                   THE
.:' ,. STANDARD
A Reformed         BBER
Semi-Monthly
Magazine





                    Faith Protestant Reformed Church
                              Jenison, Michigan




Vol. 6Y, No. Y
February 1,1993


            :
CONT@lTS..~  .-  1.'                                                       I.,
                                                      _.                               `Februgrj/ I, 1993

Meditation  - Rev. Wilbur G. Bruinsma
      Patient in Adversity ....".................~ ......................................................... 195
Editorial - Prof. David ]. Engelsma                                               .                                            ISSN 0362-4692
      The Kingdom Has Come (1) ................................................................... 197
Letters ............................................................................................................... 199    Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                                               Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
All Around Us - Prof. Robert D. Decker ........................................................201                             4849  Ivanrest  Ave.,  Grandville,  MI  49416.  Second  Class
A Cloud of Witnesses - Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                                                                   Postage Paid at Grandvilie, Michigan.
      Peter MartyY Vergdgli: Italian Reformer ................i............................. 202                               Postmaster:  Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
Contributions                                                                                                                  P.O. Box 603, Grandvflle. MI 49466-0603.
      New Facilities for Faith Church - Rev. Kenneth Koole.. ....................205                                           EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
                                                                                                                               Editor:  Prof. David J. Engelsma
      Self-Esteem in Humility - Dale Bekkering ............................................ 206                                Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
      Jesus, Son of Nathan and Son of Solomon -Mr. David Dykstra.. .....208                                                    Managing Ediior: Mr. Don Doezema
      Family Devotbns - Rev. CorneZius  Hanko .............................................210                                 DEPARTMENT EDtTORS
A Word Fitly Spoken - Rev. Daze H. Kuiper                                                                                      Rev.  Ronald  Cammenga,  Prof.  Robert  Decker,  Rev.  Arie
                                                                                                                               denHartog, Rev. Barry Gritters,  Mr. Fred Hanko, Prof. Herman
      Angels .........................................................................................................211      Hanko,  Rev.  John  Hey.%  Rev.`Steven  Key,  Rev.  Kenneth
The Strength of Youth - Rev. Steven R; Key                                                                                     Koote,  Rev.  Jason  Kortering,  Rev.  Dale  Kuiper,   Mr.  James
                                                                                                                               Laming. Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs. MaryBeth Lubbers, Rev.
      Proper Christian Self-Esteem (5) ............................................................ 212                        JamesSlopsema, Rev. CharlesTerpstra,  Rev.GlseVenBaren,
Book Reviews ...............................;....................................................................214           Rev. RonaldVanGverloop, Mr. Benjamin  Wigger.  Rev. Barnard
                                                                                                                               Woudenberg.
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger.. ....................................215                                         EDtTORlAL  OFFICE            CHURCH NEWS  EDITOR
                                                                                                                               The Standard Bearer          Mr. Ben Wlgger
                                                                                                                               4949 Ivanrest                6597 4Gth Ave.
                                                                                                                               Grandville,  MI  49416       Hudsonville,  Ml  49426
                                                                                                                               BUSINESS OFFICE              NEW ZEALAND OFFICE
                                                                                                                               The Standard Bearer          The  Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                               Don Doezema                  c/o Protestant Reformed
                                                                                                                               P.O. Box 603                    Church
                                                                                                                               Grandville, Ml               B. VanHerk
                                                                                                                                 49466-0603                 66 Fraser St.
                                                                                                                               PH:  (616)  536-1776         Wainuiomata, New Zealand
                                                                                                                                        (616) 531-1490
        Numerical growth which, after only 15 years, makes necessary and                                                       FAX  (616)  531-3033
possible a church building project which doubles the size of the structure is                                                  EDKORIAL  POLICY
surely cause for gratitude to God. Such was the case with Faith Church in                                                      Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
                                                                                                                               articles.  Contributionsofgeneral  interestfromourreadersand
JenisonjMI. We thanktheirpastor,Rev. KennethKoole,for his "Contribution,"                                                      questions  for  The  Reader  Asks  department  are  welcome.
which makes it possible for us, in this -issue, to share in some measure the                                                   Contributions will  be limited to approximately 300 words and
                                                                                                                               mustbeneatlywrittenortypewritten,andmustbesigned.           Copy
excitement and pleasure of the congregation as they begin to make use of. their                                                deadlines  are  the  first   and  fifteenth   of  the  month.  All
.renovated and expanded facilities.                                                                                            communications relative to the contents should be sent to the
                                                                                                                               editorial offtce.
        This issue has in fact no fewer than four Contributions. The second is a
takeoff from Rev. Key's current series in the "Strength of Youth." Agreeing                                                    REPRINT  POLICY
                                                                                                                               Pem\issionis  herebygrantedforthereprinting  ofartidesinour
heartily with Rev. Key's characterization of unbiblical self-esteem, Mr. Dale                                                  magazine byotherpublications, provided: a) thatsuch  reprinted
Bekkering adds to the treatment of this important issue by elaborating on the                                                  articles are reproduced in full; b) that proper acknowledgment
                                                                                                                               is made:  c) that a copy of the periodical in which such reprint
developing of a biblical self-image. Interestingly, he attributes both high and                                                appears is sent to our editorial office.
low self:esteem  to one and the same cause - pride. To see why that is, read                                                   SUBSCRIPTION POLICY
"Self-Esteem in Humility."                                                                                                     Subscription  mice:   312.00  per  year  in  the  U.S.,   $15.W
                                                                                                                               elsewhere.  Unless  a  definite  request  for  discontinuance  is
        The third Contribution also comes as something of a response to previous                                               received,  it  is  assumed  that  the  subscriber   wishes  the
articles in the SB. You might recall that, a year or so ago, there was in the                                                  subscription to continue, and he will be billedfor renewal.  lfyou
                                                                                                                               haveachangeofaddress, pleasenotiitheBusinessOfficeas
Standard  Bearer-an exchange over the question of whether Jesus was the son                                                    early  as  possible  in  order  to  avoid  the  inconvenience  of
of David through Solomon or through Nathan. Mr. Dave Dykstra suggests that                                                     interrupted delivery. Include your Zip or Postal  Code.
it may be that we have here a both/and, rather than an either/ or, proposition.                                                A D V E R T I S I N G   P O L I C Y
Read."Jesus;  the Son.of  Nathan end the Son of Solomon."                                                                      The SfendardBearerdoes  not accept commercial advertising
                                                                                                                               of  any kind. Announcements of church and school events,
        The fourth unsolicited contribution came from Rev. C. Hanko. He writes                                                 anniversariss,   obfuaries,  and  sympathy  resolutions  will  be
of family devotions. In the article he wonders aloud if devotions are, because                                                 placed for a $3.130 fee. These should be sent to the Business
                                                                                                                               Office and should be accompanied by the 33.00 fee. Deadline
of the hectic pace of life in today's world, becoming a lost art. Have we perhaps                                              for announcements Is at least one month prior to publication
made ourselves N too busy"? .FamiIy  devotions however, says Rev. Hanko, are                                                   date.
not a preference, but a duty.                                                                                                  SOUND VOLUMES
                                                                                                                               The  Business OffiCe will  accept standing  orders for bound
        We thank Rev. Hanko, and the others, for contributions which, we are                                                   coplesofthecurrentvolume. Suchorders  arefilled assoon  as
sure, add both interest and variety to the SB.                                                                                 possible after completion of a volume year.
                                                                                                                   D.D.        16mm  microfilm,  35mm microfilm  and 105mm microfiche, end
                                                                                                                               article  copies  are  available  through  University  Microfilms
                                                                                                                               International.
194 /Standard Be&r  / February 1,1993


                         Patient in Adversity

                                                   By His sovereign power God              struggle against sin. These are good
                       Ecclesiastes 7:8-14    directs all the affairs of this world. As    times in life, prosperous times, times
                                              almighty God of heaven and earth,            which make our hearts joyful and
          Solomonexhibitsinthispassage,       who upholds and controls all things,         happy. And God gives us these times!
as always, a keen insight into human          He makes sure that every detail of His            But God also sends us what we
nature. He knows the pride that re-           counsel comes to pass. Providen-,            would consider evil times or the bad
sides in our flesh. He knows that             tially God controls the details of our       times. We must not forget that under
there is nothing that hurts our pride         lives. Not one thing takes place in our      God's sovereign control are sickness
more than when we are shown our               lives that He does not direct - and          and death, poverty and desolation,
weakness and helplessness. And he             that exactly as He has planned it from       and even sin. And God Himself de-
knows that there is no, greater way           eternity.                                    termines and sends those times or
our weakness is revealed than through              This includes, first of all, the        days in our lives when we experience
adversity or calamity in life. This is        good times in life, or the "day of           these "evils." ThiqSolomon  refers to
something no man can avoid. Nei-              prosperity," as Solomon calls those          in verse 14 as the "day of adversity."
ther can he overcome it in his pwn            -days in verse 14: God gives to us our       During these times our pathway is
strength. How often this results in           labor, wealth, strength, and earthly' crooked and rocky. There are trails
frustration and rebellion against God,        joy. And He gives us as well those           and crosses we are given to bear. We
even in the life of one of His children!      days or times of our lives when we           experience sickness and suffering,
          To set us on a straight course      truly enjoy all these gifts. These are       pain and sorrow. And these can last
when dealing with adversity,                  times when all seems to be running           for long, long periods of time in our
Solomon instructs us in verse 13,             smoothly;without any snags-or at             lives.
"Consider the work of God: for who            least without any major ones.                          There are other times of diffi-
can make that straight, which He hath         Solomon speaks of these ways as              culty which can arise due directly to
made crooked?" This is where it all           "straight" ways - ways when our              sin. There are times when we as
begins, is it not? Everything that            pathway in life runs straight and            God's children, or perhaps our loved
takes place in our lives is a work of         smooth with no sudden turns for the          ones, fall into the deep way of sin.
God's hand and has been ordered for           worse. There are no major problems           These times disrupt our whole lives,
us before-the world began. Already            in our personal lives, in the lives of       the lives of our families, and the life of
inHis counsel, from eternity, God has         those who are close to us, or in the         the church. They are crooked ways
determined every little detail in the                                                      down which we are led-long, hard,
unfolding of history. There our lives                                                      twisting ways of strife and struggle
in all their perfect plan have been            .a. under God's sovereign control           that leave one hurting and weary.
ordered by God. Nothing happens to                  are sickness and death,                These ways are good only when they
us outside of that which God has                                                           have ended. When we walk this way
decreed from eternity. And it is ac-               poverty and desolation,                 we say with Solomon in verse 8, "Bet-
cording to that counsel of His will                        and even sin.                   ter is the end of a thing than the
that God also works all things in our                                                      beginning thereof!" We are glad to
lives.                                        churches in which we are members.'           see it over and ended!
                                              We experience the comforts of life, we                 But if we are going to learn to
                                              are not struggling.financially,  we are      deal with such adversity in life in a
                                                                                           positive, spiritual way it is necessary
                                              notlaidiowbyany serioussicknessin
                                              our lives or the lives of our loved          that we understand God's hand in it
Rev. Bruinsma is pastor ofFirst Protes-                                                    all. Adversity is not the workof some
tant Reformed Church in Holland, Michi-       ones, we can go out and enjoy our-           cold, cruel fate. It is not simply an
                                              selves, and even spiritually we seem
gan.                                          to be on the mountain top in our             accident that things occur the way
                                                                                               February  1,1993 I Standard Bearer / 195


