A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Magazine


                  ,`,lChrist
                                  :.: 'k'. comir& is, the mean-
                   ,ing of 1 iQ3 .as it is,&& meaning
                  `:bf all; hi&tory. EMktly what the
                    new ye&c holds! for the nations,,
                   for' th'e. church, 
                                                       f.. ~`kxl< -for' our-
                  ..&dvtS 1 -pGr$onaUy, _ we do ,not
                  s,kfig)$& ~- ~-: f7&f `~6'. know that `: itit
                                  ,`-.`
                  `&kv,~~ thq.,co&ifig of the Lord.
                  s  Whatevertakes.place,prepares

                  us arid -aIf things.`f& the born-
                  :  ,ing;  of-`Christm  i  `-  `,
                  s  _             (.
                          .. i                         `< `-        _
                                                       I .                     1.  '
                                         See: A.D. 1993: The Lord is Coming - p. 149

Vol. 69, No. 7
January 1,1993


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     E                             .
CONTENTS:                                                                                            :                                                  `. `January  f, ,I993                                       siYib&bgg .
Meditation - Rev. John A. Heys                                                                                                                                                                         .
           Our Con&ant and Certain Safety*..*..*....*...*.*....*.....~......................                                                                                                                147
Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                                                                                                                ISSN .0362-4692
          A.D. 1993: The Lord is Coming ,.................................................... 149                                                                                                                  Semi-monthly, except monthly dljring June, July, and August.
Guest Article - Rev. Cornelius Hanko                                                                                                                                                                               Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   4949  lvanrsst  Ave.,  Grandville,.MI   49418.  Second Class
           Spiritual Complacency . . . . . . . . ..~...~....................................................                                                                                                151    Postage Paid at Grandville, Michigan.
Strength of Youth - Rev. Steven R. Key                                                                                                                                                                             Postmestrr: Sen'd address changes to the Standard Bearer,
`Proper,Christian                                                  Self-.Esteem^(3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153                       P.O. Box 603, Grandville, MI 46466-0603.
All Around Us - Prof. Roberf p. Decker ,,,.....,,,.,,,.,.,,,..,,.,,,,..,,,,,,.,,,..,..,,                                                                                                                    155    EDITORIAL COMMlll'EE
Search the Scriptures - Rev. George C. Lubbers                                                                                                                                                                     Editor: Prof. David J. Engelsma
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Deck&
           The Faithful Word Worthy of Reception by Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i . . . . . . . . . 156                                                                                                    Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezeme
In His Fear - Rev, Arie dehHarfog                                                                                                                                                                                  DEPARTMENT EDITORS
           Family Values . . . . . . . . . ..~......~~~~~.~~...~............~...~......~~~~......~.~..~...........~                                                                                         158    Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev. Arie
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   denHartog, Rev. Barry Ghtters, Mr. Fred Hanko, Prof. Herman
Decency and Order - Rev. Ronald L. Cahmenga                                                                                                                                                                        Hanko, Rev. John Heys, Rev. Steven Key, Rev. Kenneth
           Authority of Broader Assemb1ie.s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161                                                                Kwle, Rev. Jason Kortering, Rev. Dale Kuiper, Mr. James
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Lanting, Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs. MaryBeth Lubbers, Rev.
A Cloud of Witnesses - Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                                                                                                                                                       JamesSlopssma,  Rev. CharlesTarpstre,  Rev. GiseVanBaren,
           Thomas Cranmek Sinning Reformer *..........*....*.....*.......*........,... 163                                                                                                                         Rev. RonaldVanCverloop, Mr. Benjamin Wigger, Rev. Bernard
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   W o u d e n b e r g .   :
Book Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .         166
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wgger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167                                                                                                    kDm0Rl~L  OFFICE              CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   The Standard Bearer           Mr.BenWigger
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                                                                                                                                                                                                                   EDlTORIAL  POLICY
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his O&II
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   articles. Contributions of general interestfrom our readers and
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   questions for The Reader Asks department are welcome.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Contributions will be limited to approximately 300 words and
              1993. What will it hold?                                                                                                                                                                             mustbeneatiywrilteno&ewriiten,Indmustb&igned.  Copy
              How about 1994?  What will it bring? Not the second coming of Christ -                                                                                                                               deadlines are the first and fifteenth of the -month. All
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   communications relative to the c&tents stioulh be sentto the
Mr. Harold Camping to the contrary notwithstanding - for the compelling                                                                                                                                            editorial office.
reasons you will find in this issue in "A.D. 1993: The Lord is Coming."                                                                                                                                            REPRINT POLICY
              Atthesametime, thereiseveryreasontobelieve  thatin1993itwillbecome                                                                                                                                   Permlssioiiis  herebygrantedforthereprinling ofarticleslnour
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   magazine byotherpublications,  provided: a) thatsuch reprinted
ever more apparent that the ,return of Christ cannot be fur distant. That's the                                                                                                                                    articles are reproduced in full; b) th,et proper acknowledgment
thrust of Rev. Heys' Meditation in this issue. He drays attention, first of all, t6                                                                                                                                is made; c) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   appears is sent to our editorial office.
the incredible -advances in science and technology in our day. .Of no less
importance are the stunning developments on the international scene, which.                                                                                                                                        SUBSCRIPTION POUCY
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make the realization of man's desire for a universal kingdom of peace, after the                                                                                                                                   elsewhere. Unless a definite request for discontinuance Is
order of Nimrod's Tower of Babel, seem at last to be an attainable goal.                                                                                                                                           received, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the
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              Ominous developments these are, for the church of Christ on this earth.                                                                                                                              haveachangeofaddress,pleasenotiitheBusinessOfficeas
But not frightening. For, as Rev. Heys reminds us in "Otir Constant and Certain                                                                                                                                    early as possible In order to avoid, the lnconveniencg of
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   interrupted delivery. Include your Zip or Postal Code.
Safety," we are engraved on the very hands of God. In facing the future,                                                                                                                                           ADVERTISING ;OLlCY
therefore, we need not fear. We are eternally secure.                                                                                                                                                              The StandsrdBearerdoes        not accept commercial advertising
              A related article, though not by design, is the Guest Article submitted                                                                                                                              of any kind. Announcements of church and school events,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   anniver.+es,  obituaries, and sympathy resolutibns will be
some time ago by Rev. C. Hanko. It's entitled "Spiritual Complacency."                                                                                                                                             placed for a $3.00 fee. These shouldbs sent to the Business
      Complacent? -in the face of such developments in the world around us?                                                                                                                                        Office and should be accompanied by the $3.00 fee. Deadline
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   for annwncements  is at least one month prior to publication
Ah, yes, such is the folly of man, even of redeemed man, that, with the signs of                                                                                                                                   date.
Christ's coming intensifying all about  him, he becomes lax. Nor are we immune.                                                                                                                                    BOUND VOLUMES
We do well therefore to take inventory of our own lives, in light of Rev. Hanko's                                                                                                                                  The Business Office will accept standing orders for bound
warning in this issue against spiritual apathy.                                                                                                                                                                    copiesofthecurrsntvolume. Suchordersarefilledassoonas
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   possible after completion of a vqyme year.
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146 istandard B6arer I January 1 ,1993


                            .,     '     7,;:
           OU.KConstant and Certaini
                                                 -' Safety

     Behold, I havegraven thee upbn'the           what the world has always tried to.do        ing Tower of Babel presented in Rev-
pal~sofmyhands;  thywallsarecontinu-              - from that which it was frustrated          elationi3.  Forwithcraftyinventions;
ally before me.                                   from doing, when men tried to erect          and being able bodily and speedily to
                              Isaiah  49:16       the Tower of Babel, to establish them-       go anywhere, not only here on this
                                                  selves as anungodly nation that would        earth, but also by satellites to other
     What a blessed truth is here pre-            wipe off the face of this earth God's        places in the atmosphere, men will
sented unto us by our God, inHis                  beloved church! .                            have at their disposalpowerfulmeans
grace, and through Isaiah!                             With today's inventions and             for the destruction of the New Testa-
    It is so important and comfort-               tools, men are making the world rela-        ment church. And we can also see the
ing for usto know that truth, and to              tively smaller and smaller; and the          comfortinGod'sWordthatHischurch
hold on to it tightly. For we have                unbelieving world is increasing in           is gravenupon the palms of His hands,
entered into a'new year, and .there-              strength, and is becoming a greater          and that its walls are continually be-
fore come `closer to the day when;                threat to the physical well-being of         fore Him.
according to Revelation 13:17,  we will           God's church. By means of new de-                 We are assured by our God that
suffer severely at the hands of the               vices, invented and manufactured,            He has all things under His control.
antichristiankingdom that lies ahead,             Satan will soon be ready to keep the         In our text above, He assures us that
according to God's sure word. How                 believing children of God-from buy-          HewillfulfilleverywordofHisprom-
comforting it is that by God's grace              :Ir;g or selling, an,d will cause many to    ises to us. The powerful Antichrist,
we are graven uponthe  palms of His               starve to death; .                           that is soon coming, will not keep us
hands, and that our walls are continu-            ' What a comforting truth, then,             from anything that God has prom-
ally before Him! Our text, above,                 do we find in that word of God pre-          ised us. We have the assurance that
assures us that by God's grace we will            sented in Isaiah 49:16.  The almighty        all things do work together for our
refuse to take the mark of the beast.             God has us graven upon the palms of.         good.
This "beast" is the coming antichrist,            His hands;-and the walls that protect             In the beginning God created
who will demand of all the electchil-             the children of God in this life, so that    the heavens and the earth in six days;
drenof God that they take the markbf              they will dwell in all the blessedness       and the seventh day He rested. As we
the.beast.upontheir-right  hand, or in            of the new Jerusalem, are constantly         are coming near to the day when
their foreheads, in order to have the             before Him.  !                               6,000 years have passed since that
right to buy or sell.                                                                          weekin  which God created all things
      Now already, in our present life,                                                        in heaven and on earth, we do have
we have amazing inventions with                   `1 The powerftil Antichrist,                 clear evidence that this year we are
which we can not "merely-see things                        that is soon coming,                much closer to the day when that
on the other side of the world, and                                                            beautiful city, which He has graven
hearrecordingsof what was saiddays                    :         will not keep us               upon the palms of both of His hands,
and weeks before, but we can now see                            from anything                  comesforthinallitsbeautyandbless-
and hear what is happening on the                    that God has promised us:                 edness. And we can, now, be abso-
other:side  ofthe world  while- it is                      .                                   lutely sure that allis well, and that His
happening. Indeed; we are not far                                                              church will come forth in perfection
away from the accomplishment of                       Not only do we know; .at the             - in fact, come forth exactly as He
                                                  beginning of thisnew year, what hap-         eternally decreed to have it be for His
                                                  pened at the Tower of Babel, as it is        own glory.
                                                  presentedin Genesis 11, butby God's               We do well, therefore, to bear in
                                                  grace we are able to see how the             mind the fact that God's hands have
Rev. Heys is a Ginister  ekeritus in the          world is striving, and to quite a de-        almighty power. We should also ap-
Prot&aizt          R~~~ymed.`Chu~c?zes.           gree successfully, to erect that com-        preciate the truth that we are graven
                                                                                                  January 1,1993 / Standard Bearer / 147


