A Reformed          BBER
Semi-Month/y
Magaqine
       I





                                                             Rev. Jaikishin  Mahtani

                    Rev. and Mrs. Audred Spriensma
                                                      "And he gave some, . . .
                                                      pastors and teachers; for
                                                      the perfecting of the
                                                      saints, for the work of the
                                                      ministry, for the edifying
                                                      of the body of Christ"
                                                                   (Ephesians  4:11, 12).
                      REV. and Mrs. Mitchell Dick


Vol.  68, No. LY
August 1,1992


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               - .-
CONTENTS:                                                                                                                                                            August I, 1992                                                            IHE
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      STANDAaD
Meditation - Rev. James D. Slopsema                                                                                                                                                                                                          BEARER
                The Way of the Righteous . . ..*...**.*...............*........................... 435
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                                                                                                                            I
                The Death of Confessional Calvinism                                                                                                                                                                                 ISSN 0362-4692
                in Scottish Presbyterianism (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437                                                                                   Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, end August.
Letters                     . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    439          Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
The Reader Asks .,..................................  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441                                                                           4949 Ivanrest Ave., Grandville, MI 49416. Second Class
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Postage Paid at Grandville, Michigan.
Special Articles                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Postmastsr:  Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
                The Special Meeting of Classis West                                                                                                                                                                                 P.O. Box 603. Grandville, MI 49466-0603.
                           Rev. Ronald J. VanOverloop., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..m................. 442                                                                                              EDITORIAL COMMllTEE
                Why Protestant Reformed? .                                                                                                                                                                                          Editor: Prof. David J. Engelsma
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                           Rev. Audred Spriensma.. . . . . . . ..~............................................. 444 I Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
                And He Gave Some . . . Pastors                                                                                                                                                                                      DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                           Mr. Don Doezema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446                                                        Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev. Arie
A Word Fitly Spoken - Rev. Dale H. Kuiper                                                                                                                                                                                           denHartog, Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Carl Haak, Mr. Fred
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko. Rev. John Heye, Rev. Marvtn
                Fruit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448                       Kamps. Rev. Steven Key, Rev. Kenneth Koole, Rev. Jason
A Cloud of Witnesses - Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                                                                                                                                                                        Kortering, Rev. Dale Kuiper, Mr. James Lanting,  Rev. George
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Lubbers, Mrs. MaryBeth Lubbers, Rev. James Slopsema, Rev.
                Ulrich Zwingli: Swiss Reformer . . . . . . ..s..........*.*......*................ 449                                                                                                                              Charles Terpstra, Rev. Ronald VanOverloop, Mr. Benjamin
The Strength of Youth - Rev. Steven R. Key                                                                                                                                                                                          Wigger. Rev. Bernard Woudenbarg.
                Youth in Doubt . ..*............*........................................................ 451                                                                                                                       EDtTORlAL  OFFICE            CHURCH NEWS EDITIDR
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    The Standard Bearer          Mr. Ben Wigger
All Around Us - Prof. Robert D. Decker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453                                                                                          4949 lvanrest                6597 49th Ave.
Report of Classis West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*......................................................                                                                                                   454          Grandville. MI 49416         Hudsonville. Ml 49426
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    BUSINESS OFFICE              NEW ZEALAND OFFICE
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger ,.,.,....*............*.......... 454                                                                                                                                                  The Standard Bearer          The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Don Doezema                  clo Protestant Reformed
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    P.O. BOX 603                    Church
In This Issue...                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Grandvilla, MI               8. VanHerk
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      49466-0603                 66 Fraser St.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    PH: (616) 539-1776           Wainuiomata, New Zealand
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             (616) 531-1490
         There is in this issue of the SB excitement-not the least instance of which can be                                                                                                                                         FAX: (616) 531.3033
found in a short paragraph in "News From Our Churches." Mr. Wigger reports the                                                                                                                                                      EDlTORlAL  POLtCY
installation of Rev. Kortering as minister-on-loan to Singapore. Exciting that is because                                                                                                                                           Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    articles. Contributionsofgeneralinterestfromourreadereend
the Protestant Reformed Churches are in fact greatly privileged to assist a young,                                                                                                                                                  questions for The Reader Asks department are welcome.
struggling denomination, in a far distant land, also in their witness to the pagan                                                                                                                                                  Contributions will be limited to approximately 300 words and
communities in which they live. There is of course a sense in which Rev. Kortering's                                                                                                                                                mustbe neatlywrittenortypewrittsn,andmustbesigned.  Copy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    deadlines are the first and fifteenth of the month. All
departure on July 1 was a "loss" for the Protestant Reformed Churches; for he will be                                                                                                                                               communications relative to the contents should be sent to the
sorely missed on the homefront. But it is the Lord  who sends. And we rejoice that the                                                                                                                                              editortal office.
King of the church is pleased to use us thus in the gathering of His church. Can we,                                                                                                                                                REPRINT POLICY
therefore, pass over that short paragraph . . . and not be thrilled?                                                                                                                                                                Permission is hereby granted for the reprinting of articles in our
         Another excitingbit of news you have probably also already read in Mr. Wigger's                                                                                                                                            magazine byotherpublications.  provided: a) that such reprinted
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    articles are reproduced in fuli: b) that proper acknowledgment
first paragraph. It's that, at a special meeting of Classis  West, on June 17 and 18, two                                                                                                                                           is made: c) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint
menwereexaminedfor theirqualificationsfortheministryof the Wordinourchurches.                                                                                                                                                       appears is sent to our editorial office.
One of them, pastor-elect Mitchell Dick, came the usual way, viz., by attendance at and                                                                                                                                             SUBSCRIPTION POLICY
graduation from our seminary, followed by the subsequent receiving of a call to serve                                                                                                                                               Subscription price: 912.00 per year in the U.S., $15.00
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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    received, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the
denomination as small as the PRC, an  uncommon  event. Hence the thrill experienced                                                                                                                                                 subscriptiontocontinue,and  hewill bebilledforrenewal.  lfyou
by the delegates at this particular meeting of one of our broader assemblies.                                                                                                                                                       haveachangeofaddress,pleasenotitytheBusinessOfficeas,
         The second examination by Classis  West in June was of Rev. Audred Spriensma.                                                                                                                                              early as possible in order to avoid the inconvenience of
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    interrupted delivery. Include your Zip or Postal Code.
More than "uncommon," writes Rev. VanOverloop in his Special  Artic$ in this issue,
this one was "truly rare." And even that is apparently understating the case, for he goes                                                                                                                                           ADVERTISING POLICY
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    The StandardSsarerdoes  not accept commercial advertising
on to assert that it was in fact without precedent in the PRC. A minister of another                                                                                                                                                of any kind. Announcements of church and school events,
denomination becoming a minister in our churches by way of Article 9 of the Church                                                                                                                                                  anniversaries, obituaries, and sympathy resolutions will be
Order was a brand-new experience for us, and one which was of no little import.                                                                                                                                                     placed for a 83.00 fee. These should be sent to the Business
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Office and should be accompanied by the 83.00 fee. Deadline
Confident that there is among our readers a deep interest in this part of Classis  West's                                                                                                                                           for announcements is at least one month prior to publication
agenda, we asked of Rev. Spriensma, for this issue, an article answering, really, the                                                                                                                                               date.
question why; and of Rev. VanOverloop an article looking at the  how. As we read what                                                                                                                                               BOUND VOLUMES
they say about the process, we ca?ot help but be impressed by the carefulness exercised                                                                                                                                             The Business Office will accept standing orders Vor bound
by both parties involved . . . and, once more, by the                                                                                                                                                                               copiesofthecurrentvolume. Suchordersarefilledassoonas
                                                                                                                                      thrill which Classis  experienced in                                                          possible after completion of a volume year.
receiving "this brother into the ministerial ranks of the PRC." Excitement, in which we
all can share. But . . . see for yourself- by reading, in this issue, the "Special Articles."                                                                                                                                       16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm and 105mm microfiche, and
                                                                                                                                                                                                                       D.D.         article copies are available through University Microfilms
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    International.
434 /Standard Bearer  I August  I,1992


                                               The Way of the
Meditation                                     Righteous
Rev. James Slopsema


         For the Lord knoweth the way ofthe         At the heart of this law were the       gratitude to God for His great salva-
righteous: but the way  of  the ungodly        Ten Commandments. For these were             tion.
shall perish.                                  written on tables of stone by the very                These are the righteous of whom
                                Psalm 1:6      finger of God, indicating that they are      the psalmist speaks.
                                               valid for all history.                                Now the psalmist speaks par-
         What sharp contrasts we find               These ten commandments re-              ticularly of the way of the righteous.
here!                                          veal the will of God for every part of                One's way is one's manner of
         The psalmist speaks of the way        our life. They show us our responsi-         living, one's life-style.
of the righteous as well as the way of         bilities to God as well as what duties                From what we have just ob-
the ungodly. These two are the ex-             we owe our neighbor. They teach us           served, the way of the righteous is
treme opposites of each other. And             how God will have us worship Him,            quite clear. The way of the righteous
these are the only two ways in life.           use His name, keep the Sabbath day,          is the way of godly sorrow after sin. It
Either you walk the way of the righ-           treat those in authority, behave in          is the way of clinging to the cross by
teous, or your feet follow the way of          marriage....                                 faith, to find forgiveness and righ-
the ungodly.                                        To live according to theselawsis        teousness in the blood of Jesus Christ.
         The Lord knows the way of the         to live in righteousness.                    It is the way of gratitude to God
righteous. The clear implication is                 However, Israel soon found that         which leads one to strive for righ-
that the Lord does not know the way            she could not keep these laws. Again         teous living in the power of the cross
of the ungodly.                                and again she transgressed the law of        of Jesus Christ.
         For that reason the way of the        God in thought, word, and deed. She                   Over against this is the way of
ungodly shall perish. Notice, not just         could not live righteously before God        the ungodly.
the ungodly shall perish, but even             as she should.                                        The very term "ungodly" de-
their way. Such is not true, however,               Hence, it is important to.turn to       scribes those who rant and rave
for the way of the righteous. The way          theotherlawsgiventoIsraelatMount             against God and their fellow men.
of the righteous shall endure forever.         Sinai, particularly the laws requiring       The ungodly are further described in
         How important that we follow          the bloody sacrifices at the altar of the    verse one of this Psalm as sinners and
the way of the righteous!                      Tabernacle. These sacrifices pointed         scornful. They are sinnersin that they
            *  *  *  *  *  *  *                Israel ahead to the great Savior, the        knowingly and deliberately miss the
         The way of the righteous!             Lamb of God, who through one sacri-          mark God has set for theminHis  law,
         The righteous are those who           fice of Himself would forever cover          the glory of His own name. They are
conform to the law of God.                     Israel's sins. In Him God's people           scornful in that they are full of scorn,
         This law is mentioned in verse        would obtain the forgiveness of all          mockery, and ridicule of God and His
two of this Psalm, where the psalmist          their sins. In Him God would pro-            law.
speaks of the blessedness of him               vide a righteousness not attainable                   Hence, it is not at all difficult to
whose "delight is in the law of the            through human effort.                        describe the way of the ungodly. It is
Lord; and in his law doth he meditate               And when the faithful of Israel         the way of mocking God and the holy
day and night." The law mentioned              brought their sacrifices to the altar,       things of God. It is the way of tram-
by the psalmist is the Mosaic law,             clinging in faith to the blood of atone-     pling under foot the commandments
given to Israel at Mount Sinai.                ment that was to come, they were             and salvation of God. It is also the
                                               accountedrighteousbyGod,without              way of opposition to God and His
                                               spot or blemish, worthy of all bless-        church.
                                               ings. Clinging to the atonement that                  The way of the ungodly is the
Rev. Slopseina is pastor of Hope Protes-       was to come, they also were empow-           way of the world. We observe it at
tant Reformed Church in Walker,                ered to live righteously according to        work. We can see it on television. It
Michigan.                                      God's law, thereby showing their             is glorified in the songs of the world.

