                     THE
              STANDARD
A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Maaazine





                        Professors David Engelsma and
                     Herman Hanko conduct Conference
                                 in Northern Ireland
                      See "Covenant Conference in Ulster: 4 Report" - page 8


   Vol. 69, No. 1
  October 1,1992


ChlTENTS:                                                                                                                        October 1, 1992

Meditation - Rev. Wilbur G. Bruinsma
         Departed to be Received . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*................. 3
Editorially Speaking... . . . . . . . ..*.a.............. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*....... 5
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                                                                                                    iSSN 0362-469:?
         The Death of Confessional Calvinism                                                                                                                                              Semi-monthly. except monthly during June, July. and August.
                   in Scottish ,Presbyterianism  (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5                              Published bythe Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
                                                                                                                                                                                          4949 Ivanrest Ave., Grandvllle, MI 49416. Second Cles~
-Let&& . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...*.. ..,..........................,..............I............                              8      Postage Paid at Qrandville, Michigan.
Contribution                                      ~                                                                                                                                       Postmrstsr:  Send addreas changas to the Standard Bearer,
          Covenant Conference in Ulster: A Report                                                                                                                                         P.O. Box 603, Qrendville, MI 49468-0603.
          Mr. William Oomkes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~~~~...~~. 10                EDlTORtAL  COMMIITEE
The Strength of Youth - Rev. Steven R. Key                                                                                                                                                Editor: Prof. David J. Engelsma
                                                                                                                                                                                          Secretary: Prof. Robert  D. Decker
         The Bible and Your Faith (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*..*................................. 11                                                                Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezems
Search the Scriptures - Rev. George C. Lubbers                                                                                                                                            DEPARTMENT EDtTORS
         A, Brief Overview of I Timothy . . . . . . . . . . ..*............................................. 12                                                                           Rev. Ronald Cammenge, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev. Arie
Decency and Order - Rev, Ronald L. Cammenga                                                                                                                                               denHartog, Rev. Barry Grittars,  Mr. Fred Hanko, Frof. Herman
                                                                                                                                                                                          Hanko, Rev. John Heys, Rw. Marvin Kamps, Rev. Steven Key,
          Credentials, Instructions, and Voting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14                                              Rev. Kenneth Koole. Rev. Jason Kortering, Rev. Dale Kulper,
                                                                                                                                                                                          Mr. James Lantlng, Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs. MaryBeth
A Word Fitly Spoken - Rev. Da/e U. Kuiper                                                                                                                                                 Lubbers. Rev. JamesSlopsema,  Rev. ChartesTarpstra,  Rev.
          Fasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~.......................................................... 17                                      Qise  VanBaren, Rev. Ronald VanCvedwp, Mr. Benjamin
Day of Shadows - Rev. John A. Heys                                                                                                                                                        Wlgger.  Rev. Eernerd Woudenberg.
         A, Shadow of a Coming Blessedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18                                                 EDtTORlAL  OFFICE           CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                                                                                                                          The Standard Bearer         Mr. Ben Wigger
Taking Heed to the Doctrine - Rev. Bernard Woudenberg                                                                                                                                     4949 Ivanrest               6697 4Ctth Ave.
                                                                                                                                                                                          Grandvilla, MI 49416        Hudsonville, MI 49426
         The Problem of Viewpoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*............................ 20                                                      BUSINESS OFFICE             NEW ZEALAND OFFlCE
Book Reviews . . . . . . . ..a.......................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22                 The Standard Bearer         The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                                                                                          Don Doazema                 c/o Protestant Reformed
 Report of Classis West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23    P.O.  Box 603                   Church
                                                                                                                                                                                          Grandville, Ml              S. VanHerk
 News; Froni Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger ,,,..,,.,...,...,,...,.,,,..,.,... 23                                                                                                       4Q466-lXo3                66 Fraser St.
                                                                                                                                                                                          PH: (616) 636-1776          Wainuiomata, New Zealand
                                                                                                                                                                                                   (616) 53114Qo
                                            1                                                                                                                                             FAX:  (616) 631-3033
q   m                                                                                                                                                                                     EOtTORtAL POUCY
                                                                                                                                                                                          Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
                                                                                                                                                                                          articles.  Contributlonsofgeneratinterestfromwrreaderaand
                                                                                                                                                                                          questions for The Reader Asks department sre welcome.
                                                                                                                                                                                          Contributions wilt be limited to approximately 300 words and
                                                                                                                                                                                          mustbeneatlywrittsnortypewrinen,andmu~beIsigned.           C%py
                                                                                                                                                                                          deadlines are the first end fiieenth of the month. All
            On the broad expanse of today's ecclesiastical scene, the conference to                                                                                                       communication5 relatii  to the content5 should be ssnt to the
which reference is made on the cover constitut& hardly a ripple. The British                                                                                                              editorial offim
Reformed Fellowship, which sponsored the event, is small. And the men who                                                                                                                 REPRINT POUCY
were iasked to speak at it arti professors in a seminary the student body of which                                                                                                        Permissioni5herabygrantadforthereprintingofarticlesInour
                                                                                                                                                                                          magazine byotherpublications,  pmvkled: a) thatsuchraprintsd
numbers but seven.                                                                                                                                                                        articles are reproduced in full; b) that proper acknowledgment
            However, the theme which encompassed the eight separate speeches                                                                                                              is made: c) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint
                                                                                                                                                                                          appear5 is sent to our editorial office.
given at this conference was "The Covenant  of Grace"; and in those addresses                                                                                                             SUBSCRIPTION POLICY
the great truths of that covenant were set forth in all of the splendor afforded                                                                                                          Subscription  p&s: 312.00 psi  year In the U.S., $15.00
them by the Word of God itself.                                                                                                                                                           elsewhere. Unless a definite request for discontinuance Is
                                                                                                                                                                                          received, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the
           Though the Fellowship would surely have been thrilled had the Confer-                                                                                                          subscriptioatocontinue,andhewillbabilladforranewal.        lfyw
ence Center proved too small, the fact is that the importance of what happened                                                                                                            haveachangaofaddress,plea5enotifytheBusinessCfficeas
                                                                                                                                                                                          early as possible in order to avoid the Inconvenience of
there on the shores of Belfast Lough is not measured by numbers. Consider the                                                                                                             interrupted delivery. Indude your Zip or Postal  Cods.
testimony of the professors that `Iboth of us were constantly bombarded with                                                                                                              ADVERTISING POLICY
questions; requests  were constantly being made to speak to us privately about                                                                                                            The SfenderdBearardoas  not accept wmmercial  advertising
various matters that came up in speeches.... It was sometimes difficult to get                                                                                                            of any kind. Announcements of church and schod wonts,
                                                                                                                                                                                          anniversaries, obituaries. and sympathy resolutions will be
away to relax a bit or prepare for another speech." Numbers pale when one                                                                                                                 placed for a $3.00 fee. These should be sent to the Business
workrs among Bereans. Indeed, what a great privilege, for the PRC, to be able                                                                                                             rXiceandshouldbeeccompanladbythe33.Wfee.  Deadline
                                                                                                                                                                                          for announcements is at least one month prior to pubtlcation
to share their rich heritage with this energetic group, which is determined to                                                                                                            date.
promote the -Reformed faith in the U.K., a land which has by and large                                                                                                                    BOUND VOLUMES
abandoned it.                                                                                                                                                                             The Business office will accept standing orders for bound
                                                                                                                                                                                          copi5softhecurrentvo!ume. Suohordersarefilledassoonas
            For a short account of that conference see, in this issue, "Covenant                                                                                                          possibie afler completion of a volume year.
Conference in Ulster."
                                                                                                                                                                           D.D.           16mm  microfilm, 35mm microfilm and 105mm microfiche, and
                                                                                                                                                                                          article copies are available thrwgh Univamtty Microfilm5
                                                                                                                                                                                          International.
 2 /Standard Bearer I October 1,1992


              Departed to be Received

For perhaps he therefore departed for a       leave if he would so choose. Neither        ing to make light of it in order to
season, that thou shouldest  receive him      was Onesimus anindentured servant           convince Philemon it was not all that
forever.                                      in the household of Philemon.               serious. Paul uses this word because
                            Philemon 15       Onesimus was a slave-a  bondman.            he saw the flight of Onesimus from a
                                              As such he stood in a permanent             different point of view: that of God's
        These are pretty soft words, it       relationship of servitude to Philemon:      sovereign control over all things. Paul
seems, to describe a dastardly sin            Philemon owned him! But from this           looks at this sin of Onesimus as guided
committed in the house of Philemon!           letter we learn that Onesimus had           and directed by the very providence
        Philemon was a Grecian convert        forsakenhismasterandhadrunfrom              of God. Consider the beauty of this
who, together with his wife, Apphia,          him in rebellion. He had disobeyed          truth in connection with the sin of
and his son, Archippus, were close            the command of God to servants as           Philemon's runaway slave. Before
personal friends of the apostle Paul.         given, for example, in I Peter 233:         time began, in eternity, God carried
For years the church of Colosse had           "Servants, be subject to your masters       with Him His divine counsel or plan
met in Philemon's house, and it was           with all fear...." So the flight of         for all things. In that counsel God has
during this time that he and Paul had         Onesimus was not simply a depar-            conceived of all things in their minut-
become close to one another. Now              ture; it was rebellion against God-         est detail. Nothing escapes that all-
Paul, in this letter to his friend and        ordained authority and therefore sin        comprehensive will of God -neither
fellow saint, addresses a difficult per-      against the fifth commandment. Be-          the acts of nature nor the events of
sonal problem that had arisen in              sides this, Onesimus had stolen some-       historyandofourownlives.  Eventhe
Philemon's household.                         thing of value from Philemon's house        eternaldestinyof  everypersonispre-
        It was a matter of a runaway          before running (vss. 18,19),thus  add-      determined by God.
slave named Onesimus. Evidently               ing sin to sin!
Onesimus had fled the house of his                  The explanation for his sinful
master, only to end up in the city of         behavior is obvious too. Although             God controls the thoughts
Rome, a place to which many a run-            Onesimus had from eternity been
away resorted. While in Rome                  chosen by God as one of His elect              and in tents of our hearts,
Onesimus became acquainted with               children, nevertheless God had not as         even when they are sinfil!
Paul and heard the Gospel pro-                yet brought him to repentance and
claimed. Godhadthenworkedmight-               faith. Onesimus was as yet lost in the
ily in his heart and brought him to           darkness and hopelessness of sin and             God's providence is that power
repentance and faith. Now a humbled           unbelief. He was given over to a            of God by which He makes sure that
and submissive Onesimus returned              corrupt mind and sinful desires, be-        every detail of His divine will and
to his master carrying with him this          ing characterized by selfishness and        counsel is worked out in time. God
letterfroml'aul.  AndinitPaulwrites,          pride. For that reason Onesimus had         through His providential power
"...he therefore departed for a sea-          not thought twice about stealing or         keeps, as it were, His almighty hand
son." Surely the word "departure"             running away from his master. He            on His creation, and controls every-
was a very delicate way of describing         did not care that he was disobeying         thing that takes place. He guides the
the sinful flight of this servant. It         God's commandments. He simply               rivers in their courses. He directs the
seems almost to be a euphemism.               followed after his sinful desires. So in    sparrow to find a nest. He numbers
        Philemon had not hired                sin and rebellion he had taken his          the very hairs of our heads, that not
Onesimus as a paid laborer who could          flight.                                     one can fall out save by His own
                                                    Yet we cannot overlook the            divine guidance. Through this same
                                              wording of the apostle Paul in this         power God controls thevery  thoughts,
                                              verse. Paul speaks of "departure"           words, and actions of a man. This
Rev. Bruinsma is pastor  of  First Protes-    rather than of "sinfulflight." He does      does not mean, of course, that God
tant Reformed Church in Holland, Michi-       this, not because he condoned this sin      does not hold man responsible for his
gan.                                          of Onesimus, nor because he was try-        sinful deeds. God is not the author of