upon the palms of His hands which           ment of our God, that He has us             the blood of Christ. What counts here
are almighty. We then should also           graven upon the palms of His hands;         is what is presented to .us in Romans
bear in mind the truth. that every          and that our walls -that is, those of       8:28, namely, that "all, things work
creature - and that also includes all       the new Jerusalem 1 are continually         together for good -to them that love
the holy angels, and Satan and all his      before Him. Inverses 13-15, and thus        God." With His searching eyes our
fallenangels-getseverybitofitslife          just before this statement that He has      God sees every member of His eter-
from God. Not one creature is physi-        us graven upon the palms of His             nally chosen church, which is upon
cally next to God. God is in all cre-       hands, our God, through Isaiah, calls       the palms of His hands. With those
ation and creatures. He is the every-       out: "Sing, 0 heavens; and be joyful,       hands the almighty God keeps Satan,
where present God, who is every-            0 earth; and break forth into singing,      and his wicked world, from leading
where with His almighty power. He           0 mountains." This He does because          us away from the everlastingblessed-
causes absolutely everything that           Zion had said that the Lord had for-        ness which is pictured by that beauti-
takes place to happen, as He wants it       saken and forgotten His people. And         ful city which is graven upon the
to happen. He stops every heart from        our God, throughIsaiah,  asks whether       palms of God's hands.,
beating, the exact moment He eter-          a woman can forget her sucking child;             The walls of the city, which pro-
nally planned that it should stop.          andwhetherHecanforgetHischurch.             tect us from our enemy, refer to Christ
Absolutely everything that happens          Then, in this 16th verse, God calls us      Jesus, theSonofGod,whoblottedout
is what He eternally planned. He            to take note of the truth that He does      all of our guilt, and earned for us a
uses both of His hands -which are           have us upon the palms of His hands,        place in that city which is graven
mentioned in this verse -to fulfill all     and that our walls are constantly be-       upon the palms of God's hands.
that He eternally planned.                  fore Him.                                         Takingholdofthatblessedtruth,
         Those almighty hands of God             Therefore, as we now approach          whichpresentssuchwonderfulsafety
are gracious means which He uses so         the days of the Antichrist, and are a       and salvation, we are called to sing
that every single one of His elect chil-    year closer to the day when we will         what we find in our Psalter, number
dren will reach the glorious life which     not be. able to buy or sell, and in that    35, the fourth stanza. There we read
He eternally planned for them. This         way will be severely persecuted by          this blessed truth:
is so beautifully presented in I Cor-       Satan and his godless kingdom, this
inthians 1292-27.  We are the body of       verse has a blessed comfort for us.             From God the victory I receive;
Christ and we all have our eternally        Being a year closer, and taking note of         Most perfect is His holy way;
designed place in that body. We,are,        man's modern inventions, and of the             His word'is tried, they who be-
according to this passage, fl the body      fact that we are clearly approaching                lieve
of Christ, and members in particu-          the day when all nations of the world           Will find the Lord their shield
lar."                                       will be united into one worldwide                   and stay.
         Now, to be graven in His hands                                                                        . .
                                            kingdom of the Antichrist (and men
means that in God's own work, which         already are speaking of bringing into             That song is based on Psalm
waseternallydeterminedbyHim,we              being "one world"), we do well to           18:30-32  where we read: "As for God,
will be in one specific place, for spe-     listen to our God, who speaks of His        hiswayisperfect:  thewayoftheLord
cific work that was eternally deter-        church being graven upon the palms          is tried: he is a buckler to all those that
mined by Him. Our God has graven            of His hands, that is, that they are        trust him. For who is God save the
us upon those palms of His hands            constantlyandcontinuallybeforeHim           Lord? or who is a rock save our God?
with a view to all the wonderful work       and seen by Him.                            It is God that gird&h me with strength,
we will do in the new Jerusalem.                                                        and maketh,my  ways perfect."
         Eternally God determined                                                            Does your heart say that? Be-
where we would be in the body of                With His searching eyes                 cause it is Christ Jesus who realized
Christ. But He also eternally decreed         our God sees every member                 the walls that protect His church, you
what He would do in His almighty                                                        will find, if you are graven upon the
power to bring us, with other mem-                   of His eternally                   palms of God's hands, a most blessed
bersofChrist'sbody,  wherewewould                     chosen church,                    comfort and peace of mind, that looks
be to the glory of His name. It also           which is upon the palms                  for the return of Christ to bring us into
means that we are absolutely safe,                       of His hands.                  that holy city, and unto a blessed
and that He will, at a particular mo-                                                   fellowship with God.
ment in our time, send His Son from                                                          In His grace our God assures us
His heavenly glory to bring us com-              The point is not merely that He        of a constant and certain safety. For
pletely and powerfully to a most            continuallyseesHischurch.  Thecom-          us, all is well indeed. Every word our
blessed life.                               fort is not simply that He has us in His    God declared He would fulfill, He
         We do well, therefore, to take     hands as His possession, bought by          must assuredly will:- Q
note of that which precedes that state-

148 /Standard Bearer I January 1,1993


                                            A.D. 1993:
                      The Lord is Coming

                                            live all her life with a view to the       (New York: Vantage Press, Inc.).
                                            coming of Christ. She must preach               The question markin the book's
     The Lord Jesus is coming. Our          the gospel with the purpose that all       title is misleading. The author confi-
recent celebration of Christmas re-         the elect be brought to repentance, so     dently foretells Jesus' return and the
minded us of this coming. His first         that the day of the Lord may come (II      end of the world in September, 1994.
comingpoints to thesecond, demands          Pet. 3:9), and with the purpose that a     The exact time will be the period
the second, and is fulfilled only in the    witness be given to all the nations, so    between September 15 and Septem-
second. The justification of God, the       that the end may come (Matt. 24:14).       ber 27 of that year: "Last Day and
redemption of the church, and the           She must administer the sacraments         return of Christ sometime on or be-
judgment of thisworld accomplished          in order to show the Lord's death "till    tween: September  15,1994:  Begin-
by His coming in lowliness must be          he come" (I Cor. 11:26).  She must         ning of 1994 Jubilee year, andseptem-
perfected by His coming in glory.           discipline the impenitent sinner, in       ber 27, 1994: Last Day of Feast of
     This coming will be bodily and         her fellowship, so that his spirit may     Tabernacles" (p. 531).
visible. At His coming, the Lord Jesus      be saved "in the day of the Lord                The great tribulation that will
will raise the dead, judge all men and      Jesus" (I Cor. 5:5).                       precede the coming of Christ has al-
angels, and renew the creation. This             The saints must care for each         ready begun. Mr. Camping informs
will be the end of this world and its       other, avoiding fighting, and must         usthatitbeganonMay21,1988,when
history.                                    purify themselves, abstaining from         the gospel era ended. The great tribu-
     Christ's coming is the meaning         gluttonous and drunken revelry,            lation, therefore, does not consist of
of 1993 as it is the meaning of all         against the day that the Lord will         persecution of the church. Rather, it
history. Exactly what the new year          come to reward the faithful and to         consists. of Satan's assault on all
holds for the nations, for the church,      punish the evil (Matt. 24:42-51).          churches so that they become apos-
and for ourselves personally, we do              For a church or a church mem-         tate (pp. 515,516).
not know. But we know that it serves        ber to forget the coming of Christ, or          The basis for this prophecy is
the coming of the Lord. matever             even to suppose secretly that the Lord     Mr. Camping's discovery in the Bible
takes place prepares us and all things      delays His coming, is fatal.               of all the information hidden there by
for the coming of Christ.                        There must ring in our soul in        the Holy Spirit to reveal 1994 as the
                                            1993 (thepreachingmustsee  toit!)  the     time of the end of the world. The
                                            word of Christ, "Behold, I come;           Spirit has also givenHarold Camping
            For a church                    surely, I come."                           the gift to interpret this otherwise
       or a church member                        When?                                 unknown and unknowable inforrna-
to forget the coming of Christ,                                                        tion about the end. Camping's book
                                                                                       is some 500 pages of biblical ages,
  or even tb suppose secretly               1994?It is the prophecy of Mr. Harold dates, and numbers with their mean-
            that the Lord                   Camping that Christ will come in           ings and connections. In contrast
  delays His coming, is fatal.              1994. Mr. Camping is a conservative        with its exciting theme and its vivid
                                            expositor of the Bible with a large        cover, the book is as dull as a volume
                                            following among Reformed  Chris-           of mathematics.
     Expectancy of the Lords com-           tiansin the United States and Canada,           Camping has figured out that
ing must dominate all the life and          mainly through his radio broadcasts.       1994 is an Old Testament year of jubi-
labor of His churchin 1993. Scripture       He makes his startling prediction in a     lee. Infact,itis the68thyearofjubilee.
calls the church to do all her work and     book published late last year, 1994?       Sixty-eight, according to Mr. Camp-

                                                                                           January 1,1993  I Stahdard Bearer I 149


ing, is a number with a highly signifi-     of the end is "unknown to all crea-        phrase occurs in the middle of averse.
cant spiritual meaning. For it is the       tures" (BeZgic  Confession, Art. 37).      Seventy weeks is literal in the first
product of 2 times 2 times 17. The               The entire project of attempting      half of the verse, but figurative in the
number 2 symbolizes the church, and         to determine from the Bible the date       second half (cf. pp. 381-404).
the number 17 symbolizes heaven.            of Christ's return is disobedience to               This kind of interpretation of
1994, therefore, is the yearofjubileein     the Lord's express warning against         Scripture is illegitimate and danger-
which the church goes to heaven.            this very thing.                           ous in the extreme. The Reformation
September 15, 1994 will be the Old               Surely, if Christ Himself as to       opposed it vehemently. "To allego-
Testament Day of Atonement, which           His human nature is ignorant of the        rize is to juggle with Scripture," wrote
will also begin the year of jubilee. But    time of His return, the time of His        Luther. Calvin was of the same mind:
September20-27,1994willbetheFeast           returncannotberevealedintheBible,
of Tabernacles of the Old Testament.        for it is the Spirit of Christ who in-       We must entirely reject the allegories
The conclusion is that Christ will re-      spired the Bible. Christ would know          of Origen,  and of others like him,
turn between September 15 and Sep-          His own revelation.                          which Satan, with the deepest
tember 27,1994.                                                                          subtlety, has endeavored to intro-
                                                                                         duce into the Church, for the pm-
                                            Allegory                                     pose of rendering the doctrine of
Day and Hour                                     If the project itself is disobedi-      Scripture ambiguous and destitute
     Staring the maker of this predic-      ence, the manner in which it is con-         of all certainty and firmness.
tion in the face is the declaration by      ducted is foolishness. 1994?is  a clas-
Christ Himself that no creature, Him-       sic example of allegorical exegesis -               The practice of such interpreta-
self as a man included, knows the           the extremest allegorical exegesis.        tion (exegesis) and the theory of inter-
exact time of the end. "But of that day     Allegorical exegesis is interpretation     pretation (hermeneutics) that lies be-
and that hour knoweth no man, no,           of Scripture that pays no attention to     hind it effectively deny the doctrine
not the angels which are in heaven,         the common, ordinary meaning of            of Scripture as much as does the new
neither the Son, but the Father. Take       the words and thoughts in Scripture.       hermeneutic of modernism. If every-
ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know        Theinterpreter,usuallymotivatedby          thing can mean anything everything
not when the time is" (Mark 13:32,          great reverence for Scripture, finds       means nothing.
33). Camping solves this problem by         spiritual meanings everywhere ac-                   This interpretation of the Bible,
distinguishing between "day .and . . .      cording to his own fancy. It is arbi-      in fact, like the new hermeneutic of
hour," on the one hand, and "year           trary, lawless, fanciful interpretation    theological modernism, takes the
and month," on the other hand. He is        of the Word of God.                        Bible out of the hands of the saints.
not prophesying day and hour but                 In 2994?,  the pagan Cyrus is a       Indeed, it takes the Bible out of the
year, month, and week.                      type of Christ; wicked Ahasuerus           hands of everyone except the particu-
                                            "typifies God,as  the supreme ruler of     lar interpreter himself. There is no
                                            the world"; everything about Paul's        man on earth except Mr. Camping
       . . . if  Christ Himself             shipwreck has a spiritual meaning,         who ever would have interpreted the
    as to His human nature                  including the 276 persons involved;        Bible to arrive at 1994 as the date of
     is ignorant of the time                and the numbers 2,17,23,  and 68 have      the Lord's return. There is no man on
                                            symbolic significance. Also of great       earth who can follow his allegorizing
            of His return,                  spiritual meaning are the number 11        as he engages in this interpretation.
      the time of His return                in Deuteronomy  1:2; the 2,000 cubits      All must simply accept his explana-
       cannot be revealed                   of Joshua 3:3,4; the .2,000  swine of      tion.
           in the Bible,...                 Mark 5:1-17; the 200 cubits of John                 When at the end of the bookM.r.
                                            21:8; and the 153 fish of John 21:ll.      Camping says to his reader, "There is
                                                 The arbitrary nature of Mr.           no time left to trust your pastor or
     But this effort to escape the clear    Camping's exegesis is evident in his       your church. You must trust only the
teaching of Christ that the time of the     explanation of Daniel  9:27. Having        Bible," hemeans,  "TrustonlytheBible
end is not revealed is an act of des-       committed himself to a literal inter-      as I interpret it for you." Apparently,
peration. "Ye know not when the             pretation of the 70 weeks (each week       he has many disciples who do exactly
time is," in Mark 13:33,  makes plain       being a literal week of years, which       this. Hardly less disquieting to me
that,"day  and ;.. hour," in verse 32,      itself is a mistake), Camping sud-         than the astoundingprophecyitselfis
refers to any and every definite date,      denly makes the second half'of the         the readiness of many devout, Re-
whether hour, day, month, or year.          70th week a figurative description of      formed Christians to believe it.
The Reformed creed, which is au-            the entire period from the death of
thoritative for every Reformed be-          Christ to the end of the world. The        Doctrinal Errors
liever, correctly explains that the time    change from a literal to a figurative               Prediction of the date of Christ's
                                            explanation of one and the same

150 IStandard  Bearer I January 1,1993


coming as September 15-27,1994  in-          and beggarly elements that Paul               13thatnoone,notevenHaroldCamp-
volves Mr. Camping in other, serious         warned against in Galatians 4. The            ing, knows the time of the end. If
doctrinal errors. There will be no           book of Hebrews is devoted to the             Camping is right, Jesus was wrong.
human Antichrist. The Antichrist of          truth that all the Old Testament feasts                Second, by coming in 1994 Jesus
Scripture is Satanhimself. The church        were so fulfilled in Christ as to have        would sanction allegorical exegesis
of the end-time does not face persecu-       ceased at His coming. The use. of             to the dishonoring of Holy Scripture.
tion. The great tribulation is rather        themmustbeabolishedamongChris-                         Third, far too much must still
the spiritual falling away of the            tians, including the use of them, to          take place before the coming of Jesus
churches. Since 1988, there is no longer     calculate future dates. There are no          Christ for this coming to be in 1994.
a true and faithful church of Jesus          longer "days of the Feast of Taber-           Antichristmustyetestablishhisking-
Christ on earth. All churches have           nacles." The feast has been fulfilled         dom of man, rule all the world, and
become apostate. The practical im-           spiritually in Christ, is a living reality    persecute the true church (cf. II Thess.
plications of these errors for the saints    in the church by faith, and will be           2 and Rev. 13). This will happen soon,
are staggering.                              perfected in the Day of Christ.               but not in a year and a half.
     By no means the least serious of                                                               Two prophecies, diametrically
his false teachingsis that doctrine that     True and False Prophecy                       opposite.
is fundamental to the prediction of               Mr. Harold Camping claims to                      The mark of false prophecy is
September, 1994 as the date of the end       be a prophet. In keeping with Amos            that N the thing follow not, nor come to
of the world. This is a doctrine that is     3:7, God has revealed to him, and to          pass" (Deut. 18:21,22).
assumed, rather than argued. But it is       him alone, the most wonderful future                   I have written the following an-
very definitely taught. I refer to the       event of all: the,coming of Christ and        nouncement. It is to be published in
notion that the Old Testament feasts         the end of the world. To Mr. Camp-            the Sfanduvd Beaver of October 1,
continue into the New Testament, not         ing has been given the privilege' of          1994.
by having been spiritually fulfilled in      unsealing at the end the words of the
Christ, but literally. September 15,         secret that have been closed up until           Christ did not come, nor did the
1994 will be "the Day of Atonement,"         now (cf. Dan. 12:9).                            world end, last month, as Harold
beginning "the 1994 Jubilee year" (p.             Very well.                                 Camping prophesied in 1991 in his
520). September 20-27,1994  will be               AsaReformedbelieverandmin-                 book, 2994?. InowcallonMr. Camp-
"the days of the Feast%pf  Tabernacles       ister of the Word, I too claim to be a          ing to repent of his sin of disobeying
for the year 1994" (p. 525). Suchis the      prophet. In the name of Jesus Christ,           Christ by predicting the date of
                                                                                             Christ's coming and to repudiate the
literal continuance of the Old Testa-        I declare with absolute certainty that          very idea of such predictions. I also
ment feasts that Mr. Camping can             Jesus willnot come and the worldwill            call on him to recognize the error of
compute the date of the end of the           not end in 1994. As with all genuine            his allegorical exegesis and to direct
world by means of this. 1994 will be         prophecy, this is based on God's own            his followers to a true Reformed
the 68th literal year of Old Testament       Word. First, His comingin  1994 would           church where sound, grammatical-
jubilee.                                     contradict Jesus' own words in Mark             historical-spiritual exegesis is the
     This makes Jews out of us Chris-                                                        basis of all preaching and teaching.
tians. It brings us back to the weak                                                                                         --DFcl


