scientists                  firmed a conviction of the Christian
was protected. The court stated                                                        Scientist parents of 7-year o1.d Amy
that the state failed to demonstrate              C o n v i c t e d                    Hermanson, who died after a lin-
a compelling state interest that out-                                                  gering illness of juvenile diabetes.
weighed the landlord's religious                In two recent cases that attracted     Her parents had ignored medical
belief and freedom to refuse renting          national attention, Christian Scien-     treatment in lieu of extended "spir-
to. a cohabitating, unmarried cou-            tist parents were convicted of           itual treatment" in harmony with
ple. The Minnesota court further              felonies after they failed to seek       their religious beliefs. Their treat-
held the state couldn't interfere             medical help for their children.         ment failed, Amy died, and the
with the landlord's religious prac-             In a Boston, MA case last sum-         Hermansons were convicted of
tice unless that practice is "incon-          mer, David and Ginger Twitchell,         third degree manslaughter.
sistent with the peace or safety of           lifelong Christian Scientists, were        They appealed their convictions
the state."                                   convicted of manslaughter after          on the grounds that their religious
  An Illinois court also recently             their two and a half-year old son        practice of "spiritual healing" was
ruled in favor of a landlord deny-            Robyn died of a bowel obstruction.       protected by the "free exercise"
ing a lease to a cohabitating, un-            Although the child was violently         clause of the First Amendment.
married couple. Said the court:               sick for several days, the Twitchells    The appellate court disagreed,
"Couples who wish to live together            refused to seek medical assistance       holding that the "state may inter-
without being married can cer-                and instead summoned a "spiritual        vene when it appears the parents'
tainly do so, but they must find a            healing" practitioner.                   decision will jeopardize the health
landlord who does not object to                 Although the Massachusetts             or safety of the child...."
such an arrangement." The Illinois            child-abuse statute created an ex-         Although some constitutional
court also found this to be in har-           emption for parents who believe in       scholars see these Christian Scien-
mony with the state's interest in             spiritual healing, the judge ruled       tist cases as the embodiment of the
"strengthening and preserving the             that "a subjective belief in healing     classic legal tension between
integrity of marriage" and its dis-           by prayer is no excuse for not ob-       church and state, it perhaps could
approval of common law marriage.              taining medical help when a child        also be said that this is only reli-
  It is encouraging to know that              is seriously ill." The Twitchells        gious cultism run amok. Surely re-
some states will still honor a land-          were sentenced to ten years proba-       quiring parents to seek reasonable
lord's religious belief and practice          tion and were ordered to submit          medical attention for children in
refusing to rent to homosexual or             their other three children for regu-     peril of death can hardly be seen as
unmarried couples. Although                   lar medical examinations. David          a serious threat to religious liberty
states such as California and New             Twitchell remarked after the trial       in this country. These cases are a
York are outlawing  such "discrimi-           that the case was "a prosecution         terrible tragedy; the leaders and
nation," Christian landlords should           against our faith." The Twitchells       practitioners of such cults share an
oppose this trend as long as possi-           have appealed their conviction.          awesome responsibility for the
ble.                                            In a similar case in the South, a      death of these children. 0
                                              Florida court of appeals recently af-




A Cloud
of Witnesses                                  Gotteschalk
Prof. Herman Hanko


                                                 In a series of radio sermons,         controversy with the Semi-Pela-
                                              broadcast in the forties, Rev. Her-      gians. The Roman Catholic
                                              man Hoeksema called predestina-          Church, while claiming Augustine
                                              tion "the heart of the gospel." This     as one of its saints and while pro-
                                              precious truth of predestination         fessing to be faithful to Augus-
                                              was first taught in the church in        tine's teachings, rejected Augus-
Prof. Ha&o is professor of Church             the fifth century by Augustine, the      tine's doctrine of double predesti-
Hisfo y and New Tesfamenf  in fhe             Bishop of Hippo, who developed           nation. The Roman Catholic
Profesfanf Reformed Semina y.                 this doctrine of Scripture in his        Church committed itself to Semi-
234  / TheStandardBearer!  Februaryl5,1991