they do in our lives. Neither do we         to them that.see the sun.. For wisdom           wisdom (not in rebellion), then the
say, "Well, we cannot avoid these           is a,defense, and money.is  a defense:          answetwe  receive is: "God also hath
hard times anyway, so we might as           but the excellency of knowledgeis,              set the one over against the other, to
well put our nose to the grindstone         that wisdom giveth life to them that            the end that man should find nothing
and bear it." .This is not the conclu-      have it.". The wisdom of which                  after him." God sets adversity and
sionto which Solomonleads usin this         Solomon speaks here is the spiritual            prosperity one against the other in
passage.                                    wisdom given by God with salvation.             our lives. God makes sure that all of
     Neither ought we to think that         It therefore belongs only to those who          us experience at one time or another
all adversity is sent by Satan and not      believe that God `is the center and             both prosperity and adversity. He
by God. For some reason this has            purpose of allthings. We are told that          offsets the one with the other. He
definitelybecome apopularnotionin           by such wisdom. there is .profit "to            gives us joy and laughter, but He also
our day. God would not do these             them that see the sun.N.  There is .an-         gives us sorrow and crying. God
things to us! He is a loving and a          other phrase, used often in the,book            tempers the one with the other. All
caring God and would never do any-          of Ecclesiastes, which sheds light on           that "to the end that man should find
thing to hurt anyone! All calamities        the meaning of this expression.                 nothing after him." This phrase sim-
that befall us in this life must be sent    Oftentimes Solomon refers to those              .ply means that God sets the one over
by Satan, surely not by God! Satan is       who are "under the sun." By this                against the other in order that we
the one who wants to hurt us. Satan         phrase Solomon speaks of those who              might never determine what the fu-
wants to bring misery in our lives.         refuse to acknowledge God as the end            ture holds for us. God offsets the one
                                            and purpose of all things They are              with the other in order that we might
                                            unbelievers who refuse to fear God in           be unable to discover what the mor-
   Satan is not a power that                their ways. If this is true, then those         row brings. Our life can change so
     God must reckon with.                  who see the sun are those who do                suddenly from one day to the next.
                                            acknowledge God as the beginning,               God teaches us by this of the transi-
                                            L the center, and the end of all things.        tory character of-life: If we cannot be
                                            They believe in God and fear Him.               certain of what will befall us on any
     So the reasoning goes. But any:        The wisdornof  our text, therefore, is          certain day of our lives, no doubt we
one who believes this does not believe      that which belongs only to those that           willbe driven tolookupon God alone
the Word of God we receive in this          fear God. This virtue is worked in              who is our Rock. The wise child of
`passage of Ecclesiastes. Consider the      their hearts by the Spirit of ,Christ,          Godwhoseesthesun,therefore,learns
work of God: He makes crooked. He           who is the wisdom of God. Through               from all this to take no thought for the
sets adversity over against prosper-        the cross Christ has lifted us from the         morrow, but to leave it in the hands of
ity. God does this! Not Satan. Is           darkness of `unbelief. and given us             almighty God. That we must learn!
Satan a force equal to God? Is he so        eyes to see the sun. That is to say, He                           .
powerful that God cannot hinder him         has given us to know and understand
from doing well? And if God could           the things of the kingdom of heaven.            :
hinder him but chooses not to, is not                                                       -_ . . . ..we.neqd  nevbr fear
                                            In that knowledge~ofs~i~ritualthings
God just as guilty as Satan by allow-       ,we are~give,n,to.knowthat~it.is,truly.,               . that ,whaEetiey God
ing, him to- do these terrible deeds?       God Himself that controls all things                    setidi'us in this life
Satan is not a power that God must          in this world and in our lives. We are               might not be for our good.
reckon with. He is a power who is           given to know freely by God's grace
under the direct control of our sover-      that God send&s adversity as well as
eign God! And although it is true that      prosperity.                                :           Listen: is not this mighty God of
Satan is there tempting us to sin in              Now, Solomon encourages us to             heaven and earth our God? Does He
times of adversity, it is equally true      take that knowledge and adapt it to             not love us from all eternity? Has He
that he tempts us in times of prosper-      our lives in such a way that when we            not shown to us His great love in the
ity, too. Adversity is a work of God.       experience adversity we can use it for          very death of His only begotten Son?
     Do you believe all this? If you        our profit. That is true wisdom! We             Arenotwe  savedinthebloodofJesus
do, then you will be comforted by the       must take a Ihard look at the hard              Christ? Are not we adopted in that
Word of God in this passage.                timesinlife and evaluate theminlight            .blood to be Gods very own children?
     This knowledge, that God sends         of the fact that our God sends.them.            Well, if all of this is true of us, then we
adversity as well as prosperity, is the     We must askthe  "why'j.pf.life,  Why            need never fear that whatever God
beginning of the wisdom we are en-          does God send us hurtful times,gain-            sends us in this life might not be for
couraged to possess in this whole           ful times, times~ that so. often bring          our good. Ought not we then, when
matter. Solomon writes in verses 11         sorrow to our hearts and tears. to our          we are troubled with a load of care, or
and 12, "Wisdom is good with an             eyes?Why?         ,.     .,.I.,.     ..         overwhelmed with the burdens of
inheritance? and by it there is profit            When we. ask that question in             this life, simply trust in our heavenly

196 /Standard Bearer I February 1,1993


Father? He will never leave us or            patient in spirit is better than the         consider the workof  Godin our lives,
forsake us in our times of need. And         proud in spirit," Solomon teaches us         and when we are quick to apply this,
is it not true that it is exactly during     in verse 8. And in verse 9 he com-           then we are going to be patient. A
those times of adversity that we learn       mands, "Be not hasty in thy spirit to        patient man is one who bears hard
all of this the best? When in prosper-       be angry; for anger resteth in the bo-       and long under the burdens &life.
ity we have a tendency to look to our        som of fools." One who is proud in           He is a man who will not be quick to
own arm of flesh for strength. We are        spiritis one whorebels'against Godin         open his mouth and complain, but
apt to forget God. But when God              adversity. He fights and struggles           will cheerfully carry his burden to the
offsets this with adversity in life we       and is discontent in these ways. He is       Lord and receive grace to go on -
are again drawn to Him, for when we          quick to grow angry and frustrated           and even be blessed by his burden.
are weak then He is strong. Ah, to be        with life and everyone'in  it: it is the     Such patience can only result in con-
able to learn that in our lives!             doctor's fault, or the family's fault, or    tentment. And that contentment is
     To know all this and to apply it        the church's fault. He will blame the        the greatest of all gain! Applied to
to our lives, especially when adver-         hard knocks of life on everyone else         this life of. adversity and trouble it is
sity strikes, is the greatest of all wis-    -when perhaps he ought to be blam-           perhaps the greatest of all gifts. We
dom! That wisdom is as good as an            ing himself for not quietly resting in       are told that wisdom gives life. This
inheritance. It is something that is         his God. How often is it not true that       is true because when one is wise he is         .'
sure, that cannot be taken away, and         one who experiences hardship in life         also patient. And when one is patient
is of the greatest value to us. In fact,     becomes bitter, angry, and resentful         he willnot  curse Godin adversity, but
its value is found in this: wisdom is a      with everyone around him save him-           will confess His God and humbly
defense just as money in an earthly          self. And ultimately he comes out            bow before Him and adore Him.
sense is a defense. We can run under         and blames God. "What is the cause                The excellency of such wisdom
the shadow of this wisdom and hide           that the former days were better than        and patience therefore is this: it tends
there for shelter and protection in the      these?" (v. 10). Whycarinotmylifebe          toward eternal life! What better way
hard times of life; just as many in this     as it was before, when times were            to secure damnation than to curse
world hide be-hind money for protec-         good? Why send me these adversi-             God and die. What better way to
tion. But wisdom is of greater value         ties, since I do not deserve them any        secure salvation than to say with Job,
than all the money in the world, for its     more than anyone else? This man              "The Lord gave, and the Lord, has
knowledge gives life-eternal  life-          considers not that he inquires not           taken away, blessed be the name of
something which money cannot do!             wisely, but all his anger rests in his       the Lord." That must be our confes-
     When we apply to our lives this         own bosom, the bosom of a fool.              sion in the worst of calamities. And it
knowledge that God is in control,                 Better than a man who is proud          will be, too - but only when we
then we wiI1 be given patience. Pa-          and hasty in spirit is the wise man          realize that God controls every event
tience is the end of wisdom. "The            who is patient. When we rightly              in our lives! Cl
                                                            <




                                Kingdom Has  Come
                                                            (1)

     The need of the hour - thislast         the biblical doctrine of the' second         the end of the world?"
hour,- is that the Reformed.church           coming of-Christ  and the-happenings              Those who profess to be Bible-
give clear, bold, public expression to       that precede, accompany, and follow          believing Christians -differ radically
her distinctive faith concerning the         this coming. It is the fascinating an-       over future history as controlled by
last things.                                 swer of Jesus to the question of the         the coming of Christ. Calvinists are
     There is heated controversy in          disciples in Matthew 24:3, "Tell us,         deeply involved in the debate.
evangelical, conservative circles to-        when shall these things be?' and what             But the controversy rages be-
day over eschatology. Eschatology is         shall be the sign of thy `coming, and of     tween "premillennialists" (premills)

                                                                                              February 1,1993 I Standard Bearer I 197


and "postmillennialists" (postmills).       Christ and the end of the world in          tablish the kingdom of light. It is
The former teach the rapture of the         September, 1994 (cf. the editorial,         calling all true Christians to join in
believing church into the air at any        " A.D. 1993: The Lord is Corning," in       this violence in the name of Christ the
moment. This is followed by a period        the Jan. I,1993 StandardBearer).  This      King.
of' seven years in which Antichrist         cannot but have effects on the lives of           It is time, therefore, for the Re-
comes to power and persecutes the           those who believe the prophecy. These       formed view of the coming of the Day
Jews. At the end of the seven years,        effects will be the same as the effects     of Christ to be aired.
Christ returns personally and visibly       of similar prophecies in the past. Men          This view is "amillennialism." It
to establish an earthly kingdom of          and women abandon ordinary life to          holds that the millennium of Revela-
peace and prosperity in all the world       wait for the great day that is so near.     tion 20, the one passage in Scripture
for a thousand years ("millennium").        When the expected coming does not           that mentions a thousand-year pe-
He reigns from Jerusalem in Palestine       occur (and it `will not), many become       riod, is the figurative description of
where the nation of Israel has again        disillusioned, not only with the par-       the New Testament era from Christ's
become the kingdom-people of God            ticular Bible-teacher, but also with        ascension until shortly before His re-
as it was under the old covenant.           the Scriptures themselves which were        turn. In distinction from premil-
Only after this thousand-yearreign of       supposed to teach thereturnof  Christ       lennialism, which thinks that Christ
Christ does earthly history end and         on the particular date. The others,         will come before a literal millennium,
the eternal state begin.                    ignoring the huge blunder of their          and from postmillennialism, which
      The Calvinist participants in the     master, commit themselves to him            thinks that Christ will come after a
current debate over eschatology are         even more slavishly, so that a new          literal millennium, amillennialism
postmills. They proclaim such a vic-        cult is formed.                             denies that there will be any literal
tory of the gospel and law of God in              Other dangerous developments          millennium.
the future as shall result in the Chris-    are the direct results of the hope that           On the Reformed view, the Bible
tianizing of the whole world. A ma-         the kingdom of Christ is destined to        teaches that the wicked world will
jority of the worlds population will        come to earthly power in history.           make steady increase in its rebellion
be converted to Christ. At the very         Calvinistic postmills are forming alli-     against God (Matt. 24:12; II Tim. 3).
least, great numbers will believe in        ances with Arminian, charismatic,           The future of the nominal, visible
Christ. Christians Will hold the reins      premills to bring this kingdomto pass       church in history is that there will be
of earthly power in all nations. The        in the United'States.  They are calling     a great apostasy from the truth (II
church should look forward to a long        other Reformed Christians to join           Thess. 2:1-3).  A coming Antichrist
period of earthly peace and prosper-        these alliances. Such alliances are         will unite the nations in a worldwide
ity before Christ returns to perfect        fatal to the confession and practice of     kingdom of the devil (II Thess. 2; Rev.
this temporal dominion in the eternal       the Reformed faith.                         13). Then will take place a severe
kingdom. Some say that. this long                There is,also the strong tempta-       persecution of the true church of Jesus
period is literally one thousand years      tion to have recourse to civil revolu-      Christ (Matt. 24:21,22;  Rev. 13). Dur-
(a "millennium"). Others prophesy           tion and physical violence in order to      ing the reign of Antichrist, Christ will
hundreds of thousands of years of           bring about the earthly kingdom of          come bodily and visibly "with power
Christian earthly dominion.                 Christ. The hope of an earthly king-        and great glory" to consume Anti-
      Virtually missing from the pub-       dom is always vulnerable to this temp-      christ with the spirit of His mouth; to
lic debate is the classic, creedal Re-      tation. There are ominous signs that        raise the dead; to conduct the final
formed doctrine of the last things. It      some are yielding to this temptation.       judgment; and to renew the creation
is high time that the Reformed faith        Francis A. Schaeffer advocated resis-       as the home of His eternal kingdom
let its voice be heard.                     tance to the state as the last resort of    (Matt. 2430, 31; II Thess. 2; I Thess.
      This is all the more necessary in     Christians against unlawful author-         4:13-18;  Rev. 2O:llff.; II Pet. 3).
view of strange, dangerous develop-         ityin hisA Christian Manifesto. That             Reformed amillennialism ob-
ments that threaten to affect the life      Schaeffer does not shrink from ex-          serves that for all the sound and fury
and behavior of Reformed saints.            tending this resistance to all-out war      of the strife between the Calvinistic
Doctrine never remains safely con-          `is plain from his appeal to the Ameri-     postmills and the Arminian, dispen-
fined to speeches and books. It al-         can Revolution in which "civil dis-         sational premills, there is striking,
ways takes form in the practice of          obedience led to open war in which          significant agreement between-these
those who embrace the doctrine. False       men and women died" (p. 130).               two eschatological errors.
doctrine creates foolish and evil con-           Operation Rescue, the move-                 Both agree that the believing
duct. Right doctrine, orthodoxy,            ment.of evangelical opposition to the       church does not face a coming Anti-
forms wise, godly conduct.                  state-authorized murder of the un-          christ and persecution. The premills
      Recently, a widely respected and      born, is presently engaging in civil        rapture the churchout of danger. The
influentialBible-teacherin  theunited       disobedience as a tactic to overthrow       postmills put the Antichrist safely
States has prophesied the return of         the kingdom of darkness and to es-          into the past. Some of them explain