                   Spiritual Complacency

                                                  Spiritual complacency is an ail-         health." But if we were to follow up
                                             ment that creeps upon us unawares.            the question with a bit of self exami-
                                             It takes hold of us exactly when we           nation, we would realize that we had
                                             least expect it.                              given our  spiritual  health little
                                                  If anyone were to ask us, "How           thought. Recent soul searching we
Rev. Hank0 is a minister emeritus in the     do you feel?" we likely would re-             have not done. Like Israel of old we
Protestant Reformed Churches.                spond, "Fine, I'm in the peak of              are content to say, "The people of the

                                                                                               January 1,1993 / Standard Bearer I151


Lord are we." We read our Bible               they failed to remind their children             I counsel thee to buy of me gold
every day, we pray, we live respect-          and their children's children of what        tried in the fire, that thou mayest be
able lives from day to day, we are            the, Lord had done for them. The             rich; and white raiment,  that thou
members of the church and attend its          same may happen to us.                       mayestbeclothed,andthat  theshame
services faithfully.                                                                        of thy nakedness do not appear; and
                                                                                            anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that
      The symptoms of this common                                                           thou mayest see.
ailment are exactly that: lack of con-             It is possible that we                      As many as I love, I rebuke and
cern, lack of zeal, a lingering apathy.            have been too busy . . . .               chasten: be zealous therefore, and
      Weactuallynoticenorealchange                                                         repent.
in our daily walk of life, although it is
true that our prayers have become a                It is possible that we have been            Can it be that in some sense this
mere formality, a cold repetition. We         too busy, have become too involved          applies to me? May I unawares have
make a practice of confessing our sins        in our business, our farm, or any           become spiritually listless, compla-
and asking for forgiveness, but we do         other occupation. Our materialinter-        cent? Have my prayers become hin-
not stop to consider what sins we are         ests became our first consideration.        dered by it?
confessing. Our church attendance is          Our priorities, then, are all wrong.             The Word of God admonishes
hardly more than mere custom. The                  A man was once sitting at his          us inII Corinthians 13:5 thus: "Exam-
 singing has no strong appeal, so that        deskin his office when he asked him-        ine yourselves, whether ye be in the
we sing the words without giving              self, What is more important to me,         faith; prove your own selves."
much thought to the content. During           mybusiness or my soul?" He decided               We should do so with this prayer
the congregational prayer our minds           to get rid of his business, lest he lose    inourhearts: "Searchme,OGod,and
wander. The sermons do nothithome.            his soul.                                   knowmyheart: tryme,andknowmy
Were anyone to ask us, we would                    It may even be the busyness in         thoughts: and see if there be any
have to admit that the church service         the family, or some outside interest,       wicked way in me, and lead me in the
 meant little or nothing to us. The           such as sports.                             way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23,24).
 celebration of Baptism, or even the               Like a cancerous growth, the                The question is not whether we
Lord's Supper,, with its preparatory          disease may be rather far advanced          have faith, but whether we are "in the
week, is celebrated out of mere cus-          before it is detected. It may even          faith." We do not ask ourselves, "Do
tom. But this is also true of our             prove to be fatal for the individual,       I believe?" but.rather,  "Do I walk as
private and family devotions. To be           for the family, or for a congregation.      children of light should walk in all
 honest, a good book or a favorite TV              We. think of the church of             good works?"
 programinterests us much more than           Laodicea, of which Jesus speaks in               At this point it may be necessary
 all our devotional life.                     Revelation 3:15-17:                         to ask ourselves, "What are good
      The spiritual and eternal is re-                                                    works?"
 placed in our thoughts and desires                I know thy works, that thou art             To that question our Heidelberg
 with mundane and the carnal things.            neither cold nor hot: I would that        Catechism gives the answer (Lord's
      Sad to say, this ailment is like a        thou wert cold or hot.                    Day 33):
 contagious disease that spreads very              So then because thou art luke-
 rapidly. It affects not only ourselves         warm, andneither cold nor hot, I will          Only those whichproceed from a
but also our family, our friends, and,          spew thee out of my mouth.                  true faith, are performed according
 ultimately, our church. Itsvictims are            Because thou sayest, I am rich           to the law of God, and to his glory;
 legion. Since we are not interested in         and increased with goods, and have          and not such as are founded on our
 spiritual matters, our family loses,in-        need of nothing; and lcnowest not           imagination, or the institutions of
                                                thou art `wretched, and miserable,          men.
 terest, our friends are hesitant to speak      and poor, and blind, and naked.
 about them with us. We become                                                                 That is strong language.
 spiritually lax, our family becomes                                                           When I read Scripture or hear it
indolent. In time even our congrega-                                                      read, when I make my prayers, when
 tion sinks into cold passivity.                     The question is not                  I worship on Sunday with the congre-
      The cause. This may be a bit                                                        gation, I must do so infaith. In fact,
 difficult to diagnose.                            whether we have faith,                 my entire life must be faith in action.
      It may be a reaction to a spiritual            but whether we are                        "God is a Spirit, and they that
 involvement. Strange as it may seem,                      `in the faith."                worship him must worship him in
 after Israel's years of wandering in                                                     spirit and in truth" (John 4:24).
 the wilderness, and after the con-                                                            All that is not done in faithis  sin.
 quest of Canaan, when everyone was                The cure. Jesus adds in the fol-       God's wrath fumes against mereform
 settled in his inheritance, a spiritual      lowing verses, 18 and 19:                   worship, as we read in Isaiah 66:3:
 lethargy came upon them, so that                                                                                  3  :

 152 /Standard Bearer I January 1,1993


     He that killeth an ox is as if he            Is that the chief characteristic of                "It is of the Lord's mercies that
  slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb     my life? Was I seeking the glory of            we are not consumed, because his
  as if.he cut off a dog's neck; he that     God when I read my Bible this morn-            compassions fail not" (Lam. 3:22).
  offereth an oblation, as if he offered     ing? When I prayed? When I sat in                       Even then we must not be con-
  swine's blood; he that burneth in-
  cense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea,      church last Sunday?                            tentuntilourcomplacencyischanged
  they have chosen their own ways,                My Lord teaches me that my                into spiritual contentment. We must
  and their souls delight in abomina-        first and foremost desire must be,             experience anew the joy of salvation.
  tions.                                     "Hallowed be Thy Name." How mis-               Even as Scripture admonishes us:
                                             erably I fail in that!
     Am I guilty at present of mere               When we become aware of our                        Rejoice in the Lord alway: and
form worship?                                spiritual lethargy our only escape is            again I say, rejoice....
     Besides that, my entire life must       through prayer in Christ Jesus. "Buy                    And the peace of God, which
be "according to the law of God." I          of Me," He says.                                 passethallunderstanding,shallkeep
can sit in church and hear the ten                We need the gold of Christ's                your hearts andminds through Jesus
                                                                                              Christ (Phil. 4:4,7).
commandments read without pangs              righteousness, the white garments of
of conscience. True, at some time or         sanctification, washed in the blood of                  This can be and is readily trans-
another one particular commandment           Calvary; we need the eye-salve of the          mitted to others. Our own spiritual
may accuse and condemn me. But               Holy Spirit that we may see and enjoy          joy will reflect itself in the family, and
even that is often not the case. Yet the     anew the riches of God's grace, His            also among our friends. Even our
Lord teaches that if I transgress one        infinite mercy, and His unchanging             enthusiastic singing in the congrega-
command, I transgress all, for the           faithfulness.                                  tion and our attentive listening to the
basic principle of the law is that I love         Well may we pray with the                 sermon can be an inspiration to oth-
Him with my whole being, so that all         Psalmist:                                      ers.
that is not done in love to God is sin.
     Am I motivated by the love of                Gracious God, my heart renew,                      0 sing to the Lord a new song:
God in all that I say and do?                       Make my spirit right and true;            Sing unto the Lord, all the earth.
     One more thing. All that we do               Cast me not away from Thee,                        SinguntotheLord,blesshisname;
must be done to the glory of God.                   Let Thy Spirit dwell in me;               shew forth his salvation from day to
"Whether ye eat, or drink, or what-               Thy salvation's joy impart,
                                                    Steadfastmakemywillingheart.              day (Psa. 96:1,2).
ever ye do, do it all to the glory of                                  (Psalter no. 141)                                                 0
God" (I Cor. 10:31).




   Proper Christian Self-Esteem
                                                              0

     Before setting forth the truth of       tion once again to the influence of the        often it is not the emphasis on proper
Scripture concerning this concept of         unbiblicalidea that hasbeen  soreadily         Christian self-esteem, i.e., biblicalself-
self-esteem, I want to call your atten-      accepted.                                      esteem.
                                                  I make bold to proclaim that the                   For you who are reaching the
                                             influence of the modern self-esteem            age of marriage and child-rearing,
                                             movement has permeated even our                this has some serious implications.
                                             own thinking to a degree - perhaps             There has been a dangerous shift in
                                             to a rather large degree. There has            recent years toward leniency in child-
Rev. Key is past& of the Protestant Re-      been more and more emphasis placed             discipline due to a fear of harming
formed  church of Randolph, Wisconsin.       on self-esteem among us, and most              self-esteem. Our teachers also have

                                                                                                    January 1,1993  / Standard Bearer I 153


experienced this pressure to make           the reality of sin be-cleared away by       such deceivers -would only hasten
their students "feel good" at all costs.    thinking  it away, not even by rational:    y o u r   d e a t h !
In some cases disobedience is being         izing it away.                                  That you understand the bibli-
blamed on a poor self-concept; and               `The way to have proper self-          cal presentation on this matter is ex-
lack of self-esteem has become the          esteem is not by listening to the m+. ;' tremelyimportant. There is a place
favored diagnosis givento blunt the         titude of "Dr; Feeligoods" that are: for proper  Christian self-esteem. The
responsibility, that one once had to        out there today. Theonly  w,ay to;find:' Iquestionis: What is proper Christian
bear for his own behavior. Should the       meaning, purpose, and self-worth is         s e l f - e s t e e m ?   -"
Lord establish you in marriage and          through a living relationship with
give you children, I urge you not to        Jesus Christ.                               The Reality of Sin in Ourselves
follow this way of thinking. Heed the            If I were diagnosed as having a              A biblical view of self-esteem
Scriptures. Only then will you expe-        form of cancel:. which if untreated         takes into account the. reality of sin
rience the joy of Christian parenting.      would bring certain death, it would         and reveals the victory and honor
      I think you understand by now         hardlybehelpfulformeifyouwereto             that belong to.you  who are in Christ
that the reason this modern philoso-        come to me :and say, "Steve, don't          J e s u s .           `.
phy of self-esteem has made such            worry about what the doctor has said;             You can never deal with your
inroads in our thinking is that we are      look at you. You are healthy through        problems, you can never deal with a
not living as close to the Scriptures as    and through. Thinkgood tho.ughts of         poor self-concept; by denying reality!
we ought, and our thinking is not           yourself and all will be well. You can      The modern theory of positive'think-
governed by biblical instruction as it      conquer anything through thinking           ing of one's self, apart from the proper
ought to be. We tend to be very lazy        good thoughts of yourself."                 biblical view of reality; holds no com-
in our acceptance of modern philo-                                                      fort for those who fall short of their
sophicalandeducational theories. By                                                     goals! It actually  seeks to avoid deal-
that I mean that when we hear certain                                                   ingwith some of the harsh realities of
so-calledexperts (especiallyreligious         " feel-good-a~~~t-~~~rse~                 life. What. these  feel-good-about-
experts) make a proclamation on a                                                       yourself doctors proclaim is really a
given subject, we tend to accept their        doctors are no assistants to              sweet-sounding but very harsh phi-
theories without question and with-                the great Phipicibp.                 losophy!  31  i
out examining the Scriptures.                                                                 Sin is reahf Death, the wages of
      The example of the Bereans has,                                                   sin, is an even more stark reality. Sin
sad to say, become such a foreign                Well, the great Physician has          anddeath must be faced, if you are
concept that, let alone searching the       diagnosed you and me as having a            ever to have a proper Christian self-
Scriptures after hearing a sermon, we       terminal disease called sin. We read        esteem.. And when I say that sin and
do not think of searching the Scrip-        in Romans 6:23: "The wages of sin is        death mustbe  faced;1  do not mean in
tures when it comes to other matters.       death." The Physician has prescribed        some abstract way. I mean that  your
And if my bold assertion is true -          one cure. That is the medicine of Jesus     sin and your imminent .and inescap- ,
and I make it not without seeing evi-       Christ, the only Savior who shed His        able death must be faced by you.
dence - that is a serious flaw in our       blood on the cross for all who believe.         So Paul preached as the mouth-
Christian lives and practice.               What folly then to heed the word of a       piece-of Christ. When he said good-
                                            man who comes to you and who says,          bye to the elders of Ephesus, he could
Facing Reality                              "Man, the only thingwrongwitli  you         say, "I have not shunned to declare
     The Bible presents a wholly dif-       is a low sense of self-esteem. You          untoyouallthecounselof God" (Acts
ferentview of self-esteem, aview that       must think better of yourself. Never        20:27). He- had announced the need
reveals the modem self-esteem move-         mind that Physician. Never. mind            for repentance. He had called all who
ment to be poor in comparison. And          what God says aboutyou." Is that the        heard him to come out of the bondage
the importance of,a biblical view is        view you would take? That is a denial       of sin' He had preachedthe comfort
evident to any who will face reality.       of reality!                                 of salvation that is only in Christ Jesus
     In its rejection of the sin prob-           You see, my youthful friends,          through the forgiveness of sin and the
lem, the modern theory of self-esteem       that  .is- the option. The "feel-good:      cleansing power of His precious
steers people away from facing real-        about-yourself" doctors are no assis-       blood. The Apostle proclaimed the
ity. Those who follow this line of          tants to the great Physician. They          joy of belonging to Christ, but also the
thought end`up believing that their         claim His name. They claim to repre-        judgment upon those who reject Him.
fantasies are reality. Christianity, on     sent Him. But when you evaluate                  .To face the reality of sininthe
the other hand, would have you face         their theories,' their diagnoses, and       preaching can be a most uncomfort-
reality and deal with it. I would have      their prescriptions in'the light of the     able thing for the preacher. I know.
you understand clearly, real life carry     Desk Manual of the Great Physician,         Preaching is. a dangerous task, .that
not be created in the mind. Nor can         you find that they are'dece&e&  And _entails  heavy responsibility. But let