Pelagianism, and this became the              Gotteschalk was surprised to learn        Gotteschalk was asked to present
dominant and official view of this            that the Bishop of Hippo had              his views, which he did "in the joy-
church, a position which continues            taught a sovereign and double pre-        ous conviction that it was in accor-
to the present.                               destination, a doctrine quite differ:     dance with the one doctrine of the
  Not only did the Roman Catholic             ent from what was taught in the           church." l
Church reject Augustine's doctrine            Romish Church. After studying                It is striking that Gotteschalk, in
of double predestination, but, far            the Scriptures, Gotteschalk became        his defense of his views, not only
worse, it persecuted and killed an            convinced that Augustine had              boldly and courageously defended
ardent defender of this doctrine              faithfully set forth the truth of pre-    double predestination (election and
about three hundred years after               destination, and he became an ar-         reprobation), but also insisted that:
Augustine died. This is the story of          dent and vocal preacher of this doc-      Christ died on the cross of Calvary
a relatively obscure monk by the              trine.                                    only for the elect.
name of Gotteschalk, who gave his               In his excitement over this dis-           Under the heavy-handed influ-
life in defense of a Scriptural truth         covery, he discussed the issue with       ence of Maurus, Gotteschalk was
which has been the confession of              his fellow monks and succeeded in         condemned and his views were
every Reformed and Presbyterian               persuading many of them of the            branded as heresy. Maurus handed
church at some time in its history.           truth of his position.                    Gotteschalk over to Hincmar of
And it is a confession of those who              About this time (837-8471,             Rheims, the metropolitan bishop of
today also are faithful to the Word           Gotteschalk began a series of             Gotteschalk. The accompanying
of God. That one man in the dark              lengthy travels throughout the            letter read in part:
and dreary Middle Ages was will-              Mediterranean world, visiting Italy,          We send fo you fhis vagabond
ing to give his life for that truth is        Caesarea, Constantinople, and             monk, in prder that you may shut him
inspiration to all God's people who           Alexandria, along with other              up in his convenf,  and prevent him
confess that God is sovereign also            places. Wherever he went, he              ~;vP~J;x~~~~~$  here fid
in election and reprobation.                  preached and taught his views on
  Gotteschalk was born in the                 predestination. He was confident,            Hincmar, though a rather
homebf a German Count, Bruno by               though perhaps naively so, that the       learned man, was also arrogant and
name, in 806. His name, appropri-             church, after hearing him out,            cruel. He determined not only to
ately, means, "Servant of God."               would agree with him and alter its        keep Gotteschalk confined to the
Little did his parents, when giving           Semi-F'elagian position. He corre-        monastery, but to elicit from his
him that name, realize how appro-             sponded with scholars, debated            monk a retraction. To accomplish
priate it was. When he was still a            with theologians, preached to peo-        this, Hincmar called a Synod at
young child, Gotteschalk's parents            ple, and spoke of his views at every      Chiersy which met in 849. The re-
gave him to the Hessian monastery             opportunity. He considered his            sults of this Synod were fatal for
of Fulda as an oblafa,  i.e., as a gift to    views so essential to an under-           Gotteschalk and his views.
God.                                          standing of Scripture and the true        Gotteschalk steadfastly and coura-
  When Gotteschalk was about 23               gospel that he could scarcely speak       geously refused to recant, even in
years old, he rebelled against a              of anything else.                         the face of the cruel threats of Hinc-
monastic life and asked permission               In 846 and 847 Gotteschalk             mar. The Synod condemned him.
to be released from the monastery.            found a home with Bishop Noting           They adopted decisions which in-
His appeal was made to the Synod              of Veronica in Italy. This was the        cluded such heretical teachings as
of Mainz which met in 829, which              beginning of his troubles. He dis-        conditional reprobation: a univer-
Synod granted his request. How-               cussed predestination with Bishop          sal atonement, and a desire on
ever, Rabanus Maurus, the abbot of            Noting, pointing out how Augus-           God's part to save all men. 4 The
the monastery, disagreed with the             tine had taught sovereign and dou-        Synod deposed Gotteschalk from
decision of the Synod and appealed            ble predestination and how these          the priesthood, ordered his books
to the emperor. He succeeded in               views obviously agreed with the           to be burned, ordered him to be
his efforts to keep Gotteschalk in            Scriptures. But Bishop Noting was         shut up in a monastery, and had
the monastery, but became the life-           alarmed. He wrote a rather lengthy        him publicly whipped.
long enemy of this faithful servant           letter to Rabanus Maurus,                     But the cruel Hincmar was not
of Christ. Gotteschalk was, how-              Gotteschalk's old enemy, to ac-           yet finished with his "rebellious"
ever, transferred to the monastery            quaint Maurus with what                   monk. Evidently unable to tolerate
in Orbais, France, in the diocese of          Gotteschalk was teaching and              any disagreement with his position,
Soissons in the province of Rheims.           preaching. Maurus, who by this            he was determined to force
Here he was ordained to the priest-           time had become archbishop of             Gotteschalk to recant. Within the
hood.                                         Mainz, decided to silence his monk        walls of the monastery Gotteschalk
  Determined to make more of his              once and for all. He called a Synod       was whipped so severely that he
life than remaining a mere monk,              in Mainz (or Mayence)  to meet on         nearly died. But as he lay on the
Gotteschalk applied himself to the            October 1,848, at which Synod the         floor of his torture chamber, bloody
study of the writings of Augustine.           German emperor was also present.          and near death, he continued to
During his study of Augustine,                Maurus himself presided.                  refuse to retract his position. Event

