                   dkDMD
A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Maaazine





                         PRC pastor, Rev. Barry Gritters,
                    teaching Sunday School in Cave Mountain,
                                    Jamaica



Vol. 68, No. 16
May X,1992


CONTENTS:                                                                                             May 15, 1992

Meditation - Rev. James D. Slopsema
        The Willing and Unwilling Sons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~................ 363
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                                        ISSN 0362-4692
        Did It Happen? As Revealed?                                                                                                  0
                                                                                                                                           Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
        Did He Arise? As Revealed'
                                                            . .,.....................,.....................,...*..*....         365        Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc..
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        News from the Domestic Mission Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..a.......*.** 368                                        P.O. Box 603, Grandvilla. MI 49466-0603.
        Jamaica Seminar, 1992 . . . . . . . . ..**.......................................*..............                        370        EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
        A Brief Report on the Visit to Ghana *........,,..................*..,........... 372                                              Editor: Prof. David J. Engetsma
                                                                                                                                           Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
Contribution - Rev. Rodney G. Miersma                                                                                                      Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
        Global Communion of the Saints . . . . . . . . . ..~~~~..~...~~~.....~...~...~~........... 374                                     DEPARTMENT EDITORS
Contribution - Rev. Kenneth Koole                                                                                                          Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev. Arie
        Analyzing the Disciples' Mistaken Kingdom Notion (2) ..,...........  376                                                           denHartog, Rev. Ftu~~all  Dykstra. Rev. Carl Haak,  Mr. Fred
                                                                                                                                           Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rev. John Heys. Rev. Marvin
Strength of Youth - Rev, Steven R. Key                                                                                                     Kamps, Rev. Steven Key, Rev. Kenneth Koole,  Rav. Jason
        True Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*....................~.......................*.......*. 378        Korterlng, Rev. Dale Kuiper,  Mr. James Lanting,  Rev. George
                                                                                                                                           Lubbers, Mrs. MaryBeth Lubbers, Rev. JamesSlopsema,  Rev.
A Cloud of Witnesses - Prof. Herman C. Hank0                                                                                               Charles Terpstra, Rev. Ronald  VanOvertoop, Mr. Benjamin
        The Waldensians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*...............................*.......... 380    Wigger, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg.
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382                           EDITORIAL OFFICE              CHURCH NEWS EDITDR
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362 IStandard  Bearer I May 15,1992


                                              The Willin
AJedita tion                                  Unwilling
Rev. James Slopsema


      But what think ye? A certain man        Hence, they respond, "We cannot                 publicans and harlots of Jesus' day.
had two sons; and he came to thefirst, and    tell."                                          The publicans and harlots were -the
said, Son, go work today in my vineyard.                Well, neither then did Jesus an-      scum of society. The pub&cans  were
     He answered and said, I will not:        swer their question. "Neither tell I            tax collectors in the employ of the
but afterward he repented, and went.          you by what authority I do these                Roman government, and they were
     And he came to the second and said       things."                                        notorious for their graft. The harlots
likewise. And heanswered and said, Igo,                 In response to this, Jesus related    were street prostitutes, who sold
sir: and went not.                            what is commonly called the parable             themselves for carnal pleasure.
      Whether of them twain did the will      of the two sons. Jesus also gave the                 Neither of these groups had had
of his father? They say unto him, The         point of the parable: The publicans             any concern to do the will of God the
first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say    and harlots go into the kingdom of              Father. Instead they had daily
unto you, That the publicans and harlots      God before the chief priests and el-            trampled the will of the Father under
go into the kingdom of God before you.        ders of the people. For John the Bap-           their feet openly and without shame.
     For John came unto you in the way        tist came unto the chief priests and            However, the publicans and harlots
of righteousness, andye believed him not:     elders in the way of righteousness,             believed on John the Baptist.
but the publicans and the harlots believed    but they believed him not. However,                  According to Jesus, John came
him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented    the publicans and the harlots did be-           in the way of righteousness.
not afterward, that ye might believe him.     lieve.                                               The way of righteousness is the
                      Matthew 21:28-32                     *  *  *  *  *  *  *                way of obedience to God's law. In
                                                        Jesus described the situation of a    Jesus' day, that law was the Mosaic
      On Monday of Passion Week               man and his two sons.                           law, the law God had given to Israel
Jesus had for the second time in His                    The maninstructedbothhis sons         at Mount Sinai through Moses. This
ministry cleansed the temple, driving         to go for the day into his vineyard and         law included not only the Ten Com-
out those who bought and sold ani-            work. The first son initially refused.          mandments but also the ceremonial
mals. The next day the chief priests          But upon reflection he repented and             laws, which governed Israel's wor-
and elders approached Jesus and chal-         went to do as his father commanded.             ship in the tabernacle, and the civil
lengedHim,"Bywhatauthoritydoest               The second son indicated very em-               laws, which organized Israel into a
thou these things? and who gave thee          phatically that he would go to workin           nation. This law taught Israel to live
this authority?"                              his father's vineyard. To indicate his          in daily repentance and confession of
     Jesus responded with His own             willingness to do his father's will he          their sins before God. This law taught
question, "The baptism of John,               even calledhis father, "Sir" (i.e.,lord).       Israel to cling by faith to the blood of
whence was it? from heaven, or of             But in fact he did not go.                      atonement pictured and promised in
men?"                                                   Jesus asked the chief priests and     the sacrifices at the altar of the taber-
      The leaders declined to answer.         elders, "Whether of the twain did the           nacle. This law taught Israel to live a
They knew that, should their response         will of his father?"                            life of service to God in humble grati-
be that the baptism of John was from                    Correctly, they responded that        tude for His redemption. This is the
heaven, Jesus would ask them why              the first son did the will of his father:       way of righteousness.
they had not believed John. And               he who said, "I will not," but after-                In this way John came to Israel.
should theirresponse be that it was of        ward repented and went.                         This means not only that Johnhimself
men, the people would be angry.                         From Jesus' explanation of this       personally walked this way of righ-
                                              parable we learn who these two sons             teousness, but that in his preaching he
                                              represent.                                      also proclaimed this way of righteous-
Rev. Slopsema is pastor of Hope Protes-                 The first son, who initially re-      ness to Israel. John came to Israel
tant Reformed Church in Walker,               fused to do the will of his father but          preaching the nearness of the king-
Michigan.                                     then repented, represents the                   dom. In fact, said John, the great King
                                                                                                     May 15,1992 / Standard Bearer I 353


was about to show Himself. How-                   In his preaching, John exposed          the works-righteousness error of the
ever, warned John, the people could          the hypocrisy of the chief priests and       Pharisees.
have no part of this kingdom, unless         elders. John also called them to re-               And why would the publicans
they turned back to the law and to the       pentance. But they did not believe.          and harlots go into the kingdom be-
way of righteousness which Israel            They did not believe that John spoke         fore the chief priests and elders? The
had long ago abandoned. John's               the truth. Neither would they repent         answer is obvious. The one did the
message was one of repentance.               and look for the coming Savior to take       will of the Father, whereas the other
      The publicans and harlots be-          away their sins before God. Nor did          did not. In response to the preaching
lieved John. They not only believed          they believe, when they saw the              of John and Jesus they turned to the
what He taught to be true, they also         publicans and harlots believe.               way of righteousness, confessing their
heeded his call to faith and repen-               Obviously the chief priests and         sins in godly sorrow, clinging to the
tance. In obedience to God's law they        elders of the people are represented         blood of atonement, living grateful
repented of their wicked lives, clung        in Jesus' parable by the son who with        lives of service. This is the only way
to the blood of atonement promised           great enthusiasm promised to do the          into the kingdom.
by God, and lived grateful lives be-         will of his father but did it not.                 And so, when the kingdom did
fore God.                                             *  *  *  *  *  *  $                 come at Jesus' ascension, the Spirit of
      As a sign of their repentance and           The publicans and harlots will          the kingdom was poured out without
new-found way of righteousness, they         enter the kingdom of God before the          measure. The Spirit came not upon
were baptized by John. And when              chief priests and elders.                    the chief priests and elders of the
Jesus came to them, these same                    Both John and Jesus proclaimed          Jews. For they had no part of the
publicans and (former) harlots also          the nearness of the kingdom of God.          kingdom and its blessings. The Spirit
adhered to Him.                                   About this kingdom we may say           of Pentecost came rather upon the
      Certainly these are represented        the following. It was pictured in the        publicans. and harlots and all those
by the son who, although he initially        Old Testament kingdom of Israel in           who did the will of the Father.
refused to do the will of his father,        Canaan. On the basis of His atoning          Through the indwelling Spirit of Pen-
repented and did this father's will.         death on the cross Jesus established         tecost these were very really brought
      The second son, who initially          this kingdom in heaven at His ascen-         into the kingdom to enjoy the won-
agreed to do his father's will but did       sion. Although established at the            derful life of the kingdom, eternal life
it not, represents the chief priests and     ascension, this kingdom will be com-         with God.
elders of the people. The chief priests      plete only when Jesus comes again to                    +  *  +  *  *  *  *
and elders were predominately Phari-         destroy this present world and make                It ought to be obvious which of
sees. The Pharisees were very reli-          all things new. This kingdom is not          these two groups we must resemble.
gious in keeping the law, at least inits     earthly in nature but heavenly and                 Certainly we are not to be like
externals. In fact, they went to ex-         spiritual. Finally, it is in this kingdom    the chief priests and the elders, who
tremes, doing and requiring of others        that God's people find the joys of an        in a spirit of self-righteousness claim
much more than God spoke in the              eternal life with God.                       to do the `will of God but in pride
law. They were also self-righteous.               According to Jesus' explanation         refuse to acknowledge their sins, cling
They expected to receive the reward          of the parable of the two sons, the          to the cross, orlive  out of Jesus Christ.
of eternal life on the basis of their own    publicans and harlots would go into          For then we would be like the son
superabundant righteousness.                 the kingdom before the chief priests         who agreed to do the will of his fa-
     However, when John came to              and elders.                                  ther, but did it not. Neither would we
them in the way of righteousness,                 The meaning of Jesus is not that,       find entrance into the kingdom.
they believed him not.                       while both groups would enter into                 Rather we must humble our-
      According to Jesus' own words,         the kingdom one day, the publicans           selves to acknowledge that Iwe re-
the chief priests and elders were hypo-      and harlots would have priority over         peatedly stumble into sin as the
crites. They were hypocritical in that       the chief priests and elders. The mean-      publicans and harlots. And, embrac-
their rigorous obedience to the law          ing is rather that the publicans and         ing the way of righteousness pro-
was only a show. As is clear from the        harlots would enter into the kingdom         claimed by John and Jesus, we must
many rebukes Jesus hurled their way,         whereas the chief priests and elders         sorrow after our sin, cling to the cross
their inner thoughts and desires were        would not, except they repent with           for forgiveness, and live grateful lives
contrary to the law. Their thoughts          the publicans and harlots.                   in the power of Jesus Christ. Then we
were filled with murder, adultery,                What a shocking statement this          are the son who initially refused to do
and thievery. Nor did they have any          was. For the prevailing opinion in           the will of the father but repented and
regard for the law in its essence: to        Israel was just the opposite of that         did it.
love God and the neighbor, to show           expressed by Jesus. This was un-                  Then too we will daily enter into
mercy to the needy, to cling to the          doubtedly due to the fact that the           the kingdom to enjoy a rich life in
blood of atonement....                       nation as a whole was given over to          God's fellowship. Q

364 /Standard Bearer / May 15,1992


                                             Did It Hap en? As
Editorial                                                                             ?
                                             Revealed n

