       ....I>- 1 -~dhDmD
A Reformed
       `.~           ~~"Ej,,,j,,,.                                         ,,.
     Semi-Monthly
     Magazine
s
                                                                   ,I'I





                        See, "Addicted to the Ministry of the Saints" - p. 300



Vol. 69; No. 13
April 2, 1993


                                                                                                                                      PE
CONTENTS:                                                                                      April  I,  I.993          STANDARD
Meditation - Rev. John A. Heys                                                                                                 .BEARER
      A Prayer for Divine Searching ....................................................... 291
Editorially speaking ... - Prof. David J. Engelsma ................................... 293                              ISSN 0362-4692
Editorials - Pro f David J. Engelsma                                                                                    Semi-monthly. except monthly during June, July, and August.
      Seeking a Symbol ........................................................................... 293                  Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
      An Important Book for the PRC ..................................................... `294                          4949  Ivanrest  Ave.,  Grandville,  MI  49416.  Second  Class
                                                                                                                        Postage Paid at Grandvilla, Michigan.
Letters ....................................................................................................     296
The Reader Asks ....................................................................................             297    Postmsrter: Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
                                                                                                                        P.O. Box 663, Grandville, MI 49466-0603.
All Around Us - Prof. Robert D. Decker.. ...............................................                         299    EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Guest Article - Rev. Jaikishin Mahtani                                                                                  Editor: Prof. David J. Engelsma
      Addicted to the Ministry of the Saints ........................................... 300                            Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                                        Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
A Word Fitly Spoken - Rev. Dale H. Kuiper
      Circumcision .................................................................................. 303               DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                                                        Rev.  Ronald  Cammenga.  Prof.  Robert  Decker,   Rev.  Arte
In His Fear - Rev. Arie denHat?og                                                                                       dsnHartog. Rev. Barry Gritters,  Mr. Fred Hanko, Prof. Herman
      Conviction of Sin ............................................................................ 304                Hanko,  Rev.  John  Heys,  Rev.  Stwsn  Kay.  Rev.  Kenneth
                                                                                                                        Kooks,  Rev.  Jason  Kortaring.  Rev.  Dale  Kulpsr,  Mr.  James
Taking Heed to the Doctrine - Rev. Thomas C. Miersma                                                                    Laming, Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs. MaryBeth Lubben, Rev.
      The Doctrine of the Trinity (2) ........................................................ 306                      JamasSlopsema,  Rev.ChartesTerpstra,  Rev.GisaVanBaren,
                                                                                                                        Rev. RonaldVanOverlwp.  Mr. Benjamin  Wiggar,  Rev, Bernard
The Strength of Youth - Rev. Barrett L. Grifters                                                                        Woudanberg.
      Renewing the Battle (1)                                                                                           EDITORIAL  OFFICE            CHURCH NEWS  EDR'OR
      Drama, Television, and Movies ...................................................... 308                          The Standard Bearer          Mr. Ben Wlgger
                                                                                                                        4949 lvsnrest                6597 49th Ave.
Report of Classis West ............................................................................              310    Grandville.  Ml  49416       Hudsonvitle.  Ml  49426
                                                                                                                        BUSINESS OFFICE              NEW  ZEALAND  OFFICE
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger ................................ 311                                       The
                                                                                                                        .-  standard
                                                                                                                               - .         Bearer    The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                        Don Doezema                  c/o Protestant Reformed
                                                                                                                        P.O. Box 693                    Church
                                                                                                                        Giandville, MI               B. VanHerk
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                                                                                                                        EDtTORlAL  POUCY
                                                                                                                        Every editor is solely responsible for the contents of his own
                                                                                                                        articles.   Contributionsofgeneratintere8tfromourreader8and
        Communication from readers has again provided delightful vari-                                                  questions  for  The  Reader  Asks  department  am  welcome.
                                                                                                                        Contribution8 will  be limited to approximately 3Gl words and
ety to the Standard Bearer. Head-coverings for women in church.                                                         mustbeneattywrtttenortypawritten,andmustbesignsd.          Copy
Tongue-speaking. Rebaptism. How would such subjects find their way                                                      deadlines  am  the  first  and  fifteenth   of  the  month.  All
                                                                                                                        communications relative to the content8 should be sent to the
into the SB outside of "The Reader Asks"? We hope you'll find the                                                       editorial office.
treatment of them in this issue interesting, and that it will be a stimulus                                             REPRINT POLICY
                                                                                                                        Permis8ionis  herebygrantadforthereprintingofartlcle8inour
for more questions.to come. Only one qualification: because of time or                                                  magazinebyotherpublications,provtdad:  a)thatsuchreprinted
space constraints we are not always able to write or print responses to                                                 articles  are reproduced in full: b) that proparacknowfedgment
                                                                                                                        is made: c) that a copy of the periodical in which such  reprint
questions of readers as soon as we would like. So - do ask . . . but be                                                 appears i8 sent to our editorial offtoe.
patient.                                                                                                                SUBSCRIPTION PDUCY
        We're pleased also to have in this issue a Guest Article, provided by                                           Subscription  price:   $12.96  par  year  in  the  U.S.,   515.00
                                                                                                                        elsewhere.  Unless a  definite request  for discontinuance  is
an Indian Singaporean, now pastor-elect of Trinity PRC in Houston, TX.                                                  received,  tt  is  assumed   that  the  subscriber   wishes  the
                                                                                                                        subscrlptiontocontinue,andhawillbebilledforrenewat.        lfyou
By the time this issue appears in print, Rev. Mahtani will very likely be                                               haveachangsofaddress,pleasenottfytheBusinessOfftceas
in the U.S., working hard to prepare for his April 14 Classical exam in                                                 early  as  possible  in  order  to  avoid  the  inconvenience  of
                                                                                                                        interrupted delivery. tnclude your Zip or Postal Code.
Randolph. But at the time of this writing he is wrapping up his labors                                                  ADVERTISING POUCY
as a counselor in the Helping Hand, a Christian rehabilitation center for                                               The StandardSearerdws  not accept commercial advertising
                                                                                                                        of any kind. Announcements  of church and school events,
former drug-addicts in Singapore. His Guest Article is in fact the                                                      anniversaries,  obituaries,  and  sympathy  resolutions  will  be
shortened version of a chapel speech. which he gave there recently,                                                     placed for a $3.96 fee. These should be sent to the Business
                                                                                                                        Officeand  shouldbaaccompanied  bytheS3.oOfae.  Deadline
impressing on the minds of his hearers that real rehabilitation involves                                                for anncuncements  is at least one month prior to publication
for them not simple a conquering of the old, sinful addiction, but the
acquiring of a new one. Addicted they must be . . . but to something else.                                              BOUND VOLUMES
                                                                                                                        The  Business Office wilt accept standing orders  for bound
As must we all. Read, in this issue, "Addicted to the Ministry of the                                                   copiesofthe currentvolume.  Such ordersaraftlled  assoon  a8
                                                                                                                        possible after completion of a volume year.
Saints."
                                                                                                                D.D.    16mm  microfilm,  35mm  microfilm  and 105mm  microfiche, and
                                                                                                                        article  copies  are  available  through  University  Microfilms
                                                                                                                        International.
290 /Standard Bearer  I April 1,1993


 A Prayer far Divine Searching.

                                             addingtohissinsbyprayingthatGod             aware of his sinfullife andnature. For
                                             would "see if there be any wicked           grace always gives a gift that one did
     Search me, 0 God, and know my           way" in him?                                not earn and deserve because of what
heart: try me, and know my thoughts:              No, a thousand times no! As a          he had done.
And see if there be any wicked way in me,    born-again child of God David pre-                   Why then does David pray to
and lead me in the way everlasting.          sents a very necessary and beautiful        God that He search him to know his
                       Psalm 139:23,24.      prayer. He is not praying that God          thoughts, and see if there were any
                                             would search him and know his heart         wicked way in him?
                                             in the sense of trying to find out                   The reason for this is that every
     What an awesome request of              whether he had sinned. In light of          believing child of God prays because
David is here presented to the al-           how he began this Psalm, we see that        he has been born again, and he desires
mighty, everywhere present God!              David is here praying that God will         that God will reveal to him (not to
     The question arises: How can            "lead (him) in the way everlasting." If     Himself) the sin of which he is not
such a prayer be uttered by one who          he indeed thought that he had no sin,       aware, has forgotten, or has sinfully
knows that all men are fallen into sin       `and that God did not know all the sin      been trying to continue and to main-
by Adam and therefore deserve ever-          which he committed, he would not            tain.
lastingpunishment in hell? Still more,       needtol%aythatGodwouldleadhim                        Recall what Simon Peter did
David had stated in the very begin-          in the way everlasting. Not only            three times. He boldly denied Christ
ning of this Psalm that God had              .would he have the right to everlasting     and his connection with Christ, when
searched him and known him. In fact,         life as far as he himself was  con-         He was being tried before the high
he says that Godknew  his downsitting        cerned,buthewouldnotneedtopray              priest. And when Jesus turned and
and uprising; that He had beset him          to be led in the way everlasting. No-       looked at him, Peter went out and
behind and before; and that such             tice that! If David had in fact never       wept bitterly. That, in a sense, is what
knowledge is too wonderful for him.          sinned, he would be in the same con-        David also means when he prays that
He states that he is aware of the fact       dition and state as that of the holy        God search his heart, know his
that he cannot flee from Gods pres-          angels who need no salvation. But           thoughts, and see if there is any
ence.                                        Davidconfesses thathemustbeledin            wicked way in him.
         Does not David's prayer here in     the way everlasting.                                 Every child of God, whether he
verses 23 and 24 stand in great oppo-             What is more, in verse 15 David        reads these words or wrote them, is
sition then to what he presentedin the       wrote, "My substance was not hid            so correctly characterized by the Hei-
first verses of this Psalm? Was he not       from thee, when I was made in secret,       delberg Catechism in Lord's Day
                                             and curiously wrought in the lowest         XLIV. There we are taught that "even
                                             parts of the earth.." And then, in the      the holiest men, while in this life, have
                                             next verse, this is what he affirmed:       only a small beginning of this obedi-
                                             "Thine eyes did see my substance, yet       ence." To that truth we should hold
                                             being unperfect." David thus con-           on tightly; and with David we all
                                             fesses the fact that his substanceis not    should pray what David prayed in
                                             perfect. Itwouldseem, then, as though       the text wherewith this "Meditation"
                                             he is now mistaken by praying that          begins. We all with David must pray
                                             God will "see if there be any wicked        to our God: "See if. there be any
                                             way" in him.                                wicked works that I have covered,
Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in the           Now, that God was gracious to          that I defendbefore my neighbor and
Protestant Reformed  Churdhes.               David means that David was fully            call good works." That is what David
                                                                                                    April 1,1993 1 Standard Bearer / 291


means here in this last verse in Psalm     some fact that the church worldis full      forbidden fruit, would bring death
139.                                       of different kinds of churches,             upon him. By one sin man deserves to
        Let us bear in mind and hold on    churches with different ideas about         go into hell. To deny that truth is to
tightly to that truth presented by our     what God considers good, and what           add the sin of calling God a liar, even
God to Adam. One sin is enough to          He calls sin and false doctrines. And       as Satan did to Eve. Every sin denies
bring us into hellish torment. One sin     let us bear in mind that olzly  one doc-    that God is God! That is what Adam
causes us to die spiritually, even as      trine is correct, not the one in this       and Eve did. For we read that, after
Adam and Eve died spiritually that         church and also the different one in        their first sin, God came and asked
day when they ate the forbidden fruit.     that church. False doctrine is a sin,       Adam, "Where art thou?" And
And when God came to them they             and it must be denied and opposed.          Adam's answer wasnot, "I am guilty.
showed their spiritual death, which        So very necessary and important is          I have sinned." Instead he pointed to
had come upon them through that            David's prayer here that God search         Eve's sin. And when God approached
onesin! They didnotfalldownbefore          ourheartsandourthoughts,andmake             Eve and asked her, "What is this that
Him and confess sin. Adam blamed           us see what He reveals in His Word as       thou hast done?" she expressed abso-
Eve, but did not even ask for forgive-     the truth, and what He demands of us        lutely no sorrow for her sin. She
ness. They had begun to try to run         as a walk of love toward Him.               accused the serpent of beguiling her.
away from God, and thereby revealed             Suppose that you leave the east-       Let us take a firm hold on the truth
their spiritual death. Likewise every      ern coast of our land, because you          that to defend sin adds to it, and
sin in us today calls for everlasting      want to sail to a specific city on the      deserves greater punishment in hell!
punishment. How many sins we com-          west coast of Europe. And then, be-              How needful then is this prayer
mit reveals how far down in hell we        cause your compass is not working           of David that our God search us and
deserve to be sent. But, as David here     correctly, you miss the city you want       reveal to us our sins, so that we can
reveals, we must know every sin; and       to reach, the city in which you had         confess them and.truly be sorry for
know that we are savedby grace, and        hoped to have joyous fellowship with        them. We must - and in the judg-
are ledinto "life everlasting" because     loved ones. So, indeed, does false          ment day will - see all of our sins,
of that grace of God.                      doctrine steer a church away from the       evenaswereadofthisinIICorinthians
                                           Kingdom of Heaven. For that reason,         5:lO: "For we must all appear before
                                           too, our prayer must be the one David       the judgment seat of Christ: that
        Our extolling of God               presents in the above text.                 everyonemayreceive the things done
         would not be as rich                   The all-important question is          in his body, according to that he hath
            as it should be,               whether David's prayer is our prayer.       done, whether it be good or bad." In
                                           Do we want our God to show us what
             if we did not                                                             that judgment day God will in His
                                           sinful thoughts we have, thoughts           grace work thankfulness in our souls
          see all of our sins.             which we consider pure and holy?            by revealing how guilty we are in
                                           Do we call Christian that which actu-       ourselves, and what a work of His
                                           ally is antichristian? Do we, in this       grace it is that He sent His Son to
        We ought also to take hold of      day and age in which sin is develop-        hellish agony toblot out our guilt. We
that truth presented in II Corinthians     ing as swiftly in the church world as       need that appearancebefore thejudg-
5:10, namely, that we must all appear      it is in the world of unbelievers, show     ment seat to see fully the saving grace
before the judgment seat of Christ, so     byouractions thatwethinkthatDavid           of our God.
that we will know all of our sins, and     was all wrong when he asked God to
in that way appreciate the salvation       lead him.in the way everlasting by
God's grace has realized for us. But       showing him those wicked ways in              . . . to defend sin adds to it,
we must also know our good works           -which his flesh was causing him to                    and deserves
which God enabled us to perform,           walk? And how many times today,
and at that judgment seat reveals to       this week, this month, this year did          greater punishment in hell!
us, so that we are fully thankful, and     we with David pray that God lead us
with all our hearts can and will extol     in the way everlasting by a walk that
HimforwhatHedid,notwhatwedid.              reveals that we have been born again,            Let us not find joy in our sins.
Our extolling of God would not be as       that we are children of God, and that       Let us with David pray that God in
rich as it should be, if we did not see    we hate the sins in which we find           this life already reveal our sins, and
all of our sins. For then we would not     ourselves walking? Dowereallywant           thereby work in us gratitude for the
fully see Gods grace.                      to be led in the way everlasting?           salvation which He gives us through
        We live today in a godless age.         Once more, let us bear in mind         His Son. Our prayer for divine search-
Today, even in the church world, more      what God revealed at the very begin-        ing and revealing will by God's grace
and more sins are not only committed       ning of history. He told Adam that          work in us everlasting thankfulness
but defended. Think also of the awe-       one sin, namely eating a piece of the       for that gift of salvation. IJ