                                                                                                October 1,1992 / Standard Bearer I3


sin! God always deals with man as a             who walks in unbelief and sin. It              likely that Onesimus returned to his
rational, moral creature who is re-             hurts so much to see that child or             presentstatusasservantinl'hilemon's
sponsible for what he does or does              sibling turn his back on all he has been       household. But now Philemon could
not do. God does not conceive sin in            taught and perhaps even leave the              receive Onesimus as a fellow brother
us; but when we sin we both conceive            church. How we can sorrow over                 in Christ (vs. 16), who together with
of that sin and carry it out in our             that! And rightfully so! But at these          him was an heir of eternal glory.
words' or actions. We desire sin and            times we need not despair! To us this          Onesimus hadleft his home in Colosse
are thlerefore responsible. Yet, that           is a sinful flight, but according to           and sinfully fled to Rome, only to be
does not change the fact that God               God's sovereign good pleasure this is          directed by God to the doorstep of
controls the thoughts and intents of            but a planned departure. God holds             Paul. There, Onesimus learned of the
our hearts, even when they are sinful!          all things in His mighty hands, and
He must, if He is indeed God. Either            He uses all these things in some way
all stands within His control or there          for the good of His people - even if               When one is truly sorry
are certain things He does not con-             that means that the disobedient loved                       for his sin,
trol. If this latter is true, then God is       one never returns. God's will is al-
no longer God!                                  ways perfect for us, and for that one              then he must also cease
         Ii: is from this point of view that    who departs.                                              from his sin....
Paul considers the sinful flight of                      How necessary it is for us to rest
Onesimus. On the part of Onesimus               in the will of our heavenly Father.
his flight was a deliberate and willful         Who knows His almighty will? Is it             seriousness of his sin against his mas-
act of sin and disobedience for which           not true that many times God leads a           ter and against God. There, by the
he was held responsible - by his                loved one away into sinful paths only          grace of God and the work of His
master and by God. But from the                 to lead them back again into the folds         Spirit in his heart, he was brought to
point of view of God's providential             of the church? May we ever despair             his knees in sorrow and repentance.
control, this was but a planned depar-          of God's mercy? It never ceases to             There, Onesimus learned of the good
ture. God had eternally purposed                amaze me when I witness the various            news of salvation in the blood of
something for the life of Onesimus              ways God leads His people to faith             Christ. There, he was brought to the
that neither he nor Philemon had ever           and repentance. It is true that accord-        knowledge that for the sake of Christ
dream.ed of. God brought about this             ing to His eternal decree of election          even his heinous sin of theft and re-
sinful :flight  of this elect child in order    God has chosen a certain number                bellion was forgiven him. And there,
tofulfillHisownsovereigngoodplea-               untoHimself. But this does not mean            through the work-of sanctification he
sure!                                           that God regenerates or saves them             also came to know that, in order to
                                                all in the same way or at any one              make matters right, his sin must be
                                                certain time in their lives. It is true        confessed to his master. When one is
             Hozq necessa y                     that where God establishes His cov-            truly sorry for his sin, then he must
                it is for us                    enant with believers and their seed,           also cease from his sin and confess
                                                                                               such sin to those against whom he has
            to rest in the will                 there He often  saves and regenerates
                                                in infancy. But this certainly is not          sinned.
     of our heavenly Father.                    exclusively true. There are others,                 This Onesimus now does. Paul
                                                even born into the church, who can be          writes this letter to Philemon only to
                                                and are brought to faith and repen-            explain that God had used all the
         What beauty and comfort such           tance later in their lives. God is never       affairs of Onesimus' life to bring him
knowledge is to the child of God! We            KmitedinthewayHesavesHispeople!                to the same knowledge and assur-
are so quick to forget that we, like            Godguidesthevariouscircumstances               ance that Philemon himself experi-
Philemon, are those chosen by God to            in the lives of His chosen children in         enced as a child of God. What reason
life eternal. We belong to God, and             order to bring them to that point of           there is to rejoice - for us too! So
therefore we can be assured that all            salvation. Andafterthatpoint tooHe             often God leads His chosen children
things in our lives are for our spiritual       continues to guide their lives to pre-         through this deep way of sin in order
good and salvation. Yet, how quickly            serve and nurture them in their salva-         to work in their hearts a true knowl-
we forget this when events in our               tion.                                          edge of what sin is, and a hearty
lives, or in the lives of one of our                     Such we learn in this account         confidence that our sins are forgiven
household, become adverse. Is this              too. Paul explains to Philemon that            only in the cross of Jesus Christ. We
not true especially when we see a               Onesimus was directed by God's                 ought never to despair! Instead, we
loved one stray from the paths of               providence to depart for a short sea-          must sing of the mercies of the Lord
God's'Wordandwalkinopensinand                   son only in order that Philemon could          - forever!  Cl
rebellion? Parents can experience such          receive him forever. Not simply once
pain when they struggle with a child            more as a servant - although it is

4 /Standard Bearer I October 1,1992


      At its annual meeting in June,            studies of I Timothy. Author of com-       from our readers will be considered
the staff of the StundardBearerreap-            mentaries on Galatians (FreebornSons       for publication. Plans are being made
pointed the men now serving to the              ofSarah>  and on Hebrews (The Glory        for special issues that we hope will be
offices of the editorial staff.        The      of the True Tabernacle), Rev. Lubbers of interest to our readers. The next
exception was the appointment of                is presently working on a commen-          issue will be our annual special issue
Professor Herman Hanko as general               tary on I Timothy. Societies and indi-     in observance of the Reformation. The
adjunct.                                        vidual members alike will profit from      theme is "The Reformation and Free-
      Changes in the content of the             Rev. Lubbers' exegetical gifts. We         dom."
magazine for the next volume year,              encourage the Bible study groups in             As for one of the more popular
which begins with this issue, include           our fellowship to consider making I        of our columns - "Letters" -this is
the following. Rev. Barrett Gritters            Timothy the object of their study this     strictly up to our readers, as is the
returns as a writer, co-editing                 season.                                    column, "The Reader Asks," which
"Strength of Youth" with Rev. Steven                 The other rubrics and writers         ran very infrequently the past year.
Key. A new rubric, "Come, Lord                  will be the same as in the previous             The support of our subscribers
Jesus," will appear in six issues. It           volume.                                    is invaluable: mainly reading faith-
will treat contemporary events, ex-                  We thank our .returning con-          fully what we write.
clusive of ecclesiastical events, as signs      tributors and welcome back the two              The blessing of God is essential.
of Christ's coming. The writer will be          newcomers to Volume 69.                    May He qualify and encourage all
Rev. Gise VanBaren,  who also has                    Some of the rubrics will appear       who co-operate to produce the maga-
written for the SB in the past.                 more often than before. We have            zine, and may He continue to use the
      Rev. George C. Lubbers has                requested guest articles by various        SB  for the defense and promotion of
agreed to write the guides for the              ministersandperiodicreportsbysyn-          the Reformed faith and life at home
study of Scripture. These will be               odical committees. Contributions           and to the world's end.
                                                                                                                             -DJE



         The Death of Confessional
                     C.alvin#ism in Scottish
                                 Presbvterianism


Providence and Sin                                   Hoeksema is treating the ques-        unfortunately spoiled by the devil so
      More serious is Professor                 tion of the relation of the fall of man    that the work of Jesus Christ is mere
Macleod's condemnation, in his book,            into sin and death to the providence       "repair work" (Reformed Dogmat-
BehoId   Y o u r   G o d   ( B Y G ) ,   o f    of God. He is setting forth the truth      ics, p. 235). Then Hoeksema writes:
Hoeksema's doctrine of providence               that the one purpose of God with the
as "virtually blasphemous" (p. 131).            creation was its perfection in Jesus         But with this same conception we
Macleod is here commenting on                   Christ in the way of sin and grace. In       can also depart from the truth in a
Hoeksema's criticism of common                  this connection, Hoeksema denies that        different direction, namely, in that of
grace's deviation from the Reformed             an original purpose of God to de-            common grace. According to this
doctrine of providence.                         velop the creation through Adam was          theory, God has in mind the creation

                                                                                                 October 1,1992 I Standard Bearer /!i


  ordinance; and He still maintains it:        end nothing ever occurs in all the           God moves and works all in all, He
  therichesofcreationmustbebrought             world which does not happen ac-              moves and works of necessity even in
  to light under the dominion of man.          cording to the counsel of the Most           Satan and the ungodly.... Here you
  Satan meant to frustrate this purpose        High (RD, p. 236).                           see that when God works in and by
  of God through the fall of man. But                                                       evil men, evil deeds result; yet God,
  Gold through common grace, by                      Hoeksema is explaining the Re-
 which He restrains sin and checks                                                          though He does evil by means of evil
                                             formed doctrine of providence. The Re-
  the curse in creation, so that man                                                        men, cannot act evilly Himself, for He
                                             formed doctrine of providence de-
  does not become a devil or descend                                                        is good, and cannot do evil . .."?
                                             nies the existence and operation of
  into hell or fall dead in paradise be-                                                          And did the German Reformer
  fore the tree of life, counteracts this    admittedly hostile powers operating            blaspheme when, a little later in the
  attempt of the devil and maintains         apart from God's sovereign decree              same book, he wrote, concerning the
  His original ordinance of creation,        and sovereign government, needing,             inclusion of the fact of sin in the de-
  rea'lizing  His purpose. In the mean-      therefore, to be restrained by a com-          cree of God:
  time, however, the Lord begins a           mon grace.
  new work, through which the chief                  Hoeksema is applying the Re-
  purpose  of all things is realized and                                                      IfGodforeknewthatJudaswouldbe
                                             formed doctrine of providence to the
  all things will be reunited in Christ                                                       a traitor, Judas became a traitor of
                                             vital truth of the goal of God with              necessity, and it was not in the power
  Jesus as their head.                       creation and history. The Reformed               of Judas or of any creature to act
                                                                                              differently,ortochangehiswill,from
     Hoeksema criticizes this concep-        doctrine of providence, thus applied             that which God had foreseen. It is
tion in these words:                         to creation and history, affirms the
                                             express  teaching of the Bible in                true that Judas acted willingly, and
                                                                                              not under compulsion, but his will-
  Also this conception finds no sup-         Ephesians 1:9,10; in Colossians 1:13-            ing was the work of God, brought
  port in Holy Writ. Besides, it is          20;andinotherplaces,thatGod'sone                 into being by His omnipotence, like
  certainly a dualistic conception: for      purpose with creation and history                everything else (The  Bondage  of  the
  it proceeds from the erroneous as-         was, is, and shall be Christ as head of          WiZZ,tr.  J.I. PackerandO.  R. Johnston,
  sumption that sin, death, and the          the redeemed church. God has no                  James Clarke & Co., Ltd., 1957, pp.
  curse, instead of being powers which       purpose with creation, that He is now            203ff .)?
  God works, manifestations of His           realizing by common grace, along-
  wrath, are powers outside Him and          side this purpose.                                   Did John Calvin blaspheme, in
  apart from Him, which He must re-                                                         his great work, "A Defence  of the
  strain (RD, p. 236).                               Macleod sourly dismisses this
                                             view of world-history as "a thorough-          Secret Providence of God by which
     Macleod is severe in his con-           goingmonism" (BYG,p. 131). In fact,            He Executes His Eternal Decrees be-
demnation of this objection to com-          it is the Reformed faith's unique, glo-        ing a Reply to the `Slanderous Re-
mon grace as unbiblical dualism:             rious "philosophy of history." It is           ports' (Rom. 3:8) of a Certain Worth-
                                             also biblical: "All things were created        less Calumniator directed against the
  From a Christian point of view this is     by him, and for him (Jesus Christ):            `Secret Providence of God," when he
  quiteunacceptable; and, whenit goes        Andheisbeforeallthings,andbyhim                adopted as the very "principle" of his
  the length of regarding sin as some-       all things consist.... For it pleased the      view of God's government of sin the
  thing which "God works," virtually         Father that in him should all fulness          truth that "those things which are
  blasphemous (BYG, p. 131).                 dwell; And, having made peace                  vainly or unrighteously done by man
                                             through the blood of his cross, by him         are, rightlyandrighteously,  theworks
     Hoeksema makes plain that he            to reconcile all things unto himself; by       of God!"?
does not mean that God "works" sin           him, I say, whether they be things in                Was it blasphemy of Calvin to
in thle sense that God performs sin.         earth, or things in heaven" (Col. 1:16-        go on to affirm that "the fall of Adam
God :is not the author of sin. But sin,      20).                                           was not by accident, nor by chance;
particularly now the fall of Adam, is                The objection of the Scottish Pres-    but was  ordained  by the  secret counsel
included in God's eternal counsel.           byterian to Hoeksema's use of the              of God"? And was it raving blas-
God decreed the fall. Also, God gov-         word, "works," to describe God's               phemy of Calvin to assert that
erned the fall, as He governs all the        sovereign control of sin, death, and
sinful deeds of men.                         the curse to serve His one purpose in            All who are in the least acquainted
                                             Christ should disappear as soon as               with the Scripture, know full well
  And the providence of God certainly        Macleod realizes that "works" refers             that a whole volume might be made
  implies that from the very first be-       to the decree and power of divine                of like passages of the Holy Scrip-
  gin:ning to the end of the world, that     providence. To teach this is not blas-           tures, where Godis made the author,
  is, till the return of Christ, God gov-                                                     as commander, of the evil and cruel
  erns all things and guides them by         phemy.                                           deeds done by men and nations. But
  His counsel unto the end He has in                 Or was MartinLuther a blas-              itisutterlyvaintospendmorewords
  viel,v.  And from the beginning to the     phemer when he wrote that "since                 upon a subject so well known and