     One of the most important de-           to the command of the gods is a myth.             Referring to the account of the
velopments in evangelical and Re-                 The myth did not happen. It             fall in Genesis 3, the influential Paul
formed churches and schools in re-           maybebasedonsomething(weknow                 Ricouer has written:
cent times is the denial of the historic-    not what) that happened once in the
ity of Genesis l-11. The churches and        distant past. It may serve as the basis        Every effort to save the letter of the
schools either teach or accept the teach-                                                   story as a true history is vain and
                                             for a people's religious and social
ing that the events recorded in these                                                       hopeless. What we know, as men of
                                             practices. But the myth itself did not
chapters never happened.                                                                    science,aboutthebe@nningsofman-
                                             actually take place. It has no reality in      kind leaves no place for such a pri-
     The worlds were not framed by           time and space. It is not truth. The           mordial event (quoted in Henri
the Word of God in seven successive          gods and persons of the myth are               Blocher, In the Beginning: The Open-
commands over six days of one                fictitious. The actions are fabulous.          ing Chapters  of  Genesis,  Leicester,
evening and one morning each. The                 The story of the myth is not di-          England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1984,
human race did not originate by a            vine revelation but the invention of           pp. 157,158).
man's being formed from the dust             men. The mythmakers were clever,
and by a woman's being made from a           religious, and profound men, but only        Accordingly, the evangelical Henri
rib of the man. The Adam and Eve of          men. The author of the myth was              Blocher  concludes that nothing in
Genesis 2 and 3 never existed. Sin and       Hesiod or Homer, not Zeus.                   Genesis 2 and 3 is to be takenliterally
death did not enter the world by the                                                      - not the trees; not the creation of
tempting of the womanby a speaking                    The denial                          Eve from Adam's rib; not the speak-
serpent and by the eating of forbid-                                 of the               ing serpent.
den fruit by the man. There has never          historicity of Genesis l-11                     The denial of the historicity of
been a time when there was no death                is monumental error                    Genesis l-11 is monumental error with
and when all the animals ate plants. A        with enormous consequences                  enormous consequences for the Chris-
universal flood never occurred. Man-             for the Christian faith.                 tian faith. It is far, far more serious an
kind is not now divided into nations                                                      issue than some that receive much
because God once confounded the                   The view that Genesis l-11 is           more attention from concerned Re-
language of the race at a Tower of           myth is widespread and prominent             formedchurchmembers, e.g., women
Babel.                                       in Reformed and evangelical                  in church office. Denial that Genesis
     Nothing, absolutely nothing, in         churches, seminaries, colleges, and          l-11 is history means the loss of the
the first eleven chapters of Holy Scrip-     Christian high schools and grade             doctrine of theinspirationof theBible.
ture is historical.                          schools. Where it is not approved, it        If it is myth in its opening, founda-
      Genesis l-11 is myth.                  is permitted.                                tional chapters, Scripture is exposed
     Mythis stories that are presented            The reason for doubt about the          as the literary production of men,
as history but that never happened.          historical reality of Genesis l-11 is the    rather than being divine revelation as
The myth concerns some aspect of             testimony of modern science about            it claims. With the denial of the histo-
human life that is of great importance       origins. Modern science's explana-           ricity of Genesis l-11 is lost every
to men and women. One can learn              tion of origins is evolution. This con-      cardinal doctrine of the gospel.
valuable truths from myths. Usually          tradicts Genesis l-11 at every point.        Ricouer is happy to draw out the
the myth involves the gods and their         The evangelical and Reformed                 implication of his denial of the histo-
relationships with mankind. The              churches and schools are bowing to           ricity of Genesis 3 for the doctrine of
Greek story of the entrance of misery        the authority of modern science. Evo-        original sin
into the world of humanity by                lution is reality and truth. Genesis l-
Pandora's opening the box contrary           11 is myth.                                    The harm that has been done to souls,

                                                                                                 May IS,1992 / Standard Bearer I 365


  during the centuries of Christianity,      denies that Genesis 3 actually hap-            God, by speaking, create light on the
  first by literal interpretation of the     pened), that "alongwithethicalmono-            firstdayofoneeveningandonemorn-
  story of Adam, and then by the con-        theism and the doctrine of sin . . . noth-     ing, prior to creating the sun? The
  fusion of this myth, treated as his-                                                      question is not whether a woman
  tory, with later speculations, princi-     ingless than the gospelis at stake" (In
  pallyAugustinian,aboutoriginalsin,         the Beginning,  p. 170). Therefore,            eventually appeared in an evolution-
  willnever adequatelybe told (quoted        these theologians, and the churches            ary process superintended by God.
  inBlocher, In the Beginning, pp. 157,      that follow them, still speak of the           But the question is, did God make the
  158).                                      "event-character" of the chapters and ~ woman Eve from a rib of the man
                                             still affirm that the chapters are "his-       Adam on the sixth day of one evening
      Denial of the historicity of Gen-      tory."                                         and one morning?
esis l-11 is the destructionof thefoun-               This is confusing to the people of
dations of the Christian religion, and,      God. How can the theologians or the
therefore, of Christianity. The  reli:       church's study committee affirm the                       The Christian faith
gion that must, and will, take form in       "event-character" of Genesis l-11                        is as little interested
those churches where Genesis l-11 is         when they *do not believe that any-                        in unsubstantial
interpreted figuratively as myth will        thingsetforthinthechaptersactually
be another religion from historic,           happened? How can myth be his-                             falls and floods
creedalChristianity. Christianityrests       tory?                                              behind the fall and flood
on the foundation of the events-the                   Exactly this, nevertheless, is the                   of the Bible
historical events -recorded in Gen-          position of these theologians and                         as it is in a vague
esis l-11. The Son of God took on            study committees. They have an ex-
                                             planation. The events recorded in                        and shadowy Jesus
                                             Genesis l-11 - creation, fall, flood,                     somewhere behind
           If biblical creation              and Tower of Babel -may very well                       the Jesus made known,,
           and the biblical fall             be based on real happenings in the                       truly, in the gospels.
                                             hoary past, although these "real hap-
              are mythical,                  penings" were not the same as the
           biblical redemption               stories in Genesis l-11 and although                    Did it happen?
            is mythical also.                we know nothing about these "real                       And then, because the propo-
                                             happenings." Therefore, we may                 nents of myth as history and the ad-
                                             speak of the "event-character" of              vocates of the event-character of ficti-
human flesh to redeem men and                Genesis l-11.        Because the storiesin     tious stories are hard to pin down
women who have fallen into sin and           Genesis l-11 derive, ultimately, from          (and because the stakes are high -
death by the disobedience of one             some historical facts or other and             Christianity itself is at stake), the
whom God had created good (Rom.              because the Christian churchlets these         Christianfaithpressesitssimpleques-
5:12-21; I Cor. 15:21,22). The work of       stories functionin the life of the mem-        tion by asking, "as revealed in Gen-
Jesus Christ is the raising of the cre-      bers to influence their history, we            esis l-11?" Not, did a fall once take
ation of God, subjected to curse and         may call these stories "history."              place?, or, did a significant flood once
vanity by Adam's sin, into the glori-                 Such is the tortuous defense of       happen? But, did the fall take place
ous liberty of the children of God           the deceptive reference to Genesis l-          exactly as revealed in Genesis 3?, and
(Rom. 8:19-22).                              il as historical by those who do not           did the flood occur exactly as revealed
      If biblical creation and the bibli-    believe that anything recorded in the          in Genesis 6-S? For, of course, the fall
cal fall are mythical, biblical redemp-      chapters actually happened. This is            and flood revealed in Scripture are
tionis mythical also. If the Adam and        the sense of Henri Blocher's distinc-          the only fall and flood we can ever
Eve of Genesis l-3 are mythical, the         tion between "a historical account of          know, the only fall and flood that the
Jesus Christ of the gospels is also          the fall" (which, according to him,            Christian faith is interested in, and
mythical. "As by one man sin entered         Genesis 3 emphatically is not) and             the only fall and flood there are. The
into the world, and death by sin . .."       "the account of a historical fall"             Christian faith is as little interested in
(Rom. 5:12).                                 (which, according to him, Genesis 3            unsubstantial falls and floods behind
      The evangelical and Reformed           equally emphatically is).                      the fall and flood of the Bible as it is in
theologians who deny the historicity                  The question that the Christian       a vague and shadowy Jesus some-
of Genesis l-11 realize the impor-           faith puts to these theologians and            where behind the Jesus made known,
tance of the historicity of these chap-      study committees about Genesis l-11            truly, in the gospels.
ters. Such is the importance of "the         is simply this: Did it happen? Not,                     Did it happen? As revealed?
historicity of the content of Genesis        did something happen, or even, did                      Only then is Genesis l-11 his-
3," according to Henri Blocher  (who         something like Genesis l-11 happen?            tory.
                                             But, did  Genesis  l-12 happen? Did

366 IStandard  Bearer I May 15,1992


         Only then is it the foundation of    believe in Jesus' literal, bodily resur-        the symbolic, mythical and meta-
the Christian religion.                       r.ection, at least not as it's commonly         phorical meaning of Easter that holds
         Only then is Christianity truth.     understood." For him, "the dusty                such transforming power."
         Only then is Jesus Christ Savior     remains" of Jesus' body are still in the             The question of the Christian
and Lord by His death and resurrec-           grave.                                          faith to this unbeliever, concerning
tion.                                                  The reason why this liberal can-       the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is
                                              not believe a literal, bodily resurrec-         simply this: Did it happen? As re-
                                              tion is the testimony of modern sci-            vealed in Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke
                                              ence to modern man: "The modern                 24, and John 20.
Did He Arise?                                 mind `cannot believe in the literal                  Where in evangelical and Re-
As Revealed?                                  resurrection of the body, no matter             formed churches the question, "Didit
                                              which god you think it happened                 happen? as revealed?," has to be
         In the Grand Rapids Press of         to."'                                           asked now concerning Genesis l-11,
April l&1992, the religion editor de-                  Nevertheless, the liberal              the same question will have to be
scribes the faith of the preacher in          preacher "doesn't discount the essen-           asked in only a few years concerning
Grand Rapids' notoriously liberal             tial reality of the Easter story."              the resurrection of Jesus as revealed
Fountain Street Church as regards                      Why not?                               in the gospels. 0
the "Easter event." The avowedly                       "For him it is not the literal, but                                     - DJE
liberal preacher "doesn't profess to





Letters

The Causes of AIDS                            didn't save the article and reference)          don't show up for years, whichmeant
                                              that one theory as to the origin of             that the disease was disseminated for
         Your editorial in the April 1,       AIDS is that on the African continent,          alongtimewithout homosexuals even
1992 Standard Bearer entitled "The            one person's act of bestiality (break-          knowing a deadly killer was among
Gospel-Truth about AIDS" gave an              ing another of God's laws) may have             them - all these factors made AIDS
apt analogy concerning the death of           transferred a virus that an animal              appear, when at last it broke out
immune-deficient churches.                    could live with to a human in whom              amongst them in severe sickness and
         Although AIDS is, indeed,            it became the deadly AIDS virus, but            death, as if the disease were the fault
caused by sin and disobedience to the         not before that, individual had in-             of the homosexuals. The truth is that
law of God, the blame is not to be put        fected other human beings.                      thevirusinbodilyfluidscanbespread
exclusively at the feet of homosexual-                 The fact that the wealthy, Ameri-      through any type of sex, through con-
ity. Thepopulationof drugaddictsin            can, jet-set, homosexual crowd, who             taminated hypodermic needles,
the USA, for instance, has been deci-         will travel far to get their sexual thrills     through exchange of saliva, through a
mated by AIDS, and many of that               in exotic places, happened to pick up           cut in the skin, and even from an
group were heterosexuals.                     this virus and bring it back to our             infected mother to her unborn child.
         In some parts of the world, as       shores; the fact that homosexual sexis               The "lifestyle" of sin, in general,
sections of Africa, the ravages of AIDS       often in multiple "bathhouse"-type              brings us not only AIDS, but a host of
show up most among heterosexuals,             encounters, even many within a single           other horrible effects from the time of
their lifestyle in general being pro-         evening; the fact that such sex prac-           the Fall. Eventually all of us will
miscuous, with little virtue attached         tices make depository of sperm against          experience physical death as a result,
to monogamy or respect of marriage            membranes not designed for the sex              whether it's sooner, because we have
vows.                                         act and consequently, which easily              AIDS, or later, because we die of "old
   ItwasstatedinaiVezuYorkTimes               rupture and transfer to the blood many          age."  0
article that appeared early in the            diseases (not just AIDS); and the fact                                    N.P. Jefferson
public's awareness of AIDS (sorry, I          that the effects of the AIDS virus                           Hawthorne, New Jersey

