                   I HE

~ A  Reformed
Semi-Monthly
 Maaazine





                      ,etits arid Children, to firlfilbu'r callings in




                        See "The Standard Bearer and the Covenant Family - p. 84




 Vol. 69,~No. 4
 November  15,1992


                                                                                                                                                                                                          pL
CONTENTS:                                                                                                                    November 15,. 7992                                                          STANDARD'
Meditation - Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma                                                                                                                                                                               BEARul
       Neither Poverty Nor Riches . . ..~........................................................                                                                                           75
Editorial - Prof. David J; Engelsma                                                                                                                                                                    ISSN 0362-4692
       The Death of Confessional Calvinism                                                                                                                                                             Semi-monthly. exceot monthly durina June. Juk and Aunust.
                 in Scottish Presbyterianism (5). . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*...............................~ '77
All Around Us - Prof. Robert D. Decker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~............. 79                                                                        4948 lvanr&t Ave., Qrandvllle, MI 4941;.
                                                                                                                                                                                                       Postage Paid et Grandvilla, Michigan.
Decency and Order - Rev. Ronald L. Cammenga
   Ecclesiastical Functionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*....................................... 80                                                                                      Pobtmmtw:  Sand address chahges to the Standard Bearer,
                                                                                                                                                                                                       P.O. Box 603. Grandville, MI 49468-0603.
Search the Scriptures - Rev. George C, Lubbers                                                                                                                                                         EDITORIAL COMMlTrEE
       I Timothy 1:1-l 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~......... 82                               Editor: Prof. David J. Engelsma
Special Artricle - Rev. Wilbur G. Bruinsma                                                                                                                                                             Secretary: Prof. Robert  Cl. Decker
                                                                                                                                                                                                       Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doerema
       The Standard Bearer and the Covenant Family . . ..mmm.....mm.........m....... 84                                                                                                                DEPARTMENT EDITORS
Annual Report - Mr. Cal Kalsbeek                                                                                                                                                                       Rev. Apnald Cammenge, Prof.. Robert Decker, Rev. A&
       Secretary's Annual Report to the RFPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88                                                                    denHsrtog, Rev. Barry Qrltters, Mr. Fred Hanko, Prof. Herman
                                                                                                                                                                                                       Hanko, Rev. John Hays, Rev. Steven Key, Rev. Kenneth
A Word Fitly Spoken - Rev. Dale H. Kuiper                                                                                                                                                              Kode, Rev. Jason Kortering, Rev. Dale Kuiper,  Mr. James
       Patience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ..~...... 89    Lanting, Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs. MaryBeth Lubbers, Rev.
                                                                                                                                                                                                       JamesSlopsema,Rev.CharlesTerpstra,Rev.GiseVanBaren,
The Day of Shadows -, Rev. John A. Heys                                                                                                                                                                Rev. RonaldVanCverloop. Mr. Bnjamln  Wigger. Rev. Bernard
       Salvation's Rich and Certain Coming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.......................... 90                                                                                            Wwdenberg.
Church and State - Mr. James Lanting                                                                                                                                                                   EDITORIAL OFFICE           CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
       Roe V. Wade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ..~....................................~~. 92                                                The Standard Bearer          Mr. Ban Wigger
                                                                                                                                                                                                       4949 Ivanrest                6597 4Gth Ave.
Book  Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~..........................................................                                                                Qrandville, Ml 49418         Hudsonville, MI 49428
                                                                                                                                                                                            $4         BUSINESS OFFICE              NEW ZEALAND OFflCE
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger .,.,,.....,.,.........,...,.,..,.I 96                                                                                                                     The Standard Bearer          The Standard Bearer
                                                               `.                                                                                                                                      Don  Doezema  -              c/o Protestant Reformed
                                                                                                                                                                                                       p.0: BOX 603                   _ Church
                                                                                                                                                                                                       Qrandville, MI               B. VanHerk
                                                                                                                                                                                                         49468-0@3                  66 Fraser St.
                                                                                                                                                                                                       PH: (616) 538-1778           Wainuiomata, New Zealand
                                                                                                                                                                                                                (616)531-1433  .
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74 IStandard  Bearer I November 15,1992


                   ;
                        . .    ..'




        N&thW.' Poverty-Nor R-iches

"... Give me neither pooerty  nor riches;          almighty and faithful Provider. We            him with food, but that God give him
feed me withfood  cpnvenientfqr me:` le.9          acknowledge by it that He is the Giver        food convenient for him. That is much
I befill,  and deny thee, and say, .Who is         of every good and perfect gift, and           different! That term "convenient"
the Lord? or lest I be poor,.and steal, and        that His ways drop fatness. He pro-           does not refer to a request for all the
take the name of mj God in vain. "                 vides for every creature what it needs        conveniences andluxuries of life. Just
                                Proverbs 30:8,9    to survive in this present world. He          the opposite is true: it asks only for
                                                   "waters the hills with rain from the          one's "proper portion" in life, or, per-
      "Feed me with food convenient                skies, and plentiful grass and herbs          haps better, for the food "allotted" to
for me." Surely, this is not a sinful              He supplies." We, by the grace of             one by God. Such is in perfect har-
request we make to our God. It is not              God; have been,led to a knowledge             mony with our sanctified desire to
wrong to ask for earthly-things.. In               that we are dependent not simply on           seek the kingdom of heaven and its
fact, the request of this proverb is               creation but, together with all of cre-       righteousness first. We have set our
strikingly similar to the request Jesus            ation, on the Creator. He created this        sights on heaven and, forgettingthose
has taught us to pray, "Give us this               world and all it contains and He con-         things which are behind, we press
day our daily bread."                              tinues to sustain and guide it, provid-       toward that mark. Our lives on this
      By this request we recognize,                ing for all the creatures of His hands.       earth are but a pilgrimage; we have
first of all, that we are creatures who,                           j.  `.  I                     no abiding place here: True, we need
like all other creatures, are dependent                                                          that daily bread, but only that which
upon this earthly creation for health              ,'  t .I..`we &' .dep&den  t                  isconvenientforus~onlyourproper
and life. Our lives are so.fragile. We              not%n$y  on creation                         `portion - in order that we might be
do not simply need food, but we need                           but, together .                   nourished andlive comfortably while
the right kinds of food, lest we suffer                                                          we seek those things which are above.
from malnutrition, become  sick;an-d                      with all of creation,                       But the sacred writer here in
perhaps even die. We need shelter to                         .oq the Creator.                    Proverbs finds it necessary, for his
protectusfromtherainandsnowand                                                                   benefit and ours, to define the limits
from the icy:winds and the searing                                                               of this request: "feed me with food
sun. We need.proper  attire to warm                   ' Yet,isitnottruethatourrequest            convenient for me." On the one end
and -protect .us as we venture forth               ismuch  deeper than all this? Surely,         of the spectrum is poverty- the lack
from our shelters. All these are basic             we ask of our God that He provide for         of the necessities of life. On the other
needs which are necessary for life in              our material needs . . . but not if in the    end is riches - an overabundance of
this present world and creation. :By               receiving. of these things we at all          material things. Our almighty God
raising the request to God that He                 jeopardizeour souls. What Jesus says          does not distribute the wealth of this
grant.us  food convenient, we are .in              is so true, "For what is a man profited,      world evenly. To some He gives
reality acknowledging that we are                  if he shall gain the whole world, and         more - much more; while to others
mindful of our human frailty and that              lose his own soul? or what shall a man        He gives very little, not even enough
our days are as. the grass. We are s.uch           give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt.        to live. To still others, God gives food
d e p e n d e n t   c r e a t u r e s .            16:26). If these earthly gifts which we       just sufficient for life in this world.
      But by this request we also. ex-             receive from the hand of our God              Because of this, the wise man of Prov-
hibit a childlike faith in- God as our             serve only to draw us away from Him           erbs asks God to give to him neither
                                                   and our heavenly desires, then we are         poverty nor riches.
                                                   sureiygoingtotakeinventoryofthem.                  Do not give me riches! Who in
                                                   This the sacred writer does in the            today's world would ever make that
Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of theFirst Prot-          passage before, us.                           request?' With few exceptions the
estant Reformed Church of Holldnd,                      The request of the sincere child         axiom holds true: "the poor want to
Michigan.                                          of God is not that God simply feed            berichandtherichwanttobericher."

                                                                                                   November 15,1992  I Standard Bearer I75


We live in a greedy world! The mil-         us better Christians. Strange com-            ally become difficult, how easy it is to
lions of dollars gained and lost through    plex that some people have! They              raise our complaint against GodI-Iim-
gambling, lotteries, and sweepstakes        actually think that riches are what           self. He, after all, is the One who has
are a reflection of man's deep-rooted       makes a person sinful. If they take           made us so poor. How easy it is in
lust after money and what it buys.          some monastic vow of poverty, there-          those hard times to blame God. How
Riches: this is what has always moti-       fore, thiswillmake thembetter Chris-          easy it is to curse Him, if not in word,
vated mankind. Who would ever               tians. The poorer one is the more he          surely in the thoughts of our hearts.
maketherequest,"givemenoriches"?            will seek the riches of heaven. That          fl Ah, Lord, give me no poverty, lest I
I admit that, for myself too (although      contradicts the request of this text:         be poor, and steal, and take the name
I might never say that as such in my        "Give me neither poverty nor riches:          of my God in vain!"
prayers),-the desire for riches is often    feed me with food convenient for                    "But, Lord, give me not riches
there. But then, that is what makes         me.N Poverty does not assure true             either, lest I be full and deny thee and
this request all the more urgent, is it     spirituality.                                 say, Who is the Lord?" It is easy to
not? What we really are taught to                                                         examine that brother who does not
pray here is that God might work in                                                       have so much and see his sin. But he
us in such a way that we do not desire       . ..the inclination of our flesh             must deal with his sin and we must
to be rich. We understand what Paul                      is to think that                 deal with ours. Look into your own
writes toTimothyinITimothy5:9-10,                                                         heart and flesh, redeemed sinner to
"But they that will be rich fall into                   since we are poor                 whom God has given much in the
temptationandasnare,andintomany                     we need not fill our own              way of earthly wealth. What inclina-
foolish and hurtfullusts, which drown               financial obligations....             tion do you see in your sinful flesh? Is
men in destruction and perdition .,.. n                                                   it not true that when we are rich we
      Oh, it must be said, of course,                                                     become rather self-dependent? We
that it is not sin to be rich. We are                This passage proves this to us as    have success, we have money, we
required to labor diligently in this        well. The writer has deep and pro-            have luxuries and earthly comforts.
world, and if Godblesses those labors       found insight into his human nature           Our life in this world is pretty secure.
with much earthly gain then it is His       and sinful flesh. This reveals itself         Our business is growing and thriv-
will for us. And surely, it is not wrong    when he gives us the reason for his           ing; we have put sufficient money
to bow humbly before God in prayer          requestforneitherpovertynorriches.            away for safekeeping and for our fu-
and acknowledge His fatherly hand           He writes, "Lest I be full, and deny          ture life. We pour huge amounts of
in our attaining of such wealth. Nei-       thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest       money into real estate, we invest in
ther is it wrong to give thanks to God      I be poor, and steal, and take the name       stocks and bonds, we may even have
for all He has given us. We had better      of my God in vain." Look into the             our summer houses or motor homes.
do this! But it is wrong for us to ask      heart of that man who is given little in      Or perhaps our income is a bit more
God for earthly wealth. When we             life. Yes, look into your heart, re-          moderate. Maybe the extras we have
come and lay our petitions before           deemed, yet poor sinner! What do              are not quite so luxurious, maybe our
God in prayer, we are expressing to         you see there in your sinful flesh?           bank accounts and our investments
Him all the true desires of our heart.      And what often times comes out in             are not so large, maybe our houses are
To ask for earthly wealth contradicts       your dealings with others? Is it not          not quite so large, or our motor home
ourspiritualdesireforspiritualriches.       true that the inclination of our flesh is     is only a pop-up camper. Yet, we are
Does not Jesus Himself teach us that        to think that since we are poor we            fairly secure inlife. So caught up can
where our treasure is, there will our       need not fill our own financial obliga-       we become in the pursuit of all of this
heart be also? When we ask God to           tions before God? Others owe us               that we forget about God and His
give us food convenient for us, then        their money because we are poor.              kingdom. Yes, God is good for Sun-
we are in reality saying, "I have no        Brothers ought to forgive us our debts        day worship, He is good for salva-
desire for riches; just for the necessi-    because we cannot pay them. The               tion, but as far as this life is concerned
ties of this life."                         wicked world we will pay, because             . . . well, we really have no worry and
      That we do not ask God for            they will not deal in mercy with us;          no need of God.
riches, however, does not mean we           but the causes of God's kingdom and                "It is easier for a camel to go
desire the opposite extreme. We do          covenant, these we will leave to suf-         through the eye of a needle than for a
not desire to be poverty stricken. No       fer, because brothers in the Lord will        rich man to enter into the kingdom of
one desires this in life. But what          not be so cruel with us. Such is the          God" (Matt. 19:24).  The easiest thing
ought to be kept in mind is that it is      reasoning of the sinful flesh of that         for a rich man to do when indulging
not sinful to make such a request of        one who is poor. And that reasoning           in all.the delights of his riches is to
God in prayer: "give me not pov-            is nothing other than the sin of steal-       forget God . . . and his poor struggling
erty." Surely, we do not go about           ing!                                          brother. How easy it is to reason that
looking to starve, as if this will make              And more, when the times re-         we have done our part for the cause of