6 /Standard Bearer I October 1,1992


  self-evident  (Cabin's Calvinism, tr.         the instrument of working.                   in reality, Hoeksema has no quarrel
  Henry Cole, Eerdmans, 1950, pp.                        It is a departure  from  creedal    with the doctrine of common grace.
  207ff.)?                                      Presbyterianism to teach that God
                                                still manages to fulfill an original pur-      On this view, evil men receive bless-
     Is it blasphemous of the West-             pose with the creation by restraining          ings not because of common grace-
minster Confession to teach concem-             antagonistic forces with common                not because of any  gracious disposi-
ing God's eternal decree that                   grace. To teach that heaven and hell           tion on God's part towards them -
                                                are locked in a titanic struggle, while        but because they are so closely con-
  God from all eternity, did, by the                                                           nected with the people of God, so-
                                                denying God's providential  govem-
  most wise and holy counsel of His                                                            cially and organically, that God can-
  own will, freely, and unchangeable            ment of the devil and sin, is dualism.         notblesstheonegroupwithoutbless-
  ordain whatsoever comes to pass:              It is dualism even though one is will-         ing the other. The tares are blessed
  yet so, as thereby neither is God the         ing to add that "eventually, heaven            only because they are inextricably
  author of sin, nor is violence offered        willbecompletelytriumphant" (BYG,              mixed up with the wheat.... But it is
 to the will of the creatures; nor is the       p. 131).                                       difficult to see any conflict between
  liberty or contingency of second                       Christianity has renounced du-        this and the doctrine of common
  causes taken away, but rather estab-          alism. Heaven  is  completely trium-           grace (BYG, p. 132).
  lished (3.1).                                 phant. Jehovah God is laughing at the
                                                enemies raging against Christ (Psalm              This makes Hoeksema out to ble
     Does the Confession require                2). "Our God is in the heavens: he           not only ablasphemerbut also a dunce.
Presbyterians to blaspheme when it              hath done whatsoever he hath                 After all his strenuous opposition to
puts on their lips this confession con-         pleased" (Psalm 115:3).                      common grace, he has God blessing
cerning providence:                                                                          the ungodly.
                                                Confusion                                         What Hoeksema actuallywrote,
  The almighty power, unsearchable                                                           on the very page in the RD referred to
  wisdom, and infinite goodness of               ;       If the Presbyterian theologian's    by Macleod, is the very opposite of
  God so far manifest themselves in             attack on Hoeksema's doctrine of             the conclusion drawn by the Presby-
  His providence, that it extendeth it-         providence is completely unwar-              terian:
  self even to the first fall, and all other    ranted, his treatment of the "organic
  sins of angels and men; and that not          idea"inthel?rotestantReformedtheo-
  by a bare permission, but such as                                                            It will readily be understood in the
                                                logian is hopelessly confused.
  hath joined with it a most wise and                                                          light of the preceding that we cannot
                                                         In developing the truth of the
  powerful bounding, and otherwise                                                             possibly speak of a common grace....
                                                idea of the end (goal) of all things,
  ordering, and governing of them, in                                                          The sinful and corrupt aeature can
  a manifold dispensation, to His own           Hoeksema maintains that after the              qua talis (as such - DJE) never be
  holy ends; yet                                                                               pleasing to God, but is object of His
                     so, as the sinfulness      fall all "creatures in the natural sense       dislike, wrath, indignation, hatred,
  thereof proceedeth only from the              continue to exist in organic connec-           and curse.... There proceeds out of
  creature, and not from God, who,              tion and affinity." All men, elect and
  being most holy and righteous, nei-           reprobate, live in close, earthly rela-        the eternal good pleasure of God in
  ther is nor can be the author or              tionship with each other, "and man             Christ an operation of grace upon
  approver of sin (5.4)?                                                                       the elect kernel of our race, in con-
                                                ever continues to stand in organic             nection with the organic whole of all
                                                connection with the cosmos, in the             creatures.... But, on the other hand,
     Is it blasphemy of Holy Scrip-             midst whereof he moves and devel-              the  wrath of God abides upon the
ture to say of Absalom's adultery               ops" (SD, p. 743).                             reprobate shell, outside of Christ.
with David's concubines that Jeho-                       God does not realize His pur-         And an operation proceeds from
vah did it (II Sam. 12:11,  12)? . . . of       pose of predestination by physically           God`s wrath, indignation and repul-
Shimei's grievous curse of David that           separating the elect church from the           sion and hardening, whereby this
Jehovah God commanded  Shimei to                reprobate world. Rather, God real-             reprobate shell becomes ripe for de-
curse David (II Sam. 16:10)?  . . . of all                                                     struction" (pp. 743,744).
                                                izes His purpose by the process of
the loss inflicted on Job by Satan and          grace and sin in connection with the
wicked men that  U Jehovah hath taken                                                             However one may regard the
                                                organic existence of all things, as this
away" (Job 1:21)?  . . . of the most hei-                                                    theology of Herman Hoeksema, it is
                                                earthly whole  - the "cosmos" - is
nous sin ever committed, the crucifix-                                                       consistent. There is no place in it for
                                                governed by divine providence (p.
ion of Jesus Christ, that the wicked                                                         the blessing of the reprobate ungodly
                                                744).
did "whatsoever thy (the Lord God's)                                                         outside of Jesus Christ, whether that
                                                         From this doctrine of the or-
hand and thy counsel determined                                                              blessing is deliberate or, as Macleod
                                                ganic connection of all things earthly,
before to be done" (Acts  4:28)? It                                                          would have us believe, accidental.
                                                Macleod oddly draws the conclusion
should not be overlooked in the last                                                              One can only hope here that the
                                                that Hoeksema too teaches that God
passage that the Holy Spirit extends                                                         readers of Macleod's BYG will check
                                                blesses the reprobate wicked so that,
God's government of sin to His  hand,                                                        the original source.

                                                                                                   October 1,1992 I Standard Wearer / 7


      The views and charges of Pro-            theologian that willbe examined next          in Scottish Presbyterianism.
fessor Macleod treated in this and the         represent Scottish Presbyterianism                 These are Macleod's teachings
preceding editorials are serious               today, or if they influence contempo-         on total depravity, predestination,
enough. But the worst is yet to come.          raryPresbyterianisminScotland,con-            and particular, limited atonement.  0
If  thle teachings of the Presbyterian         fessional Calvinism is dead, or dying,                                        - DJE




n More Materials                               other of the Lord`s people who have                Withregard to thebattle to elimi-
      Can you send me the pamphlet             not been caught up in the ecumenical          nate the A.V., I am sorry to say that I
you spoke about in this last issue             flood, rushing, helter skelter into the       know of only about four churches in
(Aug;ust 1) of the Standard Bearer, "A         arms of the Church of Rome, and so,           this country where this continues to
Defense of Calvinism as the Gospel"?           when the SB  comes through our let-           be used exclusively. No doubt, there
     t Also, do you have any other             ter-box it helps us to feel that we.are       are a good many more, but, com-
pam:phlet  on the issue of common              not alone in the struggle. Thank you          pared with the general trend towards
grace? I have been reading about it in         for the messages it brings so regu-           the (per) versions of the Holy Scrip-
your magazine and wouldlike to have            larly.                                        tures, there are very few sound
a better understanding of it.                            It may interest you to know that    churches over here now. Lawless-
      I really appreciate .your maga-          here, in this town of about 60,000            ness abounds and it is unwise to go
zine and the information and spiri-            people, there is not one church where         out at night. As lawlessness and
tual :Eood that I receive from it.             the AuthorizedVersion  of God'sHoly           immorality increase .,. so does the
               (Dr.) Anthony E. Gendill        Word is used exclusively in all ser-          country'seconomicplightworsenand
                       Monte Vista, CO         vices . . . not one! Further, they are all    the numbers of unemployed grow . . .
                                               thoroughly dedicated to the Ecumeni-          and so does national godlessness in-
RESI'ONSE:                                     cal Movement. Even one of the local           crease. Surely this is the judgment of
      The materials requested are in           Protestant churches had, some                 God? Probably worse is to follow!!
the mail.                                      months ago, a poster advertising an                Some years ago a copy of Prof.
                                  . - E d .    "ecumenical mass for unity" in the            Hoeksema's booklet, "God So Loved
                                               local R.C. church! Whilst we would            the World," came into my possession.
w     Not Alone in the Struggle                dearly love to be able to go to church        It's good and I'm still finding it very
      From the Garden of England my            to worship the Lord with other of His         useful. Could you send me a current
wife and I send greetings in the pre-          people, this is no longer possible in         list of pamphlets you have available,
cious Name which is above every                this town without compromisingour-            please? Is your own "Modern Bible
Nam.e... the Lord, Jesus Christ our            selves, so we worship at home. There          Versions" still available?
Saviour.                                       is no other alternative! How encour-                                 Eric F. Sinclair
      It's good to keep in touch with          aging it is to read in the SB of thriving                    Dover, Kent, iEngland
                                               churches "over there."




              Covenant Conference in
                                Ulster: ,A ReportMr. William Oomkes
                                                    On August 15,1992  the confer-           They came from such places as the
William Oomkes is a member of the Prot-        ees set their sights toward the               heart of London, the southern coast of
estant Reformed Church in Byron Cen-           "Stricklands" Conference Center lo-           England, the far north of Scotland,
ter, h4I and a member of the denomina-         catedontheBelfastLough,inBangor,              the northern part of Northern Ire-
tionac!  Domestic Mission Committee.           County Down, Northern Ireland.                land, and the United States, to the

8 /Standard Bearer I October 1,1992


                                                                                       enant Reformed Fellowship of North-
                                                                                        em Ireland did extensive advertising
                                                                                        of this service.)
                                                                                             Sundayeveningwegatheredfor
                                                                                        a question time in which questions
                                                                                        dealing with doctrine and the pra'cti-
                                                                                        cal aspects of living in Northern Ire-
                                                                                       land were answered. This gave many
                                                                                       people the opportunity to learn of the
                                                                                        doctrinal positions of the Protestcant
                                                                                       Reformed Churches.
                                                                                             The conference itself consisted
                                                                                        of eight speeches in this order: Mon-
                                                                                        day morning, "The Source of the CIDV-
                                                                                        enantin GodTriune," by D. Engelsma;
                                                                                        in the evening, "The Covenant with
                                                                                        Adam: A Covenant of Works?" by H.
                                                                                       Hanko. Tuesday evening, "The Cos-
                Stricklands  Conference GLounds  in Bangor, NJ.                        mic Character of the Covenant," by
Belfast area. One thingmost of us had     ,members  it in His book of remem-           D. Engelsma. Wednesday morning,
in common-we had never met each            brance.                                     "The Covenant with Abraham," by
other before. Another was the desire            On Sunday morning we had               H. Hanko, and in the evening, "The
to know more about the covenant of         prayer time for about one hour fol           Covenant Calling of the Antithetical
grace.After dinner on Saturday night
we had a period of introduction and
fellowship. Evening devotions were
led by Pastor Jim North, the newly
elected chairman of the British Re-
formed Fellowship, sponsor of the
conference. Pastor North set the tone
of the conference as he opened God's
Word to us from Malachi 3: 16: "They
,that feared the Lord spake often one
to another...." He expounded to us
the Word of God, giving us both the
beauty and the benefit as we meet                               Song service at one of conference sessions.
around God's Word. The beauty is           iowed by a worship service. In the          Life," by D. Engelsma. Thursday,
that they who fear the Lord are of a       afternoon we traveled to the                 "The Covenant as a Pattern for Mar-
kindred mind; and the benefit is that      Ballymena city hall for a special 3:00      riage," byD. Eng;elsma.  Fridavmom-
the Lord hearkens and hears that           p.m. worship- service with between          in&  "Tge  Trailing and  Re&ing of
speaking one to another, and He re-        150-200 in attendance.      (The Cov-       Covenant Children," by H. Hanlko,
                                                                                       and in the evening, "The Covenant
                                                                                       and Making Friends," by H. Hanlko.
                                                                                       Tapes of these speeches are available
                                                                                       in the US and Canada by writing to
                                                                                       Bill Oomkes, 6299 Wing S.E., Grand
                                                                                       Rapids, MI 49512 ($30.00 US for all
                                                                                       eight tapes). In Europe, write to D.
                                                                                       Callendar, 127 Cregagh Road, Belfast
                                                                                       BT6 OLA (about 12 pounds British).
                                                                                             At all of these speeches there
                                                                                       were visitors, the number of which
                                                                                       varied depending whether it was a
                                                                                       daytime or nighttime speech. Some
                Conference leader plied with questions informally.                     of these visitors were people who
                                                                                       traveled one hour each way. This