                                                                                                    May 15,1992  / Standard Bearer I367


                                                 News from the
                                                 Domestic Mission
  Contributions
  Don Doezema                                    Committee
        The truth of Jesus' words that
  laborers are "few," in the face of a
  "plenteous" harvest, is driven home
  to the Mission Committee by nearly
  every report it receives from minis-
  ters who have been released by their
  consistories for a couple of weeks of
  service in one of our mission fields.
  Nearly every attempt on their part to
  evaluate the state of affairs in those
  fields, as theyperceivedit, would end
  in a common refrain: "The simple fact
  is,  thereis  acryingneedfor a full-time
  missionary in . . . . N
        It happens that that quote came
  from the report of a minister who had
  just returned from a three-week clas-
  sical appointment to Larne, Northern                                         John  CZarke   family
  Ireland. During the two years since            the Fellowship makes! use of ahdeo-
  Larne was declared a field,                                                                     The reports of the men who have
                                                 taped sermon sent  by the calling
  Hudsonville has extended ten calls,                                                       gone to Larne have been uniformly
                                                 church.
  all of which have been declined. The                                                     positive. It seems that one who visits
                                                      TheFellowshipmeetseverySun-
  three-week appointments by  Classis                                                       theCRFcannothelpbutbeimpressed
                                                 day in Ballymena, in' a small "hall"
  East have made it possible for                                                           by their commitment to the Reformed
                                                 which has for 150 years been used as
  Hudsonville, during that time, to pro-                                                    faith and life as set forth in the Scrip-
                                                 a Sunday School room. Since the
vide at least for the pulpit of the                                                        tures. "These people," wrote one
                                                 room has the appearance of a church
  Covenant Reformed Fellowship, on                                                          minister, "are well-read and solidly
                                                 auditorium, it has served the pur-
  an approximately half-time basis. On                                                      grounded. They know the Reformed
                                                 poses of the Fellowship very well,
  Sundays when no minister is present,                                                      Faith and are zealous for a Reformed
                                                 and at a reasonable price.                 witness in Northern Ireland. The
                                                                                            group is spiritually mature." And he
                                                                                            adds, "I was impressed with the god-
                                                                                            liness of their homes. The marriages
                                                                                            seem to be solid marriages. Hus-
                                                                                           bands function responsibly as the
                                                                                           heads of their homes. Mothers are
                                                                                            devoted to caring for their children.
                                                                                           There are regular, family devotions.
                                                                                           Home life is well structured. The
                                                                                           older young people are  serious-
                                                                                           minded and godly. All these are
                                                                                            outstanding commendations of the
                                                                                           CRF. All of these also provide a solid
                                                                                           basis for a witness in their communi-
                                                                                           ties."
                             meeting place of the CRF in Ballymena                                It seems, too, that, with regard

  368 /Standard Bearer I May 15,1992


to that "witness in their community,"       ging questions: Were First Church               and encouraging the saints there."
the CRF is as active as can be ex-          &g&e Mission Committee perhaps                      The Mission Committee tries to
pected, in the absence of a mission-        too "close" to the work, and there-             be good stewards over the money
ary. Concerning their distribution of       fore unable to be objective in their            entrusted to our supervision for the
literature, one of our ministers noted      judging that the Lord still had work            workof  missions. And we are surely
                                            for our churchesin this place? Should           aware that the cost of two one-month
that, "the last Saturday  bf my stay, a     we rather conclude that four years of           conferences per year in Jamaica is
large ad was placed in the Belfast          fruitless calling for a missionary was          considerable. Rev. denHartog's  re-
TeZegraph, the paper with the largest       objective evidence that our work in             port confirmed our belief that we
circulation in Northern Ireland, ad-        Jamaica was in fact finished?                   should view our ability to conduct
vertising a free sample of the Stan-           We were gratified, however, to               these sessions (with theLord's  money)
dard Bearer.  The Fellowship re-            learn that Rev. denHartog's  advice             as being in fact a gift of God to the
quested that 20 sample copies be air-       was in effect to press on with re-              Protestant Reformed Churches.
mailed to them as soon as I returned        newedzealandconfidence. Hewrote
so that they could fill requests. Last      that he saw "abundant evidence that                 In the past year, First Church
Friday John Clarke called to tell me        even though we see many problems              has extended four calls to ministers to
                                            in the churches of Jamaica there is a
that they already had 50 requests.          real spirituality in                          serve as missionary to Jamaica. "To
                                                                     many of the lead-
They urgently asked for 50 additional       ers." And, further, that there is U good      date," writes First Church in its re-
copies of the SB to be mailed to them."     evidence of fruit of past work done           port to Synod, "all letters of decline
      The members of the Fellowship         in Jamaica by our missionaries and            reflect in one way or another the right-
remain enthusiastic and very inter-         our churches. There is a measure of           ful concerns of a father regarding the
ested. "Their one great disappoint-         knowledge of the truth of God's Word          impact of missionary service (in Ja-
ment," writes Rev. VanBaren,  pastor        to the extent that the men can con-           maica) on his family members. The
of the calling church, "is that there is    verse well on the precious doctrines          Councilrecognizesthisasarealprob-
not as yet amissionary to serve them."      of God? Word. There were times in             lem and their subcommittee has
                                            the discussions when I was deeply
And, from another report: "In every         moved by the evident knowledge                struggled to devise a practical an-
home I visited and in numerous con-         andlovefortheRefonneddoctrines."              swer, as yet without success. We
versations this came up. They ear-          And, again, "There is no evidence at          anticipate that by next year's man-
nestly want and need a man to labor         all that people are coming to our             dated evaluation of the `Interim Con-
permanently among them. This, too,          churches in Jamaica for carnal rea-           ferences,' should no missionary be in
is the request oft repeated in their        sons or financial gain.... If anything        place, we will have a proposal to
prayers."                                   it is pretty obvious that, though it          address the problem."
      The harvest truly is plenteous,       might be financially advantageous                   The harvest truly is plenteous,
but....                                     to belong to some other church in             but....
              *  *  *  *  *  *  *           Jamaica, thereisnothingtobegained                          *  *  *  *  +  *  Y
                                            financially from being member of
      In view of the .fact that Rev.        the PR churches." And he concludes                  Some mission fields are able to
Gritters' account of his four-week ef-      that he is "convinced that we as              survive, even for a prolonged periled
fort in Jamaica appears elsewhere in        churches must continue to labor in            of time, without a missionary pastor.
this issue, we need not say much            Jamaica. Without a doubt there are            Others cannot. The difference, of
about the work currently being done         many problems in the Jamaican                 course, has to do with the nature of
in this mission field. Perhaps it would     churches. These problems ought not            the field, and the background of the
be helpful, however, w&e we to lift         cause us to give up our work there,           members of the "core group." The
                                            but rather we should see that these
from the Mission Committee's report                                                       CR.F's  solid foundation in the Re-
                                            problems are in themselves more ur-
to Synod a short section giving our         gent reason for us to continue to             formed faith has equipped them for a
perception of Rev. denHartog's  re-         work in the churches. They need us.           Reformed witness in Northern  he-
port, submitted after he conducted          God has sent us to Jamaica to help            land. That  abdity,   along with the
the one-month conferences in Jamaica        with their great need.... There is a          necessary zeal, has made it possible
last fall.                                  very great need for a missionary on           for the members of the group, not
                                            the island of Jamaica. The problems           only to maintain the status quo in the
      It would not be overstating the       in a field like Jamaica can be over-          absence of a missionary, but even to
  case to say that we awaited Rev.          come only through prolonged, con-             make commendable prqgress. The
  denHartog'sreportwithbatedbreath.         sistent,andpatientlabor....  Weought          truthis  that the mission fieldinvenice,
  Rev. denHartog  had himself served        to keep this need before our churches         Florida does not share those advan-
  for a number of years as a missionary     and pray that the Lord will provide           tages. The members of the core group
  in another culture. We were eager         such a missionary.... As long as we           there simply do not have the Re-
  therefore to learn what would be his      do not have a missionary we ought at
  perception of our prospects for con-      least to continue the conferences.            formedbackgroundnecessarytociury
  tinued labors in the Jamaican field.      These conferences definitely do some          out an effective outreach without
  For, there were always those nag-         good in maintaining the churches              guidance. The provision which
                                                                                                     May 15,1992 I Standard Bearer I :369


Kalamazoo was able to make for the          tential in the area warranted our con-         worked before. But we do know that
pulpit in Venice was identical to that      tinued labors there.                           Venice is a growing area, with pe(Dple
provided by Hudsonville for Larne.                   Kalamazoo's pastor was able to        movinginallthetime.  Wealsoknow
But, whereas in the latter case that        arrange for an absence from his own            that there are several churches in the
provision was sufficient to "hold           cbngregation  during the month of              Venice area, but not a single church
                                                                                           that carries the testimony of the Re-
things together" till such a time as a      April, in order that he might spend            formed faith.~  Many of the churches
missionary pastor would begin his           the greater part of that month in              here are little more than social
labors there, in the former it was not.     Venice. A couple of members of the             churches. We desire the Reformed
Soon after Synod 1991, in fact, frus-       Mission Committee planned to be                faith to go forth in this area. Above
trations led to tensions among the          present for part of that time to help in       all, we desire a servant of God who
members of the group. Kalamazoo's           the evaluation - all with a view to            will labor among us and give in-
Council already at that time consid-        making a recommendation to Synod               struction to those who are interested
ered the unrest to be serious enough        by way of a supplemental report.               in knowing more about us. We long
to warrant their postponing a deci-                  Neither the calltig church nor        for a missionary-pastor to serve in
                                                                                           our midst, tid plead with you that
sion on renewing the lease on the           the Mission Committee may make                 efforts will continue to secure a pas-
parsonage until such a time as the          decisions like this lightly. Serious           tor for us.
tensions could be resolved. Subse-          consideration must of course be given
quent progress in the resolution of the     to the question of the continued vi-             The calling church is properly
differences led the Mission Commit-         ability of the existing core group. And      sensitive to such an appeal. The Mis-
tee to commit itself to further labors      it mayverywellbe that,in the end, the        sion Committee can therefore appre-
in the field, but with the understand-      decision to close or not to close will       ciate Kalamazoo's request for a little
ing that a re-evaluation would take         have to be made on the basis of the          extra time to evaluate the field after
place at the end of four months.            answer to that question. But, along          Rev. Woudenberg's return at the end
     Before the four months were            with that consideration, there is the        of April, after which they will submit
over, three families had withdrawn          haunting question of whether or not          their annual report and recommen-
from the group; and, as a result,           the field has yet been "proved" -            dations.
Kalamazoo decided to postpone their         that is, the question of whether a field                 *  *  *  *  *  +  *
calling for a missionary to their field.    such as Venice can be ,proved by two              May we add just this: People of
To the Mission Committee it seemed          years of providing "pulpit supply."          God, pray for the Mission Commit-
that the disintegrating of the core                  The latter concern has been ex-     tee, for the calling churches, and for
group (the existence of which was the       pressed to the Mission Committee             Synod, that they might be so guided
primary basis for the decision of the       andthecallingchurchbothbyseveral             by the Spirit that decisions made are
Synod of 1990 to declare Venice a           of the ministers who have labored            in harmony with the will of the
mission field) compelled us to con-         there recently, and also by members          church's King and for His glory.
sider closing the field. Kalamazoo          of what remains of the core group.                And . . . pray ye the Lord of the
Consistory, however, in the face of         From the latter, for example, there's        harvest, tinat He will send forth labor-
the setback in the field, felt just as      this:                                        ers into His harvest. 0
obligednot to abandonit, but to make
an all-out effort, before Synod 1992,         We don't know how Venice com-              Mr. Doezema is secreta yof the Domestic
to determine whether or not the po-           pares as a field to others you have        Mission Committee.