292 /Standard Bearer / April 1,1993


         It is not uncommon that             write the Hope Reformed Church,                 try who will seek to promote the
churches, groups, and other maga-                          317 S. Garfield                   Reformed Faith on a local level.
zines make special use of articles that                  Pierre, SD 57501.
appear in The Standard  Bearer. This                 The first issue of the British Re-    This Fellowship sponsored the con-
pleases us. Our witness to the Re-           formed Journal (BRJ), published by            ference on the covenant in Northern
formed faith and life gets wider dis-        ReformedandPresbyterianChristians             Ireland last year at which Professors
tribution. We do ask, as appears on          in the British Isles, includes an article     Hanko and Engelsma spoke. They
the masthead, that such reprinted            by Rev. Ronald VanOverloop origi-             are presently planning a similar con-
articles are reproduced in full; that        nally published in the SB  in his rubric      ference that is to be heldin Scotlandin
proper acknowledgment is made; and           on missions. The editor of the JoumaZ         1994, the Lord willing.
that a copy of the periodical in which       informs me that he intends to run the                  As a means to accomplish their
such reprint appears is sent to our          entire series as it appears in install-       objectives, the Fellowship has begun
e d i t o r i a l   o f f i c e .            ments in the SB.                              publishing their Journal. It is to ap-
         Recently, the Evangelism Soci-              The BRJis the publication of the      pear quarterly. The first, 40-page
ety of the Protestant Reformed Church        British Reformed Fellowship. Ac-              issue (January-March 1993) contains
in New Zealand made up a book of             cording to their own statement, this          a number of worthwhile articles, in-
"Daily Devotions" from  SB  medita-          Fellowship is "a group of Christians          cluding an introduction to the maga-
tions. The society divided the medi-         concerned for the defence andpropa-           zine by Rev. Gise  VanBaren;
tations into short sections for daily        gation of the historic Reformed Faith         "Distinctives of the Reformed Faith"
reading. The result is an attractive,        in the British Isles." Their doctrinal        by James North; "Personal Reflec-
useful booklet. Those who might be           basis is the "Three Forms of Unity"           tions on the Reformed Faith" by Edi-
interested in obtaining a copy should        and the Westminster Standards. The            tor Tony Home; an introduction of
write                                        objectives of the Fellowship are the          the Covenant Reformed Fellowship
          The Evangelism Society             following:                                    of Northern Ireland by John Clarke;
          c/o Mr. Kevin Inskeep                (a) To promote a knowledge of the           the article by Rev. VanOverloop men-
              Main Road, R.D.                  ReformedFaithin theBritish  Isles, as       tioned above; and others. The sub-
           Otaki, New Zealand.                 defined in the Doctrinal Basis.             scription price in the British Isles is
       The Hope Reformed Church of             (b) To organize meetings, confer-           four pounds a year. Those who like to
Pierre, SD has reprinted two articles          ences, preaching services and other         request a sample copy or who desire
                                               activities in order to further the Re-
by Rev. Arie denHartogaspamphlets.             formed Faith and to give practical          to subscribe should write the
They are "Family Values" and "The              expression to the unity enjoyed by                   British Refomzed  Journal
Christian and Sickness." Those who             Christians of Reformed persuasion.                        9 Church Road
might like to have a copy of these             (c) To encourage the formation of               Thornbury, Bristol BS12 1EJ
reprints in pamphlet form should               groups in different areas of the coun-                      England.  0
                                                                                                                                - DJE




                                     Seeking a Symbol

       The SfczndardBea+eris  seeking a I            The emblem should be simple.          design that represents pictorially  a
symbol.                                      It should be appropriate, indicating          certain aspect of the Reformed faith
      We are looking for a design that       in picture form what the SB stands            that the SB exists to defend and pro-
can be incorporated into or joined           for.                                          mote.
with the name of our magazine on the                 What comes to mind at once is a            Examplesof thekindof thingwe
cover. This design would come to             device featuring the standard bearer          are after include the tulip as symbol of
identify the %B.                             of an army. Another possibility is a          Calvinism and the burning bush that

                                                                                                     April 1,1993 I Standard Bearer I293


serves as the ecclesiastical symbol of                 We ask your help in finding this            In order that we can present our
some Presbyterian churches.                    symbol.                                       recommendation or recommenda-
      The uses of such a symbol are                    Those with artistic ability can       tions to the annual meeting of the staff
several. It would enhance the appear-          send us a drawing or sketch of the            of the SB in June of this year, we ask
ance of the SB artistically. It would          symbol they propose.                          that you submit your proposed sym-
serve well in advertising the SB in                    Others might want to send us          bol by May 15,1993.
other magazines, a venture we are              the description of their suggestion in              The one whose suggestion is
engaged in with promising results.            words. We are able to obtain the               adopted as the symbol of the SB will
We would use the symbol on the                 services of a professional designer to        receive recognition in the magazine,
letterhead of  SB  stationery. We would        draw your verbal description.                 with his or her design, and a five-year
propose the use of it on the books                     Sendyoursuggestioninoneform           gift subscription to the magazine.
published by the RFPA. It is possible          or another to the SB,                               The  SB is now seeking a symbol.
that a symbol might be designed                        c/o the Business Manager                    Do you have an idea? n '
which could also function as the offi-                        P.O. Box 603                                                        - DJE
cial symbol of the Protestant Reformed             Grandville, MI 49468-0603.
Churches, synod being agreeable.
                           An Important Book
                                              for the PRC

      The Reformed Free Publishing            finds the roots of the PRC in the 16th         concerning the founding of the de-
Association has recently published a           century Reformation and in the re-            nomination (chapters 3-7). The doc-
book of no little importance to the           forming movements in the Reformed              trinal issues are clearly spelled out.
Protestant ReformedChurches  (PRC).            Church in the Netherlands in the              Those outside the Churches who like
It is A Watered Garden: A Brief His-           1800s. It also traces the origins of the      to understand the PRpositionagainst
tory  of  the Protestant Reformed             PRC in the emigration to the United            common grace and for particular
Churches in America. The author is            States of Dutch Reformed families in           gracewilldowelltoreadchapter5. In
Gertrude Hoeksema. The book is                the late 19th and early20th centuries.         light of the subsequent history of the
attractively illustrated by Jeff              This section makes plain that thel?RC          CRC, the "Testimony" of the CRC
Steenholdt.                                   are confessionally Reformed, founded           Synod of 1924 that adopted the doc-
      Thetitle, takenfromIsaiah58:11,         on "The Three Forms of Unity."                 trine of common grace is telling (pp.
lays stress on the church as a living                  The lengthy second section is         58,59). Intended as a warning against
body. The author uses the figure of           the account of the beginning of the            the misuse of common grace, it was in
the garden as the device that unites          PRC as a separate denomination of              fact a chilling prophecy of the effects
the various periods of the history of         churches in 1924 in the controversy in         of common grace upon the CRC un-
the PRC.                                      the Christian Reformed Church over             der the judgment of God.
      The importance of the book to           common grace.
the PRC is exactly that it is a history of             Section Three treats of the estab-      Now (that) synod (has)  expressed
these Churches. It will instruct the          1ishmentandgrowthofthePRCinthe                   itself . . . on three points that were at
members themselves of the PRC, es-            years following 1924.                            stake in the denial of Common Grace
pecially the coming generations, how                   Another long section deals with         and thereby condemned the entire
to think about the Churches. It will          the events of the schism in the PRC in           disregard for this doctrine, she feels
                                                                                               constrained at the same time to warn
form the opinion that many outside            1953.                                            our Churchesandespeciallyourlead-
the Churches have of the PRC and                       The last section is the history of      ers earnestly against all onesided
what they stand for.                          the PRC from 1960 to the present. The            emphasis on and misuse of the doc-
      A Watered Garden  will serve the        author presents this history in three            trine of Common Grace. It cannot be
PRC well in every way.                        chapters, entitled "The Awakeningof              denied  that there exists a real danger
      It is a popular history. Mrs.           the Sixties"; "The Outreach of the              in this respect . . . it cannot be denied
Hoeksema has written for the people,          Seventies"; and "The Development                 that our present danger lies more in
not for the professional historian.           of the Eighties."                                the direction of worldly-mindedness
Nevertheless, she is thorough and                      Rightly, the book devotes spe-          than of false seclusion.... The con-
accurate. The brief opening section           cial attention to the history of 1924            sciousness of a spiritual-ethical an-
                                                                                              tithesis becomes increasingly vague

294 /Standard Bearer  I April 1,1993


  in the minds of many.... The doctrine           out by Pelagius  and Arminius (p.          demnation of "conditions." The PRC
  of particular grace in Christ is more           160).                                      were in "the doldrums" (p. 291). In-
  and more pushed to the background.                                                         triguing is the author's analysis that a
  There is a strong tendency to bring                During this bitter internal             healthy change in emphasis occurred
  theology into harmony with a sci-             struggle, Herman Hoeksema indi-
  ence that stands in the service of                                                         in the early to mid-sixties, when the
                                                cated the central significance of the
  infidelity . . . it is peremptorily neces-                                                 PRC became more outward-looking.
  sary . . . that, though (the CRC) also        truth of the covenant for the PRC:           The preaching was more joyful and
  maintains the above mentioned three                                                        positive, and the Churches turned to
  points, she vindicates the spiritual-           If you askme what is the most pecu-        the development of their heritage.
  ethical antithesis tooth and nail.              liar treasure of the PRC, I answer              Although a history of churches,
                                                  without any hesitation: their pecu-        the book does justice to the organic
      Prophesying the spiritual devel-            liar view of the covenant.... He that
                                                  has been captivated by this beautiful      life of the members of the PRC, par-
opment of the CRC was the only pur-               Reformed truth (of the gracious cov-       ticularly the establishment of Protes-
pose that this "Testimony" served,                enant of friendship with the elect in      tantReformedChristianSchools.  This
since, for some unknown reason, it                Christ -DJE) must have nothing of          has always been viewed as a demand
was never circulated among the CR                 anything that smacks of Heynsian           of the covenant that is precious to PR
congregations as a warning.                       theology, nor will he ever retrogress      Christians.
      The hierarchical church polity              into a traditional conditiona  theoI-           Valuable appendices at the end
of the CRC in dealing with those who              ogy. But rather than go backward,          of thebookinclude the "Act of Agree-
would not declare themselves "un-                 he will go forward and continue to         ment" of March, 1925 adopted by the
equivocally" to be "in full agree-                develop the pure PRC truth of God's
                                                  eternal covenant. To do this is the        three consistories of Eastern Avenue,
ment" with the three points of com-               specific calling of the PRC. Failure to    Hope, and Kalamazoo I; the "Decla-
mon grace stands out in bold relief.              do this is our death. It is the end of     ration of Principles" adopted by the
Classis Grand Rapids East and Classis             our distinctive existence (pp. 163,        PRCin 1951 astheirunderstandingof
Grand Rapids West summarily de-                   164).                                      the teaching of the Reformed confes-
posed three ChristianReformed  min-                                                          sions on the covenant; and a list of all
isters and three entire consistories.                A Watered Garden  is not, how-          the congregations and pastors that
The procedure especially of Classis             ever, an uncritical defense of the PRC.      have been part of the PRC.
Grand Rapids East in deposing                   Gertrude Hoeksema takes note of the               Every history invites criticism
Hoeksema and the Eastern Avenue                 contribution to the troubled climate         from the reader both as to what has
ConsistorywasatravestyofReformed,               in the PRC in the years leading up to        been included and as to what has
Christian, ecclesiasticaljustice (cf. pp.       the schism of 1953 on the part of the        been excluded. My own judgment is
67-74).                                         "two-hundred percenters" in the              that far too much space -pages 213-
      There is detailed treatment also          Churches. She points out the defense         244  - has been devoted to the
of the schism in the PRC in 1953 (chap-         by the  PR preachers who advocated           unappealingstruggle after 1953 in the
ters 10-15). The issue was doctrinal.           conditions against the charge of             civil courts over property. The ugly
The doctrine at stake was the cov-              Arminianismin the covenant, namely,          episode in First Church, Grand Rap-
enant of God with believers and their           that it is God's grace that enables the      ids over the hospitalizationofHerman
children. Specifically, the question            children to fulfill the conditions. She      Hoeksema at the end of his life could
was whether the covenant promise at             also permits one ofthe ministers who         better have been omitted altogether.
baptism is a conditional promise to             left the PRC to state his conviction as            A serious error of fact slippedin
every child or an unconditional prom-           to the seriousness of  denying  condi-       on page 344 where "Report 44" on the
ise to the elect children. Professor            tions:                                       interpretation of Scripture is attrib-
George M. Ophoff is quoted express-                                                          uted to the Reformed Churches in the
ing the stand of the PRC:                         To deny that conditional element as        Netherlands, rather than to the CRC.
                                                  it is so clearly revealed to us in the           All our people will want to read
  It is plain that in the proposition,            Word of God would be a catastrophe         this history of our Churches. Parents,
  "God saves His people on the condi-             indeed. Itwouldbefataltoallpreach-         by all means assign it to your young
  tion  that they believe," that is, "Sal-        ing of the gospel, and would lead our      people. They will learn something of
  vation as a work of God is contingent           churches astray (p. 165).
  on the faith of the believer," we deaI                                                     their ecclesiastical identity, their spiri-
  with a heresy of the first magnitude,              The history displays concern for        tual roots, and their doctrinal and
  destructive conceptionally of God             objectivity in characterizing the cli-       practical calling. This is now the
  and of all true religion . . . the term       mate in the PRC in the years immedi-         introduction to the PRCfor those who
  condition  . . . in the proposition, "God     ately following 1953 as bitter and           desire to become acquainted with this
  saves His people on the condit ion that       polemical. The preaching was defen-          denomination.
  they believe," . . . has place only in the                                                      Mrs. Hoeksema is a capable
  pervertedsystemof theology hatched            sive. No sermon could neglect con-           writer. The history is interesting.