198 /Standard Bearer  / February  1,1993


"Antichrist" as the Roman empire             that consists of allmankind, for every       lishment of the kingdom that really
that persecuted the early church.            man will both be subject to the rule of      counts is the carnal kingdom of the
Others make i't the Roman Catholic           Christ and be beneficiary of it during       millennium. This kingdom repre-
Church at the time of the Reforma-           the millennium. It is a peace and a          sents victory. The spiritual kingdom
tion. We could say that, whereas the         prosperity that are purely earthly, as       of the confessing church with which
premills rapture the church upwards          earthlyasinternationalfreedomfrom            Reformed amillennialism is content
in space, the postmills rapture Anti-        war, booming national economies,             is nothing but defeat.
Christ backwards in time. In either          and deliverance from crime and dis-                  Some kingdom! Another carnal
case, the future of the church is rosy.      ease.                                        kingdom like the kingdoms' of this
This is appealing. It is also a mistake               The glorious carnal kingdom of      world.
with serious practicalimplications for       Jesus Christ!                                        Some Ring! A failure, lo these
the people of God. They are not                       This carnal kingdom of Christ is    2000  years.
forewarnedof the fiery trial that awaits     still future. It has still to come.                  Some coming of the kingdom!
them in the crucible of the kingdom of                In the thinking of both the         After 2000 years of preaching and
the beast.                                   premills and the postmills, the king-        working in the Name of the crucified
     Both premills and postmills             dom of Christ has not yet come. The          and risen Christ, the kingdom still is
agree also that there will be a literal      attempt of Jesus to establish the king-      mainly, or even exclusively, in the
millennium - a "golden age" in this          dom at His first coming was a failure.       future of New Testament history.
world's history for the church. This         The premills cheerfully acknowledge                  Reformed amillennialism is not
"golden age" will be the kingdom of          this failure. Israel's rejection of the      impressed.
Christ. What is especially objection-        offered kingdom by their Messiah                     We have news for the premills
able in this agreement of both premills      effectivelypostponed thekingdom to           and postmills, as we do for every
and-postmills is the notion that the         the millennium.                              man. It is good news. The kingdom
kingdom of Christ in this world is a                  The postmills pay lip-service to    has come. The kingdom is here and
carnal kingdom. It is a reign of Christ      Christ's realization of His kingdom          now. It is here and now as fully,
that dominates the nations politically,      already by the preaching of the gospel       gloriously, and victoriously as it ever
culturally, and economically. It is the      in the power of the Holy Spirit. But         will or can be, this side of Christ's
exercise of Christ's power by presi-         theirheartsarenotinit. Especially for        coming and eternity.
dents, judges, executioners, national        the "reconstructionist" postmills,                   Dothepremillsandthepostmills
committees for the arts, and secretar-       prominent in             the . current       not see it?  0
ies of the treasuries. It is a citizenry     eschatological controversy, the estab-                                            - DJE




n Could,Christ Come                          will occur in 1994.                          bold statement, "In the name of Jesus
                                                      The fact that a man named
in 1994?                                                                                  Christ, I declare with absolute cer-
                                             Harold Camping chose to prophesy             tainty that Jesus will not come and the
     I was embarrassed and upset by          falsely of Christ's return does not          world will not end in 1994," embar-
the way you ended your editorial,            mean that the Lord might not return          rasses me. No man, you or Mr. Camp-
A.D. 1993: The Lord is Coming," in           at exactly the time Mr. Camping says.        ing, should dare to speak so authori-
the latest Standard Bearer (Jan. 1,          The Lord will yet appear at His ap-          tatively concerning the Lord's return.
1993).                                       pointed time, regardless of men's                    Furthermore, it is dishonoring
     In the main part of the article         speculation. If Mr. Camping then had         to the glory of God to say that a
you did an excellent job of refuting         the audacity to say to the Lord, "Lord,      possiblereturnofChristin1994would
Mr. Camping's false prophecy con-            Lord, have we not prophesied in thy          sanction Mr. Camping's false exege-
cerning the return of Christ. But your       name?" I would expect he would hear          sis and contradict Jesus' words in
remarks at the end struckme as being         the Lords answer, "... I never knew          Mark 13. God's ways are so far be-
almost as wrong as Mr. Camping's             you: depart from me, ye that work            yond our ways that such talkborders
errors.                                      iniquity" (Matt.  7~22, 24). As you          on the blasphemous. God considers
     If no man knows the day and the         pointed out, Mr. Camping's proph-            no man in carrying  out His eternal
hour of Christ's return, as Scripture        esying in the Lord's name is not ac-         counsel, and is never limited by what
teaches, it is as wrong for you to           cording to the truth of God's holy           weak and sinful men may or may not
"declare with absolute certainty" that       Word.                                        do.
Christ won't return in 1994, as it is for             But for a Protestant Reformed               I agree with you that it seems
Mr. Camping to predict that the end          seminary professor to make an equally        unlikely that all the events that must

                                                                                                 February 1,1993 I Standard Bearer I199


occur before the coming of Christ             return will not be on that date. Pre-       love which brings us to charity which
would take place before September,            dieting a date.for the return of Christ     is the end of the commandment.
1994. But I dare not say that they            lacks all biblicalwarrant. Indeed, it is                           Peter Cawthorn
couldn't take place in that space of          contrary to the Word of God to make                           Tasmania, Australia
time:                                         such a prediction (cf. Mark 13:32,33);
     With all due regard for your             Denying that date to be the time of         Response:
office and position of leadership             Christ's return is based on the Word             The "must" of the Law of God
among us, I humbly suggest that you           of God, if the date is 1994. For II         for the saints in no wise contradicts
reconsider your closing remarks in            Thessalonians  22`3 teaches that An-        the sure mercies of David in the gos-
"A.D. 1993: The Lord is Coming."              tichrist must come before the day' of       pel. There are demands in the co+
                             John  Hilton     Christ. Everything that the Bible           enant of grace for the covenant people.
                           Edgerton, MN       teaches about.Antichi-ist  cannot hap:      God  demands that believers and their
                                              penin the short timebetween January         childrenlove Him with all their heart,
Response:                                     1,1993  and September, 1994. Besides,       soul, mind, and strength and love
         My embarrassing and well-nigh        if Christ didcomeinseptember,  1994,        their neighbor as themselves, accord-
blasphemous prophecy may never-               He would be approving Mr.                   ing to the "Ten Words" of Exodus 20.
theless stand as true. It is the Word of      Camping's prediction, contrary to           It is a "must" for the saints that we do
God in II Thessalonians 2:3: "Let no          Christ's own command.                       whatever is exhorted as part of the
man deceive you by any means: for                  Some (the  premillennialists)          Christian life in the New Testament
that day shall not come, except there         teach that Christ can come "at any . by Jesus and the apostles.
come a falling away first, and that           moment." This ,teaching is errone-               The explanation is not that this
man of sin be revealed, the son of            ous: We Reformed teach that Christ          obedience is part of our righteous-
perdmon."                                     cannot come "at any moment" -not            ness with God. Neither is this obedi-
                                   - E d .    tonight; not next week; not next year.      ence a condition upon which our sal-
                                              This teaching is sound. Why? Be-            vation depends. Nor do we earn
         I am writing to you with regard      cause, among other things, the sign of      salvationbyit. But the "must" is, first
to your editorial in the January 1,1993       Antichrist has not yet been fulfilled.      of all, the absolute necessity that God
StandardBearerentitled,  "A.D. 1993:               So, Mr. Campingis in his boat all      be honored by the holy lives of those
The Lord is Coming."                          by himself.                                 who bear His Name in the world. As
         I have had a number of discus-            I do very much appreciate your         regards the Christians, thelaw, which
sions on this article with others. What       interest, your discussions, and your        always comes as a "must," ("Thou
we were discussing was the state-             question.                                   shalt!"), is the demand and guide of
ment you made:                                                                 - Ed.      their thankfulness to God for gra-
                                                                                          cious redemption.
  In the name of Jesus Christ I declare                                                         This "must" itself is engraved
  with absolute certainty that Jesus                                                      by the Spirit of sanctificationupon the
  Christ will not come and the world                                                      heart of the elect so that he is deter-
  will not end in 1994.                       n No' "Must" in the                         mined to keep the Law, and begins to
                                              Covenant o'? Grace                          do so, although never perfect1 yin this
Some felt that by your saying this you              I have been receiving the ban-        life. He loves the "must" of the Law,
were jumping into the same boat with          dard Bearer  for the past year. You         just as a woman who loves her hus-
Mr. Campingin that,justasMr. Camp-            uphold faithfully God's everlasting         band for this reason also loves the
ingpredicted when the end wouldbe,            covenant of grace-the sure mercies          demandtobefaithfultohimandtobe
you predicted when the end would              of David. Yet, you equally uphold the       a help to him.
not be, namely in 1994.                       New Testament letter of the Law. The              For the believer's imperfection
         Your consideration and reply         letter kills but the spirit gives life.     and outright disobedience, there is
would be much appreciated.                    There are probably more command-            free forgiveness, when he repents.
                      Brett VanKoevering      ments in the New Testament of Jesus,              It is really high praise when you
                       Hudsonville, MI        Paul, John, Peter, James, and Jude          write that in one year you have no-
                                              than in the Old Testament, and we as        ticed that the writers in the SBuphold
R e s p o n s e :                             Christians have been called to obedi-       both the covenant of grace and the
         As I indicate in my response to      ence. But to preach and uphold this         Law. This is the confessional Re-
the letter that appears above, I am not       obedience to New Testament "Law"            formed faith. This is genuine Christi-
intheboatwithMr.HaroldCamping.                as things WI? must do is a denial of the    anit y.
There is fundamental difference be-           covenant of grace. We are called to-                                          - E d .
tween predicting a date for Christ's          the obedience of faith, not the obedi-
return and prophesying that Christ's          ence of the Law. This faith works by

200 /Standard Bearer / February 1,1993


q   Saturday                                   estant churches with Saturday-night         the people of God. Reformed believ-
Worship Services                               services are located in communities         ers confess with the HeideZberg  Cat-
          Recently Lake Pointe Baptist         with large Catholic presences.              echism  that God requires in the fourth
Church, in suburban Dallas, Texas,                   Another factor is risingbuilding      commandment: "First, that the min-
began offering an alternative wor-             costs. It is extremely costly for grow-     istry of the gospel and the schools be
ship format that-is now being consid-          ing congregations to expand or relo-        maintained; and that I, especially on
ered by as many as 10,000 churches             cate their facilities.                      the sabbath, that is, on the day of rest,
across North America. The Southern                  Some churches are going to al-         diligently frequent the church of God,
Baptist congregation of 2,200 added a          ternative-day services so that they         to hear his word, to use the sacra-
Saturday night worship service to its          can experiment with more contem-            ments, publicly to call upon the Lord,
weekly schedule, challenging the cen-          porary music and other innovations.         and contribute to the relief of the
turies-old norm of Sunday morning              This trend is especially widespread         poor, as becomes a christian. Sec-
as the only viable time for corporate          among many older churches seeking           ondly, that all the days of my life I
worship. Why? "There is a popula-              to reach a younger constituency or          cease from my evil works,. and yield
tion of unchurched people who can-             the unchurched. For example, five           myself to the Lord, to work by his
not be reached by a Sunday-morning             years ago Calvary Church (Undenom-          Holy Spirit in me: and thus begin in
service," explains MarkYoakum,  Lake           inational) in Grand Rapids began a          this life the eternal sabbath" (Lord's
Pointe minister of education. "And             Saturday-night service using a con-         Day 38).
secondly, we don't have educational            temporary band, drama, testimonies,              There is certainly nothingwrong
or parking space available on Sunday           the pastor dressed in blue jeans, and       with having worship services during
mornings to accommodate the kind               a question and answer segment. The          the week. That's obvious from the
of growth we've experienced in re-             net result: two very traditional ser-       Catechism's answer when it says "...
cent years."                                   vices. on Sunday morning which at-          that I, especially on the sabbath, that
         It is estimated that some 3,000 to    tract 3,500 people, and one Saturday-       is, on the day of rest, diligently fre-
4,000 churches in the United States            night service that attracts an addi-        quent the church of God . . . . n We have-
are already offering alternative-day           tional 600 people.                          services onThanksgiving,  Christmas,
worship services in addition to their               Carl F. George, director of the        Old Year's, New Year's, Good Fri-
Sunday services. While this figure             Charles E. Fuller Institute of Evange-      day, Prayer Day, and AscensionDay.
represents only one percent of the             lism and Church Growth, calls alter-        Some Reformed churches have mid-
nation's churches, it includes ten per-        native-day services "the trend of the       week services as well. Worship ser-
cent of America's lOOlargest churches.         future." We are also being told that        vices were conducted daily in Calvin's
Among these is the highly visible and          few pastors and theologians object to       Geneva. This is perfectly proper. In
increasingly influential Willow Creek          alternative-day services on  theologi-.     fact, we probably should have more
Community Church in suburban                   cal grounds; Several evangelical lead-'     weekday services.
Chicago. This church, pastored.  by            ers, however, question whether the               The problem with the movement
Bill Hybels, features two Saturday             movement is more trendy than Bible          we are witnessing in our day is that
night and two Sunday morning ser-              based. "Is worship like snacking,           these are  aZternatiue-day   services.
vices.                                         which we do only at our own conveL         These are worship services which are
         Why are these churches doing          nience, such as when it doesn'tinter-       designed to attract the unchurched
this? Several answers are offered.             fere with our favorite television           and alleviate overcrowding on Sun-
Some are saying that one operative             show?" asks David'Barrett,  editor of       days. The result will be that thou-
factorinvolvestheculturalacceptance            WorZd Christian  Encyclo$edia.              sands are taught to ignore the proper
of alternative-day worship engen-              "There is a point when Christianity         observance of the Lord's Day. An
dered by the Roman Catholic Church.            becomes so customized and so time-          integral part of the gospel whichmust
In 1970 the Vatican gave approval for          servingthat one hasto doubt whether         be preached to the unchurched is
Saturday masses. Now, twenty years             we are understanding what `corpo;           "Remember the sabbath day to keep
later, a number of dioceses report that        rate worshipis really all about:"           it holy."
attendance is greater for Saturday's                What must we think of all this?'            What we are seeing is indeed a
masses thanforsunday's. Many Prot- ' There are theological reasons why we                  trend, a trend away from the biblical
                                               musfnevQoffer"alternative-dayser-           teaching concerning the sabbath and
                                               viices.`< `Those  reasons are rooted in     its observance. This is a way for
Prof. Decker is professor ofPractical The-     the Bible's teaching concerning the         people to salve their consciences con-
ology in the Protestant Reformed Semi-         Sabbath'Day  and its -observance by         cerning the Lord's Day by going to
nary.
                                                                                              February 1,1993  / Standard Bearer / 201