                                            Jamaica Seminar,
                                            1 9 9 2
Rev. Barrett Griiters

     Few men have the privilege to          Jamaica. First PRC of Grand Rapids           absence of a missionary, we "con-
workwith  theirownfather. Probably          and the Mission Committee of the             tinue laboring in Jamaica by making
fewer still have the privilegeto work       PRC asked us to work together to             the focus of our attention the instruc-
with their father in the gospel of Jesus    conduct the third seminar on the is-         tion of the leaders and potential lead-
Christ. For 30 days in February, my         land. Gladly we accepted the invita-         ers in the fundamentaIs  of the Re-
father - Elder Edwin Gritters from          tion, and set out to prepare to teach        formed faith by two men in two four-
Redlands,California-andIhad  that           the sessions.                                weeksessionsforthenextfouryears....
opportunity to labor in God's workin                 Synod's decision was that, in the I This enables us to maintain a signifi-
370 IStandard  Bearer I May 15,1992


                                                                                        funeral of one of the older members of
                                                                                        the Cave Mountain Protestant Re-
                                                                                        formed Church. Because her family
                                                                                        were members of the Salvation Army,
                                                                                        the service was held in that church.
                                                                                        On a hot Sunday afternoon, the Lord
                                                                                        gave opportunity to present the gos-
                                                                                        pel to hundreds of Jamaicans who
                                                                                        were not members of the PRC of Ja-
                                                                                        maica, nor even close to Reformed.
                                                                                        We were thankful for that.
                                                                                             In the churches we work with,
                Pastor Tomlinson and family, Beesfon Spring PRC.                        the members remember fondly the
cant, though low-key involvement             ecclesiology, practical instruction in     work of Rev. Bruinsma during his
which does not require a large expen-        analyzing the sermons preached, as         five years there. Whenever we would
' diture for our churches. We pray that      well as discussion regarding the con-      sing a Psalm that they knew well, the
this will be beneficial to the Jamaican      tent of the sermons preached. This         response was, "Rev. Bruinsma
churches. That (sic) the same time,          discussion led to review of the other      ("Broonzma") taught us that one!"
this recommendation leaves the field         areas of theology, as well as to ques-     The ability of the ministers to ex-
open for the providential direction of       tions regarding the life of the church.    pound a text of God's Word (as an
theLordforitsfuture"  (Actsof Synod               Present at the seminars were 14       assignment in our seminars) showed
of the PRC, 1990, page 40).                  to 16 men (including four pastors)         that the Lord gives fruit to the labors
      On Friday, January 31, we ar-          who eagerly received the instruction,      of our missionaries in the past. In
rived in Montego Bay, rented a car,          even asking to meet some evenings to       addition, First PRC is to be com-
and drove to the southwestern part of        pursue a subject at greater depths.        mended for their continuous labors
the island, near Savanna La Mar. Rev.        When the ministers were separated          on the field, labors that for the most
Joostens had made arrangements for           from the elders, deacons, and lay-         part go unnoticed by us.
the seminar at the Orchard Great             men, for the purpose.of  a more tech-           Frustrations abound: Inability
House, which served well thelast two         nical discussion of questions in ex-       to find work for the young men in the
seminars. Elder Gritters had helped          egesis, there was evidenced a true         areas of the churches. Poverty. Illit-
conduct the first seminar in February        eagerness to grow in the ability to        eracy. Inefficiency. A culture that
of 1991. His experience with the             explain the Scripture to God's people.     fights with all its might against the
people and the island was invaluable.        At that time, Elder Gritters instructed    establishment and maintenance of
After the initial culture shock (ex-         the men in some of the practical as-       good family life. The lack of good,
treme poverty, weather [hot], driving        pects of their office.                     dependable transportation for the
on the wrong side, narrow and wind-               On the Lord's days, I had oppor-      ministers to thevarious churches (two,
ing roads, giant-sized potholes, and         tunity to preachin, the churches. With     well-appreciated, but 20-year old
drivers worse than Jehu) we were             five pastors and seven churches there      motorbikes). The competition of apos-
able to dig into the work.                   is always a church in need of a pastor.    tate churches or cults that lure the
      We were asked to build on the          One Sunday I preached in three of the      young people and children to their
instruction of the last two sessions         churches and gave the message at a         churches with candy and clothing (the
that had focused on the six chapters
of theology, but, now to emphasize
preaching. So attention was focused
on Theology and the doctrine of Scrip-
ture, as well as on Ecclesiology  and the
doctrine of preaching. The four main
sections of studywere: "TheDoctrine
of Scripture," "Principles of Interpre-
tation," fl TheDoctrine of Preaching,"
and "Practice of Sermon Making."
Alongwith these areas of instruction,
we studied the book of I
Thessalonians, and I preached to the
men daily from this book. Each day,
then, included doctrinal instruction
in the two areas of theology and                             Februa y 1992 Conference in Orchard Great House

                                                                                               May 15,1992  I Standard Bearer / 371


used clothing and other goods we            sion asked themselves the question,        Bearer, pray the Lord of the harvest to
send from the States is not only ap-        "Why aren't there men, presently,          send us laborers. And don't let Him
preciated, but badly needed). The           taking the call to be missionaries to      go until He blesses us with this most
inability of our churches to maintain       the fields the Lord has given us?"         urgent of needs for Christ's cause.
a missionary presence on the island         Many answers were given. This com-                                                cl
for an extended period of time. And         ment stands out in my mind: "If we
the lack of a missionary now.               don't get missionaries on these fields
     Only a few weeks. ago, some            soon, they won't be fields anymore."       Rev. Griffers is pastor of the Profesfanf
Grand Rapids area PR ministers who          Brothers and sisters of the PRC in         Reformed Church  of  Byron Cenfer, Michi-
had gathered for a luncheon discus-         America, and readers of the Standuvd       gan.


                                            A B.rief Report on
                                            the Visit to Ghana
Rev. Russell Dykstra


     Early in the morning of January        for not reading the Acts of Synod          any other country in the world. So
31 of this year, two delegates of the       more carefully. For the FMC has had        last year the FMC decidedit was time
Foreign Mission Committee [FMC] of          a long-standing contact with a Mr.         to visit the country, examine the past
the Protestant Reformed Churches            Gabriel Anyigba of Ghana for over 20       work done there, and investigate the
stepped off British Airway flight num-      years! He is part of an independent        possibility of establishing a mission
ber 79 [London to Accra] in Accra, the      mission-minded group in Ghana              fieldthere. The Synodof 1991 agreed,
capital of Ghana, West Africa. It is        known as the Volta Evangelical Asso-       and the trip was on. The delegates
impossible fully to describe this mo-       ciation [VEA]. Gabriel has been re-        spentnearlythreefullweeksinGhana.
ment in print. Mr. Henry Bleyenburg         ceiving and distributing tapes and
and I, having left the farmland of          literature from the ERC for years, and     The Republic of Ghana
northwest Iowa some thirty hours            at one point the FMC recommended                   The climate of Ghana is hot and
earlier, were definitely out of our ele-    that he be brought to the US to be         humid year around. It does, how-
ment in this tropical city of over one      trained in the PR Theological School       ever, have two distinct seasons -
million people. We were greeted by          [a request turned down by synod]. In       rainy and dry. The rainy seasons are
[for us] intense heat and high humid-       addition, the FMC hadother contacts        approximately mid-March to June and
ity, tight security, bewildering forms      in Ghana, and in fact received more        Sept/Oct through November. The
to fill out, and a ,sea of unfamiliar       letters  from  Ghana yearly than from      dry seasons are ushered in by the
plack] faces.
      Although at the time we were
nervous, a bit disconcerted, excited,
awed, and not a little afraid of the
unknown, we were also quite aware
of the significance of our visit., Never
before had anyone been sent by the
FMC to an African nation. In spite of
the fact that many other churches had
sent missionaries into this huge con-
tinent, we were walking in uncharted
territory, not only personally, but for
the Protestant Reformed Churches!
We were privileged indeed!

Why Ghana?
     If you are wondering why the
FMC sent men to this particular coun-
try, consider yourself gently chided                   Rev. Dyksfra enjoys coconut wifh Gabriel Anyigba (far  leff)

372 /St&dard Bearer / May 15,1992


harmaffan, a hot, dry northwest wind          (US) per month, but would not per-          Ghana, was the VEA and Gabriel
off the Sahara. Conditions in the far         mit much luxury at all. A loaf of bread     Anyigba. The VEA arranged most of
north are severely hot and dry, but           costs about $.50 (US). Nearly all in-       the details of our stay, and were most
were less so near the coast during our        come must be used for food and shel-        helpful and hospitable. We would
stay.                                         ter.                                        have been at a total loss without their
         The present government of                    2. A second group of Ghanaians      gracious help.
Ghana, in power since 1981, is led by         are those trying desperately to escape             The VEA is made up of IEwa-
President J. Rawlings. The govern-            the village. Such individuals have          speaking people. Thus, while most
ment is, as one might expect, very            their home in a primitive village, and      members of VEA live in Accra, they
authoritarian, heavy on rules, regula-        travel to a city to work.                   do most of their work in the Volta
tions, paper work, and bureaucracy.                   3.The third group consists of       Region. They use the Ewa language
But the important thing for our pur-          those who still live contentedly in a       in their Bible studies and evangelism.
poses is that the government seems to         primitivevillageandfarm. Itisamong                 The group is led by the VEA
be quite stable, and no major barriers        these people that the VEA does much         Executive, a group of about 20 people.
exist to mission work in the country.         of its work, in the Volta Region.           Most of the members are from the
Currentlyaconstitutionisbeingwrit-                    The people of Ghana are defi-       Evangelical Presbyterian Church of
ten which may lead to a more demo-            nitely divided by tribal differences in     Ghana [EPC], but not all. One mem-
cratic form of government in the near         culture, language, and attitude. We         ber of the executive is, in fact, a Pen-
future.                                       had contact with three tribes. The          tecostal. The VEA has refused to
         The Ghanaians are a very             largest group is Ashanti. They are          become the mission arm of any de-
friendly people, and they welcomed            found in the Central Region (includ-        nomination, including the EPC. They
us everywhere we went. Although               ing Kumasi, the second largest city at      support their labors by their own
thepopulationisalmostentirelyblack,           500,000). In earlier centuries they had     donations.
after a week or so we felt very much          an empire which included much of                   Our goals were especially two:
at home, and often forgot that we             Ghana. Their chief still has much           1) to learn more about the Ghanaian
were a different race.                        respectandpowerwithAshantis,who             contacts and 2) to tell them more
         We were thankful to notice that      are rather proud of their culture and       about us. The schedule that the VEA
the Ghanaian society is much less             influence.                                  set up was ideally suited for this.
sexually promiscuous than the U.S.`5                  The Fanti tribe is related to,      They arranged for two speeches -
society. Additionally, the family struc-      though distinct from, the Ashantis; it      one on "The Second Coming of Christ"
ture seems to be quite well estab-            is found in the west and coastal areas.     [I gave essentially the same speech as
lished. In the Christian groups we                    We had the most contact with        was given at the 1991 YP Convention]
saw that the norm was a [married]             people from the Ewa tribe, such as          and one on "Reformed Theology."
father-mother household, although             Gabriel. The Ewas have their roots in       Both were well received and many
most marry quite late in life because         the Volta Region; on the eastern side       good questions were asked, especially
of the poverty.                               of Ghana.                                   after the speech on Reformed Theol-
         The living conditions in Ghana                                                   %Y*
vary, depending on where one lives.           The Work                                           In addition, I was given oppor-
Outlying villages are primitive, with                 The main contact of the FMC,        tunity to preach twice in Evangelical
none. of the conveniences we take for         and thus the main reason for visiting       Presbyterian Churches. This was truly
granted, even drinkable water in some
cases. Living in Accra would be like
stepping back 20-30 years from U.S.
development.
         Ghanais  definitely a third-world
country, but is trying very hard to
catchup withwesternnations.  In fact
it has made tremendous strides in the
last 10 years. One result of this has
been rapid urbanization, i.e., devel-
opment and growth of cities. Almost
the whole population can be divided
into three groups:
         1. People who both live and work
in a city like Accra or Kumasi. These
people are one generation from the                           Church building of fhe Evangelical Presbyferian Church
village. A good wage would be $100                                           in Kpobi Kopi, Ghana

                                                                                                  May 15,1992 I Sthdard Bearer / 373


an experience, because the sermons                    In general, we were kept quite        is enthusiastic about the possibility of
were translated into Ewa - sentence           busy byihe VEA and by other labors            future labor in Ghana, and has deter-
by sentence. Thetranslator,Mr. James          expectedbytheFMC,visitingasmany               mined to work toward another visit
Agbeblewu [head of the VEA], was              contacts as we could. Well over 1,000         in two years, the Lord willing, assum-
evidently quite capable, but Mr.              miles were traveled inside the coun-          ing that the workwith  the contalcts in
Bleyenburg will testify to the fact that      try.                                          Ghana progresses as expected. Until
this is less than ideal, and not an                   Space limitations forbid much         then the FMC is committed to main-
exciting way to preach. The first             elaboration on these things, but we           taining diligent and steady commu-
worship service was only two days             found in Ghana a wide variety of              nication with a number of contacts in
after we had arrived in Ghana, and            beliefs  - from Pentecostal to essen-         Ghana, chiefly with the VEA.
we were still suffering much from             tially Reformed. We met contacts                    This work of missions in Ghana
culture shock. We worshiped in a              that could be dismissed after a few           is exciting for the FMC. It marks a
covered, open pavilion in the heart of        minutes of discussion. We met others          milestone in the history of the PRC.
Accra. The sermon preached was on             with a sincere appreciation for the           We thank our God for this work. It is
the parable of the sower.                     truth and a desire to learn, with whom        our prayer that Christ will continue to
     The next Sunday, we worshiped            we had many hours of enjoyable dis-           open doors for us in Ghana, and give
in a village church under a thatch            cussion and study. In addition we             us the grace to be diligent in obeying
roof. This time the preaching [on             can say that the seeds of the Reformed        His command to go out to all the
Daniel  31 went somewhat better, be-          truth were sown. The antithetical             world with the riches of the Reformed
cause we were better acclimated to            fruit of this was evident -both love          faith. Pray for this work! ~1
the culture and style of worship.             for as well as opposition to the truth.
     The VEA also set aside adequate                                                        [Rev. Dyksfra has a slide picture presen-
time for discussion. We had many              Future labors' in Ghana                       tation offhe trip to Ghana ifany would be
opportunities to exchange views on                    The goal of any mission work is       interested in learning more about the
our doctrines and practices, to dis-          to establish a field and get missionar-       work. 1
cover our points of agreement and             ies working there. The field in Ghana
difference.                                   is not ready for this yet, but this re-       Rev. Dyksfra is pastor of the Profesfanf
                                              mains the goal of the FMC. The FMC            Reformed Church of Doon, Iowa.