                                                                                        February 15,199l I The Standard Bearer I 2.35


the rage of Hincmar could not elicit              With the martyr's death of             but given the right circumstances,
from this saint a denial of what he             Gotteschalk, events took an omi-         and they may very well come, her
believed to be God's truth. The                 nous turn in the Roman Catholic          fangs shall once again be bared,
treatment of Gotteschalk was so                 Church. -The church had officially       and those who stand for the truth
cruel that it was protested by some             condemned the truth of Scripture         shall have to endure the full fury of
leading clerics of his day.                     and had, on its highest ecclesiasti-     her hatred of God.
  Utterly defeated by the courage               cal levels, condoned heresy. The re-        Gotteschalk was a lonely voice in
of Gotteschalk, Hincmar allowed                 sult was that from that point on the     a barren wasteland. His courage
the saint to languish in prison.                church gave official sanction to         was great and his death a martyr-
While imprisoned Gotteschalk, af-               false doctrine and stretched the         dom. Hans vonSchubert  is correct
ter recovering somewhat from the                wings of her protection over those       when he writes concerning
cruel treatment he received, com-               who opposed the truth, while de-         Gotteschalk: "It is not only our
posed two confessions in which he               stroying God's servants who de-          right but also our obligation to re-
clearly stated his views. In these              fended the truth and fought for it       gard this German Calvin as one of
confessions, which have come                    with the courage and boldness of         The first heroes of the history of our
down to us, he gave expression to               faith. The church set herself on a       faith." 6 q
his firm conviction that the truth of           path which was to continue
God would stand. He affirmed his                through the centuries until Europe       1. See Prof. Kurtz, Churdr  History (Funk &
faith in double predestination, in              ran red with the blood of countless      Wagnalls,  New York, 1988).  Vol. I, p. 546.
the particular atonement of his Sav-            martyrs. Crushed by the cruel and        2. Quoted from McCllntock  &Strong, Cycle-
                                                                                         pedia  of  Biblical,  Theological,  and Ecclesiastical
ior, and in God's sovereign purpose             despicable Inquisition, the church       Literature, Vol. III.
and will to save in Christ only                 of Christ could barely survive.          3. That is, that God reprobates only on the
those who were ordained to eternal              And when God brought Reforma-            basis of foreseen unbelief- a doctrine later
life; while at the same time he con-            tion in the sixteenth century, the       taught by the Arminians  and condemned in
fessed his belief that the wicked are           pages of the history of the Refor-       our Canons of Dordt.
                                                                                         4. This doctrine, God's desire to save all
sovereignly reprobated to hell in               mation were written in the blood of      men, later became an integral part of the
the way of their sins against God?              the saints which still cries out for     well-meant offer of salvation. It is important
   After twenty years of imprison-              vengeance.                               to note that Gotteschalk emphatically taught
ment, Gotteschalk died at the age                 Our Belgic Confession describes        that Christ's atonement was only for the
                                                                                         elect and that God's desire to save was lim-
of 62 or 63 in the year 868. Hinc-              the false church as that institution     ited to those for whom Christ died. The pro-
mar forbad that he be buried in                 which "persecutes those, who live        ponents of the well-meant offer do not have
consecrated ground, and the last in-            holily according to the Word of          history on their side.
dignity of dying outside the church             God, and rebuke her for her errors,      5. These Confessions of Got&chalk can be
was heaped on him. He died faith-               covetousness and idolatry' (Art.         found in translation in the Protestant Re-
                                                                                         formed Theological journal, Vol. XII, No. 1.
ful to the end, a noble martyr for              XXIX). Nor has Rome changed her          They are appended to an article written by
the cause of the truth. He died for             position in the least. She is pre-       Rev. Ronald Hanko on the life and teachings
a faith which was not again to be               vented in our day from carrying          of Got&chalk.
heard in the church until the time              out her wishes; she hides her cru-       6. Quoted from Louis Praamsma, De Kerk
                                                                                         Van Alle Tqden (T. Wever, Franeker,  1979).
of Luther and Calvin some 700                   elty behind a mask of benevolence        Deel I, p. 240. The translation is mine.
years later.                                    as she speaks of "erring brothers";