church on Saturday night. If I go to             no reason to believe it won't, Chris-      cause of the Council's refusal to oust
church on Saturday night, I can sleep            tians ought to write to Mr. Clinton,       the GKN. Objections have been raised
in on Sunday and use the rest of the             pointing him to the biblical truth con-    against the liberalism of the GKN, her
 day for whatever I please. This is but          cerning the terrible sin of                membership in the World Council of
another evidence of compromise with              homosexualism and urging him to            Churches, and her tolerance of homo-
the world of unbelief on the part of             repent and disassociate himself from       sexuals in her pulpits.
some of the American churches.                   the gay community.                               The GKN is one of the founding
                    Chris tianiiy  Today                    National  b International       and charter members of the REC,
E The President and the                                                Religion Report      which began in 1948 as the Reformed
Homosexual Community                             q    GKN Votes to Remain                   Ecumenical Synod.
      The fact that Scripture demands            in REC                                                     REC News Exchange
that Christians obey those in author-                 Adopting the advice of its Depu-      n Persecution in Pakistan
ity, does not mean that Christians are           ties for Ecumenical Affairs, the synod           On the evidence of one witness a
to approve of or even ignore wrong               of the Gereformeerde Kerken in             judge in Pakistan sentenced  GUI
doing on the part of those in author-            Nederland (GKN, the Reformed               Masih, a Christian, to hang for blas-
ity. President-elect Clinton and his             ChurchesintheNetherlands)decided           phemy. During the course of an argu-
wife (this article was written on Janu-          to stay in the ,Reformed Ecumenical        ment with a neighbor who claimed
ary 6) are expected to visit an inaugu-          Council. The synod, however, did           that Mary, Jesus mother, must have
ral-eve reception honoring gay activ-            place a condition on continued REC         been a woman of ill repute, Masih
ist David  Mixner,  one of the first             membership. If the REC adopts a            replied that Mohammed had had
couple's closest advisers and friends,           proposal to create a category of sus-      eleven wives, one of them a minor.
according to organizers of the event.            pended membership, the GKN will            This remark is judged to be blas-
Mixner is credited with raising $3.4             immediately withdraw. Less than            phemy.
million from homosexuals for the                 10% of the synodical  delegates were             The judge, in sentencing Masih,
Clinton campaign, and for winning                opposed to remaining in the REC.           said the neighbor's testimony rang
campaign recognition of gay and les-                  The Deputies for Ecumenical           true and needed no corroboration.
bian causes. Organizers say there                Affairs judged that the move towards       "Sajjad Hussain  is a young man of 21
will be at least seven homosexual-               suspension was aimed at the GKN.           years age, student of fourth year with
sponsored events,including  the re-              The proposal *to include suspension        a beard and outlook of being a true
ception, dinners, and an inaugural               in the REC constitution came during        Muslim, and I have no reason to dis-
ball for 1,500 people at the National            debate about GKN membership at             believe him," the judge wrote.
Press Club. The Lesbian and Gay                  the REC Assembly in Athens in 1992.              This decision, along with the
Band of America will perform in the              This debate caused some members of         government's recent ruling that all
January 20 inaugural parade, and a               the GKN to consider withdrawing            citizens of Pakistan must state their
homosexual cheering squad will be                from the RECi                              religiousaffiliationonanidentitycard
prominently placed along the Penn-                    As rep.orted  earlier in this col-    are causing a great deal of alarm
sylvania Avenue parade route.                    umn, some of the member churches           among the Christian minority in Pa-
      If all this happens, and we have           have withdrawn from the REC be-            kistan.  c;I    REC News Exchange




                    Peter..Martyr Vermigli:
                              Italian Reformer
                                                 Introduction                               well known. They stand, as it were, in
                                            I         Some of the men whom God , the shadow of Luther, Calvin, Knox,
                                                 used to bring reformation to the           andzwingli.  If one knows them at all,
                                                 church in the 16th century are widely      they are vague figures in the darker
Prof. Hanko is professor of Church His-          known, and even our children are           corners of the stage of church history
tory and New Testament in the Protes-            acquainted with them and the work          when the great drama of the Refor-
tant Reformed Semina y..                         they did. Other Reformers are not so       mation was taking place. Because of
202 /Standard Bearer I February 1,1993


this, we might conclude that they are       wanted someone to carry on the fam-          bined in their influences on Vermigli.
of little or no importance to anunder-      ily name, something impossible in a                The latter especially, so obvious
standing of the Reformation. Such a         convent.                                     to us, was a mtijor  breakthrough for
conclusion would be a sad mistake.               Peter was a gifted student and          Vcrmigli,  for it led. him to a more
     It is my purpose in this article to    dedicated man. His progress in his           careful study of Scripture, to a form of
bring one such Reformer out of the          education and in the hierarchy of Ital-      preaching and teaching which was
shadows to stand for a few moments          ian monastic life was swift and sure.        expository of Scripture in character,
in the spotlight so that we can see him     He began his monastic career at the          and, finally, to trouble with Roman
clearly and the great work he did on        age of 16 as a canon regular of the          Catholic authorities, when his obedi-
behalf of the cause of God in these         Order of St. Augustine, the strictest        ence to Scripture led him to refute
remarkable times. His name is Peter         monastic order in Italy; and he spent        certain doctrines held by the church.3
Martyr Vermigli.                            the early years of his monastic life in      A close reading of the writings of
                                            the convent of Fiesole near Florence.        Luther, Zwingli, and Martin  Bucer
Vermigli's Early Life                       In 1519 Vermigli transferred to the          convinced him of the truths of the
     Vermigli's baikground has two          University of Padua. He was soon             Reformation. As soon as Vermigli
very strange aspects to it, both of         ordained a preacher and proved to be         beganpubliclytopropagatehisviews,
which point to the inscrutable ways         powerful and effective. He became            his life was in danger. Even thougha
of God. They have to do with the fact       abbot of Spoleto; later, principal of        every heresy under heaven was ram-
that, although the Reformation swept        the college of St. Peter ad Aram in          pant in Italy, the papacy would not
through nearly the whole of Europe,         Naples.                                      tolerate any teachings of the Refor-
from the Balkans to the Atlantic, two                                                    mation.
countries were left almost untouched:       Vermigli's Conversion
ItalyandSpain.  Bothcountriesplayed              It is ilot possible to pinpoint that    Vermigli's Refhnatory  Work
a role in Vermigli's early life.            moment in time when God worked                     Though by'no means a coward,
     Italy was the birthplace of            His great work of grace in Vermigli's        Vermigli fled Italy to seek refuge in
Vermigli. It was, of course, the coun-      heart. Vermiglihiiself did not speak         Switzerland and Germany.  hi 1542
try in which was found Rome, the seat       of it in all his writings - and his          he found asylum in Strasburg, the city
of the papacy. Yet it would not be          writings were many. We do know               where Calvin had spent several happy
correct to say that Italy was the most      certain influences under which               years during his banishment from
Roman Catholic of all Europe's coim-        Vermigli came, and which God un-             Geneva. Because of his vast learning,.
tries. It was almost totally unaffected     doubtedly used in forming him as a           he was soon appointed to the theo-
by the Reformation because it was           servant of Christ.                           logical chair in Strasburg and became
almost totally worldly. It was the               I spoke above of two strange            the ministerial colleague of Martin
country of theRenaissanceatitsworst.        events in Vermigli's life. The second
It was wholly apostate. It was corrupt      was that one of the greatest influences      `This must not be construed as meaning
and depraved. It cared not for God or       upon Vermigli was that of Juan de            thatGodsavedon$l'eterMartyrVermigli
man, for church or state. It was JeYusa-    Valddz. IfItalywasalmostuntouched            from the apostates of Italy. Other men
lem become Sodom. An Italian by             by the Reformation because of its            and women,  though *few, were saved,'
birth, Vermigli was a "brand plucked        awful worldliness, Spain was un-             some through Vermigli's influence. No-
out of the burning."*                       touched by the Reformation because           table among these were Jerome  Zanchius,
     Vermigli was born in the city of       of its total loyalty to Rome and the         the author of a still p.opular  book entitled
Florence on Septtimber 8,1499.2  He         papacy. From Spain came the terrible         Predestination,  and Ochino,  an influen-
was born of parents who were part of        inquisition, `which was responsible          tialReformqr,whtilaterw@chargedwith
the royalty of the city, moderately         for thousands upon thousands of              Arian views. Peter Martyr was also to
                                                                                         marry a God-fearing woman from Italy.
wealthy, capable of enjoyingthe plea-       deathsof  God'sbelovedpeople.  Spain,                                :
sures of what was the largest and           was the one country in Europe which          2M&y biographical details of Vermigli
most influential city in all Italy. The     had as its unofficial motto: "My             are found in a biography of the Reformer
family name was Vermigli, but Peter         church, right or wrong." The pope's          writtenby Josiah Simler, one of Vermigli's
was called "Martyr" after a martyr by       most loyal supporters were the Span-         c&temporaries. The biography can be
the name of Peter, whose shrine was         ish. From here God brought a man to          found in  l?eter Martyr,  ed, by J. C.
near the family home.                       Italy, Juan de Valdez, not a Protestant      McLelland  & G. E. Duffield (The Sutton
     Many more children were born           really, but one who almost believed          Courtenay Press, 1989).
into the family, but they all died in       the truth of justification by faith, who     3The  actual circumstances were interest-
infancy except one sister. This was         was serenely mystical in his life, and       ing. He was lecturing on I'Corinthians
probably why Vermigli's father dis-         who taught and preached the literal          3:12-15.  He denied that this passage taught
ownedhimwhenhejoinedaconvent.               meaning of Scripture. All three of           the doctrine of purgatory, a position long
It is understandable that the father        these traits seem to have been com-          held by the Romish Church.

                                                                                             February  1,. 1993  I Standard Bearer I 203


Bucer, the chief Reformer of the city.        sumed his professorial labors in               common; as  yas  aiio  hii  s&ili in
In 1546 he married a converted nun,           Strasburg, but soon (1556) moved to            disputation, which made him as
 Catherine Wampmartin by name.                Zurich in Switzerland to occupy the            much admired by the Protestants as
These years were happy and produc-            chair of theology in the university in         hated by the Papists. He was very
tive and gave Vermigli opportunity            that city. The call which had come             sincere and indefatigable in promot-
to develop in reformation thought.            from the Senate in Zurich was urgent           ing a reformation in the Church, yet
       In1547hereceivedandaccepted                                                           his zeal was never known to get the
                                              and pressing and he could not refuse.          better of his judgment. He was al-
an invitation from Cranmer to come                  Here in Zurich Vermigli mar-             ways moderate and prudent in his
to England and work there. Henry              ried again. His second wife was an             outward behavior, nor even & the
VIII had died and his son Edward VI           Italian as he was, Catherine Merenda           conflict of a dispute did he suffer
was on the throne, though a young             by name. With her he had three                 himself to be transported into intem-
boy. Edward was favorable to re-              children: two died in infancy, and his         perate warmth or allow unguarded
form, and Vermigli, along with the            wife was pregnant withhis third child          expressions ever to escape him.
EnglishReformers,  found a congenial          when he himself died.
home as professor of divinity in Ox-                An outstanding event of these                Friend and foe alike acknowl-
f o r d   U n i v e r s i t y . .             years was his presence at the Collo-         edged that he was one of the- most
      But even here Roman Catholic            quy of Poissy in France. The Collo-          learned writers of `the Reformed
opposition remained. Richard Smith,           quy was called because of the great          churches.
a fierce supporter of the papacy, was         strugglewhichwasgoingonbetween                     His greatest contributions  was
not reluctant to stir up mobs against         Catholics and Protestants in France,         his development of the doctrine of the
Vermigli which interrupted his class-         in the hopes of reaching some accom-         Lord's Supper. It is a never-ending
room work. Smith challenged                   modation. Vermigli was invited to            source of amazement to me that the
Vermigli to public debate, but fled in        attend by outstanding leaders in             Swiss Reformers could be so com-
a funk to Scotland before the debate          France: Margaret, the queen of France;       pletely biblical in this doctrine. One
could be held. Edward died after a            the king of `Navarre; the prince of          would expect that they would react
few years, andBloody Mary, a daugh-           Conde; and other French Protestant           against the horrors of Rome's tran-
ter of Henry VIII and an ardent Catho-        leaders. It is a measure of the respect      substantiation (along with Luther's
lic, came to the throne. Under her            with which he was held throughout            consubstantiation) and adopt some
reign Protestantism was harassed,             Europe that he was, apart from               kind of Zwinglian view which re-
Reformers were, burned at the stake,          Theodore Beza, the successor of Cal-         duced the sacrament to a mere me-
and many were forced to.flee  to the          vin in Geneva, the only theologian           morial service. They did not. Much
continent. Among those who fled               outside France invited to attend.            of the credit for this goes toVermigli's
was Vermigli himself, aided in his                  The Colloquy accomplished              work. Some are even of the opinion
flight by a godly sea captain who             nothing. After many days of fruitless        that John Calvin was, at least in part,
secretly brought him across the Straits       debate, the Roman Catholic prelates          indebted to Vermigli for his views on
of Dover and landed him in Antwerp.           ruined the conference by their arro-         the Lord's Supper. Whether this is
      One incident of interest occurred       gance, intransigence, and determina-         true or not, Calvin himself expressed
in England: his wife of eight years           tion to rid France of Protestant her-        complete satisfaction with the work
died without leaving him any chil-            etics. But Vermigli displayed all those      of Vermigli in this important field of
dren. She was a virtuous woman,               spiritual gifts which made him re-           Reformation thought. The fact re-
grave and pious, who spent her time           spected and' loved throughout Eu-            mains that the pure doctrine of the
caring for the needs of the poor.             rope: his enormous learning, his wis-        Lord's Supper as taught by the Re-
Though she was buried in England,             dom and moderation, and his irenic           formers canbe  explainedonly in terms
when Roman Catholicism once more              s p i r i t .                                of the workof the Holy Spirit of Christ
gained the ascendancy in England,                                                          who leads the church into all truth.
Cardinal Pole ordered her body dug            Vermigli's Death                             Vermigli was one of those so blessed
up and thrown on a manure pile to                   Vermigli died in Zurich on No-         with the Spirit.
rot. It was an act of cruel spite, indica-    vember 12, 1562, at 63 years of age               It is partly Vermigli's heritage
tive of the irrational hatred of Rome         worn and old with the cares and work         whichwe haveinthosestirringwords
towards anything that belonged to             of a busy and eventful life. He was          in our Belgic Confession:
reform. She was, however, held in             described by his contemporaries as
such high esteem that when Mary                                                                 In the meantime we err not, when
diedand Queen Ehzabethcame  to the              a man of an ibible, healthy, big-boned,      we say, that what is eaten and drunk
throne, her body was dug out from               and well-limbed body, and of a coun-        by us is the proper and natural body,
                                                                                             and the proper blood of Christ. But
the pile of manure and given an hon-            tenancewhichexpressedaninwarclly             the manner of our partaking of the
orable burial in a.cathedral.                   grave and settled turn of mind. His          same, is not by the mouth, but by the
      Vermigli, in the meantime, re-            parts and learning were very un-             spirit through faith (Article 35). p

