A Reformed        .B~ER
Semi-Man thly
Magazine





                              and state....
                           Because of this
                     it is easy for the counselor
                  tti.fall'into being too simplistic
                                                    `+
                           on the one hand,-
                    or too.probing and profound
                        on,the other hand.
                       Counselitig the. grieving
                    requires the wisdom of Christ
                            and His Word.


                          See "Counseling the Grieving"- page 15


vol. 70, No. 1
October 1,1993


 CONTENTS:                                                                               October  I,  1993,

 Meditation - Rev. John A. Heys
         A Prayer to Become Whiter Than Snow ............................................ 3
 Editorials - Pro f David J. Engelsma                                                                                        ISSN 0362-4692
         What's in Store for Volume 7d9
                                                            ... ....................................................... 5
         Our New Symbol ................................................................................. 5                  Semi-monthly, except month+y during June, July, Md August.
                                                                                                                             Published by the Reformed Free Publbhktg Assocbtbn, Inc.,
         Knowing the True God...................................................................... 6                        4849 lvenrwt Ave., Qrandvllk, MI 46418. Second Class
 Letters ........................................................................................................       6    Postage Paid at QrandviUe,  Michigan.
 Come, Lord Jesus - Rev. Gise J. VanBaren                                                                                    Postmwtm  Sand address chen~ea to the Standard Bearer,
                                                                                                                             P.O.  Box 603, Qrandwa, MI 4646wXo2.
         Floods and Earthquakes .................................................................... 7
 A Word Fitly Spoken - Rev. Dale H. Kuiper                                                                                   EDITORIAL COYMllTEE
                                                                                                                             Editor: Prd. Cavid J. Engabma
      . Keys .................................................................................................... 9          8mret8ry: Prof. Robert D. Oedmr
 Strength of Youth - Rev. Wilbur G. Bruinsma                                                                                 MMaging Editorz Mr. Don Doezema
         Walking a Straight Path ................................................................... 10                      DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                                                             Rw. Wdbur  Bruimmk  Rw. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert
 Guest Article - Rev. Roriald L. Cammenga                                                                                    Decker, Rav. Ark tiHartog, Rev. Sarry Grfttam~ Rev. Cad
         The Shameful Sin of Homosexuality (IV) ........................................ 12                                  Hwk, Rev. C%rneliu.  Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko. Rw. Jotm
                                                                                                                             Hey8, Rev. Steven Key, Rev. D8b Kulper, Mr. Jamw  htiq,
 Day of Shadows - Rev. John A. Heys                                                                                          Rev. Oeorga l&ban, Mm. MarySeth Lubbers, Rev. moms
         Our Graciously and Freely Given Salvation ................................... 14                                    Mienma,   Rw.  Audred  Spriensmr,  Rw.  Charka  Terpstm,
                                                                                                                             Rw.GissVanSamn,Rw.RonakfVanOwbcp, Mr. Benjamin
 Contribution - Rev. Charles J. Terpstra                                                                                     Wlgger,  Rw. Bernard Woudmbarg.
         Counseling the Gribving .................................................................. 15                       EDITORIAL OFFfCE           CHURCH NSWS  EOITOR
 A Cloud of Witnesses - Pro f Herman C. Hanko                                                                                TheStandardSaamr           Mr. Ben Wggw
      Martin Bucer: Ecumenist of the Reformation ................................ 19                                         4948  Ivenrwt             6587  4GthAw.
                                                                                                                             Qwdville. MI 42418      Hudaonvilb, MI 46426
 Report of Classis West - Rev. Ronald J. VanOverloop ............................ 21                                         BUSINESS OFFICE            NEWZEALANDOFFKE
                                                                                                                             The Standard Soarer       The Standard Seamr
 Report of Classis East - Mr. Jon J. H&ken ............................................                               22     Don DoeMma                do B. VanHerk
                                                                                                                             P.O.  Box 6%              68FraSerSt.
 Book Review .............................................................................................            22     Qrandville, MI            Welnuimete,  New Zealand
 News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger .................................. 23                                            494684802               NORTHERN IRELAND OFFfCE
                                                                                                                             PI+ (616) 638.1778        c/o Mr. Jonathan h4c4uby
                                                                                                                                   (616) 621-1460       164 Church Rd., Qknwhq
                                                                                                                             FAX:  (616) 621-3033      Bellymen4co.krtrim  ST422EL
                                                                                                                                                        -MIUld
                                                                                                                             EDITORWPOUCY
                                                                                                                             Everyeditorirsoldymsponrlblefor~cDntentrothborm
                                                                                                                             8rUdw.Omtrlbutkiudgumrallnterwtfromourrwd8mmd
         We've included among the articles in this issue another of the addresses which                                      qw8tionsforlheResderAeka          depdMmtem-.
                                                                                                                             CwtritutimrwiHbelimhedtoapproxknntdy200~and
 were part of the  Classis West Officebearers' Conference held last March in South                                           mu8lbenwUywrltt8nor~,wdmu8tb~.~
 -Holland, IL. This one, by Rev. Terpstra, emphasizes the necessity of a sensitivity, on                                     desdlinw   em  the  firat and  fiftwn!h of the  month.  All
 the part of officebearers, to the hurt and the sorrow which are an inevitable part of the                                   r;uicat$w ralativa to the contantl8houkl ba aent to tha
                                                                                                                                               .
 life experience of members of the church over which they have spiritual oversight. He
 points out too that, because of the complexity of the emotions involved, one must have                                      REPRINT POLICY
                                                                                                                             hmhkJnbher8byQmtedforthereprln~ofvtid#hwr
as well some understanding of the process of grief, if he is to be an effective counselor.                                   -byotherW-,~:4~ruchnprkrted
 For practical suggestions for revealing the compassion of God and the presence of                                           artkMamreprodwdinfu#;b)thatpmpwaEknowledg~
 Christ to His hurting people, read "Counseling the Grieving."                                                               l8made;c)thatacopyofthapwkdkelhwhkheuchmpfkd
                                                                                                                             appsarsbsanttoourditorblof&u.
         And for an explanation of the SB logo which appears on the cover, read the
 editorial "OurNew  Symbol." Perhaps I could add here that the RPPA Board has been                                           SUBSCRIPTIONPOUCY
                                                                                                                             Subscription  prka: 512.00  per  yau  kl  the U.S.. $15.06
 busy during the past several months with matters relating to the use of the logo in the                                     ebewhwe. Unbss a dsfwrita  mqued for dbwitinwnce  b
 SB. The selection process itself was no little challenge, because of the number and                                         recaiwd, it b  .-mod  that the  wbacribor  wbhos  the
 quality* of the entries. But, in addition to that, the board was exploring with the artist                                  8b8crlptkntocmtlnw,8ndhewNbe~furenew8l.nyou
                                                                                                                             hwea~eof8ddmu,pb888nc4ifytlmBimkmu~w
 various cover-design changes to enhance the new logo. We decided at last to retain, for                                     aartya8possiMeinordertowoidth0iw3wenknwof
 now, the old layout, but with the understanding that we would experiment in later                                           hterrupted  dellvery. lndurb  your zip w postal Code.
 issues with various modifications of color and design. So . . . look for more to come.                                      ADVEf4TISlNQ  POLICY
         The board thought it appropriate to introduce the logo on the first issue of the new                                TheStmdardesarWdwsmtexaptcommscci8l  advertldng
volume  year, the 70th. Sixty-nine years ago this month the first Standizrd  Bearer came                                     of any kind. An- ofchumhMd8dmolevwb,
                                                                                                                             mWwwriw,  obituarier,  and 8ympathy rwdution~  will be
 off the press. It contained a short article of introduction which affirmed that the RFPA                                    placedforaS3.00fee.  Thwrhwldbosefdtothow~
i ,"is convinced that a battle has to be fought." The armament in the logo suggests the                                      Offiwmd8houldbeacccmpaniedbytheS3.Wtee.  Deadline
 same conviction on the part of today's board. Further, the very first article in the                                        lor anncunwmenb  b at baat one nmmth prior to publ-
                                                                                                                             de
 October 1924 issue was entitled "Jehovah's Goodness," and the third: "God is God."
cI Prom the beginning, therefore, the emphasis was obvious. .As is also the appropriate-                                     BOUND'VOLUMSS
                                                                                                                             TheBU8llWUOffkXiUilf8CWpt8tMd4~Orden~blJlJbound
 ness of the two Greek letters incorporated into the logo today.                                                             copLwofthecurrentvdume. swhord8merefilkd8asM
                                                                                                                     D.D.    po88lt48aftercmpMknc4awhmeyw.
`,       To gi;e you wme idea of how good they were: the editor wants one of the `losers" framed and                         16mmmkrofilm,26mmmkrofNmmhi1C6mmmicro6&and
 hung in his study.                                                                                                          utkb  mpb8  M  8MiU48 through  Unhmrity  Mkrofil~
                                                                                                                             bltwutknd.
 2 IStatiard  Bearer / octolnr t, 1992


                       A Prayer to Become
                      Whiter Than Snow

 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be              God had, by His grace, brought him            their sorrow. They tried tohide them-
 clean: wash me, and I&all be whiter than          to sorrow because of his sins, David          selves from God when they heard His
 snow.                                             now comes with the plea for purging           voice in the cool of the day. They ran
                               P s a l m   51:7    with hyssop, and for being made               to other trees in order to try to hide
                                                   whiter than snow.                             from God. They wanted no fellow-
     It seems strange, does it not?                    Let us, first of all, take note of the    ship with Him. They were not eager
     David, way back in the days of                fact thatDavidbegins thisPsalmwith            to praise God from whom all bless-
 the Old Testament, spoke of being                 these words: "Have mercy upon me,             ings flow. They wanted to turn their
 made whiter than snow. Could man                  0 God, according to thy loving-kind-          backs and escape any punishment for
 in that period of time know anything              ness; according unto the multitude of         what they did. They did not run unto
 that is whiter than snow? In fact, can            thy tender mercies, blot out mytrans-         God and pray to Him that He would
 we today point to anything that is                gressions. Wash me thoroughly from            keep Satan from ever coming to them
 whiter than snow?                                 mine iniquity, and cleanse me from            again with the lie that to break God's
     We read in `Isaiah  1:18 these                my sin." That surely reveals how              commandment would benefit them.
 words: "Come now, and let us reason               sorry he was because of his sins. For         They very clearly revealed their ha-
 together, saith the Lord: though your             he also states in verses 3 and 4 this         tred against God by their breaking of
 sins be as scarlet, they shall be `as             awesome truth: "For I acknowledge             His law, but also by trying to flee
 white as snow." Our God does~not                  my transgressions: my sin is ever             away from Him.
 here promise to make us whiter than               before me. Against thee, thee only                Now David wrote what he did in
 snow;asDavid  requests, but to be as              have I sinned, and done thisevilin thy        Psalm 51 because he had grossly
 white as snow..-     "  _I                        s i g h t . "                                 sinned against God. He wrote -this
     The question also arises, because                 Take note of the fact that what           Psalm because he had been. made
 of what David wrote in that verse                 David had done was a devilish act of          conscious of an awful sin which he
 quotedabove,what doesDavidmean                    hatred toward God. Every sin is that,         had committed. In two ways he had
 by hyssop?. He prays to be purged                 whether we are willing to admit it or         revealed his carnal flesh with its ha-
`. with.hyssoE.  I-Ie does not mention             not. And let us bear in mind what             tred against God and His holy law.
 water or soap, with which a man can               God told Adam, namely that his first          He broke both tables of God's law,
 be washed. He pleads with God that                sin would bring death upon him.               and he did not confess these sins, nor
 He make him whiter than snow by                   Adam did live for 930 years after that        express his sorrow for having acted
 means of hyssop. Although there are               first sin which he committed. Plainly,        so much in hatred against God.
 a few instances in ScriEture  where we            therefore, God did not mean, when                 David had committed adultery
 read of hyssop, nowhere else do we                He told Adam that "the day thou               with Bathsheba, the wife, of Uriah.
 find a request to be made whiter than             eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die,"       And rather than run to God and con-
 snow.                                             that he would only die physically.            fess his sin, David committed another
     For a proper understanding of                 God was referring to spiritual death,         sin, trying to hide that sin of adultery.
 what our God presents through                     which would come the day that he              He arranged, to have Uriah killed in
 David, let us first of all bear in mind           committed his first sin. And indeed           the forefront of a very hot battle @
 thefactthatthisPsalmwaswr;ittenby                 through that one sin both Adam and            Sam. 11:14-V).  When God sentHis
 David because he had committed                    Eve revealed their hatred against God.        servant Nathan to remind David of
 some terrible crimes. And because                 They revealed that they lost all of           his sin, He also gaveDavid sorrow for
                                                   their love toward God.                        his sin. God `in His : grace caused
                                                       Adam and Eve did not reveal any           David to see how greatly he needed to
 Rw. Hfzys is a minister emeritus in the           sorrow for that sin. They did not run         be purged from sin, and to be made
 ljrotestant  Reformed Churches.                   to God and with their hearts confess          whiter than snow.