                                                                                                     August 1,1992 / Standard Bearer I435


     It fills the pages of newspapers, maga-        to us is often the way we cherish. To      He has eternally ordained it.
     zines, and novels. As we make our              know is to love.                                      ***x-z+*   *
     way through this world, we are con-                 In like manner does God know                  The way of the ungodly shall
     fronted with the way of the ungodly            the way of the righteous. Since it is      perish,
     every day.                                     His own way, He loves the way of the               Although not stated, it is under-
                 *  *  *  *  *  *  *                righteous. It is the way dear to His       stood that the ungodly themselves
              The Lord knows the way of the         heart.         '                           shall perish.
     righteous.                                          However, the Lord does not in                 Often the ungodly have pros-
              Hedoesnotknowthewayofthe              this sense know the way of the un-         pered throughout history. A recur-
     ungodly.                                       godly. Their way is not His way. He        ring theme throughout the Psalms is
              The Lord knows the way of the         hates their way with all His being.        that generally the ungodly prosper in
     righteous, first, in that He is well                Finally, the Lordknows the way        this world while the righteous are
     acquainted with their way.                     of the righteous in that He has eter-      despised, impoverished, downtr'od-
              To "know" is often used in the        nally determined this way for His          den.
     sense of being acquainted with, expe-          people.                                            One day, however, the ungodly
     riencing. Thus, for example, to know                The psalmist speaks of the LORD.      shall perish. They will fall from their
     suffering is to know suffering by ex-          In the original Hebrew this is the         high and lofty position of power and
     periencing it. In similar manner, one          name  N Jehovah." Jehovah is a name        wealth and be brought low. Some-
     may know joy, sadness, peace....               rich in meaning and significance. It is    times that happens already in this life.
              In this same sense God knows          God's covenant name. It emphasizes         But it certainly takes place at death,
     the way of the righteous. He knows             especially God's faithfulness to His       when the ungodly are cast into the
     the way of the righteous in that He is         covenant.                                  eternal torments of hell. The un-
     well acquainted with it. For God                                                          godly, every one of them, will some
     Himself walks the way of righteous-                                                       day perish.
     ness.                                            . . . the Lord knows the way                     But even their wicked way will
              God is a righteous God. That                     of  the righteous.              perish. God does not know the way of
     means very simply that all of God's                                                       the ungodly. He hates their way with
     works are completely in harmony with                 For He has eternally                 His whole being. He will not alBow
     the goodness of His divine being.                            ordained it.                 them to continue in the way that brings
I    God never acts contrary to the perfec-                                                    dishonor to Him. To that end God
     tions of His being. Every thought,                                                        casts them into hell and pours out
     word, and deed of the Lord God is                   The covenant was conceived by         upon them the fullness of His wrath.
     pure and undefiled. Eternally the              God in eternity. Eternally God has         So great is the wrath of God upon the
     way of God is the way of righteous-            chosen a people for Himself. God           ungodly that they no longer are able
     ness.                                          also determined to establish His cov-      to give expression to the evil that
              When we, by the power of the          enant with them. It is God's eternal       controls their heart and soul. The
     cross, conform our lives to the law,           good pleasure that this covenant be a      wrath of God so dominates the un-
     we walk in the same way of righ-               covenant of friendship in which He         godly in hell that they no longer are
     teousness as does God. For the good-           lives and dwells with His people in        able to continue their evil ways. Their
     ness of God is reflected in the law that       intimate fellowship.                       very way perishes.
     God has set over us.                                That this covenant may exist and              For God does not know the way
              Hence, the Lord knows the way         flourish, God also determined eter-        of the ungodly.
     of the righteous . . . for it is the way He    nally that His people should walk in               What a foolish thing, to walk in
     lives and walks.                               righteousness. For God cannot live in      the way of the ungodly!
              However, the Lord does not            close covenant friendship with a                   Over against this, the way of the
     know the way of the ungodly. He has            people who are ungodly. They must          righteous endures forever.
     never set His feet upon their way. He          be righteous as He is righteous. Their             Again, although not stated, it is
     has never experienced what it is to            way must be His way. Hence, God            understood that the righteous them-
     walk this way. He is not acquainted            ordained that His people should be         selves shall live forever.
     with their way at all.                         righteous before Him. He also or-                  Although the righteous are gen-
              Secondly, the Lord knows the          dained that they should live righ-         erally downtrodden throughout his-
     way of the righteous in that He loves          teously. To that endHe also ordained       tory, they shall endure forever. The
     that way.                                      that His Son should come into the          Lord will preserve them on the earth
              To "know" is often used in the        flesh to provide them with this righ-      from evil hands that would destroy
     sense of knowing in love. Those with           teousness.                                 them. At the moment of death God
     whom we are well acquainted we                      Certainly, therefore, the Lord        will bring them to heavenly glory to
     oftenlove. The way that is wellknown           knows the way of the righteous. For        live with Him forever.

     436 IStandard  Bearer I August 1,1992


     And their righteous way shall          this is the way known to Him.                triumph they shall serve God per-
continue forever.                                This way will also endure for all       fectly in the power of the cross. They
     So long as the righteous live on       eternity. In heaven, however, the            will also enjoy the sweetness of God's
the earth the Lord will preserve them       way of the righteous shall be made           covenant fellowship in all its fullness
in the way of righteousness which He        perfect. The righteous will no longer        forever and ever!
has ordained for them. The powers of        need to struggle against sin. No longer           Let us by all means follow the
darkness may seek to lead them away         will they fall into sin, know the sor-       way of righteousness.
from their proper way. But the Lord         row of sin, or need to flee to the cross          For it is the way of eternal joy, 0
will preserve them in that way. For         for forgiveness. With great joy and



                                            The Death of
                                            Confessional Calvinism
                                            in Scottish
                                            Presbyterianism
Editorial                                                                          (1)

         The Covenant ReformedFellow-       devoted to the explanation, defense,         Presbyterianism rests on the founda-
ship in Northern Ireland has called to      and advocacy of a common grace of            tions laid in this book the fortunes of
my attention a recently published           God. A fourth chapter, the last, en-         the doctrine are bleak.
book by Scottish Presbyterian theolo-       thusiastically applies the theory of
gian Donald Macleod. It was sug-            common grace to the saving love of           Misleading Quotation of Calvin
gested that it would be helpful for the     God in Jesus Christ, to Christ's aton-            Calvin is quoted from the Insti-
witness of that group to the Reformed       ing death, and to the call of the gospel.    tutes, 2.3.3 to prove "a general divine
faith in the British Isles if I would            In the course of his defense of         restraint placed upon human deprav-
comment on the book. The reason is          common grace, Macleod assails the            ity" (p. 117). What the reader is not
that the book promotes the doctrine         theology of Herman Hoeksema.                 told, but may discover for himself by
of common grace and attacks the doc-        Twice he chargesHoeksema  withblas-          reading the entire section, is that Cal-
trine of sovereign, particular grace        phemy. Hoeksema's teaching that              vin is teaching God's restraint of
confessedby the Protestant Reformed         God governs the powers of sin, death,        wicked men by His providence. The
Churches.                                   and the curse by His providence, so          section concludes:
         The author is professor of sys-    that they "are not powers outside
tematic theology in the Free Church         Him and apart from Him, which He               Thus God, by His providence, curbs
of Scotland College in Edinburgh. An        must restrain" by a common grace, is           the perverseness of nature,  prevent-
influentialtheologianandchurchman,          "virtually blasphemous" (p. 131).              ingit frombreakingforthintoaction,
he is a leading representative of con-      Similarly, the teaching of Hoeksema            yet without rendering it inwardly
temporary Presbyterianism in Scot-                                                         pure.
                                            that God is love in Himself in that He
land.                                       loves Himself as the highest good is              The co'mmon grace defendedby
         The book is titled, Behold Your    "well-nighblasphemousspeculation"            Macleod restrains sin as an internal
God (Christian Focus Publications           (p. 150).                                    operation of the Holy Spirit upon the
Ltd., 1990 -hereafter, BYG). It is a             In every respect, the defense of        heart of the unregenerate that keeps
treatment of the attributes of God. It      common grace in BYG is weak, piti-           him from being totally depravled and
is also an ardent defense of the doc-       fully so in most cases. It is a small        that makes him somewhat pure. It is
trine of common grace. Three of the         comfort to the opponent of common            this to which the Protestant Reformed
book's sixteen chapters are expressly       grace that if common grace in Scottish       Churches are opposed as the plainest
                                                                                              August 1 ,1992 I Standard Bearer I437


     denial of the Reformed doctrine of           the God of Israel to us, to slay us and       by my right hand . . . there is none
     total depravity.                             our people" (I Sam. 5:10), so would a         upon earth that I desire beside thee.
             The controversy over common          sane man cry out when he was threat-          My flesh and my heart faileth: but
     grace has nothing whatever to do             ened with the prosperity of Psalm 73,         God is the strength of my heart, and
     with God's restraint of the open out-        "God has sent us these riches to de-          my portion for ever" (vss. 23-26)
     breaking of sin by His providence.           stroy us; take them away!"                         The truth about the temporal
     With the Belgic Confession in Article                   Would Macleod callit grace that    suffering of the beloved and elect
     36, the PRC confess that Godrestrains        sets someone in a boat on a sure              church is stated in the opening words
     "the dissoluteness of men" by means          course down the river that plunges            of the Psalm: "Truly God is good to
     of the civil magistrates. There is,          over Niagara Falls, even though the           Israel." The truth about the temporal
     however, a qualitative difference be-        splendid boat is loaded with dainties         prosperity of the reprobate ungodly
     tween the restraint caused by the po-        and fine wine? Would he call the              is expressed in verse 27: "For, lo, they
     liceman with his gun at the ready and        pleasant journey a blessing?                  that are far from thee shall perish:
     a restraint supposedly caused by a                 What is still worse about               thou hast destroyed all them that ,go a
     purifying work of the Holy Spirit on         Macleod's interpretation of the pros-         whoring from thee."
     the heart of the unregenerate.               perity of the wicked in Psalm 73 is its            Psalm 73 is not a passage to
                                                  clear and necessary implication that          appeal to in support of the teaching
     Astounding Appeal to Psalm 73                the present affliction of God's Israel is     that the good gifts of God to the
             In one of the most astonishing       divine curse coming to them in God's          wicked are common grace. On the
     instances of biblical reference and in-      wrath. If grace is in things them-            contrary, the Psalm gives the death-
     terpretation in all the history of the       selves, not only are riches and health        blow to the theory. 0
     defense of common grace, Macleod             blessing for the ungodly but also pov-                                        - IDJE
     appeals to Psalm 73 in support of his        erty and sickness are curse for those
     contention that the prosperity of the        of a clean heart.
     wicked is due to God's grace to them               The Psalmist could be thankful
     and must be viewed as divine bless-          that God did not send him a common
I    ing (pp. 118,119). If only the defend-       grace theologian as a comforter in his                  I Will Love Him
     ers of common grace would seriously          affliction. Being plagued all the day
I    take this passage into account in their      and chastened every morning, while            "I will love him," Jesus says it,
     thinking on the subject of the good          seeing the ungodly prosper in the                 Can it be He speaks to me,.
     gifts of God to the reprobate ungodly        world, caused his feet almost to be               In those accents pure and holy,
     in time! The PRC would gladly rest           gone and his steps nearly to slip. To         May I grasp it - He loves me?
     the determination of the entire com-         have had a common grace theologian
     mon grace controversy on this one            "comfort" him by assuring him that            "I will love him," earthly love is
     passage.                                     God in this life blesses the ungodly in           Tender as the clinging vine;
             The Psalm demands that the           His grace, while cursing the godly in         But the wondrous love of Jesus
     present prosperity of the wicked be          His wrath would have done the Psalm-              Is a fountain deep, divine.
     viewedinlight of the eternity to which       ist in.
     it leads. "... then understood I their             In fact, however, also the adver-       "I will love him," Lord, reveal it,
     end. Surely thou didst set them in           sity of the godly must be viewed in               Manifest Thyself to me,
     slippery places: thou castedst them          light of the eternity which it serves:        Shew me more of what Thou art,
     downinto  destruction. How are they          "Thou shalt guide me with thy coun-               More of what I ought to be.
     brought into desolation . .." (vss. 17-      sel, and afterward receive me to glory"
     22).                                         (v. 24). Adversity as well as prosper-        "I will love him," angels cannot
             Is it a favorable attitude of God    ity comes to the child of God in this             Know the depth of Love Divine,
     towards the wicked that sets them in         life as blessing in the favor of God,         They can never say with sinners,
     slippery places with their prosperity        working his good. "And we know                    I am my Lord's, and He is
     to slide smoothly into eternal hell? Is      that all things work together for good                mine.
     the abundance of earthly things that         to them that love God, to them who
     constitutes God's casting of the un-         are the called according to his pur-          "I will love him," blessed promise,
     godly into destruction a blessing?           pose" (Rom. 8:28).                                Hold me ever by Thy love,
             God spare me and my loved                  The grace of God is not in earthly      May I never lose its sweetness
     ones this His grace and blessing.            things. Grace is in the attitude of God           Till Thou welcome me above.
             As the Ekronites cried out when      towards a man and in His covenant
     the lords of the Philistines sent the        friendship with a man, regardless of                           The Standard Bearer
     lethal ark of the covenant to them,          things: "Nevertheless I am continu-                                  August 1,1733
     "They have brought about the ark of          ally with thee: thou hast holden me

     436 IStandard  Bearer I August 1,1992


Letters

n In Defense of Schlissel                      order is unbiblical.                         mendous help to us. We have come
     In his "All Around Us" column                                      John T. Katsma      out of Baptist churches andhave  come
(Standard  Bearer, June 1,1992),  Prof.                                Kalamazoo, MI        to love the truths of the Reformed
R. Decker makes a serious comment              Response:                                    faith. God has opened our eyes to this
regarding the suspension of the Rev.                   Thank you for your letter. The       knowledge. We feel so like "babes."
Steve Schlissel, pastor of Messiah's           Standard Bearer appreciates hearing          There is so much to learn. Keep `up the
Congregation (CRC), now deposed.               from its readers.                            outreach and knowledge of your
     Says Prof. Decker, about                          In response to your criticism of     magazine.
Schlissel's suspension from the min-           my statement which reads: "Rev.                                 Steve and Joanne Stacey
istry by Classis Hudson (CRC), "Rev.           Schlissel may be ever so right on the                           Launceston, Tasmania
Schlissel may be ever so right on the          issues troubling the CRC, but if the
issues . . . but (if) the chargesof Classis    charges of Classis Hudson are indeed         H       In Defense of the Psalms
Hudson are indeed true, his methods            true, his method of addressing those         and Article 69
of addressing those issues are all             issues is all wrong," I offer the follow-            I want to clear up some misun-
wrong."                                        ing:                                         derstanding of Article 69 of the church
      I find it appalling for a PRC pro-               1. I want it known that I agree      order of Dordt. Most people my age
fessor of theology to comment on               with Rev. Schlissel and the conserva-        know that I am a defender of Article
something he obviously knows very              tives in the CRC on the substance of         69. I have experienced misunder-
little about. His comment is based on          the issues troubling that denomina-          standing. We had visitors at our
news items, one of which is the Ban-           tion. I take Genesis 1-11 as the literal     house, and they saw some hymn
ner, which publication ought to tell           account of creation, the fall, the flood,    books on our piano. They said, "We
you something. His comment is                  etc. I also believe that Scripture for-      thought that you were opposed to
couched with a two-letter word, "If,"          bids women to serve in the special           singing hymns."
which severely puts a cloud over Pas-          offices of minister, elder, and deacon.              At another time we were at a
tor Schlissel, whom I know to be a                     2. There is a right way to ad-       home, singing mostly from the
servant of the Lord.                           dress those issues and a wrong way.          Psalter,  and I overheard one say,
      For your readers' right to know,         The right way is to protest and appeal       "Don't sing any hymns because so-
I would point out that the problem             through consistory,  classis, and            and-so are opposed to singing
surrounding Rev. Schlissel is not his          synod. If one does not succeed in            hymns."
method of addressing issues; rather,           persuading the church of the truth                   To help clear things up I have a
it is his outspokenness on issues.             and if one feels he cannot live any          copy of one of the churches giving
Brother Schlissel is unafraid to speak         longer in that denomination, he must         their reasons for separating from the
up and speak out on the heresies               leave. The wrong way is publicly to          Reformed Churches in America. Fol-
being introduced into the CRC, a               attack either persons or settled and         lowing are six reasons why five
church he loves. Many ministers are            binding decisions of the church courts       churches separated from the Re-
afraid to speak on the issues, which           (cf. Art. 31 of the Church Order).           formed Churches in America on April
Schlissel addresses, out of fear that                  3. I am also of the conviction       1, 1857.
they might lose their "jobs."                  that the language used by Rev.
      His opponents don't like his             Schlisselisinappropriateatbest. One                  The Congregation of Graafschap
boldness in confronting the issues,            ought not call fellow church mem-                 was the third to take like action, be-
and there lies the real problem.               bers, no matter how wrong they may                ing more specific in declaring its rea-
      Besides, the ,PRC leadership is          be on these issues, "whores," "stink-             sons. Its notice reading as folllows:
also very outspoken on issues, and I           ing heretics," "blasphemous bums,"                "Graafschap, April 7, 1857. Tso the
have no problem with this. It be-              "feminist maniacs," "schizo-                      Classical Assembly, Reformed Prot-
                                                                                                 estant Dutch Church, to be held at
comes a problem when church people             phrenics, " "worms," "vermin," and                Zeeland, April 8, 1857. Reverend
cease to speak up!                             "dogs."                                           Brethren: We are obliged to givle you
      Finally, whenever a church for-                       - Prof. Robert D. Decker             notice of our present ecclesiastical
bids her members from speaking out                                                               standpoint, namely, separating our-
like Schlissel has, on the ground it's         n Help for Newcomers                              selves from your denomination, to-
against church order, that's when to           to the Faith                                      gether with all Protestant denomina-
speak up loudly. That kind of church                                                             tions, with which we thoughtlessly
                                                       Your magazine has been a tre-             became connected upon our arrival
                                                                                                    August  1,1992  I Standard Beaver I 439