76 /Standard Bearer / November 15,1992


     Christ's kingdom (even though we              us as God's children to make: give me        nient for us - nothing more and
     do not feel the slightest pinch). Now         neither poverty nor riches!                  nothing less. We follow the example
     let the brother do his. We do not like             We are thankful for the work of         of our Savior who taught us to pray
     to be reminded of the hard word               Jesus Christ in our hearts. By the           for our daily bread.
     spoken in I Timothy 6:17-19, "Charge          power of the Spirit and through the                  Why not make this our morning
     them that are rich in`this world, that        workof God's grace we are humbled.           prayer? What a good way to keep
     they be not high-minded, nor trust in         We are made to know ourselves and            ourselves focused all day. Then we
     uncertain riches, but . . . that they do      our weaknesses and sins. And with            will lay up in store for ourselves a
     good, that they be . . . ready to distrib-    broken spirits and contrite hearts we        good foundation against the time to
     ute, willing to communicate . . . . N         bow before God with the prayer on            come, that we may lay hold on eternal
          What a difficultrequest for all of       our lips that we receive food conve-         life.  0




'             The Death of Confessional
                               Calvinism in Scottish
                        -.-            Presbyterianism
                                                                   (5)

          In his recent book, Behold Your                                                         withGod,andsobecamedeadinsin,
                                                   nize his teaching with historic Calvin-        andwholly defiledin  all the faculties
     God (BYG),  prominent Scottish Pres-          ism by redefining "total" as `in every         and parts of soul and body.
     byterian theologian Donald Macleod            part.' "Total depravity," Macleod
     denies the Reformed doctrine of total         would have us believe, merely means          Macleod would have us suppose that
     depravity. He denies this basic truth         that the unregenerated sinner is de-         the Confession here describes total
     of Calvinism in the interests of de-          praved in every part of his being. But       depravity as merely a defilement of
     fending the doctrine of common grace;         he is not completely depravedin every        every part of man (BYG, p. 128).
     Macleod teaches an operation of the           part. Every part of the sinner is also               The fact is that the WCF very
     Holy Spirit withinunregeneratedmen            somewhat good.                               definitely states, not merely that the
     and women that makes them some-                                                            unregenerated man is depraved "in
     what good, that fills them with "laud-        Partial Depravity and the                    all the faculties and parts of soul and
     able qualities," and that enables them        Westminster Confession                       body," but that he is "wholly defiled"
     to do much good in the areas of theol-             A second, and still more griev-         in every faculty and part. Every fac-
     ogy, ethics, science, and art.                ous, way in which the Scottish Pres-         ulty, e.g., the will, and every part, e.g.,
          With the exception of a few hard-        byterian defends his un-Presbyterian         the brain, of all unregenerated sin-
     ened evildoers (Macleod mentions              doctrine of partial depravity is by          ners is completely defiled. In every
     Judas Iscariot and Hitler),                   misrepresenting the teaching of the          faculty and part is nothing else than
     unregenerated men and women are               Westminster Confession of Faith              defilement. There is no good in any
     somewhat good. They are somewhat              (WCF). In support of his definition of       faculty or part of fallen man.
     goodinevery faculty andpartof their           "total" as meaning merely `in every                  Also, Professor Macleodneglects
     being - mind, will, affections, and           part,' Macleod appeals to the WCF,           to call attention to what follows in this
     body.                                         6.2 (he gives the reference as 6.3, but      chapter in the WCF on total deprav-
          Professor Macleod teaches par-           this is a mistake):                          ity:
     tial depravity.
          The preceding editorial dealt              By this sin they fell from their origi-      From this original corruption,
     with Macleod's attempt to harmo-                nal righteousness, and communion             whereby we are ufferly indisposed, dis-

                                                                                                  November 15,1992 / Standard Bearer I77


  abled,  and madeopposite foal1 good, and       both to themselves and others" (BYG,                According to both the West-
  wholly inclined to all evil,  do proceed       p. 129).                                      minster Confession and the Heidel-
  allactual transgressions (6.4; empha-                                                        berg Catechism a good workis  exclu-
  sis mine, DJE).                                    The words, "for the matter of             sively  one that has these three charac-
                                               them, they may be things which God              teristics. No work that lacks these
         What loophole is left to a Presby-    commands, and of good use both to               three characteristics is good. Every
terian through which he can intro-             themselves and others," are a quota-            work that lacks these three character-
duce good into the unregenerate?               tion of the WCF in 16.7. But this use           istics is evil.
Where in the creature described by             of the quoted words makes the Con-                    Christ alone is the source of good
the Confession of Faith are the "laud-         fession say the very opposite of that                              _
                                                                                               for men, and, therefore, only works
ablequalities" thatProfessorMacleod            which it actually is teaching in this           that originate in the faith that draws
has discovered in unregenerated                article:                                        from Christ are good.
man? How is it possible to interpret                                                                 The law of God is the sole stan-
chapter six of the WCF as teaching               Works done by unregenerate men,               dard of good, and, therefore, only
merely defilement "in every faculty              although, for the matter of them,             works that conform to the command
and part"?                                       they may be things which God com-             to love God and the neighbor are
         In light of the creed's describing      mands, and of good use both to them-          good.
the condition of the unregenerated               selves and others: yet, because they                There is none good but God,
sinner as that of death ("dead in sin,           proceed not from an heart purified            and, therefore, only works that aim at
and wholly defiled," etc.), there is             by faith; nor are done in a right man-
                                                 ner, according to the word; nor to a          God- the Triune, holy God revealed
something absurd, something ludi-                right end, the glory of God; they are         in Scripture - are good.
crous, about the notion that this sin-           therefore  sinjid,  and cannot please God,          This creedal definition of a good
ner is yet somewhat good and, there-             or make a man meet to receive grace           work rules out all possibility of an
fore, capable of doing good works.               from God . ..(my emphasis, DJE).              unregenerated man's doing good
The teaching that unregenerated men                                                            works, and it judges all the works of
are somewhat good requires us to                     Macleod quotes a line of the ar-          the unregenerated to be sins.
believe, as sound Presbyterian theol-          ticle to teach that the unregenerated
ogy, that dead men are also some-              man performs good works. The ar-                Macleod's Definition
what alive. Indeed, the dead men are           ticle, however,  expressly states that          of a Good Work
somewhat alive in every faculty and            all the works of the unregenerate are                 Macleod's bold solution to the
part.                                          "sinful and cannot please God," in-             problem (for he is determined to have
         Were I to assert such nonsense in     cluding those works that outwardly              the unregenerated sinner perform
the physical realm of everyday life, I         conform to God's law.                           works that are good, regardless of the
would be dismissed as a fool. "My                                                              Presbyterian creeds) is to propose
Uncle Harry is dead, and he has some           The Confession's Definition                     another, different definition of a good
life yet in soul and body so that he is        of a Good Work                                  work:
working quite actively." But in the                  In this article of the Westminster
realm of Presbyterian and Reformed             Confession appears the same defini-               But if we allow that, without forget-
theology, this passes for great wis-           tion of a good work that is found in              ting this higher meaning, we may
dom. "The unregenerated is dead in             Question 91 of the Heidelberg Cat-                also define thegood  quite biblically as
sin, and he has some ethicallife so that       echism:                                           doing what nature teaches, showing
he is vigorously producing good                                                                  natural affection andmanifestingre-
works."                                          Q. But what are good works?                     spect for life, property and marriage,
         A similar misrepresentation of          A. Only those which proceed from a              for duly constituted authority and
the Presbyterian creed as supporting             true faith, are performed according             for the ordinances of the church, then
partial depravity is Macleod's mis-              to the law of God, and to his glory;            we may distinguish some unregen-
                                                                                                 erate men from others as 
handling of the Confession in the                and not such as are founded on our                                           good: and
                                                 imaginations, or the institutions of            go on to explain the difference as a
matter of the supposed good works                men.                                            gift of God, expressing His common
of the unregenerate. He quotes a line                                                            grace (BYG, pp. 129,130).
in the WCF, 16.7 in support of his                   According          to both the
contention that the unregenerate are           Westminster Confession and the Hei-                   To define "the good" differently
good and capable of doing good:                delberg Catechism, a good work is               than the WCF in 16.7 is not allowed.
                                               one that has three characteristics.             This definition is God's own defini-
  But the unregenerate man may still           These characteristics concern source,           tive definition. Accordingly, what-
 `be capable of works which, "for the          standard, and goal. The source is               ever is not out of faith, according to
  matter of them, may be things which          faith; the standard is the law of God;          the law of God, and to God's glory is
  God commands, and of good use                and the goal is God's glory.                    sin. If, outwardly, the deed conforms

76 /Standard Bearer  I November  15,1992


to the law's precept and if, seemingly,       Macleod is forbidden by the WCF in         pravity of unregenerated men. The
it serves humanity well, it is only a         the opening article of chapter sixteen:    creeds themselves make plain that
glittering sin. Augustine called such         "Good works are only such as God           "total" means'complete' and/entire.'
deeds of the ungodly "glittering              hath commanded in his holy word,           From this total depravity proceeds
vices"; the Puritans called them              and not such as, without the warrant       not one good work, but only "all ac-
"painted sins."                               thereof, are devised by men, out of        tual transgressions" (WCF, 6.4).
                                              blind zeal, or upon any pretence  of            Which definition of a good work
How Will Presbyterians                        good intention"; and 3) there is abso-     doScottishPresbyteriansaccept?  That
Define a Good Work?                           lutelynocreedalproof of anyproduc-         of the Westminster Confession or that
         Every Presbyterian inclined to       tion of good works in unregenerated        of Donald Macleod?
accept Macleod's novel definition of          men by the Holy Spirit by means of a            Their answer will indicate
a good work should reckon with three          llcommon grace."                           whether they confess total or partial
facts: l)The new definition contra-                The Presbyterian creeds, like the     depravity.  0
dicts the definition of the WCF; 2) the       Reformed creeds, teach the total de-                                         - DJE
devising of good works by Professor



                                              nary in Kampen. For twenty years           tion makes it the seventh indepen-
                                              Professor Runia was editor-in-chief        dent Reformed church in West Michi-
+ News Briefs                                 for Centraal Weekblad, a weekly            gan. Beverly's secession brings the
         l Rev. Robert E. Grossman re-        newsmagazineandcommentarywrit-             total reported membership of seces-
signed as Professor of Church His-            ten primarily for members of the GKN.      sion churches to 6081 members.
tory and Pastoral Care at  Mid-               Runia also was deeply involvedin the          Reformed Believers Press Service
America Reformed Seminary. Rev.               work of the Reformed Ecumenical                 OTheAssociateReformedPres-
Grossman has been on the faculty at           Council (REC), serving as a delegate       byterian Church voted at its synod
Mid-America since 1986. In his letter         from the GKN and on every interim          last June to withdraw their member-
of resignation to the Board of Trust-         committee from 1972 to 1988.               ship in the Reformed Ecumenical
ees he indicated his desire to return to                        Centraal  Weekblad       Council (REC). Allen Church, a del-
his first calling: the gospel ministry in                     REC News Exchange          egate to the REC Assembly in Athens
alocalcongregation. Rev. Grossman,                 OBishop Laszio Tokes held a           May 25 - June 5, told the synod that
a minister in the Reformed Church in          nine-day hunger strike in September        the Reformed Churches in The Neth-
theUnitedStates(GermanReformed),              to call attention to the fact that the     erlands (Gereformeerde Kerken or
willcontinue to teach during the 1992-        government of Romania has not pun-         GKN) had dominated the REC since
1993 academic year.                           ished those responsible for N the geno-    1980. When the REC refused to termi-
               Mid-America Messenger          cide during the December 1989 revo-        nate the GKN membership, Church
         l Professor Klaas Runia retired      lution." Tokes was a spark for that        concluded, "The GKN issue contin-
as professor at the Theological Uni-          revolution by his non-violent resis-       ues then to paralyze the REC." Some
versity of Kampen in The Nether-              tance against the Communist regime.        delegates protested the move, but in
lands. Runia, a noted Dutch theolo-           He was afterward elected a bishop in       the end the vote was near unanimous
gian in the Gereformeerde Kerken in           the Hungarian Reformed Church in           for ending their membership. Thus
Nederland (GKN), was an educator,             Romania.                                   the Associate Reformed Presbyteri-
writer, editor, administrator, and                            REC News Exchange          ans join several other denominations,
ecumenist. From 1956 to 1971 he                    OOn September 21 the Council          among them.the Orthodox Presbyte-
taught systematic theology (dogmat-           of the Beverly Christian Reformed          rian Church in America and the Re-
ics) in the Reformed Theological Col-         ChurchinWyomingMichiganunani-              formed Churches in New Zealand,
legein Geelong, Australia. From 1971          mously resolved "that the Beverly          which have withdrawn from the REC
to 1992 Dr. Runia was professor of            Christian Reformed Church cease its        for the same reasons.
practical theology at the GKN semi-           affiliation with the denomination                           REC News Exchange
                                              known as the Christian Reformed
                                              Church in North America, effective         + AIDS: A Teen Nightmare
                                              September 21, 1992." At a subse-                Just how widespread is HIV in-
                                              quent congregational meeting 262 of        fection among American adolescents?
Prof. Decker is professor ofPractical The-    Beverly's 306 communicant members          No one knows. But the number of
ology in the Protestant Reformed Semi-        voted 195 to 67 to support the             teens who have actually developed
nary.                                         Council's resolution. Beverly's ac-        AIDS has increased by more than 70