                                                                                                       0ct0ber1,1393/SlmdardB8arer  13


     To understand and appreciate                 whiter than snow, in the sense thatit       God has given us the desire to be
these words whichDavid  utteredwith               is our everlasting life that God will in    whiter than snow. We do and will,
his mouth because they throbbed in                His grace keep in us.                       with David, perform a host of sins. If
his heart, we should bear in mind that                Let it not be overlooked that, in       we deny that, we are adding to our
Adam and Eve had been created as                  the seventh verse of this Psalm,David       sins. The question is not whether we
white as snow. They were not created              prays that he may be purged with            want to be saved from the punish-
whiter than snow, as David here                   hyssop in order to become clean.            ment for which our sins call. The
prays. They were created with hearts              Hyssop is a branch of a bush that was       most ungodly all have that desire.
that loved God, and in that sense                 usedby the Israelites to hold a sponge,         To be saved from the punishment
were as white as snow, that is, they              and which was used to spread blood          of sin is a part of our salvation; but it
were spotless as far as acts of sin were          on the lintel and side-posts of the         is not the part that reveals that Christ
c o n c e r n e d .                               doorway of their houses. We read of         died for our sins. The important
     But what David prays for here in             that in Exodus 12%.                         question is whether we want the love
Psalm 51:7 is the whiteness which we                  AlthoughDavid and those in the          of God implanted in our hearts with a
get through Christ Jesus, our Lord                old dispensation did not see that hys-      life that never comes to an end, and
and Savior. Adam and Eve were                     sop as clearly as we do today, it refers    that Satan cannot cause. us to throw
created as white as snow. They.had                to the cross of Christ, and to the shed-    away. To be whiter than snow means
no guilt, had no sinful thoughts in               ding of His blood for our salvation.        to be made everlastingly and com-
their minds, no                                                       That cross of           pletely filled with love toward God.
evil desires in                              I                        Christ our God              The important question also is
their hearts, and                                                     used to realize our     whether we simply pray for the for-
had, not broken            . ..through the cross of Christ            salvation. It, that     giveness of our sins to enjoy the things
God's law in any                        we will be                    cross, declares         of this world. Much of the preaching
way or to any de-           whiter than Adam and Eve                  that we need to go      today excites the audience. People
gree. In that sense                     ever were.                    to hell because of      want to sing enthusiastically about
theywereaswhite                                                       our guilt. And          that part of salvation. The proper
as snow. Satan                                                        Christ's crucifix-      attitude to accompany the prayer to
caused them by a                                                      ion reveals the         be made whiter than snow David
deceitful temptation to become as                 blessed truth that Christ came to take      presents in verse 10, where he cries
black as coal. And the wonder of                  our punishment away completely. He          out: "Create in me a clean heart, 0
God's grace is that, through His Son,             even cried out on that cross, "It is        God; and renew a right spirit within
our Savior, God does make us whiter               finished!"                                  me." And in the verse preceding the
than snow.                                            We are. purged and made to be           text above, David says, "Behold, thou
     Bear in mind, and remember, that             spiritually clean by Christ and His         desirest truth in the inward parts:
the wind can blow dust upon the                   cross. In our text David presents two       and in the hidden part thou shalt
snow, so that the snowbank loses its              tremendously important truths for           make me to know wisdom."
white color. What is more, snow can               us. We are made to be holy, that is,            Is that your prayer? Do you want
melt, and in that way lose its white-             made to be whiter than snow spiritu-        more and more spiritual growth of
ness. Such is not the case with God's             ally by His cross. It means also that       your new man, which Christ has
elect, who are by His grace made                  now we have a spiritually clean life,       caused to be born in you? Sing then
whiter than snow. They will become                by way of regeneration, which Satan         with your heart what we find in our
whiter than Adam and Eve were when                can never take from us. Purged with         Psalter,  number 141:
they were created. They were created              the blood of Christ we become whiter            Gracious God, my heart renew,
without sinful thoughts, desires, or              than snow legally, and also have a              Make my spirit right and true;
works. Understand this wonderful                  spiritual whiteness that Satan cannot           Cast me not away from Thee,
truth presented in David's prayer: in             take away from us, no matter how                Let Thy Spirit dwell in me;
God's grace, through the cross of His             hard he tries.                                  Thy salvation's joy impart,
Son, and by the power of His Spirit,                  We find our Savior so beautifully           Steadfast make my willing heart.
we are going to become whiter than                -promising us this purging in John                                                0
snow, in the sense that through the               14:2,3.  Thereweread,hInmyFather's
cross of Christ, and throughHis  Spirit,          house are many mansions: . . . I go to
we will be whiter than Adam and Eve               prepare a place for you. And if I go
ever were. That is, we will receive a             and prepare a place for you, I will
new'spiritual  life that Satan cannot             come again and receive you unto
take away from  us: It is  .a more                myself; that where I am, there ye may
wonderful life that God gives us                  be also."
through Christ. It  is  a life that is                The awesome question is whether

4 IStandard  Bearer I October I,1993


             What's in Store for Volume 70?

    This issue of the Stundurd  Bearer        children, we invite their contributions.    call attention especially to the signs of
begins the 70th volume of our maga-           We have approached some teachers,           the Lord's return in creation and his-
zine. The first issue appeared in Oc-         but we are oEen to all of them. We          tory and among the nations.
tober, 1924. Incidentally, the cost of a      desire to give more space to the im-            The other rubrics and writers re-
year's subscription then was $1.50.           portant subject of Christian educa-         main the same as last year.
        At our meeting this past June, the    tion. All aspects of the work are               In addition to the regulars, we are
staff approved some changes in the            suitable  - the instruction itself; the     asking for guest articles from various
content of the SB this coming year.           cooperation of the covenant commu-          quarters - synodical  committees of
Rev. John Heys will move from his             nity; the behavior of the children; and     the PRC; the PR Seminary; PR minis-
Old Testament rubric to cooperate             more. Teachers, let us hear from you.       ters who are not department editors;
with Rev. Cornelius Hank0  in writing         The main writer of this rubric on           and churches with whom the PRC
the meditations. Occasionally other           Christian living will continue to be        have a sister church relationship.
oftheministerswillcontributeamedi-            Rev. Arie denHartog.                        Observant readers will have noticed
tation.                                           Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma has agreed         that, now and then, we publish ar-
        After Rev. George Lubbers com-        to write seven articles for the column,     ticles by authors outside the PRC.
pletes his introduction to the study of       "Strength of Youth." Rev. Barrett               Then there are the book reviews,
I Timothy, Rev. Carl Haak will pro-           Gritters will continue his work in this     letters, exchanges, and questions for
vide a detailed outline of the book of        column onbehalfof the youngpeople.          "The Reader Asks" department.
Romans. This will run under the                   There will be a significant change          We are always on the lookout for
rubric, "Search the Scriptures." The          in the rubric devoted to the Old Tes-       good poetry.
purpose of these outlines is to help          tament, "Day of Shadows." We plan               We intend again to publish some
our readers in their study of the Bible.      to edit and publish the writings on the     special issues. These will develop
It is particularly our intention to give      Old Testament of Prof. H. C.                particular themes. The next issue, in
help to our societies for Bible study.        Hoeksema. These writings, now in            fact, will be such a special issue. The
The various societies and classes that        syllabus form, are the fruit of Prof.       SB of October 15,1993will  commemo-
meet regularly for the study of the           Hoeksema's work in the Protestant           rate the 16th century Reformation
Word of God might consider taking             Reformed Seminary. Look for the             with an issue on "The Reformation
up Romans in their classes during the         first installment in this lengthy series    and Scripture."
coming years.                                 a few issues hence.                              These are our plans, if the Lord
        We have asked several teachers            Rev. Audred Spriensma, husband          Wills.
in our Protestant Reformed Christian          of Alva and father of five children,             To our writers, thanks, and God's
Schools to write on Christian educa-          will join Mrs. Marybeth  Lubbers in         strengthening of your minds, hands,
tion. These articles will appear in the       writing on Reformed family life in          and wills! Yours is a labor. of love.
rubric, "In His Fear." If there are           When Thou Sittest in Thine House."               To our subscribers, enjoyable and
teachers who have something to say                 Eschatology will be featured in        profitable reading! Yours is a cost of
about our callingto provide Christian         the rubric, "Come, Lord Jesus," writ-       only $12 ($15.00 foreign),a  year.
school instruction to the covenant            ten by Rev. Gise VanBaren.  He will                                               - DJE

                                      Our New Symbol.' ~_. m.1

        The Standard Bearer has a sym-             This was the winning entry in the      stands at the ready a sword, symbol-
bol.                                          recent contest.                             izing the sword of the Spirit which is             I
        We display it on the cover of this         The design is a shield, represent-     the Word of God. Two letters of the
issue.                                        ing the shield of faith, on which there     Greek alphabet are worked into the
                                                                                                    October 1,1993  I Standard Beater I 5


device. The obvious letter "A" is the         member of the Bethel Protestant Re-             The decision choosing the sym-
first letter of the Greek alphabet, "al-      formed Church in Elk Grove Village,         bol was made by the board of the
pha." The rounded letter is the last          lllinois. ToMr.Hirschlergoourthanks         Reformed Free Publishing Associa-
letter of the Greekalphabet, "omega."         and a 5-year, gift subscription to the      tion on the recommendation of the
Taken together, as in Revelation  1:8,        5%.                                         staff of the SB.
they describe the eternal God as the                 Our obviously interested and             To each who responded to our
beginning and the ending. The ideas           equallyobviouslyablereadership sent         request for drawings or ideas, we
brought together in the symbol ex-            in almost 50 symbols. One powerful          express our appreciation. We are
presswhattheSBstandsfor,wethink.              drawing came from as far away as            sending each of you a l-year, gift
The design is well done artistically.         South Africa.                               subscription to the SB as a token of
     The artist is Mr. Thomas A.                     Two IZyear old youngsters sub-       our thanks.
Hirschler of Mundelein, Illinois, a           mitted their own fine designs.                                                  - DJE

                           Knowing the True God
     This is the title of a recently is-      on this Christ. It bluntly confronts          h&n's situation seems hopeless. How
sued, brief (II-page) pamphlet writ-          every sinner with his total inability to      can we escape the wrath of God and
ten by Rev. Steven Houck  and pub-            save himself, including his inability         everlastingdestructioninhell?  How
lished by the Peace Protestant Re-            of himself to believe. From the very          can sinners ever come to know God
formed Church in Lansing, Illinois.           beginning, it unapologetically bases        intimatelyandliveinfellowshipwith
     I have been asked to bring this                                                        Him? How can a sinner be holy? It
                                              itself on Holy Scripture. It does not
pamphlet to the attention of theread-                                                       is impos&ble  for man. Who can bring
                                              try to present Him who is the truth by        aclean thingoutofan unclean? Notone
ership of the Standard  Bearer,, and I        means of the lie that God loves every-        (Job 144). But what is impossible for
do so enthusiastically.                       one and sincerely desires to save all.        man is tiot impossible for God. The
     The pamphlet is unique in that it               The style is simple, clear, and        glorious Creator, Sustainer, and Ruler
is intended to be a soundly Reformed          pointed.                                      of the world is also the Savior, Who
means of witnessing to the                           This is the pamphlet to put into       delivers from sin, death, and hell.
unconverted and unchurched. The               the hands of an unbelieving neighbor          God says, Z, even Z, am the Lord; and
pamphlet' succeeds. It is a written           or relative. Then discuss it with him         beside me there is no saviour (Isaiah
form of the biblical call of the gospel to                                                  4311).  The true God is not only a
                                              or her.
those who are not converted to Christ                                                       holy and righteous God Who must
                                                     The pamphlet can be obtained           punish 
and who may have little orno knowl-                                                                    sinners, but He is also a God
                                              from the Peace PRC, P. 0. Box 563.4,          of love and grace Wj~o shows mercy.
edge of Scripture and its doctrines. It       Lansing, IL 60438. A single copy is.          In His grace and love, He has sent
is God-centered. It exposes sin, par-         free. For quantities of 12 or more, the       Jesus Christ to accomplish salvation.
ticularly the guilt of sin. It sets forth     cost is 35 cents per copy plus postage.       God, ih Jesus Christ, is the only Sav-
Christ as God's one and only way of                  An excerpt from the pamphlet           ior (p. 7). Q
salvation. It calls every one to believe      follows:                                                                        - DJE





H More Books of Psalms                        encouraged by Rev. Lanning's appeal         Singing published in 1973 by the Re-
for Singing                                   for continued singing of Psalms.            formed Presbyterian Church of North
   I was delighted to `receive from                  I must, however, take exception      America (RPCNA). It is now in its
my good friends in Crown and Cov-             to his statement that The Psalter of        seventh printing. The ReformedPres-
enant Publications a copy of Rev. Ray         1912 "was the last stand for singing        byterian (Covenanter) Church,.
Lanning's "The -Songs of Zion, An             the Psalms in worship among Presby-         though part of the Joint Committee
Appreciation of the Psalter of 1912,"         terians on this continent." It is hum-      set up in 1895 to develop better Psalm
a featured article in your June 1993          bling to realize that, in spite of much     versiqns,  withdrew in 1905 because
Standard Bearer.  Although it con-            successful effort to extend its use,        some revisions and new versions be-
tained much information that was              some fellow Psalm-singers are not           ing approved were considered "free"
not new to me; I am refreshed and             aware of The Book of Psalms for             and/ or incomplete translations.