204 /Standard Bear&  I February 1,1993


                          New Facilities for Faith Church                                                                 `-+i
                                                                                                    Rev. Kenneth Koole

                                                                                       during societies know).          Of late,
                                                                                       Faith's numbers became too many to
                                                                                       be heldcomfortablyeitherbythesanc-
                                                                                       tuary or by the meeting rooms.
                                                                                                The present addition consists of
                                                                                       an expanded narthex and two wings
                                                                                       coming off the narthex to the west.
                                                                                       The sizable `wings' have more than
                                                                                       doubled the size of the structure.
                                                                                            The northwest wing consists of
                                                                                       alargefellowshiphallwithapartially
                                                                                       furnished kitchen and a room which
                                                                                       is desi&ed to be a spacious pastor's
                                                                                       study, but serves well presently as a
                                                                                       storage room.
                                Renovated sanctua y                                         The southwest wing houses a
                                                                                       large consistory room, a double nurs-
         February, 1993 is a significant    grown from nineteen families to its        ery, and two large meeting rooms
month for our Faith Congregation. It        present count of ninety-two families       which can be divided into five smaller
marks 20 years of existence. Faith          (420) souls. This growth necessitated      rooms each with its own door. These
was organized on February 22,1973,          the present building expansion. The        are a great improvement over the
Prof. Hanko preaching the sermon            sanctuary originally was built with        former rooms, which were becoming
"The Church - the Pillar of Truth,"         this expansion in mind. Pews were          extremely cramped.
based on I Timothy 3:15b. Nineteen          installed with a seating capacity of            Once the temporary meeting
families organized as charter mem-          `only' 380, and the backof  the sanctu-    rooms were removed, the sanctuary
bers.                                       ary was filled with temporary meet-        could be renovated. Those familiar
         Also, fifteen years ago (1978)     ing rooms for catechism, the council,      with Faith's `old' sanctuary should
February was the month that Faith           and nursery. It was more than ad-          realize that the pictures (courtesy of
dedicated its then newly built sanctu-      equatebut haditsinconveniences due         Mrs. Dorothy Noorman) show rather
ary to worshiping God in a Reformed         to the slope of the floor (as those who    extensive renovation. Fifteen years of
and biblical manner. Worthy of note         sat on the `down-side' of the tables       use made new carpeting necessary (a
is that, of the three members of that
original building committee, two
(Ernie Miedema and Dale Mensch)
have since been taken to glory, and
the third, Dave Ondersma, served on
the committee for the new addition as
well. James Rau served as general
contractor.
         Since its organization in 1973
Faith, by God's good providence, has





Rev. Koole is pastor of Faith Protestant
Reformed Church in  Jenison,  Michigan.                                     Consis tory room

                                                                                          February 1,1993 / Standard Bearer I205


light-green fleck) as well as the re-
upholstering of the pews (in dark
green). Additional pews were added
to fill the sanctuary. The seating ca-
pacity is now 575. As well, a sand-
stone  .wall was erected behind the
pulpit replacing the temporary
wooden partition.
       And last, but not least, by means
of a generous donation the organ was
upgraded with computer stops; larger
speakers in the front, placed on
shelves behind the stretched cloth;
and antiphonal speakers high in the                  3.                        Meeting room
back of the sanctuary, to balance the
sound in the enlarged auditorium.           means of their confession of the Re-        by singing the same `old' psalms of
       The.renovation was completed         formed faith) and possible (through         David and Asaph as Hezekiah and
withaflurryofactivityjustin  timefor        the material means provided). A most        the saints did so long ago. Some
the area ReformationDaylecture  held        appropriate word was found in II            things should never change because
at Faith Church this past October 25:       Chronicles 29;28-31 .when Hezekiah          they are always `new.'
The structure has been in full use          rededicated the people to the sancti-              With its new facilities Faith was
since November and is much appre-           fied use,of the re-opened temple, and       able, for the first time, to host Classis
ciated.                                     then called the people "to sing unto        East, in January of this new year.
       The Thanksgiving Day service         the LORD with words of David, andof                May the God of the everlasting
focused on the goodness of Jehovah          Asaphtheseer. Andtheysangpraises            covenant keep us faithful, and may
God who made the building addition          with gladness, and they bowed their         praisingHimbyPsalmsofthanksgiv-
necessary (through growth of fami-          heads and worshipped." So we put            ing never cease to fill the sanctuary.
lies and our young people staying by        the `new' organ and sanctuary to use        n
                                                                                        u

                                    Self-Esteem in Hurr: i  '
                                                                                        My
                                                                                                          Dale Bekkering

       I was pleased to see Pastor Key's    ence and, schooling this idea of self-      have a "bad self-image" because they
article on self-esteem in the Decem-        esteem has come up again and again.         have an extremely high view of their
ber  1; 1992 issue of the  Stan&d           This is a buzzword many people seize        own self-worth. This statement seems
Bearer.  Self-esteem is an extremely        upon without looking at its implica-        contradictory, but it is true. I will
dangerous and unbiblical idea, and it       tions. Pastor Key made the problem          spell this out in the rest of this article.
is very prominent in our culture. This      of self-esteem quite clear, so I willnot           The Christian church teaches
buzzword is heard in many areas of          need to deal with that here.                that man is a sinner, and everything
life, and is the focus of psychologists,         The fact that this heresy hasper-      he does is marred by sin. This is
counselors, teachers, and even minis-       meated  some Reformed churches ne-          clearly not the teaching of the human-
ters. Pastor Key succinctly points out      cessitates the teaching of a biblical       istic world. The humanistic approach
the evil of this heresy, and he demon-      view. Our culture is telling us to look     is to concentrate on ourselves when
strates that the idea of, self-esteem       to ourselves and others; but we need        we feel bad, and then to focus on
does not belong in Reformed teach-          to see ourselves in the light of God's      improving our image. Accordingly,
i n g s .                                   Word. After reading the article by          we need not change ourselves for the
      Using Pastor Key's article as a       Pastor Key, many Christians might           better, we need only to change our
backdrop, I will follow up on this          feeltheystillhaveabad"self-esteem."         ideas. The self-esteem movement is
subject; I am finishing my course           They might believe self-esteem is           very strong in the public school sys-
work toward a Master's degree in            wrong,. but they still feel there is"a      tem. The teachers' manual of one
biblical counseling, andin my experi-       problem with their "self-esteem." I         public school states: "In meditation
                                            would therefore like to comment on          we learn to contact our inner wisdom
                                            the process involved in a Christian's       by quieting our bodies; our feelings;
                                            acquiring a true biblical self-image.       and our thoughts. It is only when we
Mr. Bekkering is a student at Biblical           Using the jargon of psychology I       quiet these activities of our personal-
Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania.       make the following assertion: People        ity that go on most of the time and get

206 /Standa@  Bearer I February 1,1993


them out of theway, that our Real Self      members of our church, and that we          older Christians do not deal with this
can surface. Then we become very            do some things much better than oth-        issue also. For older Christians, who
clear, and in that clarity the needed       ers. This is pride. The other possibil-     focus on the approval of others, still
answers  come.N This notion is al-          ity is that we see other people as more     deal with the sin of pride. They are
ready strong, and it will probably          successful, better looking better hus-      .able, of course, to hide these sins
increase in strength as time                bands, andbetter students ("low self-       better than young .people. Adults
progresses.                                 esteem"). We then reflect upon how          have figured out how to cover up the
      Reformed Christians under-            we do not measure up to others, and         issues, and their strategies are much
stand that man is a sinner; this has        we turn to drinking, eating, or work-       more complex.
been our instruction all our Christian      ing ourselves into a state of depres-            Our humanistic culture would
lives. This idea of man's sinfulness is     sion. When we look to others for            say the outwardly proud student is
the first point in the TULIP doctrine.      approval, the result is sin.                an excellent example of what we
But do we.reaZZy see that everything             For instance, a popular athlete,       should all be like. Our culture would
we do is marred by sin? Having the          who has good looks, good grades,            also relate to us that the depressed
knowledge of total depravity in our         and a beautiful girlfriend, might con-      student needs to get in touch with the
minds does not necessarily mean we          clude that he is someone to be r&           good aspects of his life. Scripture,
feel it in our hearts. We need to           spected. He demeans others, whom            however, teaches that all people have
understand this that, even when we          he perceives as lesser individuals. He      the sin of pride, whether they appear
purposefully set aside our desires and      perceives himself as the person oth-        arrogant or whether they appear
focus on helping another in love, we        ers want to be like. He has compared        humble. The "high self-esteem" in
still sin.                                  himself to others, and found himself        our human nature, causes us to feel
      It is difficult to do, but we need    to be excelling. These students, who        we have a "bad self-image" when
to see each of our sins as the sin which    examine others and feel above them          things go contrary to our desires.
nailed Jesus to the cross. We need to       in some way, are found in every                  So what is the solution? How do
stop comparing ourselves to others,         school.                                     we get to the point where we have a
and compare ourselves to Jesus. Only                                                    truebiblicalunderstandingofourself-
then can we see what sinners we truly                                                   worth? We have seen that sin is the
are! Look at the sins of hatred, pride,       Just as the popular athlete               result of comparison with others.
and anger, in the light of the sinless                  is prideful,                    Therefore, we need to look to Jesus on
Son of God. Jesus, who was perfect,                                                     the cross, not only as our example,
died for our sins, and we need only to           so the depressed loner                 but as a reminder of the result of our
look to Him.                                            is prideful.                    sins. When we understand our inher-
      We will now examine what the                                                      ent wickedness, and are honest about
Word of God declares concerning this                                                    our sin, then there is no room for
issue. The Bible does not tell us to             In a second case the student is a      pride. When we can say, "Oh, how
look to others for approval. Rather, it     loner, or he feels very inferior to oth-    wicked I am!" then we are at the point
commands us to do the opposite.             ers. As he compares himself to oth-         where we need to be. Then we can see
Colossians 3:1,2: "If ye then be risen      ers, he sees himself lacking in looks,      Jesus as Redeemer, and we can see the
with Christ, seek those things which        lacking as an athlete, or lacking aca-      wonderful gift of Jesus' death. Salva-
are above, where Christ sitteth on the      demically. He feels depressed, and          tion is not something we somehow
right hand of God. Set your affection       may seek to relieve his frustration in      earned. We are not worthy of it. Our
on things above, not on things on the       ways which are not healthy. The             "self-esteem" must be such that we
earth." Philippians 2:3,4: "Let noth-       student believes everyone is against        see ourselves as the lowest of men,
ing be done through strife or vain-         him, and believes others do not see         and only then can we look to Jesus
glory; but in lowliness of mind let         hispotentiality,because the treatment       and see the great gift He gives us. By
each esteem other better than them-         he receives from others is inconsis-        doing this we should be of all men
selves. Look not every man on his           tent with his view of himself. What is      most humbled.
own things, but every man also on the       this student's sin? Pride! Just as the           Repentance is not a one-time
things of others." There are two pos-       popular athlete is prideful, so the         activity. In fact, we need to repent
sible outcomes when we disobey              depressed loner is prideful. This is        daily. Every day we need to see our
Scripture by focusing on approval           the "high self-esteem" I referred to        great sins. And repentance does not
from others. We might, in depending         above. Both students are prideful;          get easier as time goes by. Rather, it
on such approval, see ourselves as          and both have a faulty idea .of their       gets harder and harder, because we
respectable, decent persons. We will        own self-worth.                             ask again and again for forgiveness,
then commend ourselves in that we                Letmemake thisnextpointvery            and we see ourselves as sinners who
have not committed any exception-           clear. Even though I used the ex-           sin over and over. In Matthew l&21-
ally horrible sins, that we are active      ample of students, this does not mean       22PeterasksJesushowoftenweneed