                                                                                                     April 1,1993 1 Standard Bearer  I 295


     The book can be ordered from             first eleven years of the Churches, The     mon grace and the PRC' objection to
the RFPA,                                     Protestant .Refortned Churches in           this doctrine. If this is done, a similar
             P.O. Box 2006                    America, which has long been out of         treatment of the doctrine of a condi-
      Grand Rapids, MI 49501.                 print. Some organization should con-        tional covenant, central issue in the
The price for the hardcover book is           sider reprinting separately the sec-        schism of 1953, might well be added.
$19.95.                                       tion of  The Protestant Reformed
     A Watered Garden  replaces               Churches in America  that consists of                                         -D,:
Herman Hoeksema's history of the              explanation of the three points of com-




                                              Bible of 1560. In II Thessalonians 2:3,
n                                                                                         the Holy Spirit that the Day of Christ
      A Supra, Pre-Trib,                      the Geneva Bible reads: "... for that       cannot come until "the man of sin"
Pre-Mill Friend of the k3                     day shall not come, except there come       ("ho an thropos tes harmartias, u Greek)
     In your editorials, "The Ring-           a departing first, and that that man of     be revealed. The apostle John indi-
dom has Come" (Feb. 1 and 15,1993),           sin be disclosed, even the son of per-      cated to us that "as you heard
your system of doctrine seems to be           dition." In the notes alongside the         antichrist is coming, even now many
your final authority, not the Bible.          text, the translators of the Geneva         antichrists have arisen" (I John 2:18)
Enclosed is a book by Tim LaHaye,             Bible explained what is meant by the        and further that ti this is the antichrist
No Fear of the Storm. I challenge you         "departing": "A wonderful (that is,         which you heard is coming and now
to read it thoughtfully and objectively.      astonishing  - DJE) departing of the        already is in the world" (I John 4:3).
     I like the Standard Bearer very          most part from the faith."                  [Quotations from Greek-English In-
much, and some articles in it are out-                                        - DJE       terlinear T.R.] Therefore, antichrist is
standing. I am a supralapsarian, pre-                                                     alreadywithusandhasbeenthrough-
trib, and pre-mill believer in my Lord                                                    out the time between the Advents,
and Savior Jesus the Son of God, the          q    The Coming of Antichrist               and that the religious aspect of
Christ. I agree with the five points of            I notice that some of our readers      antichrist has been and is fulfilled in
John Calvin. I read his Institutes. He        have taken exception to your editori-       the Pope of Rome who is Antichrist as
was a great man of God even if he was         als, "A.D. 1993: The Lord is Coming"        our confessions teach. The only re-
amillennial.                                  (Jan. 1 and 15,1993). I should like to      maining thing to be fulfilled, as I see
      In II Thessalonians 2:3, the word       add a little to this present discussion,    it, is the final manifestation of
apostasia  in the Greek is translated         which I know is being conducted in          antichrist who shallbe the Antichrist,
"falling away" by the KJV. The Bibles         the spirit of Christian friendship and      the Man of Sin and Son of Perdition
prior to the KJV translated the word          fellowship. I am in agreement with          "whom theLord shall . . . destroy with
as "departure" or "withdrawal," re-           the Editor's response. However, may         the brightness of his coming."
ferring to the rapture. I believe that        I make the following observations?                We await then only the revela-
the Antichrist will not be revealed by             The Day of Christ shall not come       tion of the final Man of Sin whom the
God prior to the departure of the             except there be a falling away first        presentwriterfirmlybelievesshallbe
church from this earth to meet the            ("he  apostasia proton," Greek). This       the last occupant of the Vatican.
Lord in the air.                              indicates that there is to be a great                                 Steven Watters
      I will remain a fundamentalist          departure from the true faith as re-             Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland
-one who believes that the Word of            vealed in Holy Scripture. Now, I
God, literally interpreted, is funda-         would tentatively submit that such
mental to Christian life and doctrine.        apostasy has already commenced,             n Clear Teaching on
                             John E. Saari    indeed, has been with us for some
                             Jackson, TN      time, and is daily increasing in its        Total Depravity
                                              terrible consequences for theprofess-             Thank you for the recent series
Response:                                     ing church in the world. How far into       in  the Standard Bearer on Macleod's
      The-word aposfasia  occurs twice        this apostasy God has decreed we            book and the clear teaching you gave
in the Greek New Testament: Acts              should go is not for us to speculate,       on  total depravity (Aug. 1-Dec. 15,
21:21  and II Thessalonians 2:3. Both         but one thing is certain, and that is       1992, "The Death of Confessional
times it clearly refers to a spiritual        that we are in the midst of this fore-      Calvinism i n   S c o t t i s h   Pres-
departing from doctrine or truth. The         told and foreordained departure from        byterianism").
English Bible that was the great pre-         theProtestantandReformedreligion.                                 John Robert Olson
decessor of the KJV was the Geneva                 Secondly, we are informed by                                Charleston, SC 0

296  /Standard Bearer I April 1,1993


W Head Coverings                             about the"head-covering" forwomen             11 is law for the church in all places
and Tongues Speaking                         at the worship of the church. Paul            and times must require that their
                                             required such a covering of the               women wear veils at church.
     I have two questions to which I         women in Corinth according to I                         The veil, however, was only a
have not been able to get satisfactory       Corinthians 11:3-16.                          local and temporary manifestation at
answers. The Netherlands Reformed                 The Protestant Reformed                  church of the lasting, binding prin-
Congregations, Free Reformed                 Churches do not require such a cov-           ciple that wives are subject to the
Churches, and some Presbyterian              ering of worshiping women. They               authority of their husbands. The very
denominations require women to               regard the covering referred to in I          fact that the veil was a mere article of
wear head coverings in worship. This         Corinthians 11:3ff. as an external to-        clothing indicates this. This is how
theybaseonICorinthians  11:2-Z. To           ken in that day of the wife's submis-         the notes on the passage of the Geneva
my knowledge, the Protestant Re-             sion to her husband.                          Bible, great predecessor of the King
formed Churches have no such re-                  The undying principle in the             James Version, explain the mention of
quirement. Whereas I don't believe           passage is the husband's headship             the "head-covering" in I Corinthians
the Bible is teaching that a woman's         over his wife (vv. 3, 7-12). This             11:3ff.: "This tradition was observed
head must be covered in worship I            headshipinvolvesauthority. "Power"            according to the time and place that
have difficulty explaining the mean-         in verse 10 is literally `authority,' that    all things might be done in comeliness
ing behind this passage. What are            is, a sign of the authority of the hus-       and to edification."
your views on women being required           band over his wife. The headship of                     This was also Calvin's view of
to cover their head in worship, and          the husband over his wife is the same         the "head-covering." With specific
what is the Bible teaching in I              in this respect as the headship of Christ     reference to the prohibitioninverse 3
Corinthians 11:2-16?                         over every man and the headship  of           against the man's having such a cov-
     My second question deals with           God over Christ (v. 3). The sphere in         ering, Calvin wrote:
the "speakingin tongues" issue. What         which this headship is to be shown is
should be the Reformed response to           the public worship of the church (cf.           Let us, however, bearinmind, that in
speakingin tongues? I Corinthians 14         vv. 4,5: "praying or prophesying").             this matter the error is merely in so
seems to indicate that, although the              This basic, enduring truth,                far as decorum is violated, and the
gift of prophecy is greater than that of     grounded in creation itself (vv. 7b-            distinction of rank which God  has
speaking in tongues, we should de-           12), was manifested in the apostle's            established, is broken in upon. For
                                                                                             we must not be so scrupulous as to
sire the gift of speaking in tongues (cf.    day incorinth,  Greece by the woman's           look upon it as a criminal thing for a
v. 5). At the very least, verse 39 says      having a certain "head-covering."               teacher to have a cap on his head,
we shouldn't forbidit. Does theBible              This covering was not her long             when addressing the people from
give evidence that the gift of speaking      hair itself, as is evident from the com-        thepulpit. Paulmeansnothingmore
in tongues- was only for the early           parisonbetweenthecoveringandher                 than this-that it should appear that
church, or should we too pursue these        long hair in verses 5,6.                        the man has authority, and that the
gifts? Concerning those people who                But neither was that covering a            woman is under subjection, and this
hold to false teachings (Pentecostals,       hat, or some kerchief perched on top            is secured when the man uncovers
Roman Catholics) and claim to speak          of her head. The Greek original of              his head in the view of the Church,
                                                                                             though he should afterwards put on
in tongues, is their gift from the Holy      verses4-7makesplain  that the apostle           his cap again from fear of catching
Spirit or from Satan? I would appre-         refers to a veil hanging down from the          cold. In fine, the one rule to be ob-
ciate your thoughts on this matter.          head. A literal translation of verse 5          served here is . . . decorum. If that is
     These questions have arisen from        would read: "But every woman that               secured, Paul requires nothing far-
discussion among several people, and         prayeth or prophesieth without hav-             ther (commentary on I Corinthians
I can assure you that your answers           ing (something) hanging from the              11:4).
will be well read.                           head," etc. Thayer's Greek-English
                          Paul Wiersma       Lexicon of the New Testament, ex-                  In his sermons on the passage,
         Hamilton, Ontario, Canada           plaining the verb that occurs there,          Calvin acknowledged that thematter
                                             gives as the meaning of verse 6, "to          of "head-coverings" had to do with
Response:                                    veil oneself."                                local custom and that "the piety and
          Head-Coverings                          Those, therefore, who insist that        holiness of the children of God is not
     We answer first your question           the "head-covering" of I Corinthians          comprised of this." In explanation of