  in America. We are uniting our-                       Article 69 does not prohibit sing-    condemnation, they often are the ones
  selves with the Afgescheidene               ing hymns in your homes.                        attracting the sinners, drug addicts,
  Gereformeerde Kerk (Seceded Re-                                         Henry Huisken       prostitutes and the like. The ones
  formed Church) inTheNetherlands,
  and exhort you affectionately to walk                                   Edgerton, MN        Jesus associated with. The ones we
  in the same way with us. The reasons                                                        don't often attract, and the ones we
  for this our secession, namely, 113         n Church Order and                              would probably be ashamed to have.
  members or communicants, are as             Spontaneity                                           Finally, Rev. Richard Moore la-
  follows: 1) The collection of 800                     While agreeing with Prof. En-         ments the fact that the PRC are small
  hymns, introduced contrary to the           gelsma on the blessings of our Re-              because "the preaching of the pure
  church order. 2) Inviting men of all                                                        gospel of Christ is not attractive to the
  religious views to the Lord's supper,       formed Church Order  (Standurd                  mass of people." I find this statement
  excepting Roman Catholics. 3) Ne-           Bearer, April 15), I am not quite ready         offensive for several reasons: one,
  glecting to preach the Catechism            to call this man-made document the
  regularly, to hold catechetical classes,    infallible ("cast in stone") "law of            many godly non-PR people in the
  and to do house visitation. 4) That no      Christ," "Messiah's sure and lasting            communities where the PR churches
  religious books are circulated with-        throne." Sentiments that strongmake             are located would probably be under
  out the consent of other denomina-          even necessary change next to impos-            his indictment; two, I am probably
  tions, directing your attention to the      sible.                                          also implicated as one of the masses;
  Sabbath booklet, with the practice by                                                       three, his standard for purity, if above
  J. VanDerMeulen  in 1855. 5) And                      Rev. Slopsema makes an inter-         is true, is higher than our Lord Jesus
  what grieves our hearts most in all of      pretation (probably the one consis-             Christ's.
  this is that there are members among        tent with Reformed Church Order) of                   Paul could say in Philippians
  you who regard our secession in The         I Corinthians 14:29-33 (only "elders
  Netherlands as not strictly necessary,      and ministers"). But upon non-bi-               1:15-18 (paraphrase mine): "Some
  or think that it was untimely. 6) In        ased reading of this passage and oth-           preach Christ out of envy and rivalry
  the report of Rev. Wyckoff he gives         ers like it, one could come to different        and others out of goodwill, but what
  us liberty to walk in this ecclesiasti-     conclusions on how to worship and               does it matter just so Christ is
  cal path. Brethren, we are glad that        still be biblical, it seems to me.              preached!" When the PRC can say
  almost the entire congregation, the                                                         this and mean it, then the masses may
  number of members given above,                   The early church was having a              be willing to listen to the specifics that
  with us, the consistory, and our dear       great Spirit-filled time praising God,          give you your distinctiveness.
  little children, again stand upon the       and all, male and female (I Cor. 11:4,                                     Carl R. Smits
  same standpoint on which our fa-            5), were choosing songs, expressing
  thers enjoyed great blessedness, and        the thoughts of their hearts, offering                                       Chicago, IL
  oh, we should rejoice still more if the     public prayers and speaking in                  Response:
  King of the Church should bring you         tongues. There was excitement and                    The statement in the editorial
  to this conviction. This is the duty of     joy, and unbelievers were attracted to          was,  "As regards the fundamentals . . .
  us all. The God of love be your             their worship services. But at times            the church order . . . should be en-
  counselor and guide to walk in the          their worship was .chaotic and offen-           graved in stone."
  way of truth. Your affectionate breth-                                                           Biblicallaw("churchorder")and
  ren in Christ, in the name of the           sive to these unbelievers. Paul, react-         the true freedom of the churches are
  consistory."     (Signed) J.F. Van          ing not to spontaneity and emotion              not antagonistic, much less mutually
  Anrooy, Prest., Henry Strabbin,             but to chaos and offense, gave rules
  Clerk. (Minutes,  Classis  of Holland,      for orderly worship so that the gospel          exclusive. Reformed congregations
  1848-1858.) Adrian  VanKoevering,           would be heard and unbelievers con-             enjoy true freedom within thebounds
  Legends of the Dutch,. (Zeeland             verted.                                         of and in obedience to law. Without
  Record Co., Inc., 1960), pp. 554-555.            TheReformedchurchesforyears                law, "spontaneity" is chaos. "And I
                                              have gone even further than Paul by             will walk at liberty: for I seek thy
      After reading their reasons, you        forbidding spontaneity and emotion              precepts" (Psalm 119:45).
will know why our forefathers for-            during worship. This has had ad-                     It is not the Reformed church
mulated and included Article 69 in            verse effects on Reformed believers.            order of Dordt, much less the Stan-
our Church Order.                             We're not noted to be overly expres-            dard Bearer, but the Bible that re-
     History proves that once a               sive of our love for Christ. If we can't        quires that, in the church "all things
church opens the door to hymns, they          express it in our fellowship, how dif-          be done decently and in order" (I Cor.
more andmore crowd out the Psalms.            ficult it becomes in the world. I be-           14:40).
The Presbyterian Church, the Re-              lieve the formalism of many Chris-                   TowhatandtowhomdoHybel's
formed Churches in America, and the           tian churches has alsoled to the rise of        and similar culture-accommodating,
Christian Reformed Church at one              Pentecostalism and the likes of Bill            that is, worldly, churches attract sin-
time sang only the Psalms. Today              Hybels. Even though these groups                ners, drug addicts, and prostitutes,
they sing more and more hymns.                fall under Prof. Engelsma's severe              with their watered-down, corrupted
                                                                                              gospeland"contemporaryworship"?

440 /Standard Bearer I August 1,1992


     Listening to the pure, creedal          Himself: "This is my beloved Son, in        by the Father's sovereign, efficacious
Reformed faith proclaimed by the             whom I am well pleased; hear ye             grace. Jesus flatly asserts in John 15:5
Protestant Reformed Churches (and            him" (Matt. 17:5). 0                        that "without me ye can do nothing."
others) is no option, but the most                                            - Ed.      The natural man is "without Jesus."
solemn of obligations. From God                                                          Choosing Jesus by the power of a
                                                                                         supposed free will is quite something.
The Reader Asks.. .                                                                      Since the natural man can do nothing,
                                                                                         he cannot choose Jesus. In Ephesians
                                                                                         2:1-10,  the apostle teaches that all
                                                                                         men are naturally  ti dead in trespasses
w What about "~Free  Will"?                  man is but a slave to sin, and has          and sins." Dead men and wornen  do
     I am a member of the Christian          nothing of himself, unless it is given      not choose Jesus, "let Him into their
Reformed Church (CRC) in Iowa.               from heaven."                               hearts," or "accept the offer of salva-
Years ago, I made confession of faith             The Canons of Dordt in their           tion." They cannot. They are dead.
and slowly on I changed my opinion           entirety are a refutation of the heresy     This is to say, they do not save them-
in regard to the doctrine of the CRC.        of free will. Article 1 of the third and    selves. They must be saved by the
I have this question. Can you take the       fourth heads of doctrine states that        mighty grace of God - grace that
Bible and prove out of Scripture that        fallen man "entailed on himself blind-      raises from the dead and creates anew,
man ever lost his free will or choice?       ness of mind, horrible darkness, van-       as Ephesians 2:1-10 puts it.
If you can't find it in Scripture where      ity and perverseness of judgment,                 This is the issue in the matter of
God says, "Man, you lost your free           became wicked, rebellious, and ob-          the teaching of a "free will." "Free
will,? then I think we were indoctri-        durate in heart and will, and impure        will" ascribes the salvation of the sin-
nated when young.                            in his affections." Article 3 of the        ner to the sinner. It gives the glory of
     Please answer this question be-         same section declares that fallen men       salvation to man. It is another doc-
cause I have sent it to the Banner and       are "dead in sin, and in bondage            trine and gospel from the dsoctrine
never received an answer.                    thereto, and without the regenerating       and gospel of Scripture. It teaches
                      Herman VanDyke         grace of the Holy Spirit, they are nei-     sinners to depend upon themselves
                           Sanborn, IA       ther able nor willing to return to God,     for salvation. It is not essentially
A n s w e r :                                to reform the depravity of their na-        different from the teachingthat salva-
     By"freewil1"  theReformedfaith          ture, nor to dispose themselves to          tion depends upon man's own works.
understands a natural ability in fallen      reformation."                               The apostle lumps both of these mis-
man to choose Jesus Christ and to                 Your second mistake is that you        erable teachings together in Romans
believe the gospel. That fallen man          dictate to God how He must teach            9:16a: "So then it (salvation) is not of
lacks a free will, therefore, means that     that fallen man is unable to save him-      him that willeth nor of him that
fallen man has no ability to choose          self  andis completely dependent upon       runneth (worketh) . . . . U Over against
Jesus or to believe the gospel when it       grace, that is, has lost free will: "If     both these forms of the lie that man
is preached to him, or, indeed, to will      you can't find it in Scripture where        saves himself is the gospel of Scrip-
any good.                                    God says, `Man, you lost your free          ture: ". . . but (salvation is) of God that
     Your question is, "Can you take         will,' then I think we were indoctri-       sheweth mercy" (Rom. 9:16b).
the Bible and prove out of Scripture         nated when young." Such heretics as               There is not enough indoctrina-
that man ever lost his free will or          the Jehovah's (False) Witnesses make        tion today in the Reformed churches
choice? If you can't find it in Scripture    the same demand as regards the doc-         in the truth of total depravity, includ-
where God says, `Man, you lost your          trine of the Trinity: "If you can't find    ing the bound will. Especially the
free will,' then I think we were indoc-      it in Scripture where God says, `I am       children and youth must be thor-
trinated when young." In your ques-          Triune,' all you Trinitarians were in-      oughly indoctrinated in the truths of
tion, you make two serious mistakes.         doctrinated when young."                    salvation by grace alone.
The first is that you ignore the Re-              God teaches the bondage of the               Evidently, you need more in-
formed confessions. As a member of           will of the natural (unregenerated)         doctrination. We suggest that you
the CRC, you are bound to believe the        man in words that please Him. He            subscribe to and read the Stcuzdurd
confessions as the faithful expression       teaches it clearly and conclusively in      Bearer,  and we urge you to hear
of the truth of Holy Scripture. Article      the Bible. In John 6:44, Jesus says that    preachingandteachingthatproclaims
14 of the Belgic Confession teaches          "no man can come to me, except the          free grace. We are also sending you
that in the fall man has "become             Fatherwhichhathsentmedrawhim."              under separate cover a pamphlet that
wicked, perverse, and corrupt in all         No human is able to desire, choose, or      explains salvation by free grace and
his ways.... Therefore we reject all         believe on Jesus Christ. Every human        defends it against free will, "A De-
that is taught repugnant to this, con-       lacks the ability of free will. In order    fense of Calvinism as the Gospel." 0
cerning the free will of man, since          to come to Jesus, one must be drawn                   - The Editorial Committee

                                                                                              August I,1992 I Standard Bearer I441


Special
Articles                                    The Special
                                            Meeting of Classis
                                            West
                                                                                         Rev. Ronald  VanOverloop