                                                                                           November 15,1992  I Standard Bearer / 79


I
1t
      percent since 1989, making AIDS the        Center For Disease Control, 19 per-             chastely and temperately, whether in
/     sixth-leading cause of death among         cent of high school students say they           holy wedlock, or in single life." The
[     youth ages 15 to 24.                       have had four or more sex partners;             SeventhCommandmentalso  "forbids
           Given such grim data, more            among high school seniors, the num-             all unchaste actions, gestures, words,
t     evangelicals are challenging Chris-        ber is 29 percent.                              thoughts, desires, and whatever can
IL    tian leaders and denominational offi-            We agree with those many who              enticemen thereto" (HeidelbergCat-
1I    cials toward action, accuracy, and         are saying the church cannot afford to          echism, Q's 108,109). The church and
i     compassion in combating transmis-          ignore these statistics. Indeed, re-            Christian parents must teach the
IP    sion of HIV. Joining the evangelicals      search shows that "church youth in              youth that sex is a wonderful gift of
i     in urging greater Christian involve-       America are not unlike unchurched               God to His people. They must teach
                                                                                                 the youth that God intends sex to be
I     ment is prominent AIDS researcher          youth in their sexual activity today,"
      Robert Redfield  of the Walter Reed        says Shepherd Smith, founder and                for one man and one woman within
I     Army Institute of Research in Wash-        president of Americans for a Sound              the bond of marriage as the highest
1     ington, D. C. Last summer Redfield         AIDS/HIV Policy.                                expression of love between husband
t     led a Washington briefing on teens               What ought Christians do about            and wife and as the means tobring the
      and AIDS.                                  this? Some are suggesting that Chris-           children of God's covenant into the
/          Redfield  attacked current HIV        tians ought to make the abstinence              church.
      prevention efforts that emphasize          message for teens more effective.                    This is what we must be dili-
[     "safer sex" practices among adoles-        Instead of emphasizing the conse-               gently teaching our children. Along
i     cents and others. "Condoms aren't          quences of early sexual activity, such          with this we must monitor carefully
                                                                                                 what they read, where they go, with
[     safer; their dangerous at best," he        as AIDS and unwanted pregnancy,
      told the 117 Christian leaders gath-       they should focus on the benefits of            whom they associate, and what they
!     ered for the meeting. Redfield  cited a    abstinence  - notably, healthy emo-             watch on television. We must teach
I     3 to20percentfailurerate  of condoms.      tional and sexual relationships. A              them as well that HIV/AIDS is the
      "Take a risk that could destroy your       positive message ought to be sent the           terrible judgment of God on an ex-
      life: that's the message we're giving      teens on these matters.                         ceedinglywickedandadulterousgen-
      kids," said Redfield.                            We don't agree! Certainly the             eration. Only obedience to the Sev-
           Rather, Redfield called on Chris-     church must send a positive message             enth Commandment of God's Law of
1     tians to teach sexual responsibility       to her teens, but that message has to           Liberty, and to God's clear teaching
                                                                                                 in the Bible on living chastely within
I     and attack the "myth of the valueless      be more than is suggested above. The
      message" that accepts any sexual be-       church must continue to preach and              and outside of the marriage bond,
!     havior in any setting. He called "bidi-    teach the truth of God's Word on this           will stop the deadly AIDS epidemic
I     rectional monogamy" the soundest           matter. The Word of God is, "Thou               "in its tracks." May God give us
      medical policy and one that could          shalt not commit adultery." This, the           much grace so to live and so to in-
      "stop this epidemic in its tracks."        Seventh Commandment, teaches us                 struct our sons and daughtersin these
I          Teens with multiple sexualpart-       "that all uncleanness is accursed of            last days in which so much lawless-
I     ners face the greatest risks. Accord-      God: and that therefore we must with            ness abounds. 0
      ing to a recent study released by the      all our hearts detest the same, and live                           Christianity Today
I

;
1
1!         Ecclesiastical -Functionaries

                                                       In all assemblies there shall be not      assemblies. There must be a presi-
I                                                only a president, but also a clerk to keep a    dent to preside over the meeting. The
                                                 faithful record  of  all important maffers.     specific duties of the president will be
                                                               Church Order,  Article 34         treated in Article 35. Besides the
                                                                                                 president, there must also be a clerk
I     Rev. Cammenga  is pastor of the Profes-    Ecclesiastical Functionaries                    to record the minutes of the assembly.
      tariff  Reformed  Church  of  Loveland,          This article requires that there          It is especially the duties of the clerk
      Colorado.                                  be two officers at all ecclesiastical           that are treated in this article.

      80 /Standard Bearer / November 15,1992


       Although these two functionar-              The Synod has not one but two           The Stated Clerk
  ies must be present at all our assem-       clerks, a first clerk and a second clerk.         Besides the clerk of each assem-
  blies, Article 34 does not prohibit the     The second clerk is not an assistant         bly, our classes and synod have also a
  election of other minor functionaries.      clerk who functions only if for some         "stated clerk."
  All our assemblies also elect a vice-       reason the first clerk is unable to per-          Our churches have appended
  president. Our consistories generally       form his duties. But the second clerk        the following decision to Article 33:
  elect a general-adjunct or vice-all.        is to keep a parallel set of minutes, so
  Synod elects a second clerk.                that at all times Synod may have two           The major assemblies shall also have
       What authority have ecclesiasti-       copies of its decisions.                       a stated clerk, who however shall not
  cal functionaries? They do not exer-             Why is the faithful keeping of a          hold the position of permanent sec-
  cise a superior authority over their        faithful record important? Certainly,          retary, and who shall not be a mem-
                                                                                             ber of the assemblies' officers, but
  fellow officebearers who are a part of      in the first place, so that the churches       that of deputy to serve the classis  or
  the assembly. They are merely func-         may know exactly what was decided              synod with services which wouId
  tionaries chosen by the assembly for        by the assembly. In addition, so that          otherwise constitute the task of such
  the purpose of serving the assembly         in the future there be no needless             a functionary.
  in the orderly and expeditious treat-       duplication of work; past decisions
  ment of its business. Their powers are      are readily accessible. For this rea-             The stated clerkis not a member
  limited by the Church Orckr and by          son, too, it is good that the classical      of the assemblies' officers per se.  That
  the rules of order of the assembly.         and synodical  decisions be indexed          is, he is not one of the officers of the
  Their authority is not over the assem-      and that the index be kept current. It       assembly by virtue of his being the
  bly, but only within and at all times       is also important that the decisions of      stated clerk. If he happens to be
  subject to it. When the assembly            the assemblies be recorded, so that          chosen as one of the functionaries, or
  adjourns, their office ceases.              the work of the assemblies may be            his turn comes up in the rotation, that
       How are ecclesiastical function-       preserved for thebenefit of the future       is a different matter. But his being
  aries chosen? In the consistory the         church.                                      stated clerk does not make him auto-
  various functionaries are elected, with          With regard to the minutes, each        matically an officer of the assembly.
  the exception of the president, who is      assembly must approve its own min-           As stated clerk, he has no vote, not
  the minister (cf. Article 37). At the       utes. Ordinarily two decisions are           even advisory vote, unless it is spe-
  classis meetings officers are chosen        taken to safeguard the accuracy of the       cifically grantedhimby the assembly.
  from among the minister delegates           minutes. A decision approving the            He has no ecclesiastical authority in
  by alphabetical rotation. Whoever is        script or concept minutes is taken at        himself and by virtue of his being the
  next in alphabetical rotation serves as     the conclusion of the meeting itself. A      statedclerk. Hemayonlydowhat the
  president. The next in alphabetical         decision approving the transcribed           assembly authorizes him to do. He
  order after the president serves as the     minutes is taken at the following            need not even be a serving office-
  vice-president and will be president        meeting. The approved transcribed            bearer; Classis East of our churches,
  at the next meeting. The last serving       minutes are to be signed by the clerk        for example, utilizes the services of a
  president functions as the clerk. At        and by the president.                        capable layman.
  synod, functionaries are chosen by a              Are the minutes of the ecclesias-           In their rules of order, both
  free election from among the minister       tical assemblies open to public in-          classes and synod spell out rather
  delegates.                                  spection? Generally this is so. For          carefully the duties of the stated clerk.
                                              this reason the  Acts  of our synods are     In general, his duties include entering
  The Work of the Clerk                       published annually for distribution          the permanent minutes into the record
       Article 34 describes the work of       among the members of the churches.           book, preparation of the agenda for
  the clerk as ".,.. keep(irig) a faithful    Even consistory decisions are open to        the meeting, preserving the assembly
  record of all important matters."           the inspection of the members of the         archives, and taking care of all official
       The main duty of the clerk, or         church. However, there are items             correspondence on behalf of the as-
  secretary, is to record the decisions of    that must be kept within the assembly        sembly.
  the assembly, as well as file all the       itself, usually discipline cases, al-             It is worth noting that early in
  supplemental material that bears on         though the parties involved are en-          the history of the Reformed churches
  the decisions that are taken. The           titled to a certified copy of all deci-      there was resistance to the appoint-
  formal decisions taken by the body          sions which pertain to their case.           ment of stated clerks by the assem-
  are to be accurately recorded. This         Generally, discipline cases are treated      blies. The reason for this was the fear
  does not include the discussion that        in closed session at the broader as-         of hierarchy. It was felt that the ap-
~ pertains to each decision, only the         semblies - only delegates and pres-          pointment of stated clerks gave too
  decision itself. Included should also       ently serving officebearers are per-         much authority to one man. In sev-
  be the grounds upon which more              mitted to be present for the treatment       eral denominations today that fear
  important decisions are made.               of these matters.                            has been realized. Stated clerks have

                                                                                             November 15,1992 I Standard Bearer I91


become exceedingly powerful. In               cal or synodical meeting., This church      reported to and approved by those
some denominations they-even exer-            would then also be responsible f,or         assemblies.,
cise decisive determination with re-          convening'the next classis or synod.             There can be no question about
gard to what does and what does not                Although there may be a certain        it that the stated clerks of our classes
appear on the agenda of the assem-            danger of hierarchy connected to the        and synodpei$orm  an invaluable ser-'
blies.                                        appointment of stated clerks, this          vice to our assemblies and churches.
          To guard against the danger of      danger can easily be avoided by the         Many .houis are spent in taking care'
hierarchy, Joh. Jansen favored the            assemblies themselves seeing  toit that     of correspondence`; compiling  age&
appointment of a certain church to do         the stated clerks remain directly re-       das, and recording and publishing'
the work of the stated clerk, thus            sponsible to the assemblies. Their          minutes.' We ought to be grateful for
spreading the responsibility over an          work is to be confined to that which is     the indispensable assistance that they
entire consistory. A different church         delegated to them by the assemblies,        render to the~efficient  functioning of
would be appointed after each classi-         and their actions, are always to be         our broader assemblies. o