                                                                                                      April 1,1993 I Standard Bearer  I 297


the rule laid down in verse 4, that a      miraculous, extraordinary operation           very clear that Rebaptism was unnec-
man ought not to cover his head,           of the Spirit was to validate the office      essary, yet so many folk today floun-
Calvin taught his congregation:            andgospelof theapostles  (Mark16:20;          der in a muddle?
                     \                     Acts 14:3; II Cor. 12:12; Heb. 2:3,4).              As it happens, I think1 know the
  Let us observe that St. Paul has only         When the office of apostle passed        answer, but I have never seen it in
  taken exception to something that        away, the miraculous passed away              print, .and would welcome a good
  was not appropriate and fitting ac-      with it, including the gift of tongues.       discussion in the SB. If there is some-
  cording to the usage of the land. For    The miraculous was no longer neces-           thing in print easily lendable, please
  (as we have shown) we are not to         sary. The foundation of the church            refer to it.
  take those countries and measure
  them by our custom(s). Yet there         had been laid. The gospel of the                                          D.J. Stephens
  was such disorder, as we said, that      apostles had been accredited. The                                 Liverpool, England
  the men had exchanged (places) with      church now had the complete Scrip-
  the women, which was intolerable.        ture of the Old and New Testaments.           Response:
  This is why St. Paul says that a man,         The charismatic movement to-                   Thank you for writing. We ap-
  when he executes the function of         day acknowledges the inseparable              preciate your interest in this subject
  prophesying, or prays on behalf of       relation between the extraordinary            and the Standard Bearer,
  all  so that all may answer, "Amen,"     gifts and the office of apostle in that it       I John Calvin argues that the va-
  must not have his head covered, as if
  he hid himself for shame (Men,           allows for, and even requires, -the           lidity of Baptism does not depend on
  Women, and Order in the Church:          restoration of the apostolic office in' the merit of him who administers it.
  Three Sermons byJohn  Calvin, Pres-      the church and the appearance and             Writes he:
  byterianHeritagePublications, 1992,      function of latter-day apostles. With
  pp. 12,24,25).                           new apostles come a new gospel, a               Now, suppose what we have deter-
                                           new church, and a new Christ.                   mined is true - that a sacrament
      The great principle of the pas-           The inescapable implication of             must not be judged by the hand of
sage is the headship of the husband        this analysis of tongues is that all            theonebywhomitisministered,but
over his wife as maintained in the         tongues-speaking in the post-apos-             as if it were from the very hand of
public worship of the congregation.        tolic history of the church .is sheer           God, from whom it doubtless has
                                                                                           come. From this we may then infer
This is as basic and enduring in the       fraud, self-induced emotionalgibber-            that nothing is added to it or taken
history of the church as Christ's          ish, or direct demonic influence.               from itby the worth of him by whose
headship over every man and God's               We recommend B.B. Warfield's               handitisadministered. Amongmen,
headship over Christ (v. 3).               Miracles: Yesterday and Today (origi-           if a letter is sent, provided the hand-
      This principle necessarily im-       nally published as  Counterfeit                 writing and seal are sufficiently rec-
plies that women may not have the          Miracles). We have sent you a copy of           ognized, it makes no difference who
office of teaching or ruling in the        the booklet published by the Evange-            or of what sort the carrier is. In like
church (I Cor. 14:34,35;  I Tim. 2,3).     lism Committee of the South Holland             manner, it ought to be enough for us
                                           Protestant Reformed Church, "Try                to recognize the hand and seal of our
                                                                                           Lord in his sacraments, whatever car-
          Tongues-Speaking                 the Spirits: A Reformed Look at                rier may bring them.
      Your second question concerns        Pentecostalism."                                    This argument neatly refutes the
tongues-speaking. As you point out,                 - The Editorial Committee              error of the Dona tis ts, who measured
I Corinthians 14 makes plain that there                                                    the force and value of the sacrament
was the gift of tongues in that day,       H Rebaptism                                     by the worth of the minister. Such
although not all the believers received                                                    todayareourCatabaptists,whodeny
it. Also, verse 39 `instructed the              Recently a Baptist friend of mine          that we have been duly baptized be-
Corinthians not to forbid those who                                                        cause we were baptized by impious
                                           asked me, with considerable puzzle-
had the gift to exercise it.                                                               and idolatrous men under the papal
                                           ment, why it was that the Reformers,            government. They therefore pas-
      Regardless whether one views         both British and European, were not             sionately urge rebaptism.
tongues as the ability to speak foreign    rebaptized. How could they possibly                 We shall be armed against their
languages without study or as the          accept their Roman Catholic (infant)            follies with a strong enough argu-
speaking of new, unknownlanguages,         baptism as valid?                               ment if we think of ourselves as ini-
it was an extraordinary gift and op-            I note that Prof. Hanko's book             tiated by baptism not into the name
eration of the Holy Spirit. It was part    on the Reformed teaching about in-              of any man, but into the name of the
of the miraculous of the apostolic         fant baptism does not grapple with              Father and of the Son and of the Holy
time. With the exorcism of demons,                                                         Spirit [Matt. 28:19]; and that baptism
                                           the subject of rebaptism. Yet, in our
special prophecy, miracles of healing,                                                     is accordingly not of man but of God,
                                           context the whole topic of Rebaptism            no matter who administers it. Igno-
and the like, tongues-speaking was         is very practical. Why were the con-            rant or even contemptuous as those
connected with the office of apostle in    verts of the Reformation period so              WGO baptized us were of God and all
the early church. The purpose of the                                                       piety, they did not baptize us into the

299 /Standard Bearer  I April  1,1993


  fefellowship  of either their ignorance       Religion, Book Iv, Chapter XV, Sec-        her sister churches, the Evangelical
  or sacrilege, but into faith in Jesus         tion 16).                                  Reformed Churches in Singapore.
  Christ, because it was not their own                                                     Among other things, this study re-
  name but God's that they invoked,                   The above quotation constitutes
  and they baptized us into no other                                                       port contains translations of several
                                              the heart of Calvin's position on the
  name. But if it was                                                                      prominent Dutch theologians  (Drs.
                          the baptism of
  God, it surely had, enclosed in itself,     matter. You may wish to read all that        A. Kuyper and H. Bavinck, et. al.)
  the promise `of forgiveness of sins,        Calvin had to say on this question in        who tookthe same position as Calvin.
  mortification of the flesh, spiritual       sections 14-18  of Book4, chapter 15 of      This material may be found in the
  vivification, and participation in          The Instihstes. Calvin's position re-        1988 Acts of Synod and Yearbook of
  Christ. Thus it was no hindrance to         mains the position of the Reformed           the Protestant Reformed Churches in
  the Jews to be circumcised by im-           Churches today.                              America. Copies of this report are
  pure and apostate priests; nor was                  It will interest you to know that    available on request from the Protes-
  the sign therefore void so that it had      the Synod of the Protestant Reformed
  to be repeated, but it was a sufficient                                                  tant Reformed Seminary, 4949
                                              Churches made a rather lengthy study
  means by which to return to the real                                                     Ivanrest  Ave., Grandville, MI 49418.
  source  (Institutes  of  the Christian      of this question in response to a re-                 - The Editorial Committee
                                              quest for advice on the question from                                                 0



n New Editor for                              menga andRev. Harvey Smit are serv-          Church Order of the CRC, implies
t h e   B a n n e r                           ing as interim co-editors of the Ban-        this negative response" to a question
                                              ner.                                         of the Dutton Independent Reformed
         The Rev. John D. Suk, 36, has                                         Banner      Church about whether Murphy may
been nominated to be editor of the            n Dutton Pastor Banned                       preach or lead worship in the CRC.
Banner. Suk, co-pastor of the Ann                                                               Of the twenty-three pastors who
Arbor (Michigan) Christian Reformed           From CRC Pulpits                             have recently seceded  from  the CRC
Church, is the only candidate Chris-                  In August 85% of the male mem-       only three have been declaredby their
tian Reformed Church Publications             bership of the Dutton (Michigan)             classes to have the status of one de-
Board is nominating. The synod will           Christian Reformed Church voted to           posed from office. These are Rev.
be asked to approve his nomination            support the consistory's decision to         Murphy, Rev. Arthur Besteman (pas-
in June.                                      secede from the denomination by le-          tor of Beverly CRC Independent in
         In an interview with the-board,      gallydisbandingtheDuttonCRCand               Wyoming, Michigan), and Rev. John
Suk said he sees the Banner as a ve-          transferring the assets to a new eccle-      De Koekkoek (pastor of Agassiz In-
hicleforkeepingpeopleinformedand              siasticalcorporation,DuttonIndepen-          dependent Reformed Church in Brit-
for changing their minds. "We want            dent Reformed Church. Following              ish Columbia).
to move people along in their Chris-          this action Classis Thornapple Val-               At least two churches, Escon-
tian life," he'said. At the same time,        ley, in which Dutton CRC resides,            dido CRC and Ontario CRC in Cali-
Suk added, the magazine needs to be           declared Rev. Paul Murphy to have            fornia, are sending overtures to the
exhilarating. "I'd like to give readers       the status of one deposed from office.       June synodurgingan end to the depo-
a feel that the Christian life is an          Classis also recognized the minority         sition status for seceding ministers
adventure; it's not just a duty."             as  the continuing Dutton Christian          askingthat"ministersresigningfrom
         Before moving to Ann Arbor,          Reformed Church.            At its Janu-     theministryofthe,ChristianReformed
Suk was pastor of Redeemer Chris-             ary 26 meeting the classis voted to          Churchbecauseofconscientioustheo-
tian Reformed Church, in Sarnia,              close or disband the Dutton CRC.             logical objections to developments in
Ontario, from 1985 to 1989. Suk was           Only seven members of the minority.          the Christian Reformed Church
one of two nominees presented to the          indicated to classis that they wished        should be regarded as having been
CRC Publications Board by a search            to continue as the Dutton CRC. In            honorably released, not as having
committee. The other was Rev. Carl            another decision the classis declared        been deposed."
Zylstra, 44, pastor of Immanuel Chris-        that the seceding pastor, Rev. Paul               It will be very interesting to see
tian Reformed Church in Orange City,          Murphy,shouldbebannedfromCRC                 what the CRC synod does with this.
Iowa.                                         pulpits because of his status as one            Reforined  Bdievers Press Service
         Currently Dr. John H. Krom-          deposed from office. Classissaid that
                                              "the action of classis at its September
                                              3 and 15,1992meetings,  declaring the        n Church Membership
Proj Decker is professor ofPracfica1  The-    statusofPastorMurphyin  theCRCas             Declining in Germany
ology in the Protestant Reformed Semi-        though deposed from office in the                 In the February 15 issue of the           ~
nary.                                         CRC according to Article 14b of the

                                                                                                  April 1,1993 I Standard Bearer I 299
                                                                                                                                          ~


                                                                                                           ~~  m


                                                                                                                              :

Standard  Be&w  we reported on the          lible Word. the 
                                                          ,     onlvrule  for the faith          In addition,. the. President or-
sad state of .affairs in the church in      and life of God's people. This was the' dered the Food and Drug Adminis-
Geneva, Switzerland in an article           formal principle of the Reformation,            tration to review its banonimporting
under the title, "Ichabod." Some-           Sola Scriptura. For the higher critics          the French abortion pill RU 486 for
thing similar is happening` in Ger-         Scripture is merely the writings of             personal use.. Mr. Clinton said he
many, which cradled Martin Luther           men. If that be so, why bother to read          enacted the directives out of his vi-
and the Reformation.. Germany has           the Bible?                                      sion of an America."where  abortion is
turned its back on the Bible. Accord-                                            Pulse      safe and legal, but rare." The anti-
ing `lo a recent survey done for the        II President Clinton                            abortionleaders say the net effect will
GermanBibleSocietyinStuttgartand            and Abo@n                                       be just the opposite.. Richard Land,
for ,the .Protestant  Churches in Ger-               On the second full day of his          .executive director. of the. Southern
many, 84 percent of people in former        presidency Mr. Clinton `made'good.              Baptist Christian Life Commission,
Ea& Germany and 78 percent in               on his campaign promise and re-.                says,, "The new President has- taken
former ,West ,Germany  seldom or            scinded all abortion-related execu-             actions . . . that willresult in the deaths
never read the' Bible: In all of. Ger-.     tive orders which had been enacted in           of untold millions at the hands of the
many; two-thirds of the unchurched          the Reagan and Bush administrations.            abortionists."
said there was no Bible in their homes.     The executive orders of Reagan and                   Aborti,on-rights advocates are
    ,At the same time the Protestant        Bush `which President Clinton re-               jubilant over the new policies. Eleanor
Churches in Germany are reporting           scinded are:                                    Smeal, president of the Feminist Ma-
that increasing  numbers of people                   "The Title  ,X regulations  -          jorityFoundation,says;"Withastroke
have given up their church member-          dubbed the "gag rule" by critics -              of his pen, President Clinton . . .
ship over the last three years because      which prohibited federally funded               changed the abortion debate forever."
they no longer want to-pay "church          family-planning clinics from counsel-           She's right. President Clinton's`ac-
tax" payments administered by the           ing about abortion.                             tions will usher in a new era in the
government.                                          *The Mexico City policy, which         a b o r t i o n   d e b a t e .
      All this is not surprising when       forbadeU.S.supportforinternational                  Richard Land is right as well.
one considers that it was German            family-planning organizations that              Abortions will increase dramatically
theologians who gave birth to higher        actively promote abortion.                      as a result of Mr. Clinton's actions.
criticism of Holy Scripture and who                  *The prohibition of fetal tissue            Such flagrant transgression of
thus became the fathers of 19th cen-        obtained from induced abortions be-             the sixthcommandment of God'sLaw
tury liberalism. Martin Luther by           ingusedinfederallyfundedresearch.               of Liberty will only incur the wrath of
Gods grace had once brought the                      *The ban on abortions beingper-        God. No one transgresses even the
church back to the Bible. For Luther        formed at U.S. military .bases over-            least of God's commandments with
the Bible was God's inspired, infal-        seas.                                           impunity.  Q
                                                                                                                Christihnify  Today





              ~Addicted to the `Ministry
                       _  ."`of th.e Sairits                                                                           `..
                                                                                                 By the amazing grace of God we
                                                     I beseech you; brethren, (ye know      have been delivered from the dark-
                                            the house of Stephanas, that it is. the         ness of self-indulgence. We have put
                                            firstfruits  of  Achaia, and that they have     away drug addiction, drunkenness,
                                            addicted themselves to the ministry  of  the    gluttony, and all our former lusts.
                                            saints,) that ye submit yourselves unto         But we must remember that as new
Rev. ,Mahtani is pastor-elect of Trinity    such, and to every one that helpeth with        creatures in Christ we are to be "ad-
Protestant Reformed Church in               us, and laboureth.                              dicted to the ministry of.. the saints."
Houston, Texas.                                                I Corinthians l&15,16.       Having reminded the: Corinthians:              i