                                                                                              October 1,1992 / Standard Bearer I9


                                                                                         giving evidence to the truth of God's
                                                                                         Word in Ecclesiastes 4:9,10a: "Two
                                                                                         arebetterthanone;becausetheyhave
                                                                                          good reward for their labour. For if
                                                                                         they fall, the one will lift up his fel-
                                                                                         low . . . . II
                                                                                                   A note is also in order about the
                                                                                          Covenant Reformed Fellowship. They
                                                                                         literally went out of their way after
                                                                                          the conference, on Saturday, Sunday,
                                                                                          and Monday morning, to get all 16
                                                                                          Americans and 2 Englishmen to and
                                                                                          from church, taking us to their homes
                                                                                          for Sunday dinner, taking us to the
                                                                                          airport, and providing a joyous time
                                                                                          of fellowship as we parted ways after
                                                                                          church on Sunday evening. For over
                            The British Reformed Fellowship                               a year this conference had been the
                                                                                          center of their conversation, and now
gives evidence of the Macedonian             graphing all the activity below, and         it was "complete." It showed in their
call and the need for preaching the          with armed soldiers, armored trucks,         enthusiasm. Many tears were shed as
Reformed truth in Northern Ireland.          and security checks located every-          we had to say good-bye to God's
Both Prof. Engelsma and Prof. Hanko          where. Yet you walk the streets with         people with whom we had lived the
gave four lectures and preached two          a greater sense of security than in any     last nine days and whom we truly
sermo:ns in an eight-day period. Both        of the major US cities.                      came to know and love.
of these men were seen going off to               The British Reformed Fellow-                     The Lord surely has given us
the "Quiet Room" or just taking a            ship is to be commended for a very           much work to do on this island, and
walk in the company of one or two of         well-balanced conference. Every ac-          He has many sheep that desire to be
the people who had questions or de-          tivity was well thought out. Some of         led in the green pastures of His Word.
sired counseling.                            the comments from the attendees              Our prayer has become much more
     Lest you think that all we did          ranged from, "I never heard preach-          fervent that the Lord of harvest will
was listen to speeches, we must add          ing like this in my life," to, "This was     send forth His laborers in this field,
that th.e Fellowship was determined          a taste of heaven." This conference          soon.
that we see the Emerald Isle. Monday         was well received, much Reformed
afternoon was spentat Carrickfergus          literature was sold and distributed,                  P.S. Did I hear Edinburgh, Scot-
Castle,. where Ring William of Or-           and many hearts were strengthened, i land in  1994?  0
ange, the Dutch conqueror, set foot
on Northern Ireland to rescue the
island from Catholicism (there were
those from America who were quick                              Bill Oomkes and Englishman Keith  Burden converse.
to point out that if it were not for a
Dutchman, Northern Ireland would
stillbe under the Catholic rule). Tues-
day, an all-day bus tour tookus to the
beautiful north coast and Giant's
Causeway. Wednesday afternoon
was spent at the Folk Museum in
Bangor. Thursday was another  all-
day bus tour to the Moume Moun-
tains and the beautiful resort city of
Newcastle on the Irish Sea. Friday
was an interesting experience in the
heart of Belfast with its ever-present
soldiers and armored cars. This was
a shopping experience that was
unique, with a helicopter hovering
about 5,000 feet above the city, photo-

10 lStam/ard  Bearer 1 October 1,1992


      The Bible and Your Faith (1)
      In our last article we considered     reason,-1  want you to think through         or proclamation. And this multitude
your struggle with doubt. We con-           your faith and to see its certainty.         of people included not just a few
cluded that all doubt must be faced              While the authority of the Bible        ignorant folkwho followed Jesus, but
and must be resolved, and that the          is very much disputed in our day,            several highly intelligent and  well-
resolution of that doubt comes by           there is a testimony within Scripture        regarded men, prominent men among
going to the Bible for the answers to       itself that cannot be ignored.               the nations. These men allviewed the
our questions. It seems to me, how-                                                      Scriptures as God's own Word, au-
ever, that to stop there is not suffi-      Scripture's Self-Testimony                   thoritative for their own lives on a
cient. For there are those who may in            I refer not merely to the classic       practical and daily basis. The apostle
fact have doubts about theBibleitself,      proof texts of II Timothy  3:16: "All        Paul, a highly educated man, promi-
its authenticity and its authority.         scripture is given by inspiration of         nent in the nation of Israel and highly
     Especially those of you who go         God," and II Peter  1:20, 21: "No            regarded even among many heathen,
on to college will find your Christian      prophecy of the scripture is of any          wrote to the Corinthians in I
faith under attack from an intellectual     private interpretation. For theproph-        Corinthians 14:37, 38: "If any man
point of view. Those attacks, quite         ecy came not in old time by the will of      thinkhimself to be a prophet, or spiri-.
generally, are leveled against the au-      man: but holy men of God spake as            tual, let him acknowledge that the
thority of Scripture. The inspiration       theyweremovedbytheHoly  Ghost."              things that I write unto you are the
and authority of the Bible is called                                                     commandments of the Lord. But if
into question, and rejected. Sad to                                                      any man be ignorant, let him be igno-
say, it was my own experience and                    . . . the evidence of               rant."                .
continues to be my observation that                   its divine origin                       It is rather remarkable that when
those attacks come most vehemently              is sprinkled throughout                  later writers of Scripture quoted from
on the campus and in the classrooms                                                      other parts of the Scriptures which
of many of the so-called Christian              the contents of the Bible.               had been written centuries before,
colleges.                                                                                they frequently quoted it as words
     It is my purpose, therefore, my                                                     spoken by God Himself. Texts
young brother or sister, to consider        Those texts in themselves are power-         throughout the Bible show an abso-
with you the particular place that the      ful testimonies to the believer. For         luteidentification of "Scripture" with
Bible has in the practical life of the      they speak of inspiration not merely         "the speaking God." Jesus Himself
Christian. Some of what follows may         in the sense that Bach was "inspired"        gave a sweeping endorsement of the
require you to put on your U thinking       to compose great concertos and cho-          OldTestament  andits authority, when
cap." But thisis a matterworth think-       rales and other music. These texts do        He said (John 10:35), "the scripture
ing about. The world does not re-           not speak of inspiration in the sense        cannot be broken."
quire you to think. They just want          that Mark Twain and other classic                 The Bible, you see, can stand on
you to reject the Scriptures, and re-       authors were "inspired" to write their       its own.
ceive without thought the opinions of       novels. For the word translated "in-
men. The world wants you to drinkin         spired" in these two texts actually          The Spiritual Dimension
the doctrines of devils without think-      means "God-breathed." The divine                  There is another element, how-
ing. I wrote to you before: Satan           origin of Scripture is emphasized.           ever, that must also be considered.
would have you reject the truth to               But our belief in the inspiration       Those who attack your faith and the
which your faith holds, and deny the        and authority of Scripture rests upon        authority of the Scriptures substitute
certainty of that truth. For that very      much more than a couple proof texts          another authority. Their authority is
                                            from the Book which itself is called         man's mind. Man's mind is the stan-
                                            into question by many. The fact is           dard for all things. So says the ratio-
                                            that the evidence of its divine origin is    nalist. Now, obviously, we have not
                                            sprinkled throughout the contents of         proved the inspiration and authority
                                            the Bible. The testimony of a multi-         of the Scripture to the rationalist. Have
Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Re-    tude of people was that the Scriptures       we then failed? Not at all! For there
formed Church  of  Randolph, Wisconsin.     were God's own authoritative Word            is also a spiritual dimension to our
                                                                                              October 1,1992 / Standard Bearer / 11


                                                    . .




belief that the Bible is the authorita-        hatred toward God, or one of love.                 When you belong to Christ, you
tive Word of God.                                     Sin has turned us against God.         hear His voice, also as He speaks to
      To this point we have been argu-         Sin causes a person to hate and to            you through the Scriptures. ?fou who
ing the truth of Scripture's inspira-          deny the truth of God. Only the God-          are in Christ Jesus do not need to
tion and authority, while ignoring the         givenbondof faith changes that. Only          prove to an unbeliever the truthof the
fact that every person has not only a          by being born again are you brought           Scriptures. For you the testimony of
mind, but a spirit. Every person               into a relationship of love toward            the Bible itself is enough. The spiri-
stands in a relationship to God. That          God. And the nature of that spiritual         tual knowledge given you by God
also is a part of this whole picture of        love is that it puts you into living, real    stands firm even when the Scriptures
what: you think about the Bible. That          contact with God. It unites you with          are called into question by unbelief.
relationship to God is either one of           Christ.                                                                             cl




  A Brief Overview of I Timothy

      Myplanistopublishtwo"study               of unbelievers to prattle about the           example that real sinners are saved as
helps" for each of the six chapters of         Bible as if it has lost its relevancy for     vessels of mercy. Paul is a chosen
ITimothy.  AfterconsultingwithProf.            the "enlightened" twentieth century           vessel. Jesus Christ was revealed in
Engelsma, Editor-in-Chief, I saw the           church world.                                 him. He is the great picture of the
fitness of writing a short "Overview"                Let us, first of all, take note of      truth that, where sin abounded, grace
before writing the study helps.                Chapter 1.                                    abounds still more. Paul revels in this
      Wemustkeepinmindthatthese                      In this chapter there are two           grace. He boasts on the goiod con-
study helps must be brief, yet com-            matters which are dealt with. The             science in Christ by faith (see I Tim.
prehensive of the main thrust of the           first is the error of some men,               l:ll-17).  Only where there is such a
letter. Furthermore, we must bear in           Hymenaeus and Alexander being in              love out of a pure heart is the reassur-
mind. that this letter is, in the deepest      the forefront. The error is that of           ance that one will see God, according
sense, issued by the risen Christ from         certain "law-preachers." These avow           to the gospel of the glory of the most
His tlhrone at, God's right hand. It is        that we must not have the preaching           blessed God. Hence, the doxological
no human letter, but it is an official         of Christ crucified, dead and buried,         praise, "Now unto the Ring eternal,
letter from the highest office in the          andrisenthethirddayfromthedead.               immortal,invisible, theonlywiseGod,
churches. It is from Paul, an apostle of       We must preach the law to sinners,            be honor and glory for ever and ever,
Jesus Christ. He was appointed to be           they say, apart from sovereign grace!         Amen."
aKen[x  (minister), apostle, and teacher       Paul rightly calls this preaching of               Let all those who deny this
of Gentiles who were once outside              law as a way to salvation without             .blessed gospel be Anathema! Paul
"the commonwealth of Israel, strang-           grace a wholly "other doctrine." In           has delivered such over to Satan that
ers from the covenants of promise,             this teaching of law is horrible igno-        they may learn not to blaspheme the
having no hope, and without God in             rance of the "end of the command-             gospel of elective love and mercy!
the world... "(Eph. 2:12-22).                  ment." The true end of the new com-           They were men who did not sin igno-
      `We shall attempt to write two           mandment in Christ is "love out of a          rantly in unbelief, as had Paul. Even
lessolns  for each of the six chapters.        pure heart, a good conscience, and            when he persecuted the church he
May the Lord grant us wisdom and               unfeigned faith." In a different con-         had a good ,conscience. But he re-
insight into this timeless letter of Paul.     nection Paul teaches that "Christ is          ceived mercy!
It should become abundantly clear              the end of the law for righteousness to            We now turn our attention to
that it is the foolish and ungodly folly       every one who believes, the Jew first         Chapter 21-20.
                                               and also the Greek" (Rom. 10:4).                   Here the Holy Spirit teaches us
                                                     The second matter is that there is      what the will of God is toward all
                                               a great word of truth in all the Saip-        men, Jew and Gentile. It is to save "all
                                               tures worthy to be accepted. It is that       men" and to have them corn... to the
Rev. L,ubbers is a minister emeritus in the    Jesus Christ came into this world to          saving knowledge of gospel-truth. In
Protestant Reformed Churches.                  save sinners. Paul is truly the great         Chapter 2 we see the church militant