                                  I Timothy  l':l-Il.  I

     WebeginourstudyofITimothy                Jesus. This is clearly worded in verse      very presence of God. The pure shall'
under the motto which Jesus suggests          five, where we read, "Now the end of        see God as He is. Fromsuch a pure
in John 5:39: "Search the Scriptures . . .    the commandment is love `(charity)          heart flows the pure waters of the
they are they which testify of (con-          out of a pure heart, and of a good          Christ, the fountain. Such have a
cerning) me. fl                               conscience, and of faith unfeigned."'       good conscience before God and.man.
          Our great desire is `that these          The apostolic `gospel-truth. is        He knows before the commandment.
lessons will be of benefit to your dili-      briefly summed'up in verse five. The        that he is pure and undefiled, And
gent searching of all the Scriptures, in      subjective essence of this gospel truth.    such a one knows with,`@eat spiritual
both Testaments, Old and New!                 is a matter of the regenerated, born-       joy that this end of the law is the]
          A brief, clear, and lucid inter-    anew heart. Notice.the text. The term       "perfectness': (Cal. 3:1$ of love real,-
pretation willbe made under the two-          "heart" is used to designate-the spiri-     ized. It is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal.
fold headings:                                tual seat both.of  the good heart of the    5:22-26).,ReadHeidelbergCatechism,
     Firstly, the great basic distinc-        new man in Christ and of the man            question and answer 86 very care-
tion between the apostolic gospel-            who is purely "natural man." (Read          fully and thoughtfully..`By  all means
truth concerning the fulfilled law of         Matthew5:8,28;  62.5; 15:8; John 12:40:)    alsoreadDeuteronomy6:4-6,  Do you
God, and the legalistic use of the law:       It is the powerful and saving opdra-        think that Deuteronomy  6:6 refers to
by teachers who deny and destroy the          tion of the Spirit of Christ that canand    being able merely to recite the words
gospel of the cross.                          does make the hating enemy of God a         in verses four and five as the fulfill-
     Secondly, the spiritual'nature of        lover of God.' He does this by shed-        ment of the perfection of the law, or
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ       ding His love abroad in the hearts of       do those words, "shall be in thine
                                              the elect, yet dead -sinner (Rom. 5:5-      hear," refer to the.new covenant of
                                              12; Eph. 2:1-10). .                         grace-spoken of in Jeremiah 31:31-34;
                                                  Now the end of the great coni-`,        Hebrews 8:8-13; 10:7-177
                                              mandment is the pure, active love of.            To, fl search out!' this matter .of
                                              God flowing forth from a pure heart.        the law written in our hearts, make a
                                              For the concept "pure in heart," see        stu.dy of Hebrews 10:5;. Read also
Rev. Lubbers isa minister emeritus in the     Matthew 5:8. Only such see God (I           Psalm 40:7-9.
Protestant Reformed Churches.                 John 3:2,3). A pure heart fits in the            When we' read I Timothy we

82 /Standard Bearer I November 15,1992


must remember that this great mys-               That is thebasicpoint, a seeming        the commandments of God in both
tery of the gospel had all been clearly     trifle, that the law-preachers were          the first and second table of the law.
setforthandpreachedintheEphesian            wholly ignorant of. Alas, they prated        Read the .list in I Timothy 1:lO. 0
church. Paul had not held back so           to be men of knowledge. But Paul             what a list of sins in which we all were
that he did not teach to these churches     correctly says in I Timothy 6:20 that        dead even .as the others! That was
"all the counsel of God." Surely the        they "are falsely so called." By whom        before we were createdin Christ Jesus
gospel of the sovereign God Paul had        are they thus denominated? By true           unto good works which God pre-
written to these churches, as we read       andbelievingsaints? Not at all. They         pared that we should walk in them
in Ephesians 2:11-3:12.                     are so called by Satan, who is the           (Eph. 2:1-10).  But we learn from the
     In spite of all of this, "some" had    "father of the lie" (John8:43,44).  These    gospelofthegloryoftheblessedGod,
risen from the midst of theseEphesian       teachers of "law" are spiritual"pseud-       that where sin abounded grace does
churches who were preaching mere            onyms." They go about as teachers of         much more abound (Rom. 5:15-21).
human law-works. But this was a             the truth of the gospel, but they "lie,"     Such is the manifested saving glory of
wholly different gospel  .which was         theylovedarkness; they hate thelight.        the most blessed fount of grace and
not good news for poor sinners, dead        The central focus-point of their ha-         life. (Read II Corinthians 3:4ff.) We
in their trespasses and sins. It            tred is that they believe not in the         do not need to fear that verdict of God
preached that a man must do good            name of the only begotten Son of God         daybyday. Wemaynotbefilledwith
works, keep the law perfectly, merit        (John 3:18-21).                              terrible fears to be assigned to the
the right to dwell in God's house.               Had these teachers of law truly         bottomless pit of hell. We no more see
However, they could never come to           understood that the law is not set to        the glory of the law-giving; rather we
"faith," never attain to love out of a      condemn all sinners in the court of the      see the glory of the most blessed God
pure heart and a good conscience.           most high God, but only a certain            in the face of Jesus Christ. This is the
They would either live in desperate         kind of sinners, they would have ab-         power of the gospel of the glory of the
fear of death and hellbefore a just and     stained from the folly of maintaining        blessed God. It is the mystery of
holy Judge, or flatter themselves to        that a sinner has the "free will" to do      godliness which is great. We pray
have attained to perfection by the          the law apart from the grace of Godin        with all the saints of all ages that the
righteousness of the law. Paul once         Christ. Yes,, then they would have           Lord who is the Spirit may grant us to
lived in this vain illusion of being        noticed the truth of the gospel, the         look with uncovered face that we
acceptable to God, ofbeingblameless         fulfillment of the promise of God' to        may view as in a glass (mirror) the
before Him. But when the grace of           Abraham, as later clearly connecting         glory of the Lord. 0 what a glorious
God was manifested in him; then all         salvation with the blood of the sacri-       gospel which is the power of God
these external keepings of the law,         ficial Lamb at the Passover. "And            unto salvation for everyone who be-
which he had held to be gain, he saw        when I see the blood I will pass over."      lieves, first the Jew and also the Greek
to be loss when he had received the         Notice that Genesis 15:8ff. indicates             We no longer are judged as be-
excellency of the knowledge of Christ       very clearly that it will be the offering    lievers according to the law. No, we
Jesus his Lord (Phil. 3:3-11).              andpromise'madeunilaterallyby God            are now measured,  .in our lifelong
     Yes; those who "willed" to be          which vouchsafes the great sacrifice         battle, by the Gospel of the glory of
preachers of law are very ignorant of       by blood, which fully satisfies every        the blessed God, Amen! Even the
the laws given by Moses. They really        demand of the perfect law. That is the       function of the law has changed. The
never understood the Scriptures. Paul       great point whichthe law-teachers at         promise was fulfilled at Calvary. Here
says of such law teachers that they are     Ephesus willfully neglected to teach.        the handwriting which was against
mere babblers who give heed to end-         They would have the law set every            us was fulfilled once and for all (II
less genealogies. Such would-be             sinner, justified or not, under the con-     Cor.3:15-21;Heb.9:18-28).  Weshould
teachers of the Scriptures do not un-       demnation as condemned men in                all take to heart, both ministers and
derstand the very ABC's, the first          "death row" unless they keep the law         congregations, the words of Galatians
principles, either of the "law" or of       of righteousness by works of the law.        3:24: "The law has been ("fully be-
the "gospel." Strong words, yet true        Read the woes of Christ upon such            cornen - Greekgegonen)  a Peedagogue,
words. They do not understand the           thieves and robbers, teachers of the         a severe schoolmaster, unto Christ. It
rock-bottomfactswhichPaulexplains           law, in Luke 11:49-52.                       drove the Old Testament saints unto
in Galatians 3:18-22. The one great              But according to the "gospel of         Christ, as portrayed in the types and
fact is that God never gave a law at        the glory of the blessed God" there          shadows of the law. It was during the
Sinai which could give Zife to a dead       are millions, a numberless throng of         time appointed of the Father that the
sinner. If the law, the decalogue,          sinners of the deepest dye, who are          Old Testament believers were under
could give life to a sinner dead in         not in "death row." Yes, by nature           tutors and governors "until the time
trespasses and sins, children of wrath      they all were once such sinners who          appointed!" That time was the full-
even as the "others," then the cross        did every possible thing contrary to         ness of time; when Christ came under
was simply unnecessary forever!             the perfect-laws of God; they broke all      a woman and under the (curse) of the

                                                                                           November l&l992  I Standard Bearer / 83


law to ransom all the sons who were                 walk of all Christians, establishing          This shuts the mouth of every anti-
under law, in order thatthey might                  forever the unity of the law and gos-         nomist as well as that of the  neo-
receive the adoption. Praise Jehovah!               pel; and if this is the only standard in      nomists, does it not? Was Saul/Paul
What a Jesus, our Savior, who came to               heaven and hell in this age and in the        wittingly or "in  ignorancen  kicking
save His people from their sins (Gal.               age to come, does this not make it            against the pricks? What did Jesus
41-6; M&t. 1:21).                                   necessary for the unbelievers, who            ask him when He appeared to him as
                                                    shall never see life, to squirm that          the Lord of glory? Read Acts 9:5,6.
           *     *     F     *     *     *     *    they be not crushed to' dust by the           Do you comprehend the eternal
Some suggested questions:                           chief cornerstone laid in Zion?               depths that there were to this trem-
    ,1. Is it grammatically and ex-                     3. There are everand  anew those          bling of Saul?
egetically established that God our                 who would unlawfully use the law
Savior and Lord Jesus Christ are one                under the argument that by the teach-             4. Is it ever the experience of a
in essence and divinity? That these                 ing of salvation by grace alone "men          converted saint that his confidence of
are one in the same in essence in the               aremadecareless andprofane." How              being a new creation in Christ made
great mighty work of our salvation                  do the fathers of the sixteenth century       him to plunge himself in the morass
from death and hell - is this crystal               Reformation answer this  calumny?             of hellish temptation? Or does this
clear from John l&1-11? Is this the                 See Heidelberg Catechism Questions            new creaturehood in Christ make it
great mystery of godliness in a nut-                62-64. What Bible texts are quoted to         principally impossible to sin, but to
shell?                                              prove the spiritual impossibility of          purify-himself as God is pure? Are
                                                    these bald and senseless assertions?          these .the pure in heart who shall see
    2. If the gospel of the glory of                See Luke 17:lO; Matthew 7:17,1; John          God? I John  3:1-6.  0
the blessed God is the rule of faith and            15:5. There is also Romans  6:1-14.





    The SC8xkwd BeaPeranci the
                             C o v e n a n t   Familp

*Text of thespeech delivered at the annual          in strengthening the family, or does it       content with the present format of
meeting  of  the RFPA on September 24,              have little to do with addressing the         our Standard Bearer.
1992.                                               needs of a covenant family? That                   Neither is it my.intent or pur-
                                                    question our theme does not answer.           pose to suggest new and innovative
         The subject before us implies              For that reason it is perhaps best that       ways the RFPA can promote the use
there is a relationship between the                 we clarify our intent or purpose with         of the Standard Bearer in our homes
Standard Bearer and the family,`but it              respect `to this subject.                     and families. We ought not busy
says nothing as to what that relation-                   It is not my intention, first of all,    ourselves in devising some kind of
ship is. Is the Standard Bearer useful              to propose a new title for our periodi-       new scheme or strategy by which the
                                                    cal-atitlethatzerosinonthefamily.             Standard Bearer can be used more
                                                    Nor am I, in connection with this,            effectively in the home or family. So
                                                    going to suggest a new format to this         it is not my purpose to initiate some
                                                    periodical in order that it might "fo-        kind of promotional campaign.
                                                    cus onthe family" in a more intensive              My purpose, however, is to ex-
Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of the First Prot-          way. Inmypersonalestimation those             amine how the Standard Bearer al-
estant Reformed Church ,of Holland,                 periodicals that do so become rather          ready is an important means used in
Michigan.                                           oldhat andrepetitious. Iamperfectly           strengthening our families. It is not a