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  `{Let all. your things be done with            of God's great kingdom. In time past          beautifully in Lord's'Day21: "all and
  charity" (I Cor. 16:14), the. apostle          they wrought the will of the Gentiles,        every one, who believes, being mem-
  Paul lgives. in our text a lovely ex-          when they walked in lasciviousness,           bers of Christ, are in common, partak-
ample of this unique addiction.                  lusts, excess of wine, revelings,             ers of Him, and of all His riches and
        Before diagnosing the addiction,         banquetings,abominableidolatries...           gifts; (in this commuuion)  every one
  Paul identifies the addicts. "Ye know          but now they live according to God in         must know it to be his duty, readily
the house of Stephanas, that itis the            the Spirit (see I Pet. 4:3-6). Now they       and cheerfully to employ his gifts, for
 firstfruitsof  Achaia'.... N From the first     were no longer drunk with wine, but           the advantage and salvation of other
  chapter of,this epistle (see v. 16) we         they were filled with the Spirit of           members" (a & A 55).
  know that Stephanas was one of the             God! (Eph.  518). Surely it is not
 converts Paul had baptized. His fam-            coincidental that in both these pas-                    The Scriptures call
  ily is beautifully identified here: "the       sages the apostles Peter and Paul              all God's people to minister.
  firstfruits of Achaia." They were the          emphasize in the verses followingthe
  first converts in Greece. They were            blessed communion of saints. Are                       Our text also points to a very
  the precious fruit of missions. They           you walking in the will of God? Are           distinctive ministry. It is true that we
  not only heard the gospel, but be-             you filled with the Spirit of God? Test       are called to "do good unto all men."
 .lieved!  Th.ey were no longer dead in          yourself. Are you addicted to the             Butremember: "especiallyunto them
  sins, but alive in Christ! Their lives         ministry of the saints? What place do         who are of the household of faith"
  proved it: They were addicted to the           your fellow saints have in all your           (Gal. 6:lO). Stephanas and his house
  ministry of the saints!                        plans, activities, and ambitions?             were addicted to "the ministry of the
        The word "addicted" is found                  It is true that in the body of           saints." What, were there saints in the
  only once in the Bible (Ring James             Christ we all have different callings.        church of Corinth? Of course there
 Version). However, theoriginalGreek             Some are pastors or ministers (IITim.         were. Although the Corinthian church
  word is found eight times. Its basic           4:1-5) who preach the Word; others            was troubled with many sins and
  meaningis "to appoint." In our text it         are elders (I Pet. 5:1-4) who are to rule     weaknesses, Pauladdressed hermem-
  is used with a reflexive pronoun and           by their good example and never as            bersas "saints." Letusrememberthis
 <could be translated as "they have              lords; yet others are deacons (I Tim.         aswe deal with the precious people of
  appointed themselves." Stephanas               3:13) who show the mercies of Christ.         God. They are the "holy ones" of
  and his house did not perform this             But we must never imagine that only           God. They have been sanctified! They
  ministry as a task forced upon them.           those in the office are calledto  serve.      have been washed in the blood of
  As theNewIntemationa1  Version puts            TheScriptures  call all God's people to       Christ.! They are not perfect, but they
  it, they "were devoted. to the service         minister. We are most familiar with           are saints!
  of the saints." They had voluntarily           Romans 12 and I Corinthians 12,                        The fact is that these saints are
  and cheerfully given themselves to             which describe the church as the body         also in great need. Pain, poverty,
  the ministry. They lovingly reserved           of Christ. In John 13:14  our Lord Jesus      persecution, personal struggles and
  time, energy, and resources for this           Christ taught us bothby example and           pressures continue to be the lot of the
lofty  work.,  No longer were they               by precept to. "wash one another's            Christian. These special needs can
,. madly in love. with the world; now            feet.: All Christians .are servants,.         be best met by fellow saints. We who
 .' their .affection  was in the lofty things    calledfommisterto thebodyof Christ,           know God's comfort can comfort our
                                                 each in his own God-given calling.            brothers and sisters. We who know
                                                      Remember, "even the Son of Man           deliverance and forgiveness can help
                                                 came not to be ministered unto, b&to          to give hope to each other. We who
                                                 minister, and to give His life a ransom       have gone through dark tunnels but
                                                 for many" (Mark 10:45).  Out of grati-        now see light can encourage and di-
                                                 tude for His sacrificial love for us, we      rect our fellow pilgrims. But we can
                                                 now walk as His servants, minister-           do this only if we by God's grace see
                                                 ing to the needs of the saints. For           beyond one another's weaknesses and
                                                 example, the apostle I%ulexhortb  the         sins:
                                                 Galatians: "Brethren, if a man be                      Yes, love covers a multitude of
                                                 overtaken iu a fault, ye which are            sins. The personality and the charac-
                                                 spiritual, restore such an one in the         ter and the attitude and the color and
                                                 spirit of meekness; considering thy-          thesmellwemaynotlike. Fair-enough.
                                                 self, lest thou also be tempted. Bear         But remember, if he or she is a saint
                                                 ye one another's burdens, and so ful-         for whom Christ died, we may not
                                                 fill the law of Christ" (Gal. 6:1,2).  The    speak against such a one harshly or
             Reu. Jaiki Mahtani                  Heidelberg Catechism in describing            disparagingly. If God be for our
            at the Helping Hand                  the "communion of saints" explains it

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brother, how can we be against him?           4:20, 21 will make this abundantly           Ex-drug addicts or recovering alco-
If the Holy God can forgive, how dare         clear. We may not even say we have           holics need a changed influence, a
Itakehimcruellybyhisneck? Instead             faith (see James 2:14-17) if we cannot       new relationship, and a transformed
we must learn to love the saints. The         love our brethren in word and in             ambition. So also all of us need to
best way is by serving one another's          deed. The difference between the             submit ourselves to this godly addic-
needs. In alI our labors in the church,       child of the devil and the child of God      tion, become busy with our new-
home, school, world, let us ask the           is this: one is a murderer who kills his     found friends in Christ, and be more
question: How does this serve the             brother, either literally or by his words    consecrated to serving the saints.
welfare of the saints of God?                 and actions; the other is a brother          Stephanas and his house addicted
      Our text can properly be under-         indeed, who loves and seeks to edify,        themselves; now we should submit
stood to refer to the distinct calling of     nourish, or feed as the need may be.         ourselves by following their lovely
Scripture: "Use hospitality to one                  Secondly, in loving the saints we      e x a m p l e .
another without grudging" (IPet. 4:9-         must not forget to love Gods ser-
12). "Be not forgetful to entertain           vants (see I Thess. 5:11-15).  God's          . . . why try to be like a Moses
strangers: for thereby some have              Word exhorts us to honor the faithful          or a Paul if we cannot even
entertained angels unawares" (Heb.            in Gods kingdom. Stephanas did
13:2). It is interesting that in both         exactly this (see I Cor. 16:16-l@.  He         follow the simple example
passages the exhortation to show hos-         was willing to help and labor with the                  of Stephanas?
pitality is placed in the context of          apostles. He even went with his two
love. It is out of fervent charity for        companions to visit the apostle Paul               Sometimes we pass by these last
each other that we use our homes, our         inEphesus,apparentlybringingcom-             chapters of the epistles, as we prob-
talents, our time, and our energies to        fortable  news about the saints in           ably do Romans 16 and Colossians 4.
serve one another.                            Corinth. In this way they ministered         Perhaps we feel these names are un-
      So important is this matter of          both to Pauland  the Corinthians. Paul       important, as they are mentioned only
hospitality in the church of Jesus            commends them highly: "For they              once. But why try to be like a Moses
Christ that Scripture says an elder           have refreshed both my spirit and            or a Paul if we cannot even follow the
must be "given to hospitality" (I Tim.        yours: therefore acknowledge ye them         simple example of Stephanas?
3:2); indeed he must be a "lover of           that are such" (I Cor. 15:18).                    Notice too that this is a general
hospitality" (Titus 1:8). Even thewid-             Finally, let us remember that we        exhortation to all the saints. "I be-
ows who are to be cared for by the            will be judged on that great day ac- :       seech you, brethren . . . . fl The younger
deacons must have a record of this            cording to this ministry of the saints       saints may not say that this is only for
hospitable spirit: "Well reported of          (see Matt. 25:34-40).  To those who in       the mature and experienced; for this
for good works; if she have brought           this life show love and compassion to        is the example of young converts,
up children,if she have lodged strang-        thebrethren, Christ shallsay: "Come,         firstfruits of Achaia. But the older
ers, if she have washed t.he saints'          ye blessed of my Father, inherit the         saints among us must also take seri-
feet, if she have relieved the afflicted,     kingdom prepared for you from the            ously this word. "Submit yourselves
if she have diligently followed every         foundation of the world!" (Matt.             unto such..." (see v. 16) and "acknowl-
good work" (I Tim.  4:lO). On the             25:34). Jesus tells us who the blessed       edge ye them" (see v. 18). Let every
contrary Paul warns against the lazy,         of the Father are. They practice N that      one of us, brothers, young or old,
the "tattlers and the busybodies" (v.         religion which is pure and undefiled,        follow this godly example.           y
13) in the church, who, instead of            visiting the fatherless and the wid-              Notice finally that this addiction
caring for the saints, go about de-           ows in their affliction" (James 1:18).       is urgently sought. "I beseech you,
stroying peace. A final passage in            To the hungry brother they givebread         brethren...." Surely this is because the
Hebrews has a similar tone: "For God          to eat; to the sick they bring comfort-      Corinthians needed this urging. But
is not unrighteous to forget your la-         able words; to the stranger they show        do we not also need the same? It is
bor of love, which ye have showed             hospitality. Indeed we shall stand in        good that we be addicted to this min-
toward His Name, in that ye have              wonderment when Christ rewards               istry of the saints lest we return to the
ministered to the saints, and do min-         us, for it will clearly be a reward of       addiction of our former lusts. Let us
ister" (Heb. 6:lO; but see also the verses    grace. In this life He gives us the grace    be like these firstfruits of Achaia, who
following, where a similar warning is         of His Holy Spirit to perform such           walked in true conversion by practi-
given against slothfulness).                  service, and in the life hereafter He        cal Christian service. Turning from
      As we consider this subject of          will commend us for our labor of             our past addiction to drugs, alcohol,
serving the saints, it is important for       love. What blessed addiction to the          gluttony, or any other sinful way, let
us to remember three things. The              ministry of the saints!                      us now be addicted to the ministry of
Scriptures teach us that we are to love            No wonder this addiction is so          the saints. Serving the saints we not
God by showing love to the saints. A          highly honored. We are called to             only follow the example of Stephanas.
casualreadingof I John 3:10-l&1 John          submit to Stephanas and his house.           We walk in the footsteps of Jesus. 0

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                               Circumcision
    The believer today is a circumcised indi-               sacraments: signs and seals of the righteousness
vidual with a circumcision made without hands.              of faith. Sacraments give to us visible symbols
"For we are the circumcision which worship God              and guarantees that God counts faith in Jesus
in spirit, and rejoice in Jesus Christ, and have no         Christ for righteousness (Rom. 4:3). How foolish
confidence in the flesh" (Phil. 3:3). The Old Testa-        for the Galatians and others to cleave to an anti-
ment rite of circumcision, the cutting of the fore-         quated, outward sign rather than to the object of
skin of the male child, was a token of the covenant         the sign, the death and resurrection of Christ. If
(Gen. 1791). The outward sign, administered to              a man insist on circumcision or any Old Testa-
the eight-day-old man-child born in the house or            ment prescription, he is debtor to keep the whole
bought with money of the stranger, portrayed in             law, and Christ profits him nothing (Gal. 5:2-3).
a striking way the truth that the covenant friends               That the use of Old Testament ceremonies is
of God were separated from sin and dedicated to             abolished amongst Christians, with the truth and
the Lord. Circumcision of the heart (Deut. 10:16)           substance of them remaining with us in Jesus
speaks of regeneration; cutting away the sins of            Christ (Art. 25 of the Be& Confession), is emi-
the flesh is a reference to sanctification.                 nently true of circumcision. Just as Jeremiah cried
     The beauty of this token of the covenant was           to the Old Testament church, "Circumcise your;`.                       -.*--      ..~      r_
threefold: 1) Since the corruption of sin manifests         selves unto Jehovah, and take away the foreskins
itself with peculiar energy in sexual life (Gen. 3:7),      of your heart" (Jer. 4:4), so does God say to us
circumcision was the symbol of the purification of          today, "ye are circumcised with the circumcision
all life; 2) Circumcision involved the sexual mem-          made without hands, in putting off the body of
ber by which the covenant seed would be brought             sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ"
forth, so that childbearing was sanctified; and 3) It       (Cal. 2:ll).
was performed upon males of the eighth day,                      The bloody, Old Testament token d`f-the
revealing powerfully that God's covenant is with            covenant, performed upon little babies, is re-`--'
believers and their children. God is pleased to                                                                                          .l_
                                                            placed with the unbloody, New Testament sacra-
save His church, not in a hit-and-miss fashion, but         ment of baptism. Because baptism is also a sign
in the orderly way of continued generations. And            of the covenant, because God never revoked the
when God saves someone not from believing                   command to circumciseinfants, andbecause God
parents, He makes of that one the initial stock of          still saves in the same way as under the old
new, believing generations (Rahab, Ruth, Lydia,             covenant, i.e., generationally, infants of believers
the Philippian jailer).                                     are to be baptized today. Paul makes clear in
     When it comes to the question of righteous-            Colossians  2:11, 12 that spiritual circumcision
ness, circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth              (putting off, or cutting off, the body of the sins of
(Gal. 6:15), a question disputed on the mission             the flesh) and spiritual baptism (the washing
fields (Acts 15) andin the congregations at Corinth         away of sin by the blood and Spirit of Christ) are
and in Galatia. No more than we are made                    really identical. Of New Testament believers it is
righteous by the sacrament of baptism were the              said that they have been circumcised without
Old Testament saints saved by circumcision. In              hands, and are buried with Christ in baptism.
Romans 4:ll Paul stresses that circumcision was             There is one God who saves one church; there is
a sign and seal of the righteousness of faith, which        one covenant with believers and their children;
Abraham had "yet being uncircumcised." Here                 there is one sign and seal, differing only in out-
the Reformed churches find their definition of              ward form. 0


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

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                                       Coriviction of Sin