The Day                                         Another
of Shadows                                      Encouraging Shadow
Rev. John Heys


                                                  There are in Hebrews 11 several        Our God, not men, decided and
                                                giants of faith presented with their     determined to realize in men the
                                                works of faith. They may be called       exact physical height of their bod-
                                                giants of faith rather than heroes of    ies. Man never decides how tall he
                                                faith, because it is a greatness of      is going to get when full grown.
Rev. Heys is a minister etnerifus in the        faith which our covenant God eter-       He may want more height,. but he
Protestant  Reformed Churches.                  nally decided to work in them.           cannot realize how tall he will be
256 I The Standard Bearer I February 15,199l


come. He cannot do that as far as         die that very moment. Physical              In Hebrews 11 we do read that
his physical life is concerned; and       death began to come upon him as          Abraham performed these great
that, as far as his spiritual life is     the punishment of sin; but spiritual     works of faith. By faith he did go
concerned, is also exactly as the         death came completely upon him.           to the promised land. By faith he
almighty God determined for him.          He tried to hide his sin rather than      did offer up Isaac. But take hold of
  Our sovereign God also deter-           in sorrow and hatred of sin to run        that very important truth in Ephe-
mined the works which every one           to God for forgiveness. He tried to       sians 28-10. We are saved by
of His elect children would in this       run away from God after trying to         grace. We do not save ourselves by
life perform. Not only is it true that    hide his sin by means of fig leaves.     believing. We are by God's grace
in Him we live and move and have          And since Adam and Eve lost all           saved from our unbelief and are
our being (Acts 12281,  but with a        their spiritual life that very mo-        given - not manufacture by our-
view to the place which He deter-         ment of their first sin, we get no        selves - faith as a free gift. We are
mined for us in the body of Christ        spiritual strength from our parents       not saved by works, but saved in
He-not we - determined from               and grandparents. Adam and Eve            order that we may perform works
all eternity exactly how strong and       could not give it to their children,      that are pleasing in God's eyes. For
tall we would become spiritually in       and therefore their children could        we are His workmanship created in
this life. David wrote in Psalm           only give us spiritual death. Our         Christ Jesus unto good works, not
13214: "I will praise thee; for I am      God through Paul says to us that         because of good works. Read
fearfully and wonderfully made;           we are quickened, that is, made           Ephesians 2:1-10  carefully. We are
marvellous  are thy works; and that       alive spiritually as those who            not invited to be saved, but we are
my soul knoweth right well."              through Adam are "dead in tres-           saved from our lack of desire for
  God decided whether we would            passes and sins." But go a step fur-      salvation. We fulfill no conditions,
be a male or female, a human being        ther in Paul's epistle to the Ephe-       we accept no invitations. God is
or an angel. He not only brought          sians. In verse 5 of Ephesians 2 we       not dependent upon us and upon
us into being, but also determined        read, "Even when we were dead in          our spiritually dead nature in order
what we would be physically and           sins, (God) hath quickened us to-         to get us saved. Even as no child is