154 IStandard  Bearer I January 1,1993


us understand the reality in t,he light      self-esteem. To call people to repen-            Christian self-esteem. It is the only
of God's holy and infallible Word. To        tance and to lead them to the cross of           way they will see the reality of heaven.
face the reality of sink is necessary        Jesus Christ is the only way in which                                                    cl
finally to attain to proper Christian        they will find the comfort of proper




IS A NEW REFORMED                            the historical event itself, and in a            and whites, when dealing with situa-
DENOMINATION                                 defence of their own denomination's              tions in which many CRC people see
                                             historical roots."                               a lot of gray." In this connection
TO  Bi3 FORMED?.                                  The second evening featured                 Plantinga pointed to the Canadian
         As our readers know, a. goodly      Rev. C. Stam, pastor of a Canadian               Reformed conception of the distinc-
number of groups have seceded from           Reformed congregation in Hamilton,               tion between the true and the false
the ChristianReformed  Churchin the          Ontario and Dr. Theodore Plantinga,              church: This tendency also comes to
recent ,past; As of this writing there       professor at Redeemer and a member               expression, said Plantinga,  "... when
are a- total of thirty congregations         of the CRC. These men addressed the              Canadian Reformed think of Chris-
composed of 1575 families, 3649 com-         question, "How Close Are We?" Stam               tian education, where Christian
municants, and 6312 total members.           concentrated on the differences be-              schools attended by Canadian Re-
At present these congregations are           tween the two communions. He noted               formed children hire exclusively Ca-
independent, but part of the Alliance        "the significant gap which truly di-             nadian Reformed teachers." The sec-
of Reformed Churches (ARC).                  vides us in the events surrounding               ond difference noted by Plantinga is
         Last October an organization        the Liberation of 1944." The newly               in the area of Church Order, in which
calledtheBurlingtonReformedStudy             formed independent churches which                boardism and the hierarchical ap-
Center, composed of three men asso-          have come out of the CRC, "... have              @roach  has crept into CRC thinking
ciated with the Canadian Reformed            much to learn of the key points in-              and practice. Those in the CRC have
Churches (Liberated), organized three        volved in the struggle of `44." Stam             much to learn from the Canadian
public meetings in the auditorium of         also pointed to the corrections by               Reformed when it comes to Church
Redeemer College in-Ancaster,  On-           Schilder and others of Dr. Abraham               Order, according to Plantinga. Like
tario. The meetings brought together         Kuy@er's  scholastic theories with're-           Stam, Plantinga argued for more fa-
ministers, theologians,.and  educators       sRect  to common grace, the pluri-               miliarity with the events of 1944. "If
representing the Canadian Reformed           formity of the church, and sphere                we can arrive at a positive apprecia-
Churches, the Free Reformed                  sovereignty.. Stam argued that the               tion of 1944,then there is good hope
Churches, .the Christian Reformed            independent' CRC leaders were still              that a union' of some sort can be
Church, and the Orthodox Christian           caught up inKuyperian  thinking, and             achieved," Plantinga said.
Reformed Churches. The auditorium            he emphasized the need for study of                    At themeetingof thelast  evening
which seats 1000'was  packed. Ac-            how Schilder improved on Kuyper's                Dr. CornelVenema,  professor at Mid-
cording to one source (John Va,nDyk          work. Stam also pointed to differ-               AmericaReformedSeminary,andDr.
of  Christian  Xenew@),  "The first          ences in church polity between the               Jelle Faber, professor emeritus at the
evening's theme, `Is there a lesson in       two communions. He characterized                 Theological College of the Canadian
the Union of 1892?' got off to a less        their preaching as leaning toward                Reformed Churches, addressed the
than rousing start as the two speak-         "topical" as opposed to textual and              question, "What should be done?"
ers, Dr:J.,DeJong,of the Theological         historic-redemptive. The matter of                     Venema identified three groups
College of the Canadian Reformed             song books used in worship is an-                which have come out of the CRC with
Churches and Rev. C. Pronk, a Free           other possible barrier to potential              whom the Canadian Reformed should
Reformed minister in St. Thomas,             union.  ;                                        pursue contact. These are the Ortho-
Ontario, appeared to become en-                     Despite these barriers, Stam              dox Christian Reformed Churches,
tangled somewhat in t.he cobwebs of          concluded by saying, "There is much              the Alliance of Reformed Churches,
                                             more that binds us, and we need one              and the Canadian Alliance of Re-
                                             another."                                        formed Churches. To the question,
                                                   Dr.  plantinga  pointed to three           do these churches and the Canadian
                                             differences in need of resolution. The           Reformed Churches have a responsi-
                                             first, according-to Plantinga, " . . ..is the    bility to .unite  together, Venema's
                                                                                              answer was a strong "yes." Said
ProjDecker is prgfessor of PracticalThe-     tendency on the part of many Cana-               Venema, "My thesis is that;if these
ology'in  the Protestant  Refbrmed  Semi-    dian Reformed people to think, in                churches are united in their submis-
nary,            . .                         terms of absolute contrasts, of blacks                                       _

                                                                                                   January 1,1993 / Standard Bearer I 155

                                                                     :


sion to the Word of God, in their                    Will a new Reformed denomi-          transporting Bibles or teaching their
subscription to the Three Forms of            nation be formed out of all this? Only      children about God often suffer beat-
Unity, and in their willingness to            the Lord knows.                             ings, imprisonment, and torture. The
honor a Church Order adopted by                                  Christian Obseruer       Chinese government goes to great
common consent, then they should be                              Christian Renewal        lengths to silence-Christianity. Gov-
united in a single federation of Re-                                          Clarion     ernment police often tell lies to gain
formedchurches." Venemathenpro-                                                           entry into suspects' homes. Interro-
posed several recommendations to              WORLD'S LARGEST                             gations, without any kind of legal
achieve this goal.                            CHURCH KEEPS GROWING                        counsel, drag on for months and fre-
      Dr. Faber in essence agreed with              China, with more than 1.2 bil-        quently involve physical abuse and
Venema's position. He too made a                                                          coercion. Most arrests result in sen-
strong bid for union between the two          lion people, is the most populous na-       tences of 15-20 years, often in hard
communions.                                   tion on the face of the earth. An
                   Faber agreed with                                                      labor.
Venema on the need for a new name.            estimated50-60millionof  thesepeople             In spite of the persecution the
Venema proposed the name, the Re-             are professing Christians. Approxi-         church continues to grow, with an
formed Churches of North America.             mately 85% of these Christians wor-
                                              ship in churches which are declared         estimated 15,000 Chinese converting
Faber suggested that two sister church        illegal by the Chinese government,          to Christianity every day. It remains
federations could be formed, one in                                                       true, the more the church is afflicted
the United States and one in Canada,          whose policy is to control and inhibit      the more it multiplies and grows (Exo-
the former with Mid-America Re-               the growth of Christianity. Millions        dus 1:12).
formed Seminary and the latter with           of underground Christians in China                                      Messenger
the Theological College in Hamilton.          who obey God rather than men by                                                   cl





     The .Faithfd L~&l Worthy of
                           Reception. by Faith                                                                         .-r
                                                l.Timothy 1:12-20.

      We ought to keep in mind that           also to the church that is gathere'd,       all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus,
our taskis to ascertain the instruction       preserved, and defended by the Son          even as we were elected in Him from
of the Holy Spirit in this section of         of God through His Spirit and Word          before the foundations of the world.
Holy Scripture. It is abundantly clear        until Jesus comes upon the clouds of        In this way we are holy and unblam-
that Paulis addressing these words of         heaven. It is the word of Christ that       able in Christ.
instruction and exhortation to Timo-          resounds to all His elect from the               InITimothy1:12ff.Eaul,guided
thy, Paul's faithful, true son in Christ      beginning to the end of the world           by the Spirit, demonstratesthe great
Jesus. The Holy Spirit addresses these        which Paul speaks to Timothy as             gift of the superabounding grace of
words to the church at Ephesus and            Christ walks between the candlesticks       God as this is evidenced in Paul's
                                              in the church at Ephesus (cf. Eph.          efficacious calling. And this effica-
                                              1:lff.).                                    cious calling happens in God's own
                                                 More particularly, Paul is un-           time andmanner. This was especially
                                              derscoring the great truth of the Gos-      true for Paul the apostle who' in a
                                              pelthatwearesavednotbytheworks              specific and peculiar way was God's
                                              of the Law, but by faith in Christ. This    son. God counted Paul faithful and
Rev. Lubbers is a minister emeritus in the    is the unchangeable truth of the Gos-       put him into the ministry to the'Gen-
Protestant Reformed Churches.                 pel, namely, that we are blessed with       tiles. This calling to bean apostle to