6 /Standard Bearer I October I,1993


These Covenanters produced The              this. year. It is soon to be published by    Ward prepared in 1991 The Complete
Book of Psalms with-Music in 1910,          Crown and Covenant Publications              Book of Psalms for Singing, a com-
and in 1920, 1929, and 1950 made            and distributedby them andby Great           pact book with singable tunes near
some tune and format changes in it.         Commission Publications, the publi-          the words on every page. As in the
This publication made much use of           cation arm of both the PCA and the           coming PCA words-only volume, its
word changes and new versions               Orthodox Presbyterian Church. This           verses are numbered as they are in
adopted by the Joint Committee in           compactvolumewillcontainonecom-              our Bibles.
1909 but attempted to make every            plete metrical translation of each of            Mr. Ward's volume is published
version complete and accurate.              the 150 Psalms and the suggestion of         by the Presbyterian Church of East-
    The 1973 BookofPsulmsforSing-           a familiar Psalm or hymn tune for            ern Australia, 358 Mountain High-
ingeliminated a number of little-used       each. Though over 75 per cent of the         way, Wantirna, Victoria 3152, Aus-
and/ or duplicate versions and intro-       words are taken directly from The            tralia. The 1973  Book  of  Psalms for
duced about as many new complete            Book of Psdms for Singing, the edi-          Singing is available from Crown and
versions which conform more closely         tors frequently note versions "based         Covenant publications, 7408 Penn
to modern English Bibles. I hope            on" or containing "elements from"            Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15208-2531.
many of your readers may also know,         the 1912PsuIter,  which Rev. Lanning             Yours for more singing of more
or will be interested to hear, about a      has so justly honored in his article.        Psalms with more grace in our hearts
words-onlymetricaltranslationofthe              Lively interest in the promotion.        to the Lord. 0
Psalms prepared by a committee of           of Psalm-singing is by no means con-                              Charles McBumey
the Presbyterian Church of America          fined to "this continent." Rowland S.                               Pittsburgh, PA




              Floods and Earthquakes

    We have been inundated with             were  three  such storms that struck         water and only eight souls survived?
news of the flooding of the Missis-         various parts of the world in this               One can examine history books
sippi River and its tributaries the past    same year).                                  and find that there have been many
several months. We have seen the                One asks: what is going on in this       disastrous events in this earth. I point
pictures, over and over again,' of          creation? We are supplied answers:           out a few. Rome was destroyed by an
homes washed away, of possessions           devastating storms happen in cycles          earthquake in A.D. 476. Antic& had
destroyed, of croplands covered with        - we expect one "bad" storm or               some 250,000 people die in an earth-
water. We are told that, as far. as         disaster perhaps every century. We           quake in 526. In 1556 in Northern
damage is concerned, this flood has         are told that the floods and terrible        China 830,000 people died. In 1707
been the most costly disaster in the        storms are the result of a warming of        2OO,OOOpeoplewerekilledinanearth-
history of our country. It is said that,    the -Pacific - the El Nino current is        quakemTokyo.  Floodslikewisekilled
this `is the kind of flood that might       the cause. We are reminded of, ter-          many through the centuries. .In 1887,
strike once every 500 years. Some.          rible storms -of the past centuries,,        at Henan, China 900,000 died. In 1889
have described it as a "flood of Bibli-     whereliterally hundredsof thousands          at Johnstown,PA2;200diedinaflood
cal proportions."                           died. So: "What's new?"                      when a dambroke. Six thousand died
    Not long ago we were hearing                Scripture speaks of earthquakes.         in 1900 in a Galveston, TX flood after
reports of the devastation of Hurri-        In Amos 1:l and in Zechariah 145 we          a hurricane. A million people died in
cane Andrew. Of that storm it was           read of great, earthquakes that oc-          North China in 1938 when dikes were
said that it was the most costly disas-     curred in the days of Jeroboam and,          blown up, with resulting flooding. In
ter in the history of our country. The      later in the days of Uzziah. Time was        1970 some 200,000 people lost their.
claim was made that it was a once-in-       measured in relation to the occur-           lives in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) as
a-century storm (and I believe there        rence of those earthquakes.                  a result of a flood generated by a
                                                FloodstooarementionedmScrip.             cyclone.
Rev.`VanBarenispastorojtheProtestant        ture. And who does not know of that              By comparison, the flooding of.
Reformed Church of Hz&o&ilk Michi-          great flood in the days of Noah when         the Mississippi basin appears minor.
gan.     '                                  the whole earth was- covered with                We can dismiss the disasters of
                                                                                               October   1,1993/SttiBearer   I7


which we hear as a "quirk of nature."        cant effect upon our country andits                  But we, children of God, expect
We can tell ourselves that these things      prosperity. This throws the prover-              many of these things to occur (prob-
have always happened. We might be            bial "monkeywrench" into the efforts             ably in our lifetimes) because Scrip-
able to find scientific expianations for     of government to gain control of run-            ture tells of them. Christ Himself
what has been taking place. But is this      away deficit spending.                           presented them to us in Matthew 24
the answer?         Christ, in Matthew           The situation within the realm of            as signs that must precede His return.
24, speaks of those signs that precede       creation is recognizably changing.               The clear testimony of all the events
His return on the clouds of glory. In        Though many speak of "cycles," or                taking place about us and in light of
verse 7 He reminds His disciples of          emphasize that thesethings have al-              Christ's instruction is this: the return
the coming of "famines, and pesti-           ways been occurring throughout his-              of Christ is at hand.
lences, and earthquakes, in divers           tory, there is a difference.                         What does all of this demand of
places." He reminds us further, in               The first, obvious difference is             the church and its members? Surely
verse 8, that these "are the beginning       the way today's media make all                   the basic requirement is watchful-
of sorrows (thebeginningof thebirth-         peoples aware of what is taking place.           ness. The events of our age affect us,
pangs)." This tells us that such "di-        Who has not seen pictures of houses              affectourthinkingandactionsaswell.
sasters" have always been taking             floating down the Mississippi? Who               It is but a short step between observ-
place. This is as the birth-pangs of a       has not seen the spread of flood wa-             ing and imitating. The world's atti-
woman. But the pain becomes in-              ters over vast areas of farmland? Who            tudes and explanations soon are
creasingly more intense as the time          has not observed the weeping people              adopted also by those within the
for deliverance approaches. So we            as they behold their houses inundated            churches. If the churches refuse to
can expect earthquakes, floods, winds        by water and mud? Not only have                  heed Christ's Word, and we rely
throughout all of history. Still, as the     these disasters of recent years been             rather on man's explanations, then
end approaches, we will become more          unusually devastat-                        I                         the events we notice
aware of these signs- and recognize          -ing, but the nation                       I                        about us will mean
in their intensity that Christ's coming      and world have                  Watchfitlness  requires
is at hand.                                  been made aware of              a thorough knowledge
         That unusual things are happen-                                      of the Word of God.
                                             media reports.
                                                 We are also to                         I                        cerning the end of
                                             regard the signs in                                               1 nothing to us. He
                                                                                                                 who watches will
                                             all of this by way of                                               also believe what
ing, even the general population is                                                                               Christ has said con-
beginning to realize. In a cartoon in
the  Grand Rupids Press,  a Congres-                                                                             the age.
sional budget committee is pictured          creation in conjunction with all of the              Watchfulness requires also a thor-
around a conference table. Behind            other signs about us. Each sign is as           ough knowledge of the Word of God.
themisachartlisting"disastercost$."          it were apiece of a jigsaw puzzle. One          The world (and the devil) has made
On the chart, with the line of costs         piece does not make the picture. But            every effort to divert attention from
rapidly rising, there is listed: "Hugo,      when each piece is fit together, the            the Word. With its many forms of
earthquake, drought, tornadoes, An-          puzzle is complete. So we recognize             entertainment, the world has sought
drew, Hawaii, Miss. flood." One con-         that when wars and rumors of wars               to give even the Christian but little
gressmanintones, "Please help us not         fit in with the whole of the puzzle,            time to study the Word of God. He
to have any more disasters . . . at lqast    when plagues and divers diseases                who watches does so'with the Word
notinthisfiscalyear!" Designed tobe          also can be fit in, when man's rapidly          in his hand. The Word warns of the
somewhat humorous, and certainly             expanding knowledge and amazing                 evils that arise. The Word encour-
not pious, the cartoon nevertheless          inventions are placed in this puzzle            ages and strengthens. We ought to
speaks to the increasing burdens upon        -the picture is almost complete.                remember that well when we attend
the country because of unusual disas-            So what does the future hold for            church each Sabbath Day. We ought
ters.                                        us? Certainly We can expect addi-               to study carefully in society in order
    The U.S. News & World Repoti,            tional disasters. We are being warned           that there too we may increase in
July 26,1993, reports on the Missis-         repeatedly that major earthquakes can knowledge. The Word is the Sword
sippi flood. It contained this interest-     be expected in places like California           of the Spirit.
ing observation: "While the floods           - with its large population and po-                 Watchfulness demands prayer.
were certainly unexpected, the United        tential for ,many deaths. We are told           We know that our strength can not
States has had unexpectedly large            how easily a new and deadly virus               preserve us in the evil day. Only
disasters - droughts, earthquakes,           couldappear-destroyingmassesof                  God's power and grace are sufficient.
hurricanes, riots  - every year since        people through disease. We read of              Therefore we come in prayer for
1989." This surely appears to be an          the"greenhouseeffect"  thatwilllikely           strength. And God does provide.
acknowledgment by the news media             cause far more turbulent weather con-               Look up! The coming of the Lord
thatsomethingunusualistakingplace            ditions-includingmorehurricanes,                is at hand. Our response must be,
that will have an increasingly signifi-      tornadoes, cyclones, etc.                       "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" 0

8 /Standard Bearer I October 1,1993


                                                  Keys
    Of the eight occurrences of the word key or keys in the Scriptures, only one has a purely literal
meaning (Judges 3:25). The other Old Testament occurrence has both a literal and a symbolic idea, of
which more later. All the New Testament uses are symbolic and speak of authority to open and close
the kingdom of heaven. The words in the original have simple meanings: to open wide, an opener,
a key; to close, shut up, a key.
    In Isaiah 22 we read of Eliakim, who was appointed by God to be prefect of the palace of King
Hezekiah. He is given the "key of the house of David," i.e.; he would decide who would enter the king's
palace and have audience with the king. By exercising this authority, this servant of God was a type
of Christ who "hath the key of David, who openeth and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man
openeth" (Rev. 3:7). Jesus has authority to open and close the door to the heavenly palace and presence
of God. Jesus pronounced woe upon the lawyers of His day (those skilled in the law of Moses), for they
took away "the key of knowledge," entering not in themselves, and hindering others from entering in.
Here the key of knowledge is entrance into the kingdom of heaven through Christ, as Christ was set
forth in the Old-Testament Scriptures. Rather than opening the way of salvation by the right
interpretation of the law,`they took away the key, so that really there was no opening, no entrance. Their
legalism was anillegal use of the keys!
    In distinction from the sword power of the state, the financial power of the employer, and the
corporal power of parents, the church has ,been given by Jesus Christ key power relative to the
kingdom; He who has this great authority Himself (Rev. 1%; 3:7; 9:l; 2O:l) entrusts such authority for
its exercise to officebearers whom He calls and qualifies. We read of this in Matthew 16:19, where Jesus
speaks not only to Peter but to,all.the apostles, and not to the apostle alone, but to all elders until the
end of time: "And I will give unto thee the keys of .the kingdom: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
The keys of the kingdom are the preaching of the gospel in faithfulness to the Scriptures and the
administration of Christian discipline in the punishment of sin (see Belgic Confession, Art. 29). To
understand how the kingdom of heaven can be opened and shut by the use :of these keys, see the
Heidelberg Catechism, L.D. 31. In Answer 84 we are given a `definition of faithful, antithetical
preaching that the church must hear, and insist on hearing, today. The basis for this description of
preaching that can serve as key power is such a passage as Isaiah 3:10,11: TSay ye to the righteous,
that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! It shall
be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him."
    In summary, key,power implies: 1) That the sovereign God of heaven and earth has bestowed all
power and authority upon Christ as part of His Mediator's glory when He ascended into heaven. 2)
Christ exercises this authority from heaven through pastors (the faithful preaching of the full counsel
of God) and elders (the patient, careful disciplining of church members). 3) That the church of Christ
must concern herself with the sins of her members which are public and unconfessed. Elders are
required to form judgments regarding the doctrine and life of persons under their spiritual care. These
judgments, properly made, are identical to the retaining or forgiving of sins. And, when elders do this
workin harmony with the Scriptures, what is done by the church through her elders is validbefore God
in heaven! No little thing to be an elder! No little thing to come under Christian discipline!                 -;
    And no little blessing to belong to a congregation and denomination where the keys are not rusty
but used! Key power protects the preaching of the gospel from heresy and the administration of the
sacraments from superstition. It protects the believer from the motions of sin in his members. It
protects the entire congregation from profaning the covenant and bringing down the wrath of God
upon her. A church that exercises the keys is a safe habitation for believers and their children. Q
Rw.  Kuiper  is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.


                  Walking a Straight Path
        OK, so I am miserable. Just plain    person has that experience, to one                willing then to accept this type of
not happy. Something is wrong, but           degree or another. I guess it is a part ~ analysis of yourselves? Oh yes, your
what exactly it is I am not sure. But        of growing up and assuming respon- parents do make mistakes - some-
one thing is for certain, something is       sibility for your own life and deci-              times'big blunders. They are sinners
askew.                                       sions. Adolescence is hardly the hap-             too. Many times they err in the way
        Myparentsareaconstantbother.         piest time in one's life. The young               they deal with you and your struggles
Everything I do or say, it seems, up-        person who thinks like the one we                 in life. But are you going to blame
sets them; and they end up either            have just described is one who is far,            them for the misery and problems
arguing with me or yelling at the top        far from being happy. Some can be-                that plague you in your lives? You
of their lungs. Then, to make matters        come downright depressed. And,                    know that you cannot! You love your
worse, abrother or sister has to throw       although it is a sin in itself, there are         parents far too much to place the
in a snide remark here and there.            even Christian young people who                   blame on them.
Sometimes I wonder whether it is             have thought of suicide. The only                     The only way of overcoming our
even worth going home after school           thing that has kept them from it is the           own unhappiness is by introspection:
or work What's at home anyway? I             preserving grace of God. Otherwise                we must lookin our own hearts for an
have a much better time with my              they would be like the countless other            answer. May I suggest that, when
friends.                                     young people who in                                          you do this, you consider
        But, added to all of this, I just    their unbelief and mis-                                      what Solomon says in the
simply have no desire to become in-          ery have taken their         . . . the path of God           first part of verse 26 of
volved in anything. Going to church          own lives.                          can be                   Proverbs 4, "Ponder the
on Sunday and catechism class dur-               The question is, of         rather lonely,               path of thy feet." To walk
ing the weekis just one bigbore. Sure,       course, how do we               because there                the straight way of God is
I spend tune learning my catechism           overcome such un-                   are not                  more vital to our happi-
lesson. If I did not, life would be even     happiness and dissat-                                        ness than we often realize.
worse. But ask me if I really learned        isfaction with life?              ve y many                  Especiallyisthistruewhen
anything! Something is definitely            How can we be happy           who are willing                we are a child of God. God
w r o n g   h e r e !                        and content with the              to walk it                 never gives any peace and
        Iamjustnotsatisfiedwithwhatis        direction of our lives?         _  w i t h   u s .           happiness to His children,
going on in my life. I feel eonfined.         .Many  a   y o u n g                        I               whom He loves, when they
Everything is no; no, no. I- think I just    person believes that                                         choose to follow their own
have to branch out in my life, find          the answer to this is to blame others.            path to happiness rather than the one
something new and exciting that will         In fact, that is the psychotherapy many           He has laid out for them in His Word.
keep me happy. -If I could just get          modern counselors practice: just                      Now, do not be so quick to stop
away from it all. That's all I need to       blame it on,your  parents. You.are  a             reading at this point. "Here we go
do. What has gone wrong?                     good individual. All your problems                again, telling me how I have to live!"
        Manyayoungperson-yes,even            are rooted in the mistakes and limita-            Just listen once! It's true! King David
a Christian young person - has suf-          tions that your parents forced on you             thought it was going to give him ex-
fered under such perplexity and de-          in yourc,hildhood..Youwillbehappy                 treme joy and happiness to sleep with
spair. In fact, almost every young           as.soon  as you can analyze.and over-             Bathsheba, the wife of another man.
                                             come those restrictions imposed on                Maybe it did for a few moments. But
                                             you by parents and church. It is not              when reality hit him, that he had
                                        .    your fault,you are the way you are! It            greatly sinned, he was terribly miser-
                               .             is someone else's fault!                          able. The prodigal son left the home
                                                 How careful you must be, young                of his father taking with him his part
Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of  First Protes-    people, when this is the advice given             of.his inheritance. He went out and
tant Reformed Church in Holland, Michi-      you. You, too, will be parents some               spent every penny of it because he
gan.                                         day, the Lord willing. Will you be                thought this was the way to happi-