spiritually. Beautifully and cor-         gether with Christ, (by grace are ye     born because he asked his father or
rectly we sing from our Psalter this      saved)." And again in Ephesians           mother to bring him forth, so are
truth, which we find in Psalm             4:18, "Having the understanding           we not born as the children of Go'd
139:14:                                   darkened, being alienated from the       because we, who by nature are
  All that I am I owe to Thee,            life of God through the ignorance         spiritually dead, heard Him offer
  Thy wisdom, Lord, hath                  that is in them, because of the           salvation to us and wanted it.
           fashioned me;                  blindness of their heart." Death          Once again, Adam and Eve did not
  I give my Maker thankful praise,        means that all life is gone; and here     run unto God. They tried to run
  Whose wondrous works my soul            we are taught that fulfilling             away from Him. And then He told
           amaze.                         conditions, accepting Christ by           Satan in their hearing that HE
  Nowhere in Scripture will you           faith, a well-meant offer of salva-       would put enmity between Satan
find the word hero. But we can by         tion to dead people reveals that sal-     and us. Salvation is a one hundred
God's grace be made giants of faith,      vation is absolutely impossible. If       per cent gift to those who co& mf
and we do find this truth so often        we want Christ and salvation, it is       want  it! For they were spiritually
and clearly in Hebrews 11. It             because we already have in God's          dead. And they could not give us
would be far better to call those         grace been given the beginning of         as their descendants spiritual life
saints giants of faith rather than        salvation. He does not ask us to          and the desire for salvation.
heroes of faith. The praise must be       believe. He gives us the desire and         Let us note and appreciate that
given to God, even as we correctly        power to believe and then calls us        sovereign grace of God. The lie
sing: Praise God from Whom ALL            in order to have that work of salva-     brought the whole human race into
blessings flow. Our praise of men         tion continued in us, strengthened,       total depravity. "And God saw that
and clapping of our hands, credit-        and brought to its fullness in the        the wickedness of man was great in
ing them for what they sang and           day when Christ returns.                  the earth, and that every imagina-
did, rather than praising God for           Let us then look at this spiritual      tion of the thoughts of his heart
the truth which they sang, over-          giant called Abraham, whose di-           was only evil continually" (Gen.
.looks so much that God Himself           vinely bestowed gift of faith caused      6:5). Take hold of those three
has written in His word for our in-       him to go to the land God                 words: EVERY, ONLY, and CON-
struction.                                promised him, and to offer up Isaac       TINUALLY! By nature the heart of
  A single sin calls for everlasting      at God's command. Let us also             man beats evil thoughts and de-
punishment, even as God told              look at his old man of sin which          sires-continually. Now and then a
Adam that in the day he performed         clearly revealed itself in some gi-       child of God will have thoughts
what might look to us as a mild act       gantic sins, which clearly reveal         and desires pleasing to God; but he
of disobedience - merely eating a         that faith and walking in love to-        has all through this life the old dev-
piece of fruit and hurting no one's       ward God is His gift to us, and not       ilish nature that has such powerful
flesh - he would die. And he did          what we give to Him.                      control over him. We need to pray