84 /Standard  Bearer I November 15,1992


periodical that can become effective in     opinions concerning the family. If a         ther need we speak of the necessity of
promoting the covenant family; it is a      man and woman wish to live together          faithfulness in the marriage state.
periodical which is at present,  and in     outside the holy bond of marriage,           Scripture is abundantly clear on all of
its-present form, a good and effective      and even to have children outside            this in many passages. Just allow me
tool in strengthening our homes and         that bond, then society ought to .ac-        to read the words of Solomon in Prov-
families.                                   cept this as a legitimate family. If a       erbs 5:18-20: "Let, thy fountain be
        * *.*  *  *  *  i                   young woman desires to havea child           blessed: and rejoice with the wife of
     In making the claim that the           without a husband, then we ought to          thy youth. Let her be as the loving
Standard Beareris  an effective means       extend to her the courtesy of calling        hind and pleasa,nt  roe; let her breasts
in strengthening the family we must         her, with her illegitimate child, a fam-     satisfy thee at all times; and be thou
be clear on what we mean by the             ily. If a mother and father divorce and      ravished always with her love. And
family. We have been hearing much           divide the children between them,            why wilt thou, my son, be ravished
about this subject in the news of late.     and continue as single parent fami-          with a strange woman, and embrace
Ever sinceVice-President  Quaylepub-        lies, or remarry and mix their chil-         the bosom of a stranger?" That man
licly denounced one of the many im-         dren with other children of another          and his one wife together, then, al-
moral and sinful sitcoms on televi-         divorced person, so what? This is an         ready make up the family unit.
sion for glorifying the birth of a child    acceptable family. Even if homosexu-              But that family unit is truly
by a single, unwed mother, the debate       als decide to cohabit, or even "marry,"      brought to its completion and ful-
as to what constitutes a proper family      this is a perfectly legitimate family. It    filled when children are added. One
has persisted between him and the           does not matter if God's Word and            certainly may not overlook the de:
media. Mr. Quayle wishes to main-           commandments are ignored. It does            scription given in Psalm 127~3-5 or
tain what he calls the "traditional         not matter if the relationship is a sin-     Psalm 128:3-4.  Here is the picture of
family," while Hollywood and the            ful one. As long as there is "commit-        the biblical family: "Thywife  shall be
media want to extend the idea of the        ment, caring, and love." That is. all        as a fruitfulvine by the sides of thine
family. Our own Grand Rapids Press          that matters! It surely is true thatif we    house;. thy children like olive plants
just a few days ago seems to have           follow this wicked definition of the         round about thy table." That is the
given its approval of the definition of     family, the family will come "in all         f a m i l y !
the family presented in the sitcom.         shapes and sizes"!                                I realize, of course, that there are
The Press quotes the definition of the           But not so with God! And, not           exceptions to this definition. At times,
family which was publicly aired on          so, therefore, with the church! The          for example,. the Lord withholds chil-
thatTVprogramasfollows,"Perhaps             biblical family (notice, I do not `say       dren,,from a marriage. At times the
it is time for the vice-president to        traditional family) can be defined as        Lord, as well, may take away one's
expand his definition and recognize         "one man and one woman, who are              spouse through death or even by
that whether by choice or circum-           legally married before church and,           means of their unfaithfulness. Cer-
stance, families come in all shapes         state, and who live together in love,        tainly, the church accepts these as
and sizes. And ultimately, what re-         bringing forth those children God has        families  - not as oddities. They are
ally defines a family is commitment,        chosen to give to them."                     far, far from that! But these families
caring and love."                                The biblical family begins with         are different-from thebiblicalnorm-
     We repudiate that definition of        and therefore is grounded in the man.        not `because they themselves have
the family! Yet it is exactly this con-     God created Adam first, and that,            chosen or desired to be, not because
cept of the family that has swept the       quite obviously,without  his wife. God       they felt there were better alterna-
nation. The wicked world .and soci-         did this in order that Adam might            tives to choose, but because it was
ety in their books and magazines, in        learn personally what God said in            God Himselfwho rendered them such.
their movies;and in their supposedly        Genesis 2:18, "it is not good that man            When we say, therefore, that the
innocent television comedies propa-         should be alone." The same is true           Standard Bearer  plays a role in
gate almost every form of sinful liv-       today: the godly man knows that              strengthening families we bear in
ing. And these simply reflect what          what will truly~ make him happy in           mind that we refer to the Scriptural
has become true of our nation as a          life is to find a wife. So says Solomon      family. The Standard Bearer does
whole:  God's  standard of what is          too in Proverbs 18:22: II Whoso findeth      nothing to strengthen a sinful family,
right and good is ignored or,' worse,       a wife findeth a good thing, and             save perhaps to admonish them of
blatantly denied. Wicked man re-            obtaineth favor of the Lord." The            their sin and call them to repentance.
defines for himself what he considers       man therefore goes out and finds him-        The Standard Bearer addresses the
right and good. What is the family?         self a wife.                                 biblical family.
Well, he says, the family comes in all           We need not address the sanc-                But it is not simply a biblical
shapes and sizes, and is defined only       tity of marriage or the need to speak        family whose needs are addressedby
by commitment, caring, and love.            the vows of marriage as the only way         the Standard Bearer. More particu-
     This opens the door to all sorts of    to consummate that marriage. Nei-            larly, the SB addresses the needs of a

                                                                                           November 15,1992  I Standard Bearer I85


covenant family. And that, by far, is of                                                  done in every article we find in this
the greatest s&n.ificance.  There are               A covenant family                     publication. But then, that is not the
many people who yet today follow                        is one that is                    point at issue here. When I read such
the pattern of the biblical family, but                                                   rubrics as, "The Strength of Youth,"
who do so for reasons wholly other              not only concerned with                   or"WhenThouSittestinThyHouse,"
than spiritual ones. They follow the            their calling in the home                 or when I read guest articles address-
pattern simply because it is the tradi-            toward one another,                    ing the subject of home and family,
tional thing to do; such is the stron-              but also interested                   then I find articles that set the Scrip-
gest of family units. Or they follow it         in their role in the church               tural standard for life and relation-
because they feel it is expected of                                                       ships in the covenant family. These
them by their family and acquaintan-         of Jesus Christ in this world.               articles, in a very practical as well as
ces. Families of this sort, though they                                                   biblical way, address difficulties and
follow the biblical pattern of the fam-                                                   temptations which parents, youth,
ily, nevertheless see no need for God             What perhaps ought to receive           and children confront in their lives.
or His Word to be the basis of the           the real emphasis when defining the          And these articles present biblical
family. Families of this sort, no doubt,     covenant family is this: we speak of a       solutions as well. In that way the
would not even think of subscribing          familywhichknows that they together          Standard Bearer  speaks directly to
to the  Standard Bearer. Or if they did,     belong to an even larger family- the         the needs of the covenant home and
they would simply set it out as a table      family of God! A covenant family is          family, And in that way, too, the
ornament, and never read it.                 one that is not only concerned with          Standard Bearer  strengthens and en-
        We are speaking, however, of         their calling in the home toward one         courages the members of the family
the role of the Standard Bearer in the       another, but also interested in their        in their roles in the home. Never can
life and home of a covenant family-          role .in the church of Jesus Christ in       the complaint be leveled against the
in the life and home of a husband and        this world. They are vitally inter-          Standard Bearer that it ignores the
wife who take their calling toward           ested in what is going on in the world       specific needs of the family.
one another seriously. A husband             around them, and even more so in                  At the same time, of course;we
and -wife who love each other and            what is happening in their own de-           realize that the Standard Beareris  not
who, as heirs together of the grace of       nomination. This is the biblical, cov-       a publication all the articles of which
life, seek to reflect the relationship of    enant family to which we refer. And          address these relationships in the
Christ and the church in their mar-          it is to this family that the Standard       home. It is not a magazine devoted
riage. Likewise, we refer to parents         Bearer is of greatest benefit. This          strictly to marriage, or parenting, or
who take their covenant vows seri-           family, the StandurdBearerat  present        the problems of youth. As we men-
ously. They are parents who view             and in its present form, strengthens         tioned earlier, this is not its intent or
their children as children of the cov-       and encourages. And it does this in a        purpose either. But we must not
enant. They take seriously the corn7         unique way, that is, in a way that few       conclude that the  Standard Bearer
mand to teach their children, by word,       other periodicals do.
                                                      *  *  *  *  +  *  Y                 has therefore precious little to offer as
by example, and by discipline in the                                                      far as the strengthening of our cov-
fear of the Lord. They are parents                I .believe  the Standard Bearer         enant families is concerned; This is
who avail themselves of every oppor-         defines  in concrete terms the standard      far from true!                _'
tunity and means to stimulate in their       of the covenant family itself. In many            We are talking about a covenant
children aninterest in the Gospel and        articles I have read, and still read, the    family, remember. We are talking
in the church of Jesus Christ in this        Standard Bearer addresses itself di-         about husbands and wives and young
world. In their rising up and their          rectly to the calling of husbands and        people who are active in school andin
lying down they seek to instill within       wives toward one another. It ad-             the church, and in the world at large,
their children the precepts of their         dresses as well the calling of parents       just as well as in the home and family.
God.                                         toward their children and the calling        We are talking about parents and
        We speak as well of children                                                      children who are vitally interested in
who have come to know their place in                                                      studying the Word-of God and the
the church and the covenant; and                   *.. the  Standard Bearer               history of the church; interested in
who revealby  their conversation and           strengthens`and  encourages                what is happening in their denomina-
walk that they too are concerned with          the members of the family                  tion, on the mission field, and in the
God's cause and covenant in this                in their roles in the home.               church of Christ at large. All this is
world. We speak of children who,                                                          part of the covenant life of the church
with theirparents, clingto the cross of                                                   and of the families in it.
Jesus Christ, not seeking their righ-                                                          The  Standard Bearer  supplies all
teousness in themselves, but seeking         of children towards those in author-         this. When we pick up the  Standard
it in Christ alone.                          ity over them. I know that this is not       Bearer we read articles which ex-

88 /Standard Bearer / November 15,1992


pound to us the Scriptures or which           we not, covenant families?                  the heart of the issue: the faith of the
teach us the proper interpretation of              But there is one more unique           child:of God.
the Scriptures. We read other articles        way the Standard Bearer strengthens               The strength of a covenant fam-
which teach us, young and old alike,          the covenant -family. Many of its           ily is the faith they share in common
about our precious Reformed heri-             articles direct God's people to what is     - a faith rooted in the cross of our
tage- the great doctrines of the Scrip-       the one and only strength of the fam-       Lord Jesus Christ. When a husband
tures. Still other articles keep us           ily: the cross of Jesus Christ. Far too     and wife, or when parents and chil-
abreast of what is happening in our           manyreligiousperiodicals today have         dren, share in a certain knowledge
own churches, as well as in churches          become, at worst, humanistic, and at        and an assured confidence that inlife
about us. Articles teach us of our            best, moralistic. Some direct their         and death, both in body and soul,
Church Order, our confessions, or the         articles to families that are far from      they belong to Jesus, then that faith
roles we must assume in the church as         biblical, and are in fact sinful family-    will strengthen them in their place in
men and women. When editorials                units. These articles actually encour-      the home and outside the sphere of
and letters are read, we and our chil-        age them in their sin by giving them        the family. The vast majority of the
drenlearn of the differences that exist       what is considered to be helpful ad-        articles of the  Standard Bearer serve
in the churches of our day, and are           vice on how to make the best of it in       in one way or another to direct our
able to analyze them according to the'        their lives. Other periodicals address      attention to our Savior. And that,
Scriptures. And we can go on and on.          issues in the lives of families simply      after all is said and done, is the strength
     But the point is this: all of this is    from a moralistic point of view: ten        of our  Standard Bearer. It is a strength
needed to strengthen the covenant             easy steps to a happy marriage, help-       that ought not to be overlooked, be-
family - adults as well as children!          ful hints in establishing a good rela-      cause it is a strength we need as hus-
To alter dramatically the  Standard           tionship with your teenager, how to         bands and wives, parents and chil-
Bearerin  order to focus on the family        deal with overbearing parents, and          dren, to fulfill our callings in the king-
would be a terrible mistake. The              such like. And although some of the         dom of God. For that reason we give
Standard Bearer is accomplishing the          points can be well taken and are inter-     thanks to our faithful God that we
strengthening of the family more in           esting enough, nevertheless they fall       have our  Standard Bearer.  We en-
its present form than if it were to be        far short of the heart of the issue..       courage the RFPA, the editor, and the
narrowed down such that it called             Little reference, if any, is made to the    writers of our  Standard Bearer.  Per-
ourattentiononlytorolesinthehome.             Scriptures and to the commands of           severe in this work of the Lord. God
We are interested in our roles in the         God's Word. They address morals,            bless you in your efforts! 0
church and in this world as well, are         but they fail to direct themselves to





   Secretary's Annual Report to
                                              the RFPA

                                                   "The purpose of this Associa-'              Carrying out this purpose
                                              tion shallbe: 1) to witness to the truth    through the publication of  twenty-
                                              contained in the Word of God and            one issues of the Standard Bearer each
                                              expressed in the ThreeForms  of Unity.      year is no small task. Consequently a
                                              2) to reveal false and deceptive views      word of appreciation to those who
                                              repugnant thereto" (The Constitution        contribute to this work is certainly
                                              of the Reformed Free Publishing As-         fitting. However, this writer feels
                                              sociation, Article II). The  Standard       inadequate to the task. How can we
Mr. K&be&is  an elder in Hope Protes-         Bearer  has been faithful to that pur-      properly express our appreciation to
tant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids,         pose now for sixty-eight consecutive        our editor, Prof. Engelsma, and the
Michigan.                                     years.                                      writers of articles for our magazine