10 /Standard Bearer I October 1,1993


ness. But when he ran out'of money               miserable in life, maybe we h&e               home, church, and godly friends, only
he realized that his life had really             trouble with Mom and Dad, maybe               to find ourselves smack-dab in the
been pure misery all along. It's true!           our spiritual life lags, because we           middle of the world with no security
God does not give happiness to us                have not looked  right on and turned          and no true joy. What happened? We
when we walk our own path to hap-                not to the left or right. At least, we        placed one foot in front of the other, a
piness rather than God's.          :             ought to give this our consideration,         step at a time, and walked in our own
    The path God haslaid'out for us              before dismissing it out of hand.             path rather than Gods.
inHis Wordis straight andnarrow. It                    From this straight path of happi-           It is so easy to do that, because
is not always a way that is easy to              ness in Christ there are many other           there are so many paths whichlead to
walkin, because it places restrictions           little paths that lead us away. Most of       misery. It can start with only one false
on our sinful flesh. God's laws re-              those paths are labeled, "Fun and             step followed by another. This hap-
quire walking a straight. line. There            Freedom." Those paths appeal so               pens when our hearts are not right
are many sins, which the. people of              easily to our sinful natures, and the         with God. We are not examining each
this world close to us                                        worldisfoundattheopen-           step we take to see if it is in harmony
enjoy,thatwemaynot                                            ing of every one of them,        with that life of sanctification that
enjoy. Thismeans that          Maybe we are not               beckoning us to enter.           Christ has worked in us. We are not
the path of God can                                           And, believe me, those           determining whether we are doing
also be rather lonely,                  very     haPPY        paths are tempting! We           something to satisfy the Spirit in us or
because there are not                    because,             see in them fun, indepen-        the desires of our flesh. Maybe we are
very many who are                  just maybe,                dence, freedom from all          not very happy because, just maybe,
willing to walkit  with          w e   arenot                 restrictions and responsi-       we are not keeping our feet each step
us. But one thingisfor          keeping our feet              bilities. Just the opposite      of our way.
certain, when we walk              each step                  of the boring, straight, nar-        That is the injunction of Hebrews
that path of God there                  of our way.           rowwayofGod'sprecepts!           12:13:  "Make straight paths for your
will be joy and happi- l.                                     Surely, if we follow these       feet."
                                                         J
ness. No, not the fun                                         alluring paths we will               "But it's too late! I have burned
kind of happiness the worldmakesus               really be happy. Ah, there is the             too many bridges behind me. I have
think is true happiness, but the inner           temptation!                                   taken too many steps in the wrong
peace and satisfaction that is ours                    Nor do we realize that when we          direction. I cannot undo what I have
when we obey God's will. I know, the             take one little step along these paths it     done. It is impossible to be happy
world wants us to think that there can           always leads to step number two, and          again."
benorealsatisfactioninlifeunlesswe               step number three, until we find our-             Not true! The saying, "You can
are out in the midst of the world                selves far off the straight path which        never go back again," is not true. You
living it up. But that world out there           we ought to follow fork happiness.            can. It is hard at times, but it can be
is a jungle! Say what they will, the             That is how it usually happens, you           done. What it takes is true sorrow
ungodly have no security in life. And            realize. We do nottake one big lunge          and repentance. Jesus says in John
the truth is that it is security that gives      into these paths. We take one little          6~37, "All that the Father giveth me
happiness and real joy.                          step at a time. One little step of            shall come to me, andhim that cometh
    God's paths lend that security to            disobedience, that leads to another           I will in no wise cast out." With that
life. Gods ways are always good.                 little step, and another, and another,        reassurance we turn around and re-
When we keep them out of a deep                  untilallof asuddenwearenotgetting             trace our steps, stopping at each one
love for God, God Himself will-grant             along at home anymore. Spiritual              and acknowledging before God that
unto us the security that as long as we          things do not concern us anymore.             these .were  wrong steps. Then, re-
belong to Him nothing will hurt us.              Life'is miserable, and we simply do           turning to the straight path of happi-
We are His and He takes care of His              not know why. Maybe'it starts with            ness in Christ, we walk straight and
own! That security gives happiness.              watching a movie on a video-tape              s u r e .
    But it comes only when we walk               with our friends, as step one; Then it            It can be. done. We can do all
that straight path. Solomon, in that             leads to going to a,theatre,  step two.       things through-Christ who strength-
same passage in Proverbs 4 which we              Then if lea& to trying some, of the           ens us. B-ut wee have to understand
looked at earlier, continues to write in         things we see people do in the mov-           one thing: happiness is not found in
verses 25-27 with these words: "Let              ies, step three. All of a sudden we are       our own way. It is found in the way
thine'eyes look right on, and let thine          drinking we are'committing fornica-           of redemption in the cross of Jesus
eyelids look straight before thee....            tion,wearepartying,allinanattempt             Christ! Follow this way, and the heart-
Turn not to the right hand nor to the            to have fun. But, after all is said and       ache of thispresent life of sin will be
left." Maybe, just maybe, we ought to            clone, we are miserable people. There         taken away! 0
consider ourselves in light of this              is no true joy `and happiness found in
Word of God to us. Maybe we are                  -these  things. We have drifted from

                                                                                                    October 1,1993 I Standard Bearer I 11


                                   The Shameful Sin
                           of Homosexuality (Iv

          Against the position that con-          sexuals is intolerance and discrimina-      Pharisees who "... made the com-
     demns homosexuality and that calls           tion! That is always the nature of law.     mandment of God of none effect . . . . W
     for the government to forbid the prac-       Law, just because it is law, is intoler-        Besides, it can be argued that the
I    tice of this evil, several objections are    ant and discriminatory. Suppose that        condemnation of homosexuality in
     brought. The following are some of           you are stopped by a police officer for     the law of the Old Testament is Jesus'
     the objections most oftenraisedanda          driving 40 mph in a 25 mph residen-         condemnation of this evil. For, as the
     brief response to each.                      tial zone. The police officer discrimi-     apostle Peter says in I Peter l:ll, it
                                                  nates against you, picking you out of       was the Spirit of Christ who moved
     Opposition to Homosexuals                    all the other drivers. Neither does he      the writers of the Old Testament.
     Is Intolerance and                           tolerate your driving over the speed
     Discrimination                               limit. He issues you a speeding ticket.     We Are Supposed to Love
          This is the most recent, and to         The law must be intolerant and dis-         and Not Hate                           .,
     date the most successful, ploy of the        criminatoq, if it is to be law.                 "Hate is not a family value" is the
     gay rights movement. By charging                                                         sloganofthegayrightsactivists. This
     discrimination,, not only have the ho-       Jesus Never Condemned                       slogan is aimed at those who oppose
     mosexuals been successful in gaining         Homosexuality                      '        homosexuality in the name of biblical
     protectionfortheirpervertedlifestyle,            It may be true that Jesus never         family values. Those who oppose
     but protection against discrimination        explicitly condemned homosexuality,         homosexuality are made out to be
     on the basis of any sexual preference        even though in more than one place          unloving and hateful.
     or orientation. This would include, it       He referred to the awful judgment of            But the Scriptures teach that love
     would seem, pedophiles and those             Sodom and Gomorrah. But it could            begins with love for God, and one
     who practice bestiality.                     justaswellbearguedthatJesusnever            who does not love God cannot love
          This is not tolerance, and non-         explicitly `condemned kidnapping,           his neighbor. The first and greatest
     discrimination! This is lawlessness!         incest, orbestiality. Does the fact that    commandment is, "Thou shalt love
          Neither is it the case that the ho-     Jesus never explicitly condemned a          the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
     mosexuals are a disadvantaged mi-            certain behavior justify that behav-        and with all thy soul, and with all thy
     norityinneedofspecialprotectionby            ior? Does Jesus' silence indicate ap-       mind" (Matt. 2237). And what is love
     thestate. Thefactisthatthegayrights          proval? Whowould dare to carry out          for God? "If ye love me, keep my
     movement is dedicated to giving one          the implications of such a position?        commandments" (John  1415).  "For
     of America's most affluent, best edu-            The fact of the matter is that Jesus    this is the love of God, that we keep
     cated, and most advantaged special           fully endorsed the law of God, in-          his commandments" (I John  5:3).
     interest groups the right to practice        cluding its prohibition and condem-             Neither is it the case that our
     its deviant sexual behavior uninhib-         nation of homosexuality. InMatthew          opposition to homosexuality is moti-
     ited by the laws of the land. This is        5:17 He said, "Think not that I am          vated by personal hatred of the ho-
     reality!                                     come to destroy the law, or the proph-      mosexual. Not at all. In love, we pray
         Of course opposition to homo-            ets: I am not come to destroy, but to       for him, seek his repentance, and are
                                                  fulfill." And in verse 19, He went on       concerned for his salvation. Is it love
                                                  to say, "Whosoever therefore shall          to allow the homosexual to go on in
                                                  break one of these least command-           his sin, to experience God's judgment
                                                  ments, and shall teach men so, he           onhissininthislife,andtoperishin
     Rev. Cammenga  is pastor of Southwest        shall be called the least in the king-      eternity hereafter? Is it love to con-
     Protestant Reformed Church in                dom of heaven." In Matthew 15:6             done his evil and give him the false
     Grandville, Michigan                         Jesus condemned the scribes and             hope that even God approves of his
                                                                                              wickedness? On the contrary, love
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 warns the sinner of his sinful way and     wife-beating. The right to priva$y is            in light of the statistics relating to the
 calls him to repentance.                   not the right to break the law of God           homosexual lifestyle? Why should
                                            in privacy. We are not permitted to              we not-.be afraid of the devastating
 We Are Not to Judge                        behave as we please in the privacy of            diseases associated with this evil?
     Whenever someone speaks out            our own home. Both the state and the             Why should we not be afraid of the
 against homosexuality, inevitably the      churchhaveavestedinterestinproper                judgment of God over our nation be-
 response is heard that we are not to       behavior in one's home and family,               cause of the approval of this evil? It is
judge. Did not our Lord say, fl Judge            The reality is that much homo-              as ridiculous to accuse those who are
 not, that ye be not judged" (Matt.         sexual behavior does not occur in the           opposed to homosexuality of being
 7:1)?                                      privacy of homes, but more often in             `homophobes as it is to accuse the
     Now, certainly, our Lord said this.    public places like parks, bath houses,           person with a high fever and who has
But it ought to be apparent to anyone       rest stops, and bars. The homosexu-              been vomiting with being a hypo-
 that to interpret Jesus' prohibition of    als flaunt their evil today in much the          chondriac.
judging as an absolute forbidding of        same way as the citizens of Sodom
all and any kind of judging goes too        did in Lot's day.                                Christians Must Be Forgiving
far. Then,.in the end, nothing is to be                                                               But are not Christians supposed
condemned, no matter how grievous           You Can't Legislate Morality                     to be forgiving? Of course they are.
the evil. Murder is not to be con-               Legislation cannot instill moral-           The apostle Paul writes in Ephesians
demned; incest is not to be con-            ity. But we ought to legislate moral-            5:32, "And be ye kind one to another,
demned; rape is not to be condemned,        ity. All legislation is of a moral char-        tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
because we are not to judge.                acter. Lawbyitsverynaturepertains                even as God for Christ's sake hath
     The Scriptures elsewhere call us       to morality, upholding moral (righ-             forgivenyou."  The Lord Jesus has
to judge. In John  724 Jesus com-           teous) behavior and condemning im-              taught us to pray, "Forgive us our
mands His disciples to "... judge righ-     moral (unrighteous) behavior.                    debts, as we forgive our debtors"
teousjudgment." InIJohn4:l,believ-              The question is not, "Should we              (Matt. 6:12).
ers are exhorted:  ."Beloved, believe       legislate morality?" But the question                     But forgiveness is not overlook-
not every spirit, but try (judge) the       is, Whose morality are we going to              ing and tolerating sin. God forgives
s$rits whether they are of God: be-         legislate? God's or man's?"                     our sins. But does this mean that He
cause many false prophets are gone              Both the church and the state are           overlooks our sins? Of course not!
out into the world."                        called to uphold the law of God. To             Rather `than overlook our. sins, He
     Suffice it to say that in Matthew      fail to do this is to fail in the essential'    sent His. Son to.die for our sins. And
7:l Jesus is condemning a certain kind      calling that these -institutions- have          how does God giveus the forgiveness
of judging. He is certainly warning         from God. To fail to uphold.God's               of our sins? Only in the way of our
against rash judgment, against judg-        law is to endorse immorality andlaw-            repenting of `them, forsaking them,
ing a person's hidden motives, and          lessness. This is exactly what is hap-          and fighting against them. "If we say
judging absolutely an individual's          pening in our country today.                    that we have no sin,`we deceive our-
eternal'destiny.  That kind of judging                                                      selves, and the truth is not in us. If we
is forbidden to the child of God.           Opposition to Homosexuals                       confess our sins, He is faithful and
    But the child of God is called to       Is Homophobia                                   j&i to forgive us our sins, and to
make the judgment that homosexual-                                                          cleanse us from all unrighteousness"
ity is evil and that the impenitent             More and more anyone who is                 (I John l&9).
homosexual is excluded from the             opposed to homosexuality is labeled                  "Thisis,aiso howGod forgives the
kingdom of heaven. He is called to          a "homophobe." This' is the charge              homosexual. `His homosexuality is
make this judgment, because this is         leveled by the liberal news media and           sin: Heknows  it`& sin, sin that must
God's judgment of homosexuality.            by the gay rights `activists., A "pho-
                                            bia" is an irrational and unfounded             be reientedof  andconfessed before
                                                                                            Goa. In the way of repentance the'
What People Do in the                       fear. Opposition to homosexuality is
                                            supposed to be due to  -an' irrational'         homosexual. will enjoy the forgive-
Privacy of Their Own Homes                  and .unfounded fear `of the homo-               ness'of his sin. `Before God and i&is
Is Their Business                           sexuals.                                "       oy conscience he will have the sense
    Often it is asked, "Shouldn't               It is to be admitted that we are            of God's forgiveness. And out of
people be allowed to do what they           afraid of the homosexuals.  Weare               thankfulness for that forgiveness,
want to do in the privacy of their own      afraid for our country. We are `afraid          empowered by the grace and Spirit of
home?" And, "Shouldn't we protect           for the church. We are afraid for our'          God, he-will also be resolved to fight
a person's right to privacy?"               :hildren. But our fear is not un-               against his &and live in newness of
    If this were true, we would have        founded or irrational. How can any:             life.           0      '
no laws against incest, child abuse, or     me charge that ourfearis unfounded