      There was a special meeting of        Classis rejoiced that another young               The Church Order allows for
Classis West on June 17 and 18. At          man is willing and qualified to serve        three ways in which ministers from
this meeting there were two special         in the high calling of serving God and       other denominations can become  min-
events which tookplace, both of which       His people.                                  istersin thePRC. One way is that they
are reason for much gratitude to God,            The other event which took place        drop their ministerial credentials (or-
who calls and sends His under-shep-         at the special meeting of Classis West       dination) and enter the Theological
herds to serve in His church.               was truly rare. In fact, it was some-        School of the PRC for training. This
      One of these events was the exam      thing which has never before taken           was the route chosen some 40 years
of a pastor-elect with a view to his        place in the seventy-year history of         ago by the Revs. R. Harbach, E.
being ordained into the ministry. In a      the Protestant Reformed Churches.            Emanuel, and J.  McCollam.  These
denomination the size of the Protes-        This event was the request of a minis-       men, after having been ordained into
tant Reformed Churches, such an             ter in another denomination to be-           the ministry in the Reformed Episco-
event is not a common occurrence.           come a minister in the PRC.                  pal denomination, came into contact
Classis therefore looked forward to              In May the Rev. Audred                  with the PRC. The 1950 Acts of Synod
their examination of pastor-elect           Spriensma, who had ably served as a          (Art. 30) records that they applied for
Mitchell Dick with eager anticipa-          minister of the Word in the Christian        entrance into the Theological School,
tion. Mr. Dick had graduated from           Reformed Church for eleven years,            and were accepted. Subsequent Acts
the Protestant Reformed Theological         approached the classical committee           of Synod record that they were or-
School and was called to be the pastor      of Classis West of the PRC, request-         dained into the ministry at various
of Immanuel Protestant Reformed             ing that he be examined and declared         times during 1954 and 1955.
Church in Lacombe, Alberta, the con-        eligible for a call within the Protestant         The second way a minister of
sistory of which then asked Classis to      Reformed Churches, according to              another denomination can become a
conduct the required examination.           Article 9 of the Church Order. The           minister in the PRC is via Article 5 of
The exam was intensive and exten-           classical committee in turn brought          the Church Order. According to this
sive, involving a preached sermon           that request to the special, June 17,18      Article a local church calls a minister
and an oral exam which took more            meeting of Classis West.                     from another denomination, and af-
than two and a half hours. The pas-              Since there was in our churches         ter his acceptance of the call he is
tor-elect, both in his sermon and in his    no precedent to follow, Classis pro-         examined by Classis. Upon receiving
oral exam, gave clear evidence of his       ceeded with great care. Classis first of     the approval of Classis and of the
knowledge of and appreciation for           all considered the fact that while such      SynodicalDeputiesheisinstalledinto
the Reformed faith. Upon approving          a request has never occurred in the          the ministry of the local congrega-
the exam, Classis advised the consis-       history of the PRC, it is hardly a new       tion. This way has not been used in
tory of Immanuel PRC to proceed             thing. The Reformed churches, espe-          the history of the PRC, but only be-
with Mr. Dick's ordination into the         ciallyin their early history, were often     cause the two calls from PR churches
ministry of the Word. With respect          faced with such requests, as monks           to two CR men were declined.
both to the causq of the Protestant         and priests left the Roman Catholic               The third way a minister of an-
Reformed Churches and to the cause          Church in order to join the cause of         other denomination can become a
of the church of Christ in general,         the Reformed faith. Already the Synod        minister in the PRC is via Article 9 of
                                            ofDordrechtwhichmetin1574,  there-           the Church Order, which reads as
                                            fore, included in their church order         follows: "Preachers without fixed
                                            (which was the basis for the one held        charge, or others who have left some
Rev. VanOuerloop  is pastor oj Bethel       today in the Protestant Reformed             sect, shall not be admitted to the min-
Protestant Reformed Church in ElkGrove      Churches) an article dealing with just       istry of the church until they have
Village, Illinois.                          such requests.                               been declared eligible, after careful

442 /Standard Bearer I August 1,1992


examination, by the classis with the         by the PRC, especially ReformedDog-                Confession; and his personal convic-
approval of synod." Although the             matics,andhehasusedTripleKnowl-                    tion of God's call to him to be a min-
PRC have not had occasion to use this        edge  as he faithfully preaches through            ister of God's Word.
Article of the Church Order, other           the Heidelberg Catechism. And in                        Classis' first decision was to
Reformed churches with the same              some of his catechism classes he has               grant the request of Rev. Aud.red
version of the Church Order have             found the use of the catechism mate-               Spriensma to be examined under Ar-
indeed done so.                              rial of the PRC to be beneficial.                  ticle 9 of the Church Order with a
     In this connection the following                About the same time that Rev.              view to his being declared a minister
quote from VanDellen  and Monsma             Spriensma approached the classical                 of the Word and sacraments in the
on Article 5 of the Church Order is          committee of Classis West with his                 PRC. The grounds for this decision
very instructive and appropriate.            request, he appeared before the  con-              were four. First, the fact that Rev.
                                             sistory of the PRC in South Holland                Spriensma had publicly resigned his
     As Churches we are not at all           with the request that he and his fam-              ministry in the CRC qualified him to
  exclusiveintheevilsenseoftheword.          ily be members of that congregation.               beaminister"withoutafixedcharge"
  We bid a hearty welcome to anyone          After visiting with him, the Council               according to Article 9 of the Church
  who is whole-heartily in agreement
  with our positiofi.  But we are, as        of South Holland heartily endorsed                 Order. Second, his letter gave evi-
  appears from the foregoing, cautious.      his request to be examined with a                  denceofhisbeingonewiththePRCin
  And rightly so. If we have good            view to being declared eligible for a              doctrine and practice, and explained
  reasons for our continual separate         call within the PRC, and expressed to              his desire to enter the ministry in the
  existence (and of this none who            Classis West their willingness to hold             PRC. Third, it was noted that there is
  knowsandappreciatesthefactsaright          Rev. Spriensma's ministerial creden-               a definite need for ministers within
  can doubt), then it is no more than        tials until such a time as he accepts a            the denomination. And fourth, the
  good sense and clear duty to be very       call, should the Classis approve his               documents which accompanied his
  careful regarding the admittance of        examination and declare him eligible               request were examined and found to
  Ministers from other denominations.
  The more so when doctrinal laxity          for a call. The PR Church in South                 be in good order.
  and lack of distinctive Biblical Chris-    Holland also expressed a willingness                    Before Classis West could pro-
  tianity is becoming more popular in        to have their diaconate serve as an ad             ceed with the actual examination, the
  many circles as the years go by (The       hoc committee to arrange for the fi-               concurrence of the Synodical Depu-
  Church Order Commentary, p. 36).           nancial support of Rev. Spriensma                  ties was necessary. The Synodical
                                             until he accept such a call.                       Deputies are three ministers from each
     The Rev. Spriensma is very fa-                  Faced with this request from Rev.          classis, approved by Synod, which
miliar with the PRC, and he is known         Spriensma when it met on June 17,                  represent the Synod at a meeting of
to many in these churches. He was            Classis understood well its great re-              the other Classis when there are mat-
raisedin  Jamestown, Michigan, which         sponsibility. Classis had to respond               ters to be decided which pertain to the
is located very near several PR              to Rev. Spriensma's request in a man-              churches in common. This concur-
churches. Members of his family had          ner which would be in compliance                   rence was given.
in fact joined the PRC, and when             with the Church Order, strictly pro-                    Classis then decided to adopt an
Audred graduated from Calvin Col-            tecting the Reformed faith and the                 examination schedule similar to that
lege he also considered the possibility      distinctives as developed and main-                given a pastor-elect. This kind of an
of enrolling in the Theological School       tained in the PRC, while at the same               exam consists of a sermon preached
of these churches. Though he ended           time maintaining a proper accessibil-              before the Classis, and then an oral
up going to Calvin Seminary, he sub-         ity.                                               exam which has different ministers
sequently established good relation-                 Classis   n o t e d   t h a t   R e v .    asking questions for fifteen minutes
ships with our ministers, especially         Spriensma's request to enter the PRC               in the following subjects: Theology,
those in the Chicago area while he           was accompanied with his creden-                   Anthropology, Christology,  Soteri-
served in his pastorate in South Hol-        tials (diplomas from college and semi-             ology, Ecclesiology, Eschatology,
land. The close proximity of his pas-        nary), with a testimonial from his                 Knowledge of Scripture, Knowledge
torate in South Holland to the Protes-       previous consistory, giving assurance              of the Confessions, Controversy, and
tant Reformed Church in South Hol-           of his purity of doctrine and sanctity             Practica.  In this special case, Classis
land has made him a familiar figure to       of life, and with a certificate of health.         decided to make some changes. First,
people there. It is well known that he       In his letter to Classis he gave with his          they added an additional five min-
has preached against common grace,           grounds for making this request the                utes to each subject to allow the ques-
and that he maintains a position             following: his reasons for leaving the             tioners to treat in more detail the
against the remarriage of divorced           CRC; his reasons for believing the                 distinctives of the PR faith and prac-
persons. In addition,`Rev. Spriensma         PRC to possess the best manifestation              tice. Further, Classis urged the exam-
has studied the literature published         of the pure marks of the true church               iners to make the emphasis of their
                                             according to Article 29 of the Belgic              exam a determination of Rev.

                                                                                                     August 1,1992  I Standard Bearer I 443


Spriensma's soundness in the Re-           gible for a call in the PRC with no         their diaconate serve as a committee
formed faith, the sanctity of his life,    further examination required. The           to oversee his support and arrange
and his knowledge of and apprecia-         concurrence of the Synodical Depu-          the collecting of it by seeking assis-
tion for Protestant Reformed practice      ties was given. Rev. Spriensma then         tance from other churches. The use of
and usage. Classis decided too that        signed the Formula of Subscription          this diaconate is similar to thle ar-
an additional examination be con-          and was presented with a classical          rangements established by the PR
ducted entitled "Protestant Reformed       diploma. It was with great joy that         Synod for the support of the Tasma-
Distinctives." Classis wanted to be        the delegates of Classis West, along        nian seminary students. Classis went
sure that that which is so vital to the    with thevisitors, received thisbrother      on record urging the other PR
well-being of any Reformed denomi-         into the ministerial ranks in the PRC.      churches to contribute to this worthy
nation, namely its ministry, was be-       A prayer of thanksgiving was raised         cause.
ing guarded with care.                     to God, and the delegates and visitors           Although satisfied with the pro-
     Rev. Spriensma preached before        joined together to sing "Praise God         cedure followed in treating the re-
the Classis and severalvisitors on the     From Whom All Blessings Flow," af-          quest from Rev. Spriensma, the Classis
evening of June 17. Adopting the           ter which opportunity was given to          thought it wise to appoint a study
advice of three ministers who had          congratulate Rev. Spriensma and his         committee which would come to a
been appointed "Sermon Critics,"           wife.                                       future meeting with an overture to
Classis judged Rev. Spriensma's ser-                Classis then decided that until    Synod 1993, which will establish a
mon to be both exegetically sound          such a time that he accepts a call Rev.     policy for the admitting of ministers
and to the edification of God's people.    Spriensma'sministerialcredentialsbe         from other denominations under Ar-
Again the Synodical Deputies an-           held by the consistory of the PRC in        ticle 9 of the Church Order.
nounced their concurrence.                 South Holland which shall supervise              All in all it was a most wonder-
     The oral examination of Rev.          him and his preaching. Classis urged        ful meeting of Classis. There is reason
Spriensma took an entire afternoon         him to avail himself of everyopportu-       for great joy in the church of Jesus
and part of the evening. In his an-        nitytobecomebetteracquaintedwith            Christ and especially for the PRC.
swers Rev. Spriensma gave a very           our churches by preaching and by            Two men have evidenced a knowl-
good account of himself, of his posi-      attending classes at the Theological        edge of and love for the Reformed
tions on doctrine and practice, and of     School of the PRC.                          faith and for preaching and teaching
his piety and godly character.                      Classis also decided to accept     the same to God's people. May God's
     After hearing his exam, Classis       the offer which came from the Coun-         cause be furthered by it, and His name
voted unanimously to approve his           cil of the PRC in South Holland that        glorified.  0
examination and to declare him eli-

                                           Why Protestant
                                           Reformed?
                                                                                           Rev. Audred Spriensma

     A question that has often been        swer: It is a matter of walking in faith    Kerken, they were told when they
asked of me lately is, "Why?" It is a      and obedience to God.                       came to Grand Rapids that they be-
question that my wife and I had to                  I was raised in the Christian      1ongednotintheProtestantReformed
answer first for ourselves, before we      Reformed Churches. My parents,              Churches but in the Christian Re-
could answer it for others. Why leave      Thomas and Jessie Spriensma, were           formed Church.
one denomination after thirty-seven        immigrants to the United States in               I was raised on a dairy farm near
years to join another denomination?        1949. They had been members of the          Jamestown, Michigan. My parents
Whyleave  alarge denomination (900+        Gereformeerde Kerken in The Neth-           sacrificed in order to send all their
churches) for amuch smaller denomi-        erlands, although they sympathized          children to Christian schools. I at-
nation (27 churches)? Why leave a          with Prof. Schilder's positionregard-       tended Hudsonville Christian Grade
congregation you enjoy in order to         ing the error of presumptive regen-         School, Unity Christian High, and
wait for a call from another congrega-     eration and his rejection of common         then Calvin College. I felt the call to
tion? Why leave the secure and com-        grace. But, because they had been           the gospel ministry from a very early
fortable for the unknown? Our an-          members of the Gereformeerde                age; I canremember it backas early as