Contribution                                  Global Communion
Rev. Rodney Miersma                           of the Saints
    Of the Communion of Saints
          All saints fhaf are united toJesus Christ their head, by his Spirit and byfaifh, havefellowship wifh him in his graces,
    sufferings, death, resurrection, and glo y: and being united  to one another in love, they have communion in each other's
    gifts and graces, and are obliged to the performance of such duties, public and private, as do conduce fo their mutual good,
    both in the inward and outward man.
                                                                            The  Westminster Confession  of  Faith,  XXVI,  31

     In this way the Westminster di-         were confined to their own commu-              other parts of the country and then
vines set forth the truth concerning         nity since travel was limited and the          even in other parts of the world. The
the relationship of God's'people to          modern means of communication                  ocean no longer served as a natural
their head Jesus Christ and to one           were not yet available. Therefore the         barrier, separating different parts of
another as fellow saints. For many           truththat God gathers His saints from          the world. Now we have even more
years, the experience of the unity of        the four corners of the earth, from            modern means of communication,
the body of Christ was limited more          every nation, tongue, and tribe, was a         with the invention of the satellite, jet
or less to the local congregation. Life      truth confessed but not personally             airplanes, computers, and facsimile
was very simple, and God's people            experienced. With the advent of the            machines. In just hours we can be on
                                             automobile, airplane, and the tele-            the other side of the world. In a
Rev. Miersma is pastor of the Protestant     phone, one was soon able to visit and          matter of seconds, by simply pushing
Reformed Church of New Zealand.              communicate with fellow saints in              a few buttons, we can talk or send

374 /Standard Bearer /May  15,1992


messages around the world as if we          the PRC traveled there to teach and to      to-day life of the church members.
were next door.                             preach thedistinctiveReformedfaith.         You and we are getting to know each
     All this has not only made the         This led eventually to the organiza-        other personally. At the beginning of
individual saint aware that God has         tion of a small church. The church          the year the undersigned sent to all
His children in other parts of the          was made up of saints from various          the Protestant Reformed churches a
world, but also made it possible for        parts of the globe, with members hav-       newsletter in which a special "thank
him to have personal contact with           ing come personally from such coun-         you" was given to one church in par-
these faraway saints. One's life and        tries as England, Scotland, Northern        ticular for sending to us their bulle-
contact is no longer restricted to the      Ireland, The Netherlands, New               tins and other church news. An invi-
length of the kitchen table or to the       Zealand, and now also from the              tation was extended to the other
end of one's nose, but extends to the       United States. Soon a sister-church         churches to do likewise. The response
ends of the earth. Your minister may        relationship was established with the       has been very gratifying. Individual
be sent far away, even for months at        PRC in America. A short time later          saints have taken it upon themselves
a time, to serve God's kingdom in           she called and received her first min-      to send news and bulletins both from
other countries. Your son or daugh-         ister from her sister.                      their churches and from their schools.
ter may very well meet a foreigner,              What had taken place up to this        Some were from the older and re-
marry, and live in a country far from       point, and what continues to take           tired, some from busy mothers, oth-
his place of birth and family. Your         place even today, is the recognition        ers from teenagers and even from
offerings now go beyond the local           and application of the Scriptural truth     primary school children. To cement
church to bring the Word to saints of       as presented in the Confession quoted       the bond between us, this material is
another land or to help its poor. It is     above: "and being united to one an-         distributed among the members of
all rather exciting, and so it should be    other in love, they have communion          the congregation for all to read and
- not only from the viewpoint of            in each other's gifts and graces, and       enjoy. As one correspondent wrote,
meeting people, fellow saints, from         are obliged to the performance of           "It's as if we're holding hands around
other lands, but also because this is an    such duties, public and private, as do      the world with those of like faith."
indication that the time for the return     conduce to their mutual good, both in       What was especially gratifying were
of Christ is approaching nearer and         the inward and outward man." By             the letters from the school children
nearer, which in turn means that our        the freely given contributions of the       who are being made aware of their
salvation draweth nigh.                     saints in the PRC in America, we are        relationship to saints in other lands.
     To illustrate this truth I will use    able to have our own minister, which        One group of third-graders wrote,
the church here in New Zealand as an        enables us in turn to spread the Word       "We are writing to find out more
example. In this way two things may         of God in yet another country.              about Christians in other lands. We
be accomplished. First, this will dem-      Through the preaching of the Word,          want to know more about your church
onstrate that global communication          and through the efforts of our Evan-        in New Zealand." This was followed
is an established fact and very neces-      gelism Society, material has been           by a number of questions and a re-
sary for the church of Christ. And,         placedin  the hands of people through-      quest for a picture of the church and
secondly, this will enable you to know      out the length and breadth of the two       congregation. Enough to warm the
us even more intimately as being one        islands. We also have been privileged       heart of any saint!
with you in the body of Christ.             to be able to send tapes and pam-                InlightoftheaboveIwanttouse
     In the late sixties a few families     phlets to foreign countries as diverse      this opportunity, personally and on
in New Zealand were alarmed by the          as The Netherlands, Eastern Europe,         behalf of the congregation, to thank
doctrinal error that was being con-         Africa, Singapore, and Australia. In        all of you for this manifestation of
doned in their church. In the course        additiontooursister-churchrelation-         love for fellow saints in other parts of
of their struggles they came into con-      ship with the PRCA we are having            the world. It is almost like "holding
tact with the Stan&& Beaueu, which          ongoing contact with the Evangelical        hands," isn't it? If there are more of
led to contact with its editor-in-chief,    Reformed Churches in Singapore and          you who would like to share in this
which soon resulted in an Australasian      with the Evangelical Presbyterian           experience, we welcome your letters
tour by Rev. C. Hanko and the late          Churches in Australia. The latter           and we will try to reply in kind. Or,
Prof. H.C. Hoeksema. (We may add            have invited us to send delegates as        if you can, you may visit us in person.
here that it was at the urging of one of    observers to theirpresbyterymeeting         Already we have had visitors from a
the New Zealand men that the PRC            in June, which invitation we have           number of different countries, which
emissaries altered their travel plans       accepted. All of this is exciting and       has led to the formation of friend-
in order to visit Singapore. Look           stimulating, for it brings the family of    ships which continue yet today. Our
what the Lord has done with that            God closer and closer. .                    homes are always open. What one
contact!) Subsequent to the visit of             However, what has been taking          immediately experiences is that, even
Rev. Hanko and Prof. Hoeksema to            place on a more or less official level      if we have never met before, yet be-
New Zealand, other ministers from           has also been happening in the day-         cause we are fellow saints it is as if we
                                                                                               May 15,1992 I Standard Bearer I 375


:


always knew each other. Such is the           together on their sojourn through this       other, but it is a necessity. As Solomon
family of God. Such is the experience         valley of the shadow of death. Each          wrote many years ago under the in-
of the communion of- the saints on            child of God is a member of the body         spiration of the Holy Spirit, "Two are
what was once only the local level,           of Jesus Christ. Each one has a par-         better than one; because they have a
but now also the global. Our church           ticular place and function within the        good reward for their labour. For if.
family extends beyond our city, state,        body that serves the purpose of the          they fall, the one willlift  up his fellow:
and country, to foreign lands and to          whole. As we come nearer to the end          but woe to him that is alone when he
the islands of the seas, even to the          of time we see that more and more -          falleth; for he hath not another to help
remotest parts of the.earth.                  not only that we need each other in          him up. Again, if two lie together,
      As stated earlier, this points to       the local congregation, but also. that       then they have heat: but how can one
the imminent return of our Savior             we need the saints in other lands as         be warm alone? And if one prevail
upon the clouds of heaven. One of the         well. We as fellow saints have gifts to      against him, two shall withstand him;
signs of His return is that U this gospel     give and needs to be supplied by' and a threefold cord is not quickly
of the kingdom shall be preached in           other saints. As it is in the physical       broken" (Eccl. 4:9-12).
all the world for a witness unto all          body so it is in the spiritual body. Just          It is our prayer here in New
nations; and then shall the end come"         as no member of the body can live in         Zealand that through this article you
(Matt. 2414).  Accompanying this sign         isolation from the rest of the mem-          may learn to know more about us,
will be the co-ordinate sign of ram-          bers, so also as saints we can not live      and that we might all grow in an
pant apostasy from the truth, for             in isolation from each other. In these       understanding of how we fit together
Christ also said, "And because iniq-          perilous times, times in which Satan         and relate one to the other in the body
uity shall abound, the love of many           goes about as a roaring lion knowing         of our Lord in the communion of the
shall wax cold" (Matt. 2432). Thus            that his time is short, the. Lord is         saints. May the Lord continue to
the saints are drawn together, in or-         drawing us together. Especially in           bless us in our respective churches
der that they may instruct and en-            these latter days it is not just a pleas-    and in the union whereby He `has
courage one another as they struggle          ant experience for saints to know each       bound us together. u

                                              Analyzing the
                                              Disciples' Mistaken1
C o n t r i b u t i o nKingdom Notion (2)
Rev: K@tyeth Koole