             The conviction of sin is one of             We must also remember the fear-          and comply with the lusts of the
       the first works of the Holy Spirit in       ful fall of Peter. Peter was one of the        flesh; they must, therefore, be con-
       our hearts. It is vital to salvation.       greatest of the Lord's disciples. It was       stant in watching and prayer, that
                                                                                                  theybenotledintotemptation. When
       There can be no coming to God, there        Peter who made the mighty confes-              these are neglected, they are not only
       can be no fellowship and communion          sion concerning Jesus: "Thou art the           Iiable to be drawn into great and
       with God, unless there is first of all      Christ, the Son of the living God." Yet        heinous sins, by Satan, the world and
       conviction of sin. We need to pray for      Peter had a proud and sinful nature.           the flesh, but sometimes by the righ-
       that work of the Holy Spirit in us.         He needed to be humbled under the              teous permission of God actually fall
             The conviction of sin is also in-     mighty hand of God and through the             into these evils. This, the lamentable_
       dispensable for our progress in the         sifting of Satan. In an hour of weak-          fall of David, Peter, and other saints
       life of sanctification. We have our         ness Peter fell miserably. At the very         described in Holy Scripture, demon-
       sinful nature with us until the day of      time when the Lord was being tried             strates. Bysuchenormoussins, how-
                                                                                                  ever, they very highly offend God,
_*.*- __ our death. Deep within that sinful        and condemned by wicked men to be              incur a deadly guilt, grieve the Holy
       nature resides the potential for all        crucified, Peter was in the courtyard          Spirit, interrupt the exercise of faith,
       kinds of $i,ns. The potential for sin in    outside denying any knowledge of or            very grievously wound their con-
       our sinful nature is an awful power         association with the Lord. He was              science,andsometinieslosethesense
       within us. ft is possible for any and       ashamed of the Lord, the very Lord             of God's favor, for a time, until on
       everychildof  Godtofallinto themost         who at the time was suffering in deep          their returning into the right way of
       heinous oq'sins.                            humility and being prepared to offer           repentance, the light of God's fa-
             We know that from the fearful         the great sacrifice for sin on the cross.      therlycountenanceagainshinesupon
       examples of the lives of the saints         After Peter committed this awful sin           them (Canons V, 4,5).
       recorded in the Scriptures. We re-          the Lord looked on him in deep sor-
 .     member Noah, who became drunk               row, and Peter went out and wept             This is an excellent section of our
       shortly after God's gracious salvation      bitterly.                                    Canons, packed with sound, practi-
       of Noah and his family in the ark. We             We ought not to boast in our-          cal, biblical advice. We do well to
       think of David, the man after God's         selves, imagining that we are better         read this statement over many times,
       own heart. Who would dare to com-           than the great saints of God whose           paying careful attention to every
       pare himself with godly David? What         lives are recorded in the Scriptures.        word.
       deep and holy sentiments arose from         From their falls we ought to learn the
       his heart when he wrote the Psalms!         power of sin and the shameful conse-
       Yet David could fall into the terrible      quences of sin. The Canons of Dordt,               The conviction  of  sin
       sins of adultery and murder. After          in the very section in which they set                  is indispensable
       David committed these terrible sins         forth the great truth of the preserva-            for our progress in the
       he remained impenitent for. almost a        tion of the saints, speak of the real              life  of  sanctification.
       year. He was not convicted of sin and       potential for the saints of God to fall
       he lived before God's people as a           grievously into sin, and of the dread-
       hypocrite. God had to come toDavid          ful consequences of such falls.                   True conviction of sin must be,
       through the prophet Nathan, who                                                          distinguished from that which is
       pointed the accusing finger saying:           Although the weakness of the flesh         merely superficial. Even the natural
       "Thou art the man." Only then was             cannot prevail against the power of        man can at times become fearfulabout
       David humbled in his sin.                     God, who confirms and preserves
                                                     true believers in a state of grace, yet    his sin. God has given to every man
                                                     converts are not always soinfluenced       a conscience which accuses him con-
                                                     and actuated by the Spirit of God, as      tinually concerning the sins that he
       Rev. denHarfogis pastor of Hope Profes-       not in some particular instances sin-      commits. The natural man knows
       fanf ReformedChurch  in Redlands, Cali-       fully to deviate from the guidance of      God's judgment of sin. There.are
       fornia.                                       divine grace, so as to be seduced by,      times when he is terrified by the
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thought of this judgment. Such terror         nature and from the great power of          painful experience, even though the
might even keep him from openly               the temptation of the devil and this        Lord does this for our good.
committing certain gross sins. Such a         wicked world. What a tremendous                  True conviction of sin comes
conviction of sin is not however ac-          blessing this is! He saves us from the      through the mighty and gracious op-
cording to the grace of God.                  destruction and condemnation of our         eration of the Spirit of God in our'
     The natural man will not be con-         own dreadful sinful nature. He does         hearts. It begins with a profound
vinced of the sinfulness of sin. His          this through the convicting work of         consciousness of the heinous charac-
heart is hardened in sin. He does not         His Holy Spirit.                            ter of sin. The chief reason why sin is
regard sin as it is against the holy               Even as regenerated children of        soterribleisthatitisanoffenseagainst
God. He has no true sorrow of sin in          God we must be careful in regard to         theHolymajestyofGod.  Wehavenot
his heart. He seeks vainly to escape          the conviction of sin. Our hearts are       yet been truly convicted of the sinful-
the judgment and consequences of              deceitfuland desperately wicked. We         ness of our sin until we have under-
sin. He might be terribly sorry over          too often minimize the awfulness of         stood something of this. True convic-
his sin because of theshame and mis-          sin in our life. We are terrified when      tion of sin is part of love for God. It
ery that he suffers for it already in this    we hear of the fall of a brother and        involves deep sorrow over having
life. This sorrow may even cause him          when we see the shame and judgment          offended the God who created us and
to weep bitterly, as Esau did when he         that follows sin. We must thinkabout        redeemed us. We are. truly sorry for
lost the birthright blessing. But such        our own sinful nature and the very          our sin only when we realize how
sorrow does not lead him to repen-            real possibility of falling ourselves       terribly we have grieved the Holy
tance. There is no love of God in his         into great and shameful sin.                Spirit of God by our sin. Sin separates
heart. He tries very hard to silence the           We need to realize however that        us from God and interrupts the con-
condemnation of God in his con-               conviction of sin must run deeper           sciousness of His love and covenant
science. He foolishly imagines that he        than that. Because of our deceitful         fellowship.
can do his sin in secret and that there       heart we too can become accustomed               Genuine conviction of sin can
is no God of judgment. When he is             to sin. We can come up with all kinds       come only through the knowledge of
found out in his sin he is only filled        of reasons for justifying our own sin,      our total depravity. Conviction of sin
with hatred against God.                      and for minimizing our own sin in           must go much deeper than sorrow
                                              our minds even while we severely            over a specific sinful deed that we
                                              condemn the sin of others. Through          have done. We are convinced of the
    We need to be convinced                   repeatedly giving ourselves over to a       awfulness of our sin only when we
 of the fearful truth that God                certain sin in our life we can lose a       realizethateverysinwecommitcomes
        judges our hearts.                    sense of its terrible seriousness. We       forth from our depraved and sinful
                                              can easily imagine that, as long as our     nature. We must have sorrow of
                                              sin does not break forth in outward         heart, not only for sinful deeds which
                                              deeds of wickedness, we are not as          we have committed, but also for the
      God sovereignly hardens the             bad as others. We can deceive our-          sinful nature that is ours.
heart of the wicked man. As sin               selves into believing that as long as no         This is the meaning of David's
develops in his heart and life he be-         one sees the evil thoughts of our heart     confession in the most beautiful of all
comes more and more brazen and                we are pretty good. We can some-            penitential Psalms, Psalms 51. In  ac-
open about his sin. He proudlyimag-           times imagine that even God does not        knowledgingandconfessinghisgreat
ines that he can sin as he pleases. The       know the secrets of our hearts.             sin he is amazed by the sinful nature
Bible tells us that in all of this process         We need to be convinced again          from which all his sins proceeded.
God gives the wicked man over to the          and again of the fearful truth that God     Therefore he says in verse 5 of this
wickedness of his own sin and the vile        judges our hearts. He that is content       Psalm: "Behold, I was shapen in
affections of his corrupt nature until        to allow sinful desires and thoughts        iniquity, and in sin did my mother
Godin righteous judgment brings the           to occupy his heart and mind must           conceive me.N
wicked man down to destruction and            realize that God judges his heart. Such          The apostle Paul expresses true
everlasting hell.                             a man is living a very dangerous life       conviction of sin when in Romans 7 he
      GodinHisgreatmercyhassaved              as far as sin is concerned. When we         cries out, "Oh wretched man that I
us from the terrible judgment of sin          allow such sins to continue in our          am!" Not merely does the apostle
through the perfect sacrifice of the          hearts, it may become necessary for         speak of some shortcomings in his
Lord Jesus on the cross. He has deliv-        God to remove for a time Hisrestrain-       life, some minor failings which he
ered us from the guilt of sin and             inggrace from us and permit us to fall      perhaps had before he became a Chris-
imputed to us the perfect righteous-          into open and gross sin. In this way        tian, but he speaks of the wretched
ness of Christ Jesus. He also by His          the Lord must at times humble us and        sinful nature which, even as a child of
Holy Spirit delivers us from the power        teach us the awfulness of our sinful        God, he still possesses and which
and corruption of sin in our depraved         nature. This can be a very fearful and      causes him great sorrow and grief.

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      True conviction of sin leads the     not able to lookup; they are more than       this whole line of reasoning. The
child of God to true repentance. When      the hairs of mine head: Therefore my         child of God needs daily to be con-
the Word of God finds him out he           heart faileth me" (Ps. 40:12).               vinced of his sin and of how awful it
does not become offended and angry              There is in our modern church           really is in God's sight. Only such
with God. He does not seek to mini-        world much opposition and even               conviction will lead to true repen-
mize the awfulness of his sin; nor         hatred for the subject we have been          tance before God. Such conviction
does he make excuses for it. Rather he     discussing in this article. The reality      will by the grace and Spirit of God
humbly agrees with the perfect judg-       of sin is denied, not onlyby  the wicked     lead him to the cross of Christ for
ment of God and acknowledges the           world,butalsobytheapostatechurch.            forgivenessandmercy.  Dailyconvic-
justice of God's condemnation. He          The philosophy propagated in most            tion of sin is absolutely essential for
hangs his head in shame and sorrow         churches today is the notion that sinis      communion with God, which is the
before God and earnestly pleads for        something entirely of the past. We           heart of Christian living. Conviction
mercy and forgiveness.                     need not think about it anymore. To          of sin deeply moves the true child of
      True conviction of sin is accom-     remind a Christian of his sin is only to     God to see his great need of the mercy
panied by a fervent desire to be deliv-    make him morose and morbid. Sin              of God to blot out the dreadful sins of
ered from sin, both from its dreadful      must, at all cost, be entirely forgotten,    his past life. It causes the child of God
guilt and also from its power in our       since we have been maderighteous in          more and more to know the serious-
life. True conviction of sin causes a      Christ. We must have positive think-         ness of sin and the awful judgment it
child of God to desire to be thor-         ing. Everyone must by all means be           deserves. Conviction of sin causes
oughly cleansed from all sin, not          told how good and wonderful he is,           the child of God to walk humbly with
merely one particular sinful deed, but     how lovely and how beautiful, no             his God in the consciousness of his
from all sin; not only from the deed of    matter how evil and sinfuland abomi-         `great  dependence on God for strength
sin, but from the sinful and corrupt       nable he in reality is, in Gods sight.       to resist the temptations of sin in the
nature out of which that sin arose; not    To speak of the dreadful sin of man          world and to overcome the lusts of sin
merely from outward sinful actions,        will only give people a psychological        that reside in his sinful nature.
but also from the impurity and de-         complex that will have serious evil          Through constant conviction of sin
pravity of heart and mind that pro-        consequences for his self concept and        we are kept from falling into gross sin
duced it.                                  self esteem. This is not psychologi-         and iniquity through all our days.
      When we are truly convicted of       cally healthy and ought therefore by              How great is the mercy of God
our sin we will realize that our sins      all means be avoided. Talk of the            that keeps us from sin and preserves
are many and that they are dreadful        awfulness of sin will do irreparable         us in holiness! It is in the way of
in the sight of God. With David we         damage to his soul.                          holiness that we enjoy His favor and
confess that "innumerable evils have            Nothing, however, could be fur-         blessing and loving kindness in our
compassedme about: mineiniquities          ther from the truth of Scripture than        daily life. This is our greatest joy and
have taken hold on me, so that I am                                                     comfort.  0





   The Doctrine of the Trinity (2)

                                                In considering the doctrine of          with corruptions of this doctrine or
                                           the Trinity it is important that we          with various cults who would point
                                           proceedfromtheunityofGod'sWord               to one or two texts twisted out of their
                                           and the fullness of His revelation.          proper context and lifted out of the
                                           The doctrine of the Trinity, as has          fabric of Scripture. It was in this
                                           beenpointedout,isnotfoundedupon              connection that we began with the
Rev. Miersma is pastor of First Profes-    one text here or there but upon the          unity or oneness of God. We saw that
fanf Reformed Church in Edmonton,          unity of Gods Word as a whole. This          while Scripture clearly teaches such
Alberta, Canada.                           is important especially when dealing         an essential unity, yet it also directs us