12 /Standard  Bearer / October 1, t992


in the great task of which Jesus spoke          Let us now turn to Chapter 3.           are the very emissaries of the abyss of
to the disciples on the mount of Ol-            We notice just a few salient            hell. These have lost every working
ives:  I'. ..and ye shall be witnesses     points. In the first place we notice that    of a good conscience. Not one God in
untomeinJerusalem,andinallJudea,           Paul plans to return to the Ephesian         Christ, the oneMediator,  do they teach,
and in Samaria,  and unto the utter-       environs, as soon as this will be pos-       but pagan, Satanic dualism.
most part of the earth." Not every         sible and feasible. He asserts that               Paul also underscores that all
believer is such an official witness of    what he now writes could not wait            the ministers, elders, and deacons
Jesus. But the believing church, men       until such an eventualnecessaryvisit.        must be "good ministers." In this
and women andchildren, must inces-              In the second place, the conduct        field our professors must be able men,
santly be praying. They must, ac-          of the entire congregation must befit        who can lay the enemy low. There is
cording to the will of God, be busy in     the very house of God, yea, the sanc-        need for all ministers to make a gretit
supplication and prayers, interces-        tified church of the living God. The         endeavor to be workmen who rightly
sions andgivingof thanks (1Ti.m. 2:4).     Bible is very instructive concerning         divide the Word. It is a constant and
     God will have one church, which       God's house. .Here is the very holy          holy polemic in which the Word of
the Son of God gathers, defends, and       `place, the very house in which God          the Cross shuts the mouth of all who
preserves out of the whole human           makes His abode. Here men should             oppose the teaching of the full coun-
race by His Word and Spirit. There is      dwell in full assurance of faith. Here       sel of God.
one Triune God, one Mediator of God        we dwell with God, and God with us.               WhenwetumtoITimothy5,we
and man, Jesus Christ. Only in such        It is the place which belongs to             learn some very important details of
a savior can and will God unify all the    Immanuel, God with us. Amen!                 how the church of the living God
nations. These. nations are not com-            Here the Chief Shepherd has His         must care for the flock of God, b'oth
posed of every man, woman, and             appointed under shepherds. It is in-         young and old. Each must be
child,.but  they are the one church of     teresting to read in I Peter 2:25 that       shepherded according to his place
which Christ is the Head. Now there        Jesus, who died to save His people           and station in life. This is a very
is one church in the new dispensa-         from their sins, is called both the          spiritually-delicate task. All  minis-
tion. All are to be a mighty army of       Shepherd and the Bishop of the sheep         tersmust tremble lest they off end one
prayer warriors.                           of His flock. Here we are dealingwith        of these little ones. There is a singular
     In I Timothy 2:4 there seems to       the mystery of godliness that is great.      need of elders. The churches must
be solid bibilcal ground for the erro-     It is God, the incarnate Son, who is         give double honor to such, particu-
neous Arminian teaching that Christ's      this great Shepherd and Bishop. He           larly to those who labor in the Word
death on the cross is the expiation of     has ordained that therebe  alsounder-        and in the doctrine. Such rightly
the sins of every man, woman, and          lingbishops. Blessed are all they who        divide the Word. The term "word"
child in all the world. But does the       long for fulfilling s,uch a holy task,       refers to the teaching of the full coun-
Holy Spirit teach such rank univer-        beingconstrainedby the love of Christ        sel of God; the doctrines are all the
salism? We will need to read this          (I Tim.  3:l). The high calling of           structural truths of the Christian faith
Scripture and others carefully! It will    undershepherds requires that theybe          that were revealed in the Old Testa-
serve us well to compare Scripture         men who have been tried. They must           ment as well as in the New Testa-
with Scripture. Just an example: com-      be such who hold the mystery of faith        ment.
pare John 17:9,24-26  with I John 2:2,     in a pure conscience! Did not Jesus               Twice Paul quotes from
3.' Contradiction? Does I Timothy 2:6      saytol?eter:  ifyoulovemekeep,feed,          Deuteronomy 25:4: "Thou shalt not
compared with Matthew  721 shed a          and shepherd my flock?                       muzzle the ox when he treadeth out
clear light on the difference between           Chapter 4:lff. lifts the veil on a      the'corn." (Read I Cor. 9:9-11 and I
"all" and "everyone"?                      prophetic word. Paul speaks of what          Tim. 5:lB.) This should not be read as
     God is not the author of confu-       the Spirit says expressly in the Scrip-      if it could also mean: do not withhold
sion. He has a "law" according to          ture concerning the latter times. Here       the benefits of the harvest from the
which the services in the New Testa-       we hear the keynote of OldTestament          fatted ox. Here it refers to the words
ment must be regulated (I Cor. 14:34,      prophecies. .It is such as we hear from      of the Lord Jesus, "for the workman is
35). But does not Galatians 3:25-29        the lips of the dying Jacob on his bed       worthy of his hire (Matt. 1O:lO). Yes,
truly equalize men and women in the        as he scans the ages (Gen. 49:lff.).         the harvest is truly plenteous, but the
church of the living God? Is the the-           Perhaps you have noticed that           laborers are few. Pray ye therefore
ology of feminism really constructed       Paul mentions the rising of "some"           the Lord of the harvest, that He will
upon solid ground?                         who will deny the truth of Genesis           send forth laborers into His harvest.         I
     Let us read and study all the         1:4,10,13,18,21,25, and the climactic             The Holy Spirit does not over-
Scriptures, both the Old Testament         approval of the good creature by God         look the sad fact that even office-
and the New Testament. We must be          in Genesis  1:31. They destroy the           bearers still are beset with faults.
of a noble bent of mind, as were they      very foundation of all the articles of       Think of the faults of a Peter as re-
of the Berean church (Acts 1711).          our undoubted Christian faith. These         corded in Galatians 2:11-15.

                                                                                             October I,1992 / Standard Bearer I 13


      The last chapter is very climac-        they really fight the good fight of        ent time (kairois).  Presently He shall
tic. It deals with the spiritual attitude     faith, and lay hold on eternal life.       show who it is that is the blessed and
of all Christians toward the world's          Such preaching has holy glow in the        only potentate, the King of kings, the
goods. Even Timothy receives a                hope of glory.                             Lord of lords, who only has immor-
needed admonition to live up to the                But here we walk the footsteps        tality, dwelling in the light which no
great directive: that "godliness with         of Him who was made poor for our           man can approach unto, whom no
contentment is great gain." Some-             sakes, that we might be rich. Think of     man has seen, nor can see: to whom
times we ministers do not really have         it, says Paul, how the Ring of kings       be honor and power everlasting.
the courage to preach on this with a          and the Lord of lords stood before         Amen.
good Iconscience. Shame on us! Only           Pontius Pilate and made the good                 What glorious doxological
when we pursue with single hearts do          confession that His kingdom is not of      heights Paul is led to express repeat-
we flee these worldly goals. We don't         this world. There He stood in shame        edly. Maywe study this grand pasto-
have sermons which we can preach              and reproach. He had brought noth-         ral letter with the burning hearts of
with the good conscience. But when            ing into this world and He of all men      those who have the Scriptures inter-
ministers before God flee all love for        carried nothing out of this world.         preted! Let us not be spiritual and
money, and follow after righteous-            That was His "time" of nothingness.        intellectual dullards. Let us press on
ness, they set a worthy example of            But now this Christ will have a differ-    to perfection. 0
laying hold on eternal life. Thus do




             Credentials, Instructions,
                                              and Voting
                                              our broader assemblies, both classis       commencement of the meeting of the
Those who are delegated  to the assemblies    and synod. Credentials properly            broader assembly.
shall bring with them their credentials       signed serve as proof of the official            At the classical level, the last
and instructions, signed by thosesending      authorization of the delegates.            serving president reads the creden-
them, and they shall have a vote in all            Although credentials are often        tials. A motion is adopted approving
matters, except such as particularly con-     treated as a matter of formality, in       the credentials. Classis is then de-
cern their persons or churches.               reality they are of the utmost impor-      clared to be legally constituted. Ar-
             Church Order, Article 33.        tance. In our relatively small denomi-     ticle 41 of the Church Order states:
                                              nation and in times of peace in the
      This article concerns three things:     churches, the credentials are taken          The classical meetings shall consist
credentials ("Those who are delegated         for granted. But in the past, when           of neighboring churches that respec-
to the assemblies shall bring with            close contact between Reformed               tively delegate, with proper creden-
them their credentials..."); instruc-         churches was difficult, so that minis-       tials, a minister and an elder to meet
                                                                                           at such time and place as was cleter-
tions ("`...and instructions..."); voting     ters and elders were often not very          minedbythepreviousclassicalmeet-
("...and they shall have a vote in all        familiar with each other, or at times        ing....
matters...").                                 when there were serious difficulties
                                              in the church, the matter of proper              At the synodical  level, the last
CREDENTIALS                                   credentials took on a whole new im-        serving president reads the creden-
      Credentials are the officialletter      portance. One of the very earliest         tials from the various classes, noting
of authorization of the delegates to          Reformed synods of The Netherlands,        prima  and  secundi  delegates present.
                                              the Synod of Emden, 1571, felt it nec-     A motion to adopt the credentials and
                                              essary to emphasize the importance         seat the delegates isapproved. Synod
                                              of proper credentials at the broader       is declared legally constituted.
                                              assemblies in order to guard against             Delegates are to have their cre-
Rev. Cammenga  is pastor of the Protes-       imposters.                                 dentials U . ..signed by those sending
tant Reformed Church  of  Loveland,                The verification and approval of      them...." Credentials are to be duly
Colorado.                                     `the credentials must take place at the    signed by the president and the secre-

14 lStanldard Bearer I October I,1992


tary of the delegating body. This           this article. Nevertheless, the article     is also what is usually referred to as
makes the credentials official.             is actually referring to the writing of     "advisoryvote." Advisoryvoteis th'e
     This stipulation that the creden-      "instructions" by a minor assembly          privilege of the floor, the right to
tials be signed by the body sending         for the consideration of a major as-        speakbefore the assembly. Advisory
the delegates was added to Article 33       sembly.                                     vote may be granted by a major as-
with the deliberate intention of pre-            This provision of Article 33 dates     sembly to: professors of theology,
venting government interference.            back to a time when there were no           emeritus ministers, missionaries,
Early in the history of the Reformed        regular mail services, typewriters,         officebearers from sister churches,
churchesinTheNetherlands,cityand            photocopiers, computers, or fax ma-         those directly involved in a matter
government officials would some-            chines. The agenda for the major            beingtreatedby the assembly.  Church
times sign the credentials. Our fa-         assemblies was by and large deter-          Order, Article 42 provides that in the
thers, however, feared state domina-        mined by these "instructions" that          case of a church having more than one
tion and objected to this. They in-         the various delegates brought with          minister, the minister or ministers not
sisted that the delegating ecclesiasti-     them to the meeting. The result was         delegated to a given classical meeting
cal body sign the credentials. The          that often delegates were unaware of        shall also have the right to attend
Synod of Dordt, 1574, adopted the           what the agenda would be until they         classis "with advisory vote." Such
following resolution: "It is decided        arrived at the meeting, and were un-        ministers have the right to address
that ministers who are delegated to         able properly to prepare themselves.        the classis on any issue before it. They
the synod shall bring with them cre-        Often the result was also a meeting of      do not, however, have a decisive vote.
dentials from the consistory and the        undue length. For the most part,                 The Synod of Middelburg, 15831,
classis, not from the government."          these "instructions" have been re-          responded to the question, "Whether
                                            placed by a published agenda com-           other ministers and elders than those
INSTRUCTIONS                                piled by the stated clerk of the assem-     who are delegated may appear in the
     Article 33 also refers to "instruc-    bly and made available to the del-          classis?" by stating, "Yes, and when
tions": "Those who are delegated to         egates well in advance of the assem- they are asked, they shall be alloweld
the assemblies shall bring with them        bly meeting. The classis and synod          to give advice, but they shall have no
their credentials and instructions...."     have rules regarding the deadline for       vote."
"Instructions" are particular matters       materials to be placed in the agenda.            An exception to the general rule
that a consistory desires to be treated          Matters that are included in the       that the professors of theology be
at classis, or a classis desires to be      "instruction" today are: matters of         granted advisory vote was made by
treated at synod. Such instructions         discipline, where advice is sought by       the great Synod of Dordt, 1618-W.
may not come to the assembly from           a consistory for increase of censure; a     This Synod gave the theological pro-
the delegates personally, nor may they      request from a consistory for help in       fessors the unique privilege of casting
be brought orally. But they must            the government of its church under          decisive votes. But this is the one
come from the assembly sending the          Article 41; nominees of delegates for       exception to what historically has been
delegates, must be black-on-white,          synod; approval of wage compensa-           the rule in Reformed churches.
and must be signed by those sending         tion for elder delegates to the broader          Sometimes the question arises
them. This guarantees accuracy and          assemblies; invitation to host a future     whether it is proper for a minor as-
authenticity.                               classis or synod.                           sembly to mandate its delegates to
     One other reference to "instruc-                                                   the broader assembly to vote in a
tions" in the Church Order is found in      VOTING                                      certain way. Generally this is unde-
Article 46:                                      The rule of Article 33 is that only    sirable and even wrong. This violates
                                            those who have been properly del-           the authorization of the "Credential
  Instructions concerning matters to be     egated to the broader assemblies and        Letter" itself which mandates the
  considered in major assemblies shall      have their credentials in hand may          delegates "... to take part in all delib-
  not be written until the decisions of     vote. "Vote" here refers to a decisive,     erations and transactions of Classis
  previoussynodstouchingthesemat-
  ters have been read, in order that        determinative vote on the issues and        regarding all matters legally coming
  what was once decided be not again        motions before the assembly. Such a         before the meeting . . . . II Such hand-
  proposed, unless a revision be            decisive vote is limited to those offi-     cuffing of the delegates undermines
  deemed necessary.                         dally delegated to the assemblies. The      the deliberative character of the
                                            Synod of Middelburg, 1581, rules:           broader assemblies. It effectivelypre-
This article is usually understood to       "Those delegated to the assemblies          eludes the possibility of discussion of,
prescribe that no assembly is to make       shallbringalongtheircredentials and         the issues. It is very well possible that
a decision without consulting the de-       instructions, signed by those who           something new comes to light during
cisions of previous assemblies. And         delegated them, and these alone shall       the deliberations of the broader as-
this certainly is a valid implication of    be entitled to vote."                       sembly that gives delegates an en-
                                                 Besides the decisive vote, there       tirely new perspective on an issue.