444 /Standard Bearer I August 1,1992


                                                                                                 I did continue to go to Calvin
                                                                                            Seminary, believing that Glad was
                                                                                            calling me to be a Reformed witness
                                                                                            to His people in the CRC, to fight for
                                                                                            and defend our precious Reformed
                                                                                            doctrines and practices. While in
                                                                                            schoolIpurchasedHoeksema'sTripZe
                                                                                            Knowledge (to help me in my exhort-
                                                                                            ing on and teaching of the Heidelberg
                                                                                            Catechism) andHoeksema's  Dogmat-
                                                                                            ics, andbegan  subscribing to the Stan-
                                                                                            dard Bearer.
                                                                                                 God called me to two clhurches
                                                                                            in the CRC. In October, 1980 I re-
                                                                                            ceivedaletterofcallfrom the Atwood
                                                                                            MI CRC and was examinedby Classis
                         Rev. and Mrs. S,vriensma  and family                               Cadillac in January, 1981. Already at
                                                                                            the classical exam I ran into trouble. I
age seven. But while attending Cal-             to my study of the supposed well-           was asked to preach on Genesis 17:1-
vin College, receiving heretical teach-         meant offer that I can trace the begin-     7. One of the sermon critics, while
ing on such subjects as creation and            ning of my theological journey. from        stating that the sermon was exegeti-
the historicity of Jonah, I saw the             the CRC to the PRC. It was at this time     tally sound, doctrinally correct, Christ
trouble and antagonism I would have             that I began to study the.CRC's three       and salvation centered, complained
to endure as a theological conserva-            points of common grace. I did not           that my sermon on the covenant lacked
tive in the CRC. So I tried to be a             find myself in agreement with the           any discussion and emphasis on con-
Jonah. Rather than pursuing the min-            three points of 1924, nor did I feel I      ditions that man must fill. He wrote
istry,Icontemplatedgoinginto teach-             had to, because the Synod of 1959 said      that while the "concept of friendship,
ing.                                            that there was room for disagree-           though certainly related to the the-
        But the Lord would -not allow           ment:                                       matic idea of covenant as a blessed
me to evade His calling. Feeling com-                                                       benefit, does not `hit the nail on the
pelled to enter the gospel ministry, I            . ..we do not require submission in       head,' in my opinion. A better intro-
attended Calvin Theological Semi-                 the sense of demanding total agree-       duction might have explained the
nary. I can vividly remember the                  ment with the Three Points; we rec-       concept of `agreement' use'd in an
loneliness I felt, in the first year, in the      ognize and bear with scruples you         illustrative way.N The other sermon
midst of a sea of liberalism. Again               may have in the expectation that we
                                                  together may come eventually to a         critic, while having many nice things
dismayed by what I saw and heard, I               better understanding of the truth;        to say about voice and style, cau-
went to my pastor, after that first               and will not bar those who have           tioned me against my use of "Thee"
year, seeking advice as to whether I              certain misgivings or divergent in-       and "Thou" and "Thy" when refer-
belonged in the ministry in the CRC.              terpretations.                            ring to God in prayer, for the sake of
I contemplated attending the Protes-                 With respect to your impression        the children and visitors. He also
tant Reformed Seminary.                           thatwehaveelevatedtheThreePoints          wrote that "the sermon as a whole
        It was also in my first year at           to church dogma, we wish to ob-           suffered a bit from long-windedness."
Calvin Seminary that I heard for the              serve that they were not intended to      My question is whether a preacher
first time the teaching of the well-              be a church dogma concerning Com-         can do justice to the riches of a text of
meant offer of the gospel. The Protes-            mon Grace.                                Scripture in 15-20 minutes?
tant Reformed rejection of the offer            The year 1924 is a very sad chapter in           Classis Cadillac did finally ap-
was described as rationalistic. I am            the history of the CRC. This is true not    prove my'examination with the con-
glad the Lord has given us good minds           only because of the biblically and          dition (oh, they love conditions, don't
to be able to understand His revela-            confessionally Reformed men she             they) that the neighboring pastor re-
tion in the Scriptures. Reason is much          kicked out of her ministry, but also        view with me covenantal theology.
better than holding to some dualistic           because of the path she herself began       This we did. He came with Berkhof in
mystery where God supposedly                    to walk. We with our limited insight        hand and I with Hoeksema in hand.
wants to save everyone but does not             might be inclined to ask "Why?" but         This was profitable, for as we poured
intend to. It is not only a matter of           with hindsight I am able to see that        over Scripture, I became more and
reason but of being obedient to the             God in His grace was providing for          more sure of my position: 710 condi-
context of the passages used and be-            the continuation of His true church in      tio?lal theology! The covenant is not a
ing guided by our confessions. It was           the decades to come.                        conditional agreement between God and
                                                                                                 August 1,1992 / Standard Bearer I445


man. The covenant is the unconditional      denomination, whether it was on com-        of the church as found in Belgic Con-
gracious relationship of friendship that    mon grace, the covenant, divorce and        fession, Article 29.
God establishes with the elect.             remarriage, or union membership. I                  In May, 1992 I informed my
     It was during my first pastorate       also believed that I was corporately        Council of my intention to discon-
that I began corresponding with the         responsible for their ecclesiastical        tinue my ministry in the Christian
Protestant Reformed Seminary and            positions while remaining in that de-       Reformed denomination and to seek
began to be acquainted with some of         nomination. One cannot continue             entrance into the ministry of the l?rot.-
the Protestant Reformed ministers:          telling people that the denomination        estant Reformed Churches. I was
Rev. Joostens and Rev. Key. In 1984 I       is seriously departing from the Re-         examined on June 18 by Classis West.
received the call from the Bethany          formedfaithandpracticeandyetstay            Having sustained the examination I
CRC of South Holland, IL. In that           indefinitely within it. By example          was declared a minister in the PRC
pastorate God allowed me to get to          you must show others that they must         eligible for a call. It is with eagerness
know your churches better. In 1986          leave, according to Belgic Confession,      that I enter your church fellowship. It
my wife and I, along with several           Articles28 and29. But neither did the       is in that walk of faith and obedience
young adults and couples from               Bethany  Council feel that churches         to Christ's calling of me to be a minis-
Bethany,  attended the Northwest            should go independent or start yet          ter of His Word that I seek to labor in
Mission's conference on marriage. I         another Reformed denomination. As           your churches.
became involved in a pastor's Bible         a Council we wrote to the Alliance of               I thank God for the strong Cal-
study with Revs. Engelsma,                  Reformed Churches in March, 1992            vinist home in which He placed me,
VanOverloop,  and Piersma, andlater         that "future denominational affilia-        for faithful pastors and teachers who
Revs. Terpstra and Houck. I was also        tion should be the goal of each council     instructed me, and for dear friends
able to attend various officebearers'       that withdraws from the CRC. Seri-          and relatives who cared, and who
conferences of Classis West and the         ous thought must take place whether         stood by my family and me as we
Seminary's conference on the Re-            churches should not join already ex-        made this transition. I pray that the
formed Doctrine of Holy Scripture.          isting denominations rather than            Lord will use the decision that my
     While ministering at Bethany           forming new ones.n                          wife and I have made as an example
CRC.1 always enjoyed the Council's               Why leave the CRC? I had to            for many of His people still in the
support for my ministry and teach-          leave because of the decline of Re-         CRC that are vexing their righteous
ing. And so it was with sadness that        formed faith and practice, and be-          souls over the sad state of affairs in
I would have to leave that pastorate.       cause of the continued slide into apos-     their churches.
But I found that my teaching and            tasy in those churches. Why join the                This is why I and my family are
preaching was hindered and com-             PRC? I believe that the PRC has the         Protestant Reformed.  0
promised by the official stands of the      best manifestations of the pure marks

                                             `"And he gave
                                            some,... pastors?
                                                                                                           Don Doezema
                                                 Mitchell Dick was installed as         one time he thought to work toward
                                            pastor of Immanuel PRC in Lacombe,          a master's degree in forestry at Duke
                                            AB, Canada on July 3,1992.                  University, he now began to pray, in
                                                 Unlike most of the other minis-        great gratitude for his conversion,
                                            ters in the PRC, Rev. Dick was not all      that the Lord might be pleased to call
                                            his life a member of one of the churches    him to the ministry of the gospel of
                                            in that denomination. Nor, for that         sovereign grace. Rather than going
                                            matter, was he even always a Re-            immediatelybackto school, however,
                                            formed Christian. He was born and           he went to work in a restaurant, and
                                            raised a Methodist, not converted to        took a job in landscaping - all- the
                                            theReformed  faith till afterhis  gradu-    while reading more and more theol-
                                            ation  from CornellUniversity  (Ithaca,     ogy.
                                            NY) in 1981.                                        Then, ten years ago, he learned
                                                 With his conversion came also a        of the Protestant Reformed Churches,
          Rev. Mitchell Dick                change in his aspirations. Where at I became a member of one of them,
446 /Standard Bearer I August 1,1992


married Ellen Hanko, and began                conversions were grievous disap-            onciliation was eventually aocom-
studyingDutchunder Rev. C. Hanko.             pointments to their families, who, with     plished, but the working relationship
`The following year he was accepted           the exception of one brother, remain        among the various parties had been
into what was then the pre-sem pro-           Hindu and Buddhist respectively to          so adversely affected by the conflict
gram at the Protestant Reformed               this day.                                   that it was deemed wise that Rev.
Seminary.                                          Jail&s friends and relatives had       Mahtani's active labor in the congre-
     Dutch was just the beginning. A          long encouraged him to become a             gation, for the time being, cease. He
good number of classes, not required          lawyer. He was in fact enrolled in law      was therefore released by the Session
for his B.S. from Cornell, were neces-        school at the University of Singapore.      of Covenant ERCS in February of
sary for entrance into the seminary.          With his conversion, however, those         1992 and declared eligible for a call to
Over the next several years, there-           plans changed. He felt a -growing           serve elsewhere in the ERCS either as
fore, Mitch picked up those classes,          conviction that he was called by the        a pastor or a missionary.
not only at our seminary, but also at         Spirit to serve the Lord in the gospel           The sister-church relationship
Aquinas and Calvin Colleges and at            ministry. He studied therefore for a        between the ERCS and the PRC would
Grand Valley State.                           year at the University, while at the        require that he be considered just as
     In September of 1987 he was              same time being tutored by then mis-        really eligible for a call to be a pastor
admitted to the Protestant Reformed           sionary-pastor Rev. Arie denHartog,         or missionary in the latter. The Con-
Seminary. Duringthefirstthreeyears            before leaving for the States in 1983 to    tact Committee of the PRC earlier this
there his wife was in and outof  hospi-       be trained, in the Protestant Reformed      year informed the churches of that,
tals; and finally, in June of 1990, the       Seminary, for the ministry of the Word      but asked our Consistories to wait
Lord took Ellen home to Himself.              in the Evangelical Reformed Church          with extending a call to Rev. Mahtani
     Mitch went on to complete his            of Singapore.                               until after Synod had opportunity to
work in the seminary, graduated in                 Two of Jaiki and Esther's five         speak to the issues involved. Synod
the spring of 1991, and in June of that       children, incidentally, were born in        did that in June, and Rev. Mahtani
year was declared eligible, by Synod,         America - twin sons, born to the            was officially declared eligible for a
for a call to the ministry in the Protes-     happy couple in Zeeland, Michigan.          call also for labor in and for our
tant Reformed Churches.                       After three years in seminary Jaiki         churches-with this provision, that,
     Later that year Mitch married            returned with his family to Singapore,      when he does, the Lord willing, re-
Grace Kay Faber, who had been for             and in October of 1986 he was or-           ceive such a call,he submit to an
twelve years a teacher at Adams Street        dained as minister of the gospel in the     examination by the Classis of which
Christian School in Grand Rapids.             ERCS. Rev. Mahtani was soon in-             thecongregationbywhomheiscalled
Theylookforward to thebirth of their          volved in the establishing of a second      is a member, and that this exam be
first child, D.V., in August.                 congregation of the ERCS. In 1987 the       approved also by the Synodical Del-
     It was with gratitude to God that        Covenant Evangelical Reformed               egates. At- present therefore Rev.
Mitch received the call from Lacombe          Church was organized, with Rev.             Mahtani, recognizedby all who know
in the spring of 1992. After installa-        Mahtani as its first pastor.                him as an energetic, zealous servant
tion on the third of July, he preached             Troubles developedin the young         of the Lord, is a minister without a
his inaugural sermon there on July 5,         church, however, resulting in tensions      charge in the ERCS, eagerly awaiting
occupying a pulpit for the first time as      between the pastor and -the                 the time when he can, D.V., return to
Rev. Mitchell Dick, newest pastor in          officebearers and congregation. Rec-        full-time service in the kingdom.
the PRC.* *  *  *  *  *  *
     Whereas Rev. Spriensma comes
to us from the CRC and Rev. Dick-has
his roots in Methodism, Rev. Jaikishin
Mahtani (who was declared by Synod
1992 to be eligible for a call in the PRC)
was born into a Hindu family. His
parents are Indian. They migrated to
Singapore from Sindh, a province of
India on its border with Pakistan. It
was in Singapore that young Jaikishin
was converted to Christianity. It was
there too that he met and married
Esther, a Chinese Singaporean who
had herself been recently converted
to Christianity fromBuddhism.  Their I                                   Esfher wahtani and children
                                                                                               August 1,1992 Standard Bearer / 447