                                                                                            November 15,1992 / Standard Bearer / 87


for their faithful contributions? What      magazine is being done by others.           the Protestant Reformed Churches.
do we say to our Business Manager,               So, what are we doing with all         This idea originated with the Cov-
Don Doezema, for the tremendous             this money? The Board is conscious          enant ReformedFellowshipinNorth-
part he has had in the publication of       of our responsibility to be good stew-      ern Ireland, and currently a number
the SB; particularly as the link be-        ards of the monies at hand. We are          of Protestant Reformed evangelism
tween the Editorial Staff and the           also very much aware of the first           committees are using our advertise-
R.F.P.A. Board, which so much con-          sentence in the preamble to our con-        ments to promote the StandardBearer
tributes to a smooth and effective          stitution, viz., "The members of the        and at the same time establish `new
working relationship? Can we ad-            Reformed Free Publishing Associa-           contacts in their immediate localities.
equately thank Judi Doezema for her         tion have organized for the express              Further, the Board has gone on
workof typesetting and other clerical       purpose of witnessing to the Reformed       record "to encourage the editorial
work, including the work of updating        truth." Consequently we have been           staff and business manager to con-
the Standard Bearer index that she          active in trying to promote the Stan-       tinue to look into new ways to make
has been doing with her mother, Mrs.        dard Bearer in a variety of ways.           the Standard Bearer more attractive"
Helen Bylsma, during this past year?             One way we have tried to pro-          (Article 5, June 5,1992  R.F.P.A Board
What should we say to those who             mote the Reformed truth through the         minutes). We are sure that you have
regularly help mail out our publica-        Standard Bearer is by means of ad-          already noticed some past attempts
tion? Then there are our subscribers,       vertising in other religious periodi-       to ti spruce up" our magazine by means
who regularly send more - often             cals. This canbe expensive; it can also     of an occasional color cover. Some
much more -money than the cost of           be rewarding. During this past year         sizable gifts designated specifically
their subscriptions; and the Protes-        we have placed advertisements in            for this purpose have been gratefully
tant Reformed Churches which regu-          Evangelical Times, Christian Re-            received and used.
larly place the Standard Bearer on          newal, Christianity Today,  and  God's           Also, the R.F.P.A. Board contin-
their collection schedules; and indi-       World. As a result, 156 people asked        ues its introductory offer of a year's
viduals who have contributed large          for the offered free copies of the Stan-    subscription to new subscribers for a
amounts of money to improve the             dard Bearer and we gained 52 new            mere six dollars.
appearance of our magazine: these           subscribers. In today's advertising              And we should add that the
too, are worthy of our thanks. It is our    world, that's "small potatoes" and          Board is open to suggestions from
prayer that all who faithfully contrib-     hardly worth the investment. How-           you, our faithful constituents, for
ute to the publication of the Standard      ever, when considered in light of the       other ideas for enhancing and pro-
Bearer  may experience in this labor of     fact that others are being exposed to       moting our  Standard Bearer.
love the blessing of our Covenant           the truth by this means, it becomes              There you have some of the ac-
God!                                        considerably more significant. It is        tivities of the R.F.P.A. Board over the
        Those who listened carefully to     the Board's intent to continue "wit-        past year. We are thankful that God
the treasurer's report noticed that the     nessing to the Reformed truth" by           has provided the means for us to
Standard Bearer is currently in excel-      means of advertising.                       carry out this work. And we pray for
lent shape financially. Our balance              Another attempt of the Board to        faithfulness to Him in the continuing
has almost quadrupled since 1990.           promote the distribution of the Stan-       work of honoring Him by means of
There are at least three reasons for        dardBearerwas  to offer the use of our      our publication: the StandardBearer.
this dramatic increase. First, over the     advertisements and free copies of the                                            0
past five years money received as           SB  to the evangelism committees of
gifts has almost exactly doubled; we
believe this is strong evidence for a
healthy interest in and appreciation
for our publication. Second, during
that same five-year period the num-
ber of subscribers has increased by
20%. The third reason for the sizable
balance can be attributed to the sav-
ings of approximately $300.00 per is-
sue because of changes in the publica-
tion process. That's a savings of over
$5,000.00  per year! Most of this is due
to the fact that the composition of the
Standard Bearer is being done at our
seminary by Mrs. Doezema. Cur-
rently only the actual printing of our             Judi Doezema and John and Hermie Veldman prepare SBfor mailing

08 /Standard Bearer / Npvember 151992


                                          Patience

      A striking passage on the subject of patience is James 5:1-11. After the apostle has warned the rich against
fraudulently keeping back the wages of the laborers while they themselves lived in pleasure and wantonness,
he writes, "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for
the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receives the early and latter rains. Be ye also
patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." This passage really brings together all
the Scriptural teaching on the Christian virtue of patience. When elders and ministers call on the saints in
hospitals and rest homes, they see this wonderful fruit of the Spirit almost every time they visit.
     In the Old Testament we find patience mentioned only three times. It is a word whose root means to tarry
or to wait. Most often the idea of patience is expressed in the Hebrew by the phrase "waiting on the Lord" (Ps.
37~1, Is. 25~9).  In the New Testament there are especially two words: one means to be of long spirit, to persevere
patiently, to bear the offenses and injuries of others, to be long suffering, to be slow to anger; the other emphasizes
steadfastness, the endurance of trials, the patient waiting for the lifting of burdens. Patience is that virtue of the
child of God whereby he willingly suffers persecution and hardship, without a thought of retaliation or rebellion,
in the knowledge that all things are ordained-for his good, and every wrong he suffers will be avenged by God.
     The child of God brings forth fruit with patience (Luke 8:15); waits with patience for that which he sees not
(Rom. 8:25); has need of patience (Heb. 10:36);  runs with patience the race that is set before him (Heb. 12:l);
understands that the trial of faith works patience, whichis such a crowning virtue that if a man has it he is perfect
and entire (James 1:4); marvels at the patience of Job (James 5:ll); keeps the word of Christ's patience (Rev. 3:lO);
patiently continues in well doing (Rom. 2:7); and patiently waits for Christ (II Thess. 3:5). In all this he walks
in the footsteps of Jesus Christ who, "when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered he threatened
not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously" (I Pet. 2:23).
     God Himself is longsuffering. One of the Greek words noted above has the meaning "to suffer long," and
this is often predicated of God. The longsuffering of God is one of His adorable virtues in which the afflicted
Christian finds comfort and refuge. (In Romans 15:5 we read of the patience of God. Patience is not set forth
here as an attribute of God, but God is shown as the one who gives and works patience.) The longsuffering of
God is that virtue of the Godhead according to which He wills the perfection of the elect in the way of their
suffering and affliction, and wills all this suffering as the necessary means to their perfection. This explains why
God does not immediately come to take vengeance on His and our enemies. Forbearing towards the vessels of
His wrath, He suffers long over His precious, afflicted people. God is not slack concerning His promise, but is
longsuffering to usward. He wills that none of the elect should perish, but that all of them shall come to
repentance and faith (II Pet. 3:9). The longsuffering of God is salvation!
     Let us return to that passage in James 5. The husbandman is God. He waits for the full harvest of the elect
in the last day. As the farmer must wait for the sunshine and the rain, must put up with tares and thistles, so
God suffers long in respect to the precious harvest. He does not bring the day of Jesus Christ prematurely, for
then the harvest would not be full. Understanding this, the child of God is also patient unto the coming of the
Lord. He is convinced that that coming draweth nigh:He believes the Lord of the harvest isin sovereign control
of all things. Enduring, he is happy.
     "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord." Q





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


                                                                                       November 15,1992 I Standard Bearer I89


                                 Salvation's Rich
                       and Certain Coming

      What counts is not what man            father's house in peace," he does not             Indeed, in the rest of his earthly
says, unless it is our God speaking          thereby reveal that he is not sure that     life Jacob did reveal much evidence of
through him. And what Jacob had              God will keep that promise. He does         his sinful nature. As the Heidelberg
said to his father, namely, that he was      not present in those words what he          Catechism states so correctly inlords
Esau and that he was seeking the             will do only if God faithfully keeps        Day XLIV, we have "only a small
blessing which his father had prom-          His promise. Note the fact that Jacob       beginning of this obedience." In this
ised him, was a lie which called for         "vowed a vow" according to Genesis          life we have only a small beginning of
God's holy wrath upon him.                   28:20. What is more, that word here         the obedience our God has implanted
      But because Isaac, the father of       translated as "if" does not present a       in us by His grace. In this life we do
Jacob and Esau, in his blindness de-         doubt in Jacob's mind as to what God        not even receive fifty percent of the
clared God's blessing upon Jacob  -          promises him. Strikingly enough, in         obedience which that new life will
even though he planned to bestow it          Jeremiah23:38  the same Hebrew word         give us in the new Jerusalem. The
upon Esau, the first of the twins born       is translated as "since." What Jacob        awesome question for us also is: "How
unto him- we with Jacob must hold            then says here in Genesis 28:20 is,         many of the 1,440 minutes in each day
on to the truth which God declared           "Since God will be with me."                do we serve God? In fact, how often
when Isaac blessed Jacob. What our                Take note of the fact that in the      do we even have Him in our mind?"
God was then speaking to Jacob               original form and literally in verse 21     Do our hearts want to serve and glo-
through Isaac assured him of receiv-         Jacob says, "Then shall Jehovah be          rify Him much of the day?
ing God's covenant blessing. And             my God." That name Jehovah means                 Of course, there are hours when
that blessing is presented to us in          I AM. Jacob correctly presents God as       we need sleep, and our minds are
Genesis 2726-29.                             one who never, no never, changes.           blank, so that for hours we'think nei-
      That blessedness, which God            He is the I Am, not the I was, or I will    ther of God nor of sinful deeds that
promised Jacob through his father,           be. Jacob is sure that what God said        we want forgiven. The blessed truth,
became clearer in a vision or dream          to himin that dreamis absolutely true       however, is that when Christ returns
which God gave him when he fled              and will come to pass,                      and raises our bodies from out of the
from his brother Esau's hand. Ac-                 Still more, take note of the fact      graves in which they will be placed,
cording to Genesis28:10-15  Godprom-         that in verse 22 we read, "And the          and He glorifies them, so that we are
ised Jacob and his seed the land             stone, which I have set for a pillar,       in the new Jerusalem, there willbe no
wherein he had slept that night. That        shall be God's house: and of all that       night there. Of that we read in Rev-
was in a section of the land which God       thou shalt give me I will surely give       elation  22:5. Then, indeed, every
promised Abraham and his seed.               the tenth unto thee." Jacob did not         moment in that everlasting life we
Having been promised this in his             wait to see whether God's promise is        will be dedicated with body and soul
dream, Jacob called that place Bethel,       fulfilled. That day he set up a pillar      unto our God, andserve Him ever-
which means house of God. Of that            for the building of God's temple. He        lastingly without one smallest mo-
we read in Genesis 2819.                     does not then say what he will do if        ment of ceasing to do so. The way and
     Now, when Jacob says (in fact           God keeps His word. He, by Gods             kind of work may differ. Sometimes
vows), "If God will be with me, and          grace, states that he will reveal his       we will sing God's praises; and then
will keep me in this way that I go, and      trust and confidence in God. The            afterwards we will speak and serve
will give me bread to eat, and raiment       expressions "Thou shalt" and "I will        Him with our bodies as well as with
to put on, so that I come again to my        surely" in verse 22 deny any condi-         our minds and will.
                                             tions which Jacob presents. By His               Yes, in the Old Testament dis-
                                             Spirit God gave Jacob faith, and            pensation the church was in the day
                                             moved himinto the confidence of His         of shadows. Christ hadnot  yet come.
Rev.  Heys  is a minister emeritus in the    promise which he received from God          The realization of salvation that came
Protestant Reformed Churches.                through his father Isaac.                   when Jesus on His cross cried out, "It
90 /Standard Bearer I November 15,1992