                                                                                             October 1 ,1992 / Standard Bearer I15


 Mandating delegates to vote in a cer-            by the opinion of the majority. (The                                                    duce a tie vote and thus cause the
 tainmanner also binds the conscience,            Church Order Commenta  y, p. 152.)                                                      motion to fail. (Spire Books edition,
 whereas every man ought to be free to                                                                                                    p. 78.)
 make his own judgment and vote his                   If the broader assembly is treat-
 own conscience before God.                     ing a protest that is authored by an                                                              In distinction from government,
         Only under extraordinary cir-          attending delegate, he must abstain.                                                 social, corporate, and fraternal orga-
 cumstances ought delegates to be               If the classis or synod is treating a                                                nizations where the president  may
bound in their voting by the minor              protest by a member against a deci-                                                 vote, in ecclesiastical organizations
 assembly that has delegated them.              sion of his consistory, the delegates                                               he ought to vote. In the assemblies he
Dele,gates  may be instructed how to            from that consistory must abstain. If                                               is a delegate among other delegates.
 vote when an item on the agenda of             the broader assembly is considering                                                 Hehasbeen"... instructed anjd autho-
 either  classis or synod is obviously          the merits of an overture from a con-                                               rized . . . to take part in all delibera-
illegal, or when a matter is clearly            sistory, delegates from the consistory                                              tions and transactions . . . regarding all
contrary to the Word of God. In these           out of which the overture has origi-                                                matters..." before the assembly ("Cre-
cases further deliberation is unneces-          nated must abstain. As far as the                                                   dential Letter"). He is not just a
sary (and there is no room for change           classes are concerned, it is even wise                                              president who guides the discussion
of opinion. This was the case at the            that men not be delegated to synod if                                               and keeps the assembly at order, he is
Synod of Dordt, 161%`19, when some              a critical issue involving them or their                                            also an officebearer and delegate, and
of the particular synods instructed             consistory is going to be treated at the                                            therefore ought to vote. The "Rules
their delegates to vote against the             synod.                                                                              of Order with the Rule of Procedure
Arminian position.                                   Often  it is asked: "Should the                                                for  the Synod of the Protestant Re-
         This does not prohibit a consis-       president of a major assembly vote?"                                                formed Churches in America" state
tory, for example, discussing the               Robert's RuIes of Order states:                                                     among the duties of the presildent  the
agenda of the upcoming  classis or                                                                                                  following:
synod.  This certainly may and ought              Hc (i.e., the chairman) is entitled to
to be done. Delegates ought to know               vote when the vote is by ballot, and                                                   Being a duly chosen delegate to
the sentiment of the consistory as a              in all other cases where the vote                                                      Synod, he retains all the rights and
whole and ought to be benefited by                would change the result. Thus, in a                                                    privileges of a delegate. As such he
the insights of other consistory mem-            case where a two-thirds vote is nec-                                                    has . . . the right to vote on any ques-
                                                 essary, and his vote thrown with the                                                    tion before the gathering. He invari-
bers.                                            minority would prevent the adop-                                                        ably votes when the vote is taken by
                                                 tion of the question, he can (sic) cast                                                 ballot,  in case of a tie, or in cases
A VOTING RESTRICTION                             his vote; so, also, he can (sic) vote                                                   where a voice vote is so close that a
         IOne restriction to the right of        with the minority when it will pro-                                                    raising of hands is called for. 0
delegates to vote is included in Ar-
ticle  33:  ". . . they shall have a vote in                                                  CLASSICAL CREDENTIALS
all matters, except such as purficuldy                                                                                 o f   t h e
concern their persons or churches. N Del-                                        P R O T E S T A N T   R E F O R M E D   C H U R C H E S
egates are not to vote in matters that                                                                                   L s.
directly concern  themselves or the                                                 Tothe  classic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
congregation they represent. They                                                   of the  Protutant  Reformed  Churches,
may participate in the deliberations,                                               to  COWC"C         . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    lg.......
take part in the discussion. But they                                               a t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
may not cast a vote; in this case they                          The  Conristory of  the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Protestant Reformed  Church
must abstain.                                                   at . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . has appointed the brethren:
         VanDellen and Monsma explain                           . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..andelder..............................
correctly that this is                                          as  dclegatu   to  represent  said  Church at the meeting of the  Skis above  nferrcd t o .
                                                                The alternate  dclcgata   arc:
  . . . a matter of common  sense and                           . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  fairness. It is very hard for us to                                                We hereby l~wucr  and authorize them lo lake port In o/l the
  judge calmly  and objectively when                                                dellbemrionr md I~ISOCIION of CIorrlr rexwdlng all mntter~
  we ourselves are concerned. yet  ev-                                              kg&/y coming before the mrcrinng and @zwxtcd In a~recmenl
                                                                                    with the Word of Cod according 10 the conception of It em-
  ery decisionshouldbe  objective. And                                              badled in de docln'naf  srandnnis  of the Rotestanr  Refomted
  so the churches have wisely agreed                                                 churches, ar we// as In harmony with our Church Order.
  in the interest of the kingdom, that                           INSTRUCIIONS:                                                  By order of the Cimr&ro,y
  those who are directly involved in a                                                                                          .,.....................
  matter before an ecclesiastical gath-                                                                                                                                       Fraidenr
  erin;g  shah not vote. Let the other                                                                                          . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .._......  Clerk
  delegates decide and thenlet all abide                       Done  in conslrtory.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . .          19.. . . .


j 6 /Standard Bearer / October `I,1992


                                              Fasting
     We read of fasts for the most part in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word means to cover the mouth, to keep
the mouth shut, to fast. The Mosaic law prescribed only one fast, what Leviticus 16:29-31 calls "afflictingof the soul,"
on the great day of atonement. Later, the Israelites had the practice of fasting in hard circumstances, in the midst
of bereavement, and whenever God threatened judgment. Still later, they fasted on certain days to commemorate
outstanding events in their history, such as the capture of Jerusalem. Fasting was often accompanied with other
visible signs, such as theputtingon of sackcloth, casting ashes upon the head, and tearing of thegarments. Even under
the Mosaic law, these outward activities were to be consistent with the inner afflicting of the soul in recognition of
one's unworthiness and in the renouncing of one's will. Whenever Israel demonstrated exactitude in the keeping
of outward signs and a lack of sorrow in the heart, hypocrisy resulted, so that their holy God rebuked them with the
words, "Rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God" (Joel 2:13).
     In the New Testament the Greek word means to abstain from food, to be empty, to fast. The Pharisees were
sternly rebuked by Jesus for their hypocritical fastings, which not only went far beyond what was required once a.
year, but aIso lacked the inner contrition of the heart. They went about with a sad countenance and disfigured their
faces that all might know they were fasting. Jesus said, "When thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret:
shall reward thee openly." When the disciples failed to heal a man's son who was lunatic and sore vexed, Jesus
rebuked them for their unbelief and said, "Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." From this
passage and many others, we see that fasting was engaged in as a preparation for prayer, for spiritual work, and for
a revelation from God. Thus Jesus Himself fasted for forty days and forty nights in the wilderness, just before His
triple temptation by the devil, in order that He might be spiritually sharpened and quickened for that great battle.
That fasting enabled Him to experience to the depths of His soul every aspect of the temptations, and to resist them
in the Spirit.
     Although the strict observance of fasting is abolished amongst Christians, "yet the truth and substance of it
remain with us in Jesus Christ, in which it has its completion" (Belgic Confession, Art. 25). Fasting is no longer
obligatory with us, although what fasting represented is upon us with as great an urgency as ever with Israel. "The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, 0 God, thou wilt not despise" (Ps. 51:17). And,
"Goaysorrowworkethrepentance  unto salvationnot tobe repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death"
(II Cor. 7:lO)>Itou&t  also be remarked that all afflicting of the body, all asceticism, all abstaining from meats on
certain days, a la Rome, is worthless as far as spiritual benefit is concerned and is soundly condemned by Scripture
(Cal. 2:21).
     ThereareseveralNewTestamentpassageswhichsetforthfastingasavoluntarypractice.                  Have youeverfasted?
We are not talking about dieting, the purpose of which is physical, but fasting, the purpose of which is spiritual. There
are passages which speak of fasting in the context of prayer (Acts 14:23;  I Cor. 7~5; II Cor. 6:5). The idea is that our
prayer life can suffer if our intake of food is too great. Too much food can make us feel sluggish, can dull the mind,
can rob us of the ability to concentrate on unseen, spiritual things. We have all experienced this: we simply cannot
follow a prayer-thought to its conclusion, or we fall asleep while we are praying. Our prayers suffer. It has been
suggested that when we eat, and especially when we overeat, the blood supply concentrates in the abdomen, robbing
the brain of the blood it needs to function properly. Perhaps. At any rate, God tells us that there are times when it
is profitable to abstain from using His good gifts, in order that our spiritual life may be improved.
     A parallel example is given in I Corinthians 7:5, where the child of God is encouraged to abstain from the good
gift of sex for the same reason we have been discussing above. After stating that the wife and the husband do not
have power over their own bodies, but that they possess their bodies mutually, Paul writes, "Defraud ye not one the
other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again,
that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency." Clearly, it is possible that the use of good gifts can hinder our
prayers. If we observe this, we are to abstain from the use of these gifts that our prayers be not hindered. When things
have been properly balanced once again, we are to resume our use of that gift we have given up for a time. Fasts
in themselves have no spiritual benefit; but we may engage in fasts as an aid to a richer spiritual life of prayer and
watching.  0.

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

                                                                                          October 1,1992 I Standard Bearer / 17


                          AShadow of a                                                                                        . . .
             Comi.ng Blessedness (2)

     In the beginning of the history of      that, in the early part of the history of     fully revealed when Christ returns to
mankind, our God revealed the truth          mankind, men and women could not              bring us with body and soul into the
in His grace; but He also in His infi-       read or write as fully and richly as          new Jerusalem.
nite wisdom and almighty power dis-          they can today. Some men, like Moses,              In a dream God promised Jacob
played: His love and mercy. We do            who was brought up and trained by             a rich blessing, an absolute comfort;
well to bear in mind the fact that,          Pharaoh's daughter, could read and            and we, as spiritual descendants of
although man was created in the im-          write. But so many of those living in         Jacob, have here in the day of shad-
age of God and was a most wonderful          the day of shadows could not and did          ows a glorious and comforting truth.
creature (in fact the most wonderful         not have schools for their instruction        Our God gives here His promise to all
creature here on this earth), he could       and training. Think, for example, of          the elect children; and He teaches us
not, at the beginning of his life on this    the Israelites in their forty years in the    here what lies ahead for us, even
earth, do some of the things he can do       wilderness, and in their travel from          though the Esaus of the coming
today.                                       place to place.                               antichristian world will soon not al-
     Adam could and did know God.                 But the point to make here, in           low us to buy or sell, because we by
He heard God speak, and he spoke             this part of the day of shadows, is that      God's grace will refuse to take Ion our
unto God. It is true that nowhere in         our God spoke to mankind, and in              right hand or forehead the mark of
Genesis do we read of Adam speak-            this way revealed the truth to them           the beast (Rev. 13:15-17).
ing unto God; but we do have clear           through speech, before ,books  could               Let us take note of the fact that in
evidence, even after the Fall of man-        even be written by men, and before            Jacob's dream he saw a ladder set up
kind into sin, that man did have God         theywerereadbyanyofthem. Today                on the earth and reaching up into
speak to him, and that he spoke to           we ought to be thankful that. we do           heaven. On it angels ascended and
God. In fact we have this presented to       have God's written Word, the Scrip-           descended. Above it God stood and
us even in the life of an ungodly            tures, which not only give us infor-          gave Jacob a beautiful and rich prom-
unbeliever. God, we read, rebuked            mation, but give us also rich promises        ise. He told Jacob that He would give
Cain for killing his brother Abel; and       and basic foundations for faith and           him that,land on which he was lying.
Cain responded to God with his lies.         hope.                                         He promised him seed as innumer-
Cain said unto God, "My punish-                    What we should consider, out of         able as "the dust of the earth" --thus,
ment is greater than I can bear" (Gen.       this written Word of God, in connec-          far more in number than he or we can
493). `What Cain did after the Fall          tion with its comforting and wonder-          count.
reveals that, before that Fall, and be-      ful truths, is what God spoke to Jacob             Note then, in the first place, that
fore mankind came under the curse,           after his flight away from his brother        He assures Jacob that his life is going
man could and did speak to God and           Esau, as found in Genesis 28. There           to be spared. He is absolutely safe, no
hear Him speak to mankind.                   we read of what our God revealed to           matter how much his brother hated
      What without a doubt is true .is       Jacob when he was on his way to               him, and no matter that his brother
                                             escape from his brother's hatred.             planned to kill him. In fact, Jacob is
                                                   Jacob was on his way out of the         not only going to get seed "as the dust
                                             land of Canaan, to be protected from          of the earth" in number, but hewillbe
                                             his brother.Esau,  who made known             "spread abroad to the west, and to the
                                             that he planned to kill Jacob after his       east, and to the north, and to the
                                             father died. Indeed, he was sent there        south." He is told that "in thy seed
Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in the      also to get a wife; but here we have a        shall all the families of the earth be
Protestant Reformed Churches.                shadow of God's grace as it will.be           blessed."