          In thefirst installment we suggested that in explaining the disciples'rejection  of Christ's heavenly kingdom doctrine
     we must show sympathy to their perplexity. They had not the fullness of the Spirit, and they were on the wrong-side of the
     cross to understand how it fulfilled the temple functions and spelled the defeat of God's enemies. Christ's resurrection is
     what sheds light onthe cross and the kingdom.
      In the second place, there is that      two sins with which we all have to           estadministrativeposition!  Eachhad
which must be criticized in the dis-          deal.                                        his own place picked out. Judas
ciples. There are aspects of their re-                 First we look at this matter of     ,Iscariot, for instance, did not care
fusal to believe which must be re-            pride. This played a large part in the       who sat right next to Christ in Jerusa-
proved, as Jesus Himself did onmore           disciples' refusal to exchange their         lem, just as long as he himself was
than one occasion.                            carnal kingdom view for Christ's             "Chancellor of the Exchange," that is,
      Tied in with their understand-          heavenly, spiritual, invisible kingdom       Secretary of the Treasury. For that he
ableignorance, there was also a pride         teaching. It. did not appeal to their        lived.
and a prejudice. These two things are         pride and earthly ambitions.                       Interestingly, these earthly am-
very important in bringing practical                   The disciples did not lack in       bitions found their origin in the'dis-
truths home to the student. These are         ambitious pride (as we do not). How          ciples' home training. If you recall, it
                                              many times were not the disciples            was James and John's mother who
                                              reprimanded for arguing about who            requested of Jesus, "Lord, when your
Rev. Koole is pastor  of  Faith Protestant    would be greatest in the kingdom,            kingdom is established, will you see
Reformed Church in lenison,  Michigan.        meaning, who would have the high-            to it that my sons sit one on either side
376 /Standard Bearer / May 15,1992


of you?" She wanted that supreme                   Yet Jesus indicated something                  A kingdom that would drive out
honor reserved for her boys!                  different. That was obvious at the         the uncircumcised, defeat the pagan
     The point is, there was nothing          very-outset. Think of the Samaritan        Gentiles in military fashion, and get
subtle about their kingdom ambitions.         woman. The apostle John, earlyin his       back Jewish self-respect, that the dis-
They were always jockeying for posi-          gospel, devotes a whole chapter to         ciples could live with. One that urged
tion. Their families encouraged this          this incident. It made upon him a          the conversion of pagans, and sought
perspective. No one was going to              deep impression. He recalled how           their incorporation into the kingdom,
outmaneuver-them.                             scandalized he had been when Jesus         in order that they might share in
                                              had headed straight north through          Israel's promised glory and victory?
                                              unclean Samaria, and then had pro-         This had no appeal to the disciples.
         How can you attain                   ceeded  to have contact  with that         This was their pride, their sin, and it
    to a high, visible profile                woman and her relatives and, seem-         does much to explain why they
                                              ingly, enjoyed it. As he explains his      wanted to dismiss Christ's kingdom
    in an invisible, spiritual                original surprise, "For the Jews have      teaching.
              kingdom?                        no dealings with the Samaritans"                    I suggest that you show your
                                              (John 3:9).                                students that side of the disciples,
                                                   And then there was Christ's on-       with its root, pride, and whack off its
     Well, it is an earthly kingdom           goingcontactwithpublicans(thetum-          head. It is to be rebuked in strongest
that feeds and satisfies these ambi-          coats) and with harlots (the defiled).     terms. It is Pharisaical. It is to be
tions. How can you attain to a high,          That did not make his disciples happy      condemned when it shows itself in
visible profile in an invisible, spiritual    either. For one thing, they failed to      thelives of the disciples of Christ both
kingdom? You can not. It is this              see what these people could add to         back in the Gospel times and in our
personal ambition that stoodbetween           the kingdom (even their money was          own lives as well.
them and Christ's conception.                 tainted), and for another, it made                  And yet, for all the foregoing,
     Further, it became increasingly          them unpopular with the people that        the disciples must be distinguished
clear what Christ's concept implied,          counted in the nation, namely, the         from JudasIscariot  and from thePhari-
namely, self-denial. He hammered              religious leaders.                         sees who sought Jesus' death.
this home. For instance, how many                  We need mighty men of war, we                  But how? - in light of the fact
times did he not take a child, place it       need the wealthy, we need men of           that they were just as unwilling to
before them, and say that except they         influence; we need to cut down our         accept Christ's statements concern-
became as one of these, they could not        enemies, not pick them up out of           ing His kingdom as were the Phari-
enter the kingdom?                            ditches.                                   sees.
      Finally, Christ made it clear in a           The disciples could understand                 The difference lies in their loy-
painful way when He, on the night of          and accept akingdom that welcomed          alty to and love for Jesus of Nazareth,
His betrayal, stripped down, put a            rich young rulers (the more, the mer-      as the Christ. Whatever their miscon-
towel around His waist, and washed            rier; such were contributors), but not     ceptionconcemingChrist'skingdom,
their feet. They were aghast. They            one that drove them away, and fo-          it can never be said that they hated
were to do likewise? What a hammer            cused on the common and the needy.         Jesus, or did not want Him as the
blow to their self-serving ambitions.         They could not see such a kingdom as       Christ. Even when the disciples tried
We can understand why this had little         having a future. Christ's kingdom          to correct Christ, with statements like
appeal to their nature.                       agenda baffled them. You do not            "BeitfarfromtheeLord,"  theydidso
      I trust the relevance of this mat-      antagonize the wealthy, the influen-       because they wanted him to be popu-
ter for teaching our children, with           tial, and the powerful. You court          lar and to rule. It was loyalty misdi-
whom it is too often, "Me first!" is          their favor. How else do you come to       rected, but it was still loyalty.
obvious to you all.                           power?                                              It was this way: you could have
      Secondly, there was this evil of              And then there was the matter        offered the Pharisees their kingdom
prejudice. By prejudice I refer espe-         of those filthy Gentiles, and of those     conception, earthly, Jewish, etc. but
cially to what Scripture calls being a        hated Roman soldiers. Christ healed        with the one condition, namely, that
"respecter of persons.N One's assess-         their children and commended the           Jesus had to be acknowledged as its
ment of another is based on his social        faith of one of them as greatest in the    rightful Lord and that they had to
status or ethnic background.                  land. The disciples wanted nothing         honor Him in submission, and they
      The Jews, of course, detested the       to do with a kingdom that had room         would have rejected the proposal
Gentiles. The disciples were no ex-           for such if they could help it. These      forthwith even though it meant for-
ception. The Gentiles were judged             people were unclean, uncircumcised,        feiting the kingdom. They hated Him
"unclean," defiled. The promised              andprobablylikedgrilledporkchops.          that much. They would have no king-
kingdom would certainly be racially           Now how can you have fellowship            dom at all rather than bow the knee to
pure.                                         with such "fiese" people?                  Jesus.

                                                                                                    May 15,1992 / Standard Bearer / 377


          With the disciples, for all their               When Jesus rebuked the Phari-        things which were spoken" (Luke
     weaknesses, it was just the opposite.       sees, they gnashed their teeth and            18:34). God saw fit not to illuminate
     They of course wanted both their            hated Him as light.                           them during Christ's ministry. Why?
     earthlyKingdomconceptionandJesus                     When Jesus reproved His dis-              It has to do, I am convinced,
     as the Christ; but, when all was said       ciples, they became bewildered and            with God's will to glorify His Son, the
     and done, the day after Jesus had           ashamed. That's the difference in             Lord Christ, as the great officebearer
     died, if you had given them the choice      heart.                                        of the church; and here in particular,
     between Jesus as their Lord and their                They are to be judged in the end     as the chief prophet. There was none,
     earthly Kingdom concept, they would         neither according to their deficient          for instance, in Old Testament -times
     have exchanged the latter for Jesus in      understanding, nor according to their         who could grasp and set forth the
     their midst. Without Him life was not       hardheadedness; theyaretobejudged             truth of God as the Triune One. This
     worth living. It was that simple. They      according'to their willingness to be          honor of revelationbefell the Son who
     were like exasperating children, but        corrected without resenting Christ            came from the bosom of the Father.
     still they were attached to His person.     for rebuking them. They never                 So it is with the truth of Christ's king-
          The disciples had for Him a per-       doubted that Jesus was filled with the        dom according to its true "dimen-
     sonalloveandafaithwhichinChrist's           wisdom of God and that He was the             sions" and nature. The Christ had to
     own eyes outweighed all their fool-         only Savior. This is always the mark          come as King and perform His work
     ishness. "To whom else shall we go,         of true faith, be it misguided for a          as High-priest on the cross, and then
     Lord? Thou hast the words of eternal        time.                                         interpret it for our understanding to
     life." And again, in the words of                    Such children of God are teach-      be opened.
     Peter, "Lord, thou knowest I love           able and correctable, though much                  As well, the inability and un-
     thee" -which is to say, "I may have         patience may be required. In such             willingness of the disciples to grasp
     been very foolish and weak, and not         light Christ viewed His lovable, but          the truth of the kingdom serves to
     any different than many whom I once         exasperating, childlike disciples. With       magnify the glory and necessity of the
     despised, but Lord, thou knowest I          patience He continued to teach them.          Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ. He
I    love thee." That was the difference.                 You see your students? Put the       it is who searches the mind of God.
          This explains Christ's bearing         apron around your waist and go and            Without Him there is a blindness
     with them in their pride and preju-         do likewise.                                  about and resistance to spiritual things
     dice and in their childishness. They                 There is one further matter to be    in even the best of men. The truth of
     were still His friends, and before the      touched on briefly, and that is this -        the kingdom can be set in plainest
     face of God they knew they were             what was God's purpose in this dis-           terms right in front of one's nose, but
     sinful men. They knew they were             play of these believers' ignorance and        one still needs the Spirit of the cruci-
     saved by grace and not by their won-        in withholding insight? You read for          fied and risen Christ to enable one to
     derful deeds and works.                     instance that "these things... [were]         "see" and believe.  0
                                                 hid from them, neither knew they the

     Strength of Youth                           True Thinking
     Rev. Steven Key


          With all the attacks upon the          Perhaps youth tend to undervalue              trary to Scripture and, as you will
     mind,itis absolutely essentiajthatwe        doctrinal knowledge more than any-            come to learn, to experience as well.
     "gird up the loins of our minds," as        one else. One reason for that is that              Jesus declares that His people
     the apostle Peter commands us in I          youth tend to think in terms of the           are "sanctified in the truth" {(John
     Peter 1:13. That means that the foun-       practical. They often fail to make the        17:17).  That actually means that if
     dation of our living and of our think-      connection between doctrine and               you will be sanctified, if your life will
     ing must be grounded in clear views         practice, imagining rather that if the        reflect consecration to God, it will
     of divine truth.                            heart is right, and the conduct cor-          only be as you live in the sphere of
          Doctrinal knowledge is gener-          rect, then the doctrines which one            God's truth. That is an assertion quite
     ally given little value by most today.      believes really do not matter all that        contrary to the philosophy of this
                                                 much. Or, to put it another way, a            world, also thebroader church world.
                                                 person maybe pure of practice, while               Most of the philosophies gov-
     Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Re-    his religious opinions are radically          erning today's thought patterns are
     formed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin.       erroneous. But nothing is more con-           based upon feelings. To put it an-

     376 /Standard Bearer I May 15,1992


other way, man's thinking today is          so subject to sin, and our defensive        be a number of young people who
very much man-centered and near             mechanisms are so highly refined,           would make "a commitment to Jesus
zero God-centered. And some of the          that we are able to develop good            Christ" within the context of an emo-
modern philosophies .of human               feelings toward just about anybehav-        tional response. Now, there is cer-
thought are playing havoc with your         ior we want badly enough. If you            tainlya place for emotional response
minds.                                      wantto"getabuzz" drinkingorsmok-            in the one called by God. Godly
     One such way of thinking is that       ing weed, if you want to fornicate,         sorrow worketh repentance. I get
of existentialism. It is not my inten-      you are probably well able to tell          excited whenIseeamanorwomanor
tion to present the definition of exis-     yourself, "It feels good." But the end      young person convicted enough to
tentialism as a philosophy, but sim-        of such "goodfeelings" is destruction       weep before God for his sins and to
ply as it stands related to how we live     and everlasting damnation, except           receive His blessed forgiveness. That
today. It is not, therefore, so impor-      there be repentance.                        is godly emotion. But when a young
tant that you remember the term, so              But just as deceitful a form of        man or woman has a spasm of emo-
long as you get the idea. Existential-      hedonism is seen within Christianity        tion because somebody sings N Just As
isminits practical outworkingteaches        whentruthissetasideforareligionof           I Am," or some more contemporary
that man has absolute freedom of            feelings. I have met young people           music, and because somebody tells
choice, but that there are no rational      whose whole relationship with Jesus         emotionally charged stories, finish-
criteria serving as a basis for choice.     Christ is a matter of feelings. If you      ing with an appeal to accept Jesus, the
"Don't worry about yesterday, don't         ask the question, "Are you a Chris-         commitment invoked by that spasm
worry about tomorrow; just do what-         tian," you are likely to get the answer,    of emotion cannot last. Whatever
ever turns you on today." We read in        "Ohyes,IjustfeelJesusinmylife,and           feelings are there, and no matter how
Jeremiah 6:16: "Thus saith theLORD,         it feels so good." There are young          deep those feelings run, theycannever
Standye in the ways, and see, and ask       people running from one place to the        be sustained.
for the old paths, where is the good                                                         Whenever I hear someone say to
way, and walk therein, and ye shall                                                     young people, "Ifyou give your heart
find rest for your souls." And today           God will never insult you                to Jesus, things are really going to
the answer given is exactly the fulfill-            by coming to you                    work out . . . . N I cringe. Some day .that
ment of the rest of that verse, "But                                                    young man or young woman may
they said, We will not walk therein."             through your feelings                 read the 11th chapter of Hebrews,
The Lord said, "Also I set watchmen                                                     and it will not feel good. Even worse
over you, saying, Hearken to the                                                        than reading it, we might have to live
sound of the trumpet. But they said,        next,lookingtogetzappedbyGod, to            it! It says, some who followed God
We will not hearken." Our society           get turned on to Jesus. If they are not     were mocked and beaten and impris-
and much of the church world today          "feeling good" in their own church          oned. Others were stoned. Some
is very self-oriented, with little or no    settings, and they are not having the       were cut in half! Others wandered
concern about its roots or the future.      loins of their mind girded up byfaith-      about in sheepskins and goatskins,
What about you? Are you living only         ful preaching and instruction, they         destitute. The ungodly ripped them
for right now? Are you unwilling to         turn to the  Pentecostals, the              off! They had no place to live any
consider your heritage? Do not for-         Charismatics, and even sects, to find       longer. They could only wander from
get, we are sanctified in the truth.        "good feelings."                            cave to cave, through deserts and
Moreover, there  is  a tomorrow.                 I ache inside when I see young         mountains. Where would such a life
     Another modern philosophy at-          people make a commitment as a mat-          leave someone whose Christianity is
tempting to play havoc with your            ter of feelings. Whether a religious        based upon good feelings? We are
minds is that of hedonism. Hedo-            commitment or a marriage commit-            not Christians on the basis of feelings.
nism is the Playboy philosophy that         ment or any other kind of commit-                The Christian faith is not getting
says, "Ifitmakesyoufeelgood, doit."         ment, if it is made on the basis of         "turned on by Jesus." The Christian
Pleasure is god. That is hedonism.          feelings and not according to the truth     faith is not a matter of mere feelings.
Not only society, but the church as         of God's Word and precepts, it is           Christianity is a relationship with the
well, has becomefeeling-oriented. We        bound for disaster. I well remember,        God of our salvation, a relationship
certainly confess that feelings belong      prior to coming to a deeper under-          that builds through time and eternity,
to the emotional makeup of the man          standing of the Reformed faith and          a relationship that is established upon
which God created good. That we             the truth of`Scripture,  my involve-        the knowledge of the only true God,
have feelings is good. But when feel-       ment in a national Christian young          and Jesus Christ whom He has sent
ings are in control, and when we            people's organization. There would          fJohn 173). God will never insult you
subject our thought processes to feel-      be conventions, where music and fun         by coming to you through your feel-
ings, we are walking down a destruc-        was the focus, but where there would        ings. "Faith cometh by hearing, and
tive pathway. For one thing, we are         be speeches as well. And there would        hearing by the Word of God." We