                                                                                   February 15,1991/ The Standard Bearer I 237


to our God every step of our way,                 Here was a step backinto  the sin       on that altar to be sacrificed, there
not only for the forgiveness of our             for which he was rebuked, when he         is again a shadow of Christ and His
sins, but by all means also for                 had incorrectly gone to Egypt, and        cross as the only way of sal.vation
strength and desire to do what is               had not stayed in the promised            for us.
pleasing in His sight. We need to               land. To that act of not walking by         But by all means do not (overlook
have God cause our new man in                   faith in the land promised him he         the fact that in God's giving Abra-
Christ to control our thinking, will-           added that sin of lying, trusting in      ham that faith, we have a shadow
ing, and acting. By His grace God               Sarah's words of saying she was his       of what He will give us in the days
will give that to us, and He speaks             sister, rather than in God's word         that lie just ahead, when the An-
to us through this epistle to the He-           that He would, through her as             tichrist will threaten to take away
brews and tells us He is going to               Abraham's wife, give him a son            from us salvation and its promises
make us spiritually perfect when                who would inherit that land of            by his devilish works. In his day it
Christ returns and our bodies are               Canaan through his seed.                  will look to unbelievers as though
raised and united with our sinless                Now that he had the promise of          God forsook us. But be of good
souls.                                          a son through Sarah, this sin of ly-      cheer. As Christ arose from the
   But go back to Abraham as he is              ing was even greater than the one         dead, because of what He did for
pictured in the book of Genesis,                he committed in Egypt. And if             us through His death, we will re-
and see how evil a nature we still              Adam deserved death because he            ceive EVERYTHING that God has
have in this life. Way back in Gene-            ate a piece of forbidden fruit, surely    promised us in Christ.
sis 12 and in verse 7 we read that              Abraham did not in himself have              Let this encourage you. Hate
God "appeared unto Abram and                    the right to the smallest part of         your sins and fight against your
said, Unto thy seed will I give this            Gods covenant promise.                    old, sinful nature. And if you find
land." And yet Abram left that                    Abraham did by God's grace              the gift of faith in you, be encour-
land because of a famine in it.                 have forgiveness because of what          aged by the truth that our God
Even though God assured him of                  Christ did for all the elect by His       saves His people fully through His
living and of getting a son, his flesh          holy walk and cross. Abraham was          Son and His Spirit. Hate your sins
moved him to doubt, not to faith in             given faith and such great trust in       and you have a sign that Glad has
God; and, fearing death, which in-              God that he did, at God's com-            begun salvation in you and will
directly God assured him would                  mand, take Isaac and offer him up         save you fully when He sends His
not come upon him until after he                with the full assurance that God          Son back to raise sinless bodies for
got that child, he went down into               would keep His promise and give           His chosen people. Be encouraged
Egypt. He fell into the sin of lying            him covenant seed through Isaac -         by the signs and shadows God
as well. He told his wife to tell ev-           which means that he believed what         gives us in His Word. Cl
eryone that she was only his sister             had never happened before. He
and not his wife. Then Pharaoh                  had never seen, nor is there
took her away from him to become                recorded anywhere in Scripture be-
his wife.                                       fore this, that a child of God would                  The Creation
  Although our God in His grace                 be raised from the dead. Enoch
saved Abraham from losing that                  was taken to heaven; but Isaac            `Twas God who made this world so
wife and gave him freedom to go                 would be returned to this life and          fair,
back to the promised land, we                   bring forth the covenant seed that        The shining sun, the sky, the air;
again read in Genesis 20 of Abra-               would inherit this land of Canaan.        `Twas God who made the sea, the
ham committing the same sin, and                What a strong faith was given               ground,
that in an even more sinful situa-              Abraham to believe that although          And all the things we see around.
tion. In verse 10 we read concern-              he must sacrifice Isaac, he would
ing God, "And he said, I will cer-              through Isaac bring forth that            When He began this world to
tainly return unto thee according to            covenant seed! In Isaac would his           make,
the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy            seed be called (Gen. 21:12). What a       These are the mighty words He
wife shall have a son." Yet into that           tremendous promise! What a                  spake:
same sin of lying Abraham again                 tremendous gift of faith implanted        "Let there be light!" IIis voice was
fell. Even though Sarah was the                 in Abraham!                                 heard,
daughter of his father through a                  Yes, throughout the Old Testa-          And then the light of day appeared.
different woman than Abraham's                  ment Scriptures we have shadows
mother, he did not tell the people              of what now takes place in the New        The angels saw the light arise,
that she was his half sister. It was            Testament dispensation. Not only          And with their praises filled the
therefore a lie. Sarah was his wife,            do we find that the cross of Christ         skies:
and that truth might not be hidden              is foreshadowed in the shedding of        "How great our God! How ,wise!
and covered! And since this was                 the blood of the animal whose skin          How strong!"
after God assured him that Sarah                was used to clothe Adam and Eve;          Such is the never-ending so:ng.
would bring forth his covenant                  but here, too, when the promised
seed, it was a gross lie.                       son is by God's command placed                           - SB, October 15,1932