18 /Standard Bearer / October 1,1992


   Yes,herewehaveadivineprom-                   with thee." That His church would                    Jacob is instructed concerning
ise of becoming Jacob's seedin a s$ri-          have members out of every. nation,           this "Mother Promise," and is as-
tual'sense, Our God does not go into' tongue, and tribe is then so very, very                sured that he belongs to those given
detail and speakunto Jacob in words             sure.                                        this blessed promise. We should take
which we today can understand. He                        Butgobacknowtowhatiscalled          hold of that truth. As Jacob had a
does already cause Jacob to see the             the Mother Promise, and indeed is            brother who intended to kill him, we
shadow of the reality that is today             the first presentation of God's prom-        have a world of children of the devil
before our eyes, and we can see and             ise of salvation for His elect. :In Gen-     that will crush our "heels." But by
spell out in much more detail.                  esis 3:15 we read of a sharp distinc-        God's grace they will not crush our
         First of all, take note of the fact    tion in the human race. There will be        heads. We will continue to believe in
that our God here promises a church             and there are seed of the serpent-and        God and fight the good fight of faith,
with members out of every nation,               seed of the woman. There is enmity           because of this promise which He
tongue, and tribe. Jacob was still in           between these two groups, and-by             gives us through Jacob.
the land of Canaan; but he is assured' all means get this - among the seed                           We do well to take note of what
that -although directly west of him             of the woman is Christ, who died on          we read in Genesis 2814. There our
wasthe large Mediterranean Sea -                His cross for our salvation. He, in-         God says to Jacob, and to us, "In thee
he is going to have a spiritual seed,           deed, is the Seed of the Woman, being        and in thy seed shall all the families of
that is, those who believe in God, here         born of that virgin Mary. His "heel"         the earth be blessed." For here is the
in our land as well as in that land of          was crushed, while the "head" of the         promise of Christ's coming and of His
Canaan. In other words, that state-             seed of theserpent will be crushed.          realization of salvation for us. "In
ment of Such seed west of Canaan,                        Now the idea here is not that       theeandin thy seed" doesnotpresent
east, north, and south, refers to elect         Christ's suffering is no more than the       Jacob to us as the one who blesses `us.
children of God living all over the             mere crushing of a heel. He did suffer       It is Christ, who indeed in the physi-
world. And although we, even as was             at the hands of the seed of the serpent.     cal sense is one of the seed of Jacob
true for Jacob, cannot count them all,          He was crucified by them; and Cain's         through Mary, and who brings bless-
and are in different countries and              killing of Abel likewise revealed the        ings upon, us. He removed all our
nations, we can see that in the Old             enmity between those two seeds. But          guilt, and by His Spirit makes us
Testament dispensation there was a              the point here is that the seed of the       spiritually alive and holy.
shadow of what is real and coming to            serpent will hurt the seed of the                    Jacob is promised a certain re-
pass.                                           woman, because our gracious God              turn to Canaan; and this return is a
         But the striking and most com-         changes, redeems, and causes His             shadow of our absolutely sure en-
forting truth in this promise of our            elect to be born again. For that reason      trance with body and soul into the
God to Jacob is that all the families of        they will be hated by Satan and all his      Kingdom of Heaven with all its bless-
the earth shall be blessed. In fact, our        seed. Soon, Scripture teaches us, the        edness, when Christ returns. There-
God declares to Jacob that "in thy              seed of the serpent will insist that we      fore also David, one of the seed of
seed shall all the families of the earth        put the mark of the beast on our right       Jacob, did conquer that whole land. of
be blessed." This reveals that in God's         hand or forehead. And when we                Canaan west, east, north, and south,
church there `will be Gentiles. We              refuse, we will not be allowed to buy        as a shadow of what will happen
have this presented to us in the New            or sell. Thus`we will starve to death!       when Christ returns.
Testament, but it was already prom-             Some will be killed by Satan's seed of               Here is a beautiful shadow of
ised to Abraham in Genesis 12:3; 18;            the serpent; but all the rest will suffer    what lies ahead for us. We will not
22:18, and to Isaac in Genesis 26:4.            that hunger at the hands of the Anti-        return to the Garden of Eden, where
         What is extremely important for        christ (Rev. 13:11-17).                      Adam and Eve had a blessed life
us, and presented for our comfort, is                    Here then, in this dream that       before they fell into sin. But we will
the fact that we see what casts this            Jacob had, we have the assurance that        by Christ be brought into the new
blessedshadow. Itisnotpresented to              every elect child of God shall, in those     Jerusalem, the Holy City, wherein
us, or to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,            days of the coming Antichrist, suffer        Christ is King, and where we will
literally in these passages; but the            physically at the hands of those in          have a most blessed fellowship with
shadow of our. Savior's coming was              Satan'skingdom. ChristhadHis"hee1            God.
there in the Old Testament. Note,               crushed" - that is, He died on His                   Here, indeed, is a most certain
first of all, that in this dream our God        cross for our salvation. And because         and truly comforting shadow of what
declared, "I am with thee.`: For our            of what He accomplished thereby, we          by God's grace is in store for us. 0
God gave us our Savior by coming                will leave this life, which is a con-
into our flesh, and causing a virgin to         tinual death, and be brought into
conceive and bring Him forth in our             God's promised land, namely, the
flesh. There we have a wonderful                Kingdom of Heaven, where Christ is
fulfillment of that truth that "I am            our Ring.

                                                                                                     October 1,1992 I Standard Bearer I19


              The Problem. of Viewpoint

                                             but also in listening to that of others.     people both in our country and in
Look not every man on his own things,        Repeatedly one must lay out what he          Canada and Australia, always in an
buteverymanalsoonthethingsofothers.          remembers and understands, and               attempt to grasp the true nature of the
                         Philippians  2:4    then listen to the response of those         breach that stands between us.
                                             who, from a different viewpoint, can              Back in my Lynden days, for
'     I was quite surprised when, af-        suggestanotherunderstandingofthe             example, there were a number of such
ter the publication of my last article, I    matter. It requires Christian commu-         people whom I came to know. One
received a call expressing dismay at         nication with others, if we are to con-      couple, I remember well, had be-
what I had written. It came from a           tinue to grow in an appreciation of          longed to our  congregati.on in
former member of the Liberated               that which God has privileged us to          Hamilton when it was first organized.
churches who felt I had not repre-           experience in His working with His           With them we visited often; and I
sented, them fairly.                         church. Not only do the Scriptures           tried to gain a feeling for their view of
      Ii: bothers me, for I have no wish     instruct us to do this (as in passages       what had transpired.
to mis:represent  anyone; but perhaps        such as Eph. 4:1-3 and Phil. 2:1-5), but          And then there was the man
it is to be expected, and to a degree        we have also the example of the early        who had carried on that correspon-
unavoidable. When one describes              Reformers. It is striking that, inspite      dence with Prof. Holwerda which
events of recent history, while some         of many and serious differences, they        finally evoked the letter which was
who participated in them are still           unceasingly continued to correspond          distributed among the immigrants in
living, and especially when they were        backand forth in search of each other's      Canada, and then published by Rev.
on the opposite side in a matter of          opinions and advice in all kinds of          Ophoff. Many times we reviewed
conflict, almost invariably what one         matters both doctrinal and practical.        those days, and I have little question
says will bring the accusation of mis-       It is somethingwhich we shouldnever          that his understanding of them dif-
representation. And, to a degree,            fail in our efforts to emulate. Differ-      fered little from mine. And, in time,
perhaps, this is always true. After all,     ences will always be there, sometimes        he joined our churches again.
we always see things from our own            too great to allow us to worktogether             In fact, if any recall the early
point of view; and God has given to          in certain areas; but never is there a       articles in this series, they may well
none of us the full and perfect wis-         child of God in whom the Spirit dwells       rememberthat theywerewrittenwith
dom necessary for a complete under-          with whom we can not profitably              the purpose of bringing out the area
standing of even the most minute of          communicate for one purpose or an-           of agreement which we and the Liber-
matters. It is only over periods of          other, and especially so when they           ated had in our disagreement with
time, if God will give us the grace to       share with us a common love of the           the followers of Abraham Kuyper,
work .with humility and persever-            Reformed faith.                              and the resultant attraction which we
ance, that gradually we come to an                Through the years I have tried to       had toward each other.
appreciation of what He has brought          do that -particularly, having grown               And still, all of this is saild with
about.                                       to maturity myself through the con-          no intent of claiming complete  accu-
      But it does not come easily, and       troversy of the early fifties, with those    racyandobjectivityformyselfinthese
it does require a humble and honest          who have experienced the same from           matters. All of these inquiries, no
effort, not only in reviewing one's          other points of view. This includes          matter how extensive they may have
own memory of what has transpired,           those who participated in it as mem-         been, could not be expected to com-
                                             bers, or former members of the Liber-        pensate for the fact that I passed
                                             ated churches. Not only have I read          through the experience of those days
                                             what material is accessible to me (and       as a member of the Protestant Re-
                                             in recent years some most interesting        formed Churches. And frorn that
                                             publications have appeared regard-           point of view, for an understanding
Rev. W;Dudenberg is pastor of the Protes-    ingthesematters,alsoinEnglish);but           of the Liberated view of these mat-
tant Reformed Church  of  Kalamazoo,         I have tried at various points to search     ters, it would be better to hear from
Michiglzn.                                   out and share viewpoints with such           someone other than myself.

20 /Standard Bearer / October 1,1992


     But that is not to say that there is    see why the matters with which we          ever since, andnot without occasional
not a reason for and a value to the          were concerned could have been so          expressions of approval. His expres-
Protestant Reformed viewpoint be-            important as to warrant the formulat-      sions were generally appreciative of
ing expressed once again on these            ing of the Declaration of Principles,      what I wrote (even if, I assume, he did
matters. Those events which tran-            and finally the splitting of our           not agree with me completely); but he
spired affected the development of           churches as they did.                      had one suggestion. That was that
the Protestant Reformed Churches                  For many, from the very begin-        this matter should be traced back
immensely; and there are now many            ning, it had always seemed that the        several centuries in the history of the
who have since grown up with no              conflict was little more than a ques-      church. It is a worthy suggestion for,
direct memory of what took place             tion of terminology, a question of         I too, have come to the realization that
and why. What happened to our little         whether the word "condition" could         what we were debating in the early
denomination in those days was a             have a proper use in Reformed theol-       fifties was hardly a new question. It
major disruption, sadandunexpected;          ogy or not. Back and forth the battle      is something that has divided the
and it did much to mold the nature of        raged: can the covenant of God in any      churches, especially in England, prac-
whatwearenow. Buttimehaspassed;              way be considered conditional, and/        tically from the time of the Reforma-
and we have not spent as much time           or are there any conditional elements      tion on. And, at least within the limits
recalling them as might have been            within it?                                 of my scholastic abilities, I wouldlike
expected. The result is that many, if             I can remember well the endless       to deal with that as well. 0
not most, have only a limited aware-         wrangling which went on over this,
ness of what those events were all           as though it were the only real thing
about. It is primarily for them that I       which separated us from the Liber-
have been writing; and, as is to be          ated. Dictionaries were brought out,
expected, I write from the viewpoint         definitions minutely examined, and
of my own experience.                        old writings searched for some indi-
     But still, I was surprised, not so      cation that the word "condition" can
much that there were objections, but         have some proper use in our theologi-
from where it came. I had expected           cal language. If only this could be                     Isaiah 58:13,14
them more, if they were to come, from        demonstrated, the reason for our dif-
those who left us and experienced            ferences would be taken out of the         If on the sabbath you will
them from the viewpoint of "the              way; and for that proof endless                turn
DeWolf  group."                              searches were made. To this day            From doing your own plea-
     Through the ensuingyearsIhave           there appear to be those who think             sure
tried to understand them as well; and        that the problem that divided our
I know that many of them see what            churches was not deeper than that.         And keep it holy to the Lord,
happened quite differently than do                But it was; and, once the histori-    Your joy will know no mea-
we. Some of them, indeed, have re-           cal framework has been laid out, I             sure.
turned to our churches (and for this         would like to try to get into that. As     Sabbath you'll call a great
we are happy); but, even for them,           Rev. Ophoff tried to bring out at the          delight;
painful memories do remain. Others           time, words do have import, and one        You'll honor God the Lord;
there are who have not returned; and         must be responsible, notjust for what
they hold some very mixed feelings           he wishes to say, but also for the         Not seeking ways or words of
toward us and the history which di-          thought conveyed by those words to             self
vided our churches so deeply. Some           others. And, as Rev. Hoeksema              But ever looking toward
indeed (and this is perhaps the sad-         pointed out many times, there was          The Holy One of Israel;
dest of all) have left sound Reformed        something more basic and more im-          And He'll cause you to ride
principles to become among the most          portant in that controversy than even
liberal of those with whom they have         that of 1924.                              Upon the lofty places of
joined. Of us they seldom think; and                 *  *  *  *  *  *  *                The earth - and there abide
for us they have little sympathy any-             But the call spoken of was not        With Jacob, as your heritage.
more. But there are others whose             the only response we received. It was      For, lo, His mouth has spoken
heart has never strayed far from the         just a few days later that I received a
Reformed principles which once they          letter concerning my articles. This        And it shall surely come to
shared with us, even though they             was from a man who had been rather             pass;
have never found it possible to return       centrally involved in the controversy      His word cannot be broken.
to us again. For them, perhaps, the          of that day. He left us when the
memory of those days is the most             separation came, but has continued                                   Thelma Westra
painful of all; and they simply do not       to follow the progress of our churches                     Faith I'RC, Jenison, MI