                                                                                               May 15,1992  / Standard Bearer I 379


must live and believe, not on the basis      dating standards, marriage, your field         can be sanctified, or can benefit by
of how we feel, but on the basis of the      of study in school, your relationships         embracing error, is completely con-
fact that we have put our faith and          to your family, your place in the              trary to all reason.
confidence in what the Lord has re-          church; when your Christianity really               We must know the truth. But
vealed to us in the Scriptures, and in       counts, then a weakness shows itself,          above all, see to it that you are not
the reality of the love of God.              a weakness that is seen in a failure to        contentwithameredoctrinalorspecu-
      Our thought patterns must not          thinkin  accordance with God's Word.           lative religion. Listen to God, who
be governed by the ungodly philoso-                "Girduptheloinsofyourmind."              tells you that you are in a state of
phies of this world. Until your way of       That is God's calling for you. .He             moral ruin, depraved; that you need
thinking is removed from the world's         knows how vulnerable you are in                pardoning mercy and sanctifying
foundations to that foundation which         your feelings. He knows how easily             grace; that you must be "transformed
God gives you, you are going to live         swayed you are in your feelings which          by the renewing of your minds." The
just like the world. That you are            have been affected by sin. He wants            principles and practice to which you
different from unbelievers and un-           your mind.                                     are called are not those of some sect,
godly will be seen when you think                 Youngpeople also are sanctified           but those of the Bible, God's inspired
differently than they do.                    in the truth. In fact, it is only so far as    and infallible Word. You cannot es-
      Often when your Christian faith        the truth is received and believed,            cape the battles and the trials. But
really counts, when,you  are making          loved and obeyed, that true obedi-             there is a tremendous victory, I as-
decisions about relationships with           ence is found in the heart and in the          sure you, when you think and live on
your girlfriends and boyfriends, your        way one lives. To suppose that one             the basis of God's Word. 0


A Cloud Of
Witnesses                                    The Waldensians
Prof. Herman Hanko


                                                                                                 With the words of this sonnet
                              On the late Massacre in Pie$mont                              theblindpoetJohnMiltoncommemo-
         Avenge  d. Lord thy slaughter'd Saints, whose bones                                rated the terrible massacre of the
             Lie scatter'd  on the Alpine mountains cold,                                   Waldensians by the Romish Church.
             Ev'n them who kept thy truth so pure of old                                         Even in the Middle Ages, when
         When all our Fathers worship/t  Stocks and Stones,                                 the Roman Catholic Church ruled
             Forget not: in thy book record their groanes                                   supreme and invincible over all of
             Who were thy Sheep and in their antient Fold                                   Europe, it did not always have every-
             Slayn by the bloody Piemontese that roll'd                                     thing its own way. Throughout these
         Mother with Infant down the Rocks. Their moans                                     dark times individuals or groups
             The Vales redoubl'd to the Hills, and they                                     raised voices of protest against the
             To Heav'n. Their martyr'd blood and ashes sow                                  tyranny and corruption of Rome.
         O're all th'ltalian fields where still doth sway                                        The only explanation for such
             The triple Tyrant': that from these may grow                                   dissenters from Romish teachings is
             A hunder'd-fold, who having learnt thy way                                     the great work of God in preserving
                         Early may fly the BabyZonian WO.~                                  His church. The Confession of Faith
                                                                                            speaks of the fact that "this holy
                                                                                            Church is preserved or supported by
                                                                                            God, against the rage of the whole
                                             `The pope of Rome.                             world; though she sometimes (for a
                                             9?he Babylonian woe." The reference is         while) appears very small, and in the
                                             again to the Roman Catholic _ Church           eyes of men, to be reduced to noth-
                                             which attempted to destroy the                 ing."3
                                             Waldensians. The reference to Babylon is
Prof.  Hanko is professor of Church His-                                                         One evidence of God's preser-
                                             rooted in the notion that the Babylon of
tory and New Testament in the Protes-        Revelation 17 & 18 is a reference to the
tant Reformed Semina y,                      Roman Catholic Church.                         3Belgic Confession, Article 27.
360 /Standard Bearer  /  May 15,1992


  vation of His church is the existence      the Third Lateran Council in 1179,           of Roman Catholicism, nor the church
  throughout most of the Middle Ages         but this Council also refused their          itself as the mother of believers. They
  of a group called the Waldensians.         request.                                     were, in fact, very much like a reli-
They are surely some of the most                      Convinced that they were only       gious order. They demandedvows of
  faithful of all the dissenters in the      doing that which was biblical, they          poverty, chastity, and obedience for
  Middle Ages; and they are one of my        continued to preachanyway, and thus          full membership and insisted on a
  favorite groups of saints.                 incurredthewrathofthechurchwhich             novitiate5  before becoming full mem-
       Although there is some dispute        excommunicated them at the Council           bers.
  over the origin of the Waldensians,        of Verona in 1184.                                    But from the outset their main
  most historians consider Peter Waldo,                                                   emphasis was on preaching. It was
  after whom they were named, to be                                                       preaching that got them into trouble
  the founder of the movement.                             Only the fact                  with the church, for they preached
       Although almost nothing is                      that God preserves                 without permission. But they contin-
  knownofPeter'searlylife,itisknown                                                       ued even in the face of excommunica-
  that he was the son of a rich merchant                    His church                    tionbecause  they were convinced that
  in Lyons, France, and that he inher-            can adequately explain                  preaching is decisive for salvation -
  ited his father's wealth. What the                      their existence.                a Reformation doctrine that stood at
  date of his birth is, no one knows, but                                                 the heart both of the Lutheran and.of
  his death was in 1218; which puts him                                                   the Calvinistic reform.of  the church.
  very early in the Middle Ages, a child              What is particularly interesting    Rome taught that the sacraments were
  of the Twelfth Century.                    about the Waldensians is their views.        essentialforsalvationandthatpreach-
       Troubled by his wealth (which         I doubt whether any-group of people          ing. was subordinate `to the sacra-
  had been increased through usury),         in all Europe, prior to the Reforma-         ments. The Waldensians saw the er-
  and by the obvious worldliness of his      tion, understood the truths of Scrip-        ror of this and insisted that the Lord
  life, Peter asked his priest concerning    ture so clearly as these poor people.        had added the sacraments  t'o the
  the best way to God. He was told, as       Philip Schaff even calls them "the           preaching and that, therefore, God
  was common in those days, that the         strictly biblical sect of the Middle         saved His people by the preaching of
  way to God was to sell all that he had,    Ages."4 It is almost impossible to           the Word. It was especially this doc-
  give to the poor, and follow Christ.       imagine how these simple folk could          trine which Rome hated with a pas-
       Peter did not hesitate to follow      have come to such excellent knowl-           sion, for the sacraments stood at the
  what to him was a clear command of         edge of the truthin the times in which       very heart of the entire papal-sacer-
  his Lord. Because he was married, he       they lived. They were the lowly, the         dotal system of which Rome was so
  provided sufficient money for his          uneducated; they were despised and           proud.
  wife, he placed his daughters in a         persecuted; they had been brought                     It really ought not to surprise us,
  convent to be cared for there, he paid     up in the chains of Roman Catholic           in the light of the times, that the
  back all those from whom he had            heresy; and yet they were so clear on        Waldensians went too far with their
  taken usury, and he gave everything        suchimportantpoints. Somuchwere              idea of preaching. They were op-
  else he owned to the poor.                 they forerunners of the Reformation          posed to Roman Catholic clerical&m,
     ~ Peter Waldo gatheredabout him         that when the Calvin Reformation             and soon came to see the importance
  a small group of men who began to          dawned, most of them were quick to           of what Luther later called the office
  translate the Scriptures into the ver-     join it; it was as if the Calvin Reforma-    of all believers. With their emphasis
  nacular and began to assume the re-        tion was exactly what they had been          on the office of all believers, and fail-
  sponsibilities of preaching. They were     waiting for all these centuries. Only        ing to distinguish between the special
  knownbydifferentnames:TheBreth-            the fact that God preserves His church       offices in the church and the general
  ren in Christ; The Poor in Christ; The     can adequately explain their exist-          office of believers, they gave to the
  Poor in Spirit. But they finally became    ence.                                        laity, including women, the right to
  known by the name of their founder,                 At the beginning of the move-       preach. AllGod'speoplewerepreach-
  Peter Waldo. They lived lives of total     ment the Waldensians did not depart          ers, and they were preachersnot by
  poverty and dedication to God.             from Roman Catholic teachings. They          virtue of ordination, but by virtue of
       In 1179, Peter Waldo asked his        did not reject the authority of the          a godly and spiritual life which mani-
  archbishop for permission to be rec-       pope, the entire sacramental system          fested that they were believers.
  ognized as a separate and approved                                                               One benefit of this erroneous
  movement and asked for permission                                                       viewpoint, however, was the fact that
  to be organized as a preaching frater-                                                  theysawtheneedforallGod'speople
  nity. The request was passed on to         41'hilip Schaff, History of the Chris-       to possess the Scriptures. And so they
  the pope, Alexander III, who refused       tian Church, Vol. V, p. 493.                 translated the Scriptures into the ver-
  their request. They appealed again to      5A trial period.                             nacular, and eveninsisted on the final