is finished!" had its types and shad-              As we saw last time, our God           day Satan has succeeded so greatly in
ows; but what our salvation required       gave Jacob a blessed promise in that           getting the enemies of God's church
was not yet a historical fact. For         dream, which he had that first night           able and ready to do what is written
today, from a spiritual viewpoint, we      of his flight away from Esau who               in Revelation 13 about the antichrist
have the wonderful fact of the finish-     planned to kill him. Let us go back to         in verses 11-18.
ing of that work which is so necessary     it a moment in order to appreciate                   It is so necessary for us to take a
for our salvation. And although we         Jacob's confession andvow.  Our God            firmer grip on what we are told in I
do have a new life by a spiritual re-      promised Jacob that He would be                John  2:15, namely, "Love not the
birth, and thelove of Godis already in     with him and keep him, that is, up-            world, neither the things that are in
us, we have, as pointed out a moment       hold him and prevent everyone from             the world. If any man love the world,
ago, only a small beginning of that        taking away his life. He promised              the love of the Father is not in him."
new obedience which will be ours for       Jacob that He would not leave him,             Wedowelltobearinmindthatwedo
body and soul when Christ returns.         but bring him to the promised land,            not simply have them who belong to
                                           and fulfill all of the promise which his       no church hating us. Even as Jacob
                                           father, Isaac, had made known to               hadhisbrother,evenhistwinbrother,
    The question is whether                him.                                           hating him, so we have - and wilI
   in our lives there is today                     That is a comforting truth not         more fully see it and understand it
     a richer manifestation                only for ourselves, but also for our           soon-those who call themselves the
                                           children. We, and by all means our             church, and Christians, but who are
   of that life than there was             children,needmoreandmoreinthese                tools of the antichrist hating us.
             last year.                    days in which we live, and in the                   Now, today, Satan is not only
                                           years just ahead of us, to grow in our         succeeding in his efforts to get the
                                           conviction of the truth of what God            seed of the woman to live like the seed
     But the critical question is this:    said to Jacob in Genesis 28:15, namely,        of the serpent. He is very successful
"Is your activity on the Sabbath day a     "And, behold, I am with thee, and              in getting the seed of the serpent to
shadow of that coming life of perfec-      wiII keep thee in all places whither           call itself the seed of the woman. We
tion as a citizen of the kingdom of        thou goest . . . for I will not leave thee,    do well to consider all that which we
Heaven?" Those saints presentedin          until I have done that which I have            find in the Old Testament Scriptures;
Hebrews 11 have their faith in God         spoken to thee of."                            and today is a day when there are
and love for Him presented in Scrip-               For we live in a time of wars and      very clear evidences of the return of
ture. The question is not merely           rumors of wars, earthquakes in di-             Christ. But also there is very clear
whether our life also manifests such a     verse places, and pestilence and fam-          evidences that Satan is working hard,
newlifeinus. Thequestioniswhether          ine. We live in a time when more and           and with increasing success, `in his
in our lives there is today a richer       more men want once more to build a             attempt to establish on this earth the
manifestation of that life than there      Tower of Babel. The men of the world           kingdom of hell, and to keep the king-
was last year. Are we eager to have        want one world of peace. An earthly            dom of heaven from being realized.
Christ come and give us that perfec-       peace looks good to them, at least to               But Christ came, and our salva-
tion as well as the perfection of our      most of them. With inventions the              tion is sure. He will come again as
bodies, and freedom from the pun-          worldispracticallybecomingsmaller              surely as He came almost two thou-
ishment we deserve?                        and smaller. We are all getting so             sand years ago. He brought the Old
     An important truth which we           close to each other. And with air-             Testament day of shadows to its end.
must heed is one so widely ignored,        planes we can in a few hours get               And because He is the way, the truth,
and by our actions even denied. Our        where in the past men could not come           and the life, we can be very, very sure
Sabbath days have so much lacking of       for days and weeks. By means of                that His everlastingkingdomof heav-
what the born-again child of God is        television we can not only see, but            enly glory will soon come. We do
called to do, and of what is found in      also speak to and with men on the              have today clear evidences and en-
other of the members of our church.        other side of the world. We not only           couraging shadows of His second
Jacob here speaks of Gods house.           see their lips move, but we hear every         coming, and of our full salvation.
And indeed we are going to live with       word which they speak. More and                Soonwewithbodyaswellassoulwill
Him in His house of many mansions,         more we are getting closer and closer          be with Him. And we wilI be fully
where Christ is preparing a place for      to each other, and to the situation of         saved from all our sinful nature, and
us (John  14:2). What is more, our         One World! The world's unification             be able to serve our God with all our
Gods upholding of Jacob, and His           threatens the church's destruction, as         body and soul. That important ele-
keeping him spiritually alive, is a        it did at the Tower of Babel; and for          ment of our salvation wilI surely come.
shadow of what we by God's grace           the church's safety our God then               That element we need, and by God's
are called to do and can do.               brought the confusionof speech. Read           grace we will enjoy it forever. 0
                                           that carefully in Genesis 11:1-9.  To-

                                                                                            November 15,1992 I Standard Bearer / 91


                                          Roe V. Wade
   A Bitterly Divided Supreme Court Reluctantly Reaffirms Roe K Wade But Widens
                              Stafes' Power fo Estabkh Abortion Restrictions



      "The abortion mutter is not before us in thefirst instance, and coming as it does after neurZy 20 years of litigation in Roe's
     wake, we are satisfied that the immediate question is not the soundness of Roe's resolution of the issue, but the precedentiul
    force that must be accorded to its holding. And we have concluded that the essential holding of Roe should be reafirmed.
     Yet it must be remembered that Roe v. Wadespeuks with clarity in establishing not only the woman's liberty to terminate
     her pregnancy but also the State's important and legitimate interest in potential lge. rr
                                                                                                                    Majority opinion,
                                                                                                         Planned Parenthood v. Casey
                                                                                                                                  (1992)


      On June 29 of this year the Su-               Surprisingly, it was not to be.           demand is not inconsistent with the
preme Court finally released its deci-        Three "moderate" justices (Kennedy,             State's "profound interest in poten-
sion in the prominent case of Planned         Souter, and O'Connor) joined the lib-           tial life." Accordingly, Casey held
Parenthood v. Casey. At issue were            erals Blackman and Stevens to form a            that states may raise certain abortion
several Pennsylvania abortion restric-        joint majority that reaffirmed Roe's            restrictions before viability so Zong  us
tions challenged by Planned Parent-           "central holding" that the constitu-            these restrictions do not result in an
hood: a 24-hour waiting period; a             tional concept of "liberty" embraces            "undueburden" on the woman's right
spousal notification requirement;             "a woman's right to terminate her               to an abortion-on-demand. "Undue
prior notice to a parent of a minor           pregnancy in its early stages."                 burden" was defined as a "substan-
requesting abortion; and abortion fa-               Not unimportantly, the Casey              tial obstacle in the path of a woman
cility reporting requirements.                Court also adopted the  Roe  concept            seeking an abortion of a nonviable
     Many pro-life organiza  tions, and       of viabihty- "the time at which there           fetus." Thus, although States  may
even the Bush administration, filed           is a realistic possibility of maintaining       regulate  abortion-on-demand, they
briefs in the case imploring the Court        and nourishing a life outside the               may not prevent it, at least before vi-
to use Casey to overrule the notorious        womb." Before viability, the Court              ability. In conclusion, Casey affirmed
Roe v. Wade. Some Court watchers              held, a woman must have the                    Roe  but substituted the trimester
predictedthat,becauseReagan/Bush              unimpeded. right to terminate her               framework with the undue burden
appointees now have a narrow ma-              pregnancy; after viability the State may       test, keeping the viability standard
jority, the Court would finally jetti-        interfere to protect its interest in pro-       intact.
son Roe's erroneous notion that the           tectinglife. Thus, although themajor-
Constitution guarantees women a               ity rejected the trimester framework           The Doctrine of Precedence
"fundamental right" to abortion on            of  Roe,  it nonetheless retained the                The Casey majority opinion is
demand.                                       viability test to "balance" the State's        especially noteworthy, however, be-
                                              interest in protecting life over against        cause of the majority's stated ratio-
                                              the mother's "own conception of her            nale for reaffirmation of Roe - the
                                              spiritual imperatives and her place in          doctrine of precedence. This historic
                                              society."                                      judicial doctrine obligates a court to
                                                                                             abide by and follow previous deci-
Mr. Lanting, umemberofsouth Holland           Warranted Regulation                           sions. Declaring that "the legitimacy
Protestant Reformed Church, is a pruc-              But the majority also held that          of the Court would fade with the
ticing attorney.                              the woman's right to abortion-on-              frequency of its vacillation," the three
92 /Standard Bearer I November 15,1992


moderates more or less reluctantly           A Disappointing Dissent
felt compelled to join the two liberals            Although the minority dissent                      NOTICE!!!
on the Court and reaffirm Roe, its           of Justice Scalia and his colleagues is                Cassette Tapes
soundness or lack thereof notwith-           very effectiveinexposingmany of the                      of the lecture
standing. Themajorityalsosurmised            errors and inconsistencies of the ma-
that overruling                                                                              "My Theological Journey"
                    Roe would possibly       jority joint opinion, the dissenting
be interpreted as "surrendering to           opinions are also very disappointing               by Rev. A. Spriensma
political pressure," and accordingly,        in an important respect. This is be-                      cost: $3.00
to "overrule under fire . . . would sub-     cause the dissent refuses to acknowl-                        write to:
vert the Court's legitimacy."                edge the obvious "personhood" sta-                 Extension Committee
                                             tus of the fetus.                              `rotestant Reformed Church
Vigorous Dissents                                  Rather than assert the life and
     The Court minority, led by Chief        liberty rights of the fetus, the dissent             315 North Park St.
Justice Rehnquist and Justice Scalia         merely argues that the abortion issue               Lynden, WA 98264
(joined by Justice White and Justice         is essentially a legislative not a judicia2
Thomas) filed vehement dissents.             issue. Justice Scalia's dissent is typi-
Chief Justice Rehnquist took issue           cal in this regard:
with the majority`s "contrived" reli-
ance on the doctrine of precedence to          The States may, if they wish, permit           Temporary Address Change
reaffirm  Roe:                                 abortion-on-demand, but the Con-
                                               stitution does not require them to do            Rev. Gise VanBaren,  who is cur-
                                                                                            ~ntlyministeringtotheCR.FinNorth-
  We believe that Roe was wrongly              so. The permissibility of abortion,          m Ireland, and plans, tentatively, to
  decided and that it can and should be        and the limitations upon it, are to be
  overruled. One cannot ignore the             resolved like most important ques-           zmain there through May of next
  fact that a woman is not isolated in         tions in our democracy: by citizens          ear, is living at:
  her pregnancy, and that the decision         trying to persuade one another and               3 Sunnyside Doagh Road
  to abort necessarily involves the de-        then voting.                                   tiewtownabbey, Co. Antrim
  struction of a fetus. The Court was                                                          Northern Ireland BT36 8BL
  mistaken in Xoe when it classified a            In other words, Justice Scalia's           telephone: 011-44-0232-833203
  woman's decision to terminate her          view is that, since reasonable people
  pregnancy as a "fundamental                have differing views on abortion, and
  right...." In our view, authentic prin-    since the Constitution arguably says
  ciples [of precedence] do not require      nothing about it, the question should
  that any portion of the reasoning in
  Xoe be kept intact. It is our duty to      be resolved by a vote in each state's
  reconsider constitutional interpreta-      legislature.      The Supreme Court            57iere is stili tim
  tions that depart from a proper un-        (whose duty is to interpret the Consti-
  derstanding of the Constitution.           tution) has no business decidingabor-
                                             tion issues arguably not addressed in                      fO;rU
     In addition, the dissent scoffed        the Constitution.
at the majority's new "undue bur-                 Accordingly, even the dissent in            ~~~Jxm42.s
den" test or standard to determine           Casey affords Reformed Christians
which State abortion restrictions will       little hope that in the near future the                    G1.m
now be permissible and which regu-           life of unborn children will be af-
lations must be struck down by fed-          forded deserved Constitutional pro-
eral courts:                                 tection. For contrary to Justice Scalia's          Suh-ip tion
                                             assertion, surely the issues of the right
  In that this new standard is based         to life and when "personhood" be-                          to the
  even  more on a judge's subjective         gins are decidedly not political ques-
  determinations than .was Roe's hi-         tions to be decided by a majority vote
  mester framework the standard  will        in some state legislature. The right to        Stundid Bearer,
  do nothing to prevent judges from          life is society's most fundamental
 roamingatlargein theconstitutional
  field guided by their                      right, and the Supreme Court may
                            own personal
 views. The "undue burden" stan-             not abdicate its responsibility to ren-
 dard is plucked from nowhere . . . and      der a decisive and final decision in                    9-i+price for
 will engender a variety of conflicting      this regard, affording necessary legal                     j%st-time
 views.                                      protection for the unborn. 0                              suhcribers!