238 / The Standard Bearer / February 15,199l


                                         News  F r o m
Mr. Benjamin Wigger                      Our Churches

  With this issue of the `News" we       pastor. Following Rev. Moore as           to put the pews back in. You might
use the last of our church profiles.     pastor have been Revs. R. Miersma         be interested to know that 625
Out of our 27 congregations we re-       in 1971, R. Flikkema in 1978, R..         yards of carpet were used to com-
ceived profiles from 16 different        Moore again in 1982, and D. Kuiper        plete the job.
churches. I hope that over the past      in 1985. Since 1987, Hope has been           The congregation of our Im-
two years you have enjoyed this          vacant.                                   manuel PRC in Lacombe, Canada
brief look into the makeup of our          In 1969 a Roman Catholic church         gave approval to their consistory  to
denomination.                            building was moved to Isabel and,         begin searching for land suitable
  Today we look at the profile of        after some remodeling, it began           for a new church of their own.
our smallest congregation, the           serving as church home for the               In late December, Rev. and Mrs.
Hope PRC of Isabel, SD. I thank          Hope congregation - a function it         Cammenga, of our Loveland, CO
Mr. Gus Streyle for the following        serves to this day.                       congregation were blessed with the
information.                               Hope has a membership consist-          birth of a baby girl, Tracy Lynn,
  The Hope Reformed Church was           ing of five families and five indi-       their 9th child.
organized in 1915 at Isabel, SD. For     viduals, with a total membership of          Rev. R. Hanko declined the call
the first year and a half, services      18 souls. Of its membership, one is       he had been considering to serve (as
were held in the Congregational          a farmer, one a janitor, and one a        pastor of our Randolph PRC in
Church. After this a school house        butcher. The rest are retired. Three      Randolph, WI.
was moved to Isabel and it served        of its families are'older, and the.. .       And, finally, for this issue, the
as the church home.                      other two are middle-aged. Three          students of the Loveland, CO PR
  In 1934 the Eureka Classis to          children go to school, while three        Christian School presented their
which the Hope Reformed Church           others are in college. Fourteen of        Christmas program entitled,
belonged suffered a split. Many          their members attend a Bible study        "Christ OurSaviour," on the
congregations left to join the Evan-     group.                                    evening of December 20.  Cl         -
gelical Church. However, the mem-         -_ One virtue the members of our
bers of Hope voted to stay with the      Hope PRC have learned in the past
Reformed Church.                         is patience. Having been without a
  In 1959 Hope severed itself from       pastor for the past four years has        NOTICE!!.
the Eureka Classis and became an         taught them that. But their prayer           Classis West of the Protestant Re-
independent church for about a           remains, Not our will, but Thine be       formed Churches will meet in Ran-
year.                                    done.                                     dolph, WI, on Wednesday, March 6,
  At about this same time, Rev.          In other church news:                     1991, at 8:30 AM, the Lord willing. AI!
George Lubbers, then missionary in         At a congregational meeting             delegates in need of lodging or trans-
                                                                                   portation from the ajrport should notify
the PR Churches, began doing mis-        back in December, the congregation        the Clerk of Randolph's Consistory.
sion work among the members of           of the Hudsonville, MI PRC voted          Rev. R. Hanko, Stated Clerk
Hope. In 1960, after two and a half      to replace the carpet in their sanctu-
years of labor, the congregation at      ary. So on Monday, January 7, a           TEACHER NEEDED
Hope was accepted into the fellow-       call went out for as many men as             Covenant Christian School of  Lyn-
ship of the PR Churches.                 possible to work during the day to        den, Washington is in need of a
  In 1968, the Lord sent Rev. R.         loosen pews in the church. All that       teacher/administrator for the 1991-l 992
Moore to serve as Hope's first PR        was needed was a flashlight and a         school year. For more information
                                         7/16  wrench. The auditorium had          please contact Mr. John Meyer (Board
                                         to be completely empty on Monday          President), 1255 VanDyke Rd., Lynden,
                                                                                   WA 98264, (206) 354-3354 or Mr. Jack
                                         so that the carpet layers could be-       DenHartog (Secretary), 8880 North
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protes-    gin early Tuesday. And, since the         Pass Rd., Sumas, WA 98295, (206)
tant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,     pews had to be in by Sunday, help         988-5402.
Michigan.                                was also needed later in the week

                                                                                   February 15,199l /The Standard Bearer; 239


                                                                                                               SECOND C/ASS
                                                                                                               Postage Paid at
                                                                                                               Grand Rapids, Michigan             ~