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                                                                                                      .,


            It is God's sovereign grace that      Isaac, and grandson of Abraham. It is            How true it is then what we read
    brings blessings upon the human race.         true that God commanded Jacob to             in the Heidelberg Catechism, namely,
            Let it fill us with awe and thank-    go back to the land of Canaan, and           that we in this life have only a small
   fulness that salvation does not de-            that Jacob did as God commanded              beginning of obedience. Truly, we
    pend on what we did or are doing.             him. It is also true, and must be            have in ourselves no right to the small-
    That which `we do, and which de-              maintained and emphasized as well,           est blessing of salvation. Go back to
   lights our God, is a fruit of what He          that Jacob had only a small beginning        what Adam and Eve did. For one sin,
    does in and through us; it is not our         of obedience, and that this was so           not a host of evil deeds, they died, as
   work of giving Him what He asks us             because God gave Jacob a new spiri-          God had said they would. The one sin
"  togive.  God never asks.  Ije always           tual life, and faith in Him as God. We       of eating of the forbidden fruit called
    commands and makes possible what              read of that in Lord's Day 44, ques-         for everlasting punishment in hell.
    pleases Him.                                  tionand answer 114 of the Heidelberg         Our God said to Adam that sinbrings
            Take hold of and cling tightly to     Catechism. What is more, we also see         death; and death brings one to hell
    the truth which He presents in                in Jacobs life how carnal his nature         with its everlasting torment.
    Ephesians  28. There He tells us              was, when his brother, Esau, came to             But in His grace our God sent His
    through Paul, "By grace are ye saved,         meet him with four hundred men.              own Son to suffer the punishment we
  through faith, and that not of your-                Jacob was heeding God's com-             deserve. And by His grace He en-
    selves, it is the gift of God." And faith     mand when he took his wives and              ables us to begin walking in His holy
    is  .part of our salvation, not that          children away from Laban. But he             law. We owe Him thanks for the
    wherebywe earn and deserve salva-             did this not simply because God or-          keepingofHislaw,andthatHemakes
    tion.' In Psalm 13994 we read, "I will        dered him to do so. He did it because        us all able to begin to walk in love to
    praise thee; for I am fearfully and           of the fury of Laban's  wrath, as we         Him, as His elect children.
    wonderfully made: marvellous are              find in Genesis 31:1-3. And when his             Think of the apostle Peter. He
    thy works; and that my soul knoweth           brother Esau met him with those four         made a beautiful confession when he
    right well." We are not savedbecause          hundred men, Jacob revealed that he          said to Christ, "Thou art the Christ,
    we fulfill a condition, but because our       had only a small beginning of obedi-         the Son of the living God." And yet,
    God performs such a wonderful work            ence to God's command.                       when Jesus was being tried by the
 of His grace, We do not make our-                    In Genesis 33:5-15  we have pre-         godless Jews and before Pilate, Peter
    selves believers. We are fearfully and        sented-the fact that Jacob had only a        denied Jesus, not simply once, but
    wonderfully made by God. As surely            small beginning of obedience, and            three times, declaring, "I know not
    as our physical life came by His will         that he did not constantly walk in           this man of .whom  ye speak" (Mark
    and work, so our spiritual life is also       faith, and trust-m God. .I-le not .only      1471). Truly he had a small begin-
-  H i s   gift,to  u s .          .:             called himself Esau's servant, but at        ning of faith and obedience. Further,
            Allthiswemustbearinmindand            one time even addressed Esau as his          the apostle Paul, who labored so hard
    maintain. when we consider what               lord, that is, his master. In verse 5, he    in Christ's service, cried out, "0
 i happened in the day of shadows. We             said to Esau, "The children which            wretched man that I am! Who shall
  ; certainlymustbearmmind that truth             God hath graciously given  thy ser-          deliver me from the body `of this
    when we consider further that which           vant "; in verse 13, "My lord knoweth        death?" (Rom. 724). This was in the
    we find in the life of Jacob; the son of      that the children are tender"; and in        context of what he said in verse 21,
    _.~.           :  ._                          verse 15, "Let me find grace in the          namely, that "I find then a law, that,
                                                  sight of my lord. N He was not refer-        when I would do good, evil is present
                                                  ringtotheLordGodwhocommanded                 with me," and, in verse 23, "I see
   .Rev. Heyi is. a minister emerifus in the      him to go back to Canaan, but to his         another law in my members, warring
    Protestant Reformed Churches.                 brother Esau.                                againstthelawofmymind,andbring-

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ingme into captivity to the law of sin,       saw those wives and children of J&cob.              vow unto me; now arise; get thee out
which is in my members."                      Still more, when Esau asked what                    of this land, and return tq$o the land
         When Jacob called himself a ser-     Jacob meant by the drove of cattle                  of thy kindred."         : . .  -7                        .'
vant of Esau, and called him his lord,        which he met, Jacob said, "These are                     In Genesis 32~28  we read, "Thy
thatis, hismaster, his fatherIsaacwas         to find grace in the sight of my lord."             name shall no more be called Jacob,
still alive. Esau had not therefore           Jacob clearly revealed fear and con-                but Israel: foras a prince'hast thou _,
displaced his father and become lord          cern as to what Esau would do to him                power with God-and with men, and
and ruler over Jacob. Besides,- had           and his family and cattle. In fact, in              hast prevailed." Jacob, by calling
God not told Jacob that his name was          Genesis32:llwereadofJacob'sprayer                   Esau his lord, and by confessing him-
Israel, which means Prince of God?            to God. In his prayer he states, "De-               self to be his servant, did not deserve
And God had also told Jacob, "As a            liver me, I pray thee, from the hand of             peaceful entrance into that promised
prince hast thou power with God and           my brother, from the hand of Esau:                  land. And we, by our sins, deserve
with men, and hast prevailed" (Gen.           for I fear him, lest he will come and               not one blessing, but instead everlast-
32:28).  Should Jacob then call Esau          smite me, and the mother with the                   ing torment in hell. As pointed out in
his lord? Was he walking by faith             children."                                          Ephesians 2:8 we are saved by grace.
when he did that?                                 God had given Esau plenty. of                   And that means that.all of our salva-
         What is more, Isaac and his de-      earthly riches. When therefore Jacob                tion is a free gift of God's grace. In the
scendantsdidnotyetownanylandin                declared that the drove of cattle which             life of Jacob we do indeed have a
Canaan, except where they buried              he presented were in order to find                  shadow of God's grace. What is pre-
their dead loved ones. Esau was no            grace in Esau's sight, Esau said to                 sented here by our God is a wonder-
lord and ruler of Jacob. It is true that      Jacob, "I have enough, my brother,                  fulgift  o f   H i s g r a c e .   _
when Jacob was born, he followed              keep that thou hast unto thyself."                      Jacob's safe return to the prom- '
Esau and held on to his heel; He was          Keeping His word of promise to Jacob,               ised land of Canaan is indeed a corn- :.,
in fact given the name Supplanter. It         theAlmightyGodhadprotectedJacob                     forting  shadow of what lies ahead for
is also striking that the very first child    by giving Esau what he considered                   us. Because God's gracerests also on .-
to be born, namely Cain, was anunbe-          enough, so that he did not care to take             us, we  will enter the Kingdom of  "
liever and murderer, while Abel, the          Jacob's cattle as a gift.                           Heaven with our bodies. as well .as :
second child to be born, was a be-                Truly, behind all this we must see              with our souls. It will be a free gift of
liever who was the first man to enter         the Almighty God in His grace upon                  God's grace upon the elect; and it will
into heavenly glory. What counts is           His elect children. We should see, in               move us to everlasting praise to God
not what man is physically, and what          this Day of Shadows, what our God                   for what He has done.                                                   <:
he does physically, but what God              declared through the apostle Paul in                     Let us then sing that which we
does to man from a spiritual point of         the New Testament. He correctly                     find in Psalter number 3972, and                                         : `.
view.                                         stated this truth: "And we know that                which is based on Psalm 145:3,  4,
         Note further that Esau asked         all things work together for good to                namely:                                                                ,. -,
Jacob who these women and children            those that love God, to them who are                    The Lord is greatly to be praised,
were. It is amazing that Esau, who            the called according to His purpose."                   His greatness is  ,beyond our                                         I
threatened that he would kill his twin        Likewise here we have that comfort-                        thought;                                   _.             `~
brother, here embraced Jacob- and             ingtruth which our God gave to Jacob,                   From age to age the sons of men.
kissed him. Also, what we find here           in Genesis 31:13, namely, "I am the                     Shall tell the wonders God has.
is the amazement of Esau when he              God of Bethel, where thou vowest a                         wrought.  a-`- __  -.                                     v:.
                                                                                                                                            ..-             *I  .-




                Counseling  th,e  Gr,i@vi@.  :`:-.

                                              Introduction                                        because inministering to the grieving
                                               T h e   p a s t o r a l   m i n i s t r y   o f    we are to represent andbe  the in&u- _
Rev. Terpstra is pastor of the Protesfant     officebearers to the grieving is a vi-              ments of the God whose work it is to
Reformed Church of South Holland, Illi-       tally important work in the church of               heal the broken in heart and bind up
nois.                                         Jesus Christ. It is so, first of all,               their wounds (literally, "griefs," Ps.

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147~3).  Specifically, as it is the minis-    Bible does not hide this reality from        friends and relatives (ps, 31,69); per-
try of Christ II to bind up the, broken       us, but, throughout, records the ex-         secution (Ps. 38,69);  loss of property
hearted" ,and "to comfort all that            amples and experiences of grief in the       (Job 1:13ff.) or work; divorce or sepa-
mourn" (Is. 61:1-3; Luke 4:18,19),  so        lives of God's children. Who can             ration; sin (II Cor.  7:lO); the
it is our ministry to do the same.            forget the sorrows of Jacob and of Job       unconverted state of family or friends
    Secondly, this work is important          and of David? Also our Lord walked           (Rom. 9:2), etc. It is good to know
because God's people  need us in  the         the path of grief; He was in fact the        these various causes and examples,
hour of grief. The time of sorrow is          Man of sorrows, acquainted with all          so that we may watch for them among
one of the most troubling and trying          our grief (Is.  53:3). If God can be         God's people and be ready to bring
periods in believers' lives. It is also a     grieved (Gen. 6:6; Eph. 4:30), and His       help and comfort to them.
UnewhenSatancanbuffetthemwith                 people are in His image, they will feel          It is frequently stressed in con-
the greatest temptations. We who fill         grief as well. If the children of God        nection with this subject that grief is a
the offices of Christ must be there to        live in thisvale of tears and shadow of      process which is made up of several
help the saints-in this time of great         suffering and death (and they do),           stages. I am not going to emphasize
need.                                         they will taste the agonies of moum-         this, since others have dealt with this
    Thirdly, this workis so important         ing.                                                        before (cf. the articles
because of its implications for us who                Grief is also an ex-                                "God's Work in Our
minister to the grieving. In their book       tremely complex emo-                 Counseling             Grief," by Pastor W.
Comfoting  the Bereaved, W'arren  and         tion and state. It consists         the grieving            Bekkering, Dec. 1,199O;
David Wiersbe address this in these           of a combination of sad-                                    and "Ministering to the
words:                                        ness, anguish, anxiety,                requires             terminally Ill,`! by Pas-
                                              fear, doubt, distress,              the wisdom              tor M; DeVries, Mar.`l,
  If his ministry of the Word is to be        loneliness, helplessness,             of Christ             1993 in the Standard
  effective week after week he must           and even despair. It may          and His Word.             Bearer).
  know what it means to minister to           be deep and prolonged,                                         There are two things
  broken hearts. The pastor who is            or relatively shallow and L                            J    I would like to stress in
  isolated and insulated, locked up in        brief. It may be a heavy                                    this connection  how-
  his study, is robbing himself and his
  people of some of the most enriching        burden, or a relatively light load. It       ever. First, it is important to remem-
  experiences of ministeltlal  life....       may be attended by a host of other           ber that the saints' times of grieving
  PhillipsBrooks said that the growing        difficulties, or be a singularly focused     are also part of God's sovereign plan
  pastor must experience higher               struggle. Because of this it is easy for     and purposes, just as the causes of
  heights of joy and deeper depths of         the counselor to fall into being too         this grieving are. Ecclesiastes  3:1,4
  sorrow; andthisistrue.... Our church        simplistic on the one hand, or too           reminds us of this: "To every thing
  membersquicklyforgetoursermons,             probing and profound on the other            there is a season, and a time to every
  but they remember our kindnesses,           hand. Counseling the grieving re-            purpose under the heaven: . . . A time
  especially those darkhours whenwe           quires the wisdom of Christ and His          to weep, and at time to laugh; a time
  were walkingwith them through the
  valley. Many pastors confess that           Word.                                        to mourn, and a time to dance." The
  they have learned more about the                It is also important to realize that     grieving must know that their pro-
  grace of God at an open casket than         the causes of grief are manifold ac-         cess of grief, including its length and
  they ever learned from a profound.          cording'to Scripture and our experi-         depth and details, is allin the Father's
  theology book (p. 6).                       ence. No doubt the greatest and most         hands, appointedby Him and carried
                                              common cause of grief is death. The          out by Him. And second, because of
    In the light of these things it is        loss of a loved one, whether a wife          this, the saints' time of grieving is
evident that we must be involved in           (Gen. 23:2), or a husband, or a child        meant to be a process of growth.
counseling God's grieving people.             (Gen; 37:35; Job 1:19,20; II Sam. l&33;      Mildred Tengbom, in her book Grief
                                              19;1, 2; Matt. 2:17,  18), or a father       fma Season, writes of this, while also
The Reality and Pl'oceSs                      (Gen. 50:10), or a mother (Gen. 24:67),      cautioning us about thinking too
of Grief                            .'        or a close friend (B Sam. l:ll, 12,          strictly of the period of grieE
                                              17ff.);  whether expected or  unex-
 Grief is a very real and painful .pected, brings on a time of intense                       In grieving, we just don't pass from
exper;ienceinthelivesofGod'speople.                                                          one clearly defined stage to another:
All of God's children feel.the  hurt of       pain, and sadness.
                                                      But death is by no means the only      grieving isn't that orderly. Some
sorrow at one time or another in their        cause of grief. Sorrow is also brought         mornings we may feel able to accept
lives. The Word of God teaches us                                                            what has happened, but before noon
that, since the fall of man into sin,         on by sickness and its results (II Rings
                                              20~3; Ps. 38:6; 42~3);  childlessness (I       we're plunged into despair again.
sorrow is an integral part of our lives                                                      Some have described grieving as  go-
                                              Sam. 1:7,8,15,16);  wayward children
(cf. Gen. 3:16,17;  Ps. 9O:lO). And the                                                      ingdownaroadthattwistsandtums,
                               ~              (Gen. 26:35; Prov. 17~25); the hurt of