156 /Standard Bearer I January 1,1963


the Gentiles had happened when and            of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus       toward the apostle Paul was designed
 how it pleased God (cf: Gal. MO-17).         came into the .world  to save sinners,      by God in such a way that all future
         It should be noticed that the ac-    of whom I am chief."                        sinners who believe in Christ to ever-
 count of Paul concerning Hymenaeus                Do you believe that faithful           lasting life might have a divinely ap-
 and Alexander is very practical. This        word? Do I? 0, matchless grace              pointed pattern of this matchless
 account emphasizes the solemn duty           which knows no measure! The eter-           superabounding grace of God.
 of the preacher. He must not fail to         nal Son of God, who loved all `His               Notice too that Paul writes in
,- preach the whole Gospel of the blessed     own, andloved them to the end, came         Romans 3:23-24  that Christ came into
 God.                                         into this fallen cosmos. Christ came        this world to save sinners. "For all
         Like a golden thread on every        into the world which had been har-          have sinned and come short of the
 page of Scripture we read the mean-          monious and perfect but which was           glory of God. Beingjustifiedfreelyby
 ingful phrase: "to save sinners."            now steeped in the sin of the world,        his grace through the redemption that
 When I look at this term "sinners" I         and He carried away the sins of all         is in Christ Jesus." Although all have
 notice that every member of God's            those sinners ordained unto life ever-      sinned, Paul singles out all who are
 elect churchis such a sinner. The term       lasting.                                    justified by the great gift of grace.
 "sinners" causes me to think of the               Listen to the music of the innu-       Hence, Paul writes that all of the elect
 response of one of my esteemed pro-          merable multitude in the heavenly           are sinners. According to the mea-
 fessors. When I requested a sugges-          choir- those sealedunto  eternalslife.      sure stated in Ephesians 1:3-14 not
 tion for a fitting text for a particular     Who are these in this heavenly choir        one of these sinners is a proper citizen
 sermon he said, "Oh, George, just            standing in heaven before the throne        of the Kingdom of Heaven. When
 preach on the very simple but pro-           of God and of the Lamb, clothed in          elect sinners are measured according
found text inLuke 19:9-10, This day is        white robes? Hearken to these sin-          to this standard, all fall short. The one
 salvation come to this house, foras          ner-saints as they sing in one melodi-      in the numberless throng that fell far-
 much as he (Zacchaeus) also-is a son         ous fortissimo: "Salvation to our God       thest from the standard was Saul of
 of Abraham. For the Son ofnian is            which sitteth upon the throne, and          Tarsus.
 come to seek andto save that which           unto the Lamb of God, who came to                What are his credentials? Read
 was lost." Yes, on that day  Zac-            sanctify both heaven and earth." Hear       these credentials recorded in verse
 chaeus, chief of the Publicans,  stood       the great  Amen  before the Throne of       13. The deeds he mentions are "bum-
 there as sinner number one. He was a         heaven, the thank-offering of those         ing" in his sanctified conscience:
 prime example of all the elect sons          who have "washed their robes and            "blasphemer, persecutor, and injuri-
 and daughters of A.braham;who,  ac:          made them white in the blood of the         ous." In Galatians 1:14 Paul speaks of
 cording to the elective grace of God,        Lamb" (read Rev. 212-13).  And'the          himself as a persecutor "exceedingly
 are God's heirs.                             miracle is that all creation shall share    zealous of the traditions of my fa-
                                              in the gloryof the redeemed saints (cf.     thers."
                                              Rom. 8:19).                                      Yes, it was zealous Paul who
 Christ came into the world . . .                  Paul says that the faithful saying     enumerates his sins as one who has
           and carried away                   that is worthy of all acceptation' in-      obtained mercy. He preached always
   the sins of all those sinners              cludes him as the chief of sinners in       as one who worshiped God with a
                                              this host of redeemed saints in the         good conscience. Before his conver-
 ordained MI to life etitirlasting.           heavenly choir.                             sion he speaks of his exceedinglyzeal-
                                                The term "sinners" is derived             ous attitude concerning the traditions
                                              from a Greek word that specifies ;ha-       of the fathers. After his conversion he
         A few days after this profound       bitual and notorious sinners. Yes,          can say, "I have lived in all good
 and life-changing statement to Zac-          they were preeminently sinful, espe-        conscience before God until this day"
 chaeus, the Son of man would be              cially wicked. Paul puts himself in         (Acts 23:l). Here Paul really swears
 hanged on the accursed tree. He, the         the worst class of sinners, and inthis      by the God of truth. He does this in a
 Emmanuel Child, who was named                .class he is the number one sinner! If      Jewish court where men knew Paul
 fl Jesus," will be hung on a, cross sus-     ever, it was here clearly an acceptable     both as Jew and as one who had left
 pended between two sinners - mur-            word that Christ Jesus came into ihe        Jewry.  -.
 derers.- and to one of them, ason of         world to save sinners.- For Paul's               Now Timothy is called by this
 Abraham, Christ uttered the well-            record stands out as the worst. Paul        same Paul to run the race, to fight the
 known words, "Truly, I say to you,           does not boast or glory in his shame.       battle of faith out of a pure conscience
 today thou shalt be with me in Para-         He glories in grace. He glories in the      because the end of the command was
 dise" (Luke 23:43).         ._               deep contrition which knows only of         "love out of a pure heart, and a good
         It is this cross-word-that Paul      the superabundant and matchless             conscience, and faith unfeigned."
 recallsinITimothy1:15when,hesays,            longsuffering of. Christ. Fact is that      Timothy must not do as Hymenaeus
 "This is a faithful saying and worthy        the matchless longsuffering of Christ       and Alexander did. Both of these

                                                                                              January 1,1993 / Standard Bearer / 157


were cast away, and that knowingly.          science" six times in I and II Timothy       Gewissen.  They are the past participle,
They didnot have a good conscience;          and in Titus (I Tim. 1:5,19; 3:9; 4:2; II    "to have known." Deep in `our
and they had suffered shipwreck in           Tim 1:3; Tit. 1:3). Did you know that        memory are hid the past deeds,
the faith. Both were given over to a         the term "conscience" is nowhere             thoughts, and intents of our heart as
willful existence in the midst of the        found in the Old Testament Scrip-            judged by the law of God. Look up
Synagogue of Satan (Rev. 3:9). Here          tures? Although the word "con-               the term "conscience" in I Timothy
is the gathering of the blasphemers.         science" is not usedin the Old Testa-        1:5,19;  Hebrews 9:21 and attempt to
They claim to be the true sons of            ment how is the idea of "conscience"         determine the meaning.
Abraham, but they are not; instead           implied in Psalm 139:1-24?                        4. Is a good conscience part and
they are liars. Here these teachers of            2. The New Testament speaks             parcel of the heavenly gift of salva-
law can taste the ultimate of an evil        of a "good" conscience in I Timothy          tion merited for us on the cross in the
conscience which has never been              1:5,19; and of a "pure" conscience in        same sense that faith is merited for
cleansed from dead works to serve            I Timothy 3:9 and. II Timothy 1:3.           us? See Ephesians 2:4-10. Is a good
the living God. Did these two men            What is a "good" and "pure" con-             conscience an infallible earmark that
learn the lesson and return as peni-         science?                                     we have a great certainty that we will
tent sinners? We are not told.                    3. It is quite obvious that the         inherit salvation? How does the
      Let all the apostles, evangelists,     function of our conscience is "to            Heidelberg Catechism connect a
shepherds, and teachers flee the great       know," and then n to know with" the          "good conscience" with the reality of
temptations which beset us (Heb.             all-knowing God, who knows the               our being called a Christian? (Cf.
12:l).                                       hearts of all men and the secrets            Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day
                                             within. The English term comes from          12, Question and Answer 32.) IJ
Some Suggested Questions:                    the Latin con-scire. The Holland has
          1. Paul speaks of the "con-        the term  Geweten  and German




                                           Family Values

                                                                                                                            I





      Anyone who followed the re-            Thousands roam the streets of our            and other movies. For the duration of
cent political campaigns in America          cities without a home. Young people          the campaign he was the object of the
is aware of how the above topic be-          from earliest childhood are caught up        wrath of Hollywood. He-was mocked
came a sort of buzzword in them.             with the drug culture, prostitution,         and ridiculed, most often on the basis
Everyone realizes that Americais in a        and a life of violent crime. They grow       of a total misrepresentation of the
state of moral and spiritualdecadence.       up to be hardened criminals with             words he used. Meanwhile, those
Such awful realities of life in America      attitudes andvalues that frighten you        who are some of the most popular
as the spiraling rate of violent crime,      when you hear of them. Deep-seated           people in our land are at the same
murders, rapes, assaults, and gang           hatred, `despair, and -pessimism al-         time the greatest perverts of our
violence are indications of the tragic       most impossible to overcome are bred         nation's morality. Political talk about
state our nation is in. The recent L.A.      into people from childhood on.               "familyvalues" hasbeengreatlytoned
riots are symptomatic of the profound             Even the world today acknowl-           down for fear of offending the voting
problems in our nation's cities that         edges that much of the evils of our          public.
seem to defy all solution. It is'shock-      modern-day society can be traced to               In all the talk about "family val-
ing to learn how many of the inner           the breakdownof the American home            ues" it has also become very evident
city youths are members of gangs.            and the tragic state of family life in       that there is little consensus in the
                                             America. Vice-PresidentDanQuayle,            world about what "family values"
                                             in a speech a few months ago, sug-           really are. One side may say that they
                                             gested that America must get back to         include such things as homes where
Rev. denHartog  is pastor of Hope Protes-    "traditionalfamilyvalues." Hedared           there are two parents, husbands and,
tant Reformed Church in Redlands,  Cali-     to criticize Hollywood for the moral         wives who`live faithfully with each
fornia.                                      rot that it produces in its soap operas      other, and children wh'olearn  obedi-

158 IStandard  Bearer I January 1,1993.


ence to their parents and other au-                 How urgent it is for the Chris-        by God in ,His Word, those families
thority and learn to love and respect          tian and'for the church to separate         will stand and not be destroyed.
their. fellow human beings, and who            itself from the ungodliness of this              No, this does not mean that the
in the home learn the value and dig-           world. The calling of the church and        Christian family will not experience
nity-of work and of honesty and re-            her members is to know the truth,of         great trouble and misery in this un-
sponsibility. The other side says that         God and to stand firm on it. The            godly world. Christians, as long as
                                               calling of the church is to preach the      they are on this earth, are still weak
                                               gospel of Jesus Christ as the only hope     and sinful and their sinfulness often
   It is not at all &p&i@                      of salvation from this present evil         gets them into trouble and sorrow.
that the world does not know                   world.. Christians must live in the         Furthermore, they are affected by the
                                               fear of God, and by their word and          wickedness and ungodliness  of, this
what real family values are.                   example show the truth and righ-            world with which they sometimes
                                               teousness of `God in their lives.           foolishly go along. Nevertheless, the
                                                 The. Bible certainly clearly              Word of God stands as the absolute
"family values" include such things            teaches the importance of the family        basis of what is goodandright. Those
ad,respecting  the "right" of women to         and of family values. The law of God        who build their families on its prin-
abort their own babies and honoring            is the absolute standard of true family     ciples will be strong and blessed of
the "alternative life-style" of the ho-        values. From creation God ordained          God.,
mosexual, giving welfare to unwed              that the family should be the founda-
mothers with dependent children, and           tion of society and of a nation. Fur-
supporting the cause of the career             thermore, according to His great pur-           Without the fear of God
woman who wants to go out to the               pose of salvation God is a "family
working place and leave her children                                                       there can be no family values.
                                               God." He has made His covenant of
in publicly funded daycare centers.            grace with families, with believers
     It.is not at all surprising that the      and their children. God is pleased to
world'does not know what real.fam-                                                              Let us outline some of the "fam-
                                               continue l&s covenant of grace and
ily values are. Anyone who reads the                                                       `jly values" that are foundinthe Word
                                               sa1vation.n  the line of :generations
Bible knows what God has to say                                                            of God.' The foremost of them is the
                                               from fathers and mothers to the chil-
about the evil of this world. "For all                                                     fear of God. In one of the most signifi-
                                               dren. The history of the Old Testa-
that is in the world, the lust of the                                                      cant and beautiful passages in the
                                               ment makes this clear. This is' no
flesh and the lust of the eyes, and the                                                    Bible on the family, Psalm 128, we
                                               different in the-New Testament age in
pride of life, is not of the Father, but is                                                read: "Blessediseveryonethatfeareth
                                               which we live. Already on the day of
of the world" (I John2:16). The fear of                                                    theLord;walkinginHisways." With-
                                               Pentecost God said by His inspired
God is not found ampng the wicked                                                          out the fear of God there can be no.
                                               apostle, "For the promise is unto you,
men of this world. There is no-regard                                                      family values. The fear of God must
                                               `and to your children, and to all that
for the law of God. This worldcontin-                                                      be the basis and foundation of the
                                               are afar off, even as many as the Lord
ues to grow and.develop more and                                                           Christian home. It must be the con-
                                               our God shall call" (Acts. 2:39).
more'in  wickedness and depravity.                                                         trolling atmosphere and spirit of the
                                                    BoththeOldandtheNewTesta-
The Bible tells us that the wrath of                                                       home. If we fear God we know Him
                                               ment are full of instruction regarding
God isupon this ungodly world, re-                                                         as the Sovereign and Holy One, the
                                               marriage and the.family. The Scrip-
vealed against allits unrighteousness                                                      God of righteousness and truth. We
                                               tures are very plain that in God's
and ungodliness. That wrath of God                                                         know that there is no greater evil than
                                               sight the family is of greatest impor-
is revealed in the misery and wretch-                                                      His wrath and judgment, and no
                                               tance. Strong-families are of great
edness and violence,`the wickedness                                                        greatergoodthanHisfavorandbless-
                                               importance f or the future of the church
and despair of this world. God is not                                                      ing. We believe He has created and
                                               of God and the cause of the kingdom
mocked by the evil of the world, He                                                        ordained all things, including also
                                               of the Lord Jesus Christ in the earth.
visits it with His holy and righteous                                                      marriage and the- family.. He has
                                                     "Family values!' are clearly and
judgments. This world is fast becom-                                                       outlined His own good and wise or-
                                               abundantly taught in the. .Word' of
ing ripe for the final judgment.                                                           der for the family, and only those who
                                               God. They never change. They are
      In this world everyone does what                                                     abide by that order shall be blessed.
                                               the same from age to.age. They apply
is right in his or her own eyes. And if                                                             Family values begin with a truly
                                               in every and all circumstances. They
there.is any regard for virtues and                                                        Christian marriage. Such a marriage
                                               are absolutely good. The families that
values, those values are determined                                                        is based on the Word of God. This
                                               are founded on. the principles out-
by nothing more than the prevailing                                                        Word of God teaches that marriage is
                                               linedinHoly  Scripturewillbeblessed
opinions of men They are ever chang-                                                       a creation ordinance of God. It is not
                                               with the grace and favor and love of
ing to adapt to the evil life-style of the                                                 a mere human institution. God or-
                                               God. If we by the grace of God build
people of the world.                                                                       dained from the beginning that mar-
                                               our families on the foundations laid