                                                                                           February 1,1993 I Standard Bearer I207


to forgive others. Jesus answers, "I           notion. Being saved in Jesus Christ              ~Christian  "self-esteem" is humil-
say not unto thee, Until seven times:          does not mean we have ceased to sin.        ity. Even when things are not going
but, Until seventy times seven." We            Nor does it even decrease our sin-          the way we desire, we need to look to
know how difficult it is to forgive            ning. Being saved by ,Jesus Christ          Jesus and to the Word of God, and to
someonemanytimes;so,imaginehow                 means our eyes are opened to see our        see that all we deserve is eternal hell.
much more difficult it is to ask for-          sin as the cause of Jesus' suffering and    Then thoughts of whether or not
giveness from a friend many times.             painful death on the cross, and to          people see us as great men will not be
This humility should be a small ex-            understand that the.cross  is our for-      the focus of our lives. I ask all young
ample of the humility we need to feel          giveness and eternal life.                  people and adults who are dealing
when we sin against God.                             As Christians wemust never stop       with the "problem of self-esteem" to
          Have we truly seen the reality of    looking at our sins, and nezler stop        examine where they are putting their
the sins in our lives? Or has asking           feeling humility for the'sins we com-       focus. The problems that accompany
forgiveness for our sins become ha-            mit. When we minimize our sins, or          pride are an indication from God that
bitual, and effortless? Have we                when we feel pride for what wehave          we are not looking to Jesus. The
paused and examined our sins? Can              done, then we are not going to feel the     change to a biblical self-image is not
we see the pain we caused Jesus on             true gift of salvation. We will feel we     aninstantaneous happening, and this
the cross? We need to remember that            have deserved salvation, and we will        change is not something that comes
Jesus did not suffer for `the                  expect God to give us salvation. We         through our human nature. Our hu-
unrepentant of the world, but for those        will fill our lives with depression,        man nature urges us to see how won-
who are Christians. If we can truly            anxiety, overeating, bulimia, drink-        derful we'are. We can only change by
see our sin and be humbled, we.will            ing, etc. because we feel we ought to       the help of God. We need to ask the
not be as likely to compare.ourselves          be treatedbetter (a "bad self-image"),      Holy Spirit for the strength to look at
to others and elevate ourselves.               and because we do not see the Gift we       our sins as they really are. We need to
          The continual asking of forgive-     have in our lives.                          praise the God of heaven and earth,
ness is very difficult. It brings us to              The ideas that lead to the con-       who sent His Son to feel our tempta-
the depths of pain and humility. This          ception of "self-esteem" are not new.       tions and sorrows. We need to praise
is where we can indisputably see the           The roots of "self-esteem" go back to       God that Christ died for us poor sin-
true significance of our salvation. I          the heresy of Pelagianism, the denial       ners. "But thanks be to God, which
believe many of us feel we sin less            that man is born with original sin. We      giveth us the victory through .our
than others. We know it is not true;           need to see this movement for what it       Lord Jesus Christ" (I Cor. 15:57):  Q
nevertheless, deep down we feel we             really is, the covering up of the hid-
have less sin. This is hardly a biblical       eousness of sin.
                        Jesus, the Son of Nathan and the
                                               Son of Solomon'                                                Dave Dykstra
          The title of this article might            As is evident, I am resurrecting      unfaithful, disobedient, and apostate.
seem absurd.at  first.glance. The fact         an old discussion that appeared in the      The judgment of Goduponitwas that
is, however, it is not as absurd as it         Standard  Bearer  about a year ago (cf.     it would not produce the everlasting
looks. Jesus' name is, listed in the           Dec.. 15,1991;,Feb.  1,1992; March 15,      King who establishes the kingdom of
genealogies recorded in both Mat-              1992 issues). In those issues one will      God. The next to the last king of
thew 1 and Luke 3. The genealogy in            discover that Prof. Engelsma takes          Judah in the Old Testament was
Matthew 1 traces the royal line of             the position that Christ was a blood        Jehoiachin, called `Jechomas' in Mat-
David through Solomon to the birth             descendantofDavidthroughNathan,             thew 1:ll. Upon him and his descen-
of Jesus. The genealogy recorded in            while Revs. Veldman and Cammenga            dants fell the judgment recorded in
Luke 3 begins with Jesus and traces            argue for the position that Christ is of    Jeremiah 22:30: `Thus saith the Lord,
the genealogy back through Nathan              the royal line of David through             Write ye this man childless, a man
to David. Jesus' name is recorded in'          Solomon. Both sidesin the discussion        that shall not prosper in his days: for
bothgene,alogies.  Thisisimportantto           present convincing arguments for            no man of his seed shall prosper,
note, and we will come back to this.           their positions:                            sitting upon the throne of David, and
later.                                          .    Prof. Engelsma, in defense of his     ruling anymore in Judah.' N
                                               position, states that "theBible  teaches         Rev. Veldman contends. that
                                               that the Messiah will not come from         Mary was of the royal line of David
Mr. Dykstra is a member of Faith               the royalline, andmay not come from         through Solomon. He calls attention
PRC, Jenison,  Ml.                             the royal line. The royal line became       to Psalm 89 and reasons from these

208 /Standard Bearer / February 1,1993


scriptures to support his position. He      the door to the throne for Christ.            Zegal rights to the throne of His father
writes: "Now notice in this passage in      Jesus is at this very moment at God's         David without the judgment of God
Psalm 89 the, following. First, the         right hand, "The Lion of the tribe of         upon Him; He is not the seed of
Lords mercy Jehovah will keep for           Judah, the Root of David" (Rev. 5:5).         Jeconiah or of Joseph. Even though
David forevermore; the Lord will            The question is, How did God do it?           Jesus is not the seed of Joseph, we see
make his seed to endure for ever, and             I began by stating that Jesus'          how important Joseph is in God's
his throne as the days of heaven (vv.       name is found listed in both genealo-         plan for unlocking the door to the
28,29). Secondly, this passage speaks       gies (Matt.  l:l, 16; Luke  3:23). In         throne of David. Into this royal fam-
of David's children as forsaking            Matthew 1:16 Jesus' name appears in           ily Jesus is born, and a legal right to
Jehovah's law, walking not in His           the royal family of Joseph along with         the throne is established.
judgments,' the breaking of His stat-       Mary His mother: "And Jacob begat                      There is a second important re-
utes, and the keeping not of His com-       Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom           lationship in Luke's genealogy that is
mandments (w. 30, 31). . ..Thirdly.         was born Jesus, who is called Christ."        crucial to our discussion. Luke in-
nownoticewhatwereadinverses33-              Joseph is listed, for this is his geneal-     forms us that Joseph is the son of Heli
37: The Lord will not forsake his           ogy. Secondly, Mary's name is listed,         (3:23). This is troubling, for Matthew
covenant, nor alter the thing that is       for she is the wife of Joseph, part of the    reveals that Joseph is, on the other
gone out of his mouth. Once has he          royal family through marriage. And,           hand, the son of Jacob (1:16).` Not
sworn by his holiness that he will not      finally, into this royal family Jesus is      until we realize that Luke writes the
lie unto David. David's seed shall          born. Matthew,inrecordingthisbirth,           genealogy of Mary from a legal per-
endure for ever, and his throne as the      is very exact in noting that Joseph is        spective will the difficulty disappear.
sun before him. Indeed, it shall be         not the begetter of Jesus. God pur-           From Luke's perspective Jesus is, as
established for ever as the moon, and       posed that a legal relationship be es-        we have already seen, reckoned as to
as the faithful witness in heaven."         tablished between Jesus and the royal         law the son of Joseph. Accordingly,
     .To support his contention that        line of David in Joseph, not a biologi-       Joseph is a son in law, a son-in-law, of
Jesus is of royal lineage, Rev.             cal one.                                      Heli.
Cammenga points out the word of                   That such a legal relationship                   To sum it up, we conclude that
God to David in I Chronicles 22:lO:         wasestablishedisevidentfromLuke's             Mary was descended from David
"He (David's Son) shallbuild an house       genealogy, where Jesusis listed as the        through Nathan. Nathan's line had
for my name; and he shall be my son,        son of Joseph: "And Jesus . . . being (as     no right to the throne, but they had
and I will be his father; and I will        was supposed) the son of Joseph,              the blood of David as truly as
establish the throne of his kingdom         which was the son of Heli." The word          Solomon's line. In Mary Jesus inher-
over Israel for ever." Rev. Cammenga        "suppose" in this verse means "to             ited the blood line of David: in Jo-
ends his argumentation on this note:        reckon as law" (Young's Analytical            seph, by legal adoption, Jesus inher-
"One of the important issues in this        Concordance to the Bible). Verse 23           ited the legal right to the throne with-
whole discussionof the genealogiesis        may be understood this way: U Jesus           out the judgment, because He is not of
Jesus' right to the throne of His father    . . . being (legally reckoned) the son of     the seed of Joseph or Jeconiah. To-
David. The fart of the matter is that if    Joseph, which was the son of Heli."           day, Jesus is at God's right hand, "The
Christ did not descend from David           By legal adoption, Jesus is the Son of        Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of
through the royal line, He has no           Joseph. Because Jesus is legally              David" (Rev. 5). 0
more  right to the throne than any          adopted into the royal line, he has
other Israelite. .The right to the king-
ship of Israel belonged only to those                           Family. Devotions
who descended through the royalline
of David.7                                                                                                    Rev. C. Hanko
     Rev. Cammenga is correct. A
most important issue in this discus-             Are family devotions on the way                   The question could even be cast
sion is Jesus' right to the throne of       out? Hasour  life become so involved          in this form: has it become virtually
David. But Prof. Engelsma is also           that there is hardly time for family          impossible in our busy existence for
correct in his assertion that Gods          worship? Is it virtually impossible to        the father of the family to function in
judgment rested upon the seed royal         `schedule a time when the whole fam-          his priestly calling? In the office of
in regards to that throne. The door to      ily is home together?                         believers we have become partakers
David's throne had been shut by God                                                       of Christ's anointing (Lord% Day 12,
to the seed royal. To make matters                                                        question 32). Thereby we are  or-
worse, the throne of David was also                                                       dained from alleternity and qualified
off limits to the seed of David through                                                   in time by the Spirit of Christ to func-
Nathan, as Rev. Cammenga implies.           Rev. Hanko is a minister emeri'tus in the     tion as God's prophet, priest, and
Somehow, however, God unlocked              Prdtestant  Reformed Churches.                king. The father in the family holds

                                                                                             February  1,1993  / Standard Bearer  / 209


that position as head of the house.             are present, taking into consideration      tion of Scripture is read, but theatten-
Family devotions are not a matter of            that the child's mind might wander,         tion of the children is directed to each
preference, but a duty. They are not            or he might not understand.                 verse. Questions are asked. When
merely commendable, but a neces-                     I recall an incident in a catechism    necessary an explanation is given.
sity.                                           class in whicha little girl seemed to be    This often causes the children also to
         They are also of infinite value for    listening most intently. I thought she      raise questions. When young people
maintainingthe spiritual unity of the           was drinking in every word I was            are present a discussion can be
family. It is true, we are giving our           uttering-when suddenly she raised           aroused. In any case, this creates a
children a Christian education and              her hand, and out of the blue came the      spirit of fellowship in the home. In
sending them to catechism. As valu-             remark, "My brother would not help          these families the children are usually
able as that may be, so that no price           with the dishes last night."                well versed in the Scriptures.
tag could be attached to it, it does not             Letmementionanotherinstance,                On another occasion I was in a
relieve us as parents of our responsi;          when a boy failed to realize that times     home where, to my surprise, no prayer
bility in the home. The Christian               have changed. In telling about Jesus        was offered, either at the beginning or
school and the catechism are not and            cleansing the temple, he said, "Jesus       at the end of the meal. I felt very
cannot be a substitute for the home.            walked in, threw the cash register on       uncomfortable, since from childhood
         For most of us it is customary to      the floor, and drove out the buyers         I had never experienced anything like
hold our family devotions at meal               and sellers, cattle and all."               that. After the meal the entire family
time. This is a time-tried and com-                  There are also instances when          was called into the living room, where
mendable practice. Little do we real-           the child's mind is more with the           at least a half hour was spent in devo-
ize the importance of these devotions           present than with the past. A father        tions. At this time the children were
for ourselves and our children. Al-             was reading about Levi, the son of          questioned about the progress they
though I am old, I can still remember           Jacob. When he paused to ask his            were making with their catechism
the prayers that were sent up for us as         children, "Do you know who Levi             lessons. A portion of Scripture was
children seeking aid for us in our              was?" a little fellow spoke up, "He         read, accompanied by explanations
school work, or a petition for us when          sells calves to the farmers."               and questions. The whole family was
we were not well. Even when we as                    Or, in another instance, when          deeply involved in what could well
teenagers went out for an eveningwe             the children were asked whether we          be called a family worship service.
often heard our mother say, "Remem-             believe in election, a young voice re-      That gives food for thought.
ber, we are praying for you."                   sijonded,  "Sure,Dadvoted for (a can-            Another incident. This took
                                                didate running for president)."             place on a Sunday morning. We had
                                                         *  *  *  *  *  rc  *               been awakened plenty in time for
         Family devotions are                        I have noticed when visiting in        church. The breakfast was concluded
   not a matter of preference,                  various homes, that different meth-         with the usual devotions, but after
                but a duty.                     ods are used in family devotions at         that we were all assembled in the
                                                meal time.                                  living room. The children were re-
                                                     One of the most common meth-           quested to recite a Lord's Day, which
                                                ods is that a chapter of the Bible is       theyhadlearnedduringthepastweek
         Also the reading of the Scrip-         read, followed by prayer. Some fa-          This was the Lords Day on which the
tures as part of our devotions is im-           thers read while the other family           minister was to preach that day.
portant. We believe that the Scrip-             members listen. In other homes ev-          Thereupon the father made some re-
tures are God's infallible Word, His            eryone has a -Bible and each takes a        marks about what would be brought
Self-revelation to His children, the            turn to read a verse. Some parents          out in the sermon. The children were
heirs of salvation. Even more, that             read through the entire Bible from          urged to listen for that. Not a bad
Word of God through the workof  the             beginning to end. Others may have           preparation for the service. Don't
Spirit in our hearts is the power of            .different  practices. ' But usually an     you think so?
God unto salvation. It is the spiritual         effort is put forth to hold the atten-           Then1 thinkof an elderly woman
manna for our souls. It is the Lamp             tion, especially of the children. Some      in the Holland Home, who on a Tues-
before our feet, the Light upon our             parents will ask the children to repeat     day morning was diligently reading
pathway. Therefore, when Scripture              the last word. I recall one instance        the Heidelberg Catechism in the back
isreadinour dailydevotionsitshould              when the father finished reading a          of her Psalm book. Out of curiosity I
be done with all due reverence and              portion of Scripture, but asked the         asked her what she was reading. She
attentiveness. Nehemiah88,  "So they            older members of the family whether         informed me that her memory was so
read the book in the law of God dis-            they could repeat the last word. It         poor, that if she did not read the
tinctly, and gave the sense, and caused         must be admitted that there were            Lord's Day for the coming Sunday
them to understand the reading." This           some red faces.                             every day, she would not be able to
is especially important when children                In some homes only a small por-        listen properly on Sunday.