A Word Fitly Spoken
Rev. Dale Kuiper                                       Fruit
      The purpose of God in saving a church is that there may be fruit. Although the Bible speaks of the fruit of plants
and the fruit of the womb or of the loins, most often it uses the word fruit metaphorically, as that which originates and
comes forth from something as the effect or result. Especially is it the case that Scripture uses the figure of a tree or a
vine to teach concerning a spiritual fruitfulness in the lives of the saints. Not only is the purpose of God that the redeemed
bear fruit now and in eternity, it is also true that every single child of God is involved in this - "every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit" (Matt. 7~17).  And every child of God does this from the first moment of conscious faith until the time
of his last breath. "Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still
bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing" (Ps. 92:13,14). There we find the reason why many children
of God live into their eighties and nineties; let them not think their life is without purpose and vain!
      Sometimes we read of spiritual fruits in the plural (Phil. 1:ll; James 3:17), and at other times we find the word in
the singular (John 15:2; Eph. 5:9). We ought to notice that for a few moments. In the classic passage on fruitfulness,
Galatians 5:19-26, the apostle Paul contrasts the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. The plural works indicate
that these sinful actions find their source in the fallen human nature, are rebellious, divisive, contradictory, and
destructive, and have no unifying principle. That there is a fruit of the Spirit emhasizes that when a person is reborn and
indwelled by the Holy Spirit, that person brings forth all the manifestations of the Spirit, not merely some of them. There
is an internal unity and moral homogeneity to all that the child of God does. The grace of God in Christ is not divided;
if you have Christ, you have all of Christ. Nor is the Holy Spirit's work parceled out to us; if He be working in us, He
brings forth a full Christian life, a fully developed fruit. The fruit of the Spirit may be in different measure, but in every
child of God He brings forth love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance (self-
control).
      The fruit that may readily be observed in the Christian's life is the result of Christ working through us. In catechism
we learned that Christ worked for us (payment of sin at the cross), in us (regeneration, justification), but also through us
(sanctification). The good fruit that the child of God brings forth can only be traced back to his union with Christ. Scripture
speaks of this union as faith, as the living bond of ingrafting (John 15:1-5;  Rom. 11:17-20).  Branches are grafted into the
vine and live out of the vine; branches are grafted into the olive tree and partake of the root and fatness of the tree. Faith
as ingrafting sets forth to us Christ as our perfect salvation, as the repository of every spiritual good. He has merited
and become the storehouse of every aspect of salvation. And faith is the living bond, the pipeline if you will, that connects
us to Him and through which the unspeakable riches which are in Him flow to us. The will to be fruitful and the activity
of producing fruit is of His Spirit.
      The requirements for a life of fruitfulness, requirements that God is faithful to fulfill in us, are: 1) Living union with
the vine Jesus Christ, a union God establishes in regeneration; 2) Receptivity to the preaching of the gospel (Matt. 13:23)
in which God makes our hearts soft as tilled soil; 3) The mortification of the old man of sin, for there can be no spiritual
living until the old man dies (John 12:24);  4) The pruning of the Husbandman (God's chastenings)  in order that fruitful
branches might be more fruitful (John 15:2); and 5) Abiding in Christ our life-source even to the end (John 15:5).
     Unfruitfulness is not taken lightly by God; there must be fruit! The Baptist warned in Matthew 3 that "the axe is
laid unto the root of the tree; therefore every tree which bringeth forth not good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the
fire." Jesus cursed the barren fig tree. Unfruitfulness is brought about by the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches,
discontent, and apostasy. The end of unfruitfulness is destruction. We are to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works
of darkness, but we are to reprove them (Eph. 5:ll). And we are to make friends only of those who manifest the Spirit's
presence, for they can be known of us by their fruits (Matt. 6:44).
     God voices a complaint against Judah in Isaiah 5 for her lack of fruit after all the care He had bestowed upon her.
He planted a vineyard of the choicest vine, fenced it, gathered out the stones, built a tower, made a winepress. But when
God came to look for the grapes, it brought forth wild grapes! Then verse 4: "What could have been done more to my
vineyard, that I have not done in it?" The fault for lack of fruit, in an individual or a church, can never be laid at the door
of God. Consider the care and goodness of God to us and our churches! We have a rich heritage of biblical truth set forth
in our Reformed Confessions. We have a steady diet of sound, expository preaching. We have our own schools in most
of the areas we have churches. We have the presence and working of the Spirit and Christ's promise never to forsake
us. What more could have been done for us, that God has not done? a

Rev. Kuiper is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

448 /Standard Bearer I August 1,1992


A Cloud Of                                      Ulrich Zwingli:
 Witnesses                                      Swiss Reformer
Prof. Herman Hanko


Introductory note                               classics, and an exaltation of man.        caring for the spiritual needs of his
         We  have come, in our discussion of         In Basel, Zwingli studied Latin       flock in so far as he was able, for he
important people in the history of the          grammar, music, and dialectics. In         was yet an unconverted man. For
church, to the Reformation of the 16th          Bern he studied under Lupulus, the         another thing, he spent a great deal of
century. If would be logical to begin wifh      greatest classical scholar and poet in     time in personal study, reading av-
a couple of articles on Martin Luther and       Switzerland and a leading humanist.        idly the old Greek and Roman au-
John Calvin. We have chosen not to do           In Vienna he studied scholastic phi-       thors. To read the Greek authors, he
this, notonlybecausebotharewellknown            losophy, astronomy, physics, and the       taught himself Greek and became
to our readers, but also because many           ancient classics. His education dif-       proficient in this language.' His ad-
different and excellent biographies are         fered somewhat from that of Luther         miration for classical writers grew
available  for  reading.  We  intend, there-    and was more nearly like the educa-        with his reading, and he developed
fore,  tozorifearficleson lesserknown men       tion which Calvin received; but all        the idea that the Holy Spirit must
(and, perhaps, women) zvho  were  instru-       threereformerswerehighlyeducated           have operated beyond the bound-
mental in bringing about the Reforma-           men. One is reminded of how God            aries of Palestine among the heathen
tion towhich weareall  fhespiritual heirs.      often uses educated men in the church,     philosophers, for their writings could
                                                for evenMoses  was "learned in all the     only be explained in terms of the
Zwingli's Pre-conversion Life                   wisdom of the Egyptians."                  work of the Holy Spirit. In this re-
         In the midst of stunning Alpine             ReturningtoBasel,Zwinglistud-         spect he anticipated later views of the
beauty, in the Toggenburg Valley at             ied and taught, acquiring his Master       general gracious operations of the
Wildhaus, Ulrich Zwingli was born               of Arts degree in 1506. Two events in      Holy Spirit among the heathen, taught
in a lowly shepherds cottage to the             Base1 helped to shape his future life:     by the defenders of common grace.
mayor of this small hamlet. He be-              He was taught by Thomas Wytten-            Because of his vast learning and abil-
longed to a large family - seven                back, a man deeply interested in the       ity, he supervised the education of
brothers (he was the third son) and             reform of the church; and he met Leo       two of his brothers and of several of
two sisters. He was born seven weeks            Jud, who was to remain his friend and      the noblest young men of Glaurus,
after Martin Luther, on January 1,              co-reformer for the rest of his life.      who became firm friends and re-
1484.                                           Both of thesemen  turned his thoughts      mained such through his years of
         Zwingli received his education         to reform in the corrupt church of         reformatory work. During this pe-
in the leading universities of Switzer-         Rome.                                      riod he also made three trips with
land and Austria, but was through-                   Zwingli early showed remark-          Swiss soldiers into Italy and came to
out under the influence of the human-           able ability as a musician, and in the     hate the Swiss practice of merc'enary
ism of the Renaissance. This is impor-          course of his studies he learned to        soldiers.2
tant, for Zwingli's humanism was to             play with skill the lute, harp, violin,
be an influence in his theology even            flute, dulcimer, and hunting horn.
after his conversion, and during the            He made good use of this ability
years of his reformatory work. The              throughout his career and wrote a
Renaissance was a movement which                number of beautiful poems and songs.       `He later attempted to teach himself Hebrew,
had begun in Italy a couple of centu-                In 1506 his work as minister be-      and, while he succeeded in a measure, he never
ries earlier and was characterized by           gan. He was ordained to the priest-        became as skilled in Hebrew as in Greek,
                                                                                           `It was common in Switzerland for the men to
a revival of learning, a return to the          hood in Glaurus, but had to buy off a      hire themselves out to foreign armies. It is this
study of ancient Greek and Roman                rival candidate for the sum of 100         practice which Zwingli came to hate, for the
                                                guilders.                                  effects were spiritually demoralizing. The prac-
                                                                                           tice later became an issue in the struggles with
                                                     Some interesting things hap-          Roman Catholicism, for the Roman Church sup-
                                                pened while Zwingli was in Glaurus.        ported the practice because of the vast revenues
Prof. Hanko is professor of Church His-         For one thing, he immersed himself in      it brought into Switzerland, revenues some es-
toy and Nezv Testament in the Profes-           the pastoral ministry, preaching,          timate as over $3,000,000.00  a year. From this
                                                                                           practice dates the papal custom of having Swiss
fanf Reformed Semina y.                         teaching, doing pastoral work and          guards in the Vatican.

                                                                                                 August  1,1992  I Standard Bearer  / 449


      In 1515 Zwingli moved to                    Zwingli the Reformer                              It was after his recovery that
Einsiedeln, where he continued about                   Zwingli's conversion was prob-         reformbeganinearnest. Oncehaving
three years. During his stay in                   ably a gradual one which began while        become persuaded that Scripture was
Einsiedeln he gradually came to un-               in Einsiedeln, but which came to full       to be the only norm and standard of
derstand the evil of many Romish                  expression in Zurich, to which he was       our life and faith, and of the life and
practices. Especially the corrupt prac-           called in the latter part of 1518. There    faith of the church, reforms followed
tice of indulgences came to his atten-            were several elements which played          of themselves. But in Switzerland,
tion when a huckster by the name of               a role in his conversion. Increasingly,     reforms took place in a unique way.
Samson tried to sell his indulgences              as he saw the need for reform in the        The pattern was: The reformers peti-
in Switzerland. It is interesting that at         church, he came to hate the Romish          tioned the magistracy to implement
least two years before Luther's attack            abuses which destroyed men's souls.         certainreforms; themagistracycalled
against indulgences Zwingli was                   As his studies turned more and more         a public meeting or disputation to
preaching against them and condemn-               to Scripture, he, even before Luther,       which were invited Roman Cathlolic
ing themvehemently from the pulpit.               saw that Scripture alone had to be the      theologians and reformers; both were
In this respect, as well as in other              authority for all the faith and life of     required to defend their position on
matters, Zwingli anticipated Luther,              the church. In fact, when he began his      the matter at'issue before the magis-
taught the same things Luther taught,             ministry in Zurich on January 1,1519,       tracy': which would then decide
although he developed his ideas in-               on his 35th birthday, he began a sys-       whether thereforms were tobeimple-
dependently.3                                     tematic exposition of the Gospel ac-        mented. In these disputations it was
      It was also in Einsiedeln that              cording to Matthew. During the next         common for the Council to rule that
Zwinglimade the acquaintance of the               four years of his ministry, he contin-      the debate had to be conducted on the
famous humanist, Erasmus, who, at                 uedpreachingsystematicallythrough           basis of Scripture alone.
about this time, published his first              the New Testament, going from Mat-                The first disputation was held
edition of the Greek New Testament.               thew to Acts, then to the Pauline and       on January 29, 1523 before a puTalic
Zwingli was deeply attracted to                   Catholic epistles, and then on to the       audience of over 600people. As would
Erasmus, visited him, became his                  other books, with the exception of          almost always be the case in future
friend, and invited Erasmus to Zurich             Revelation. During the week he              disputations, it was also true in Zurich
in 1522, which invitation Erasmus                 preached from the Psalms.                   that the reformers easily won their
declined, It is to Zwingli's credit that,              In 1520 the plague struckzurich,       point, partly because their position
whileheagreedwithhrasmusinmany                    carrying off 2,500 people, about l/3        was the only one grounded on S&p-
points, he repudiated Erasmus' semi-              of the populace. Zwingli wasuntiring        ture,butpartlytoobecausetheRomish
Pelagianism.                                      in ministering to the needs of his          Church had no significant and knowl-
      While Zwingli was in Glaurus                flock, until the plague struck him          edgeable theologians who could hold
and Einsiedeln, he fell into the sin of           down. From it he almost died, and by        their own in open debate with the
fornication. That this did not affect             it God made him a new man. A poem           reformers.
his standing in the church is only                hewroteatthebeginningofhisillness                 Victory followed upon victory,
evidence of how common the prac-                  aptly depicts his faith.                    not only in Zurich, but also in other
tice was; but Zwinglilaterrepented of                                                         cantons of Switzerland where dispu-
it with great anguish of soul and lived               Help me, 0 Lord,                        tations were held. Lent was aban-
with the burden of it all his life.                       My strength and rock;               doned; clerical celibacy was declared
      Zwingli never did free himself                  Lo, at the door                         unbiblical; the Bible was translated
of his humanistic views, views which                      I hear death's knock.               into the vernacular; images, pictures,
continued to influence his theology                                                           and relics were removed from the
even when he became the reformer of                   Uplift thine arm,                       churches; the churches were severed
Switzerland. All his studies had been                     Once pierced for me,                from the control of the papacy; the
from a humanistic viewpoint; he had                   That conquered death,                   monasteries were dissolved; fasting
read widely in classical literature; and                  And set me free.                    was prohibited; the mass was re-
his admiration for Erasmus all but                                                            placed; the Lord's Supper was held at
guaranteed that humanism would                        Yet, if thy voice                       regular intervals5;  discipline was es-
playanimportantroleinhis thinking.                        In life's mid-day,                  tablished under the control of office
                                                      Recalls my soul,
                                                          Then I obey,
3WhenLuther'swritingslatercame  toZwin&s
attention, Zwingli was impressed and encour-          In faith and hope                       4Which magistracy was generally a council of
aged because he had been teaching the same                Earth I resign,                     men. In the case of the first disputation in
truths. A couple of examples are Luther's em-                                                 Zurich, the magistracy was the Little Council
phasis on the sole authority of Scripture, and        Secure in heaven,                       and the Large Council.
the truth of sovereign predestination.                    For I am Thine.                     `Four times a year, as we do today.