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   climbs hills, descends to valleys, and     associated with it (cf. kass in I Sam.                  The first thing to be stressed in .
   crosses rivers and plains. Others          1:16  and Job  6:2). Those who are                 answer to this question is that we
   have compared bereavement to go-          plunged into sorrow can lash out at
   ing through a long, dark tunnel.                                                              must truly show ourselves to be
   Whatever metaphor we use, let's re-       friends and family and church- and                  Christ's representatives to His sor-
   memberit'simportantnottogetstuclc         at God. They can be severely critical               rowing and hurting people. By that I
   along the way. Grieving is meant to       of His -people and of His circum-                   `mean that we must be present with
   be a growing process (p. 35).             stances, and fill their days with com-              God's people in their grief, that we
                                             plaints (cf. Job 3; 211; 1O:l; 16:lff.; Ps.         must truly sympathize with them in
 Another Christian author described          55:2; 77~3).                                        their grief, and that we must reveal
 this growth in these terms: "Things              Further, those who grieve, espe-               the compassion of God to them in
 happen to me in order that things           cially following the loss of a loved                their sorrow. More important, first of
 should happen in me . . . so that things    one, are often overcome by severe                   all, than anything we may say to the
 could happen through me" (quotedin          loneliness. They miss deeply their                  grieving is the fact that we convey
 Yet Will I Trust Him, by P..Rankin).        departed one and long for him/ her to               genuine care for them. That implies
 Job's words in Job 23:lO bring these        return. This loneliness is often pro-               that we must be there with them in
 two ideas together, "But he knoweth         voked by the fact that shortly after the            their sorrow. We must go to be with
 the way that I take: when he hath           busyness of the funeral and the return              them and stand with them in their
 tried me, I shall come forth as gold."      to normalcy for everyone else, they                 dark hour of grief. Christ did that
 That is what we have to assure God's        are forgotten in their grief (Ps. 31:12;            when He went to Bethany  to be with
 grieving people.                            38:ll; g&4,5).  Thevisits, cards, meals,            Mary and Martha (John 11). The
                                             and other special favors and attention              grieving today can no longer see and
 Special Problems in Grieving                come to an end, and they feel all alone             touch Christ, but us they can and
     There are often special problems        in the community of the saints. What                must. The basic idea of the word for
 (sins, weaknesses, struggles) associ-       is more, the pain of this loneliness can            "comfort" in the New Testament is
ated with the time of grieving and it        also be increased by the fact that God              that of calling someone to your side.
is important that we who counsel the         seems to be absent. Not only do they                That is what we must do for the be-
grieving know these problems. The            feel deeply the absence of their loved              reaved - call them to our side and
emotion and state of griefis seldom          one, but they also feel that God is not             reveal the presence of Christ to them.
found alone; it is almost always at-         there (Job 23:2,8,9; Ps. 77,88).                    And let that presence be the presence
tended by other struggles and diffi-              What is more, and often due to                 of love and compassion. Further, we
culties. The Scriptures `openly speak        the above-mentioned                                                must sincerely sharewith
of these things as well.                     experiences, those who                         L                   them in their sorrow and
     Those who grieve are often filled       are cast into-a season of                                          suffering (sympathize).
with questions and fears and regrets.        grief frequently become             The grieving                   This will mean weeping
They wonder why God has brought              depressed and can even                  today                     with them that weep
this suffering and loss into their lives,    reach the point of de-            can no longer                  (Rom. 1215;  John 11:35).
why'it came at that particular time,         spair. Of this too the                                             This certainly means let-
                                                                               see and touch
andwhat God'spurposeisinit. They             Scriptures testify, as in I                                       ting them tell us their
                                                                                    Christ,
can worry about the destiny and state        Kings  19:4; Job 3:lff.;.                                         grief, exactly how they
of their departed one and fear their         Psalm 77,88.                      but us they can                 feel, what they are expe-
own readiness for the end of their               In addition to these             and mu&t.                    riencing. We must listen,
lives. They are afraid of going on in        things, the time of griev- L                                   ~  as  well as speak. A.
life and of how they will make it.           ingmayalsobeattended                                              Kuyper  has some excel-
They can have endless questions              by extreme physical                                               lent thoughts on this es-
about what heaven is like and what           weariness and exhaustion and by                     sential aspect of comfort in his book
their loved one is doing. They can be        sleeplessness and lack of appetite (cf.             In the Shadow ofDeath. In a chapter
filled with worry and regret for not         Ps. 6:6; 31:lO;  38:8; 102:4).                      in which he criticizes the miserable
having spent more time with their                                                                comfort of Job's three friends, he
loved one or for not having done             Comfortiq  .the Grieving                            writes:    _1  .`_
enough for them.                                 As was pointed out at the begin-
    Closely related to these  experi-        ning, ours is the ministry of being                   Words too  `xn  comfort.   But one
.encesis the fact that the grieving often    Christ's representatives and instru-                  must go'differentlyaboutit. Firstthe
become filled with anger, bitterness,        ments to bind up broken hearts and to                eye must have spoken, and the`ex-
                                                                                                   pression of the face and the warm )_
and complaining. It is striking that         comfort those who mourn. The ques-                    hand-clasp. And when thus the soul
one of the Old Testament words for           tion we now face is, How is this to be                disclosed herself and drew breath
grief also has the element of anger          done?                                                 again,  then first a gentle, whispering

                                                                                                      October 1,`1993/  StandardBearer I17


  word; and when thus the sorrowing           116:8; Luke 7:12ff.; IKings 17:9ff.)  and    lclude practical help such as meals,
  soul herself begins to speak, then,         to examples- in the church. It is of         ouse-cleaning, shopping, etc. But
  yea, further conversation can follow;       great comfort to the sorrowing to            [so, that the sorrowing are included
  not -with a little lesson learned by        know that others have walked the             ; Sunday ,mght visits, church out-
  rote; not withreasoningready-made                                                        lgs, Bible studies, etc. This is espe-
  for all who are in sorrow; but with         path of grief, and to see how they
  the language of the heart.                  were helpedand strengthened.                 .ally important for the widows, who
  . ..To comfort is no hushing with soft          Finally, in counseling and com-          !el keenly their loneliness and help-
  talk, but suffering oneself with the        forting the grieving a few practical         ssness. In some churches there is an
  sufferer; sharing distress with him         points are in order. First, let the          rganization of women who cansee
  who is distressed. With the troubled        grieving know that it is spiritually         ) this (e.g., "Helping Hands"); in
  of soul feeling pain in your own            normal and even healthy for them to          ther cases the deacons may take care
  heart. There is no comforting where         continue to have times of weeping            E this.
  there is no fellowship of heart with        over their loss and to have strong              Finally, and by way of summary,
  heart.... Love is the soul of all real
  comforting. Forgetting yourself.            feelings of missing their departed one.      Uow  me to reproduce for you the
  Thinking of the aggrieved one alone.        Too often we can become impatient            Ten, Commandments for Comfort-
  Entering into the life of anguish. Liv-     with the bereaved and leave the im-          rs," provided by Warren and David
  ing along with it (pp. 141-142).            pressionwith them that they ought to         Aersbe in their book Comforting the
                                              be long over their grief. We must            `ereaved:
    The second thing which needs to           remember that grieving is a process             i. Go to those who are bereaved as
be stressed in comforting the grieving        and that it takes time for healing to        soon as possible, even if it is inconve-
is that the counselor must direct and         take place. Second, we ought to con-         nient for you.
lead them to God and His Son, Jesus           tinue to make regular visits to the             2. Be swift to hear, slow to speak
Christ. He is after all their Comforter       grieving during their season of sor-         and slow to react to words and feel-
                                                                                           ings thatmayappear"un-Christian."
(II Cor. 1:3,4) and Healer (Ps. 147:3),       row. It is easy to forget about them            3. Donottrytoexplaineverythtng.
and the sovereign God of their salva-         and their continued needs after the             4. Share the promises of God.
tion who works all things for their           first few months, just as church mem-           5. Avoid saying, "I know just how
good (Rom. 828). Wee must show                bers and relatives often do. But we          you feel." Nobody will believe you,
them and assure them from the Word            must watch for their souls during the        andthestatementaccompltshesnoth-
of the presence of God with them in           whole period and stay with them              ing.
their sorrow (Ps. 23:4; 3418; Is. 43:2;       through the entire process. In these            6. Words often fail, so express
Micah 28). We must show them and              visits we ought to continue to listen to     yourself through a loving hug, a
assure them from the Word of the              them, to bring the Word of God to            handshake, evena simple touch. Just
                                                                                           being there is a ministry.
power (sufficiency) of God to help            bear upon their needs, and to talk              7. Do not be afraid to "weep with
them in their grief (Job 5:lS; Ps. 23:1-      with them openly of their loss, shar-        those who weep."
3; 27:1,10,14;  Jer. 8:21,22;  31:25). We     ing our own memories and stories of             8. Remember that grieving is a dif-
must show them and assure them of             their departed one with them. Third;         ficult process that takes time. -Be
the  sovereignty  of God in their afflic-     we ought to give the grieving things         patient with those who mourn and,
tion (Job 1:21; 13:15; Ps. 31:15; 37~5;       to read. There are many excellent            try not to say, "Aren't you over it
39:9; Rom.  8:28). We must direct             resources from which they may gain           yet?"
them to the suffering and sorrow of           additional comfort and strength. A              9. Visit regularly during the weeks
Jesus Christ the Savior, showing them         few examples are "Godis Our Refuge           after the funeral.
                                                                                              10. Keep confidence. Don't. turn
the example of this suffering and sor-        and Strength" (South Holland PRC             the experience into a sermon illustra-
row (Is. 53; Lam. 1:12; Matt. 26~37-42;       Evangelismbooklet); "OurOnlyCom-             tion,  unless the family gives you per-
John 11:35; Heb. 5:7, 8), the saving          fort" (Southeast PRC Evangelism              mission (p. 44). 0
power of this suffering and sorrow (Is.       booklet); "Is There an Answer,"                                                          /
53; Heb. 10; I Pet. 2:24, 25), and the        "Christians Grieve Too," "Behind a
victory andfruit  of this suffering and       Frowning Providence"- (Banner of                            NOTICE!
sorrow (Rom. 8:17, 18; I Cor. 15; II          Truth booklets); Comfort for Chris-                  The issue of September 15 was
Cor. 4, 5; I Thess. 4:13ff.;  I Pet. 4~13;    tians, by A. Pink (Baker); Trusting          the last in Volume 69. Bound vol-
                                                                                           umes will be made available for
Rev. 7:17; 21:4).                             God, by J. Bridges (NavPress);  Yet          $16.00 (+ postage) each. Or, if you
  : Thirdly, we who minister to the           Wi22 I Trust Him, by P. Rankin (Re-          bring or send to the SB editorial of-
grieving can counsel and comfort              gal);  Grief for  u Season,  by  .M.         fice soon your own loose issues for
them by directing them to the saints of       Tengbom (Bethany); In the Shadow             binding, .you can obtain the bound
the past who received God's help and          of Death, by A. Kuyper.  (Eerdmans;          volume for just $9.00. (The latter
strength in their time of sorrow. We          1929). Fourth, we ought to `ensure           service can be provided if we have
may point them to examples in the             that the church family continues to          your copies by October 22.)
Bible(e.g.,IISam.  12:15ff.;Ps.30:5,11;       offer help to the grieving. That would
18 /Standard Bearer I October it1993