210 /Standard Bearer / February 1,1993


        *     *     *     +     *     *     $    at three meals a day is ideal, but          Whenmorninglightstheeastemskies,
     The conclusion of the matter is             impossible for most families. Yet, if it        0 Lord, Thy mercy show;
that there are various ways in which             can possibly be worked out, devo-           On Thee alone our hope relies,
our family devotions can be held.                tions should be held in the morning as          Let me Thy kindness know.
Some families have joint devotions               well asin the evening. How better can
also before retiring. We should choose           we start our day than by listening to       Thou art my God, to Thee I pray,
the manner that is best suited for our           the Word of God, and bringing our               Teach me Thy will to heed;
family. But we must never fail to                needs as families before the throne of      And in the right and perfect way
make this an essential part of our day           grace in worship, thanksgiving, and             May Thy good Spirit lead.
and of our life as families. Devotions           praise?                                                            Psalter  #391  Cl




                                                   Angels
         Angels are mentioned in thirty-six of the sixty-six books of the Bible. The Hebrew and Greek
    words both mean messenger; they are means by whom God reveals Himself and His salvation to us.
    Indeed, angels are the servants of the elect, "sent forth to minister for those who shall be the heirs of
    salvation" (Heb. 1:14). Angels are invisible, non-corporeal creatures who owe their existence to God.
    "He also created the angels good, to be His messengers and to serve the elect" (Belgic Confession, Art.
    12). Although the Bible does not inform us of the exact time of their creation, some theologians assign
    the creation of angels to the first day of the week, finding their support in Job 38:4 and 7: "Where wast
    thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? . . . When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons
    of God shouted for joy?"
         The number of angels is staggering: "ten thousand times ten thousands, and thousands of
    thousands" (Rev. 5:ll). There is arrangement or organization among these many angels, for Scripture
  speaks of archangels, cherubim and seraphim, principalities and powers, thrones and dominions
    (Eph. 3:lO; Col. 1:16). Nevertheless, the angels are not related to each other either organically or
    federally, for the number of angels God created in the beginning is not increased through conception
    (Matt. 23:30), nor did the fall of a large number of them result in the fall of them all. Since angels are
    non-reproductive, any interpretation of Genesis 6:1-4 that has giants on the earth in the days of Noah
    as the result of intercourse between angels (sons of God) and women (daughters of men) is as foolish
    as it is grotesque.
         God's eternal decrees of election and reprobation included the realm of angels. Some of the angels
    are elect (I Tim. 5:21), and some of them are reprobate. The fall of the reprobate angels is absolute; there
    is no possibility for their salvation, but they are "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto
    the judgment of the great day" (Jude 6). Christ did not die to pay for the sins of angels, therefore. Yet
    His death was not without significance for the angel world, for God's purpose in Christ is to gather
    together in one all things which are in heaven and which are on earth (Eph. 1:lO). The reproach which
    fell on the angel world when its head, Satan, fell, and with him a large party, is removed, and Christ
    becomes the great unifying Head of all things.
         As servants of God and messengers to men, the angels appeared at crucial moments in the history
    of salvation. Cherubims with a flaming sword were placed at the edge of Eden to keep the way of the
    tree of life (Gen. 3:24). Angels appeared to Abraham announcing the birth of a son (Gen. l&10); this
    promised son involved the Seed, which is Christ. The law was given to Israel at Sinai through the
    disposition of angels (Acts 7:53). Gabriel announced the birth of the forerunner of Christ to Zacharias
   in the temple; then he appeared to Mary in Nazareth, and later to Joseph as well. An angel announced


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


                                                                                                February 1,1993 / Standard Bearer / 211


    the birth of Jesus to the astonished shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem, and he was joined with a
    multitude of the heavenly host which sang glory to God.
            After Jesus is born, and as He takes up His great work havingbeen baptized, the angels ministered
    to Him after His triple temptation (Matt. 4:ll). An angel sat at the entrance to the empty tomb,
    instructing the women what had happened (Matt. 28:2-7). Two angels appeared when Jesus ascended
    into heaven, informing the disciples of the ascension and the coming again of Jesus. Angels are given
    the glorious task of gathering the elect into heaven at the end of the world; they are reapers in the great
    harvest (Matt. 13:39).  They are used by God for the protection of His children while on earth (Es. 91:ll)
    and especially of His little children (Matt. l&10).
            Three passages set forth angelic activity as a standard and example for us. The angels desire to
    lookinto the things of salvation (I Pet. 1:12). Do we as the redeemed have a similar, keen interest? The
    angels rejoice at the repentance of a single sinner (Luke 15:7,10). Do we have joy at the repentance of
    one of our fellow saints? The angels do the will of God perfectly in heaven (Matt. 6:lO). Is it our desire
    and our prayer that God's will be thus done,on earth; also in our lives?
            Although`we were created a little lower than the angels (Ps. 8:5), we are destined in Christ to be
    higher than the.angels, even judging them (I Cor. 6:3). For thus it was with Christ according to His
    human nature (Heb. 2:6-9). 0





    Proper `Christian Self-esteem
                                                          0

     As I conclude this consideration       Self-Esteem and the Covenant               which live should not henceforth live
of proper Christian self-esteem, I am            We may summarize that truth of        unto themselves, but untohim which
convinced that there is a very impor-       the covenant as the bond or relation-      died forthem;and rose again." Yes,
tant relationship between the truth of      ship of friendship and loving fellow-      we areHis servants. But that doesnot
the covenant which we hold dear and         ship between God and His people in         detract from our self-esteem. For the
this whole biblical concept of proper       Christ. God, by the wonder work of         fact that we by the power of the Spirit
Christian self-esteem. That was im-         His'sovereign  grace, saves a people       of Christ can serve the gloriously ex-
plied when I wrote previously that          by bringing them into His fellowship       alted Jehovah gives us a tremendously
the important factor in overcoming          through Christ. He establishes His         exalted place.
all your insecurities is that you are       covenant with them, also in the line of         When I live in the consciousness
conscious of belonging to Christ. For       their faithful generations.                that 1 am a friend of God for Jesus'
when you belong to Christ, God's                 Within God's covenant fellow-         sake, then I also know that God calls
evaluation of you is this: "You are My      ship we not only experience His love       me His elect. God assures me, of my
friend."                                    toward us, but we recognize that we        redemption, in spite of any of my
                                            occupy a privileged place among all        weaknesses or anything that I have
                                            people on the earth. We live not only      done wrong in the past. By His Word
                                            as creatures forme'd by God, but we        He reminds me that I; who once was
                                            live as  Hisfrietid-servants.              filthy, have been set apart unto Him,
                                                 So we recognize the truth of-11       pure and holy in the, midst of the
                                                                                       ugliness and shamefulness of this
Rev. Key is pastor of the Protestant Re-    Corinthians 5:15. Christ died for all      world. I am all these thingsbecause of
formed  Church  of  Randolph, Wisconsin.    His own, every last one, "that they

212 /Standard Bearer / February 1,1693


what Christ has done for me. He says        a guy becomes too old to participate         A Call to Christ-Esteem.
to me, "You are My friend. I take you       actively? What happens when he                   Now, clearly, what I proclaim to
into My love and fellowship."       '       finds out he is not good enough to           you from the Scriptures is exactly the
     In that consciousness, I have          advance beyond a certain level? He           opposite of what today's self-esteem
peace with God and the joy of salva-        either finds another god, or he finds        advocates proclaim. One view is bib-
tion - true Christian self-esteem, es-      himself drowning in the sorrows of           lical. The other entirely unbiblical, a
teem for Christ and myself as I stand       loneliness and the devastation of fail-      deviation from what Scripture pro-
by grace in Him. That is confirmed in       ure.                                         claims. You can not have it both
my life and in my consciousness, as I               Another, apart from Christ; de-      ways. To build a .theology  on man's
walkin thankfulness to Him, striving        nyinghis own sinfulness and deprav-          pride is incompatible with the biblical
to walk in obedience to His law, in         ity, buries the reality of his own situ-     idea of sin and man's depravity. To
love for God and for the neighbor.          ationin the abuse of alcohol. Another        proclaim a gospelin which man saves
     That is the truth of the covenant      in drug abuse. One buries his worth-         himself by positive thinking is a dif-
with applicatiqn  to this whole idea of     lessness in sexual promiscuity of ev-        ferent gospel completely from that
proper Christian self-esteem. There         ery kind, finding partners in fomica-        which sets forth Christ as the only
is no proper Christian self-esteem          tion who make him feel as if he (or          Redeemer and Conqueror of sin and
apart from such a relationship with         she) is valuable to someone else. But        death.
Jesus Christ.                               it is not longbefore the devastation of           Yes indeed, we have another
     This becomes very clear from a         those sins bears bitter fruits. Without      gospel from that unbiblical, decep-
practical point of view.                    the consciousness. of God's friend-          tive view proclaimed on every side
     Any person, including one              ship, there can be no happiness. And         today. In fact, we do not hesitate to
brought up in the church and well-          ultimately the reality that must be          say that in the  .modern self-esteem
.established  with the knowledge ,of        faced is that of death and hell.             movement is the~fulfillment  of Paul's
Scripture'struth-anypersoncanfall                   Others, not getting caught in        warning to Timothy in II Timothy,
deeply into sin. But the person who         addictions -to such devastating be-          chapter 3: "This know also, that in the
lives in the addiction of.his depravity     havior, bury the reality of their sinful-    last days perilous times shall come.
is unable to esteem himself properly        ness by developing certain God-given         For men shall be lovers of their own
apart from Christ.                          gifts. One makes music his life; an-         selves, covetous, boasters, proud....
     To walk in sin is to deny oneself      other art, another this hobby, another       Having a form of godliness, but deny-
the fellowship of the Holy God, to          that. One may have a gift of making          ing the power thereof: from such turn
lose the consciousness of His love.         investments turn out to his profit.          away."
That is the horrible reality of sins        Almost everyone can find a certain                Come rather to Christ, in whom
bondage.                                    aspect of life that is positive in his or    is all peace for the soul. The self-
     You have probably experienced          her own mind. That is the whole idea         esteem doctrine of men does not exalt
that, as have I. In the bondage of sin,     behind the worldly philosophies that         you nearly enough. The honor and
we try to deny the reality of sin, by       promote an unbibZica2  concept of self-      excellency that characterize you as a
burying that reality with many differ-      esteem. Build your self-worth con-           child of God are a heavenly honor and
ent means.~ It is certainly possible to     cept and your self-image by excelling        aheavenlyexcellency.  InChrist, God's
do that. Much counseling today (and         in areas that you are able to excel in.      grace is boundless, His mercy with-
much preaching, I might add) seeks          But there is no salvation in a positive      out measure. He is the Savior of
to help people by getting them to           self-image! There is no fellowship           sinners. Do you believe? He esteems
deny reality - although such coun-          with God, no experience of His love,         His own highly.
selors claim that they are trying to get    in adhering to the modern theory of               Let us esteem ourselves highly
their patients to face reality. Much        self-esteem.                                 only in Him, not deceiving our own
counseling is devoted to denying the                Our salvation is only in Christ      selves. And let us confess with Paul
reality of sin and guilt. Without fac-      Jesus, and is experienced by coming          in Romans 14:7,8, "None of us liveth
ing the reality of sin, without Christ,     to Him in repentance and sorrow for          to himself, and no man dieth to him-
without the. fellowship of God, all is      our sins. -True Christian self-esteem        self..For.whetherwelive,weliveunto
deceit -a prescription of self-esteem       then follows. Only when you live in          the Lord; and whether we die, we die
which poisons the soul.                     the conscious experience of God's            unto.the Lord; whether we live there-
     We can think of many examples.         friendship and love will you have a          fore, or die, we are the Lord's" If you
     One becomes involvedin sports,         proper  Christian self-esteem. And the       are in Christ,, take your full salvation
finding his importance and worth in         reason we remain, to any degree, ser-        and triumph and prevail. 0
games. I know that scene from my            vants to lust and to sin, is that we are
younger days. There are many who            to that same' degree strangers to the
make sports their god, their avenue to      love of God and those pure pleasures
self-esteem. But what happens when          that are found in His fellowship.

       :                                                                                    February 1,1993 I Standard Bearer I213
        _'

              -.