450 /Standard Bearer  I August  1,1992


bearers in the churches; biblical                knew of his marriage. In April, 1524       that his home life was a happy one
preaching was ordered in all the                 he married publicly. His wife was          and that his wife was afaithfulhelp to
churches.                                        Anna Reinhart, a widow with three          him in his years of workin the church.
          Zwingli himself married. Be-           children.. From this marriage, four                                               R
cause of the times, he married se-               more children were added to the fam-                          -to be continued.
cretly. For two years only his friends           ily. It is clear from Zwingli's letters



 The Strength of
 Youth                                           Youth -in Doubt
Rev. Steven Key

          We have considered the impor-          are full of questions also about spiri-    thing is true and the rejection of that
tance of right thinking, not just what           tual things. You have reached those        assertion as true. To doubt, therefore,
is referred to today as "politically             years when a simple answer, or a           is to be double-minded. That is not to
correct thinking," but spiritually right         simple "yes" or "no" from father or        saythatdoubtisinitselfsinful. Doubt-
thinking. It is extremely important              mother, is not enough to satisfy. You      ing might indicate a lack of faith, but
that you, as Christian young people,             need to know more. That is true of         not necessarily. Contrary to a com-
are in the right spiritual frame of              doctrinal matters. That is also true       mon misunderstanding, doubi: is not
mind. It is important that you are               when it comes to the everyday mat-         the same as unbelief.
established on the firm foundation of            ters of how a Christian should live in          Doubt has many faces. On the
Bible truth.                                     the midst of this world which is filled    one hand, doubt is a champion when
          But there is another matter we         withmanyoptionsandmanytempta-              it is exercised toward that which is
must not overlook. If there is one               tions. That questioning, in itself, can    properly tobe doubted. For example,
thing Satan hates, it is firm conviction         be most beneficial to your spiritual       when someone tells you something or
in the truth of God's Word. He will              growth. I am most thankful for the         calls you to behavior which is not in
use many means to try to cast doubt              young man or woman who will raise          harmony with Scripture, yourknowl-
in your mind as to your knowledge of             questions in catechism class or who        edge of the truth will immediately
the truth.                                       will come to me with specific ques-        cause you to doubt and to refuse
          It is my purpose in this article to    tions.                                     acceptance of the falsehood.  Im  such
encourageyoutostrengthenyourfaith                     And let me remind the parents         a case, doubt causes you to sort out
in the face of doubt and even, in fact,          who are reading this article: Your         andclarifythedifferencebetweenthe
to take whatever doubts you may                  calling is to provide an atmosphere in     genuine and the counterfeit, between
have anduse them to strengthen your              the home where your children feel          what is certain and what is uncertain.
faith.                                           free to ask those questions and where      But, on the other hand, doubt is that
          I dare say, without fear of being      you as parents willingly answer them.      whichcauses the downfall of the skep-
grossly inaccurate, that you young               Maybe you do not know the answers          tic. It is the enemy which attacks the
people are characterized, among other            to all their questions. If so, you must    faithful, strikingfearinto their hearts.
things,bybeingfullofquestions.  That             seek those answers from the Scrip-         Doubt nags the soul, weakening one's
is not a criticism. To ask questions is          tures, in order properly to carry out      hope.
the way of learning. Your questions              your calling to bring up your children          As you can see, then, doubt can
do not merely concern natural things.            in the nurture and admonition of the       either lead to a deepened faith, or
Your school studies have dealt with              Lord.                                      break down to unbelief. But to doubt
many questions you had concerning                     But to return to you, the church's    is to be at a crossroads. We must seek
the things of nature and the like. But           youth, it is extremely important, in       to clear up doubt in any area of life. To
you who are in the strength of youth             the face of your questions, that you       live in doubt is to live with a very
                                                 seek answers for those questions.          unhealthy attitude. To act in doubt is
                                                 Because unanswered questions can           to act in unfaithfulness. It is from that
                                                 feed an unhealthy attitude of doubt        point of view that Paul writes in Ro-
                                                 and even skepticism.                       mans  14:23, "He that doubteth is
Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant RE-              To doubt is to waver. It is to        damned if he eat, because he eateth
formed  Church  of  Randolph, Wisconsin.         waver between the belief that some-        not of faith: for whatsoever is not of
                                                               . . .
                                                            `. ;. : :.: .
                                                           _i  "  :-
                                                           ._  .-                                August 1,1992 / Standard Beam I451


faith is sin." In addition, to live in      ,declarations  that are put forth with-     my path" (Psalm 119:105). "The en-
doubt is to live in instability. "For he    out compromise. More specifically,          trance of thy words giveth light; it
that waverethis like a wave of the sea      we speak of the uncompromising              givethunderstandingunto the simple"
driven with the wind and tossed.... A       doctrinal truth of the Scripture with       (Psalm 119:130).  Peter, too, says in
double minded man is unstable in all        all its practical application. Christi-     II Peter 1:19: "We have also a more
hisways"  (James1:6,8). Youneednot          anity is based upon the authoritative       sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye
be immediately alarmed when you             assertiveness of the Bible.                 do well that ye take heed, as unto a
find yourself questioning things, nor            There are many who dislike that.       light that shinethin a darkplace." He
even when you find yourself doubt-          I visited recently with a person who        speaks of the Scriptures as light and
ing certain things. You only need be        had rejected the teachings of Christi-      all else darkness; and shall we then
alarmed when you continue to live in        anity and who consequently shunned          not make use of the light when our
doubt, not seeking the resolution of        religious assertiveness and disliked        understandingis darkenedby doubt?
that which troubles you. Doubt tells        people who maintain certain ideas                So the writer to the Hebrew
you that you have a job to do -             without wavering. Understandably            Christians writes in Hebrews 6:11,12:
tackling the root of your doubt.            so. The truth asserted by the Scrip-        "And we desire that every one of you
      The doubter, the double-minded        tures and by true Christianity is a         do shew the same diligence to the full
man as James calls him, is one who          truth which condemns unbelief. It is        assurance of hope unto the end: That
has a mind to lean upon himself and         no wonder, then, that we face such          ye be not slothful, but followers of
his own thoughts and to seek his            opposition rather frequently.               them who through faith and patience
strength and satisfaction in the per-            But the fact remains, as Martin        inherit the promises."
spective of the world, while at the         Luther wrote to Erasmus in the first             In Hebrews 10, there are a few
same time having a-mind inclined to         part of The Bondage of the Will, "Take      verses that cling closely together,
look to God and seek help and happi-        away assertions and you take away           speaking of the very subject we are
ness from Him. But there is no stabil-      Christianity. Why, the Holy Spirit is       considering. "Let us draw near with
ity. There is constant confusion. He        given them from heaven, that he may         a true heart in full assurance of faith,
is "unstable in all his ways." And this     glorify Christ [in them] and confess        having our hearts sprinkled from an
characteristic of double-mindedness         him even unto death-unless it is not        evil conscience, and our bodies
represents, sad to say, the spiritual       assertingwhen one dies for one's con-       washed with pure water. Let us hold
state of many in the Christian church,      fession and assertion. Moreover, the        fast the profession of our faith with-
including many youth. The evidence          Spirit goes to such lengths in assert-      out wavering; (for he is faithful that
for that is the massive inconsistency       ing, that he takes the initiative and       promised;) And let us consider one
of religionanddailylife. Wemustnot          accuses the world of sin [John 16:8], as    another to provoke unto love and to
be "halting between two opinions"!          if he would provoke a fight; and Paul       good works: Not forsaking the as-
We must not let doubt bring disrup-         commands Timothy to `exhort' and            semblingof ourselves together, as the
tion and disaster to our Christian life     `be urgent out of season' [II Tim. 421.     manner of some is; but exhorting one
and joy.                                    But what a droll exhorter he would          another: and so much the more, as ye
                                            be, who himself neither firmly be-          see the day approaching" (vss. 22-25).
                                            lieved nor consistently asserted the             And the apostle Paul, speaking
 In times of doubt, you must                thing he was exhorting about! Why,          of the great conflict of his soul for
       seek the Scriptures.                 I should send him to Anticyra!" So          those whom he was not able to meet
                                            writes Luther. Anticyra, by the way,        face to face, spoke of his desire ",that
                                            was a town on the Corinthian Gulf           their hearts might be comforted, be-
      Understand, the devil wants us        that was famous for an herb which           ing knit together in love, and unto all
to live in doubt. He knows that faith       supposedly cured insanity. Luther           riches of the full assurance of under-
is the stronghold of Christianity and       concludes that section by writing this:     standing, to the acknowledgment of
of the Christian life. He would like        "The Holy Spirit is no Skeptic, and it      the mystery of God, and of the Father,
your doubt to lead to unbelief. And,        is not doubts or mere opinions that he      and of Christ; In whom are hid all the
understand well, there is nothing more      has written on our hearts, but asser-       treasures of wisdom andknowledge"
unstable and uncertain than unbelief.       tions more sure and certain than life       (Cal. 2:2,3).
Satan would have youreject the truth        itself and all experience" (Lutlrer's            When you face doubts, do not
to which your faith holds, and deny         Words, v. 33, pp. 19ff.).                   continue to wallow in them. Take
the certainty of that truth.                     In times of doubt, you must seek       your questions and doubts to God's
     Christianity, and more particu-        the Scriptures.  The Scriptures alone       Word, and if necessary to your par-
larly our Protestant Reformed under-        open the door to understanding. So          ents or pastor or an elder. For there
standing, is based upon assertions.         the psalmist learned by experience          alone will you find rest for your soul.
And by assertions I mean positive           even in his youth: "Thy word is a                                                 cl
                                            lamp unto my feet, and a light unto

452 /Standard Bearer I August 1,1992


All Around Us
 Prof. Robert Decker


n God's Name Is Holy!                          imagery, then women weren't made              the Trinity . . . I think you've lost the
         So sang the blessed virgin Mary       inGod'simage." Kilsby never speaks            Gospel."
in the course of her conversation with         of a divine king or an almighty lord.               Let God's people beware! This
Elisabeth: "For he that is mighty hath         "There's a certain tenderness andvul-        is what happens when the church
done to me great things; and holy is           nerability about God," she says. The          compromises with feminism.*
his name" (Luke 1:49). That God's              church's associate minister, Rev.                             The Wall Street Journal
name is holy means that He is holy, for        Christopher Wilke, says he links evil
His names are a revelation of God.             with"shadows," notblackness, out of          n  Orthodox Presbyterian
God is the Holy One, as the Old Tes-           consideration for African-American            Church Considers Breaking
tament, especially the prophecy of             friends. Kilsby's preaching has en-          *Ties With CRC
Isaiah, repeatedly emphasizes. God             couraged her congregation toward                    The Orthodox Presbyterian
is separated from all sin and totally          eclecticism. After the Sunday service        Church (OK) at its General Assem-
consecrated to Himself as the One,             as they gather over coffee, members          bly adopted an overture fromits  Ohio
true, living God. For this reason God          talk about how they picture God: as a        Presbytery calling for the OPC
commands that we not take His name             cloud, a formless spirit, or Mother          Ecumenicity Committee to conduct a
in vain (Ex. 20:7). We must never lift         Earth. Schoolteacher Karen Miller            one-year review of the Christian Re-
up the holy name of God into the               claims to follow Jesus' teachings, but       formed Church's orthodoxy and rec-
sphere of vanity, that is, the sphere of       says, "I'm evolving into a sort of neo-      ommend action to the 1993 General
falsehood.                                     pagan. I envision the universe as God        Assembly. In adopting the overture
         Yet, this is precisely what many      and all in the universe as a part of         the OPC turned down another pro-
in the churches are doing these days.          God." A contemporary hymn writer             posal to break ties with the CRC im-
Mary Ellen Kilsby, pastor of the First         and poet, Dr. Brian Wren, composed           mediately. Thoseinfavorofbreaking
Congregational Church in Long                  verses which speak of N strongMother         ties immediately argued that: "The
Beach, California, begins the worship          God," "warmFather  God," "old, ach-          CRC has fallen into sin and there is no
service with these words: "May the             ing God," and "younggrowingGod."             obligation on the part of the OPC to
God who mothers us all bear us on the          Others speak of God as: "Beautiful           remain associated with the CRC. We
breath of dawn, and make us to shine           Movement,"         "Straight-talking         entered fraternal relations with the
like the sun, and hold us in the palm          Lover, " "Daredevil Gambler."                CRC on a voluntary basis and we
of Her hand."                                       From where does all this blas-          could break fraternal relations on the
         Many denominations are in the         phemy come? Certainly not from               same basis."
process of "purging hymnals and lit-           Holy Scripture, which speaks of God                The CRC's standon theistic evo-
urgies of references to God as male,           as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ       lution and women in office are the
white as pure, black as evil, and              and as the Father of His elect in Christ.    two issues which most trouble the
Heaven as up." The proposed new                It comes from feminism, the civil            OPC. The committee on ecumenicity
Book of Worship of the United Meth-            rights movement, and environmen-             of the OPC is chaired by Dr. John
odist Church includes prayers in               talism. The roots of the debate over         Galbraith and includes many who
which the deity is addressed as "Fa-           what to call God are often traced to a       have already advocated breaking ties
ther and Mother," "Bakerwoman                  book by Mary Daly called "Beyond             with the CRC.
God," and "Grandfather, Great                  God the Father." Daly bluntly states                               Christian Observer
Spirit." Many pastors, these days, are         in her book, "If God is male, then the
choosing to baptize and marry in the           maleis God." Others cite James Cone's        n Persecution in Singalpore
name of a gender-neutral Trinity, the          book, "BlackTheology,BlackPower,"                  Government authorities have
"Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer."            which argues that the church must so         ordered a large Presbyterian church
Kilsby says, "If there's no feminist           identify with oppressed minorities
                                               that it is "theologically impossible"
                                               not to think of Christ as black.
                                                    Carl Braaten, professor of sys-
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical The-    tematic theology at the Lutheran              I am indebted to two brothers, one from South
                                                                                            l 

ology in the Protestant Reformed Semi-         School of Theology in Chicago is right       Holland Protestant Reformed Church and the
                                                                                            other from Faith PRC, who sent me the article
nary.                                          when he says, u Once you deconstruct         from The  Wall Street Journal.