                                                                                            November 15,1992 1 StandardBearer  I93


                                                                                        must one day stand before Him to
                                                                                        have their everlasting destinies an-
                                                                                        nounced have need to hear the stan-
                                                                                        dard He devised to judge them. How
Call the Sabbath a DeIight,by Walter        Scriptures. The failure of the evan-        many excuses of ignorance, of being
Chantry. Edinburgh: The Banner of           gelical church to observe the Lord's        too busy to pray, of not having time to
Truth Trust, 1991. 112pp., $5.95 (pa-       day has had devastating effects on the      read Scripture, to become acquainted
per). [Reviewed by Prof. R. Decker.]        church. Writes Chantry, "In their           with the saints, to bring one's family
                                            pride, men have dismissed God's             to worship will die on the lips of the
     This little paperback is must          perfect law. His Decalogue requires         guilty before this commandment?
reading for Reformedbelievers in our        the habit, thesteadyroutine, theprac-       When in His awesome majesty the
day. It maybe true that our Reformed        tice, the discipline of a day of worship    Lord says, `I made the day holy,' who
fathers were a bit legalistic in their      and service to God. It is such a habit,     will plead exemption from Sabbath
views of the proper observance of the       routine, and discipline that will give      practice?" (pp. 28,29).
Lord's day. Father would shave on           men both a knowledge of God and                  Chantry emphasizes that, Sab-
Saturday evening and mother would           moral standards by which to live. It        bath keeping is a great joy and that
peel the potatoes and bake the roast        is just such a Sabbath Day that will        many blessings accrue to the saints
for Sunday's dinner on Saturday             strengthen families and socialinstitu-      who keep God's day holy. He warns
evening. On the Lord's day itself the       tions. No wonder the church herself         that Sabbath keeping is not inactivity.
children were not allowed to play           is devotionally, doctrinally, and mor-      Rather we cease from our own work
either in the house or outside. The         ally weak. Even Christians will not         in order to devote all of our time and
two worship services were attended.         devoteadayeachweekto theirlord"             energy to the work of worship and
Children were given Bible passages          (pp. 1LW                                    praise. Sabbath keeping .involves
to memorize. Even works of neces-                 "Time for the Lord is the issue       works of piety and worship, works of
sity and mercy were severely limited.       about which the Fourth Command-             necessity, and works of mercy.
Ifallthisandmoretendedtoberather            ment speaks," Chantry says (p. 16).              In his fourth chapter Chantry
legalistic, the days of our fathers were    He makes an excellent point in this         offers an excellent exposition of Mark
better than ours! To the vast majority      connection when he points out that          2:27,28 over against the false claims
of Christians, also those who are Re-       God is very "reasonable and gener-          of the dispensationalists that what
formed, Sabbath observance is a thing       ous" in the giving of the Fourth Com-       Jesus had to say concerning the Sab-
of the past. One may or may not             mandment. God requires only one             bath applied only to the Jews and,
attend worship services as he or she        `day in seven for His service. God          therefore, the New Testament says
pleases. Those who attend only once         gives us six days in which to be in-        nothing to us about Sabbath keeping.
per Sunday or who attend only occa-         volved in our work and legitimate                The author points out that the
sionally are not disciplined. The           recreation, but asks that we devote         Sabbath was strictly enforced in both
Lords day is used for all kinds of          only one day per week to the worship        the Old and New Testaments (chap-
activities: travel, recreational pur-       and service of Him. There are four          ter 5), but in the New Testament with-
suits, dining out, and more. The sec-       simple principles which are to govern       out the civil punishments under
ond service on the Lord's day attracts      our observance of `the Lord's day.          Moses. This is because the Old Testa-
only a handful of people in many a          These are: 1) We are to remember the        ment church was an immature-child
Reformed congregation which boasts          Sabbath Day. It is to be kept in mind       (Gal. 3,4), while the New Testament
a membership of hundreds, even thou-        as an important obligation and com-         church is grown and mature. .The
sands. These practices are slowly           mitment. 2) The Day is to be kept           civil punishments would be inappro-
makinginroadsinto some of the more          holy. 3) We may do no work on the           priate for the church which now pos-
conservative Reformed and Presby-           Lord's day. This means we may not           sesses the full revelation of God and
terian churches and, alas, into our         engage in any activities which would        the fullness of the Spirit. At this point
Protestant Reformed Churches as             make it impossible to devote the en-        Chantry is weak. His erroneous view
well. For this reason this bookis  must     tire day to the Lord's service. 4) And,     of God's covenant (Chantry would
reading.                                    we must not require others to work          say "covenants") becomes obvious
     Walter Chantry, longtime pas-          for us on the Lord's day (pp. 19-23).       and he fails to take into account the
tor of GraceBaptist  Church (Reformed       Chantry reminds us that since God is        typical  character of the Old Testament.
Baptist) in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in-     "the lawgiver and judge it is His pre-            Sabbath keeping is not a legalis-
sists that the Fourth Commandment           rogative to institute the moral law. It     tic or outward observance of a list of
of God's law requires people to de-         is advisable that every creature take       do's and mostly don'ts. .The Chris-
vote one entire day (the first day of       note of this reminder that the Al-          tian keeps the Sabbath out of pro-
the week) to the worship -of God,           mighty has personally set aside one         found thankfulness to God for the
prayer, and meditation on the Holy          day in seven for Himself. All who           redemption He has provided for him

94 /Standard Bearer / November 15,1992


in Jesus Christ. In various contexts         Scriptureandfaithfulness to the origi-       Great: the issues of the relation be-
Chantry warns his readers against all        nal language, his reverence for God,         tween church and state, the legiti-
Phariseeistic legalism while stressing       his recognition of the Christological        macy of an established church, the
that the Sabbath was given by God to         content of the Psalms (he was a strong       question of toleration of heretical
His saints as a day for them to wor-         advocate of Hengstenberg's posi-             churches within a commonwealth, the
ship God and commune with Him.               tions), his unashamed presentation of        matter of freedom of conscience in
     Again, a good book on this sub-         the imprecatory Psalms, and his              the sphere of religion, and the right or
ject. Whether one agrees with the            simple style. Young people will have         wrong of the position which our own
author on all points or not he will          no trouble understanding his inter-          country has taken by the First Amend-
profit from a careful reading of this        pretation.                                   ment. The author quite obviously
little book. n                                    Next to Calvin's five volumes,          supports the whole concept of free-
                                             and Spurgeon's seven, this is the best       dom of religion.
Commentary ok the Psalms, by Jo-             treatment of the Psalms we have seen.             The book is packed with inter-
seph A. Alexander. Grand Rapids:             It will serve well both for devotional       esting historical material, is carefully
Kregel Publications, 1991; 572pp.,           reading and society preparation. The         supported in its argumentation, with
$18.95 (paper); $24.95 (cloth). [Re-         paperback we have before us is of            excellent and pointed quotes from
viewed by Rev. D.H. Kuiper.]                 enduring quality and is easy to read.        significant authors, and is coherent in
                                                                                          its efforts to trace the development of
     This volume was originally                                                           the idea.
printed in 1864 under the title, The                                                           I wish, however, that the book
Psalms, Translatedand Explained.  It         Liberty ofconscience:  The History of        hadincludedtwoadditionalelements.
was reprinted by Zondervan in the            a Puritan Idea, by L. John Van Til.          One is a more careful definition of
1940s under the same title in their          Presbyterian and Reformed Publish-           precisely what the author means by
series"ClassisCommentaryLibrary."            ing, 1992.  192pp., no price given.          such crucial terms as "liberty of con-
Since this volume was out of print,          [Reviewed by Prof. Herman Hanko.]            science;" "toleration," and freedom
Kregel Publications is to be com-                                                         of religion." As I was reading the
mended for making this work avail-                Dr. Van Til is interested in the        book, I kept asking myself the ques-
able once again. This volume is a            origins of.the First Amendment to the        tion, What are the definitions of these
photo-reproduction of the Zondervan          Constitution of the United States,           terms which the author is using?"
edition, howbeit with new headings.          which guarantees freedom of religion         Some clear definitions would have
     J.A. Alexander (1809-1860) was          to the citizens of our country and does      helped the reader make his way
the son of Archibald Alexander, a            so by erecting a wall of separation          through the argument with greater
graduate of Princeton College, and           between the church and the state.            ease. The second is that the book
later a professor at this college as well    This wall is erected by the first part of    lacks a discussion of some of therami-
as at Princeton Seminary. He gained          the Amendment which reads: "Con-             fications  of the issue itself, i.e., the
a worldwide reputation as a scholar          gress shall make no law respecting an        issue of the relation between church
in the ancient languages andin church        establishment of religion."                  and state in matters of religion. For
history. His thorough acquaintance                The author traces this idea back        example, the author points out that
with the Hebrew is evidenced                 to theEnglishPuritan  William Perkins,       Perkins already held to an idea of
throughout this book, as insight into        and follows how the idea was carried         sphere sovereignty; but it is not al-
the nuances of Hebrew poetry can be          out through the period of the Elizabe-       ways clear how this relates to the
found everywhere. He offers  "an             than government, during the time of          broader issues. I am aware of the fact
amplified translation to preserve not        the Stuarts and the English Common-          that thebookintends tobe a historical
only the strength but the peculiar           wealth under Cromwell and the                study; but it would be easier to under-
force of the original." Since he fol-        Westminster Assembly, and the fail-          stand the issues if the problem were
lows the versification  of the Hebrew,       ure of the principle during the time of      laid out at the outset in a clearer way.
when the KJV differs in verse number         the Restoration. He gives special at-             Finally, just a brief remarkabout
he gives these numbers in parenthe-          tention to the Massachusetts Bay             an error in spelling. On p. 44, the
ses for easy reference.                      Colony, the history of Roger Williams,       author speaks repeatedly of the Uni-
     The commentary averages about           and the Antinomian Controversy. He           versity of Frakener in The Nether-
four pages per Psalm, rather brief for       explains how the idea was accepted           lands, when, in, fact, he refers to the
a verse by verse treatment of "the           in the American colonies and how it          University of Franeker.
Book of Praises." The reader may be became a part of American political                        Those who are interested in this
disappointedwith  thebrief treatment         thought.                                     question of the relation between
given some verse on which he is seek-             Thebookdealswithknottyprob-             church and state will be benefited by
ing light. The strength of this com-         lems which have troubled the church          reading the book. Q
mentary is Alexander's high view of          since the time of Constantine the

                                                                                            November 15,1992 / Standard Bearer I95


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    BE4RER                                                                                                     SECOND CLASS
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                                                                                                               Grandville, Michigan
    P.O. Box 603
    Grandville,  MI 49468-0603





School Activities                             Press by the PRCs there. These copies       with the Evangelical Reformed
           The ninth graders of the Hope      are made available for the.congrega-        Church of Singapore, and Rev. J.
PR Christian School in Walker, MIare          tion and are intended to be used in         Mahtani of the ERCS, planned to go to
again willing to do odd jobs for any of       their personal witness.                     India-for a Christian Conference of
their supporters when they become                      The Evangelism Society of the      Sindhi Indians. Rev. Mahtani, who is
available. For example, if you have           Byron Center, MI PRC recently spon-         Sindhi, has met these people on a
leaves to rake, windows to bewashed,          sored avery worthwhile and appreci-         previous visit. They planned to go for
storm windows to be put up, snow to           atedconference on the subject of Spiri-     2-3 weeks in October.
be shoveled, basements to be cleaned,         tual Depression. This conference was             The Fall Ladies' League meeting
or any other work, you are reminded           held in their church on Friday and          was held in the Edgerton, MN PRC on
to call one of the ninth grade students.      Saturday,-  October 9 and 10. Prof.         October 20. Rev. M.  DeVries,
These'stddents had been encouraged            Decker opened the conference Friday         Edgerton's pastor, addressed the la-
to make their own contacts, but per-          by speaking on "Depression: Its             dies on the topic "PromotingRespect
haps if you have work and have not            .Cause"; and this was followed up on        in an Age of Rebellion."
been contacted, you could give the            Saturdaymorningby Rev. J. Slopsema
school a call. They would appreciate          addressing the conference on "De-           Congregational Activities
your consideration. The earnings will         pression: Its Cure."                             Atacongregationalmeetingheld
be used to help pay for their class trip.              While neither of these speakers    in early September, the congregation
As last year, the suggested rate is           claimed to be experts in the fields of      of Immanuel PRC in Lacombe, AB
$4.00 per hour.                   `.     1    psychology or psychiatry, they both         decided to purchase one-half acre
           On October 15 Rev. K. Koole        based their presentations on their          more than the four acres they had
gave a speech entitled "Parental Pri-         experience as pastors and as minis-         originally voted to buy for their fu-
,orities" to the Hope School PTA.             ters of the Word of God, and on their       ture church property. This was to
      `The Parent/Teacher/Friends             own personal experience with depres-        offset the amount of land which they
Association of Covenant Christian             sion.                                       would have to reserve for a road
High School in Walker, MI met on                       The theme for the conference       which might be built in the future.
October 8. The speaker that night             was Philippians 4:4-9. Our calling as            On Sunday evening, October 18,
discussedAppleEconomicsandCom-                Christians is to rejoice in the Lord        the congregation of the Hudsonville,
puters class relationship to business         always, but that is impossible to do        MI PRC met after the service for an
today.                                        when we are depressed. Hence, Scrip-        hour of fellowship, and to say their
      Rev. W. Bruinsma addressed the          ture says: "Let your request be made        good-byes to their pastor and his wife,
PTA of the Heritage Christian School          known to God. And the God of peace          Rev. and Mrs. G. VanBaren,  who left
which met on October 15, on the sub-          shall be with you."                         the next day to labor with the mem-
ject "Our Christian ,Schools.:  No Bet-          -. As one of the more than ,150          bers of the Covenant Reformed Fel-
ter Alternative."                             couples that pre-registered for this        lowship in Larne, Northern Ireland.
                                              conference, let me thank Byron Cen-         Plans call for the VanBarens  to labor
Evaxigelism Activiti&                         ter for another fine conference. `Judg-     in Northern Ireland on behalf of our
      The Evangelism Committee of             ing from the full auditorium and the        churches for up to a year, or until such
the Immanuel PRC in Lacombe, AB,              stack of-questions after each speech, I     time as a man accepts the call to serve
Canada has begun receiving copies of          believe it can safely be said that there    as missionary pastor to Larne.
articles put in the Grand Rapicls  (MI)       were many more who felt the same
                                              w a y .                                     Ministerial Calls
                                                                                               On October 18 the Hudsonville,
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant      Denominational Activities                   MI PRC extended a call to Rev. R.
Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michi-                 Rev. Kortering, who is laboring    Hanko to serve as missionary to the
g a n .                                       onbehalf  of our churches in Singapore      CRF of Larne, Northern Ireland. 0

96 /Standard Bearer / November 15,1992