                                     Martin Bucer:
 Ecumenist of the Reformation

Introduction                                 Bucer's Early Life and                    of Luther's associates. Among those
    One of the charges which Rome            Conversion                                who attempted to dissuade Luther
leveled against the Reformers was                Martin Bucer was born in 1491 in      was Martin Bucer, who warned him
the serious accusation that the Refor-       Selestat, South Germany, not far from     of the terrible dangers that awaited
mation tore the fabric of the church         Strassburg where he was to spend25        him. But when ,Luther insisted on
and destroyed the unity of the body          years in. the pastoral ministry. He       going even "if all the tiles on the
of Christ. Very shortly after the Ref-       was, therefore, eight years younger       houses in Worms were devils," Bucer
ormation began, it split into various        than Luther and 18 years older than       accompanied him and heard Luther's
branches, chiefly the Lutheran, Cal-         Calvin. Although his father was a         stirring appeal to Scripture: "Here I
vinistic, and Anabaptistic groups.           poor cobbler, Bucer received a good       stand. I can do naught else. So help
While there were good reasons for            education from his youth, and, at the     me God."
this, and while God in His inscrutable       age of 15, entered the Dominican              In 1522, at the age of 31, Bucer
wisdom had His own purpose in this,          monastery. He did this not so much        began his work in earnest. He la-
it remained a serious problem with           because he was enamored with a            bored in the city of Wissembourg and
which the Reformers had to deal.             monastic life, but rather because he      tried to make it a Protestant city. But
    While all fervently sought the           desired a thorough education, for         the Roman Catholics were successful
unity of the churches of the Reforma-        which the Dominican Order was fa-         in keeping the city faithful to Rome,
tion,.no one pursued this goal with as       mous. For further studies he was sent     and Bucer was forced to flee for his
muchvigorandeffortasMartinBucer,             to Heidelberg, where perhaps the          life. He went. to the nearby city of
the Reformer of Strassburg. His en-          most important event of his life took     Strassburg, where his parents were
tire ministry can be characterized as a      place. Martin Luther had come there,      citizens.
pursuit of unity.                            very shortly after the Reformation            While in Wissembourg Bucer
    Yet, in his zeal to bring unity to       began, to discuss theological matters     married Elizabeth Silbereisen, some-
the church of Christ, he often sought        with members of the Augustinian           times known as Elizabeth Palast. She
unacceptable compromises which               Order to which Luther belonged.           was a former nun and bore 13 chil-
madetrueunityimpossible. Not only            Bucer heard Luther speak and was          dren. Bucer was one of the first Re-
did he wish to bring Lutherans and           fullypersuadedofthetruthofLuther's        formers to marry; and he prompted
Calvinists together; he did not even         reformation doctrines. In private,        Erasmus to remark that the Reforma-
rest in his efforts to unite Protestant-     over supper, he discussed these ques-     tion was not so much a tragedy as a
ism and Roman Catholicism. In his            tions with Luther and became fully        comedy because it always ended in a
burning zeal for unity, he forgot that       committed to the Reformation.             wedding.
unity is essentially a unity of the truth                                                  The busy household of Bucer was
as it is in Christ and revealed in the       Bucer's Pastorate in Strassburg           a godly one, an example to all of what
Holy Gospel.                                                                           a covenant homeis,  although the spiri-
    Yet, in spite -of this, he was a             Aninterestingstoryhascomeout
                                                                                       tual character of the home was in
Reformer of no little importance             of this period., When Luther. was
                                                                                       large measure due to Elizabeth, for, :
whose work had its own value for the         summoned to appear before the.Diet        Martin traveled extensively in the
church of Christ.                            of Worms for trial by the Emperor,
                                             Charles V, he knew at the time of his     cause of the Reformation.
                                             going that he might never leave that.         We.may  note here that Elizabeth _
                                             city alive. Many tried to dissuade        died before Martin, who married
Prof. Ha&o is professor of Church His-       him from going, for the memories of       again, this time to a woman by the
to@ and New Testamed in the Protes-          thebumingofJohnHussbytheCoun-             name of Wilibrandis  Rosenblatt. She
tad Reformed Seminary.                       cil of Constance lingered in the minds    had previously been married to no
                                                                                             Octobwl,1993/StandardBearer/lQ


fewer than three other Reformers:                     allowed to marry. The seeming vic-         of the pure gospel. While Calvin
Ludwig  Cellar&, Oecolampadius,                       tory of the Romish Church threat-          labored in Strassburg as a colleague
and Wolfgang Capito. She went with                    ened Strass-burg; andBucer,  refusing      of Bucer, Bucer had considerable in-
Bucer to England and outlived him.                    to his everlasting credit to accept the    fluence on Calvin and the develop-
A woman married to four such great                    Interim, was forced to flee his be-        ment of his views.
men must have had a singular attrac-                  loved city and congregation.                   Bucer wrote extensively. His
tion to Reformers.                                        Although he had an invitation          works number about 150 volumes.
     Strassburgwasblessedwithgreat                    from Calvin to come to Geneva, he          But, as is the case with many theolo-
preachers. Although Bucer himself                     decided instead to accept the invita-      gians, he was extremely long-winded.
labored there for25years,  Zell, Capito,              tion of Thomas Cranmer and go to           Luther called him a chatterbox;
Hedio, Johann Sturm, and even Cal-                    England. In England his enormous           Charles V said he was a windbag; and
vin during the years of his banish-                   gifts were recognized. He was ap-          Calvin, more charitably, said: "Bucer
ment from Geneva were preachers in                    pointed Regius Professor of Divinity       is too verbose to be read quickly by
that same city. Seldom has one city                   at Cambridge, met personally King          those who have other matters to deal
been blessed with such a gallery of                   Edward VI, received an honorary            with.... He does not know how to
gifted and able preachers.                            doctoratefromCambridge,andmade             stop writing." His writing was so
    In Strassburg Bucer gave himself                  a lasting impact on the English Refor-     illegible that the English Bishop
over to the work of the ministry. He                  mation.                                    Edmund Grindal said that a conjurer
preached faithfully, labored mightily                     Martin Bucer died in England on        was needed to decipher it.
in pastoral work, established Chris-                  March $1551, not even attaining his            Yet in all his striving for the cause
tian schools and a seminary, lodged                   threescore and ten years. His body         of the Reformation, Bucer was moved
refugees from persecution, wrote ex-                  was followed by 3,000 people on the        by too great a zeal for union, not only
tensively (including correspondence                   way to the grave, and he was buried        between the various branches of Prot-
with all Europe's Reformers), trav-                   with honors. But Rome would not let        estantism, but also between Protes-
eled throughout Germany and Swit-                     him rest in peace. When QueenMary          tantism  and.Rome  if possible. He
zerland, and attended conferences.                    Tudor,betterknownasBloodyMary,             labored long and hard to these ends.
    When Calvin, after his brief stay                 came to the throne, she not only           And, while indeed such labor is com-
in Strassburg, was called back to                     burnedRidley;Latimer,andCranmer            mendable, his desire for union made
Geneva, Bucer, though loathe to see                   at the stake, but would not rest until     himmakeunacceptablecompromises
Calvin go, wrote aletter  to the Syndic               Bucer'sbodyhadbeenexhumed, tied            of the truth.
and Council of Geneva in which he                     with chains to a post, and burned.             Although Bucer attended many
said: "Now he comes at last, Calvin,                  God in grace towards England made          conferences in his pursuit of ecclesi-
that elect and incomparable instru-                   Mary's reign brief. When Elizabeth         astical unity, two illustrations will
ment of God, to whom no other in our                  (Good QueenBess)  came to the throne,      suffice to demonstrate his tendency
age may be compared, if at all there                  she took what was left of his ashes        to compromise.
can be the question of another along-                 and gave them a decent burial.                 Bucer was the chief author of The
side of him." This letter is a fine                                                              Tetrapolitan Confession, a document
illustration of the relationships which               Bucer's Work                               drawn up to achieve unity on the
existed between the Re-                                                Bucer fought long         burn.ingissueofthepresenceofChrist
formers. They were                                                  and hard for the cause       in the elements of the Lord's Supper.
never hesitant to recog-                                            of the Reformation.          Withoutspellingoutindetailthecon-
nize the good gifts God            To compromise                    When that miserable          tents of this confession (it is worth
had given to others, to                  for  the sake              humanist Erasmus             reading), we may note that Bucer
praise their colleagues for                                         came out with his de-        made major concessions to the truth
the work, to encourage                     of unity                 fense of free will, Bucer    of Scripture in the hopes that espe-
one another in their call-                  leads                   broke with Erasmus,          cially  Lutheran&m  and Calvinism
ing. Would to God that                   not to unity,              even though Erasmus          would be brought together on this
this were also true in the                  but to                  was a close friend, and      one issue which divided them.
difficult days in which            further trouble.                 asked Luther to answer           This willingness to compromise
thechurchtodayiscalled                                              that "pestiferous pam-       on the doctrine of the presence of
to live.                                         I                  phlet" of an Iunhappy        Christ in the sacraments became es-
    `In 1549 the Interim                    I                       slave of glory, who          pecially evident in the Colloquy of
of the Diet of Augsburg was imposed                                           _  _
                                                      pushes forward to prefer the spit of       Marburg. This was a conference called
on Germany, and the Protestants were                  his own opinion to Scripture." When        by Philip of Hesse to discuss union
given almost no rights, only that the                 AnabaptistsstreamedintoStrassburg,         between the Lutherans and the Re-
cup of the Lord's Supper could be                     Bucer condemned them as opponents          formed. It was attended by the lead-
given to the laity and ministers were                                                            ing theologians of Germany and Swit-

20 /Standard Bearer I October 1, IQ93


zerland  - although Calvin was not          Arise, 0 Christ, Thou Sun of righ-          ing to the Swiss: "You are of a differ-
present.                                    teousness, and shine upon us. Alas!         ent spirit."
    Bucer was also there. As we no-         while we contend, we only too often             Here too Bucer was willing to
ticed earlier, Bucer was an ardent          forget to strive after holiness which       compromise for the sake of unity. We
follower of Luther. However, in his         Thou requirest  from us all. Guard us       may be thankful that his pleas for
lifetime, he gradually drifted into the     against abusing our powers, and en-         compromise went unheard and that
Calvinistic camp, most probably un-         able us to employ them with all ear-        theReformedpositionwasmaintained
der the influence of Calvin while the       nestness for the promotion of holi-         within the Calvinistic churches.
two were in Strassburg. It was for this     ness."                                          Unity of the church is an emi-
reason that when Luther and Bucer               It soon became evident at the           nently desirable thing. To compro-
met at Marburg,  Luther said to Bucer,      Conference that the Reformers could         mise for the sake of unity leads not to
though with a smile on his face: "You       reach agreement on all matters of the       unity, but to further trouble. Bucer
are a good-for-nothing knave."              faith, with the exception of the doc-       made important contributions to the
    The conference was opened by a          trine of the Lord's Supper. Though          Reformation; but his zeal for unity
beautiful prayer by Zwingli: "Fill us,      the Swiss pleaded with Luther for           remains an abiding warning against
0 Lord and Father of us all, we ,be-        understanding and compassion,               compromise of the truth of the gospel
seech Thee, with Thy gentle Spirit,         Luther remained adamant. He would           for purposes of attaining mere out-
and dispel on both sides all the clouds     not even shake hands with the Swiss         wardunity.  0
of misunderstanding and passion.            at the end of the Conference when
Make an end to the strife of blind fury.    agreement proved impossible, say-




    Classis West met in regular ses-        Dana Rykken of Sovereign Grace Re-          were two grounds given for these
sion on Wednesday, September 1,             formed Church of Spokane, WA.               actions, namely, 1) The right to dis-
1993, in Lynden, WA. On the day                 Classis sent on to Synod 1994           band properly belongs to the mem-
preceding  classis an Officebearers'        with its approval an overture from          bers of a congregation, and 2) This
Conference was held, on the different       Doon to amend one of the Rules of           right has been acknowledged and
aspects of the subject of "Reformed         Order for the Synod of the Protestant       exercised in past cases.
Missions and Evangelism." Several           ReformedChurches.  Theamendment                 Then classis took a decision to
members of the congregation of              would create the possibility of elders      advise the members of Hope PR
Lynden joined those delegated to            or ex-elders serving as  Synodical          Church in Isabel, SD to.vote  to dis-
classis at the conference, which was        Stated Clerkin  addition to ministers.      band as a congregation. The grounds
enjoyed by all who attended. This           The grounds given by Doon were 1)           for this decision were the following.
was the first time in 40 years that         thedutiesofthestatedclerkaremostly          1) The impossibility of selecting a
Lynden was privileged to host a meet-       clerical in nature, and do not require      diversified consistory. 2) Isabel last
ing of classis. Several members of the      the labors of a minister; and 2) a          had their own pastor in October of
congregation spoke of the fact that         minister's calling is to give himself to    1987 and there exists little realistic
the conference and the meeting of           the study of the Word of God and to         possibility of their obtaining another
classis gave them a real taste of the       prayer, and theworkof statedclerkof         pastor because of the circumstances
denomination, somethingwhich does           Synod is far removed from that cen-         of the congregation. 3) Isabel's total
nothappenveryoftenbecause of their          tral calling of the minister and may        membership is ten souls comprising
location in the very northwest corner       well detract from the proper labors of      three families (all closely related),
of the most northwestern state. Be-         a minister.                                 which means there is very little or-
sides meeting the men of Classis West           Thereweretwoprotestsfromfour            ganic life among them and little pros-
at the meetings, the members of             saints in Isabel. These were protests       pect of internal growth. 4) The failure
Lynden were able to hear four other         of decisions taken at the March, 1993       of Isabel's church extension work to
ministers preach, since some of the         meeting of Classis West. One con-           produce any growthin the congrega-
ministers stayed over the weekends          cerned the manner in which classis          tion. 5) Classis is sympathetic to the
before..and  after classis in order to      said the congregation in Isabel was         difficulties of a move, but is posi-
reduce the cost of airfare.                 dissolved, and one concerned the            tively convinced that it is for the spiri-
    Rev. W. Bekkering served as             decision to give them only six months       tual good of the saints in Isabel that
President of the meeting, and after         of pulpit supply. Classis concurred         they do so.  Classis asked  Doon's
welcoming the delegates he welcomed         with the first protest and rescinded a      consistory to continue the care and
also Rev. Robert Hargrove and Elder         portion of its previous decision. There     supervision of the Isabel saints in or-


 der to help them implement the ad-           East. In response to a request from         cal Diploma to be used for ministers
 vice of classis to vote to disband.          Loveland's consistory for a modera-         who come from other denominations
     The consistory of the church in          tor while they are without a pastor of      under Articles 5 and 9 of the Church
 Loveland forwarded to  Classis the           their own, classis appointed Rev. R.        Order.  Classis sent a copy of this
 "Ministerial Certificate of Dismissal        Moore of the Hull, IA congregation to       diploma to Classis East, so there might
 and. Testimonial" for Rev. Ron               serve in this capacity.                     be uniformity within the denomina-
 Cammenga who has accepted the call               In other business classis, after        tion.
 to Southwest in Classis East, after          hearing the details of the labors of a          The next meeting of Classis West
 laboring for fourteen years in Classis       consistory in two discipline cases, ap-     will be in Redlands, CA on March 3,
 West. This Certificate was signed by         proved of the decisions taken by that       1994, the Lord willing.
 the officers of classis and sent on to       consistory to proceed with the disci-                     Rev. Ronald VanOverloop
 the Classical Committee of  Classis          pline. Also classis adopted a Classi-                                    Stated Clerk