                                                                                                  August 1,1992 I Standard Bearer I453


to cease publishing its newsletter be-      gregation numbers some 1,300 mem-           preached and the sacraments are
cause it is "offensive." The Rev. Timo-     bers.                                       rightly administered according to the
thy Tow, senior minister of Life Bible               What      implications     the     Word of God." The proposal also
Presbyterian Church and founder of          government's action will have for the       encourages sharing of the Lord's Sup-
Far Eastern Bible College, has pub-         Evangelical Reformed Churches in            per and provision for joint servioes.  It
lished the Life Bible Presbyterian          Singapore is not known. Certainly           calls for recognition of each other's
Weekly (circulation 1,200; mostly in        this action is an indication that things    ministries and provision for "the or-
Singapore) for the'past twenty-eight        will not be easy for the church in          derly exchange of ordained ministers
years. IntheMarch  7issueTowwrote           Singapore in days to come.                  of the Word and sacraments." It
about a wealthy Chinese business-                                Christian Observer     further includes withdrawal of con-
man who upon his conversion "ex-                                                        demnations of one side by the other
ecuted" the idols he previously wor-        H        Lutheran Reformed Unity            since the Reformation. A similar con-
shiped. The government found this                    A team of Lutheran and Re-         cordat was SignedbetweenLutherans
article to be offensive.                    formed theologians is proposing full        and Episcopalians last year.
        Tow, who regularly leads  idol-     communion among four denomina-                   Among other things, what this
burning sessions in his church, said        tions following more than three years       obviously means is that such doc-
that over the years he has destroyed        of discussions. The Evangelical             trines as consubstantiation (the
some 120 sets of idols. Rev. Tow has        Lutheran Churchin  America (ELCA),          Lutheran view of the Lord's Supper)
never before been in trouble with the       Presbyterian Church (USA), Re-              and the Law and Gospel are no longer
government. The LifeBible Presbyte-         formed Church in America (RCA),             considered important by either the
rian Church is among the fastest grow-      and United Church of Christ are be-         ELCA or the RCA. 0
ing churches in Singapore. The con-         ing asked to "recognize each other as                          Christian Observer
                                            churches in which the gospelis  rightly                        Christianity Today

Report of Classis West -

        Classis West met in special ses-    was advised to proceed with his ordi-       ticle 9 of the Church Order. Classis
sion on Wednesday and Thursday,             nation to the ministry of the Word          conducted an examination of Rev.
June 17 and 18, 1992, in South Hol-         and sacraments.                             Spriensma, and after successfully sus-
land, Illinois. This meeting was held                Via its Classical Committee,       taining his examination he was ad-
to conduct the peremptoir examina-          Classis West also received and ap-          mitted to the ministry of the Word in
tion of Pastor-elect Mitchell Dick.         proved a request from Rev. Audred           the Protestant Reformed Churches
Pastor-elect Dick successfully sus-         Spriensma of the Christian Reformed         and declared eligible for a call. 0
tained his examination and the              Church for admission to the Protes-                                   Rev. R. Hanko
Immanuel Protestant Reformed                tant Reformed Churches under Ar-                                       Stated Clerk
Church of Lacombe, Alberta, Canada,

News From Our Churches
Mr. Benjamin Wigger

Denominational Activities                   Dick and Pastor Audred Spriensma.           with regard to Pastor Spriensma, it
        Number one on our list for this              Pastor-elect Dick planned to be    was the privilege of the BethelPRC of
installment of the news has to be the       ordained and installed into the minis-      Elk Grove Village, IL to have Pastor
addition of two new ministers to our        try in our Lacombe, Alberta, Canada         Spriensma preach for them two Sun-
churches. At a special meeting of           congregation on July-3. Pastor              days while their pastor, Rev. R.
Classis West on June 17th,  the del-        Spriensma was declared aMinister  of        VanOverloop,  was on vacation.
egates heard and approved the ex-           the Word and sacraments in our                   At a special worship service in
amination of Pastor-elect Mitchell!         churches and eligible for a call. While     our Hope PRC of Walker, MI on June
                                            he waits for a call, he was encouraged      22, the installation of Rev. J. Kortering
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant    to preach throughout our churches           as minister-on-loan to Singapore ,took
Reformed Church of Hudsonville,Michi-       and attend classes at our Seminary.         place. Rev. and Mrs. Kortering left
gun.                                                 We can also report here that,      for Singapore on July 1st.

454  /Standard Bearer / August 1,1992


     All parents and Sunday School          today? Does the Bible forbid all work           tables and chairs for their society
teachers in our west Michigan               on Sunday? Why go to church on                  room, along with maps, chalkboards,
churches were invited to attend the         Sunday? And twice?"                             Bibles, and Psalters.
annual Sunday School Mass Meeting                                                                    The First PRC of Edgerton, MN
held on June 23 at the Hope PRC of          Mission Activities                              recentlypassedproposalstopurchase
Walker, MI. Rev. G. VanBaren  spoke              First Church of Grand Rapids,              new pews, replace fellowship room
on the topic, "The Value of Sunday          MI has asked Rev. Bekkering and                 carpeting, remodel the parsonage
School and the Importance of Paren-         Elder C. Prince to go to Jamaica and            kitchen, and install air-conditioning
talInvolvement."                            conduct training seminars in July and           in the church.
                                            August. And, in connection with this                     Hudsonville congregation also
Evangelism Activities                       visit, the Council ofFirst  Churchasked         passed a proposal to replace the roof
     The Evangelism Committee of            the Deacons of the Hudsonville, MI              of their church building. Our Pella,
the SouthHolland,  IL PRC decided to        PRC to conduct a clothing drive in              IA congregation began directing
place an advertisement in the "South        their congregation. The clothing col-           funds to replace their present piano.
Holland Shopper" promoting the              lected in Hudsonville was to be taken           Theyalsorecentlycompletedrepaint-
Standard Bearer  by offering a free         along by the two men in July and                ing the outside of their church build-
copy of the magazine. The ads were          distributed to the saints in Jamaica.           ing.
scheduled to appear in the June 10                                                                   And the new church building of
and 24 and July 8 editions.                 Congregational Highlights                       the Hull, IA PRC is under construc-
     South Holland's Evangelism                  Many of our congregations have             tion. It is hoped that the new sanctu-
Committee also sponsored a lecture          beenbusy this summer with different             ary will be completed by the end of
back in May, given by Prof; H. Hanko        projects. Many involved making im-              this year or the beginning of next.
at Summit Christian College in  Ft.         provements on either the church
Wayne, IN. The lecture was entitled,        building or the parsonage.                      Ministerial Calls
"The Battle for the Bible."                      T h e   S o u t h w e s t   P R C   i n             Rev. B. Gritters declined the call
     The Evangelism Committee of            Grandville, MI approved proposals               he had been considering to serve as
the Randolph, WI PRC placed ads in          to repave the driveway to the parson-           missionary pastor to the saints in
two area papers welcoming visitors          age, install air conditioning in the            Larne, Northern Ireland. In response
to meet with Randolph's congrega-           parsonage, and repair windows in                to that decline, the Council of the
tion for a Sunday afternoon worship         the parsonage. A member of the                  Hudsonville, MI PRC met on July 8 to
service. The sermon for that service        congregation also donated funds to              select a new trio. Pastors Bruinsma,
was to treat the fourth command-            construct a sign in front of Southwest          Haak, and Slopsema were placed on
ment, the Sabbath rest. Pastor Key          Church.                                         trio. A congregational meeting was
entitled this sermon, based on Exo-              The South Holland, IL PRC ap-              scheduled for July 26 to extend a call
dus 20:8-H and the Heidelberg Cat-          proved plans to move the Council                to one of these men.
echism, Lords Day 38, "A Sabbath            meeting room to the present nursery
Day Rest, or Christians Called to Sun-      room due to the need for more space             Food for Thought
daylabor?" This sermonpromised to           for the Council. The present Council                     "If there be a place under heaven
answer these questions: "Is Sunday          room will become the new nursery.               more holy than another, it is the pul-
just another day? What is the mean-              The Hope PRC in Walker, MI                 pit whence the gospel is preached."  0
ing of the Sabbath? Is one command-         approved plans to purchase more                                               C.H. Spurgeon
ment out of ten no longer applicable

                                                           NOTICE!!                                           NOTICE!!
  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                         Agroup of students dedicated to                       Clergy Tax Seminar
     The Council of Grandville Prot-        the historic Reformed faith plans to                  Tuesday, September 1, 7:30 P.M.
estant Reformed Church expresses            meet on Monday evenings at 7:00 in                                 Loveland
its Christian sympathy to our mem-          the Dordt College library for a Bible                   Protestant Reformed Church
bers, Mr. and Mrs. JimVanderKolk,  in       study. The meetings are sponsored                     conducted by Clergy Tax Expert,
the loss of her father,                     by the Protestant Reformed Churches                           Mr. Bob Edwards
        MR. PETER KOOLE.                    in the area. This year we plan to study         subjects addressed:
"Surely goodness and mercy shall            Philippians using the study guide by            1.       Maximizing deductionsand mini-
follow me all the days of my life; and I    Rev. Carl Haak (free copies will be             mizing reporting
will dwell in the house of the Lord         handed out at the meetings). Any                2.       New tax laws affecting clergy
forever" (Psalm 23:6).                      student at Dordt is welcome to attend.                   Ministers, and those responsible
 Mr. John VanderWoude, Vice-Pres.           If you have any questions, please call          for making church budgets, are cor-
            Mr. David Harbach, Clerk        Rev. Russ Dykstra (712) 726-3382.               dially invited to attend.

                                                                                                    August  1,1992  / Standard Bearer / 455


   Si!iihDMD
      BEARER                                                                                                                  SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                                              Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                              Grandville, Michigan
      P. 0. Box 603
     Grandville,  .MI 49468.0603


              CLASSIS WEST                                   WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                         NOTICE!!
      OFFICEBEARERS' CONFERENCE                              The Lord willing, on August 15,                 Classis East will meet in regular
                                                      1992, our parents,                                session at 9 A.M. on Wednesday, Sep-
                       When:                          MR. and MRS. STUART BYLSMA,                       tember 9, 1992 at the Byron Center
       Tuesday, September  I,1992                     will celebrate 45 years of being mar-             Protestant Reformed Church. Mate-
             beginning at 9                           ried in the Lord. The Lord has been
                                 A.M.                                                                   rial to be treated at this session must
                       Where:                         gracious and good to them during                  be in the hands of the Stated Clerk by
                   Loveland                           those years, blessing them with His               August 8,1992.
       Protestant Reformed Church                     love and covenant faithfulness. We                                           Jon J. Huisken
             Loveland, Colorado                       thank Godforthem and for bringing us                                           Stated Clerk
                       Theme:                         to the truth of His Word that we hold
        "Shepherding God's Flock"                     dear as Protestant Reformed                         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                      Churches. May God bless them in the                    The Council of Grandville Prot-
             Keynote Address:                         time to come, preserving them for                 estant Reformed Church expresses
            `Called to be Pastors"                    each other and for us, their children             its Christian sympathy to our mem-
               Rev. Ron Hanko                         and grandchildren. "I will sing of the            bers, Mrs. Bert Maring and Mr. and
                                                      mercies of the Lord forever: with my              Mrs. Eugene DeBoer, in the loss Iof
   Sectionals:                                        mouth will I make known thy faithful-             Mrs.  Maring's husband and Mrs.
   "Has the Emphasis on Pastoral Coun-                ness to all generations" (Psalm 89:l).            DeBoer's father,
   seling Gone Too Far?"                              Q      Gary and Marilyn Bylsma (Karen,                    MR. BERT MARING.
                       Rev. Ron Cammenga              who is with the Lord in glory)                    "And I heard a voice from heaven
   "Dealing with the Depressed"                               Christine, Stephen, Daniel,               saying unto me, Write, Blessed are
                            Rev. Carl Haak            Amy, Andrew, Ryan, Brett                          the dead which die in the Lord from
   "Does Psychia try have a Place in Pas-             bpp    Rev. Rich and Marcia Flikkema              henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that
 toral Counseling?"                                           Tammy, Tricia, Heidi (Kyle, who           they may rest from their labours;  and
                         Rev. Russ Dykstra            is with the Lord in glory)                        their works do follow them" (Revela-
   "The Role of the Elders and Deacons                0  Carole  tenHaaf                                tion 14:13).
   in Pastoral Care"                                          Michael, Jon, Brian, Carolyn,                    Mr. John VanderWoude, Vice-
                         Mr. Robert Brands            David, Gary                                                                        President
   "Ministering to the Terminally 111"                0 Phyllis                                                         Mr. David Harbach, Clerk
                         Rev. Mike DeVries            0      Tim and Sharon Rus
   "Dealing with Teenage Problems"                            Chad, Kelly, Courtney, Alicia                  FarAbove Rubies, Today's Vir-
                            Rev. Steve Key                                    Grand Rapids, Michigan    tuous Woman, edited by Herman
         All past and present  office-                                                                  Hanko, is nowavailablefrom Reformed
                                                                     NOTICE!!!
   bearers, as well as anyone who is                                                                    Free Publishing Association.  Far
   interested, is invited to attend. Hope                    Classis West of the Protestant             Above Rubies, 187 pages, is an aIt-
   to see you there!                                  Reformed Churches hereby an-                      tractive paperback collection of es-
                                                      nounces that Rev. Audred Spriensma,               says on the calling and place of the
                   NOTICE!!                           formerly a minister in the Christian              Christian woman in today's world. To
         Classis West of the Protestant               Reformed Church, has been received                order, send $9.95 plus $1.75 shipping
   Reformed Churches will meet in                     as a minister of the Word in the Prot-            and handling to:*
   Loveland, Colorado, on Wednesday,                  estant Reformed Churches by way of                                   RFPA
   September 2, 1992, at 8:30                         Article 9 of the Church Order and is
                                         A.M., the                                                                      P.O. Box 2006
   Lord willing. All delegates in need of             eligible for a call in the Protestant                   Grand Rapids, Ml 49501
   lodging or transportation from the air-            Reformed Churches.  Classis West                       Local or telephone orders can be
port should notify the Clerk  .of                     heartily recommends him to the                    placed by calling Eunice Kuiper, man-
   Loveland's Consistory.                             churches. For pulpit supply, he may               aging editor, at (616) 534-1927.
            Rev. R. Hanko, Stated Clerk               be reached, through the month of                       *Book club members will receive
                                                      August, at: (708) 333.1012.                       a copy automatically.
                                                                Rev. R. Hanko, Stated Clerk
   456 /Standard Bearer  / August  1,1992