                                                                                                January 1,-l 993 1 Standard Bearer I159


riage should be between one man and         a godly couple but also a responsibil-        must be a primary concern of her life.
one woman, male and female, not             ity before God. Children are to be            So important is this to her that when
two persons of the same sex. The            loved and cherished as the heritage of        she is devoted to this she has neither
Bible teaches that GodHimself brings        the Lord. How absolutely different            the time nor the energy for an occupa-
man and woman together in mar-              this is from what we see and hear             tion outside the home. She has one of
riage, and when they are united to-         about in this wicked world, where             the greatest occupations imaginable.
getherHesays,"WhatGodhathjoined             mothers in cold blood murder their            It is no exaggeration to say that godly
together let not man put asunder."          ownbabiesbeforetheyareevenborn.               mothers who devote themselves self-
The Lord commanded man and                  The law of our land is so weak and            lessly to the raising of their children
woman that they should live faith-          corrupt that it does not even con-            will have a greater impact on society
fully with each other and not forsake       demn and judge this great evil.               and will do more good for the cause of
each other as long as they both live on          The calling of the Christian             the church of Jesus Christ than almost
earth. God commanded that they              couple is not only to bring forth chil-       anyone else.
should live in communion with one           dren but also to raise them in the fear            Fathers also have a great respon-
another in the bond of love, each           of the Lord. This is a very serious           sibility in the family. They must lead
serving the other for mutual benefit.       responsibility, and one that God gives        the family and care for it as its.hdad..
God commanded that man and                  to parents before anyone else. This is        This involves much more than merely
woman shouldlive in holiness, sexual        not first of all the responsibility of the    being the bread winner, as important
purity, and faithfulness with one an-       schools or of the state. Children must        as this is. -Though they usually need
otherinmarriageandthattheyshould            be raised in a home where there is an         to have a career outside of the home,
not allow another man or woman to           atmosphere of Christian love and the          they must never fail to understand
violate the covenant of their mar-          fear of God. Children need to be              that the chief purpose of this career is
riage.                                      admonished and disciplined. Con-              to care for their wives and families in
     The Lord Himself ordained that         trary to the prevailing philosophy of         the home. They ought to be very
man should be the head in marriage          the world, our children are not born          careful about being away from the
and that woman should be the                basically good. Along with their par-         home for any longer time than is ab-
helpmeet  of man. Together man and          ents they have from birth a deeply            solutely necessary. They must be
woman, each in their respective             sinful nature. This nature must be            ready at times to forgo honor and
callings, are to serve the Lord. These      checked by firm and loving disci-             promotion in the world because of
are fixed principles for marriage that , pline. In the home, children need to             greater priorities and responsibilities
cannot be changed without creating          be taught obedience to authority in           in the home and family.
havoc in marriage. The husband is           the fear of the Lord. Christian virtues            In summary, for both father and
called to rule his wife in love, caring     need to be instilled and nurtured in          mother the great requirement is self-
for her, cherishing her, providing for      them. In the home, children need to           sacrifice. This is a supreme "family
her, and protecting her. This is a great    be taught responsibility and their            value" that is truly far more glorious
responsibility and can be preformed         obligation to work for a living. They         than the self-seeking career woman,
by man only in the way of high regard       need to be taught to have love and            and the man who for the same selfish
forandloveforhiswifeandindepen-             respect for their fellow man.                 reason has no other goal in mind than
dence on the grace of God: The wife              We believe that only the truly           making himself rich and famous in
in marriage is called to serve her hus-     Christian home can by the grace of            the world.
band. This calls for selflessness, hu-      God perform this great task. Parents               TheBible sets before us the great
mility, and meekness, which are in          must be an influence for good in the          ideals for Christian family living. The
the'sight of God of great price.            lives of their children, not only by          Bible gives us the prescription for a
                                            word but also by the example of their         truly happy, strong, and blessed
                                            own lives. Extremely important to             home. We know as Christians, how-
    Children must be raised                 the nurture of children is that father        ever, that we are far from perfect and
    in a home where there is                and mother have a loving stable rela-         we oftenfall far short of the ideals set
            an atmosphere                   tionship with,one  another as husband         forth in the Scriptures. In the current
                                            and wife. Few things will have a              debate about "family values" it is
           of Christian love                greater impact than this on the lives of      argued that, since there are so many
          and the fear of God.              growing and developing children.              homes today that are broken by sin
                                                 A great "family value," a trea-          and are far from what is known as
                                            sure little known in our age of wick-         "traditional families," we ought to
     God commands the godly hus-            edness, is the Christian mother who           compromise. the teaching of God's
band and wife to bring forth children,      sacrifices herself for the care of her        Word and accept so-called alternate
the children of God's covenant. This        children and considers the nurturing          family life-styles. We ought to honor
is not only a great joy and blessing for    of her children so important that this        in the same way those who live in

IGdlStandard Bearer I January 1,1993


these alternatelife-styles as those who        of God can bring healing and hope           forget about God's principles for the
live according to the biblical norm.           where there are broken homes, and           home. God's laws for the .family are
Even when there has been great sin in          where sin has resulted in misery and        good and wise. They are trulyfamiZy
the marital relationship or neglect in         wretchedness.                               values. They are of inestimable worth
the responsibilities of bringing up                 The Christian must have great          and precious. When we by grace seek
children we must praise every man              compassion towards those who                to follow the rules which God has laid
for his efforts and condemn no one for         through sin and weakness have               downinHis  Wordforourfamilieswe
the way he chooses to live.                    brought sorrow and misery to their          will gain a great reward. Few things
     The Word of God, however, does            marriage and home. He must show             on this earth are more wonderful than
condemn a sinful life-style. On the            this compassion in practical deeds          a happy and stable God-fearingChris-
other hand, it promises the grace and          and concern towards those who sin-          tian home. Q
mercy of God to those who repent of            cerely desire to serve God. This does
their sin. Only the power of the grace         not, however, give us the right to



                                          Authority of'
                       Broader Assemblies

     The classis has the same jurisdic-          tions springs, it is asked whether it     minor assemblies, something of this
tion over the consist0  y as the particular      would be good that the ACTS of            is done each year in the practice of
synod has over the classis and thegeneral        minor assemblies be brought to the        church visitation  (Church Order,  Ar-
synod over the particultir                       major to be examined, such as the         ticle 44). According to the decisions
                                                 church minute book to the classis
              Church Order,  Article 36          and the classis  minute book to the       appended to Article 44, "The consis-
                                                 particular synod? Answer: No, but         tory shall see to it that the record
Background                                       in order to take care of this, when       books are at hand for the inspection
     This article concerns the author-           someone notices such a situation, he      by the visitors." One of the purposes
ity of the broader assemblies - the              shall give diligence that it be ini-      of this inspection of the record books,
authority of the broader assemblies              proved by specific admonitions or if      particularly the consistory minute
over the consistory and the authority            it does not help by authority of major    book, is to assure that consistories in
of the broader assemblies mutually.              assemblies.                               the classis are submitting to the de&
     The formulation of Article 36                                                         sions of the major assemblies.
dates as far back as the Synod of              Although the Synod of Middelburg                 The key word in Article 36 is the
Middelburg, 1581. This same synod              did not go along with the suggestion        word "jurisdiction." Our English
dealtwithvarious questions concern-            that the major assemblies regularly         word "jurisdiction" comes from two
ing the relationship between                   scrutinize the minute books of the          Latin words: jus, meaning"law," and
consistories and the broader assem-            minor assemblies, two thingsbecome          dicere,  whichmeans "tospeak." When
blies. One such question was the               clear from the Synod's answer. First,       one has jurisdiction in a certain area,
following:                                     the minor assemblies are bound to           what he says is law. Clearly, the word
                                               submit to the decisions of the major        "jurisdiction" implies authority, real
  Since it is reported that some minor         assemblies, lest there arise "disorder      authority, authority that must be sub-
  assemblies sometimes decide con-             and disparity" in the church. And           mitted to by those over whom the
  trary to what has been ordered in            second, lack of submission by the           jurisdiction is exercised. The Dutch
  major assemblies, from which disor-          minor assemblies to the decisions of        version of Article 36 uses the ,word
  der and disparity of church. fimc-           the major assembly is not to be toler-      zeggen:  II... `t zelfde zeggen heeft de
                                               ated but dealt with "that it be im-         classis over de kerkraad . . . . U Zeggen
                                               p r o v e d . "                             means "the say." Classis has "the
                                                    In this connection, although the       say" over the consistory, just as the
Rev. Cammenga.&  pastor of the Protes-         major assemblies do not regularly           synod has "the say" over the classis.
tant : Reformed Church of Loveland,            scrutinize the minute books of the          The Latin version of Article 36 uses
Colorado. ,

                                                                                               January 1,1993 / Standard Bearer I 161


the word auctoritus ,whichmeans "au-         localcongregationis not autonomous,         the major assemblies. From this point
thority."                                    that is, self-governing. The "broader"      of view, the broader assemblies have
                                             or "major" assemblies are viewed as         greater authority than the individual
Two Dangers Guarded Against                  "higher" and "superior" assemblies.         consistorybecause theyrepresent the
         Article 36 guards against two            This, very plainly, is not the         authority of all the consistories com-
equally pernicious errors that threaten      teaching of Article 36. That the major      bined for the supervision and promo-
proper Reformed (biblical) church            assemblies have real power does not         tion of the work of the churches in
government.                                  at all imply that they have absolute        common.
         First of all, Article 36 guards     power. At this point, we need to pay
against the danger of independentism.        attention to the language of Article
According to this view, the broader          36. Significantly, Article 36 says, "The         Submission to  classis
ecclesiastical assemblies have no real,      classis has the same jurisdiction over                    and synod, . . .
binding authority. Their decisions           the consistory as the synod has over
are merely advice that can be taken or       the classis." Article 36 does not say,                 is nothing less than
left at the whim of the minor assem-         "The major assemblies have the same              submission to Christ.
blies. Only if ratified by the minor         jurisdiction over the minor assem-
assemblies are those decisions even          blies as the consistory has over the
to be considered valid. In fact, there       congregation." There is a difference,            But ultimately the authority of
need not evenbe broader assemblies.          an important, principle difference          the broader assemblies is the author-
The existence of broader assemblies          between the authority that the classis      ity of Christ Himself. It is true, in a
is a matter of convenience not neces-        and synod have over the consistory,         certain sense, that the authority of the
sity.                                        and the authority that the consistory       broader assemblies is derived from
         Plainly, Article 36 embodies the    has within the congregation.                the willing consent of the individual
Reformed rejection of  indepen-                   The authority of the consistory        consistories. Yet, thisisnot the whole
dentism. There  are broader assem-           is unique. In distinction from the          truth, nor even the most crucial truth
blies. The decisions taken by these          broader assemblies, the consistory          when it comes to the authority of the
broader assemblies are binding deci-         alone has authority to preach the gos-      broader assemblies. For at bottom
sions. The major assemblies do have          pel, administer the sacraments, and         the authority exercisedby thebroader
jurisdiction over the minor assemblies.      exercise Christian discipline. No other     assemblies is authority derived from
Classis and synod exercise a real au-        organization, not even any other eccle-     the exalted Lord Jesus Christ Him-
thority over the consistory, as well as      siastical organization, may usurp this      self, the only Head and Ring of the
over the individual church member.           unique authority of the consistory.         church. To Christ has been given all
Decisions taken by the broader as-           When the broader assemblies do nev-         authority, especially all authority in
semblies are law in the churches, they       ertheless presume this authority, they      the church. Christ exercises that au-
do settle matters of dispute, and they       become guilty of hierarchy.                 thority not only through the local
are to be submitted to.                           The authority of the major as-         consistory, but also through classis
                                             semblies over the minor has already         and synod. Submission to classis and
                                             been carefully circumscribed by Ar-         synod, whether by the local consis-
   That the major assemblies                 ticle 30 of the Church Order. The           tory or the individual church mem-
   have real power does not                  broader assemblies have authority           ber, is nothing less than submission to
                                                                                         Christ.
  at all imply that they have                only in those matters which pertain to
                                             the churches of the broader assembly
            absolute power.                  in common. In addition, the broader         Biblical Support for the Binding
                                             assemblies have authority to deal only      Authority of Broader Assemblies
                                             with those matters that could not be             The Scriptures themselves teach
         Secondly, Article 36 also is the    finished in the minor assemblies.           this binding authority of the broader
Reformed repudiation of hierarchy;                                                       assemblies and of the churches in
and Article 36, rightly understood           The Basis for the Authority                 common.
and honored, is the Reformed                 of the Broader Assemblies                        This is certainly the precedent
church's protection against hierarchi-            The authority of the broader as-       set by the Jerusalem Council of Acts
cal usurpation.                              semblies is based on the willing con-       15. Here the local congregation at
         According to the hierarchical       sent of the local churches that have        Antioch appealed to the broader as-
view, the major assemblies exercise          freely joined the church federation.        semblyoftheapostlesandeldersgath-
an absolute authority over the minor         The authority of the broader assem-         ered at Jerusalem a matter that could
assemblies, authority overall aspects        blies derives from duly appointed           not be finished at the local level; The
of the life and government of the            delegates who are sent by the minor         ,question brought before the Jerusa-
churches of the major assembly. The          assemblies to conduct the business of       lem Council was clearly a matter that

162 /Standard Bearer 1 January 1 ,1993


concerned the churches in common.          beginning there was cooperation in         common worship, and, a common
The decisions arrived at by the Coun-      the training of young men for the          government. When Paul gives in-
cil were considered settled and bind-      gospel ministry: fl And we have sent       struction to the Corinthians congre-
ing, "necessary things" (v, 28). These     with him the brother (Titus), whose        gation concerning marriage matters,
decisions were reported to the             praise is in the gospel throughout all     he says, "And so ordain I in  all
churches by the apostles as the "de-       the churches; and not that only,. but      churches" (I Cor. 7~7). The apostle's
crees . . . that were ordained of the      who was also chosen of the churches        instructions in I Timothy for proper
apostles and elders which were at          to travelwithus with this grace, which     behavior in the church, the house of
Jerusalem," and that the members           is administered by us to the glory of      God, apply not just to Timothy and
were "to keep" (Acts 16:4).                the same Lord, and declaration of          the Ephesian congregation, but to
     There are also numerous ex-           your ready mind" (II Cor. 8:18,19).        every church and house of God. His
amples in the New Testament Scrip-              It is also abundantly plain from      instructions for godly behavior in the
tures of the churches laboring together    Scripture that the autonomy of the         home apply not just to Corinth, but to
in matters that concerned the churches     local congregation did not mean that       all the churches (I Cor. 11:16).  The
in common. The .churches cooper-           each church could go its own way or        apostolic regulations for worship are
ated in the relief of the poor: "For it    do its own thing irrespective of the       not just local regulations, but regula-
hath pleased them of Macedonia and         other churches. There was an author-       tions for the worship of God that are
Achaia; to make a certain contribu-        ity that bound the churches to a com-      to be carried out in every congrega-
tion for the poor saints which are at      mon faith, a common way of life, a         tion (I Cor. 14:33; 16:l). Cl
Jerusalem" (Rom. 15:26).  From the