Calvin's Ecclesiastical Advice, tr.        (p. 101). Another is Calvin's judg-          Studies will be encouraged to give us
Mary Beaty and Benjamin W. Farley.         ment that "attending papist funeral          more translation in English of hith-
ForewordbyJohnHaddonLeith.  Lou-           services" is sinful (p. 156).                ertountranslated,andlargelyunavail-
isville, Kentucky: Westminster/ John            In a circular letter sent to several    able, writings of John Calvin. n
Knox Press, 1991. 184 pages. Paper.        congregations, Calvin views dice
$14.95. [Reviewed by the Editor.]          games and cards as "small corrup-
                                           tions." The Reformer is not able "ut-        The Suffering Savior: Meditations on
      One of the most valuable ben-        terly (to) condemn games of this sort,"      the Last Days of  Christ, by F.W.
efits of the various conferences de-       but warns of the evils that usually          Krummacher. Grand Rapids: Kregel
voted to the study of the theology of      bedevil these games: "blaspheming,           Publications, 1992.  444pp.,  $15.99
John Calvin is the translation. and        cheating, and fiery quarrels." There-        (paper). [Reviewed by Prof. Robert
publication of writings of the Re-         fore, Calvin concludes that "it is expe-     D. Decker.]
former that have not previously ap-        dient to stay away from these games
peared in English. Such is this vol-       as much as possible, and it is best to                Friedrich Wilhelm l&unrnacher
ume. It hasits origin in the Colloquium    abstain from them altogether" (pp.           (1796-1868) was a preacher in the
on Calvin studies held everytwo  years     158,159).                                    Reformed Church in Germany. The
at theDavidson College Presbyterian             A large section of the book is          denomination then already was shot
Church and Davidson College in             devoted to Calvin's advice on mar-           through with Rationalism.  Krum-
North Carolina. The book consists of       riage-matters. Calvin permitted the          macher  was a Calvinist. He believed
forty-six short writings of Calvin,        remarriage of both the innocent and          in the sinfulness of man and in the
mostly letters, newly translated into      the guilty parties. On the other hand,       vicarious atonement of Jesus Christ
English from the original Latih and        he spoke of the "sacred and indis-           for the sins of the elect. He held firmly
French.                                    solublebond" (p. 135). Onthebasisof          to the belief that the Bible is the in-
      The writings are Calvin's advice     Old Testament laws, he forbade mar-          spired, infallible Word of God and,
on matters of theology, ethics, wor-       ryingone's dead wife's sister and one's      therefore, the absolute rule for the
ship, politics, economics, and church      dead brother's widow. A man's inca-          faith and life of the Christian.
practices. In them Calvin applies his      pability of consummating the mar-                     Krummacher preached these
theology to concrete situations in the     riage is valid ground for annulment          truths for his entire ministry. One of
life of the Reformed churches and of       of the marriage.                             the more famous churches he served
Reformed believers of his day. The              Two brief appendices are in-            was Trinity ChurchinBerlin,  long the
translators have distributed the writ-     cluded. One is Calvin's "Essay on the        scene of Schleiermacher's ministry.
ings among these categories: dog-          Lord's Supper" from The Form of              In 1853 he was appointed court
matics and polemics; on the changes        Prayers,  1542 and 1545. The other is        preacher at Potsdam,  a position he
and need for changes in religion; con-     entitled, "A Copy of the Inquisitor          held until his death in 1868.
cerning the worship of images; eccle-      Horris's Paper, Given to Those at                     The book contains fifty-three
siastical discipline; marriage ques-       Lyons Who were Imprisoned for                printed sermons on the suffering of
tions; judicial questions; and miscel-     Preaching the Word, to be Transmit-          our Lord. Here is, for the most part,
lanies.                                    ted to M. Jean Calvin." ,The latter is a     good stuff. Pastors will find insight-
     The special value of published        denial that the ten commandments of          ful exegesis that will enrich their
correspondence is that it allows the       the Old Testament are binding upon           preaching. All of God's people will
reader a glimpse of the writer when        New Testament Christians in the in-          find these sermons to be good devo-
he has opened himself up more than         terests of defending the Roman Catho-        tional material.
he would when writing for the gen-         lic worship of images. Calvin an-                     No Reformed person will agree
eral public, as well, in this case, as     swers this document in one of the            with Krummacher's exegesis of the
indicating the application of. the         writings that make up the main body          first Word spoken by Jesus from the
author's doctrine to specific, practi-     of the book.                                 cross, "Father, forgive them for they
calcases. OnesuchinstanceisCalvin's             College and seminary libraries          know not what they do" (pp. 351-
advice to a local church to depose an      will certainly want the book. All            358).
unworthy minister, threatening that        students of Calvin will find it worth-                Nevertheless, books like this
failure to do so.would  result in that     while and delightful reading.                belong in our church and home librar-
church's being separated from the               It is my fervent hope that the          ies and ought to be read by us. Q
fellowship of the Reformed churches        people of the Colloquium on Calvin

214 /Standard Bearer I February 1,1993


                                                                                        bags of groceries and over $900.00
                                                                                        worthofgiftcertificatestoneedyfami-
                                                                                        ,lies in.their  church.
                                                                                              The Christmas season just com-
Mission Activities                           ebrated much as it isin the States. The    pleted was also filled with many dif-
        If members of the Hudsonville,       same toys are in the stores, the same      ferent church functions. Many of our
MI PRC congregation felt like.enter-         songs are played, the same decora-         churches, including Faith PRC in
ing a contest this winter, they needed       tions are seen, and there are the same     Jenison, MI; Hope PRC in Walker, MI;
to look no further than a letter from        family get-togethers on Christmas          and the Hudsonville, MI PRC, were
the pastor, Rev. G. VanBaren. In this        Day.  :.                                   also hosts to choir programs.
letter Rev. VanBaren encouraged his                                                           Personallybeingable to attenda
entire congregation, with a special          Evangelism Activities                      couple of these programs made me
emphasis on children aged 8 through               In a past issue of this back-page     thankful for the opportunities to hear
12, to try their hand at translating a       News column we made mention of an          just how wide and varied the talents
short account of a typical day for the       ongoing project of the Men's Society       of our choir members can be. I hope
VanBarens  in Northern Ireland.              of the Hudsonville PRC simply en-          that you also had an opportunity to
        This letter, although written in     titled "Bibles for Ghana.`: We are         hear some of these excellent programs.
English, was full of words and phrases       happy to report that requests from
that are not at allin common use here        Ghana keep coming in ---so many, in        School Activities
in the U.S.                                  fact, that the Men's Society, along              Not only were our church choirs
        Admittedly it's difficult at best    with the help .of approximately 30         busyin the month of December, but it
to give you anidea  ofwhat  this letter      adults and several children, met on        also appears that several of our Chris-
was like without giving you the entire       December 23 to package each Bible          tian schools used the time for all-
letter. However, a few of the words          individually, and then address and         school programs. The Free Christian
and phrases included were treacle,           mail all 422 of them to Ghana.             SchoolinEdgerton,MN;  theLoveland
free range eggs, zebra crossings, Peli-           The project doesn't end there.        Christian School, Loveland, CO; and
cans, nappies,  minced beef, biscuits,       The Men's Society has also received        the SouthHolland PRSchoolin  South
chips, trips, and 13 stones.                 15 requests back from young people         Holland, IL all developed themes re-
        Those who sent back to the           who have received their Bibles and         lated to the Christmas season and no
VanBarens the most correct and neat-         have "questions." The society is now       doubt led many to reflect on God's
est translationwere promised a prize         looking for families or young people       greatest gift to us, Jesus.
from Northern Ireland.                       who would desire to correspond with              In the developing story of the
        Thepointofallthiswassummed           some of these young people.,               Randolph, WI PR Christian School,
up nicely in the last two lines of the            This could prove to be a great        we can report that in mid-Decemb,er
letter, where Rev. VanBaren wrote,           way-to get personally involved with        the society completed a transaction
"So life goes in Northern Ireland. It        these young people who are strug-          and became owners of property for
can be interesting - provided one            gling with the Word of God. The            their school. This property is located
knows what others are saying."               requests for Bibles generally come         behind their church in Randolph.
        In our last installment of the       from young people ages 13-18 who           Behind the scene much workhas  been
News, we also reported that a home           have nothing, sometimes not even           done and is being done. Committees
had been purchased for the Hanko             enough money for postage to send           have been appointed to tackle the
familyinNorthernIreland.  Thishouse          their request. Often two or three          many and varied tasks involved in
is in the country about seven miles          young people "pool" their money to         planning: building, finance, and edu-
from Ballymena. It is a very scenic          purchase one air mail letter.              cation. And there is no doubt a great
area. The house itself has four bed-                                                    deal of work to be done before a
rooms but also three "reception              Congregational Activities                  school will be established in
rooms,N  a family room, a formal din-             The Helping Hands Committee,          Randolph. But we also confess that
ing room, and a living room. One of          along with the deacons of the              the instruction of our covenant chil-
these could also be used as a study.         Hudsonville PRC, sponsored a food           drenis a responsibility that belongs to
        Rev. VanBaren also writes that       drive. This request for gifts of canned    us all. -.
in Northern Ireland Christmas is cel-        or dry goods, money, or gift certifi-
                                             cates to area grocery stores was made,                   FoodFor  z&x&t
                                             to give the Hudsonville congregation
                                             an opportunity to help those in need              "`To have many  children about us is
                                             in their own congregation, especially      better than to hahe  much wealth about
Mr. Wigger  is an elder in the Pr&estant                                                6. We `know the worth  of  dead, or rather
                                             during the Christmas. season. The
Reformed Church  of  Hudsonville, Michi-                                                 lifeless treasures, but who knows the
                                             deacons were able-to deliver over 50        worth of living treasures?"     I:  Cay1
gan.
                                                                                            February 1,1993 I Standard Bearer / 215


                   Bc4RER                                                                                                                   SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                                                            Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                                            Grandvile,  Michigan
               P.0. Box 603
                 : Grandvile, MI 49468-0603





                  RESdLUTlON   OF SYMPATHY                              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                     The Men's Society of Hope  Prot-                     The Men's and Ladies' Society of                     CLASSIS  WEST
      -,     `estant Reformed Church in  Redlands                   Southwest Protestant Reformed Church                   OFFICEBEARERS'
`.                                                                  express their Christian sympathy to their
               wishes to express Christian sympathy                                                                           CONFERENCE
                                                                    members, Mr. and Mrs. Rex Clawson,  in
               to fellow members and their families in              the recentdeath of Mrs. Clawson's mother,
               the death oftheir mother, grandmother,               an aged member of the congregation of                            When:
            and great-grandmother,                                  Southwest,                                             Tuesday, March  2,1993
                     MRS. SUSAN GAASTRA.                                   MRS. MINNIE DYKSTRA.                             beginning at 9:00 a.m.
               May they find comfort in the words of                      May the family take comfort from
               Psalm  116:15,  "Precious in the sight               the words of Christ: "And God shall wipe                        Where:
               of the Lord is the death of his saints."             away all tears from their eyes; and there        South Holland Protestant Reformed
                      Pastor A.  denHartog, President               shall be no more death, neither sorrow,                          Church
                                                                    nor  crying, neither shall there be any more
                                   Rick Span, Secretary             pain: for the former things  are passed                 16511 South Park Ave.
                                                                    away" (Revelation 21:4).                               South Holland, IL 60473
                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                               Phil Letterman,  President
                     The Men's Society of the Hope                                     Judi Doezema, Secretary                      Theme:
               Protestant Reformed -Church  (G.R.)                                                                         Shepherding God's Flock
               express theirsympathytofellow mem-
               ber, Mr. John N. Dykstraandfamily, at                                   NOTICE!!                               Keynote Address:
               the death of John's mother,'                               Covenant Christian High School will                  A Pastor's Heart
                  MRS. MINNIE DYKSTRA,                              b e   a d d i n g memberto                               Prof. Herman Hanko
                                                                    the staff for the 1993-1994 school year.
               whom the Lord took to her eternal                    We are seeking candidates who can fill
               home on December  19,1992. "I will                   our need in the area of science, math-                        Sectionals:
               praise thee for ever, because thou                   ematics, and certain business-related                      Counseling Those
               hast done it: and I will wait on thy                 courses. Applicants for this position are                with Marital Problems             :
               name; for it is good before thy saints"              asked to apply by writing or calling Cov-                         Rev. Arie denHartog
               (Psalm  52:9).                                       enant Christian School, Agatha Lubbers,                    Counseling Those
                              Pete Petroelje, President             Administrator, 1401  Ferndale  Ave. S.W.,            with Problems of Assurance
                             Leon Garvelink, Secretary              Grand Rapids, `MI 49504; phone: 616-                                   Prof. Robert Decker
                                                                    453-5048. Covenant will also accept                     Counseling the Gri&ng
                                                                    applications for the position of band and
                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                            choir director.                                                 Rev. Charles Terpstra
                     The Martha Society of the Doon                                                                        The Use of the Scriptureq
               Protestant Reformed Church extends                                                                                in Counseling
               s i n c e r e   s y m p a t h y   t o   G r a c e                       NOTICE!!                                            Rev. Steven Houck
               VanDenTop and family in the death of                       Classis  West of the Protestant Re-         Pastoring Those Who have Gone
               her mother,                                          formed Churches will meet in South Hol-                   Through Suicide
                 MRS.  HAlTIE BLOEMENDAAL.                          land, IL, on Wednesday, March 4, 1993,                                      Mr. Joel Sugg
                     May they find their comfort in the             at 8:30 A.M., the Lord willing. All material     The Role of the Elders and Deacons
               words of the inspired apostle, that                  for the Agenda is to be in the hands of the             in Pastoral Counseling
                                                                    stated Clerk, 30 days before Classis  con-
               through our Lord Jesus Christ "death                 venes. All delegates in need of lodging or                              Mr. Robert Brands
               is swallowed up in victory" (I                       transportation from the airport should notify
               Corinthians  15:54).                                 the Clerk of South Holland's Consistory          All past and present officebearers, as
                            Rev; R. Dykstra, President              using the forms provided for that purpose.       well as anyone who is interested, are
                                 Mrs. Get-t VanDenTop,                                           Rev. R. Hanko,      invited to attend.
                                            Vice-Secretary                                          Stated Clerk           Hope to see you there!

               216 /Standard Bearer I February 1,1993