      Classis East met in regular ses-        mittee. Classis also approved the           classis during the past months and
 sion on Wednesday, September 8,1993          report of the committee of classis ap-      reported thatthey  are grateful to God
 at the First Protestant Reformed             pointed to visit Norristown.                for the support of the churches and
 Church of Grand Rapids. The                      Southwest requested classical           for His supplying them with a new
 churches were all represented by two         supply only for the Sunday evening          pastor, Rev. R. Cammenga.
 delegates. The business of this classis      service of September 19. Rev. A.                The expenses of classis amounted
 was routine; adjournment was-at  lo:30       Spriensma was appointed to preach           to$1,095.05.  Classiswillmeetnexton
 a.m. Rev. A. Spriensmawas thechair-          during this service. Southwest also         Januaryl2,1994at the yp;tf,,.
 man for this session.                        expressed its gratitude to classis for                                  on . ms en
      Classis heard the reports of the        the supply they have received from                                       Stated Clerk
 Stated Clerk and the Classical Com-




                                              ogy was the truth of  the  sovereignty      exactly how this is true is not made
 The Incarnation of the Antithesis, by        of God.                                     clear in the book
Dr. R.E.L. Rodgers; (Edinburgh:                   From his theology, Kuyper de-                    The third stone in the foundation
 Pentland Press Ltd.) xvi t 87pp., E7.50      veloped the antithesis as between           is  Kuypeis  view of  spheresover-
 (paper). [Reviewed by Prof. Herman           Calvinism and Modernism as the lat-         eignty  which came to expression par-
 H a n k o . ]                                ter was embodied in the French Revo-        ticularly in the establishment of the
                                              lution and the absolutism of the State.     Free University.
      Taking the title of this book from          This view of Calvinism became                    In chapter III, Rodgers de'& with
 Frank VandenBerg's  definitive biog-         the first stone in the foundation of        Kuypeis  educational philosophy it-
 raphy of Dr. Abraham Kuyper, Dr.             Kuyper's educational philosophy.            self. His intent is to show how
 Rodgers discusses the role that                  The second stone in that founda-        Kuyper's foundation developed into
 Kuyper's'view of the antithesis took         tion was Kuyper's doctrine of com-          a complete educational philosophy.
 in Kuyper's educational philosophy           mon grace. Rodgers treats Kuyper's          It is this chapter which is the weak
 and work                                     common grace from the viewpoint of          linkintheargument,inmyjudgment.
      After a short biography of Kuyper,      the good which the wicked are ca-                    Rodgers correctly points out that
Rodgers informs his readers that              pable of doing. He claims that Kuyper       after Kuyper had abandoned the min-
 Kuyper saw Calvinism as a world-             held consistently to the truth of total     istry of the gospel and entered Parlia-
, and-life view and not only a theology.      depravity even though Kuyper held           ment,he fought long and successfully
 That is, Kuyper was concerned about          to a restraint of sin which is exercised    for two goals: one, to establish free
 man's relation to his fellow man and         not only outwardly by God's provi-          Christian schools, i.e., schools free
,~ to the world as well as his relation to    dence, but also inwardly by making          from government control; the other,
 ' God.                                       man less than depraved. Rodgers             to obtain government financing for
      In the development of his views,        ciaims that common grace was                these Christian schools so that Chris-
  Kuyper's principium was the sacred          Kuyper'sbasisfortheantitheticaland          tian parents would not have to pay
  Scripture, and the heart of his theol-      Calvinistic education - although            taxes to support public education and

  22 /Standard Bearer / October 1,1993


tuition to support Christian schools.        the Netherlands, America, and South          andphilosophyofeducation,andthat
While it is true.that  Kuyper was suc-       Africa.                                      his philosophy of education was con-
cessful in both these endeavors, the             While Rodgers' general thesis is         siderably altered as he began his de-
book does not make clear how these           undoubtedly true, it is not always           velopment of common grace.
endeavors followed from Kuyper's             quite as clear as Rodgers would have             What  is true is that a genuinely
theoretical foundation.                      it what role common grace played in          Reformed philosophy of education
        In chapter IV Rodgers deals with     Kuyper's educational philosophy.             must be developed apart from com-
the establishment of the Free Univer-        What is true is that in the years of         mongraceifitistobetrulyReformed;
sity. It was to be a university truly        Kuyper's pastoral ministry he said           and that a genuinely Reformed col-
"free" from church and state. It was         nothing of common grace, and the             lege or university can surely be estab-
a university whichi.n a particular way       doctrine played no role in his think-        lished only when common grace is
was the expression of Kuyper's theol-        ing. Kuyper did not really begin to          repudiated. Kuyper, withhisremark-
ogy of common grace and the antith-          pay close attention to common grace          able invention of common grace,
esis. Jt is in demonstrating this that       until he was elected to Parliament           sowed the seeds of the death of truly
the- author points out especially. the       and saw the possibility of breaking          Reformed education, even when he
relation between.common grace and            the liberal hold on the Dutch govem-         attempted to establish Reformed edu-
the Free University by reminding us          ment by means of an alliance with the        cational institutions.
that: 1) music, art, etc., are,inKuyper's    Roman Catholics. At least in part,               Rodgers' book is an interesting,
view, the products of common grace;          Kuyper's development of common               though somewhat brief, treatment of
and, 2) that the study of all branches       grace was intended to be a justifica-        an aspect of Kuyper's thought which
of knowledge in a university is due to       tion of this alliance - something            has been somewhat neglected.
common grace.                                which Rodgers also admits (see page              The address from which the book
        In a concluding chapter, Rodgers     50). But all this means that common          can be ordered is: Pentland  Distribu-
discusses briefly the influence of           grace played no role at all in the early     tion, 3 RegalLane,  Soham,  Ely, Cambs.
Kuyper's educational philosophy in           formulations of Kuyper's theology            CB7  5BA, England.  0





                                                 In the, introduction to this book,       Their purpose was tobring the gospel
lbkssion  Activities                         Rev. Ron Hanko, missionary to the            to those who had never heard it be-
        The Covenant Reformed Fellow-        CRF of Ballymena, writes an answer           fore, and to unbelievers as well.
ship of Ballymena, Northern Ireland          to the question of why to publish                Rev. J. Kortering and his wife
has taken upon itself to republish a         another book on the revival of 1859.         arrived back in the United States in
book long out of print entitled "The         He writes in part: "It is the fashion        early August to enjoy a furlough with
Revival of 1859." This book was first        among modem evangelicals  to pray            their family. Plans called for the
written; by Rev. ,Wiiham Hamilton,           for revival. It seems at times that they     Korterings to remain here for about a
about six years after that revival took      have pinned all their hopes for the          month before returning to Singapore
place in Northern Ireland.                   future of the church on the prospect         and the Evangelical Reformed
        In the book the author evaluates     of another revival like that of 1859 in      Church.
that "revival" in the light both of          Northern Ireland or like the Great               We do know that while here Rev.
Scripture and of the Westminster             Awakening in America. Hamilton's             Kortering was able to preach for the
Confessions, and he finds the event          book, therefore, is not just a scathing      Grandville, MI PRC, his former
seriously wanting.                           critique of a specific revival, what         church before becoming minister-on-
        The reprinting of this book be-      happened in Northern Ireland in 1859,        loan to our sister church in Singapore,
came possible when the Reformed              but of all revivalism. It says things        as well as the congregation of the
Book.Outlet  of Hudsonville, MI, to-         that need to be heard by those who           Hope PRC in Walker, MI, his current
getherwithitssponsoringsocietiesin           think or act as if revival is the sum and    calling church. Rev. Kortering was
the Hudsonville PRC, `agreed to un-          substance of true religion."                 also able to present a program on
derwrite the cost of the republication.          In addition to the workof reprint-       August 31 at Hope Church concem-
                                             ing this book; the CRF also planned a        ing the work of the PRC with their
                                             series of Gospel meetings for the first      sister churches, in Singapore. The
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant     full.week  of September. These meet-         program included a slide presenta-
Reformed Church of Hudsonville,Michi-        ings were tobe held every night ,of the      tionbyRev.Korteringandashorttalk
gun.                                         week in the Ballymena Town Hall.             by Seminarian FookMeng a member


                                                                                                                          SECOND cuss
    BEARER                                                                                                                Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                          Grandville, Michigan
   P.0. Box603
   Grandville,  MI 49468-0603


of the ERC of Singapore and pres-                          And we couldn't help but be re-            bly by the time you read this he could
ently attending our churches' semi-                    minded recently, by an announce-               be installed as pastor at Southwest.
nary.                                                  ment in the bulletin of the Hope PRC           But those details will have to wait
     Rev. R. Dykstra, in the Lynden,                   in Walker, MI, of just how fast time           until next time.
WA PRC for a session of Classis West                   goes. In their bulletin of August 29               And due to Rev. Cammenga's
in early September, was able to give a                 there was an announcement that that            leaving the Loveland, CO PRC to serve
brief speech and show slides on the                    Sunday was the last week of Sunday             in our Southwest PRC, the Council of
mission workin Ghana, Africa on the                    School. That same week, teachers               Loveland formed a trio from which to
behalf of our churches.                                were sending home with the Sunday              call a new pastor. That tio consisted
     We could also add here that Rev.                  School students Christmas songs for            of the Revs. W. Bruinsma, B. Gritters,
B. Woudenberg, pastor of the                           Hope'sannualSundaySchoolChrist-                and R. VanOverloop.
Kalamazoo, MI PRC, left August 25                      mas program. I guess when you see
to work for two weeks with the, Re-                    that, you know summer is over and
formed rhurches  in Transylvama:                       spoq winter will be here.                      ~oodfor 5!7iovtit
                                                           And, finally, we end this issue of             "As well might a poor man ex-
Denominational Activities                              the "News" by reporting to our read-           pect to be rich in this world without
                                                                                                      industry, or a weak man to become
     On the 26th of August, the South-                 ers that Rev. R. Cammenga has ac-              strong and healthy without food and
west PRC in Grandville, MI was host                    cepted the call to serve as pastor of the      exercise, as a Christian to be rich in
to our annual Seminary Convocation.                    Southwest PRC in Grandville, MI. I             faith and strong in the Lord without
Prof. R. Decker spoke on the theme,                    have heard that the Cammengas were             earnest and diligent effort."
"Lest We Drift."                                       making plans to be at Southwest by
                                                       the end of September. So quite possi-                              C.H.  Spurgeon   0




     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
  On August :27, 1993 our parents
and grandparents,                                                                                         WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
         MR. and MRS. PETER.                            WEDDING  ANNlVERSAdY                              On September 251993, our par-
            POORTENGA, JR;,                                On September 251993,                       ents,
celebrated their 30th. wedding anni-                      REV. and MRS. ROBERT C.                       MR. and MRS. JOHN KUIPER,
versary. We are thankful to our cov-                                H A R B A C H ,                   celebrated their 35th wedding anni-
enant Father for the gift of such loving               celebrated their 50th wedding anni-            versary. We are thankful to our cov-
parents who have guided and taught                     versary. We rejoice with them, thank-          enant God for giving us parents who
us how to follow His ways. May they                    ing and praising God for the love and          have taught us and have instructed us
continue to be blessed in ttie years to                instruction which they have given us.          in his ways. It is our prayer that God
come. "He hath remembered his cov-                     We pray that God will keep them in His         will continue to keep and bless them in
enantforever, the word which he com-                   tender care and richly bless them.             the years ahead.
manded to a thousand .generations"                         "Be thou my strong habitation,                 "Thy faithfulness is unto all gen-
(Psalm 1058).                                          whereunto I may continually resort:            erations: thou hast established the
9 Todd and Val Terpstra                                thou hast given commandment to save            earth and it abideth" (Psalm 119:90).
         Gordon and Jillian                            me; for thou art my rock and my                0 Scott and Joyce Boverhof
$ Jerry and Judy Fynaardt                              fortress" (Psalm 71:3).                        4 Ron Kuiper
         Mitchell  and Alex                                              The Harbach: family          4 John Kuiper
+% George  and  Ranae Vroom                                                    Grand Rapid& Mkhl@M
         Danielle and Nickolas                                                                        9 Pam Kuiper
9 Joanne and fiance Steve McNary                                                                                                 Jankon, MkhQan
9 Deanna
                                  Lynwood, lllitmis                                     .
24 /Standard  Bearer / October 1,1993