  t?O. Box 6064
 Grand Rapids, MI 49506



NOTICE!!                                      YOUNG ADULTS'                                   tience, forgiveness and faithfulness. As
   There will be an officebearers' con-       SPRING RETREAT                                  a family we claim for the future God's
ference on Tuesday, March 5,1991,             When?-Thursday noon, April 4 -            ..    promises of peace and hope in
prior to the next meeting of Classis             Saturday noon, April 6                       Jeremiah 29:11-13.
West. Since Classis will be meeting in        Where? Covenant Heights Confer-                 Andy and Micki Buist
Randolph, Wisconsin, the conference              ence Center, Estes Park, Colorado               Randy, Kathy, Marci, Mendi
will also be held there. This will be an      Who? Seniors in high school and                 Judy Henson
all-day conference beginning at 9 AM,            older                                        Allen and Karen Karsten
Tuesday.                                      Speaker? Rev. Ron Cammenga, "The                   Missy, Brad, Mike, Jonathan
   The conference will be a continua-            Coming Antichrist," Rev. Wilbur              Gary and Rachel Bouwkamp
tion of the one on preaching that was            Bruinsma, "The Final Judgment"               Bern Lubbers
held a year ago in South Holland.             Cost? $10.00 Registration Fee +                 Mark and Elaine Clawson
There will be an opening sermon on the           $45.00 Check-in Fee (Total of                   Keven, Shannon, Jeremy
preaching of Jesus. This sermon will             $55.00 includes 2 nights' lodging, 5         Rick and Jill Lubbers
be followed by a series of sectionals, a         meals)                                          Stephanie, Matthew            Hutkonville, MI
few of which will be repeats from the          Great Fellowship! Loads of Activities!
last conference and the rest on new                 A Beautiful Mountain Setting!             THE CHRISTIAN'S RESPONSE TO
subjects having to do with preaching.              Registration forms are due by              WORLD CALAMITY
   The schedule for the conference is                      March 15, 1991                        -Audio-cassette tape of a sermon
given below. Since this will be an all-                                                       preached by Rev. Carl Haak in Lynden,
day conference, those coming from             TEACHERS NEEDED                                 WA on January 20. It seeks  to1 answer
Classis East are invited to stay                 Heritage Christian School of Hud-            the question, "What should the re-
overnight, either before or after the con-    sonville, MI will have openings in the          sponse of the child of God be l:o the
ference or both. lf you wish to stay          Junior High and Intermediate grades for         grave events in the Middle East?
overnight, please contact the clerk of        the 1991-l 992 school year. Applicants             - May be obtained, for $2.100, from
Randolph's consistory, Mr. Gary               for these positions may call the princi-        the Lynden PR Church Extension Com-
Buteyn,  N11134  Wiersma Rd., Ran-            pal, Mr.Gerald Kuiper, at school (616)          mittee,
dolph, WI 53956; phone: (414) 326-            669-l 773 or at home (616) 669-5427.                           317 North Park
5666, so that the necessary arrange-          Or applications may be sent to the                         Lynden, WA 98264
ments can be made.                            school, 4900 40th Ave., Hudsonville,
   All those interested are invited!          Ml 49426.                                       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
              SCHEDULE                                                                           JAMES and MINNIE KARS cele-
   9:00 AM -Opening Devotions                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                          brated their 55th wedding anniversary
   9:30 AM - Sermon                              The Ladies' Aid Society of our First         on February 14. The Lord has blessed
   lo:30 AM - Coffee Break                    Protestant Reformed Church expresses            and preserved them together these
   lo:45 AM - Sectionals                      her sincere sympathy to one of our              many years.
#I Heidelberg Catechism Preaching,            members, Mrs. Bea DeVries,  in the loss            "The Lord will give strength unto his
    Rev. R. Cammenga                          of her husband GEORGE DEVRIES.                  people; the Lord will bless his people
#2 Reasons for the Present-day                   We pray that our heavenly Father             with peace" (Ps. 29:ll).
    Decline in Preaching, Rev. R.             may continue to bless her and keep her          William and Barbara Kars
    Moore                                     in the days ahead; and may she rest in          Eugene and Peggy Kars
#3 Preaching Repentance and                   the beautiful words of Isaiah 41 :lO,              7 grandchildren
    Conversion, Rev. R. Hanko                 "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be             3 great-grandchildren
   12:15 PM-Lunch                             not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will                                   Byron Center, Michigan
   1:00 PM - Sectionals                       strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee;
#l The Elders' Oversight of the               yea, I will uphold thee with the right          NOTICE!!
    Preaching                                 hand of my righteousness."                         Hope Christian School of  Redlands
#2 Delivery, Rev. R. Dykstra                  Mrs. Sidney DeYoung,  Secretary                 is in need of a teacher for the combined
#3 Evaluating Sermon Criticism,                                                               first and second grades for the 1991-
    Rev. R. VanOverloop                       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                             1992 school year. Interested parties,
  2:30 PM - Coffee Break                         On the occasion of the 45th wedding          please contact Mr. Ed Karsemeyer at
  3:00 PM - Sectionals                        anniversary of our dear parents, RHINE          the school (714) 793-4584 or Mr. Bill
#l Applicatory  Preaching, Rev. C.            and GERTRUDE LUBBERS, we, their                 Feenstra (714) 793-3597.
    Haak                                      children and grand children, celebrate
#2 Missionary Preaching, Rev. A.              with joy the sacred institution of mar-
    denHartog                                 riage and the family. Through this di-
#3 Preaching Christ and the                   vine ordinance we continue to learn the
    Cross, Rev. S. Houck                      great lessons of the Christian life: love
  4:30 PM - Closing Devotions                 and laughter, perseverance and pa-

240 I The StandardBearer!  February15