3Q6  /Standard Bearer / April 1,1993


to a plurality of persons and to a            God's revelation as the Economical           reveal to us the personal presence of
threefold distinction. There is but one       Trinity (a Trinity of works).                God as Savior and Redeemer. This is
God, one Jehovah, and yet He is Fa-                                                        true first of all in the Old Testament.
ther, Son, and Holy Ghost.                    Of God the Father                            There is One who is Jehovah, who by
                                                   God reveals Himself to us by            a manifestation of His divine pres-
God's Triune Revelation                       His workof creation as the source and        ence (theophany) appears and speaks
of Himself by His Works                       origin of the universe, the Almighty,        His promises to Abraham and eats
(The Economical Trinity)                      the Maker of heaven and earth. As            with him (Gen. 18). This special rev-
        In treating the truth of the Trin-    the Creator He is revealed in Scrip-         elation of Jehovah's presence is called
ity the Christian church has always           ture as "the Father of lights" (James        the Angel of Jehovah. He is not a
proceeded from God's revelation of            1:17). Jehovah is the Father of the          created angel but a `revelation of the
Himself in His Word and by His                universe by His work of creation. He         divine presence of God as Israel's
works. The principle involved is that         is Lord and possessor of all. More-          redeemer (Ex. 33:14,15;  Isa. 63:9) by
God's works outsideHimself reveal to          over, man was so created in His im-          whom God speaks with Moses face to
us also what He is insideHimself. We          age (Gen. 1:26ff.) that he may be said       face (Ex. 33:11),  fills the pillar of cloud
know God and confess Him first of all         to have been made as God's "off-             and of fire in the wilderness with the
by His revelation outside Himself to          spring" (Acts 17:29),  a creaturely son.     glory of God's divine presence (Ex.
us.                                           While the fall into sin has violated this    14:19), and troubles the host of the
        This distinction is found in the      original covenant relationship in            Egyptians (Ex. 14:24).  He is mani-
oldest creeds of the Christian church.        which man stood, so that man is now          fested in the cloud of glory that filled
It is set forth in the summary of apos-       of his father the devil and has lost the     both the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34) and the
tolic doctrine from the second cen-           image of God, nevertheless by His            temple (I Kings &lo, 11) with the
tury called the Apostles' Creed. In it        creative work God is revealed as Fa-         glory of God. It is the angel of Jehovah
we confess God the Father, Almighty,          ther. In the re-creative work of salva-      who meets Joshua as the captain of
Maker of heaven and earth; Jesus              tion, also by the power of His grace,        theLord's host (Josh. 5:13-16),  speaks
Christ, His only begotten son; and the        God is again revealed as our God and         unto Samuel (I Sam. 3:10), and was
Holy Ghost. The Nicene Creed (A.D.            Father in Jesus Christ, adopting us as       with Daniel's friends in the fiery fur-
381) likewise confesses God the Fa-           His children and begetting us anew           nace (Dan. 3:23-25).  He is described
ther, one Lord Jesus Christ, the only         by His mercy (I Pet. 1:3).                   as the Son of God (Dan. 3:25), the Son
begotten Son of God, and the Holy                                                          of man (Dan. 7:13), revealed also in
Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life. In                                                      His glory (Dan. 10). Repeatedly He
these creeds it is first of all God's         God's  works  outside  Himself               appears in the Old Testament as the
revelation outside Himself by His                      reveal to us also                   redeemer who works the salvation of
works which is confessed, though the                                                       His people. He is the promised Sav-
internal reality of the Trinity is also         what He is  inside  Himself.               ior, the Lord that should come, the
confessed and indicated by them.                                                           messenger of the covenant (Mal. 3:l).
       It is to this distinction that our                                                        That which is somewhat veiled
HeidelbergCatechismpointsuswhen                    Yet this distinction of God the         in the Old Testament as to His person
it asks in Question and Answer 24,            Father, theCreatorofallbyHispower            and glory is clearly revealed in the
"How are these articles (namely of            and of His people by His grace, is not       New Testament. He is our Lord Jesus
the Apostles' Creed) divided?" The            to be understood as ascribing this           Christ, Immanuel, God with us. He
answer givenis, "Into three parts; the        work of God to the first person of the       who was in the form of God "took
first of God the Father, and our cre-         Trinity alone. For God created the           upon him the form of a servant, and
ation; the second of God the Son, and         worldby His Son, the Word (John l:l-         was made in the likeness of men: and
our redemption; the third of God the          3), and in and through the operation         being found in fashion as a man, he
Holy Ghost, and our sanctification."          of the Holy Spirit (Gen. 1:2). What          humbled himself, and became obedi-
The Catechism does not, by this three-        this distinction does is point us to the     ent unto death, even the death of the
fold division of God's works, intend          Triune God as our God and Father.            cross" (Phil. 2:6-8). John says Jesus is
to divide the works of God internally         By His revelation of Himself as Father       the Word that was God, by whom the
so as to attribute each work exclu-           we are further pointed to His internal       world was made (John l:l-3). "And
sively to one person of the Trinity.          life-that there is in the being of God       the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
Rather the Catechism points us to             One who is first in order, the Father,       among us, (and we beheld his glory,
God's revelation of Himself by His            the first person of the Trinity.             the glory as of the onlybegottenof the
works outside Himself that we might                                                        Father,) full of grace and truth" (John
also understand His internal divine           Of God the Son, our Mediator,                1:14). He is truly the divine glory and
existence. This distinction is Scrip-         the Lord Jesus Christ                        presence come among us. He is not a
tural. We may describe this aspect of              In like manner the Scriptures           mere creature, nor the highest of cre-

                                                                                                   April 1,1993 I Standard Bearer I307


ated things, nor a created angel. This         the Spirit as our Lord Jesus Christ           laboredby promise already in the Old
also is clear from the Word of God.            (Isa. 61:lff.), and "through the eternal      Testament anointing the prophets and
Jehovah Himself has become our Sav-            Spirit offered himself without spot to        those called to office (I Pet. 1:ll). He
ior (Isa. 59:16ff.)  in Jesus Christ. He is    God" (Heb. 9:14) as a sacrifice for sin.      works our sanctification as the Com-
not, as the Jehovah's Witnesses and            Also our redemption is a triune work          forter(John1426)whoabideswithus
other cults would have Him, the an-            of God, yet in such,a  way that the Son       and makes us His holy temple (Eph.
gel Michael who has become man.                of God, the only begotten, is revealed        2:22; I Cor. 6:19). By His power we are
Throughout Scripture He is sharply             to us as God come in the flesh, and we        born again (John  3:3-6). He is the
distinguished from a mere created              are directed by the wonder of His             Spirit of truth (John 15:26),  the Spirit
angel, is expressly identified as God          work to His unique Sonship within             of holiness (Rom. 1:4), the Spirit of life
and Jehovah, and is distinguished in           the being of God as the second person         in Christ (Rom. 8:2; Gal. 5:25), and the
bothDaniel  10 and Revelation 12 from          of the Trinity.                               One who sanctifies us (I Pet. 1:2).
the angel Michael. He is "the Only                                                                 Yet this workof  the Spirit also is
begotten of the Father" (John 1:14),           Of the Holy Ghost                             never separated from the Father who
God's"belovedSon" (Matt3:17),"the                   The Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit of         sends the Spirit and from whom He
Son of God" (John 1:34). It is the Son,        God is also revealed to us in Scrip-          proceeds (John 1426; 15:26). Nor is
"who is the brightness of his glory,           ture. He is revealed first of all in His      His work separated from the Son,
and the express image of his per-              work of creation (Gen. 1:2; Ps. 33:6)         Jesus Christ, who pours out His Spirit
son..." (Heb. 1:2, 3).                         and as giving life and breath to every        upon the church and comes to us in
        It is the Son who dies, sheds His      creature (Ps. 10430).  It is He who           the Spirit (John  15:26;  14:18).  The
blood for us, and redeems us. He is            anoints our Lord Jesus Christ accord-         work of the Spirit also is the work of
our mediator who by His death in our           ing to His human nature, qualifying           the Triune God, yet in such a way that
flesh reconciles us to God by His              Him for His work as mediator (Isa.            we are directed by the Spirit's workin
blood. Yet also this work is not the           61:lff.) and working conception in            the economy of redemption and our
work of the second person of the               the womb of Mary (Luke 1:35). It is           sanctification to the internal reality of
Trinity in isolation. For He is sent of        His work as our Sanctifier that stands        God's own divine life and being -
the Father, to do the Father's will, to        on the foreground in Scripture, His           that God has also His Spirit. He is
speak the Father's word and not His            work as the Spirit of Christ poured           third in order, the third person of the
own. He is moreover anointed with              out upon the church. It is thus that He       Trinity.  0





        RENEWING THE BATTLE (1)
             Drama, Televis'ion, and Movies

        Iheard recently about a small group         A few refired US. soldiers accom-              With a real pity for fhese backward
of  Vietnamese families who were hiding        panied a team from the United Nafions         men and women] the- U.S. soldiers told
out in the jungles of South Vietnam,           and the Red Cross to retrieve fhesejami-      them something like, "You may as well
thinking the war against fhe Vief Cong         lies and bring them to the U.S. When the      forget yotir  dream and come with us. It's
zuas sfill on. United Sfafes soldiers had      Vietnamese were fold to lay down their        no use entertaining any hope for victory
promised almost 20years ago to return fo       arms, they were shocked that the baffle       anymore. Let's go to the United States,
help these men fight againsf the Vief          was over, dismayed that the North had         and fight a different war. "
Gong. They were still waiting.                 won, and unbelieving when fold that the             Scooped up info the belly of the
                                               United States had g*ven up fhe fight,         giant helicopters, fhegroup was broughf
                                               admiffing that victory was impossible.        to the US zvhere they were informed where
Rev. Griffers is pasfor of the Profesfanf      These families still believed that the war    the world really was, and what battles
Reformed Church of ByronCenter,  Michi-        could be won, ij only they had the right      were important in the 1990s.
gan.                                           weapons and commitment from the USA.

308 /Standard Bearer  I April 1,1993


         AN OLD BATTLE? When an                following suit with most programs,             as "Drama, Television, and Movies."
attempt is made today to' engage in            by selling through sex. Now, video                  Those who are familiar with the
battle against drama, television, and          recorders and players make it pos-             campaigns of "Focus on the Family"
movies, I am afraid that images of             sible to play almost any movie at              in recent years know that bombs of
people like these poor, backward,              home, regardless of rating. Plus, cable        criticism have been dropped on the
Vietnamese come into mind. What,               allows a home to receive any kind of           television andmovieindustry, as well
someone is still trying to fight that          programming almost 24 hours per                as on the major sponsors of immoral
battle?"                                       day, sports included.                          programs. The cover story of "Citi-
         But there is a difference between              But essentially the issues are the    zen" magazine, February, 1989, was
the attitude towardsthe Vietnamese             same. First, drama is an illegitimate          devoted to the thesis that most of
and one who battles drama and mov-             art-form, not approved by God, one             televisionprogrammingis"R"-rated.
ies. There is sympathy for the Viet-           which Christians should not engage                  Professors in Christian colleges
namese who wanted to fight against             in or be entertained by. Second, the           have written books about the evils of
the north. But there is little, if any,        content of most broadcasts and tapes           television, calling the attention of
sympathy for those who would en-               are essentially anti-Christian. But at         Christians to the evil in this medium.
gage the enemy of drama and televi-            bottom the issue is this: "Does the            John Ferre, of the University'of  Lou-
sion.                                          Reformed Christian still believe the           isville, says that  Redeeming Teleui-
         My purpose in these articles is to    antithesis to be an essential part of the      sion (InterVarsity  Press, 1992),byPro-
renew the battle, promise aid to the           Christian life?"                               fessor  Quentin J. Schultze of Calvin
bedraggled souls who still believe                                                            College, is "the. strongest Christian
that the battle is worth fighting but                   MAKE NO MISTAKE. Wehave               critique of television on the market."
think they are alone, and instill confi-       no battle with the television, VCR, or              In  -Christ and the Media
dence that the fight is a worthy one,          moving picture itself. The Reformed            (Eerdmans, 1977) Malcolm  Mug-
the foe a dangerous enemy of the               believer knows that there is not evilin        geridge, former TV personality for
Christian faith and family.                    things themselves, even as there is            the BBC, speaks of television's inher-
         My confidence is that the church      not blessing in things as'such.  No            ent evils.
in the past was not wronginits warn-           consistory may make a law against                   Even unbelievers are fearful of
ings sounded against drama, televi-            television, refusing to baptize chil-          the devastating effects movies and
sion, and movies.                              dren of couples who have a television          television are having on modern cul-
         My hope is that young and old         in their home. Not only does this              ture and morals. Citizens' groups
willgiveeartowhythebattleoughtto               tempt families to move the television          lobby to "clean up the air-waves."
be fought.                                     to the garage while the interviewwith               So the Protestant Reformed
                                               the elders is conducted so that they           voice is not alone in the call to engage
                                               can claim, "we have no television in           this enemy.
Does the Reformed Christian                    our house." A rule such as "no televi-              But our voice almost echoes in
  still believe the antithesis                 sion" finds no support in the Scrip-           silence when it identifies one aspect
         to be an essential part               ture.                                          of the enemy as drama itself. Aside
                                                        Nevertheless,@ some, having a         from Muggeridge, who claims the
          of  the Christian life?              television and VCR is not unlike a             medium of the television itself is evil,
                                               repentant drunkard buying a bottle             most of the critics, like Schultze, want
                                               of whiskey while his family is gone            to "redeem" drama from the corrupt-
         My prayer is that there will be       for a week, thinking he can keep it in         ing effects of the fall. They believe
progress in our life of sanctification,        the cupboard; or a penitent adulterer          that, if the content of the programs
our maintenance of the antithesis, our         who moves his family next door to his          would be changed to something
call to be separate.                           former girlfriend.                             healthfulandmoral,dramaandmov-
                                                        Even so, our battle is not against    ies would be profitable for the Chris-
         THE BATTLE LINES. Thebattle           the television itself, but against what        tian. For this reason, some Christian
lines today are similar to what they           comes into the home through the tele-          magazines run, for their readers, re-
were 20, 30, or 40 years ago. The              vision  - drama. Our controversy is            views of newly-releasedmovies (even
battle was against  drama.                     not with a VCR, but with the movies            `Y - r a t e d   o n e s ! ) .
         The lines have adjusted slightly      that are played on the VCR.                         My thesis is that the assault must
in the hundred years since drama in                                                           not only be on the corrupt content of
the motion picture was introduced in                    ARE WE ALONE?  The Protes-            the movies and television. Drama
the U.S. In 1947 the television was            tant Reformed Churches - elders,               ifsezfmust  be identified as an enemy.
first sold commercially. Drama had             pastors, parents, andothers-are not            With a few exceptions, this has his-
found its way into the home. Adver-            the only ones in the world calling to          torically been the stance of the
tising has since changed drastically,          arms against this enemy we identify            churches.