                                                                                                    May 15,1992 / Standard Bearer / 381


and absolute authority of the Scrip-         and mothers were torn apart on the          Content with bare necessities, they
tures for life, doctrine, and preaching.     rack and burned at the stake. Their         do not accumulate wealth. Chaste in
Preaching had to be exposition of            children were burned with irons to          their habits, temperate in eating and
God's Word.                                  force them to report evil deeds of          drinking, they keep away from tav-
        After persecution and excom-         their parents. A whole cave of men,         ems, dances and other vanities. They
munication, their views developed.           women, and children, who had fled           refrain from anger and are always
Theysawinconsistenciesbetweenthe             to the mountains to escape, was suf-        active. They can be recognized by
position they had taken and the other        focated by a huge fire built at its         their modesty and precision of
teachings of Rome. And so, bit by bit,       entrance and smoke being forced into        speech."
they rejected the oath, purgatory,           the cave. As the poem at the begin-              One man, suspected of
prayers for the dead, the mass, and          ning of this article points out, mothers    Waldensian error, was able to prove
transubstantiation.                          with their infants clutched in their        at his trial that he was not and could
        Such teachings as these attracted    arms were hurled over the sides of          not be a Waldensian, but had to be a
immense throngs to the Waldensians,          cliffs.                                     good Catholic, because he lied, swore,
and the movement spread rapidly                    Under the pressures of persecu-       and drank.
into France, Italy, Switzerland and          tion, they fled into the Alpine Valleys          These saints of God, who st`ained
even parts of Eastern Europe. It was         and high plateaus of Switzerland, and       the Alps with their blood, eagerly
exactlybecause of the threat to Romish       there they survived.                        embraced the Reformation. But
powerandthepopularityofthemove-                    Were they so cruelly treated for      Rome? To this day Rome has not
ment that brought down upon the              wrongdoing? An inquisitor himself           confessed any wrongdoing for shed-
Waldensians the fury of Rome. The            said of them: "They are modest and          ding the blood of the saints. Nor has
full force of that cruel, unjust, and        well behaved, taking no pride in their      Rome changed at heart. It would, I
frightening institution for the sup-         dress, which is neat but not extrava-       am convinced, do the same today,
pression of heresy, the inquisition,         gant. Avoiding commerce, because            given the opportunity. But the souls
was brought to bear against them.            of its inevitable lies and oaths and        of the Waldensians cry from under
        The stories of suffering and tor-    frauds, they live by working as arti-       the altar. And the Lord will answer
ture which these folk endured'make           sans, with cobblers as their teachers.      their prayer. 0
one weep even today. Their fathers



News From Our Churches
Mr. Benjamin Wigger


Evangelism  Activities                       section of the Grand Rapids Press.          committee  felt that it was veryimpor-
        6n Saturday, March 21, the PR        This ad will contain the names, ad-         tant that this introduction be prop-
EvangelismPlanning Committee, con-           dresses, and worship service times of       erly written.
sisting of evangelism committees from        all our PR churches in the Grand                 It is hoped that, through these
all the west Michigan PR churches,           Rapids area. It will also contain an        ads, a great deal of misinformation
met. Representatives of our three            approximately 300-400 word article          about our churches canbe  eliminated.
churches in Illinois were also present.      written by one of our ministers or          In today's world it is increasingly
        At this meeting final touches        professors. These articles would be         urgent that the truth be presented in
were put on a rather ambitious adver-        informative to others about what we         a positive light.
tising project. Plans call for these         believe and stand for, and the reason            The Evangelism Committee of
Michigan churches to run an adver-           why we believe as we do.                    the Randolph, WI PRC sponsored a
tisement once a month in the religion              The first ad, coming out in June,     lecture April 9 in their church audito-
                                             will be twice as large as the regular       rium. Their pastor, Rev. S. Key, spoke
                                             monthly ads would be. This is due to        on the subject "Church Membership
                                             the fact that, in order properly to         in an Evil Age."
Mr. Wigger is a member ofthe Protestant      introduce our churches, Prof. En-                During this past Lenten season,
Reformi  Church ofHudsonville,Michi-         gelsma, who wrote this advertise-           the congregation of the Hope PRC of
gun.                                         ment, needed extra space. And the           Redlands, CA sponsored a seriles of

382 /Standard Bearer I May 15,1992


four special worship services. Rev.                               The Council of the South Hol-          Hudsonville PRC on April 12. Collec-
A. denHartogdeliveredfoursermons                             land, IL PRC took two decisions re-         tions taken were designated for the
on Sunday evenings, March 29, April                          garding their work in evangelism.           Free Christian School in Edgerton,
5, 12, and Good Friday, under the                            First, they decided to continue spon-       MN, and for this year's Young People's
general theme, "The Cross in Re-                             soring and supervising the Bible Stud-      Convention.
formed Perspective."                                         ies in the Fort Wayne, IN area for
         These messages were advertised                      another sixmonths (through Septem-          Ministerial Calls
in the local paper. The congregation                         ber); and second, at the request of the           Candidate Mitch Dick has  ac-
was also encouraged to pass the word                         Sovereign Redeemer Fellowship in            ceptedthecalltoserveaspastorofthe
individually by extending a personal                         Boise, Idaho, the Council also de-          Immanuel PRC of Lacombe, Alberta,
invitation to friends and relatives.                         cided to continue supplying this group      Canada. However, before he may be
         Our own PR Seminary spon-                           with six more months of preaching           ordained into the ministry he must
sored a public lecture on Thursday                           and teaching (through August).              first be examined at a special meeting
afternoon, March 26 at the seminary.                                                                     of Classis West sometime in June.
Mr. Jon Huisken, Dean of Academic                            Congregational Highlights                         Ataspecialcongregationalmeet-
Services at Hope College, and a mem-                              We can addby way of a followup         ing on March 30, the members of the
ber of the Grandville, MI PRC, spoke                         to our last news column, that while in      First PRC of Grand Rapids, MI ex-
on "The History of the Protestant                            Loveland, CO for the Second Annual          tended a call to Rev. A. denHartog  to
Reformed Churches: Learning to Live                          Young Adults Retreat, Rev. Dykstra          serve as missionary pastor to the is- *
With Caricature."                                            gave a presentation of his slides of his    landof Jamaica. WithRev.  denHartog
         Once again, this year, the con-                     recent trip to Ghana, Africa to the         on that trio were the Revs. W.
gregation of the First PRC of Holland,                       Loveland congregation the Sunday            Bekkering and J. Kortering.
MI conducted what is turning out to                          evening before the retreat.                       The congregation of the
be their annual Spring Seminars. For                              The ChoralSocieties  of ourFaith       Grandville, MI PRC called Rev. C.
three successive Thursdays, April 16,                        PRC in Jenison, MI and the                  Haak to serve as their pastor. Revs. J.
23, and 30, these seminars were held                         Hudsonville, MI PRC combined their          Slopsema and R. VanOverloop  were
at the James Center. The topic cov-                          voices this year to present two pro-        part ofthat trio.
ered was entitled, "The Covenant                             grams dealing with the suffering,                 And we could also add here that
Family.  II A special invitation was                         death, and resurrection of our Lord         the Council of Grandville decided
extended to young couples who were                           Jesus Christ. The first concert was         that the pastorate of Rev. Kortering
just recently married, and to those                          heldin the Seminary Chapel at Calvin        will conclude as of May 3. 0
raising a family.                                            College on March 28, the second at


        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
        ..The Lord willing, on May 25,                                                                         WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
1992, our parents and grandparents,                                                                            On May 19,1992,  the 25th wed-
      JOHN and GRACE FLIKKEMA,                                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                    ding anniversary of our parents,
will celebrate their 50th wedding anni-                           The Ladies Society of the                    MR. and MRS. CHARLES
versary. We thank God for them and                           Hudsonville Protestant Reformed                          KALSBEEK,
the love, care, and covenant upbring-                        Church wish to express our sincere          will be celebrated. We are thankful to
ing they gave to us. We pray that God                        sympathy to our member, Mrs.                God for giving us God-fearing par-
will continue to bless them as they                          Henrietta Lubbers, in the death of her      ents, through whom we have been
enjoy these years together.                                  brother,                                    taught to fear and reverence our iner-
      0 Thou Who art Thy people's                                 MR. LAMBERT SCHUT.                     ciful, heavenly Father. May the Lord
      shield,                                                May she be comforted by the words of        preserve them as they continue their
      Their helper and their guide,                          II Corinthians 5:1, "For we know that,      earthly pilgrimage together.
      Upon them let Thy grace and                            if our earthly house of this tabernacle           "The secret of the Lord is with
      p e a c e                                              were dissolved, we have a building of       them that fear him; and he will shew
      For evermore abide.                                    God, a house not made with hands,           them his covenant" (Psalm 25:i 4).
0        Chuck and JoAnne Bult                               eternal in the heavens."                    0     Harlan and Lenora Hoekstra
          Julia, Jonathan, Rosanne                                  Rev. G. VanBaren, President                 Charles
Q        Kevin and Lois lnskeep                                Mrs. Gertrude Lubbers, Secretary          f3    Jeffrey and Mary Kalsbeek
          Susanna, Jonathan                                                                              0     Becky, John, Dorothy, and Anne
8%       Keith and Mary Vooys                                                                            Kalsbeek
          Hillary, Laurence, Olivia                                                                                                      Hope, Walker
                 South Holland Protestant Reformed Church

                                                                                                                May 15,1992 / Standard Bearer / 393


&DMD                                                                                                        SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                            Posfage Paid at
                                                                                                            Grandville, Michigan
   P. 0. Box 603
  Grandville,  MI 49468-0603


          CALL TO SYNOD                                                                    RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
     Synod 1991 appointed South Hol-                                                          The consistory and congrega-
land Protestant Reformed Church of            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                     tion of the Loveland Protestant Re-
South Holland, Illinois, the calling             The Council and Congregation            formed Church express their heartfelt
church for Synod 1992 of the Protes-        of Hope Protestant Reformed Church           sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Ron Koole
tant Reformed Churches in America.          of Walker, Ml expresses its sympathy         and family in the sudden death of his
     South Holland's Consistory             to Mrs. Peter Koole and family inthe         father,
hereby notifies our churches, sister-       death of her husband, theirfather, and                  MR. PETER KOOLE.
churches, and all interested Reformed       our fellow officebearer,                     "Blessed are the dead which die in the
churches and believers that the 1992              ELDER PETER KOOLE,                     Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the
Synod will convene, the Lord willing,       whom the Lord took to glory on April         Spirit, that they may rest from their
on Tuesday, June 9,1992,  at 9:00 AM        23, 1992.                                    labors; and their works do follow them
in the South Holland Protestant Re-              "Precious in the sight of the Lord      (Revelation 14:13).
formed Church, 16511 South Park             is the death of his saints" (Psalm               Rev. Ron Cammenga, President
Ave., South Holland, IL 60473 (Phone:       116:15).                                                     Mr. Bob Brands, Clerk
708-596-3-I 13).                                        Rev. J. Slopsema, President
     The Pre-Synodical worship ser-                John DeVries,  Assistent Clerk
vice will be held in the South Holland
Church on Monday evening, June 8,
at  7:30 PM. Rev. Jason Kortering,
president of the 1991 Synod, will                           NOTICE!!!
preach the sermon. Synodical del-                Mail intended for the Consistory
egates are requested to meet with the       of Randolph PRC should hereafter be
Consistory before the service.              sent to:
     Delegates in need of lodging                       Mr. Berwyn Huizinga
should contact the clerk of the                    W 1009 Cemetery Road
Consistory, Mr. GeorgeVroom, 16525                      Randolph, WI 53956
Louis Ave., South Holland, IL 60473
(Phone: 708-596-I 771).
                       Consistory of the
                     South Holland PRC,       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                    George Vroom, Clerk          The Domestic Mission Commit-
                                            tee of the PRC expresses its sincere
                                            sympathy to the family of
  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                MR. PETER KOOLE,                                                   -
     The Adult Bible Society of Faith       their beloved husband and father, and
Protestant Reformed Church extends          our esteemed fellow committee mem-
its deepest sympathy to its beloved         ber, taken suddenly to his eternal
pastor and leader, Rev. K. Koole, and       reward on April 23, 1992.
his family in the death of his father,           May we together find comfort in             The Standard Bearer
        MR. PETER KOOLE,                    the inspired words of the apostle Paul
on April 23. We commend them to the         in I Corinthians 15:22 - "For as in                     will be published
throne of grace with the prayer of          Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all          only once a month
David in Psalm 119:49,50:  "Remem-          be made alive."                                  during the months of
ber the word unto thy servant, upon            Rev. James Slopsema, President
which thou hast caused me to hope.                         Don Doezema, Secretary                        June,
This is my comfort in my affliction: for                                                                  July,
thy word hath quickened me."
          Miss H.J. Kuiper, Secretary                                                                 and August.
                                                                                                                           -
384 /Standard Bearer 1 May 15,1992