                           Thomas Cranmer:
                      ' Sinning Reformer

Introduction                               Thomas Cranmer must be placed with         forfeited his fellowship by an early
     God uses many different kinds         the latter. There are so many blots on     marriage. His wife, however, died
of menin  the work of the church. The      his life that one almost hesitates to      within a year and his fellowship was
differences are not only those of cul-     includehimina"cloudofwitnesses."           restored. Of her nothing is known.
tural background, abilities and gifts,     But the place he occupied in the Ref-           Two things happened in the
personality and character; they are        ormation was important, and his            course of his studies and teaching at
also differences in spiritual strength     martyr's deathis  a tribute to a humble    Cambridge: Through his study of
and weakness. Some of God's ser-           faith which inspires many people of        theology and his acquaintance with
vants are of such noble moral charac-      God who are weak as he was.                the writings of Martin Luther, he be-
ter that one stands amazed at the                                                     came persuaded of the truth of justi-
power of grace in their lives. Some        Cranmer's Early Life                       fication by faith alone. And through
are very weak, to the point that they           Already Cranmer's early life          his workin the field of church history,
seem wholly unfitted for the work of       gave evidence of his genius. Born on       he became convinced that the pope
the church. Some are Samuels and           July 2, 1489, he soon entered Jesus        was not the head of the church. On
Gideons; others are  Samsons  and          College, Cambridge and excelled in         these two pillars was to rest much of
Jonahs. Some are Calvins and Luthers;      his studies. He mastered Greek, He-        his reformational work.
others are Melanchthons and Bucers.        brew, Latin, French, German, and Ital-
                                           ian, and showed remarkable promise         Cranmefs Weaknesses
                                           in theology. He was thoroughly ac-              Perhaps Cranmer's weaknesses
                                           quainted with the ancient church ;fa-      can best be described as a certain lack
Prof. Hunko is professor of Church His-    thers and the scholastic theology of       of firmness and an unwillingness to
tory and New Tbtament in the Protes-       the Middle Ages. At 21 years old#he        stand for principle when the price
tant Reformed Seminary.                    became a fellow at Cambridge, but          that had to be paid was high. This
                                                                                          January 1,1993 I Standard Bearer I 163


weakness was to plague him to the           1533 he declared Henry's marriage to          cism. But many, including Cranmer,
end of his life.                            Catherine void; and five Pays later           were pressing for reform. When the
     It  -appeared first of all in his      Cranmer married Henry and Anne                two were put together, reform gradu-
participation in and approval of the        Boleyn in a public cerem0ny.l                 ally made progress in spite of the
adulteries of Henry VIII.                        Cranmer's participationin these          king, but it was a reform wholly dif-
     Inanearlier article we discussed       sordideventsdidnot cease. Cranmer             ferent from the reformation on the
Henry VIII's desire to free himself         declared Henry`s marriage to Anne             continent. In the reformations in Ger-
from his marriage to Catherine of           voidwhen, after only three short years,       many and Switzerland, the church
Aragon because she failed to provide        Henry wearied of her. And, if only by         was established by separation from
him with a male heir to the throne;         his silence, Cranmer approved also of         the Roman Catholic Church. In En-
and his lust for Anne Boleyn, a lady of     Henry's cruel beheading of Anne. In           gland reformation came about by
the palace. Henry would easily have         the course of Henry's marital sins,           changing the Roman Catholic Church
divorced Catherine and made short           Cranmer also had a hand in Henry's            into a Protestant denomination. This
work of her, if it had not been for the     divorce of Anne of Cleves and in the          was no small task, and the efforts
fact that the pope not only disap-          execution of yet another wife,                were never wholly successful. Espe-
proved, but threatened Henry with           Catherine Howard.                             cially in liturgy and church polity the
all sorts of terrible things shouldHenry         It is impossible to justify all these    church of Englandremainedbasically
follow his lusts.                           activities of Cranmer, and there is no        Roman Catholic - as does the Angli-
     It was into this sordid affair that    need for us to do that; but the same          can Church to this day.
Cranmer was drawn. In the course of         weakness of character showed itself                Though strongly in favor of re-
arathercasualconversationCranmer            in other ways.                                form, Cranmer was hesitant and slow
expressed his opinion to two of the              Because the threats of the pope          inpressingforneededchange. When
king's advisors that Henry's marriage       thundered all the way across Europe           action was required, he shrank back.
to Catherine could easilybe  proved to      and threatened Henry with excom-              WhenHenryinsistedonthemassand
be illegitimate. Cranmer's reason was       munication and the lowest place in            transubstantiation, other Reformers
that Catherine had been the wife of         hell, Henry rescued himself by de-            in England resigned their posts in
Henry VIII's brother, and that              claringthat the pope was not the head         protest, but not Cranmer. Even Cal-
Leviticus 20:21 forbad the marriage         of the church, but that the king of           vin, in a couple of letters to Cranmer,
in which Henry now found himself.           England (namely himself) was head.            protested Cranmer's sloth in bring-
     The views of Cranmer were              Cranmer had come to this conclusion           ing about needed  reform.2  Undoubt-
quickly brought to Henry. In his            independently and assisted Henry in           edly Cranmer was interested in mak-
pleasure, Henry appointed Cranmer           passing the necessary laws and deci-          ing the Romish Church a Protestant
to the position of chaplain to the king     sions to make it effective. From a            church, and he sacrificed too much to
and sent Cranmer with a delegation          practical point of view, this meant           attain that goal. `Part of his problem
to Italy to try to persuade Pope Clem-      that no moneywas  henceforth to leave         was his respect for tradition: he was
ent of this idea. Clement was ada-          England for Rome without royal ap-            willing to settle for a reformed Ro-
mant and flatly refused to approve          proval. The entire church was now             man Catholic Church because he was
the divorce, and Henry was no fur-          under Henry's rule to doin the church         of the opinion that the church had
ther ahead in his plans.                    as he pleased. And one of the things          gone wrong in about the 12th century,
     It is aninterestingparenthesis in      which he pleased was to shut down             when, in fact, the evils of the Roman
this part of Cranmer's life that, on his    and raid the monasteries so that he           Church began much earlier.
way back to England from Italy, he          could make himself heir of their enor-             And, perhaps worst of all,
stopped in Germany  to confer with          mous wealth.                                  Cranmer showed his weakness when
the Lutheran theologians. Two re-                We must bear in mind, how-               he was imprisoned under Bloody
sults followed from these meetings.         ever, that the reformational work in          Mary, and signed documents in which
Cranmer was more carefully and thor-        England was ambiguous and compli-             he recanted his Protestant position
oughly instructed in the doctrines of       cated. Henry wanted a church free             and begged forgiveness from the
Luther, and Cranmer married the             from papal control, but he did not            Romish Church and from the pope.
niece of Osiander, Lutheran pastor of       want a Protestant church; he was com-
Nuremberg - even though clerical            pletely committed to Roman Catholi-
marriage was forbiddenby the church.
     Upon Cranmer's return, he was
appointed to the highest post in the
church of England, Archbishop of            l I say "public" because Henry could          2 See Calvin's letters of April; 1552
Canterbury. From this position of           not wait to satisfy his lust and had          and August 10,1552.  Letters @John
power, Cranmer engineered Henry's           secretly married Anne about five              Calvin, Vol. II, ed. by Dr. Jules Bon-
divorce and remarriage. On May 23,          months earlier.                               net; (New York: Burt Franklin, i972).

164 /Standard Bearer I January 1,1993


Cranmer's Strength                            them that seek thy kingdom, and the         confidence and helped some of them
     But we have recounted only one           righteousness thereof, all thingsnec-       to secure teaching positions in the
side of Cranmer's character and life.         essary to the bodily sustenance: send       church. He had much correspon-
     Though Cranmer's efforts to-             us (we beseech thee) in this our ne-        dence with Calvin, Melanchthon, and
bards reform never went quite far             cessity,suchmoderaterainandshow-            other continental Reformers who,
enough and were never pushed with             ers, that we may receive the fruits, of,
                                              the earth, to our comfort and to thy        without exception, showed him re-
quite enough zeal (especially when            honor: through Jesus Christ our Lord.       spect.
the going became difficult), what he
did in the work of reform was no                        For Fair Weather                  Cranmer's Death
small thing. He helped Ring Henry             0 Lord God, which for the sin of man             Cranmer's death showed the
sever relations between England and           didst once drown all the world, ex-         true character of his faith.
Rome, making reform possible.                 cept eight persons, and afterward,of             While Cranmer labored for re-
Though Tyndale died for translating           thy great mercy, didst promise never        form with some hesitation during the
the Bible and making it available in          to destroy it so again: we humbly           time of Henry VIII, he worked with
England, only a few short years later         beseech thee, that although we for          great boldness during the time of
Cranmer had the Bible distributed in          ouriniquitieshaveworthilydeserved
                                              this plague of rain and waters, yet         Edward VI. His work was brought to
all the land and`made it available in         upon our true repentance, thou wilt         an end during the reign of bloody
every parish church.                          send us such wealth whereby we              Mary.
     Though Cranmer remained con-             may receive the fruits of the earth in           In 1553 he, along with Latimer
tent with an episcopal and Erastian           due season, and learn both by thy           and Ridley,  was consigned to the
form of church government in which            punishment to amend our lives, and          tower of London for his views. There
the king was the head, he at least            by the granting of our petition, to         enormous pressures were put on him
delivered the church from the worst           give thee praise and glory: through         torecant. Foralongtime heheldfirm.
of Rome's abuses. He made plans for           Jesus Christ our Lord.4                     During a debate over the doctrine of
the training ,of an effective and edu-                                                    the Lord's Supper, he wrote: "From
cated ministry to take the place of              In the area of doctrine Cranfner         this your judgment and sentence I
stupid, superstitious Roman prelates,       agreed with the continental Reform-           appeal to the just judgment of the
and put some of his plans into action.      ers, particularly with Calvin. Inthis         Almighty,`trusting  to be present with
He attempted to compromise onmat-           letters to Cranmer, Calvin did not            him in heaven, for whose presence in
ters of liturgy but wasinstrumentalin       scold Cranmer for holding to errone-          the altar I am thus condemned." But,
producing the English Book of Com-          ous doctrines; his quarrel with               as we already said, he finally caved
mon Prayer. Though it is written for        Cranmerwastheslownesswithwhich                under the pressures and recanted in
the heavy and highly liturgical wor-        Cranmer pressed for reformation in            1554. Because of his high position, he
ship of the Anglican Church and is,         the church. Cranmer held to the Re-           was sentenced to death in spite, of his
therefore, unacceptable to those who        formed view of the Lord's Supper,             recantation.
hold to Reformed principles of wor-         ordered that both the bread and wine               Death came in 1556. He was
ship, anyone who wishes to learn the        be dispensed (Rome forbade the dis-           expected by the authorities to read a
art of prayer can learn much from           pensingofwine),andwasinstrumen-               public statement of his recantation.
reading these liturgically beautiful,       tal in the formulation of the 42 articles     Imagine then, the surprise of his mur-
doctrinally sound, and biblical             (later to become the Thirty-Nine Ar-          derers when instead of publicly re-
prayers. Some are rather curious,           ticles, the official confession of the        canting he made public confession of
and we quote a couple of the more           Anglican Church). It was a truly              his sin of recanting: "Now I come to
curious to give our readers a taste of      Reformed Confession in its doctrinal          the great thing that troubleth my con-
them.3                                      parts.Cranmer took Martin Bucer, science more than any other writings
                                                                                          contrary to the truth which I thought
                  For Rain                  Peter Martyr, and other. Reformers            in my heart, and writ for fear of death,
  0 God heavenly father, which by thy       from the continent into his home and          and to save my life, if it might be; and
  son Jesus Christ, hast promised to all                                                  that is all such bills which I have
                                                                                          writtenorsignedwithmineownhand
                                                                                          since my degradation, wherein I have
                                            4 The spellingis modernized. It is also       written many things untrue. And
                                            from, the Prayer Book that we get such        forasmuch as my hand offended in
3 Both are taken from the Second            common expressions as: those things           writing contrary to my heart, there-
Prayer Book of King Edward VI. The          .which we should have done, but did           fore my hand shall first be punished,
Book of Common Prayer underwent             not do, and those things which we             for, if I may come to the fire, it shall be
several revisions, but the basic work       have done which we should not have            first burned. And as for the pope, I
remains that of Cranmer.
              ii  h.                        done.  -                                      refuse him as Christ's enemy and
                                                                                              January 1,1993 / Standard Bearer / 165