                                                                                                     April 1,1993 I Standard Bearer / 309


     This is a strange sound in the         new hearing to the case. If the enemy         nally, I want to go to the root, and
world today. Even among the read-           is what we identify him to be, then the       plead for a renewed commitment to
ership of the Standard Bearer, there        church is warned by the blowing of            the-antithetical calling that every be-
may be some who, with condescend-           this trumpet call, and the watchman           liever has, whether he claims to be
ingbut real pity, say, "That battle has     is freed from the blood of those who          Reformed and Presbyterian or not.
longbeenlost. Themanmustcome to             perish. If he is not, I welcome your          ThewilloftheLordwhoredeemedus
terms with reality. He's living in the response showing the error of that                 is, "Have no fellowship with the
50s and 60s. There are new wars to be       identification.                               unfruitful works of darkness, but
fought." Or they may say, as did                                                          rather reprove them" (Ephesians
some in the 6Os, "That was never a               WHAT IS AT- STAKE?                At     5:ll).
justifiable war."                           stake in the battle is the life and exist-
                                            ence of the Christian family and                        A CALL TO ARMS. I call Chris-
                                            church themselves. At stake is holi-          tianparents,Reformedyoungpeople,
     At stake in the battle                 ness, without which "no man shall             and all who love the Lord, to join the
    is the life and existence               see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14).                battle, renew the conflict, be confi-
    of  the Christian family                     In the next few months, God              dent that thisis a current conflict, and
                                            willing, I hope to begin by showing           that effective, powerful weapons are
    and church themselves.                  that drama itself is not legitimate en-       ours in Gods Word and Spirit.
                                            tertainment for Christians. Then, I                     The enemy makes large ad-
                                            want to point out the corruptions that        vances. He mocks daily. He cries out,
     My request, nevertheless, is that      this illegitimate art-form inevitably         "I will prevail against you, and ye
you hear the issues and arguments.          leads to. Third, I will show from             shallbe  our servants." Will the church
For the sake of faithfulness to Christ      history that there has been no truce          engage him? She must. Or be over-
and holiness, let's be willing to give a    with or surrender to this enemy. Fi-          come.  0





     Classis West met on Wednes-            chosen.as  delegates to Synod, 1993,          West to be held in Randolph, Wiscon-
day, March 3,1993,  in South Holland,       were Revs. R. Dykstra, C. Haak, S.            sin, for the purpose of examiningl'as-
Illinois. Classis met in three sessions     Key, T. Miersma, andR. VanOverloop.           tor Jaiki Mahtani of the ERCS of
andfinisheditsbusinessataboutlQ30           Elder delegates chosen were Mr. Rob-          Singapore, wh,o has accepted the call
Wednesday evening. Rev. C. Terpstra         ertBrands,K.DeJong,EgbertGritters,            from Trinity PRC of Houston, Texas.
served as President of Classis.             J. Lenting, and E. VanVoorthuizen.            Monies remaining from a fund.estab-
     Some of the routine business of        Since Rev. R. Hanko is leaving Classis        lished for the support of Rev. A.
Classis involved classical appoint-         West for Northern Ireland, Classis            Spriensma were set aside by classis to
ments, subsidy requests, and elec-          appointed a new Stated Clerk, Rev. R.         assist Pastor Mahtani and his family
tions. Classical appointments were          VanOverloop.                                  in moving themselves and their be-
scheduled for Isabel, SD; for Trinity             Several matters were not rou-           longings to Houston.
PRC of Houston, TX; and for Boise,          tine. Classis approved an overture to                   Classis also decided the dates
ID. Seven subsidy requests totaling         Synod, 1993, seeking to establish a           and meeting places for the next two
$137,568.00  were approved for 1994         procedure for admitting ministers             meetings of Classis. The next two
and will be forwarded to Synod, 1993        from other denominations under Ar-            meetings of Classis West are. sched-
for its approval. Rev. M. DeVries  was      ticle 9 of the Church Order. The Hope         uledforSeptember1,1993,inLynden,
re-appointed `to the Classical Com-         PRC of Isabel, South Dakota was de-           Washington, and March 2, 1994 in
mittee, Rev. R. VanOverloop was             clared to be dissolved by the provi-          Redlands, California.  0
elected as  Synodical  Deputy, and          dence of God.                                                           Rev. R. Hanko
Revs-R. VanOverloop andG. Lanting                 Classis set April 14,1993, as the                                   Stated Clerk
as Church Visitors. The ministers           date for a special meeting of Classis

310 /Standard Bearer I April 1,1993


                                                      The Evangelism Committee of          now to deal with the problems of
Evangelism Activities                        First in Holland has also just recently       immigration that will have to be
        If you read the report of Classis    published Rev. C. Haak's pamphlet             worked out with Rev. Mahtani and
East that appeared here a couple of          "Our Only Comfort" in Spanish:                his family coming to Houston from
issues back, then you no doubt are           "Nuestro Unico Consuelo." This will           the Republic of Singapore,
aware of Classis' examination and            no doubt help them better to reach the             The Council of the Hope PRC in
subsequent admitting of Rev. Peter           large Spanish-speaking portion of             Walker, MI decided to-survey their
green,  a retired Reformed Church of         Holland's population.                         congregation concerning possible in-
America pastor, to the office of minis-               The Evangelism Society of the        terest in the formation of a daughter
ter of the Word and sacraments in our        Southeast PRC in Grand Rapids, MI             congregation. This survey was con-
churches. Since that meeting of              metwithMr.GeorgeKoster,thechap-               ducted due to the continued growth
Classis, Rev. Breen has been able to         lain at the Kent County Jail. Mr.             of Hope's congregation.
preach for several of our churches in        Koster gave a presentation concern-                The Council of the Peace PRC in
the Grand Rapids, MI area.                   ing possible evangelism work at the           Lynwood, IL recently approved a re-
        On Sunday, February 14, Rev.         jail.                                         vised church building floor plan and
Breen found himself preaching both                                                         hoped to come to the congregation
services in the First PRC of Holland,        Ministerial Calls                             soon for authorization to obtain the
MI. First's pastor, Rev. W.Bruinsma,                  Rev. C. Haakdeclined the call he     services of an architectforblueprints.
accompanied by a couple of elders            was considering to serve as pastor of         The Council also intended to present
from his church, went that day to            the Southwest PRC in Grandville, MI.          to the congregation a plan for financ-
preach for the Messiah Independent                                                         ing the building project.
Reformed group in Overisel, MI, a            Congregational Highlights                          The Choir of the Loveland, CO
town just east and south of Holland.                  The Council of the Lynden PRC        PRC presented a special concert after
This group, as its name suggests, is         in Lynden, WA is sponsoring a series          the evening service on Sunday, Feb-
comprised of families and individu-          of five meetings on the subject of            ruary 21.
als who have recently found mem-             marriage for their young married
bership in other Reformed churches           couples. Plans called for discussion          Mission Activities
impossible. What will come of this           groups to be held on two Sunday                    Rev. R. Hanko was to be in-
contact remains to be seen, but Gods         nightsinFebruary,  two Sunday nights          stalled as missionary to Northern Ire-
Word never returns to.Him void (Is.          in March, and the last meeting on a           land and the members of the Cov-
55:ll).                                      Friday night in April with a potluck          enant Reformed Fellowship on March
        The Evangelism Committee of          and fellowship time to follow.                7. Plans called for the installation
First in Holland also recently spon-                  The congregation of the Trinity      service to be conducted by Rev.
sored a three-part Bible Study Class         PRC in Houston, TX said goodbye to            Hanko's father, Prof. H. Hanko.
on "The New Age Movement in Light            their pastor, Rev. R. Hanko and his                Presently the Hanko family is
of Holy Scripture." These classes            family, with a farewell program after         scheduled to depart for Northern Ire-
were open to the public and were held        their second service on Sunday, Feb-          land on March 15. Rev. G. VanBaren
on three successive Thursday nights:         ruary 21. They organized their                and his wife plan to return to the
February 25, March 4 and 11. They            thoughts around the theme of "God's           Hudsonville PRC on April 13. This
were held at First and were led by           Covenant Faithfulness." They also             will give the VanBarens  about three
their pastor, Rev. Bruinsma. These           chose to read from Romans 109-15,             and a half weeks to introduce the
classes promised to look at just what        which ends with these words: "How             Hankos to the CRF and the work to be
the new age movement is all about            beautiful are the feet of them that           done.  0
and how it has become a dangerous            preach the gospel of peace and bring
enemy to Christ and true Christian-          glad tidings of good things." One can         Food-for lh~ht:
ity.                                         only imagine the feeling of emotion                I am resolved, in the strength of
                                             showed by Trinity. On the one hand            peace, to preach all the truths of the
                                             they rejoice that our churches have a         gospel so far as I know them; and
                                             missionary, but on the other, their           leave God to take care of the conse-
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant     hearts are heavy with the leaving of          auences.
Reformed Church of Hudsonville,Michi-        their pastor and family.                      I                              A .Toplady
gan.                                                  Trinity also has to have patience                               Works, p. 542.

                                                                                                  April  1,1!393 I Standard Bearer / 311


                                          ___~. --- --- ._--__ _~
&D!D                                                                                                     I         SECOND CLASS
     BEARul                                                                                                        Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                   Grandville, Michigan
     P.O. Box603
     Grandville, MI 49468-0603



                                                                                                              NOTICE!!
Spring Lecture/Conference                                                                      The new Stated Clerk of Classis.
            on Personal Witnessing                                                        West is:
              Friday, April 2, 1993                                                              Rev. Ronald VanOverloop
             Saturday, April 3, 1993           RESOl+TlON OF SYMPATHY'                                   1047 Florida Lane
                                                  The Martha Society of the Doon             Elk Grove Village; IL 60007
                   Speakers:                 Protestant Reformed Church ex-                           Phone: (708). 529-4676
            Rev. Ronald VanOverloop          presses its sincere Christian sympa-               Allmaterial  concerning Classis West
                Pastor of Bethel            thy to Henrietta Klein and family in the      should.now be sent to him,                  .
           Protestant Reformed Church        death of her sister:
                        on                               HILDA HUDSON.                                        NOTICE!!!
                 "Winning Souls"             May they find comfort in God's Word,               Classis  East will meet in regular
                 Friday 7:30                                                              session on Wednesday, May 12,1993  at
                                 P.M.        "The eternal God is thy refuge, and          the Southwest Protestant Reformed
                                             underneath are the everlasting arms"         Church. Material to be treated at this
           Rev.  Bernaid Woudenberg          ( D e u t .   33;27).
'                                                                                         session must be in the hands of the Stated
              Pastor of Kalamazoo                         Rev. R. Dykstra, President      Clerk by April 12, 1993.
           Protestant `Reformed Church                 Grace VanDenTop, Secretary                        Jon J. Huisken, Stated Clerk
                        on
     "Witnessing Under Persecution"            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY,                                        NOTICE!!!
with slide presentation on Romania                The  consistory and congrega-                 The R.F.P.A. Board continues to,
             F r i d a y   8:30  PM          tion of the Loveland Protestant Re-          make progress in the work of acquiring a
                                             formed Church express our heartfelt          supplyof  boundvolumesofbackissuesof
      I
             Rev. Steven Key                 sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Ronald              the SB - including the large task of
               Pastor of Randolph            Koole and family in the death of her         extracting from the first 20 volumes altof
           Protestant, Reformed Church       brother,                                     the articles written in English. Thecomple-
                        on                        MR. RICHARD VAN BEEK.                   tion of that project is still some distance in
     "Preparing Yourself to Give an                                                       the future.
                                             May the grieving be comforted with                . For now, we have a limited number
                     Answer'                 the assurance of God's,Word  that "all.      of bound volumes of the last 15 years
            Saturday  930  A.M.              things work together for good to them        available at $16.00 each. To order, write
                                             that love God, to them who are the           the Business Office:
            Question/answer session          called according to His purpose" (Rom.                           P.O. Box 603
              and open discussion            8:28).                                              Crandville,  Ml  49468-0603;
               Saturday  IO:30  A.M.                     Rev. Ron Cammenga, Pres.
                                                           Mr. Robert Brands, Clerk          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                         at                                                                     The Adult Bible Study of the
Hope Protestant Reformed Church                              NOTICE!!!                     Grandville PR Church wishes to ex-
               1580.Ferndale S.W..                 There wjll be a special meeting.        press its heartfelt sympathy to our
            Grand  .Rapids,  Ml 49504  5    of Classis West of the Protestant Re-         fellow members, John and Arlene
                                             formed Churches in Randolph, Wis'            VanderWoude  and Rod and Sandy
     if overnight accommodations are         consin,  on Wednesday, April 14,1993,         Kooiman, in the death of their son and
                    necessary                at 8:30 A.M., the Lord willing, for the       brother,
     call (616) 532-8737 or 677-3389.        purpose of examining Rev. Jaiki                      JIM VANDER WOUDE.
                                             Mahtani, pastor-elect of Trinity PRC               "I will lift up mine eyes unto the
              Tapes avajtable from           of Houston, Texas. All delegates in           hills, from whence cometh my help"
                   Ken Elzinga               need of lodging or transportation from'       (Psalm 121:i).
                  3277 Lombard               the airport should notify the Clerk of            May God comfort them by Hjs
              Grandville, Ml 49418           Randolph's Consistory.                        Word .and Spirit.
              Phone (616) 532-8737                                    Rev. R. Hanko,                               Jon Huisken, Pres.
                                                                          Stated Clerk                               Judy Key, Secy.

312 /Standard Bearer /April 1,1993