                                                                                             October 1,1992 / Standard Bearer I 2'1


The  ABC's of Assurance,  by John H.         the chapter, "Question: Can You be          of view, it can be profitable as a devo-
Gerstner. Ligonier, PA:  Soli Deo            an Unsure Christian?" The impor-            tional tool for us in our daily life.
Gloria Publications, 1991. 112 pages.        tant reference to II Peter 1:lO ("make           However, the weakness of this
Paper. $7.95. [Reviewed by the Edi-          your calling and election sure") is         book is that the free-willislm of the
tor.]                                        persistentlymisstated,firstasIIPeter        author shows through and detracts
                                             2:lO and then as I Peter  2:lO. The         from an otherwise fundamentally
         Literally.                          reader will not agree with Dr.              sound setting forth of the Scriptures.
         Dr. Gerstner treats the biblical . Gerstner'sinterpretationof Scripture         In speaking of the daily provision that
doctrine of the Christian's assurance        in every instance, e.g., that Jesus'        Godgives to His people, for example,
of salvation by chapter headings that        choice of Judas as a disciple is to be      the author writes with colorful lan-
follolw  the alphabet: "Assurance of         explained as the choice of His human        guage this: "All sentient things de-
Eternal Salvation"; "Beating the             nature, which was ignorant of the           penduponHissustainingpower.  Not
Body"; "captain of Our Salvation";           state of Judas' heart (cf. pp. 28-32).      a seraph cleaves the air bat what
etc. In short chapters, usually three or          This little book is a fine, popular    derives his power of obedience from
four pages, and in simple language,          treatment of a truth that is vital for      his sovereign Lord; and not a mote of
the book explains and defends the            every child of God. n                       life floats in the sunbeam, flashing in
precious truth that the believing child                                                  the light but it is dependent upon the
of God can and must be sure of his or                                                    light and life of the central Sun, before
her eternal salvation. All of the glori-                                                 whom angels veil their faces." On the
ous doctrines of salvation by grace                                                      other hand we have the author say-
alone, upon which assurance rests,           The Shepherd Psalm,  by F.B. Meyer,         ing, in speaking of the care of Christ
come up for consideration.                   Grand Rapids, MI:  Kregel  Publica-         over the church, that "the one ques-
         Attacks on assurance are an-        tions, 1991;  139pp., paper $8.95. [Re-     tion is whether you have so corn-
swered. Biblical passages that seem          viewed by Rev. Richard Moore.]              pletely handed over the responsibil-
to deny assurance are explained.                                                         ity of your lives to Him as to make
Gerstner's explanation of the perish-             This book is a devotional com-         Him the sole custodian and safeguard
ing of many members of the nation of         mentary on the twenty-third Psalm.          of yourbeing, both for this world and
Israel is excellent:                         It is written by a certain F.B. Meyer,      the next."
                                             who was born and raised in London,               The author's ability to use the
  God had not rejected Israel, for the       received his theological training in        English language, and his obvious
  calling and election of God are without    the Regent's ParkBaptist  College, and      familiarity with the Scriptures and
  repentance.  The Apostleexplains that
  God never called all Israel to eternal     was a minister during the late 1800s        the use of the same, make this book a
  salvation, but only some within I&         and early 1900s.                            pleasure to read; and if, in his mind,
  rael (such as the 7,000 who had not             This book serves to set forth in a     one changes the statements that are
  bowed the knee to Baal, and Paul           very attractive style an exposition of      free-will in nature or that embrace an
  himself). The principle was that not       the twenty-third Psalm. It sets forth       idea of common favor to all men to
  all are Israel who are in Israel, Ro-      the Psalm in a very spiritual way, to       Scriptural concepts, then the majority
  mans 9~6 (p. 32).                          lead us to contemplate the wondrous         of this book is spiritually helpful and
                                             care of God over His sheep. The             comforting. It is too bad that the
The reason why so many churches              strength of this book is in the many        writer could not see the contradic-
and people lack assurance is pointed         references to other passages of the         tions that come into his own writing
out: The 16th chapter is entitled,           Scriptures when applying theinstruc-        because of the free-will theology to
"Free-will Makes Assurance Impos-            tion of this Psalm to the lives of God's    which he bound himself. But for the
sible. N                                     children.                                   discerning reader this book is worth
         Assurance belongs to true faith.         The language used is such that it      reading. 0
It is sin for a believer to lack assur-      will lead the one reading this little
ance, just as it is a "crime for non-        book to contemplate the deep love
Christians to have assurance" (p. ii).       that God has for His children. And, if
         The publisher should take note      read from the perspective of a strong
of a serious typographical mistake in        biblical and therefore Reformed point

22 /Standard Bearer / October 1,1992


        Classis West met on Wednes-         Classis, therefore, decided to put the      and for Sovereign Redeemer Fellow-
day, September 2,1992,  in Loveland,        congregation of Isabel under the care       ship of Boise, Idaho. In addition, a
CO. Classis finishedits workat about        and government of Doon's  Consis-           requestforpermissiontoaskforbuild-
3:00 p.m., that same day. Rev. R.           tory according to Articles 38 and 39 of     ing fund collections in Classis West,
Moore served as President of the            the Church Order. Doon's  Consis-           from Covenant PRC of Wyckoff, NJ,
meeting and Rev. T. Miersma led             tory is to report to the next meeting of    received the approval of Classis.
Classis in opening devotions.               Classis West with recommendations                The expenses of Classis were
        The main item of business was a     concerning the future of the Isabel         $7,573.61.
letter from the Isabel, SD, congrega-       congregation, i.e., either to reconsti-          Thenextmeetingof Classis  West
tion informing Classis of difficulties      tute the Consistory of Isabel accord-"      willbeinSouthHolland,IL,onMarch
in that congregation. The result of         ing to Article 38 of the Church Order       3,1993.
those difficulties is that Isabel has no    or to disband the congregation.                                      Rev. R. Hank0
Consistory of its own at present.                Classis  also approved and sched-                                 Stated Clerk
                                            uled classical appointments for Isabel,





YOUNG PEOPLE'S ACTIVITIES                   evangelism, project, "Bible for             Loveland, CO PRC. He was the
        The Young People's Societies of     Ghana," written by Hudsonville's            featured speaker at a public lecture
Faith PRC in Jenison, MI, this year's       pastor, Rev. G. VanBaren. Rev.              sponsored by Loveland's Church Ex-
host of the annual young people's           VanBaren writes by way of introduc-         tension Committee. Rev. Key spoke
convention, invited their congrega-         tion that "Eight letters arrived in the     on the subject, "Proper Christian Self-
tion to a special "get together" on         mailbox today for the Men's Society         Esteem."
Saturday evening, August 15th, at           from individuals in Ghana. Each let-
their church. This "get-together" was       ter was a plea for a Bible....              CONGREGATIONALACTJS'IS
intended to show the young people's              "Mr. Tom Spriensma, on behalf               Around the first of July an an-
appreciation for the congregation's         of the Men's Society, has been an-          nouncement appeared in the bulletin
support of the recently completed           swering these letters. He has sent          of the Pella, IA PRC.informing  their
convention.                                 used Bibles contributed by individu-        congregation that their piano needed
        A slide presentation of the con-    als, extra used Bibles of Hudsonville       to be replaced and that donations
vention was shown, as well as video         Church, and Bibles purchased at the         were being accepted. This announce-
footage taken during the convention.        Reformed Book Outlet.                       ment appeared each week until Au-
All those with memorable photos of               "One cannot know for certain           gust 9, when the congregation was
the convention were invited to take         what happens to these Bibles once           encouraged to begin looking for a
them along for viewing as well. Re-         they arrive in Ghana. The assump-           good used piano; and then, in the
freshments were served by the young         tion is that, even if the individual who    August 23 bulletin, there was a note
people.                                     requested the Bible does not use it         to notice the fine used piano pur-
                                            personally, it probably gets into the       chased that week. It is reported to be
EVANGELISM ACTIVITIES                       hands of someone who can make good          an improvement both in looks and in
        The September issue of "Closer      use of it."                                 sound.
Look," the newsletter of the                     Rev. VanBaren concludes his                 In August all the families of the
Hudsonville, MI PRC, contains an            article by informing his congregation       Hudsonville, MI PRC received letters
interesting article about an on-going       that in a recent decision their consis-     from a Steering Committee asking for
                                            tory has decided that the collections       their response, by returned postcard,
                                            taken this year in catechism will be        to the question: Would you be inter-
                                            used for Bibles for Ghana. This will        ested in forming a new PR congrega-
                                            involve the children directly in this       tion in the Georgetown Forest area (a
                                            work of distributing God's Word.            subdivision north and west of
Mr. Wigger isa member of the Protestant          OnFriday,  August28,Rev.  Steve        Hudsonville)? This committee was
Reformed Church  of  Hudsonville, Michi-    Key, pastor of the Randolph, WI             formed by Hudsonville's consistory
gan.                                        PRC, spoke in the auditorium of the         tolookinto this possibility. ,Presently

                                                                                             October 1,1992 / Standard Bearer / 23


   &DMD
     BHH                                                                                                                    SECOND CIASS
                                                                                                                            Posfage Paid at
                                                                                                                            Grandvile, Michigan
     P. 0. Box 603
     Grandvile, Ml 49468-0603


  tiudsonville  is near capacity level,
  and it is also apparently the Lord's
  will that Hudsonville will continue to
  grow, given the large number of
  young families and young children.                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                       NOTICE!!!
                                                              The Men'sSocietyof  Hudsonville              You are invited to attend a con-
.  DENOkNATIONAL ACTIVITIES                          Protestant Reformed Church ex-                   ference on "Spiritual Depression,"
        This year's Convocation Service              presses its sincere Christian sympa-             sponsored by the Evangelism Society
  of the Protestant Reformed Seminary                thy to Sadie Knoper and family in the            of Byron Center Protestant Reformed
  saw a near-capacity crowd gather at                sudden death of her husband,                     Church.
  the Southwest PRC in Grandville, MI                         MR. DONALD KNOPER.                      When: Friday, October 9, 1992, at
  on the evening of August 26, to hear               Don Knoper was also the brother of                              7:30  P.M.
  Prof. D. Engelsma speak on the topic,              Mrs. Gerald Bouwkamp. We express                      Saturday, October 10, 1!392, at
  "Have You Heard Anything New                       our Christian sympathy to the Gerald                            9%) A.M.
  Lately?"                                           Bouwkamp family also at this time.                Where: Byron Center Protestant
        You might also be interested to                       May they find comfort in God's                     Reformed Church
  know that this year seminary has an                words: "Henceforth there is laid up for                      1945 84th St.
  enrollment of seven students. Five                 me a crown of righteousness, which                     Byron Center, Ml 49316
  are preparing to serve as PR minis-                the Lord, the righteous judge, shall                           Speakers:
  ters, and two are studying to.become               give me at that day: and not to me                             Friday evening:
  pastors in the Evangelical Presbyte-               only, but unto all them also that love                   Prof. Robert Decker:
  rian Church of Australia. There are                his appearing" (II Timothy 4:8).                  "Spiritual Depression -- Its Cause"
  also three men who are taking either                                   Henry Boer, President                    Saturday morning:
  Dutch or Greek at the Seminary with                               Gerrit Holstege, Secretary              Rev. James Slopsema:
  aviqwtoattendingseminaryinayear                                                                      "Spiritual Depression - Its Cure"
  or two, the Lord willing.                                         TAPE OFFER!                            Ampletimewill begivenforques-
        We extend our congratulations                         Whatmust  beourmotivationforthe         tions and discussion. Refreshments
  to Rev. and Mrs. Mitch Dick on the                   instruction  of  our children?                 will be served.
  occasion of the birth of their first                        What is the heart.of the instruction         Please call Terry Kamminga
                                                       we are to give them?
  child, a boy, David Anthony, born                                                                   (616) 878-l 4440r BruceVanSolkema
                                                              What confidence may parents have
  August 9.                                            in that sacred calling and privilege?          (616) 878-9281 if you plan to attend.
        On Tuesday, September 1, the                                                                  We would like to know how many to
  day before the convening of Classis                         These questions are answered            expect. Hope to see you there!
  W e s t   i n   L o v e l a n d ,   C O ,   a n    in a sermon preached on August 22,
  officebearers' conference was held                 1992, in the Lynden PRC entitled:
  under the theme, "ShepherdingGod's                    The Fathers to the Chi.ldren.
  Flock."                                                                                               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                                              Based on Isaiah 38:19,  this mes-            The Council of Grandville Prot-
  MINISTERIAL CALLS                                  sageexpoundstheindispensiblefoun-                estant Reformed Church expresses
        Rev. C. Terpstra  declined the               dation for all biblical nurture of cov-          its sincerest sympathy to our mem-
  call he had been extended to serve as              enant children, namely: thanksgiving             bers, Mr. and Mrs. Ken Vink and fam-
  pastor of the Grandville, MI PRC.                  to God. It calls covenant parents to             ily, in the loss of Mr. Vink's mother,
                                                     the confidence they must have in their             MRS. KATHERINE FLIKKEMA.
  `FOOD FOR THOUGHT                                  task.                                            May our gracious God comfort them
        "Prayer is my chief work, and it                      Order from:                             by His Word:`"Precious in the sight of
  is by means of it that I am able to carry             Lynden PR Church Extension                    the Lord is the death of his saints"
  on all the rest."                                                   315 N. Park                     (Psalm 116:15).
                       Thomas Hooker 0                           Lynden, WA 98264                      Mr. John VanderWoude,  Vice-pres.
                                                                                                                         David Harbach, Clerk


  24 /Standard Bearer / October I,1992