Antichrist,withallhisfalsedoctrine."        church, holding the highest ecclesias-        were to break with the Anglican
     True to his word, when he was          tical office in the world under the           Church over matters of church polity
brought to the stake, he put his right      pope; weak and vacillating when he            and liturgy, they too acknowledged
hand in the fire first. And, as he was      should have been strong, altogether           gratefully what Cranmer had done
burning, he held up his right hand          too much inclined to curry the favor          for the church in England - even
and said: "This unworthy hand! Lord         of the crown rather than the favor of         though they were sure'he had not
Jesus, receive my spirit!"-                 Christ; he nevertheless left a legacy         gone far enough. And his noble death
     It was hisfinest  hour.                which hasbeenreceivedby the church            sealed his witness to the truth insofar
     Powerful in the realm and in the       for centuries. Though later Puritans          as it had been faithful. 0




An Introduction to the New Testa-           cific churches or people. The Bible                The result of their commitment
ment, by D. A. Carson, Douglas J.           has a historical aspect to it, which          to such higher critical studies- is a
Moo, & Leon Morris; Zondervan               historical aspect is important to know        nearly exclusive emphasis on Scrip-
Publishing House, 1992; 537pp.,  $24.95     to gain understanding of it. Books on         ture as a human book. One looks in
(hard cover). [Reviewed by Prof.            "Introduction" attempt to `serve this         vain for references to the inspiration
Herman Hanko.]                              historical purpose.                           of Scripture, the divine authorship of
                                                  This book is in the tradition of        the Bible, and the purpose of the Holy
     Books on "Introduction" deal.,         many books on "1ntroduction""and.             Spirit in giving the Bible to the church.
with background material on Scrip-          :takes  a new and. fresh look at the,         These questions are simply not an-
ture. Usually they deal with the indi-      questions which books on "Infroduc-:          swered, and the whole Bible is dealt
vidual books of the Bible. A good           tion" ask. It does, however, add some         with as one would deal with most
book on "Introduction" will examine         new questions which are not usually           other human writing from  -ancient
the question of the authorship of an        found in books on "Introduction."             times.
individual Bible book; it will try to       With each book it has a section on                 This all makes a difference. Iam
discover when the book was written;          "Text," in which section the authors         not saying that the historical back-
it will examine the question of the         discuss the various readings of the           ground of the various books of the
addressee of a book, i.e., to whom a        Greek manuscripts of the book; and a          Bible is not important. Indeed it is, It
book was addressed; it will attempt          section on "The Bookin  Recent Stud-         is difficult toimagine how anyone can
to learn the purpose for the writing of     ies," in which section inquiry is made        read and study II Timothy without
a book; and it will discuss in a brief      into mostly critical studies of the book      being concerned about the questions
way the contents of a book.                 by contemporary scholars.                     of who wrote the book, why was. it
     This investigation is done be-               The authors who collaborated            written, to whom was it written, etc.
cause of the character of the Bible.        on writing the book belong to the             But when books never get beyond
The boo,ks of the Bible were written at     evangelical world of scholarship, and         these questions, the whole point of
different times in the history of the       have written extensively on many              Scripture is overlookad or dismissed.
nation of Israel. They were written          different aspects of New Testament           God wrote II Timothy, something
under different circumstances. They          studies. The troublesome aspect of           which II Timothy itself claims for it-
were written for different historical       the book (and of nearly all contempo-         self and for the whole Bible (3:16).
purposes (Galatians was. written to         rary evangelical scholarship) is a sell-      And the important questions ought
combat the heresy of the Judaizers in       out to modern higher critical meth-           to revolve around this divine author-
the churches of Eastern Asia Minor).         ods. These authors, too, adopt with-         ship.  Itis legitimate to ask: Why-did
The reason why these questions are           out apology modern literary and his-         Paul write Ephesians? But this ought
important is that the meaning which         torical criticism, including source criti-    never to be allowed to push aside the
the book had at the time of its writing     cism, redaction criticism, etc. This          question:. Why did God. use l?aul to
is still the meaning today; we believe      becomesespeciallyclearintheirtkeat-           write this letter to the church at
that the Bible speaks to the church of      ment of the so-called synoptic prob-          .Ephesus? .And what is God's pur-
all ages.                                   lem; that is, the problem of the simi-        pose in having the book written to be
     God's Wordis a marvelous book,         larities and dissimilarities in the first     a part of Scripture?
inspired by Him and given to. the           three gospel narratives. One marvels               The point is important, for, as
church. But that Bible was written in       at the fact that nearly,all  evangelical      far as I am.concerned  (and this is my
such a way that God inspired certain         scholarship and nearly all evangelical       whole purpose in teaching a course
men towrite  certain parts, for specific     scholars rush madly after the gods of        on "Introduction" in'the  Seminary),
purposes, and as addresses to spe-           higher critical studies.                     the crucial question in Introduction is

166 /Standard Bearer I January 1,1993


the question concerning the canoni-          instances the answers cannot be dis-         book, are only occasionally hinted at,
cal significance of a book. What is its      covered. What is God's purpose in            and then from the viewpoint of the
canonical significance? Well, that           the book?2That  is the crucial question.     human authorship of various books
question presupposes the fact that                Then, the question becomes:             of the New Testament.
the Scriptures, taken in their entirety,     How does this individual book stand                Yet I strongly recommend the
are an organic whole, given by God           related to the other books in Scripture      bookto all who are interestedin ques-
through the inspiration of the Holy          as a part of the whole organism of           tions of "Introduction." There is a
Spirit, for the church of all ages, asthe    Scripture? What unique place does            wealth of material in the book. It
revelation of Jehovah God in Jesus           this particular book occupy in the           gives much information on the cur-
Christ as the God who saves His              canon? How does this book, in its            rent state of Bible studies. It is of
p e o p l e .                                own unique way, serve to complete            immense help in understanding the
      To-ask,. then, concerning the ca-      the perfect portrait of Christ, the Son      background of the New Testament
nonical-significance of a.bookis  to ask     of.God,  our Savior? What purpose in         books. It will be of great value to
what place an individual book occu-          the unity of the whole does Philemon         anyone who makes a particular New
-pies in the canon according to the          serve as in God's mind this book too         Testamentbooktheobjectofhisstudy.
purposeof God. To answer this ques-          reveals Godin Christ as the God who          Especially ministers ought to have
tion, it may be necessary to ask other       saves His church?                            the book if they are preparing a series
questions concerning date, author-                These are the questions. which          of sermons on some New Testament
ship, addressee, etc., but the answers       are so seldom treated in "Introduc-          S c r i p t u r e .   Cl
are not absolutely crucial, for in many      tion," or, asin the case with the present





Ministerial Calls                            period which follows. In the Fellow-         themselves into our churches' newest
      We begin this first installment of     ship here there are no special days in       YP Society. Their first meeting took
the "News" for the year with word            which church services are held . . . . As    place on December 6, and their first
that Rev. R. Hanko, who for the past         a church, we havebeen  provided with         Bible discussion was the study of the
seven years has served as pastor of          much. Over here there are not all of         Sermon on the Mount, found in Mat-
the Trinity PRC in Houston, TX, .has         the church and school activities to          thew 5. They also discussed "Keep-
accepted the call extended to him            which we have become so familiar.            ing the Sabbath," for after recess.
from the Hudsonville, MI PRC to              We have missed these." '                           The Senior YP Society of the
serve as missionary-pastor to the                                                         Hudsonville, MI PRC asked their con-
Covenant Reformed Fellowship of              Young People Activities                      gregation if they needed a break, had
N o r t h e r n   I r e l a n d .                 The congregations of the Hull,          shopping to get done, or just needed
      This will be no small undertak-        IA PRC and the Edgerton, MN PRC              to get away for the day with no chil-
ingfor Rev. Hanko, his wife, and their       were invited to join that of Doon, IA        dren. On Saturday, December 5, the
eight children. Let us remember them,        PRC in their auditorium on Sunday            congregation was invited to drop off
as well as the congregationin Trinity,       evening, November 29, for what has           their children at church anywhere
in our prayers.                              become the annual Fall Young                 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The young
                                             People's Singspiration. The theme, as        people babysat all day. Activities
Mission Activities                           you might expect, was connected with         wereplanned, includinglunch, which
    Rev. G.  VanBaren,  in his most          Thanksgiving Day. All three of the           promised to keep the babies, tod-
recent letter to his congregation in         YP Societies were also planning to           dlers, and older children busy all day.
Hudsonville, MI writes that "We are          give special numbers.
especially thinking at thistime  of the           The YP Societies of the West            School Activities
Thanksgiving celebration and the             Michigan area were invited `to First              The school society of. the
coming Christmas and New Year                PRC in Grand Rapids, MI on Sunday            Loveland Christian School in
                                             afternoon, November 29, for their            Loveland, CO approved the concept
                                             annual YP Thanksgiving Mass Meet-            of a new school addition, including
                                             ing. Rev. M. Joostens spoke on the           two new classrooms and a gymna-
                                             theme "Anatomy of Thankfulness,"             sium. It was also reported that sig-
                                             basing his remarks on Ephesians 1.           nificant contributions have been re-
Mr. Wigger  is an elder in the Protestant         The young people of the                 ceived towards a gymnasium from
Reforyzed  Church,pf  Hudsonville, Michi-    Immanuel PRC of Lacombe, AB,                 individuals outside of the Loveland
gan.  c  _  I                                Canada have just recently organized          PRC congregation.
                                                                                              J&wary 1 ,1993 I Standard Bearer I 167


sj.zMD!D                                            _         ~_~      -_--_-m--         -     -     -        -~              SECOND CLASS
   Bmm                                    I---                                                                                Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                              Grandville,  Michigan
   P. 0. Box 603
  Grandville, MI 49468-0603


Congregational Highlights                                  The Men's Society of the Love-            expand their churchlibrary. Recently
     Rev. A. Spriensma was installed.             land, CO PRC sponsored a prograin                  more shelves were added, which in-
as the second pastor in the eight-year            after their evening service on Decem-              dicates more books.
history of the Grandville, MI PRC on              ber 6. Mr. Don Windemuller pre-                             Already they have a very valu-
November 20. Two days later, on                   sented a slide program on the "State               able complete set of bound volumes
Sunday, November 22, Rev. Sprien-                 of theHungarian  Reformed Church."                 of the Standard Bearer. The most
sma preached his first sermon as                  Mr. Windemuller accompanied Rev.                   importantthinginthecomingmonths,
Grandv$e's  new pastor. Reading                   Woudenberg in June of 1990 on a trip               however, is that this library (as well
from Ephesians 6 and choosing as his              to Hungary and Romania shortly af-                 as our other church and school librar-
text verses 18 and 19, he entitled his            ter the collapse of Communism.                     ies) gets used.
sermon  Pray for  Me. That is some-                        An adult night of fun and fel-
thing we all could do more of for our             lowship was held in the Pella, IA PRC              ~oood!For  @ought
own pastors.                                      on the evening of November 13. Along                        Woe be to the people where the
     The Adult Bible Study of                     with games and refreshments, there                       pulpit gives no utterance to the deep
Grandville invited Rev. C. Hanko to               was also a ping-pong tournament.                         things of God; they will grow lean
speak to them concerning the 1953                      The congregation of the Hope                        from want of nourishment, and sad
split in our churches. He spoke on the            PRC in Redlands, CA has established                      from lack of comfort.
evening of November 17.                           an on-going project to upgrade and                                             C.H. Spurgeon,
                                                                                                                     Sermons on Sovereignty Cl



                                                    RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                   The Martha Society of the Doon
     The Adult BibleStudyofthe Doon               Protestant Reformed Church ex-                                         NOTICE!!!
Protestant Reformed Church express                presses its Christian sympathy to the                             Each issue of the Standard
their Christian sympathy to Perry and             VanEgdom family in the loss of their                     Bearer:  is available on cassette
Charlene VanEgdom in the death of                 loved one,                                               tape for those who are blind, or
their mother and mother-in-law,                    MRS. JEANEtiE VAN EGDOM.                                who prefer hearing the  S.B. to
 MRS. JEANEITE VAN EGDOM,                         "Surely goodness and mercy shall                         reading it. This is an excellent
whom the Lord called Home on No-                  follow me all the days of my life; and I                 ministry of the Evangelism Soci-
v e m b e r   19,1992.                            will dwell in the house of the Lord                      ety of the Southeast Protestant
    :_ May the bereaved be comforted              forever" (Psalm 23:6).                                   Reformed, Church. The reader is
by the words of Isaiah: `As one whom                         Pastor R. Dykstra, President                  Ken Rietema of Southeast
his mother comforteth, so will I com-                       Grace VanDenTop, Secretary                     Church. Anyone desiring this
fort you; and ye shall be comforted in                                                                     service regularly should write:
Jerusalem" (Isaiah 66:13).                          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
     Rev. Russell Dykstr_a,  President                     The Doon Men's Society express                              Southeast PFiC
         Brenda Regnerus, Secretary               heartfelt sympathy to Ed and Perry                          1535 Cambridge Ave. SE.
                                                  VanEgdom in the loss of their wife and                       Grand Rapids, Mi 49506.
              NEW BOOK                            mother respectively,
 Commentary on the book of Ruth                    MRS. JEANElTE VAN EGDOM.
  A ,Divinely Chosen Moabitess                             May the family find comfort with
        by Rev. John A. Heys                      our Lord's words: "Peace I leave with                                 REMINDER
    can be purchased only at the                  you, my peace I give you: not as the                        Announcements (accompanied
      Reformed  Bool?@utlet                       world giveth, give I unto you. Let not             by payment) should be sent to the
                3 5 0 5   K e l l y               your heart be troubled; neither let it be          Business  Office  (see masthead for
        Hudsonville, Ml 49426                     afraid" (John 15:27).                              address) at least one month before
     for $5.00 (net) plus postage                           Chester Hunter, Jr., President           publication date.
                                                                 David Wiersma, Secretary
168 /Standard Bearer I January 1 ,1993


